Richard Dowden is perhaps our leading journalist of African affairs. Since first arriving in Idi Amin's Uganda in 1971 he has never stopped learning about and reporting on real Africans and the realities of life in Africa's many and varied lands. Like many young Westerners, he first went to Africa to 'save' it, but he stayed to learn from it. Africans taught him how to laugh and dance, how to tease but not command, how not to expect the truth and never to blurt it out, how to avoid danger, and how to be patient. Very, very patient. Such patience has served Dowden well, for he returns now from his decades-long journey among Africans with a report on their various ways and dreams, their priorities and pressures, that is far more revealing about the past, present and future of this fascinating and bewildering continent than any number of war stories or economic reports. Dowden combines a novelist's gift for atmosphere with the unblinking scholar's grasp of historical change to produce one of the most compelling and revealing accounts of modern sub-Saharan Africa yet. His experiences there required him to re-evaluate all he had been taught to believe, his landmark book enables its readers to see and understand this miraculous continent in a new light too.


Innovation research increasingly focuses on understanding why and how firms implement new management practices, processes or structures. Emerging in the shadow of research on technological innovation, growing evidence points towards the inter-firm relation as an important locus of innovation. Yet although organizational theory suggests discrete alternative inter-firm coordination mechanisms, the literature on management innovation has thus far treated the inter-firm relation as one broad mode of organizing. This study takes a configurational perspective to identify archetypes of inter-firm relations leading to the implementation of management innovation. Using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to analyse 56 firm partnerships in China's biopharmaceutical industry, the empirical evidence identifies four such discrete inter-firm archetypes: organic coalitions, bureaucratic foundations, coalitions of intense interdependency and reciprocal foundations. The results suggest that the type of interdependency, rather than the coordination mechanisms governing inter-firm relations, leads to the implementation of management innovation.


This article examines three novels sustained by the adolescence-work of their authors, Assia Djebar, Faiza Guene and Jonas Hassen Khemiri. Inscribed in the conflicts between the languages they will organize, these novels act as a "cultural laboratory" in which to treat the cultural trauma of relations between Maghreb and Europe: they work on historicization in language and complexify the process of intergenerational retransmission.


In order to improve instruction in introductory astronomy, we are investigating students' preinstructional ideas about a number of cosmology topics. This article describes one aspect of this large research study in which 1270 students responded to a subset of three questions each from a larger set of questions about the following areas: definition of a light-year and the structure, composition, and evolution of the Universe. Within structure, we investigated students' ideas about definitions or descriptions of Solar System, Galaxy, Universe, and the relationships among them. Composition included the formation of chemical elements, dark matter, and dark energy, while evolution focused on the Big Bang Theory, age of the Universe, and how the Universe changes over time. Responses were iteratively coded for common themes. Major findings demonstrate that students commonly misidentify the light-year as a measurement of time, and that they provide incomplete definitions of common objects (Solar System, Galaxy) and the Universe itself, often conflating the terms. Generally speaking, students have little understanding of dark matter or dark energy, providing definitions that are superficial or do not answer the question. Consistent with previous research, we found students view the Big Bang as an explosion. Students' ideas about the age of the Universe range from millions to trillions of years, but some students believe the Universe to be infinitely old. For both the age of the Universe and the Big Bang Theory, students are not familiar with the scientific evidence that exists, and in some cases do not believe such evidence can exist. Finally, students' understanding of how the Universe changes over time is based largely on smaller changes of objects within it (e.g., stellar evolution) or the motions of objects (e.g., planetary orbits). These and other ideas provide fodder—both scientifically accurate and inaccurate—on which to build effective instruction. Particular attention should be paid to areas in which words that are used differently between our everyday vernacular and scientific language can create or reinforce alternative conceptions.


This practice-based PhD is presented in two parts; a written thesis and a series of artworks. The thesis involves an examination of the 16th century German pamphlet The Twelve Articles of the Upper Swabian Peasants, with the aim of uncovering the potential relevance of this material for understanding the wider relationship between art and politics. The artworks are presented as an opera performance based on Thomas Munzer Berta Lask's 1925 play about the Peasants' War. The opera is accompanied by a series of relief prints that illustrate the libretto; the music and images present the peasants of 1525 as robots in an exploration of the question of emergent political subjectivity in a potential, future, servile underclass. This is a parallel enquiry, presented in two separate volumes, addressing ideas of political and aesthetic agency. These concepts are explored and tested in the distinct methodologies of art/historical discourse and art production, in direct response to my research question: Can the emergence of dissensual political subjectivity be articulated visually?
Unlike other previous studies of The Twelve Articles the thesis concentrates on the frontispiece illustrations, and the other visual qualities of the pamphlet. These illustrations are compared to the Bundschuh banners of 1500-20, and the distinctive costume of the mercenary Landsknechte who shared a socio-economic background with the peasants whose demands formed the basis of The Twelve Articles. This material is discussed using the aesthetic theories of Jacques Ranciere, Felix Gauttari, and Mikhail Bakhtin, and the idea of universalising signifiers proposed by Ernesto Laclau. The audience and readership, layout, and typography of The Twelve Articles are all analysed before the three main types of frontispiece are discussed: demonstrating the conclusion that the various editions of the pamphlet were an important expression of the peasants' agency and their emergence as a political subject.


Ultracompact three-dimensional (3D) waveguide plasmonic Bragg gratings in a metal/multi-insulator/metal (MMIM) configuration with sinusoidal width modulations are presented. A semi-analytical approach from the eigenvalue problem and finite transmission-line network perspectives is described to facilitate the 3D designs with Bragg wavelength errors being within the range of 0.12%-3.99%. A narrowband design operating in the 1550 nm band with a FWHM bandwidth of 10.8 nm and an extinction ratio of approximately 12 dB is numerically demonstrated within a footprint of <17 μm(2) (10 periods). Unlike other types of plasmonic Bragg gratings, the bandwidth is increased as the MMIM grating length increases. The number of distinct plasmonic z-directed Poynting vector patterns within one period is found to be identical to the corresponding Bragg order. Narrowband characteristics are attributed to delicate, concurrent contra-flow interactions in and between photonic and plasmonic modes occurring simultaneously in multiple places within one period.


We use our eyes to assess the value of objects around us and carefully fixate options that we are about to choose. Neurons in the prefrontal cortex reliably encode the value of fixated options, which is essential for decision making. Yet as a decision unfolds, it remains unclear how prefrontal regions determine which option should be fixated next. Here we show that anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) encodes the value of options in the periphery to guide subsequent fixations during economic choice. In an economic decision-making task involving four simultaneously presented cues, we found rhesus macaques evaluated cues using their peripheral vision. This served two distinct purposes: subjects were more likely to fixate valuable peripheral cues, and more likely to choose valuable options whose cues were never even fixated. ACC, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex neurons all encoded cue value post-fixation. ACC was unique, however, in also encoding the value of cues before fixation and even cues that were never fixated. This pre-saccadic value encoding by ACC predicted which cue was next fixated during the decision process. ACC therefore conducts simultaneous processing of peripheral information to guide information sampling and choice during decision making.


At the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992 more than 150 countries signed a convention aimed at stabilising the greenhouses gasses. Increase in greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide (C02) and methane are thought to give rise to global warming. This in turn is expected to have ecological and economic ramifications. The magnitude of this is not quite certain. The pessimists will claim it to be major whereas the optimists who believe in the Gaia hypothesis may claim it to be minor. The Gaia hypothesis states that "the earth is a living organism with a complete feedback system that seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment. Deviations from the optimal environment, trigger natural non-human response mechanisms which restore the balance" (Tietenberg, 1992, p.8).

Cline (1992) using a time frame of 300 years in his analysis advocates the use of some discount rate to correct this problem of global warming. 'The discount rate has an unusually powerful influence because of the extremely long time horizons of global warming and because abatement costs occur early, whereas greenhouse damages avoided show up only after several decades" (Cline, 1993 p.3). Based on this Cline argues that the appropriate discount rate for abating greenhouse gas emissions to be about 2 percent a year in real terms.

The choice of an appropriate discount rate for evaluating public sector projects using cost-benefit analysis has been a controversial and difficult issue to handle (see Anderson and Settle (1977) and Sugden and Williams (1986). Discounting can create further problems when applied to environmental issues. The rationale for 'discounting is because people value the present more than the future; the weight we attach to the future becomes less and less as we move further and further into the future. Therefore any catastrophe that may occur in the future will have relatively lower importance at the present time. Likewise any future benefits that may arise from a particular project will also have a lower present value.


A range of copper(I) alkynyl ladder polymers have been prepared via a simple single step microwave reaction at 100 °C for 2 minutes, using copper hydroxyacetate (Cu2(OH)3Ac.H2O) as the copper source, all with yields in excess of 80 %. A variety of functional groups were chosen ranging from a simple aromatic phenol ring, substituted aromatic groups, groups with a long carbon chain, and an example of 2 alkynyl units in one chain. The polymeric structure of these materials has been elucidated by powder X-ray diffraction, the results of which confirm that by changing the R groups on the copper ladder chains the structure of the ladder itself is altered to accommodate the variety of sizes and shapes. This was further detailed using a series of methyl substituted phenyl rings as the R group (ortho, meta and para), which were further examined by solid state NMR, and Raman spectroscopy. The raman data confirmed that the copper copper distance in the ladder backbone varied based on the side group present. The NMR results suggest that not only are there variations to copper backbone, but also there are different possible positions for the aromatic group to stack in based on the substitution on the aromatic ring. All data collected indicates the crystallinity of the polymer is strongly affected by the choice of alkyne.

The range of ladder polymers has been used to catalyse a series of dipolar cycloaddition reactions of terminal alkynes and organic azides, with the aim to obtain additional mechanistic information on the alkyne-azide click reactions. These reactions were carried out using a simple microwave method requiring an excess of alkyne (1.5 eq) to azide (1 eq), using 10 mol% of the ladder polymer as catalyst for 10 minutes at 100 °C. These conditions were then modified slightly to allow for on water catalysis of the click reactions using copper(I) alkynyl ladder polymers. Triazole products were obtained in excellent yields ranging from approximately 60 -95%. Using similar conditions it was also possible to introduce an iodo group to the triazole product when starting with iodoacetylene rather than a terminal alkyne, with only slightly reduced yields of 50-70%. Flow chemistry was briefly tested and was shown to be a viable option for the synthesis of 1,2,3-traizoles using copper(I) alkynyl ladder polymer catalysts.

The support material copper on carbon was investigated for comparison with the copper(I) alkynyl ladder polymers. The support material was found to actually be a composition of copper hydroxynitrate, a layered material capable of forming copper(I) ladder polymers, and carbon. A series of these materials were made using different supports using the same method as carbon, and all resulted in a mixture of copper hydroxynitrate and support material. An impurity was discovered in specific carbon batches (depending on the carbon preparation method) and was identified as libethenite (copper hydroxyphosphate). A series of click reactions were carried out using these copper hydroxynitrate/carbon mixtures and excellent yields of 80-90% were obtained, the impurity libethenite was also tested but found to not catalyse the click reaction.


A defendant sued by a plaintiff whose cause of action is based on or arises from the plaintiff's illegal conduct may assert the affirmative defense that the illegality of the plaintiff's action bars the suit. The defense is expressed in the maxim, in pari delicto potior est conditio defendentis (where the parties are in equal guilt the position of the defendant is the stronger). The essential purpose of the in pari delicto rule is to prevent a lawbreaking plaintiff from enforcing rights or otherwise obtaining a remedy arising from her violation of the law. The maxim indicates that the defense is available even to a defendant that participated in or bears some blame for the illegal action, provided that the defendant's degree of blame for breaking the law was less than the plaintiff's. Although the literal wording of the maxim suggests that relative guilt is the crucial element, the analysis that courts apply to decide whether to allow the defense is infinitely more complex, and takes myriad other considerations into account, including the nature and extent of the illegality, the nature of the remedy sought, public policy, and the equities between the parties. In all but the most obvious of cases, the balancing of this array of factors presents a challenge to consistency and coherence. The search for the right disposition of the in pari delicto defense becomes even more difficult where the plaintiff is not the actual wrongdoer, but a principal to which the illegal action is imputed, or an official, such as a receiver or a bankruptcy trustee who has succeeded to the cause of action and pursues it for the benefit of victims of the illegal conduct.While there is much case law that deals with the in pari delicto rule, and some scholarly commentary that addresses its application in discrete settings, there is no comprehensive evaluation of the rule. This article attempts such an evaluation. It begins with a thorough exposition and analysis of the in pari delicto defense, as it applies to a suit by a lawbreaking plaintiff against a defendant who had some involvement in the illegal activity. It then proceeds to evaluate the courts' application of the rule in situations in which allowing the defense precludes relief to innocent victims of the illegal conduct. In many, but not all cases, courts still apply principles of imputation to uphold the defense by a collaborator or enabler, even where the suit is brought to hold him accountable for loss suffered by innocent victims. This article argues that although the decisions of these courts may be supportable on purely doctrinal grounds, they overlook the underlying rationale of the in pari delicto rule and are hard to justify on policy grounds.


He has been feted in Britain and abroad; denounced as the Stalin of the British left and hailed as its savior; profiled, interviewed, and investigated by the British press, the foreign press, and the tabloid press. But to my mind the phenomenon of Tony Blair, the man who became leader of the British Labour Party in the spring of 1994 and is now the leading contender to become Britain's next prime minis ter, is best illuminated by a conversation that took place in the lobby of the German parliament. A member of the Green Party was de scribing to me the impression Blair had made during his 1996 trip to Germany. Practically the whole of the Bundestag had heard him speak, she said: "What really excited us was this new idea of rein venting the left. Tony Blair is reinventing the left." I asked her what exactly that meant, the reinvention of the left. She winced slightly, and paused. "I don't remember any of the details, exactly," she replied, "but this reinvention of the left is very important." It would be hard to find a better illustration of the feelings that Blair inspires. He undoubtedly interests people, in Britain and perhaps even more so in the rest of Europe. He even seems to many to be the har binger of a whole new kind of European politics, a 21st-century poli tics: he himself speaks frequently of transcending left-right divisions, of leaving old ideas of party loyalty behind. In the three years he has been leader of Britain's opposition, he has galvanized his party, reju venated its supporters, and mounted the first serious challenge to the Tories since 1979, something that previous Labour reformers like Neil


Well-known function of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is digestion and absorption of food. A healthy GIT is essential for the proper digestion, absorption and utilization of food. Improper digestion and absorption of food leads to malabsorption, diarrhea, malnutrition and deficiencies of various nutrients. Another important yet less known function of the GIT especially the intestinal tract is to act as a barrier known as the intestinal barrier (IB). IB is formed and strengthened by several constituents which include microbial flora of the lumen of the GIT, mucus blanket produced by the secretion of goblet cells, villi, crypts, Peyer's patches, tight junction proteins situated in between the enterocytes of villi and follicle associated epithelium of Peyer's patches and the other layers of the GI wall.


Background & objective: High workload may lead to increase human errors, compromise quality and safety of care, and reduce the nurses' quality of working life. The aim of this study is to determine the task-induced workload in nursing. Methods: This is a descriptive analytical study. All of 214 nurses of one of the educational hospital took part in. After obtaining informed consent from participants, data were collected based on NASA-TLX questionnaire and the desired level assumed less than 50%. Analysis of data was performed by descriptive statistics and Anova in SPSS software (version 11. 0) at significant level of 0.05. Results: The results showed that perceived mental pressure for nurses is more than other NASA-TLX subscales (P< .001). Also, the mean perceived workload was more than 50%. However, mean workload score of NASA-TLX showed significant correlation with age (P< .001), work experience (P< .001), shift work (P< .02), and department (P< .001). Conclusion: The results show that effective programs will be required to reduce the work load, and to enhance nurses' performance.


Conventional wisdom holds that boilerplate contract terms are ignored by parties, and thus are not priced into contracts. We test this view by comparing Greek sovereign bonds that have Greek choice-of-law terms and Greek sovereign bonds that have English choice-of-law terms. Because Greece can change the terms of Greek-law bonds unilaterally by changing Greek Law, and cannot change the terms of English-law bonds, Greek-law bonds should be riskier, with higher yields and lower prices. The spread between the two types of bonds should increase when the probability of Greek default increases. Recent events allow us to test this hypothesis, and the data are consistent with it. We suggest that sovereigns, like private entities, minimize their cost of credit by offering investors with different risk preferences bonds with different levels of risk, which is reflected in their terms, including choice-of-law clauses. The market understands this practice. This finding has implications for the design of the European Crisis Resolution Mechanism (ECRM), which is currently being debated. To the extent the goal of the new restructuring mechanism is to force private investors to take better precautions, ex ante, the restructuring authorities would be well advised to abandon the past practice of largely ignoring variations in the boilerplate of sovereign debt contracts and giving equal treatment to different types of debt.


The basal ganglia are widely regarded as playing a central role in cognition, being involved is such general functions as action selection and reinforcement learning. Here, we present a model exploring the hypothesis that the basal ganglia implement a conditional information routing circuit, where cortical signals are gated and subsequently relayed onto different pathways projecting to the prefrontal cortex. It also accounts for the existence of two distinct branches (pallidal and nigral) of the direct pathway, by assuming that they are used to carry separately content and routing information. A possible mechanism is described by which the indirect pathway can control the release of dopamine along the nigrostriatal pathway, generating a signal that the striatum can use to produce novel stimulus-response associations by internalizing cortical representations. In a series of simulations, it is shown how the model can perform simple stimulus-response tasks, develop automatic behaviors, and provide an account of impairments in Parkinon's and Huntington's disease. Finally, it is also discussed how the proposed model's mechanisms relates to production systems, a widely adopted formalism for human cognition, and how the reward signals carried by the mesolimbic pathway can be integrated to exert fine control over action selection.


Notwithstanding the enduring and rich "legacy of islah (Islamic reform)", the study of it is relatively scarce and remarkably limited to modern times. The present study attempts to shed some light on this legacy by evaluating the contribution of an outstanding pre-modern Muslim scholar, al-Ghazali. Surprisingly, some studies create an absolutely positive picture of him, while others portray him in an extremely negative light. Thus, this study raises the question of whether it is justifiable to classify him as a muslih (Islamic reformer). In the light of the analysis of the concept "islah" and the complexity of Al-Ghazali's time, the study demonstrates his life-experience and verifies that he devoted himself to general islah at a late period of his life, after succeeding in his self-islah. Further the study assess his islahi teachings in general, namely those formulated in the Ihya' and evaluates the claimed effects of his attempts at islah. The study also highlights a number of strengths and weaknesses of al-Ghazali's efforts and critically discusses some of the criticism directed at him. By weighing up the points for and against al-Ghazali, this study concludes by asserting that classifying him as a muslih appears to be fairly justified.


Cancer care raises complex and often troubling issues for patients, families, and the nurses who care for them. Decisions often involve matters beyond simply the patient's physical condition. Often, questions arise about what we should do and why—not about what we can do. Ethics helps us to separate what is medically possible from what is truly beneficial for the patient. In addition to foundational content on ethics and ethical practice, this book addresses key areas in oncology nursing in which ethical concerns commonly arise, including treatment decision-making, clinical trials, genetics, and palliative and end-of-life care. Case studies are provided to offer context and application to nursing practice.


Pole dancing is an activity that came to prominence in strip clubs. Despite its widespread reinvention as a fitness activity for women, pole dancing is still strongly associated with, and indeed trades on, its exotic, erotic and sexual connotations. In this article, we examine how the pole dancing industry portrays itself to potential participants via a discursive analysis of the websites of 15 major pole dancing studios in Australia. In particular, we examine some of the ways in which pole dancing trades on its erotic associations and capitalizes on the emerging postfeminist sensibility in western countries and its advocacy of empowerment through sexual agency, while at the same time promoting an alternative, ironic construction in which pole dancing is simply something a bit different – a novel way to get an upper body workout while having 'a bit of a laugh'. We argue that the tensions between authenticity and parody uncovered by our analyses reflect a tension that infuses 'raunch culture' more widely, and discuss the insecurity and contingency of the 'empowerment' offered in these practices.


Traditionally, Lie theory is a tool to build mathematical models for physical systems. Recently, the trend is towards geometrization of the mathematical description of physical systems and objects. A geometric approach to a system yields in general some notion of symmetry which is very helpful in understanding its structure. Geometrization and symmetries are meant in their widest sense, i.e., representation theory, algebraic geometry, infinite-dimensional Lie algebras and groups, superalgebras and supergroups, groups and quantum groups, noncommutative geometry, symmetries of linear and nonlinear PDE, special functions, and others. Furthermore, the necessary tools from functional analysis and number theory are included. This is a big interdisciplinary and interrelated field. Samples of these fresh trends are presented in this volume, based on contributions from the Workshop "Lie Theory and Its Applications in Physics" held near Varna (Bulgaria) in June 2013. This book is suitable for a broad audience of mathematicians, mathematical physicists, and theoretical physicists and researchers in the field of Lie Theory.


Optically thin copper films with a random array of sub-optical wavelength apertures couple strongly with light in the wavelength range 600–800 nm due to excitation of surface plasmonic resonances. Herein we show that this trapped light can be used to excite electronic transitions in a nearby strongly absorbing organic semiconductor before the plasmonic excitations dissipate their energy as heat into the metal. This energy transfer process is demonstrated using model small molecule and polymer photovoltaic devices (based on chloro-aluminium phthalocyanine:C60 and PCE-10:PC70BM heterojunctions respectively) in conjunction with a nano-hole copper electrode formed by thermal annealing an optically thin Cu film supported on polyethylene terephthalate. The efficiency of this process is shown to be highest for wavelengths in the range 650–750 nm, which is part of the solar spectrum that is weakly absorbed by today's high performance organic photovoltaic devices, and so these findings demonstrate that this type of electrode could prove useful as a low cost light catching element in high performance organic photovoltaics.


In this paper, we provide a new (proportional) 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation model for computing with words (CW), which is based on the concept of "symbolic proportion." This concept motivates us to represent the linguistic information by means of 2-tuples, which are composed by two proportional linguistic terms. For clarity and generality, we first study proportional 2-tuples under ordinal contexts. Then, under linguistic contexts and based on canonical characteristic values (CCVs) of linguistic labels, we define many aggregation operators to handle proportional 2-tuple linguistic information in a computational stage for CW without any loss of information. Our approach for this proportional 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation model deals with linguistic labels, which do not have to be symmetrically distributed around a medium label and without the traditional requirement of having "equal distance" between them. Moreover, this new model not only provides a space to allow a "continuous" interpolation of a sequence of ordered linguistic labels, but also provides an opportunity to describe the initial linguistic information by members of a "continuous" linguistic scale domain which does not necessarily require the ordered linguistic terms of a linguistic variable being equidistant. Meanwhile, under the assumption of equally informative (which is defined by a condition based on the concept of CCV), we show that our model reduces to Herrera and Mart/spl inodot//spl acute/nez's (translational) 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic representation model.


An organization's ability to achieve its goals depends on the quality of its leaders and their ability to produce a highly engaged workforce. High levels of employee and managerial turnover and burnout can impede an organization's workforce engagement and ability to grow and be successful. To minimize the impact of these 2 constructs (turnover and burnout), this study examined the link between leadership behavior practice patterns and employee work engagement in a nonprofit that supports the homeless. Responses from 48 non-managerial employees were used for this study. To investigate this study data were collected using 2 survey instruments: the Leadership Practice Inventory (LPI) and Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Both surveys were completed by the same population on the same day. The combination of crosssectional survey designs using quantitative and descriptive correlational research methods helped the researcher analyze the data to identify relationships between the variables under investigation. According to the respondents' ratings, a positive correlation was found to exist between leaders' behavior practice patterns and employee work engagement. Moreover, the results found no negative correlations between the LPI scores and the UWES scores. High employee engagement in a nonprofit organization leads to better economic outcomes for the community and a better workplace for employees who feel their organization cares about their health and well-being, which leads to a more tenured workforce and effective group of leaders. Future directions for research include exploring other variables (leader responses and gender) to potentially predict different work engagement levels and leadership behaviors that could impede employee burnout and turnover.


The vast amount of data collected by satellites via remote sensing is a valuable resource, however, it lacks machine search capabilities. In particular, large land cover datasets, such as the 30-m/cell NLCD 2006 covering the entire conterminous United States, are rarely analyzed as a whole due to the lack of tools beyond the basic statistics and SQL queries. Consequently, the NLCD is underutilized relative to its potential. We address this issue by introducing LandEx-a GeoWeb application for real time, content-based exploration and mining of land cover patterns in large datasets. By combining the functionality of online computerized maps with the power of the pattern recognition algorithm, LandEx provides an easy to use visual search engine for the entire extent of the NLCD at its full resolution. The user selects a pattern of interest (a query) and the tool produces a similarity map indicating the spatial distribution of locations having patterns of land cover similar to that in the query. Pattern-based query and retrieval addresses the issue of structural similarity between landscapes. The core of the method is the similarity function between two patterns which is based on 2D land cover class/clump size histograms and the Jensen-Shannon divergence. The search relies on exhaustive evaluation using an overlapping sliding window approach. LandEx is implemented using Free Open Source Software (FOSS) software and adheres to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards. The wait time for an answer to a query is only several seconds due to the high level of system optimization. The methodology and implementation of LandEx are described in detail and illustrative examples of its application to different domains, including agriculture, forestry, and urbanization are given.


The civil justice system tolerates inconsistent outcomes in cases brought by similarly situated litigants. One reason for this is that in cases such as Wal-Mart v. Dukes, the Supreme Court has increasingly emphasized liberty over equality. The litigants' right to a "day in court" has overshadowed their right to equal treatment. However, an emerging jurisprudence at the district court level is asserting the importance of what this Article calls "outcome equality" – equal results reached in similar cases. Taking the example of mass torts litigation, this Article explains how innovative procedures such as sampling are a solution to the problem of inconsistent outcomes. Outcome equality, achieved through statistical adjudication, is gaining force on the ground. Despite the Supreme Court's principled stance in favor of liberty in a series of recent opinions, a victory for outcome equality will improve our civil justice system. To date, the discussion about civil litigation reform has focused on the conflict between the individual's right to participation and society's interest in the efficient disposition of the great volume of outstanding litigation. This conflict is real and is particularly troublesome in mass torts, where tens of thousands of plaintiffs file related cases making it impossible for the courts to hold a hearing for each claimant. But the fixation on this conflict ignores the fact that an individual's right to equal treatment is also a critical value and can conflict with the individual's right to participation. This Article reframes the debate about procedural justice in the mass torts context as a conflict between liberty and equality rather than liberty and efficiency. The rights at stake are not only the individual's right to a day in court to pursue his claim as he wishes, but also the right to be treated as others are treated in similar circumstances. This Article defends district court attempts to achieve equality among litigants by adopting statistical methods and advocates greater rigor in the use of these methods so that courts can more effectively promote outcome equality.


PURPOSE
Dental hygiene students should prepare to competently provide services to culturally diverse patients; therefore, this study was conducted as a baseline to determine the cross-cultural adaptability of dental hygiene students.

METHODS
The sample consisted of 188 dental hygiene students attending four culturally diverse dental hygiene programs (N = 108) and four non-culturally diverse dental hygiene programs (N = 80). The culturally diverse programs randomly selected were located in the southwest, southeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the U.S., and the non-diverse programs were located in the northwest, northcentral, central, and southern regions of the U.S. Any dental hygiene program with students representing four of the five ethnic categories (Caucasian, African American, Hispanic/Latino, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Asian/Pacific Islander) with a culturally diverse student enrollment of 40% or greater, was considered a culturally diverse program; any dental hygiene program enrolling students from only one ethnic category was considered a non-culturally diverse program. Participating students completed the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI), a 50 item instrument that measures and individual's cultural adaptability and its four research dimensions; emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, perpetual acuity, and personal autonomy. The instrument does not target one particular cultural, rather it is culture general, meaning the inventory is proficient in assessing all cultures.

RESULTS
The unpaired t-test revealed a statistically significant difference, at the 0.05 level, in the overall, emotional resilience, flexibility/openness, and perceptual acuity between the two dental hygiene groups. Data analyses revealed the overall score of the dental hygiene students was lower than the CCAI norm group, which consisted of individuals with cross-cultural experience. The culturally diverse group scored higher than the non-diverse group in emotional resilience but scored lower than the non-diverse group in flexibility/openness and perpetual acuity. There was no statistically significant difference between the culturally diverse and non-culturally diverse groups in the dimension of personal autonomy.

CONCLUSION
Results of the study led to the conclusion that dental hygiene students attending culturally diverse and non-culturally diverse programs possess some qualities such as personal autonomy and self-identity needed for cultural adaptability. The overall CCAI scores were lower than the CCAI norm group suggesting students need cross-cultural education and training. For this reason, it is important that dental hygiene curricula incorporate cross-cultural educational strategies and peer and patient cross-cultural encounters to enable students to develop competency in providing cross-cultural health care.


A number of studies highlights the importance of the relationship between people and spaces, and how environments can positively affect the wellbeing of people as they age in place (Kerr, Rosemberg and Frank, 2012). This study investigates the impact of this approach on older adults in the early stages of dementia, with a specific focus on examining whether existing urban and architectural factors enable them to be active in their communities and cities. Moreover, it will also preserve cities' diversity and their capability of providing something for everybody (Jacobs, 1961). The first stage of this study is a literature review, with the second stage characterised by a post-occupancy evaluation (POE). The development and creation of a POE tool is influenced by a specific participatory design approach: a living lab. This approach has been robustly developed through the work of a European-funded project, which supported the partnership working activities of the following: Liverpool John Moores University; Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust; HLP, an international architectural practice; Liverpool Service User Reference Forum – Dementia; and the Liverpool Dementia Action Alliance – Liverpool. As the study progresses these partners will be actively involved in the methodological and data collection phases of the study. In addition, a number of case studies will be analysed through a one-time POE (Cutler and Rosalie, 2009). This analysis phase will be characterised by three parts: the thinking, the making, and the living of architectures or urbanisms. The aim of the analysis phase is to critically evaluate identified design strategies while teasing out their uniqueness, in order to create an innovative architectural theory that links to the overall aim of the study.


Modern induction machine (IM) drives are subject to a variety of system perturbations, i.e., weak grid conditions and the resulting DC-link voltage fluctuations, that could possibly compromise machine performance characteristics such as speed, torque, and load current. This paper investigates such circumstances, specifically the influence of DC-link variations on the IM drive under different control and modulation strategies and addresses the timely issues of power loss calculation methods in the most common voltage source three-phase PWM converters (VSC) with active front-end unit (AFE).

The AFE converts the AC line input into a controlled DC-link voltage, which is then used as input into a three-phase IM drive, based on an IGBT voltage source inverter (VSI). It should be noted that within this work an AFE is used to control the DC link voltage, ultimately mimicking weak grid conditions. The AFE of the IM drive adopts the hysteresis-based modulation technique and the VSI is controlled by space vector PWM-based methods.

The IM drive will be evaluated using different control strategies and verified based on the test-bed using a control system rapid prototyping environment such as dSPACE.


Abstract : Expert systems that operate in complex domains are continually confronted with the problem of deciding what to do next. Being able to reach a decision requires, in part, having the capacity to "reason" about a set of alternative actions. It has been argued that expert systems must reason from evidential information -- i.e., uncertain, incompletes, and occasionally inaccurate information. As a consequence, a model for reasoning about control must be capable of performing several tasks: to combine the evidential information that is generically distinct and from disparate sources; to overcome minor inaccuracies in the evidential information that is needed to reach a decision; to reason about what additional evidential information is required; to explain the actions taken (based on such information) by the system. These are a few of the formidable control problems that remain largely unsolved. If expert systems are to improve their performance significantly, they must utilize increasingly sophisticated and general models for dealing with the evidential information required for reasoning about their behavior. To this end we present an alternative, evidentially-based approach to reasoning about control that has several advantages over existing techniques. It enables us to reason from limited and imperfect information; to partition bodies of meta- and domain- knowledge into modular components; and to order potential actions flexibly by allowing any number of constraints (i.e., control strategies) to be imposed over a set of alternative actions. Furthermore, because it can be used for reasoning about the expenditure of additional resources to obtain the evidential information needed as a basis for choosing among alternatives, this approach can be employed recursively.


A series of randomised trials conducted in the USA examined the impact of intervention programmes for mothers and their infants. As a result, a number of guidelines were identified for implementing methodologically sound and efficacious interventions. While these guidelines are scientifically sound, they are difficult to implement in third-world contexts like South Africa where funding and professional resources are scarce. The project examined in this article is an example of a programme that falls short of these stringent guidelines and yet still has value in a context such as South Africa. While the project's design had limitations, it nevertheless raised social awareness about the target issue, so bringing it to the attention of policy makers and funding agencies. This enabled the establishment of a better-funded project that incorporated more methodologically sound design features.


ABSTRACT Background: Data on rabies post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and the use of human rabies immunoglobulins (HRIG) in Belgium are scarce. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the timely administration of HRIG after rabies exposure. The secondary objective was to evaluate the adequate antibody response following PEP. Methods: We reviewed all medical records from July 2017 to June 2018 of patients seeking care at, or referred to, the Institute of Tropical Medicine and the University Hospital, Antwerp for the administration of human rabies immunoglobulins following potential rabies exposure abroad or in Belgium. A timely response was defined as starting HRIG with a delay of ≤48 h and rabies vaccination in the first 7 days after exposure. Adequate antibody response was defined as a titer of >5.0 IU/mL in case of bat-related exposure and >3.0 IU/mL in case of exposure to other animals. Titers were measured 10 days after the last PEP vaccine dose, using the rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test (RFFIT). Results: Of the 92 cases treated with HRIG, 75 were evaluated. The majority of injuries were acquired in Asia (n = 26,34%) and in Western Europe (n = 18, 24%), of which 17 in Belgium. The five most frequently recorded countries overseas were Indonesia (n = 13), Thailand (n = 7), Morocco (n = 4), Peru (n = 3) and Costa Rica (n = 3). Administration of immunoglobulins was related to injuries by dogs (36%), monkeys (25%) or bats (22%). A timely response was observed in 16 (21,33%) and in 55 (73,33%) of subjects receiving HRIG (≤48 h) or rabies vaccine (<7days) respectively. The mean time between exposure and the first administered dose of rabies vaccine and HRIG was 7.7 and 8.7 days, respectively. The mean delay for HRIG administration was 9.6 days and 6 days for abroad and inland risks, respectively. In 15 of 16 (94%) bat-related cases the antibody titer after full PEP was >5.0 IU/ml. In 38 of 47 (81%) cases related to other animals the RFFIT titer was >3.0 IU/ml. All low-responders received additional rabies injections. Conclusion: This study showed a substantial time delay between the animal-related risk and the administration of HRIG, in particular when the injury occurred abroad. More targeted communication about the risks of rabies and preventable measures may reduce this delay. Furthermore, the antibody response was inadequate in some cases following full PEP administration according to the Belgian recommendation.


Team work is an essential element of good business and management practice, integrating skills and competencies, and ensuring that 'the whole is greater than the sum of the parts' so that business solutions developed will deliver true competitive advantage. Group work therefore plays an important part in the development of business studies students. Competent students complain that in group work, their grades are lowered due to the inclusion of lower ability students, without themselves recognising the diverse range of viewpoints that this opportunity offers. The lower ability students themselves fail to see the opportunity for raising their own personal grade profile by working with, and learning from, the more competent students. How such group work is assessed can be problematic (Gurbanov 2016), particularly when the assignment relates to problem based collaborative small groups, and employs self-directed learning and/or reflection or research seeking to acquire new knowledge. Teaching of business related topics in the Faculty of Management at Bournemouth University can involve cohorts of up to 400 students on a single unit. Efficient management of techniques for self and peer assessment of group members within such a large cohort is therefore essential (Kilic 2016). An appropriate mechanism for allowing students to successfully evaluate the contribution made by themselves, and also by other team members, needed to be developed to ensure confidence in the resulting performance gradings obtained. Taking existing best practice, and evolving it into a bespoke solution that would be operationally effective for large cohorts of students, a novel method of addressing the issue of self and peer assessment has been created, and honed over many years, to ensure that it maximises transparency for the students, whilst minimising the complexities, administrative burden and resulting queries for tutors. This poster presents an overview of the process developed, highlighting the lessons learnt. Gurbanov, E., 2016. The challenge of grading in self and peer-assessment (undergraduate students' and university teachers' perspectives) [online]. Journal of education in black sea region, 1 (2), 82-91. Kilic, D., 2016. An examination of using self-, peer-, and teacher-assessment in higher education: A case study in teacher education [online]. Journal of higher education studies, 6 (1), 136-144.


The interplay of between- and within-country inequality, the relative contribution of each to overall global inequality, and the implications this has for who benefits from recent global growth (and by how much), has become a significant avenue for economic research. Drawing conclusions from aggregate inequality indices such as the Gini and Theil reduces the highly complex nature of global inequality to a single coefficient and makes it impossible to take a nuanced view of how global growth interacts with changing national and international inequality. In light of this we propose and justify an alternative approach based on four consumption `layers' identified by reference to the global consumption distribution. We consider how each `layer' of global society has fared since the end of the Cold War.


Purpose
Driven by the visible proliferation of marketing scholarship dedicated to the topics of food marketing and consumer well-being, this study aims to examine the prevailing meanings and assumptions around food and health in marketing research.

Design/methodology/approach
Following the guiding principles of Foucault's archaeology of knowledge and the methodological orientation of critical discourse analysis, the authors analyze a systematically produced corpus of 190 academic articles from 56 publication outlets.

Findings
The study identifies three discourses of health and food dominant in marketing and consumer research. Each of the three discourses blends the ideology of healthism with market(ing) ideologies and provides a unique perspective on the meanings of health and health risks, the principles of appropriate consumer conduct and the role of marketing in regard to consumer and societal well-being.

Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to research into ideologies in and of marketing by introducing useful concepts that help explain the role of healthism in marketing discourse.

Practical implications
The finding of three dominant discourses could help reduce at least some of the existing complexity in regard to conflicting knowledge existing in the domain of health and food, and thus could inspire a more reflective body of work by researchers, policymakers and marketers towards improved food-related well-being.

Originality/value
This analysis of assumptions and consequences of the meanings mobilized by the dominant marketing discourses contributes to a better understanding of the current state of knowledge about health in the market reality.


Cloud computing promises to revolutionize IT and business by making computing available as a utility over the internet. This book is intended primarily for practising software architects who need to assess the impact of such a transformation. It explains the evolution of the internet into a cloud computing platform, describes emerging development paradigms and technologies, and discusses how these will change the way enterprise applications should be architected for cloud deployment. Gautam Shroff provides a technical description of cloud computing technologies, covering cloud infrastructure and platform services, programming paradigms such as MapReduce, as well as 'do-it-yourself' hosted development tools. He also describes emerging technologies critical to cloud computing. The book also covers the fundamentals of enterprise computing, including a technical introduction to enterprise architecture, so it will interest programmers aspiring to become software architects and serve as a reference for a graduate-level course in software architecture or software engineering.


Article History: Received: 4 Dec. 2016 Accepted: 15 Mar. 2017 Planing vessels usually have low ratios of resistance to weight, so they can move fast on sea surface than the displacement or semi-displacement ships. Access to higher speeds is one of the attractions for designers and users. To achieve higher speeds, reducing the hydrodynamic resistance is a necessity for this class of vessels. In this study, a 3D finite volume approach is used to analyze the hydrodynamics of the Cougar high-speed vessel, a hard chine planing hull. In addition to use of the URANS equations for momentum, SIMPLE algorithm for coupling of the pressure and velocity field and the k- for turbulence modeling, the fluid phases of air/water and the free surface are modeled using the volume of fraction (VOF) scheme. Moreover, in the simulations, instead fixing the freedom of the model regards to the computational domain, the vessel motions are also considered to have two degrees of freedom, 2-DOF, using the newly developed moving mesh technique of Overset. The grid independency study shows a good consistency between the numerical results and experiments for the vessel resistance, trim angles and the heave. Main emphasis of this paper is on study of the effects of different loading conditions, the vessel weight and the longitudinal center of gravity, on the hydrodynamic characteristics such as resistance, trim angle and the vessel sinkage. All of the numerical simulations are done using the commercial software of Star CCM+


Extranets as they have come to be termed are revolutionizing supply chains and their management. Companies and organizations with quite different internal information systems can now access data from other supply chain members. Information can be shared easily and at relatively low cost. A major benefit that flows from this greatertransparency is that internal operation of the business can become more efficient as a result.This thesis studies extranet in development of supply chain from case company's perspective. Finnsementti Oy was chosen as a case company because they had a desire to improve the operation of their supply chain by developing an extranet. Finnsementti Oy is a Finnish cement manufacturer since 1914. At the moment Finnsementtiproduces 85% of the cement needed in Finland. Most of company's business is B-to-B.Finnsementti actively develops its operation and this thesis also supports that goal by aiming to improve the efficiency of Finnsementti's supply chain which again is assumed to have a positive impact on competitive advantage and profitability.Based on a CRM study conducted in spring 2005 Finnsementti Oy decided to develop its existing rarely used customer forum into an efficient customer-oriented extranet. Finnsementti aims to improve its customer service, improve supply chain performance and make its order and delivery process more efficient. In advance extranet wasassumed to enable all this. Extranet project was initiated in early fall 2005 and this study was initiated simultaneously. The starting-point of this thesis was Finnsementti's desire to implement a supply chain improving extranet, and in order to do that, the implementation had to be successful. Due to the fact that supply chains are currently evolving towards networked e-supply chains there is quite lot of existing literature about how a supply chain performance can be improved by using electronic tools. This study concentrates on these facts, related assumption and expectations. It was also evaluated from case company's perspective how likely these expected improvements are going to realized; is there something unexpected and additional that Finnsementti has not been able to predict? In order to find this out extranet was studied at first from literature and then from case company's and their employee's perspective. One of the goals of this study was to determine what is the actual condition for completing this extranet project successfully because only that can enable the realization of supply chain improvements. How to make employees and customers adopt this new extranet and so that they will start to use it actively in their daily activities? The foundation for this part of the study was the comprehensive literature review conducted on supply chain improvements. Based on that, observations and interviews, an expectations theory was built. According to this theory user's realistic and accurate expectations make a good foundation for accepting a new information system. If the user's expectations are fulfilled, user will perceive the new system easy to use and useful which on the other hand leads to acceptance of the system. Thisexpectations theory can be used as a starting point for almost any information system implementation where user acceptance is considered critical.


This article proposes that the Korean Protestant Church, which has lost its dynamism and is declining, needs a theological reformation. Greatly influenced by Puritan theology, Korean Protestantism has deteriorated into a largely individualistic and consumerist faith. Its credibility has collapsed as it pursued power and turned away from the other. This article identifies Evagrius' negative theology as a promising theological corrective for the Korean Protestant church. Evagrius' mystical theology remains largely unknown but his ethical and devotional moral vision provides a viable model for the Korean Protestant Church, which stands at a crossroad today.


When building an application that requires object class recognition, having enough data to learn from is critical for good performance, and can easily determine the success or failure of the system. However, it is typically extremely labor-intensive to collect data, as the process usually involves acquiring the image, then manual cropping and hand-labeling. Preparing large training sets for object recognition has already become one of the main bottlenecks for such emerging applications as mobile robotics and object recognition on the web. This paper focuses on a novel and practical solution to the dataset collection problem. Our method is based on using a green screen to rapidly collect example images; we then use a probabilistic model to rapidly synthesize a much larger training set that attempts to capture desired invariants in the object's foreground and background. We demonstrate this procedure on our own mobile robotics platform, where we achieve 135x savings in the time/effort needed to obtain a training set. Our data collection method is agnostic to the learning algorithm being used, and applies to any of a large class of standard object recognition methods. Given these results, we suggest that this method become a standard protocol for developing scalable object recognition systems.

Further, we used our data to build reliable classifiers that enabled our robot to visually recognize an object in an office environment, and thereby fetch an object from an office in response to a verbal request.


Vibrational echo correlation spectroscopy experiments on the OD stretch of dilute HOD in H(2)O are used to probe the structural dynamics of water. A method is demonstrated for combining correlation spectra taken with different infrared pulse bandwidths (pulse durations), making it possible to use data collected from many experiments in which the laser pulse properties are not identical. Accurate measurements of the OD stretch anharmonicity (162 cm(-1)) are presented and used in the data analysis. In addition, the recent accurate determination of the OD vibrational lifetime (1.45 ps) and the time scale for the production of vibrational relaxation induced broken hydrogen bond "photoproducts" ( approximately 2 ps) aid in the data analysis. The data are analyzed using time dependent diagrammatic perturbation theory to obtain the frequency time correlation function (FTCF). The results are an improved FTCF compared to that obtained previously with vibrational echo correlation spectroscopy. The experimental data and the experimentally determined FTCF are compared to calculations that employ a polarizable water model (SPC-FQ) to calculate the FTCF. The SPC-FQ derived FTCF is much closer to the experimental results than previously tested nonpolarizable water models which are also presented for comparison.


The aim of this paper is to consider the possible implications of an EPA between the EU and the Caribbean. The focus is on the Caribbean economies, and on the question of what form of EPA might be pro-development and pro-poor for the region. The discussion outlines the specificities of the Caribbean region, and some of the economies therein as well as detailing the key analytical issues which need to be considered. The empirical analysis focuses on examining patterns of trade by product and geographical source at a highly detailed level of disaggregation. The analysis suggests that future EPA arrangements are more likely to lead to significant trade diversion as opposed to trade creation or trade reorientation. MFN liberalisation would serve to minimise trade diversion, but in turn is likely to lead to greater adjustment costs. If the EPAs are to be pro-development and pro-poor than maintaining/increasing levels of market access to the EU, and ensuring appropriate levels of assistance and aid will be critical.


The murder of six million Jewish men, women, and children during World War II was an act of such barbarity as to constitute one of the central events of our time; yet a list of the major concerns of professional philosophers since 1945 would exclude the Holocaust. This collection of twenty-three essays, most of which were written expressly for this volume, is the first book to focus comprehensively on the profound issues and philosophical significance of the Holocaust. The essays, written for general as well as professional readers, convey an extraordinary range of factual information and philosophical reflection in seeking to identify the haunting meanings of the Holocaust. Among the questions addressed are: How should philosophy approach the Holocaust? What part did the philosophical climate play in allowing Hitlerism its temporary triumph? What is the philosophical climate today and what are its probable cultural effects? Can philosophy help our culture to become a bulwark against future agents of evil? The multiple dimensions of the Holocaust historical, sociological, psychological, religious, moral, and literary are collected here for concentrated philosophical interpretations. Alan Rosenberg is a Lecturer in the Philosophy Department at Queens College of the City University of New York. Gerald E. Myers is Professor of Philosophy at Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center.


This report examines aspects of demographic and labour force change in Western Victoria to try to gain a better understanding of trends affecting the labour market and possible future areas of employment. The main focus is on rural, non-coastal areas and the report aims to present more up to date and detailed information for the Hamilton region than has previously been published (in for example Regional Matters: An Atlas of Regional Victoria 2001). The study has drawn on a number of sources, in particular a review of the available contemporary literature on issues relating to rural and regional development, data available from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Victorian Government and reports from a variety of public and private sector sources. It was commissioned by the Handbury Foundation and undertaken by Trevor Budge, Robin Goodman and Dave Mercer from the School of Social Science and Planning and Simone Alexander on secondment from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2004/05. This report firstly considers the broad trends affecting rural and regional Victoria by looking at the global context and the economic and lifestyle changes which may impact on the study area. Secondly, the report provides a detailed analysis of available statistical data on population profile and labour market trends in the region. Finally, an attempt is made to summarise what both these broad trends and detailed statistics could mean for the future in terms of employment and prosperity in both the study area and in Western Victoria generally. We conclude with some considered views on possible ways forward.


Effective corporate governance, or the set of controls and incentives that drive top management, originates both outside and inside the firm and assures investors who hope to commit their capital. Essential when buying stocks in one's own country, effective corporate governance is even more important abroad, where information can be less reliable and investor influence (or protection) more limited. In this collection of articles from the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, more than thirty leading scholars and practitioners discuss the possibilities and limitations of global corporate finance and governance systems, whether in Europe and North America or in the emerging markets of Israel, India, Korea, and South Africa. Essays discuss the political roots of American corporate finance; the structural and financial variations between international corporations; control premiums and the effectiveness of corporate governance systems; debt, folklore, and cross-country differences in financial structures; the driving forces behind the East Asian Financial Crisis of 1997; corporate ownership and control in India, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom; financial and economic lessons of Italy's privatization program; changes in Korean corporate governance; sovereign wealth funds; and the new organization of Canadian business trusts. A special roundtable discussion addresses shareholder activism in the U.K.


When the curriculum revision process began at a southern university for an upcoming program review, elementary education faculty decided to look at current coursework to determine whether the "Arts in the Integrated Curriculum" course adequately prepared preservice elementary education majors to teach the creative arts (music, movement, drama, visual arts) . Since the new program would certify K-6 teachers, instead of the previous 1-6 certification, a concern existed regarding preparation for both primary and upper elementary grades. A study examined whether those students interested in teaching the primary grades felt prepared to teach the integrated arts in kindergarten. While the research method was qualitative, the research design followed an interpretive approach and allowed for interviews and content analysis. Subjects were obtained from a sample of 15 junior and senior level teacher education students who had completed the aforementioned course. A telephone questionnaire was developed that focused on preferred teaching levels, feelings of being appropriately prepared for preferred teaching levels, and recommendations for improvements. Findings indicated that students who preferred to teach primary grades felt adequately prepared to integrate the creative arts. Findings also suggested that students were already applying techniques learned in the course to other assigned course projects and job-related situations such as a summer library program. It was concluded that the existing course met the needs of the sample group. The recommendations were evaluated and implemented in the existing course. Contains a sample questionnaire and five references. (BT) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************


Nurses in a hematology/oncology practice are responsible for the triage and management of phone calls from a diverse oncology population. An initiative was developed at the authors' institution to identify the educational needs of RNs while designing strategies to educate and improve telephone triage skills. The goal was to standardize triage practice and ultimately improve the effectiveness of telephone triage management. It was felt that these improvements could enhance the nurse-patient relationship, resulting in continuity of care to the patient, as well as reducing inappropriate appointments and hospitalizations, enhancing education, and lessening the risk of medical complications related to delays in care.


Abstract Orb webs evolved primarily to capture prey, though they also have other functions. Recently, it has been argued that the orb web does not work as a functional unit, but instead some sections or components have presumably been shaped by selection to increase capture success of large prey (relative to the spider size). Changes in these components (e.g., an increase capture area) presumably compromise the design and function of other components (e.g., density of adhesive threads). In this study, we explore the changes in the design of orb webs throughout the ontogeny of two orb-weaving spiders of the genus Leucauge: L. mariana (Taczanowski, 1881) and L. argyra (Walckenaer, 1841). Small nymphs of both species construct webs with a relatively larger capture area and higher density of adhesive spiral loops compared to webs of larger individuals. In addition, small nymphs of L. argyra construct webs with more radii. These features probably increase the probability of capturing large prey. Some web features show different trade-offs in the two species. For instance, the number of adhesive threads increases with capture area in webs of L. mariana, but decreases in L. argyra. The density of adhesive threads in webs of both species decreases as the area of the web increases, but decreases faster in L. argyra. Thus, small nymphs are capable of optimizing different structural components of the web to increase the probability of capturing large prey, but the trade-offs between web features vary between species.


A general assumption made in evaluation of flow network reliability is perfectly reliable nodes. Under such assumption, network reliability is evaluated through subset cut or composite path set approaches. This paper presents a simple approach to account for node failures in reliability evaluation of flow networks using subset cut approach. The proposed approach starts with generating combinations of nodes of the network and utilizes subset cuts (with perfect nodes) to find the valid additional subset cuts due to imperfect nodes. These additional subset cuts consist of only nodes or nodeslinks combinations. To illustrate efficacy of the proposed approach, computational results on various benchmarks networks are provided. The proposed method is applicable to evaluate additional minimal cut sets due to imperfect nodes from minimal cut sets (with perfect nodes) for networks considering only connectivity as the success criteria or additional subset cut set for networks with multiple node pair capacity requirements.


This study determined total suspended sediment (TSS) at six stream crossings that represented a range of site conditions and forest operations in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Two wood and three steel bridgemats and one culvert were installed to cross the streams. The road classes for the crossings included four temporary skid trails and two permanent forest haul roads. Baseflow and stormflow water samples and continuous stream discharge were measured using the upstream-downstream approach to determine the effects of stream crossings on TSS concentrations and loads. Upstream and downstream TSS concentrations from grab samples were not significantly different at any site during the study period. Baseflow TSS concentrations averaged 21.7 mg/l upstream and 21.1 mg/l downstream across study sites and periods. Stormflow TSS concentrations averaged 84.8 mg/l upstream and 84.7 mg/l downstream across all sites and periods. TSS loads were also comparable to exports from unharvested Piedmont watersheds and other stream crossing studies that used forestry best management practices (BMPs) to protect water quality, averaging 82 kg/ha/year upstream and 80 kg/ha/year downstream of the crossing. Our results add to the body of research indicating that stream crossing BMPs designed in mountain systems can be effectively applied to other regions to protect water quality.


Book synopsis: This book,the second produced by the Cambridge Socio-Legal Group, is a collection of essays on the subject of law and the human body. As the title suggests, bodies and body parts are not only subject to regulation through formal legal processes, but also the meanings attached to particular bodies, and the significance accorded to some body parts, are aspects of
broader cultural processes. In short, bodies are subjected to both lore and laws. The contributors, all leading academics in the fields of Law, Sociology, Psychology, Feminism, Criminology, Biology and Genetics, respectively, offer a range of interdisciplinary papers that critically examine how bodies are constructed and regulated in law.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one is concerned with 'Making Bodies' and includes papers relating to transactions in human gametes, cloning, court-ordered caesarean sections, testing for genetic risk, the patenting of human genes and the social policy implications of the growth in genetic information. Part two is concerned with 'Using and Abusing Bodies'. It contains chapters relating to sexualities, sexual orientation and the law, sex workers and their clients, domestic homicide, religious and cultural practices and other issues involving children's bodies, the ownership of the body and body parts and the legal and ethical issues surrounding euthanasia.


Abstract : In the world of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), three main types of flow regimes exist: continuum, rarified, and free molecular. Of these regimes, the rarified regime is the most difficult to model because the continuum equations don't apply and using the Boltzmann equation is too computationally expensive to use. The Unified Flow Solver (UFS) is currently being developed to solve this problem by using the kinetic continuum Euler equations where valid, and only using the Boltzmann equation where necessary, thus reducing the computational cost. The use of the kinetic Euler equations helps to aid in the coupling of the Euler equations with the Boltzmann equation. This work compares UFS with a common nonequilibrium solver, LeMANS, to attempt to validate the thermo-chemical Euler solver available in UFS. Three types of simulations were run to validate the Euler solver: perfect gas, thermal nonequilibrium, and thermo-chemical nonequilibrium. The perfect gas simulation was run using both a monatomic and two species diatomic gas. The thermal nonequilibrium simulation was run using a 2 species gas, while the thermo-chemical nonequilibrium simulation was run using a 2 and 11 species gas. The results of the simulations show that UFS matches closely for both the monatomic and 2 species perfect gas simulations as well as the thermal nonequilibrium simulation. The thermo-chemical nonequilibrium simulations do not show the correct vibrational temperature, which causes the species concentrations to be incorrect. All of the simulations show that UFS is much slower than LeMANS in number of cpu hours. This means that UFS not a practical choice for a CFD solver and cannot be fully validated in its current state.


In respect of their absolute use, without complement, French sequences sharing the pattern [ Preposition – Definite article – Noun – Preposition ] have to be subcategorized by lexical and by semantic parameters. These sequences are frequently classified as "prepositional locutions" in the French linguistic literature, but it seems that this label is wrongly attached to many of them. Our goal is, first, to establish a categorization method whose purpose is to draw a border between the different prepositional expressions. This will allow us to dissociate their absolute use from their lexical status. However, once it is made clear that many of these alleged prepositional locutions are nothing more than regular prepositional phrases, the absolute use can no longer be unconditionally attributed to ellipsis. Second, we will examine why mainly temporal and spatial expressions accept the absolute use contrary to expressions denoting cause, goal, opposition, concession, etc. Consequently, the part of what is usually considered as 'arbitrary behavior' in this field will be significantly reduced.


Since emerging in Saint Martin in 2013, chikungunya virus (CHIKV), an alphavirus transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, has infected approximately two million individuals in the Americas, with over 500,000 reported cases in the Dominican Republic (DR). CHIKV-infected patients typically present with a febrile syndrome including polyarthritis/polyarthralgia, and a macropapular rash, similar to those infected with dengue and Zika viruses, and malaria. Nevertheless, many Dominican cases are unconfirmed due to the unavailability and high cost of laboratory testing and the absence of specific treatment for CHIKV infection. To obtain a more accurate representation of chikungunya fever (CHIKF) clinical signs and symptoms, and confirm the viral lineage responsible for the DR CHIKV outbreak, we tested 194 serum samples for CHIKV RNA and IgM antibodies from patients seen in a hospital in La Romana, DR using quantitative RT-PCR and IgM capture ELISA, and performed retrospective chart reviews. RNA and antibodies were detected in 49% and 24.7% of participants, respectively. Sequencing revealed that the CHIKV strain responsible for the La Romana outbreak belonged to the Asian/American lineage and grouped phylogenetically with recent Mexican and Trinidadian isolates. Our study shows that, while CHIKV-infected individuals were infrequently diagnosed with CHIKF, uninfected patients were never falsely diagnosed with CHIKF. Participants testing positive for CHIKV RNA were more likely to present with arthralgia, although it was reported in just 20.0% of CHIKF+ individuals. High percentages of respiratory (19.6%) signs and symptoms, especially among children, were noted, though it was not possible to determine whether individuals infected with CHIKV were co-infected with other pathogens. These results suggest that CHIKV may have been underdiagnosed during this outbreak, and that CHIKF should be included in differential diagnoses of diverse undifferentiated febrile syndromes in the Americas.


CXCL8 (also known as IL-8) activates CXCR1 and CXCR2 to mediate neutrophil recruitment and trigger cytotoxic effect at sites of infection. Under physiological conditions, CXCL8 could exist as monomers, dimers, or a mixture of monomers and dimers. Therefore, both forms of CXCL8 could interact with CXCR1 and CXCR2 with different affinities and potencies to mediate different cellular responses. In the present study, we have used a "trapped" nonassociating monomer (L25NMe) and a nondissociating dimer (R26C) to investigate their activities for human neutrophils that express both receptors and for RBL-2H3 cells stably expressing either CXCR1(RBL-CXCR1) or CXCR2 (RBL-CXCR2). The monomer was more active than the dimer for activities such as intracellular Ca2+ mobilization, phosphoinositide hydrolysis, chemotaxis. and exocytosis. Receptor regulation, however, is distinct for each receptor. The rate of monomer-mediated regulation of CXCR1 is greater for activities such as phosphorylation, desensitization, β-arrestin translocation, and internalization. In contrast, for CXCR2, both monomeric and dimeric CXCL8 mediate these activities to a similar extent. Interestingly, receptor-mediated signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation in response to all three CXCL8 variants was more sustained for CXCR2 relative to CXCR1. Taken together, the results indicate that the CXCL8 monomer and dimer differentially activate and regulate CXCR1 and CXCR2 receptors. These distinct properties of the ligand and the receptors play a critical role in orchestrating neutrophil recruitment and eliciting cytotoxic activity during an inflammatory response.


Single photons are a vital resource for photonic quantum information processing. However, even state-of-the-art single photon sources based on photon-pair generation and heralding detection have only a low probability of delivering a single photon when one is requested. We analyse a scheme that uses a switched fibre delay loop to increase the delivery probability per time bin of single photons from heralded sources. We show that, for realistic experimental parameters, combining the output of up to 15 pulses can yield a performance improvement of a factor of 10. We consider the future performance of this scheme with likely component improvements.


The requirement for net balance of synthesis, degradation and transport for all intermediates in the pathways from glucose to fat imposes constraints on the balance of fluxes between different pathways. Linear programming has been used to examine the interactions between these constraints on metabolism in adipocytes and the requirement for efficiency in the conversion of glucose into fat. The circumstances under which excessive ATP synthesis would accompany this conversion have been investigated.


I. INTRODUCTION In both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, resentment has been building (1) against the relentless increases in the price of oil (2) resulting from the cornering of the oil market by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC"). (3) At the 106th Congress, Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House International Relations Committee, introduced two bills targeting OPEC's pricing practices. (4) The first piece of legislation would have barred countries participating in the OPEC cartel from receiving U.S. economic or military aid. (5) Because few OPEC member states receive significant foreign aid from the United States, that legislation, if enacted, was expected to have little impact. (6) The bill would also have required the Administration to review its policies with respect to international financial institutions funded in part by the United States, such as the World Bank, to ensure that they do not indirectly support OPEC's price-fixing activities. (7) More interestingly, the second bill introduced by Rep. Gilman would have allowed U.S. citizens to sue foreign energy cartels. (8) In the Senate, a number of proposals to facilitate lawsuits against OPEC were also floated. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) introduced legislation that would allow the Department of Justice to sue foreign countries, such as OPEC members, for price-fixing activities. (9) Moreover, describing OPEC as "an old-fashioned conspiracy in restraint of trade," (10) two senior senators, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Joe Biden (D-Del.), wrote a letter to President Clinton urging him to immediately institute legal action against OPEC. (11) Sens. Specter and Biden suggested legal action on two fronts. First, the U.S. should file a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice at the Hague, on the grounds that conspiracies and cartels in restraint of trade are a violation of international law. (12) Second, the United States should pursue OPEC in federal court, on the grounds that OPEC's price-fixing behavior violates U.S. antitrust law. (13) Sens. Specter and Biden were quick to recognize that any lawsuit against OPEC, particularly if undertaken by private individuals, would face considerable roadblocks under current legal doctrines and well-established precedents. (14) Legal experts generally share this view and regard lawsuits against OPEC with some degree of skepticism. (15) Sens. Specter and Biden also favored legislation that would remove legal obstacles and ease the deeply ingrained discomfort of U.S. courts confronting antitrust claims involving foreign sovereigns. (16) Even under current law, however, it is not perfectly clear that a U.S. court would necessarily reject an antitrust claim against OPEC, particularly if sponsored by the Justice Department. After all, it has been over twenty years since the last such lawsuit, filed on behalf of a trade association of transport workers, met a negative response in the Ninth Circuit. (17) This article is intended as a roadmap for practitioners and policy analysts interested in the legal obstacles that prevent litigants from successfully pursuing antitrust claims against OPEC, effectively sanctioning the cartel's price-fixing activities. OPEC's antitrust conspiracies expressly violate the language of the Sherman Act (18) and related legislation. (19) However, under current legal precedents (20) and absent specific sponsorship by the Executive, an antitrust lawsuit against OPEC is unlikely to succeed. This article argues that although the judicial bias against such litigation is clear, there is no fundamental legal reason why it may not ultimately be successfully pursued. It has been the long-standing policy of the U.S. government, clearly articulated by the Clinton administration, not to implicate OPEC member states in antitrust litigation. (21) Should the Executive announce a contrary policy, however, the judicial bias against OPEC-related claims probably would change. …


Multicarrier (MC) modulation and code division multiple access (CDMA) schemes have seen much recent attention for the high capacities and flexibility they can provide. A potential difficulty with these systems is their sensitivity to the effects of imperfect frequency up/down conversion due to local oscillator phase noise and frequency offset. In this paper, we provide a general method to upper bound and/or approximate system performance in multitone direct-sequence spread spectrum (MT-DS-SS) signaling in the presence of imperfect synchronization. We model phase noise as a slow random processes with small variance. In particular, we assume coherent detection with binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) modulation and use a phase noise model based upon one for a practical phase-locked loop (PLL). Comparisons between simulations and analysis show excellent agreement, and also show that system degradation is dominated by the common phase noise, and that the intersubcarrier-same-user interference (IS-SUI) contribution is very small. The approach we employ provides an effective analytical/numerical method for performance evaluation for low target error probability values, on the order of 10/sup -6/ or lower. In addition, our method can also be easily applied to any multicarrier system with other frequency offset/phase noise models.


A theoretical model of a new integrated planar surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) refractive index sensor with a long period grating (LPG) is presented and comprehensively investigated. The main principle of operation of this device is based on high-efficiency energy transfer between a p-polarized guided mode propagating in a waveguide layer of the structure and copropagating SPP supported by a metal layer separated from the waveguide layer by a buffer. The high-efficiency energy transfer is realized by means of a properly designed LPG imprinted in the waveguide and buffer layers. This device is compact and free from any moving parts and can be easily integrated into any planar scheme. Our simulations are based on the coupled-mode theory and done at the well-developed and commercialized telecom wavelengths in the 1500 nm window.


Following the preceding studies on the mechanisms of excitation in stretch receptor cells of crayfish, this investigation analyzes inhibitory activity in the synapses formed by two neurons. The cell body of the receptor neuron is located in the periphery and sends dendrites into a fine muscle strand. The dendrites receive innervation through an accessory nerve fiber which has now been established to be inhibitory. There exists a direct peripheral inhibitory control mechanism which can modulate the activity of the stretch receptor. The receptor cell which can be studied in isolation was stimulated by stretch deformation of its dendrites or by antidromic excitation and the effect of inhibitory impulses on its activity was analyzed. Recording was done mainly with intracellular leads inserted into the cell body. 1. Stimulation of the relatively slowly conducting inhibitory nerve fiber either decreases the afferent discharge rate or stops impulses altogether in stretched receptor cells. The inhibitory action is confined to the dendrites and acts on the generator mechanism which is set up by stretch deformation. By restricting depolarization of the dendrites above a certain level, inhibition prevents the generator potential from attaining the "firing level" of the cell. 2. The same inhibitory impulse may set up a postsynaptic polarization or a depolarization, depending on the resting potential level of the cell. The membrane potential at which the inhibitory synaptic potential reverses its polarity, the equilibrium level, may vary in different preparations. The inhibitory potentials increase as the resting potential is displaced in any direction from the inhibitory equilibrium. 3. The inhibitory potentials usually rise to a peak in about 2 msec. and decay in about 30 msec. After repetitive inhibitory stimulation a delayed secondary polarization phase has frequently been seen, prolonging the inhibitory action. Repetitive inhibitory excitation may also be followed by a period of facilitation. Some examples of "direct" excitation by the depolarizing action of inhibitory impulses are described. 4. The interaction between antidromic and inhibitory impulses was studied. The results support previous conclusions (a) that during stretch the dendrites provide a persisting "drive" for the more central portions of the receptor cell, and (b) that antidromic all-or-none impulses do not penetrate into the distal portions of stretch-depolarized dendrites. The "after-potentials" of antidromic impulses are modified by inhibition. 5. Evidence is presented that inhibitory synaptic activity increases the conductance of the dendrites. This effect may occur in the absence of inhibitory potential changes.


This paper describes the part of the Regional Pollution Information and Simulation (RAINS) model dealing with the potential and costs controlling emissions of sulfur dioxide. The paper describes the selected aggregation level of the emission generating activities and reviews the major options for controlling SO2 emissions. An algorithm for estimating emission control costs is presented. The cost calculation distinguishes 'general'(i.e., valid for all countries) and 'country-specific' parameters in order to capture characteristic technology- and site-specific factors influencing the actual costs of applying a certain measure under a given condition. The methodology is illustrated by two examples for typical control technologies (wet flue gas desulfurization and the use of low-sulfur gas oil). Finally, the method for constructing emission abatement cost curves showing the relationships between the level of remaining emissions and the associated costs is explained.

The general parameters used in the cost calculations are presented in the main body of the report, while all country-specific parameters are contained in a number of appendices. In addition, these country-specific appendices present the energy scenarios as they are currently implemented in the RAINS model, and the resulting cost curves for SO2 control related to these energy scenarios.


We present the second major release of MapDisto, a multi-platform, user-friendly computer program for constructing genetic linkage maps of experimental populations. This version includes several new major features: (i) handling of very large genotyping datasets like the ones generated by genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS); (ii) direct importation and conversion of Variant Call Format (VCF) files; (iii) detection of linkage, i.e. construction of linkage groups in case of segregation distortion; (iv) data imputation on VCF files using a new approach, called LB-Impute. These features operate through inclusion of new Java modules that are installed and used transparently by MapDisto; (v) QTL detection via a new R/qtl graphical interface. The program is available free of charge at mapdisto.free.fr.


An in-depth analysis of the web-based CambridgeSoft Pharmaceutical Drug Degradation Database, Pharma D3, was conducted in two phases in an attempt to generate some general rules for the prediction of alerting structures for genotoxicity that may arise as a result of degradation. The first phase involved interrogation of the database to determine the nature and frequency of alerting structures present in the degradants. This analysis revealed five functional groups, which account for approximately 70% of the alerting structures found in the degradants within the database: (1) aldehydes; (2) α,β unsaturated carbonyls; (3) aromatic amines, hydroxylamine and its derived esters; (4) epoxides; and (5) polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The second phase of the analysis involved categorizing the major chemical reactions responsible for the generation of the five most prevalent alerting structures. This two-step approach led, in turn, to a proposal for the prediction of functional groups that may have a propensity to degr...


This paper presents a novel SSS detection method for the second step of neighbor cell search in 3GPP LTE TDD systems. The proposed method is based on coherent detection and contains two stages. At the first stage, SSS is detected by using estimated channel response at PSCH. Owing to the difference of channels between PSCH and SSCH in TDD mode, the channel response estimated from PSCH does not exactly match the channel response of SSCH and performance degradation is occurred. To mitigate the effect of such channel mismatch problems and improve the cell search reliability, the candidate cells selected at the first stage will be further confirmed by a second coherent detection with channel response estimated from SSCH at the second stage. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed two-stage scheme improves the neighbor cell search performance significantly.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate patient satisfaction with an Internet-based integrated patient education system, and to identify the components of the system that affect patient satisfaction. The system has been operating in a university-affiliated hospital for outpatients with diabetes. For each patient visit, the system integrates his/her pharmaceutical education materials and medical care records such as laboratory test results, medication prescriptions and next visit appointments, into an individual medical folder. The integrated medical folders are then transformed into web structures for continuing patient education after leaving the hospital. The patients can easily access the knowledge required for medication care through the internet. In order to assess the satisfaction of patients with the system, we use the questionnaire developed by Doll and Torkzadeh for the measurement of end-user computing satisfaction, and translate it into Chinese. There were 81 participants selected from Diabetes patient who had used the system involved in the questionnaire survey. 50 participants returned their questionnaires. After analysis of the returned questionnaires, over 70% of patients were satisfied with the content, accuracy, format and timeliness of information provided by this system, and agreed easy of use with the system. This study also revealed that patient satisfaction was highly positively correlated with the number of logons and the number of accesses to the web pages. According to userspsila responses, information content and format of reports should be more flexible. The patients and their care giver would like to choose and combine the information to redesign the format of reports by themselves. Some of patientpsilas family point ldquoeasy of userdquo is important for the senior patients. They mention all of the information should be at the same page, because the senior patients couldn'tpsilat manipulate complicated procedure. Furthermore, both of privacy and security also were important issue in connection with patient satisfaction. Future research should explore and identify additional components of satisfaction that are specific to a web-based environment.


Abstract Kagan (2002) argues that the different responses of Europeans and Americans to major strategic and international challenges is not simply due to differences in the current administrations, but rather results from (i) a power gap and (ii) differing ideologies. This article applies Kagan's theory to climate policy, employing terrorism policy as a point of comparison. We argue that the power gap between Europe and America is unable to explain the differences in climate policy. In contrast, the ideology gap may indeed have some explanatory value. Furthermore, we argue that one additional feature is critical—the costs and benefits imposed by climate change and terrorism prevention, and the process by which such costs and benefits are evaluated, differ between America and Europe.