This paper examines filter tuning techniques for a sequential orbit determination (OD) covariance analysis. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in sequential OD, primarily due to the successful flight qualification of the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Onboard Navigation System (TONS) using Doppler data extracted onboard the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) spacecraft. TONS computes highly accurate orbit solutions onboard the spacecraft in realtime using a sequential filter. As the result of the successful TONS-EUVE flight qualification experiment, the Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 Project has selected TONS as the prime navigation system. In addition, sequential OD methods can be used successfully for ground OD. Whether data are processed onboard or on the ground, a sequential OD procedure is generally favored over a batch technique when a realtime automated OD system is desired. Recently, OD covariance analyses were performed for the TONS-EUVE and TONS-EOS missions using the sequential processing options of the Orbit Determination Error Analysis System (ODEAS). ODEAS is the primary covariance analysis system used by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD). The results of these analyses revealed a high sensitivity of the OD solutions to the state process noise filter tuning parameters. The covariance analysis results show that the state estimate error contributions from measurement-related error sources, especially those due to the random noise and satellite-to-satellite ionospheric refraction correction errors, increase rapidly as the state process noise increases. These results prompted an in-depth investigation of the role of the filter tuning parameters in sequential OD covariance analysis. This paper analyzes how the spacecraft state estimate errors due to dynamic and measurement-related error sources are affected by the process noise level used. This information is then used to establish guidelines for determining optimal filter tuning parameters in a given sequential OD scenario for both covariance analysis and actual OD. Comparisons are also made with corresponding definitive OD results available from the TONS-EUVE analysis.


My teaching philosophy and practice is driven by designing and executing a paedagogy in every learning encounter that will inspire, empower and encourage students, and motivate them to become better learners and ultimately better pharmacists. In this, I have been described by my students as passionate, meticulous, creative and enthusiastic in the way in which I present and prepare my material and lectures. Instead of focusing on a particular teaching technique, I utilise numerous tools and techniques to stimulate maximum learning in my students, and have thereby been developing my own skills as a university teacher. This journey towards finding the best teaching practices has motivated and inspired me to produce pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists who can learn independently and apply knowledge creatively.


This paper studies short-term forecasting of Canadian real GDP and its expenditure components using combinations of nowcasts from different models. Starting with a medium-sized data set, we use a suite of common nowcasting tools for quarterly real GDP and its expenditure components. Using a two-step combination procedure, the nowcasts are first combined within model classes and then merged into a single point forecast using simple performance-based weighting methods. We find that no single model clearly dominates over all forecast horizons, subsamples and target variables. This highlights that when operating in an uncertain environment, where the choice of model is not clear, combining forecasts is a prudent strategy.


Recent research has confirmed the impact of the use of electronic media on student performance. In an earlier article the impact of accessing reading and posting on a forum was studied, as well as access to reading resources. However, little is known about the relationship between the temporal frequency of these activities and an individual student's performance. In addition, some studies have shown different categorizations of student activities proving the usefulness of the prediction in understanding student learning. One of the biggest concerns when teaching courses in a virtual learning environment is to obtain a teaching experience which results in a better use of the course, for which we have determined the factors which influence academic performance. The present study raises the question on the basis of objective factors concerning interaction between the student and the system (specifically, the number of visited sites and resources, the number of visits and interventions in forums). We have implemented a tool to study these aspects using visual analysis. Study results demonstrated that there is a pattern in the frequency of behaviours and performance, which is repeated across different courses.


The defect relaxation volumes obtained from density-functional theory (DFT) calculations of charged vacancies and interstitials are much larger than their neutral counterparts, seemingly unphysically large. We focus on UO2 as our primary material of interest, but also consider Si and GaAs to reveal the generality of our results. In this work, we investigate the possible reasons for this and revisit the methods that address the calculation of charged defects in periodic DFT. We probe the dependence of the proposed energy corrections to charged defect formation energies on relaxation volumes and find that corrections such as potential alignment remain ambiguous with regards to its contribution to the charged defect relaxation volume. We also investigate the volume for the net neutral defect reactions comprising individual charged defects, and find that the aggregate formation volumes have reasonable magnitudes. This work highlights the issue that, as is well-known for defect formation energies, the defect formation volumes depend on the choice of reservoir. We show that considering the change in volume of the electron reservoir in the formation reaction of the charged defects, analogous to how volumes of atoms are accounted for in defect formation volumes, can renormalize the formation volumes of charged defects such that they are comparable to neutral defects. This approach enables the description of the elastic properties of isolated charged defects within an overall neutral material.


This paper addresses the overall problem of estimating the quality of a test suite when testing is performed at a platform-independent level, using executable UML models. The problem is that the test suite is often required to fulfill structural code coverage criteria. In the avionics domain it is usually required that the tests achieve 100% coverage according to logic-based coverage criteria. Such criteria are less effective when applied to executable UML models than when they are applied to code because the action code found in such models contains conditions in navigation and loops that are not explicit and therefore not captured by logic-based coverage criteria. We present two new coverage criteria for executable UML models, and we use an industrial application from the avionics domain to show that these two criteria should be combined with a logic-based criterion when testing the executable UML model. As long as the coverage is less than 100% at the model level, there is no point in running the tests at the code level since all functionality of the model is not yet tested, and this is necessary to achieve 100% coverage at the code level.


Adult orthodontic patients with missing mandibular first molars and large spaces to close have challenged orthodontists for many decades. Most of the techniques previously used to close such spaces have rendered equivocal results that typically result in compromised treatment. The mandibular protraction appliance offers orthodontic clinicians a method to close those spaces by bringing the mandibular second molars forward without retracting the mandibular incisors. This presents a method for managing large mandibular spaces without resorting to prosthetic replacements.


It's a great privilege to deliver this year's Susan Campbell Oration. I, like many others, had the pleasure of working with Sue on a range of activities. In 2007, Sue conducted a review of the La Trobe Law School Clinical program which was instrumental in helping ensure the program remained an integral aspect of the La Trobe University law course. I hope what I have to say honours Sue's memory and her contributions to legal education and clinical legal education in particular 2 .  My focus in this presentation is on how Australian clinical legal education responds to the various innovations and disruptions occurring in the legal arena. The scope and breadth of innovations is mindboggling. There are many predictions about what the future holds for the legal profession, from gloom and doom to utopia, and there  is a growing body of literature discussing the implications for the legal profession and legal education.  In reality, it  is impossible to envisage what the legal world will look like in ten years let alone thirty and that poses a real challenge for those involved in legal education, including clinical legal education. How best to prepare today's students for the unknown future?  Given that I have no expertise in digital technology and am certainly not a futurologist my comments relate to those areas about which I have some background: access to justice, social security and clinical legal education.  I briefly outline the variety and scope of innovations occurring in the legal world, discuss two related aspects namely access to justice and government decision making, using the example of  Robodebt , and then examine the potential for clinical legal education in these disruptive times. I argue that clinical legal education is well placed to take a more central role in Australian law schools and the training of 21 st  century legal workers.


Congestion-dependent pricing is a form of traffic management that ensures the efficient allocation of bandwidth between users and applications. As the unpredictability of congestion prices creates revenue uncertainty for network providers and cost uncertainty for users, it has been suggested that forward contracts could be used to manage these risks. We develop a novel game-theoretic model of a multiprovider communication network with two complementary segments and investigate whether forward contracts would be adopted by service providers. Service on the upstream segment is provided by a single Internet service provider (ISP) and priced dynamically to maximize profit, while several smaller ISPs sell connectivity on the downstream network segment, with the advance possibility of entering into forward contracts with their users for some of their capacity. We show that the equilibrium forward contracting volumes are necessarily asymmetric, with one downstream provider entering into fewer forward contracts than the other competitors, thus ensuring a high subsequent downstream price level. In practice, network providers will choose the extent of forward contracting strategically based not only on their risk tolerance, but also on the market structure in the interprovider network and their peers' actions.


In an experiment in non-formal schools in Indian slums, an incentive for attending a target number of school days increased average attendance when the incentive was in place, but had heterogeneous effects after it was removed. Among students with high baseline attendance, the post-incentive attendance returned to previous levels and test scores were unaffected. Among students with low baseline attendance, post-incentive attendance dropped even below previous levels, and test scores decreased. These students also reported lower interest in school material and lower expectations of themselves. Thus incentives might have unintended negative consequences in the long term for the very students they are most expected to help.


This chapter examines the role of Alice Paul's leadership in securing passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Recent scholarship on popular constitutionalism reminds us that constitutional history encompasses more than the work of litigators and judges; it also addresses movements for social and political reforms, including constitutional amendments. To achieve success, reformers must consider opportunities and constraints posed by the broader social and political context, make use of available resources, and devise appropriate tactics. All these strategic choices depend upon effective leaders and organizations. When the twenty-eight-year-old Paul assumed the leadership of the militant suffrage campaign, she sought to establish her place among an older generation of remarkable female reformers and activitists: Jane Addams, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Carrie Chapman Catt, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Florence Kelley, Mary Church Terell, Lillian Wald, among many others. Historians like Anne Firor Scott have called attention to the "extraordinary efflorescence of female leadership" in this era, and a rich literature in women's history has examined these leaders' lives and legacies. Paul's work in the militant suffrage campaign is one of the most notable examples of successful leadership in the "age of reform," and yet her role has never received similarly sustained appraisals. This chapter focuses, in particular, on two important features of her strategy: her use of a passionate politics relying on emotional appeals for recruitment, mobilization, persuasion, and contention; and her commitment to unruly defiance, through the party accountability campaigns and wartime acts of civil disobedience. Rather than simply describe these tactics and their results, this chapter instead draws on recent scholarship examining the role of leadership style and organizational form in social movements — what one scholar has called "strategic capacity" — in order to explore how these strategies were chosen and implemented, and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Paul's approach.


Objective: To identify factors associated with rural sepsis patients' bypassing rural emergency departments to seek emergency care in larger hospitals, and to measure the association between rural hospital bypass and sepsis survival. Design: Observational cohort study. Setting: Emergency departments of a rural Midwestern state. Patients: All adults treated with severe sepsis or septic shock between 2005 and 2014, using administrative claims data. Interventions: Patients bypassing local rural hospitals to seek care in larger hospitals. Measurements and Main Results: A total of 13,461 patients were included, and only 5.4% (n = 731) bypassed a rural hospital for their emergency department care. Patients who initially chose a top-decile sepsis volume hospital were younger (64.7 vs 72.7 yr; p < 0.001) and were more likely to have commercial insurance (19.6% vs 10.6%; p < 0.001) than those who were seen initially at a local rural hospital. They were also more likely to have significant medical comorbidities, such as liver failure (9.9% vs 4.2%; p < 0.001), metastatic cancer (5.9% vs 3.2%; p < 0.001), and diabetes with complications (25.2% vs 21.6%; p = 0.024). Using an instrumental variables approach, rural hospital bypass was associated with a 5.6% increase (95% CI, 2.2–8.9%) in mortality. Conclusions: Most rural patients with sepsis seek care in local emergency departments, but demographic and disease-oriented factors are associated with rural hospital bypass. Rural hospital bypass is independently associated with increased mortality.


The pyrrole derivatives having carbonyl groups at the C-2 position were converted to N-propargyl pyrroles. The reaction of those compounds with hydrazine monohydrate resulted in the formation of 5H-pyrrolo[2,1-d][1,2,5]triazepine derivatives. The synthesis of these compounds was accomplished in three steps starting from pyrrole. On the other hand, attempted cyclization of a pyrrole ester substituted with a propargyl group at the nitrogen atom gave, unexpectedly, the six-membered cyclization product, 2-amino-3-methylpyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazin-1(2H)-one as the major product. The expected cyclization product with a seven-membered ring, 4-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrolo[2,1-d][1,2,5]triazepin-1-one was formed as the minor product and was converted quantitatively to the major product. The formation mechanism of the products was investigated, and the results obtained were also supported by theoretical calculations.


Using Edwards's adaptation of Foucault's concept of discourse, this paper analyzes discourses of "internet freedom" that articulate notions of autonomy, coercion, the state and the individual in and through information and communication technologies, in order to better understand positive and normative understandings of the allocation of power in the digital age. Following an analysis of press accounts, policy texts and influential digital manifestos, two conclusions emerge in light of historically based understandings of autonomy and political subjectivity. First, internet freedom discourses demonstrate that language around ICTs employs ambiguous and contested notions of both users as political subjects, and of the entities that can limit those subjects' autonomy. Second, a critical reappraisal of political subjectivity and autonomy in light of digital technology can draw on the intellectual heritage of the twentieth century via a reinterpretation of Berlin's schema of positive and negative liberties.


Families represent the primary setting in which most children's lives are shaped and determined. Increasingly, children experience ongoing change in family formation and structure, and such fluctuation may threaten or diminish their feelings of security with regard to established family roles, relationships and routines. A number of studies have explored available support for children in the context of family transition, focusing in particular upon those organisations providing services to children and families. However, in order to gain more precise insight into the mechanisms through which children can best be supported, it is necessary to consult children themselves and to elicit their perspectives and responses to the changes in their family contexts. A primary aim of the present study, therefore, is to gain an understanding of children's strategies for coping with parental separation, and the sources of support that they find most helpful in order to adjust to these changes. The present study was carried out in the Republic of Ireland. Central to the framework of the study is the view that children are competent in expressing their perceptions and feelings regarding their relationships with their parents post-separation. Sixty children, in two age groups (8–11 years old, representing middle childhood, and 14–17 years old, representing adolescence) participated in the study. A qualitative approach was adopted with semi-structured interviews exploring children's perspectives on the role played by different types of support, both informal (family, friends) and formal (counselling/peer support services, school). Key findings in the present study highlight the importance for children of being selective about whom they seek and accept support from, with the family being the preferred source of support for the majority of children. The study also highlights the need to provide a broad range of services in outside agencies in a non-stigmatising way and at various stages throughout the separation process.


Background Elevated antibodies to latent herpesviruses have been demonstrated to be a reliable marker of diminished cellular immunity and recently have been associated with low socioeconomic position (SEP) in older adults. Extending these observations in a community-based study over a wide age range would provide an important new direction for investigating mechanisms underlying poor health outcomes in individuals with low SEP. Methods Anti-herpes simplex virus (HSV)-1 and anti-Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies were measured in blood samples from 1457 adults aged 25–90. Regression models were then used to determine the relationships between viral reactivation, age, gender, ethnicity and SEP. Results Individuals were significantly more likely to have higher antiviral antibodies (ie, reactivation) to both EBV and HSV-1 than one virus alone. Individuals in the lowest age group had less reactivation, whereas greater reactivation was observed in women and those with the least education. Compared to white non-Hispanics, Hispanics and black non-Hispanics experienced more viral reactivation. These relationships remained strong after controlling for sociodemographic factors as well as smoking status, body mass index and physical activity. Conclusions These results demonstrate that herpesvirus reactivation is associated with variables such as age, gender, ethnicity and education, and may play a role in poorer health outcomes in both younger and older adults.


This paper lists 52 taxa of lichens from J. A. D. Jensens Nunatakker in South West Greenland. 30 entries are new to the nunataks. Notes on the distribution of the collected species are given. The age of some large thalli of Rhizocarpon geographicum, R. inarense and Pseudephebe minuscula is roughly estimated. The colonization of lichens on the nunataks is discussed.


1. Idioventricular rate responses and adrenoceptor number have been examined in normal Langendorff hearts perfused at 70 cmH2O and in 'ischaemic' hearts perfused at 10 cmH2O. 2. In hearts perfused at normal pressure, ventricular rate responses to phenylephrine in the presence of propranolol were biphasic with low concentrations of phenylephrine reducing, and high concentrations increasing, ventricular rate. Both responses were abolished in the presence of prazosin (100 nM). In hearts perfused at low pressure, the negative chronotropic responses to phenylephrine were no longer present and positive chronotropic responses were enhanced compared with those of control tissues. The number of ventricular [3H]-prazosin binding sites was also significantly increased during ischaemia. 3. Idioventricular rate responses to isoprenaline were depressed in ischaemic tissues compared with controls, but [3H]-dihydroalprenolol binding was not altered in these hearts. 4. The incidence and duration of arrhythmias which occurred during 30 min of global ischaemia and reperfusion were not significantly altered in the presence of 100 nM prazosin. 5. These results demonstrate that reducing the perfusion pressure of rat isolated hearts enhances alpha-adrenoceptor-mediated responses and increases alpha-adrenoceptor density. Whether the increase in alpha-adrenoceptor responsiveness during ischaemia is involved in arrhythmogenesis requires further investigation.


Recent technological changes have been characterized as "routine-substituting," reducing demand for routine tasks but increasing it for analytical and service tasks. Little is known about how these changes have impacted immigration, or task specialization between immigrants and natives. In this paper we show that such technological progress has been an important determinant of immigration, attracting immigrants who increasingly specialize in manual-service occupations. We also suggest that open- ness to immigration attenuated job and wage polarization for natives resulting from technological changes. We explain these facts with a model of technological progress and endogenous immigration. Simulations show that unskilled immigration attenuates the drop in routine employment proceeding from technological change, enhances skill-upgrading for natives, and raises economy-wide productivity and welfare.


Talking Politics is a philosophical examination of some of the basic concepts of political discourse. Its primary focus is on the ordinary; on what is said by politicians, in newspapers and by people in pubs, rather than on the works of political theorists. This is a work of, but not on political theory. Talking Politics is: * Invaluable as a source of reference for students, and contains a detailed index * Arranged thematically, around topics such as 'Nation'. Each entry has copious cross-references and suggestions for further reading A. W. Sparkes is uniquely qualified to write such a book, combining some thirty years' teaching as a philosopher with wide experience of, and a life-long fascination with, politics. His attitude is that of a critical, but uncynical, observer.


Expansion of the New York State Newborn Screening Panel and Krabbe Disease: A Systematic Program Evaluation Roberta Salveson The purpose of this study was to conduct a formal program evaluation of the New York State newborn screening for Krabbe disease (KD), a rare neurological disease with variable onset of symptoms to assess 1) the perceptions of stakeholders 2) KD test characteristics, and 3) actual program costs. Using the CDC Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health, integration of qualitative and quantitative techniques was used to provide a comprehensive evaluation. Stakeholder input was elicited using semistructured interviews of medical professionals and parents and content analysis of the interview transcripts identified five themes: Legislative/Political, Unintended Consequences, Knowledge and Science, Communication, and Moral Issues. Finally, cost and charge data were used to calculate the cost of the KD screening program from the perspective of the State. Triangulation of the results provided the conclusions for practice and policy recommendations. Using the data from the State annual reports of 9 positive KD screening results, sensitivity was calculated at 100%, specificity was 99%, positive predictive value was 5%, negative predictive value was 100% and prevalence was 1/100,000 births. However, the State reports did not include the 19 infants with low enzyme activity and mutations that could develop into later onset forms of KD. When these 19 infants were included, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value remained unchanged; however, positive predictive value rose to 15%, and prevalence increased to 3/100,000 births. The total annual cost of the program from the perspective of the State was calculated at $750,652. For parents, the cost calculated from initial newborn screen to neurodiagnostic testing was $2669/family. Since 2006, there have been more than 1,000,000 infants screened for KD in New York State. While the screening has identified four infants with the early infantile form of the disease, there have been 24 others identified with low enzyme activity and mutations that may cause later onset forms of the disease, which are poorly understood. This unexpected finding suggests that newborns may be diagnosed with a disease that may not present symptomatically until adulthood. Unfortunately, the current confirmatory enzyme test and neurodiagnostic tests cannot predict onset of disease or severity of symptoms. In addition, the only available treatment, a cord blood transplant, is irreversible, has a high risk of morbidity and mortality, and long term outcomes have not been studied. While the cost of the program from the perspective of the state is not excessive, cost-effectiveness studies are needed to determine the cost of KD screening from the societal perspective, and should include treatment and follow up costs.


The main aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the marketing mix elements and customer loyalty in Algeria Telecom company and to achieve these aspects we distributed a questionnaire to a random sample of the company's customers so that we use structural equations modeling depending on the partial least squares approach "PLS" to analyze and test the search model. The study finds that product, process, and promotion have a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty.


In the current context of climate change, we attempt to elucidate the fate of organic carbon stored in permafrost by looking at microbial-driven carbon degradation in active layer samples of permafrost affected soils from Herschel Island in Canadian Western Arctic. The abundance, dynamics and function of microbial communities involved in consuming this organic carbon is analysed, especially those involved in the production and consumption of methane. Microorganisms involved in methane cycling are of particular relevance in frozen environments, as rising permafrost temperatures eventually lead to an increased degradation of previously conserved organic matter. This in turn leads to an increased methanogenic activity, creating a potentially dangerous positive feedback-loop for climate change. The point of focus here is the biodiversity and function of methanogenic and methanotrophic microorganisms thriving in such difficult conditions and their reaction to warming temperatures and a rapidly changing environment.
Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) was applied to analyse the methanogenic and methanotrophic communities based on two functional genes (mcrA and pmoA, respectively) in an active layer profile from Herschel Island, showing preferential colonisation of the middle and lower, partly water saturated active layer by methanogenic archaea (5cm to 35cm depth) and of the higher, aerobic layers by methanotrophic bacteria (0cm to 20cm depth). Incubation experiments under controlled variables at 10°C with no added substrate revealed a high methane production rate from middle (3.2 nmol g-1 h-1 at 15cm depth) and lower (3 nmol g-1 h-1 close to the permafrost table) active layer samples, and a lower but nonetheless consequent methanogenic activity in the upper sediment layers. Soil characteristics including soil moisture, C/N ratio, total organic carbon content and grain size were also investigated in order to help elucidate the observed distribution of microorganisms. Active layer samples generally have a high water content (41-88%) and very high organic carbon content (20-42%). The results obtained are being scrutinized to elucidate the adaptability of methane cycling microbial communities and the fate of organic carbon in the active layer.


Abstract. In order to analyze low-frequency variability of climate, it is useful to model the climatic time series with multiple linear trends and locate the times of significant changes. In this paper, we have used non-stationary time series clustering to find change points in the trends. Clustering in a multi-dimensional non-stationary time series is challenging, since the problem is mathematically ill-posed. Clustering based on the finite element method (FEM) is one of the methods that can analyze multidimensional time series. One important attribute of this method is that it is not dependent on any statistical assumption and does not need local stationarity in the time series. In this paper, it is shown how the FEM-clustering method can be used to locate change points in the trend of temperature time series from in situ observations. This method is applied to the temperature time series of North Carolina (NC) and the results represent region-specific climate variability despite higher frequency harmonics in climatic time series. Next, we investigated the relationship between the climatic indices with the clusters/trends detected based on this clustering method. It appears that the natural variability of climate change in NC during 1950–2009 can be explained mostly by AMO and solar activity.


It is undeniable that the vibration environment created by prolonged exposure to wheelchair use can cause discomfort for the rider and put him/her at risk of developing more severe medical conditions. While more research must be done to accurately quantify what constitues a harmful vibration environment, improved vibraiton isolation is an essential step. In order to incorporate structurally sound and effetive air suspension systems into motorized wheelchairs, a support structure is necessary. An after market wheelchair suspension system was designed, modeled, built and tested. Approximately 18 inches wide x 14 inches deep and 11 inches tall, the 50 lb suspension system uses a linear guide system and air spring to support the rider. A dashpot was added to prevent the amplification of the air spring's natural frequency, and a pneumatic system installed to store and regulate the air pressure in the air spring and allow for a longer ride time. Testing of the system validates the mechanical durability of the design with respect to joint separation, plate bending, and bearing breakaway resistance. The penumatic system also is found to support up to 14 ingress/egress cycles before reaching a minimum functional pressure level. This value was achieved using an initial charge pressure of 100 PSI. Further environmental and user testing should be conducted to see if a greater number of ingress/egress cycles is necessary. Further development of the suspension system will incorporate a partially active controller for the air spring in order to to reduce the suspension's transmisibility. Part respecificaitons are proposed in order to reduce system size and weight.


The term Wayang Siam designates several Malay shadow-plays of North Malaya and south Thailand, all possessing common features, one of which is that the basic repertoire is the Rama cycle. The largest number of performers reside in Kelantan where the commercial organization of performances is a major factor in their success. The play is generally confined to padi-growing areas and most performers are of peasant stook, without much formal education. Performers are generally professionals: the great majority have a secondary occupation and their economic status is little higher than other villagers. The performer has a dual role: entertainer and spirit medium, which latter results in opposition from orthodox Puslims. The wnyan ritual is a synthesis of local mediumship and Javanese wayang ritual. The art is not hereditary. Wide differences are found between the repertoire of teachers and pupils and the latter seek knowledge from many sources. The repertoire is Presented ae drama but may also be narrated to pupils. Each presentation recreates the story, for the words are not fixed. The language of the wayang differs from daily speech for the performer distorts his language to heighten the effect. Comparison of the basic repertoire of twenty-four performers reveals the existence of a distinct Wayang Siam version, although wide variations are found. The content of this version places it half way between the Thai Ramakien and the Malay Hikayat Seri Rama, although certain motifs are more similar to Javanese, Khmer and Lao versions. Not only is the Wayang Siam similar to the Thai and Malay versions but in its present state is the result of the intermingling of the two versions. Many Panji stories have also been adapted to the Wayang Siam and are performed as Rama stories. Some invention also occurs.


The decentralization reform process in Zambia has raised citizen expectations towards their participation in local democracy and development. However, a sense of mistrust has arisen among most citizens about the performance of the local governments in Zambia. Local governments are widely criticized and blamed for poor service delivery, even those functions to be performed by central Government. Proponents of decentralization agenda have argued that local government is the frontline of local democracy and development by which citizens must have the greatest opportunity to be engaged actively and directly in decisions affecting their well-being. Opponents of decentralization have contested that with the current institutional capacity of most local governments in Zambia, decentralization by whatever form is an exercise in futility because the local governments have not recovered from the hangover of the one party state system of local government. It is evident that decentralization is a key policy issue for Zambia though is not the panacea for local democracy and local development. Across the globe, many local governments are becoming more responsible for the social service delivery system. Opinion differs as to the type of decentralization reforms and is a matter in which citizens' appears so skeptic because of the perceived pitfalls of decentralization. However, the dominant view is that the decentralization process is good for citizens' participation as it enhances local democracy and local development. Of course it is not the answer to resolving the many challenges of institutional reforms because decentralization is a process and not end itself.


A gesture recognition method for Japanese sign language is presented. We have developed a posture recognition system using neural networks which could recognize a finger alphabet of 42 symbols. We then developed a gesture recognition system where each gesture specifies a word. Gesture recognition is more difficult than posture recognition because it has to handle dynamic processes. To deal with dynamic processes we use a recurrent neural network. Here, we describe a gesture recognition method which can recognize continuous gesture. We then discuss the results of our research.


The concept of effectiveness is hard to measure. There is no standard institutional process to adopt, enabling an evaluator to achieve his/her goals conforming to the default definition of effectiveness: lowering cost and improving services. The concept of technology was viewed as a "black box," something that could be bestowed on schools and classrooms from above. A higher education institution can be effective, if technology, teachers and administrators work together to provide challenging learning opportunities. This paper is concerned with the study of school effectiveness in primary and/or secondary schools. It proposes new key factors of effectiveness for higher educational institutions. Besides, through this study, a new model is developed for integrating technology effectively and efficiently in higher education institutions: "Higher education Effectiveness Bridge of Technology (HEBT)". This model emphasizes the vision of technology that best fulfils institutional goals and classifies all the functional areas based on the use of technology applications in terms of priority of improvements. Additionally, this model defines effectiveness as a system of change based on technological advances. In brief, to be effective, crossing this bridge must become a way of life in higher education institutions.


SUMO is a small protein that can be reversibly attached to proteins, regulating their function, localization, or stability. Kadoya et al. report that the Axin-associated protein, Axam, is a desumoylating enzyme and that this catalytic activity is essential for the ability of Axam to inhibit signaling through the Wnt pathway. Axin is a scaffold that brings β-catenin in close proximity to glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3), allowing β-catenin to be phosphorylated and targeted for degradation. Axam removed SUMO-1 from proteins in vitro, and in cells, overexpression of Axam caused increases in the pool of free SUMO. Under conditions in which β-catenin was artificially stabilized or in which β-catenin was stabilized in response to a Wnt signal, overexpression of Axam, but not a catalytically inactive mutant, promoted the degradation of β-catenin. In Xenopus embryos, the catalytically inactive mutant of Axam or a truncated Axam were less able to inhibit axis duplication than was wild-type Axam. Inhibition of the expression of the β-catenin target gene samois was also less in the embryos expressing mutated Axam than it was in embryos expressing wild-type Axam. These results suggest that reversible sumoylation is another regulator of the Wnt pathway. For details about Wnt signaling, see the canonical Wnt Pathway and the Xenopus Wnt Pathway in the Connections Maps. T. Kadoya, H. Yamamoto, T. Suzuki, A. Yukita, A. Fukui, T. Michiue, T. Asahara, K. Tanaka, M. Asashima, A. Kikuchi, Desumoylation activity of Amax, a novel Axin-binding protein, is involved in downregulation of β-catenin. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22, 3803-3819 (2002). [Abstract] [Full Text] R. Moon, Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway, Science's STKE (Connections Map, as seen in May 2002), http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/cm/CMP_5533 [Pathway] R. Moon, Xenopus Egg Wnt/beta-Catenin Pathway, Science's STKE (Connections Map, as seen in May 2002), http://stke.sciencemag.org/cgi/cm/CMP_6031 [Pathway]


Ontology is an important artifact of Semantic Web applications. Today, there are an enormous number of ontologies available on the Web. Even so, finding and identifying the right ontology is not easy. This is because the majority of ontologies are either not described or described with a general-purpose metadata vocabulary like Dublin Core. On the other hand, ontology construction, irrespective of its types (e.g., general ontology, domain ontology, application ontology), is an expensive affair both in terms of human resources and other infrastructural resources. Hence, the ideal situation would be to reuse the existing ontologies to reduce the development effort and cost, and also to improve the quality of the original ontology. In the current work we present an ontology metadata vocabulary called Metadata for Ontology Description and publication (MOD). To design the vocabulary, we also propose a set of generic guiding principles and a well-established methodology which take into account real concerns of the ontology users and practitioners.


The past four editions of "Concepts in Clinical Pharmacokinetics" have helped simplify a complex subject for thousands of pharmacy students and practitioners. The new, fifth edition of this popular teaching and self-instructional text makes it easier than ever to acquire a strong foundation in the basic principles of pharmacokinetics. The fundamental concepts along with mathematical equations are broken down to their simplest forms and a step-by-step approach is adopted to explain the 'how to' of this discipline. Completely reviewed and updated, the new edition includes all of the features that have made previous editions so effective and popular, plus many enhancements: 15 lessons ideal for a 15-week semester course and/or self-study, each designed to build comprehension and mastery step-by-step; self-assessment questions and practice calculations; additional case studies, plus expansion of existing cases to include sections on monitoring parameters and appropriate 'order writing'; more clinical correlates, plus an expanded 'cross-correlates' section for easy cross-referencing; an extensive new section of assessments of renal function; an expanded appendix summarizing the basic pharmacokinetic functions, and listing all equations needed to dose selected drugs; more in-depth answers and detailed feedback for incorrect responses; and, new graphics focus on relevant components of equations under discussion. The goal of this book remains the same - to provide the student or practitioner with the concepts and clinical applications needed for a better understanding of this complicated yet useful subject.


Surface textures are widely used to enhance absorption in an optical sheet by scattering weakly absorbed light into totally internally reflected modes. This study, which is based on ray-tracing studies of crystalline silicon solar cells with periodic geometric textures, investigates how the distribution of scatter influences absorption enhancement. The distribution of scatter is found to depend on the topology of texture facets as well as on the direction of incident light. Examples of the scatter characteristics in sheets textured with inverted pyramids, grooves, and perpendicular grooves are given. Broadly scattering textures are found to develop random scatter consistently only when exposed to isotropically incident band-gap wavelengths. Although broadband absorption enhancement from a geometric texture is affected by whether scatter is two or three dimensional, the fraction of rays blocked by the texture at early scatter stages is more important. Reasons are given as to why there may be geometric textures that enhance broadband absorption more than the randomizing texture under isotropic incidence.


Abstract Objective To examine timing of eating across ten European countries. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) calibration study using standardized 24 h diet recalls collected during 1995–2000. Eleven predefined food consumption occasions were assessed during the recall interview. We present time of consumption of meals and snacks as well as the later:earlier energy intake ratio, with earlier and later intakes defined as 06.00–14.00 and 15.00–24.00 hours, respectively. Type III tests were used to examine associations of sociodemographic, lifestyle and health variables with timing of energy intake. Setting Ten Western European countries. Subjects In total, 22 985 women and 13 035 men aged 35–74 years (n 36 020). Results A south–north gradient was observed for timing of eating, with later consumption of meals and snacks in Mediterranean countries compared with Central and Northern European countries. However, the energy load was reversed, with the later:earlier energy intake ratio ranging from 0·68 (France) to 1·39 (Norway) among women, and from 0·71 (Greece) to 1·35 (the Netherlands) among men. Among women, country, age, education, marital status, smoking, day of recall and season were all independently associated with timing of energy intake (all P<0·05). Among men, the corresponding variables were country, age, education, smoking, physical activity, BMI and day of recall (all P<0·05). Conclusions We found pronounced differences in timing of eating across Europe, with later meal timetables but greater energy load earlier during the day in Mediterranean countries compared with Central and Northern European countries.


The global community faces several very pressing environmental challenges such as climate change, depletion of the high-sea fisheries, and unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss. Governments are in the process of designing environmental policies to address these problems unilaterally, but also collectively (in the form of international agreements). Meanwhile, private citizens and firms are observed to voluntarily take protective action. Whereas standard game theory would predict that formal government intervention can only provide an extra stimulus for protective action, there are many examples of external interventions decreasing agents' propensity to undertake socially desired activities. This chapter provides an overview of the literature on the circumstances under which formal interventions can crowd out voluntary contributions to the common good. Furthermore, it is discussed how the effectiveness of government intervention may be improved by preserving the agents' intrinsic motivation to contribute to the common good.


This contribution investigates the determinants of judicial confidence. It argues that this is the decisive source of legitimacy for the third branch. Fairness and impartiality, i.e. the independence of the judiciary, are paramount in fostering citizens' confidence in the justice system. Through several multilevel analyses, the study tests whether judicial independence promotes the development of an individual's confidence in the justice system. The results show that judicial independence has a positive impact on the development of individual trust. However, public beliefs about the trustworthiness of judicial institutions do not seem to originate from constitutional rules (de jure independence) but from actual events and real life experiences (de facto independence).


Where is judicial review heading in the new millennium? The 14th annual Judicial Review Conference addressed this question and the papers - revised and updated - are now available in paperback. The papers are written by leading authorities, including Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC, Sir Sydney Kentridge QC and the Hon Michael Beloff QC. Topics include conflict between politicians and the courts, the influence of the House of Lords, academic influences on judicial review, and the case for a UK Human Rights commission - plus an interview with Lord Woolf on mediation in public law. Also included are two extra papers not delivered at the conference - on Parliamentary supremacy and new public management. Edited by Richard Gordon QC, this collection makes essential reading for anyone interested in judicial review.


The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm involves breakdown of the elastic laminae. Elastolytic cysteine proteases, including cathepsins S and K, are overexpressed at sites of arterial elastin damage, but whether endogenous local inhibitors counterbalance these proteases is unknown. We show here that, whereas cystatin C is normally expressed in vascular wall smooth muscle cells (SMCs), this cysteine protease inhibitor is severely reduced in both atherosclerotic and aneurysmal aortic lesions. Furthermore, increased abdominal aortic diameter among 122 patients screened by ultrasonography correlated inversely with serum cystatin C levels. In vitro, cytokine-stimulated vascular SMCs secrete cathepsins, whose elastolytic activity could be blocked when cystatin C secretion was induced by treatment with TGF-beta(1). The findings highlight a potentially important role for imbalance between cysteine proteases and cystatin C in arterial wall remodeling and establish that cystatin C deficiency occurs in vascular disease.


Abstract In this paper, we discuss in depth, one of the basic procedures that stands behind probabilistic seismic‐hazard analysis (PSHA), that is, the declustering of the seismicity rates. First, we explore the technical, scientific, and practical motivations that led to introducing the declustering of seismicity rates. Then, we show that for PSHA, declustering is essential only to minimize a spatial distortion of the earthquake occurrence process, but, conversely, it may lead to significant underestimation of the true seismic hazard. This underestimation precludes the possibility to test meaningfully PSHA against real observations, and it may lead to underestimate the seismic risk, whenever seismic‐hazard maps are used for risk assessment. Finally, we propose a methodology that can be used in PSHA to avoid this potential bias.


This essay is based on a featured lecture that I gave as part of the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal's 2 symposium on a proposed right of publicity law in New York. The essay draws from my recent book, The Right of Publicity: Privacy Reimagined for a Public World, published by Harvard University Press. Insights from the book suggest that New York should not upend more than one hundred years of established privacy law in the state, nor jeopardize its citizens' ownership over their own names, likenesses, and voices by replacing these privacy laws with a new and independent right of publicity law, at least not the versions thus far proposed.
The essay begins by busting a host of myths about the development of privacy law in New York and across the nation. The tort-based right of privacy was, and remains, the original right of publicity, and was even referred to as a right to stop "unwarranted publicity." Privacy laws, from the beginning, protected the famous and anonymous alike, and allowed for recovery of economic and business damages, as well as of emotional distress and reputational harms.
In the essay, I debunk the common, albeit erroneous, claim that the right of publicity was created in 1953 by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Haelan Labs. v. Topps Chewing Gum. Instead, the turn to a transferable and independent (of privacy) right of publicity actually occurred later, and was driven in part by Hollywood lawyers and heirs of celebrities who saw the advantages of a transferable property right in a person's identity. Such a shift, however, is often at the expense of the very individuals the right of publicity is supposed to protect. The essay concludes with some recommendations for New York, and for right of publicity and privacy laws more generally.


In their efforts to hold financial institutions accountable after the 2007 financial crisis, U.S. regulators have repeatedly turned to anti-money laundering laws. Initially designed to fight drug cartels and terrorists, these laws have recently yielded billion-dollar fines for all types of bank engagement in fraud and have spurred an overhaul of financial institutions' internal compliance. This increased reliance on anti-money laundering laws, we argue, is due to distinct features that can better help regulators gain insights into financial fraud. Most other financial laws enlist private firms as gatekeepers and hold them liable if they knowingly or negligently engage in client fraud. Yet, as long as gatekeepers maintain deniability, they can accommodate dubious client requests. Instead, anti-money laundering laws require gatekeepers to report to regulators suspicions of misconduct, even without clear proof of fraud. Because suspicions arise early in the gatekeeper-client relationship, conflicts of interest are not likely to be as strong. Moreover, the task of identifying suspicious cases can be more readily outsourced to compliance departments, lessening dependence on front-line employees whose future might be tied to specific clients. Finally, suspicions may arise even in gatekeepers who only have partial access to clients' transactions, and thus cannot come to full knowledge of the fraud. Inspired by the collaborative relationship between gatekeepers and enforcement authorities in anti-money laundering, we develop a theoretical framework that explains why this approach could operate as a general template for financial regulation. We then investigate the implementation of the collaborative model in practice. Starting from anti-money laundering laws' history, we present new evidence from recently released archival materials to illustrate that, rather than fighting proposals for expanding their regulatory obligations, private industry embraced them. Turning to the present, we discuss how the collaborative model has reshaped banking oversight in money laundering: it has leveraged the power of big data, encouraged the creation of dedicated compliance departments, and spearheaded one of the biggest inter-agency collaborations in the U.S. Finally, we discuss how the collaborative model could work in the future in two other areas of financial activity: broker-dealer regulation and equity issuance.


Inaccuracy in chemical kinetic models is a problem that affects the reliability of large-scale process models. Detailed and accurate kinetic models could improve this situation, but such models are often too computationally intensive to utilize at process scales. This work presents a method for bridging the kinetic and process scales while incorporating experimental data in a Bayesian framework. "Dynamic Discrepancy Reduced Modeling" (DDRM) enables the use of complex chemical kinetic models at the process scale. DDRM inserts Gaussian process (GP) stochastic functions into the first-principles dynamic model form, enabling a sharp reduction in model order. Uncertainty introduced through the order reduction is quantified through Bayesian calibration to bench-scale experimental data. The use of stochastic functions within the dynamic chemical kinetic model enables this uncertainty to be correctly propagated to the process scale. The model reduction and uncertainty quantification framework was applied to a reaction–diffusion model of mesoporous silica-supported, amine impregnated sorbents; model order reduction of over an order of magnitude was achieved through a sharp reduction in the resolution of the approximate solution for diffusion. GPs of the Bayesian smoothing splines analysis of variance (BSS-ANOVA) variety were applied to the diffusion coefficients and equilibrium constants in the model. The reduced model was calibrated using experimental dynamic thermogravimetric data, with prior probability distributions for physical model parameters derived from quantum chemical calculations. Model and parameter uncertainties represented in the posterior distribution were propagated to a bubbling fluidized-bed adsorber simulation implemented in Aspen Custom Modeler. This work is the first significant demonstration of the dynamic discrepancy technique to produce robust reduced order models for bench-to-process multi-scale modeling and serves as a proof-of-concept.


Clustering and classification are two basic tasks in data mining. As the complexity of data increases, the existing techniques for classification face a lot of challenges, for instance, classifying large high dimensional data with multiple classes. Therefore, new techniques need to be innovated to deal with data in large volume and high dimensions. In this thesis, we aim to propose a possible way to solve this problem by integrating clustering algorithm into classification work.
We propose a new classification framework. This framework consists of three phases: (i) a clustering algorithm is called recursively to build a decision cluster tree, (ii) a classification model is built from this decision cluster tree, (iii) new samples are classified by this classification model. There are many research problems existing in this framework. In this thesis, we describe our methodology for those problems.
In this framework, we propose a new classification method ADCC (Automatic Decision Cluster Classifier) that is designed to use a variable weighting k-means algorithm W-k-means to build a decision cluster tree so that the variable weights of each dimension can be obtained from the training data and used in classification. In partitioning the training data, W-k-means automatically computes the variable weights according to the data distributions so that important variables can get more weights and the noisy variables get less weight. In clustering a data set (i.e., a node), the class variable is removed from the data, so the class variable has no impact on the clustering results. The class variable is used in determining the dominant class for each cluster. To build a better cluster tree, effective methods for selection of the number of clusters and the initial cluster centers at each node are introduced. Furthermore, we use various tests including Anderson-Darling test to determine whether a node can be further partitioned or not. In this way, distribution of the training samples at each node is considered together with the purity and the size of the node. A decision cluster classifier consists of a set of disjoint decision clusters, each labeled with a dominant class that determines the class of new objects falling in the cluster. A series of experiments on both synthetic and real data sets have been conducted. The results show that the new classification method (ADCC) performed better in accuracy and scalability than the existing methods of KNN, decision tree and SVM. It is particularly suitable for large, high dimensional data with many classes.
Sometimes, ADCC method generates some weak decision clusters in which no single class dominates. Existence of weak decision clusters in the model can affect classification performance of the model. In a weak decision cluster, there is no dominant class, so it is difficult to justify the class of the new objects. It has been shown that classification accuracy could be improved after weak decision clusters were avoided from the model. Weak decision clusters occur because objects of different classes are mixed in the clustering process to generate decision clusters. If we assume that objects in the same class have their own cluster distributions, we can separate objects of different classes according to the object class labels and generate a decision cluster tree for each class of objects. Then, we combine the decision clusters of different classes to form the decision cluster classification model. In this way, weak decision clusters can be avoided. We propose a Decision Cluster Forest (DCF) method to build a set of decision cluster trees (decision cluster forest) which form a classification model. Instead of building a single decision cluster tree from the entire training data, we build a set of cluster trees from subsets of the training data set to form a decision cluster forest. Each tree in the forest is built from the subset of objects in the same class. The proposition for this methodis that the objects in the same class tend to have their own spatial distributions in the data space. Therefore, decision clusters of objects in the same class are found. The decision clusters in the same tree have the same dominant class. In this way, no weak cluster is created in such decision cluster tree. A decision cluster model can be selected from the set of leaf decision clusters from the decision cluster forest so the model is called a decision cluster forest classification model (DCFC). The decision cluster forest method has advantages of classifying data with multiple classes because the DCFC model is guaranteed to contain decision clusters in all classes. DCFC model is a more intuitive and direct multi-class classification method.
We propose a different classification method based on the tree structure. We propose a Crotch Ensemble classification model for high dimensional data with multiple classes. Generated from a decision cluster tree, a crotch is an inner node of the tree together with its direct children. If the dominant classes of children of a crotch are not all the same, the crotch is defined as a crotch predictor that is a classifier by itself. A crotch ensemble consists of a set of crotch predictors. When classifying a new object, a subset of crotch predictors is selected according to the distances between the object and the crotches. A classification is made on the object as the class predicted by the crotch predictors with the maximum accumulative weights. The experimental results on both synthetic and real data have shown that the Crotch Ensemble model is efficient and effective when classifying new samples.
We propose a special application of our framework in text data classification. A subspace clustering algorithm is integrated to build the decision cluster tree. We adopt cosine distance metric for this application. Experimental results have shown that our framework can integrate different clustering algorithms and other possible methods and can get better classification results for text classification.
Finally, we give the theoretical analysis of error bound of our DCC model. We prove that our Cluster-based classification model (DCC model) is better than the Object-based classification method.


Joshua Gornitsky " Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, Is the immediate jewel of their souls: Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him And makes me poor indeed. "-William Shakespeare, Othello 3:5


With this application note we aim to offer the community a production-ready tool for de novo design. It can be effectively applied on drug discovery projects that are striving to resolve either exploration or exploitation problems while navigating the chemical space. By releasing the code we are aiming to facilitate the research on using generative methods on drug discovery problems and to promote the collaborative efforts in this area so that it can be used as an interaction point for future scientific collaborations.


The prolific magnetar SGR 1900+14 showed two outbursts in the last decade and has been closely monitored in the X-rays to track the changes in its radiative properties. We use archival Chandra and XMM-Newton observations of SGR 1900+14 to construct a history of its spectrum and persistent X-ray flux spanning a period of about seven years. We show that the decline of its X-ray flux in these two outburst episodes follows the same trend. The flux begins to decline promptly and rapidly subsequent to the flares, then decreases gradually for about 600 days, at which point it resumes a more rapid decline. Utilizing the high-quality spectral data in each epoch, we also study the spectral coevolution of the source with its flux. We find that neither the magnetic field strength nor the magnetospheric properties change over the period spanned by the observations, while the surface temperature as well as the inferred emitting area both decline with time following both outbursts. We also show that the source reached the same minimum flux level in its decline from these two subsequent outbursts, suggesting that this flux level may be its steady quiescent flux.


This study explores the relationship between collective memory, delegitimization of the rival, and personal experiences, on the one hand, and personal and collective fear and hope, on the other hand, in the context of the Israeli-Arab conflict. A questionnaire was administered to 217 Israeli-Jewish undergraduates from three academic institutions in Israel. The dependent variables were levels of fear and hope on a personal and collective level, whereas the independent variables were collective memory of the Jewish past, delegitimization of Arabs, and the personal experiences of contact with Arabs, military service in the occupied territories, close relationships to a terror victim, and family relationships with Holocaust survivors. Results show that (a) delegitimization of Arabs has the highest correlations with fear and hope, personally as well as collectively; and (b) the centrality of Jewish collective memory is directly related to levels of collective fear. In addition, we found a combined interaction ...


A warehouse or distribution centre has a key and vital role to play in the success of modern supply chains within business in recent times – where the term 'warehouse' is referred to as the commercial buildings for buffering and storing of goods. Cross docking on the other hand is more concerned with the minimisation of transportation costs within the supply chain. In as much as it is a warehouse, cross docking looks at the transit of shipment of inbound goods to their prescribed destination within a period of less than 24 hours with no intention of keeping an inventory. One of the motivating facts that drive warehouses and distribution centres into being more efficient are the customer demands to deliver the requested shipments on time, in the right quantity, in the right place with affordable price.
In this study, the researcher analyses the dynamics of short-term scheduling in systematic supply chain distribution centres. The aim is to understand inbound and outbound operations, internal information sharing and to understand the role of short-term scheduling on resolving bottleneck. The phenomena of short-term scheduling is modeled by efficient scheduling of trucks, challenges encountered from inbound right through to outbound and the magnitude of information sharing within and among supply chain partners.


Central Asia is the center of origin for many Allium species and a rich genetic source of wild relatives of onion and garlic. For this reason germplasm collections of cultivated Alliums have targeted the acquisition of seed and bulb samples from this region, and several plant expeditions from Asia, Europe, and North America have collected Allium germplasm in Central Asia. Central Asian Allium germplasm has been valuable both as raw materials for scientific research leading to published data, and as starting materials for genetic improvement of the crop. Utilizing this germplasm it has been possible to improve garlic so it can be bred like other seed-propagated crops. Several interspecific crosses have been made between onion and other Central Asian wild relatives and these crosses have yielded useful traits for onion improvement Album germplasm from this region has also been important in elucidating the systematics and origins of diversity in onion and garlic. By any of these measures, Central Asian Allium collections have been valuable. Challenges and successes in collecting, maintaining, evaluating, and using these collections remain.


We have examined the organization of F-actin and focal contacts in eosinophils and the functional consequences correlated with their predistribution. In activated eosinophils adherent to laminin, F-actin is localized in large, uniformly distributed, dot-like structures. Co-localized with the F-actin are a variety of typical components of focal contacts including: the alpha 6 and beta 1 integrins subunits (which mediate eosinophil adhesion to laminin), vinculin, talin, pp125FAK, paxillin, and tyrosine phosphorylated proteins, but not the beta 2 integrin subunit which is not involved in eosinophil adhesion to laminin. In unactivated eosinophils on laminin (which do not adhere well) and in activated eosinophils on non-adhesive surfaces (human serum albumin, tenascin, or a mixture of tenascin and laminin), dot-like accumulations of F-actin do not form. When activated eosinophils are incubated on laminin in the presence of low concentrations of 1,1'-ethylidenebis(L-tryptophan), a remarkable rearrangement occurs. Both conventional and confocal microscopy suggest that the dot-like structures rearrange from a uniform distribution into thick, peripheral belts surrounding each cell with few dot-like structures internal to the belt. Functional consequences occur as a result of this rearrangement of focal contacts and the cytoskeleton. The belt of focal contacts acts as a size-dependent permeability barrier; fluorescent 8 kDa polyethylene glycol does not label the substrate underneath the cells whereas 3.5 kDa polyethylene glycol labels the substrate uniformly. The formation of belts of focal contacts also blocks the ability of eosinophils to migrate on laminin in response to a chemotactic gradient. While the mechanism of 1,1'-ethylidenebis(L-tryptophan) action remains to be determined, experiments indicate that the function of 1,1'-ethylidenebis(L-tryptophan) is distinct from the function of drugs that alter tyrosine kinase and serine/threonine kinase activities. Our observations reveal a novel mechanism for regulating cell behavior in invasive cells in which the rearrangement of focal contacts and the associated cytoskeleton may control cell migration and the sequestration of secreted cytotoxic and degradatory molecules. We propose that 1,1'-ethylidenebis(L-tryptophan) may mimic the function of an endogenous regulator of eosinophil morphology and behavior.


Chemical changes in palm and coconut oil, repeatedly heated for up to 9 times, were evaluated using Raman Spectroscopy. A decreasing trend in band intensities centered at around 1265 cm-1 which corresponds to CH bending in cis double bonds δ(=C-H) was observed, with the trend being more pronounced in palm oil. This is attributed to a decrease in unsaturated fatty acid content as a consequence of oxidation. On the other hand, an increase in band intensities centered at around 1640 cm-1 was observed in palm oil, but not evident in coconut oil. This is attributed to the formation of oxidation products from the breakdown of unsaturated fatty acids. Results suggest that in processes involving repeated heating, coconut oil appears to be more stable against oxidation than palm oil due to the low unsaturated fatty acid content of coconut oil.


The downdip width of the seismogenic zone is defined for 19 subduction zones. This width is measured from the base of the accretionary prism to the maximum depth of nucleation of thrust events along the plate boundary. Those two points are taken to define the upper and lower depth transitions from stable to unstable frictional sliding. The lower depth transition is found to be between 35 and 70 km. The dip angle of the thrust zone is also reevaluated. We find a linear increase in the dip angle as a function of depth, the slope of which varies between 0.2° and 0.6° km−1. The downdip width obtained, which is generally narrower than previously determined by most other authors, varies from about 50 to 150 km. We also determine the ratio of the rate of slip that occurs in earthquakes to the rate of relative plate motion. This ratio is defined as the seismic coupling coefficient (a). We obtain two different estimates of the seismic coupling coefficient: an average value from 90 years of seismicity and a value obtained using the slip-predictable recurrence model for large earthquakes. We find a large variation in the computed values of a along and among subduction zones. For most of the subduction zones a is much less than 1.0; for several it is less than a few percent. Worldwide, we find no significant correlation between either the seismic coupling coefficient or the width of the seismogenic zone and subduction parameters such as the age of the oceanic lithosphere that is being subducted, plate convergence rates or absolute velocity of the upper plate in the hot spot reference frame. Such correlation exists only for a few individual subduction zones where other parameters do not vary as much. The observed variations in seismic coupling could be explained as differences in the frictional behavior of materials at the plate interface. Some of these differences may be attributed to the subduction of large bathymetric features, the roughness of topography, the presence of unstable triple junctions and active-spreading ridges, and sediment composition.


Background: The association between dietary fat intake and the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) is still unclear. Objectives:We analyzed whether intakes of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were associated with CRC risk and whether these associations were modified by dietary fiber (DF) intake. Methods: This study was embedded in the Rotterdam Study, a prospective cohort study among subjects aged $55 y (n = 4967). At baseline, diet was measured by a food-frequency questionnaire. CRC events were diagnosed on the basis of pathology data and medical records. Multivariable adjusted HRs were calculated using Cox regression models. Results: During a mean follow-up period of 14.6 y, we identified 222 incident cases of CRC. There was no association between total PUFA, n–6 (v-6) PUFA, or SFA intake and CRC risk. n–3 PUFA intake was associated with an increased risk of CRC [tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: HR = 1.44 (95%CI: 1.02, 2.04), P-trend = 0.04]. When data were analyzed by food sources, only n–3 PUFAs from nonmarine sources were associated with an increased risk of CRC. A significant interaction between n–3 PUFA and DF intakes was found (P-interaction = 0.02). After stratification by median DF intake, an increased risk of CRC caused by n–3 PUFA intake was observed in participants with a DF intake less than the median [tertile 3 vs. tertile 1: HR = 1.96 (95% CI: 1.20, 3.19), P-trend = 0.01]. No association was observed in subjects with DF intake equal to or higher than the median. Conclusions: This study suggests that intake of n–3 PUFAs by adults is associated with an increased risk of CRC, which may be driven mainly by sources other than fish. Moreover, a complex interaction with DF intake may be present. J Nutr


Many Americans consider John F. Kennedy's presidency to represent the apex of American liberalism. Kennedy's "Vital Center" blueprint united middle-class and working-class Democrats and promoted freedom abroad while recognizing the limits of American power. Liberalism thrived in the early 1960s, but its heyday was short-lived. In Losing the Center, Jeffrey Bloodworth demonstrates how and why the once-dominant ideology began its steep decline, exploring its failures through the biographies of some of the Democratic Party's most important leaders, including Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Henry "Scoop" Jackson, Bella Abzug, Harold Ford Sr., and Jimmy Carter. By illuminating historical events through the stories of the people at the center of the action, Bloodworth sheds new light on topics such as feminism, the environment, the liberal abandonment of the working class, and civil rights legislation. This meticulously researched study authoritatively argues that liberalism's demise was prompted not by a "Republican revolution" or the mistakes of a few prominent politicians, but instead by decades of ideological incoherence and political ineptitude among liberals. Bloodworth demonstrates that Democrats caused their own party's decline by failing to realize that their policies contradicted the priorities of mainstream voters, who were more concerned about social issues than economic ones. With its unique biographical approach and masterful use of archival materials, this detailed and accessible book promises to stand as one of the definitive texts on the state of American liberalism in the second half of the twentieth century.


Retrograde serpentinized peridotites, belonging to the Internal Ligurid terrains, occur in eastern Elba island, Italy. The mesh texture (with pyroxene bastites) is the typical textural arrangement. The mesh rims are apparently fibrous, with negative optical elongation; cores range from isotropic to microgranular. Optical and chemical determinations indicate harzburgite (75% olivine and 25% pyroxene) as the protolith for Elba serpentinites, with characteristics similar to mantle peridotites from ocean basins. Microstructural analysis, led by transmission electron microscopy, indicates that the mesh rims, rather than being actually fibrous, consist of elongated lizardite crystals, having sharp triangular sections with apices pointing toward the mesh center; poorly crystallized material occurs in between adjacent lizardite sectors. The mesh cores consist of lizardite, chrysotile and polygonal serpentine, intermixed in variable amount and random mutual orientation. Bastites are generally poorly crystalline, formed by tiny lizardite lamellae with minor chrysotile. Mesh rims and cores have chemical compositions variable from specimen to specimen, but almost constant within each specimen; cores are always aluminium-enriched with respect to the rims; when present, nickel (after olivine) occurs in the meshes. Bastites are chemically simpler than meshes, and, independently from their optical appearance, always have an aluminium-rich composition; chromium (after pyroxene) always characterizes bastites. Chemical data indicate absence of long range chemical fluxes during serpentinization. The formation of the mesh texture (with bastites) is explained as a two-stage process. In stage I, the peridotite undergoes thermal fracturing and lizardite flakes start to decorate the pseudocubic fracture pattern (thus producing the mesh rim). Massive water arrival into the weakened peridotite induces stage II, where serpentinization is completed forming the mesh cores and bastites. In stage I the reaction is thermodynamically controlled, in stage II the reaction is kinetically controlled.


Sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA) plays a central role in the pathogenesis of diabetes. This protein has been recognized as a potential target for diabetic therapy. In this study, we identified astragaloside IV (AS-IV) as a potent modulator of SERCA inhibiting renal injury in diabetic status. Increasing doses of AS-IV (2, 6, and 18 mg kg-1 day-1) were administered intragastrically to db/db mice for 8 weeks. Biochemical and histopathological approaches were conducted to evaluate the therapeutic effects of AS-IV. Cultured mouse podocytes were used to further explore the underlying mechanism in vitro. AS-IV dose-dependently increased SERCA activity and SERCA2 expression, and suppressed ER stress-mediated and mitochondria-mediated apoptosis in db/db mouse kidney. AS-IV also normalized glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, improved renal function, and ameliorated glomerulosclerosis and renal inflammation in db/db mice. In palmitate stimulated podocytes, AS-IV markedly improved inhibitions of SERCA activity and SERCA2 expression, restored intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, and attenuated podocyte apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner with a concomitant abrogation of ER stress as evidenced by the downregulation of GRP78, cleaved ATF6, phospho-IRE1α and phospho-PERK, and the inactivation of both ER stress-mediated and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic pathways. Furthermore, SERCA2b knockdown eliminated the effect of AS-IV on ER stress and ER stress-mediated apoptotic pathway, whereas its overexpression exhibited an anti-apoptotic effect. Our data obtained from in vivo and in vitro studies demonstrate that AS-IV attenuates renal injury in diabetes subsequent to inhibiting ER stress-induced podocyte apoptosis through restoring SERCA activity and SERCA2 expression.


Following the lifting of the sanctions imposed on Libya by the UN in 2003, the need for developing cost allocation systems has become necessary. This includes aspects such as privatization, foreign industries, and competition. All these factors should be considered by the cost and management accounting practitioners of the Libyan industrial sector. Based on the findings of a questionnaire survey, supported by semi-structured interviews, this study has examined the state of cost allocation (CA) systems in terms of product costs of large and medium Libyan manufacturing companies (LMLMCs). A contingency theory approach is adopted and a frame-work is developed in order to investigate the accuracy of the product costs. The study revealed that the majority of the LMLMCs are influenced by the financial accounting mentality. Almost all of them are using simplistic traditional CA methods. A few of them have already contracted to develop (up-date or redesign) their CA system. In fact, almost all of them calculate inaccurate product costs when companies produce various products. The full cost-plus pricing method is rejected by almost all the surveyed companies that face high levels of competition. Instead, they traced the mechanism of market price or comparing product cost with the prevailing market prices. On the other hand, almost all the public companies are facing very low competition which enabled them to adopt the cost-plus pricing method. In contrast, almost all privately-owned companies are facing very high or high levels of competition. In terms of preparing cost information on time, some the LMLMCs do not prepare overhead budgets. Most of them prepare cost information annually and the majorities are preparing cost information in irregular periods. According to the important factors that influence the accuracy of product costs, it was found a strong negative relationship with the level of product diversity and accuracy, a strong negative relationship between the level of intensity of competition and the level of use of cost-plus pricing and a strong negative relationship between the level of ownership and the level of use of the cost-plus pricing method. Finally, the factors that constrict the CA development are as follows; absence of any internal leadership; lack of specialist managerial accountants; lack of top management support; lack of active training programs; centralization of decision-making; it is extremely expensive to develop the CA systems; absence of professional cost or managerial accounting bodies in Libya. With regards to the organization's size factor, lack of financial ability; lack of an independent cost accounting department are important. In relation to the organization's ownership factor, it was found only the low level of competition is important. While most previous studies focused on the implementation of ABC in Western developed countries, this study has contributed further evidence to the value of studying CA systems in terms of product costs with a managerial emphasis in the Libyan context. In addition, this research describes the degree of accuracy and preparing cost information on time. However, it determined contingency factors that restrict the cost allocation system development and influenced the accuracy of product costs in the LMLMCs.


Introduction Two decades after the report "A Nation at Risk" by National Commission on Excellence in Education (A Nation at Risk: The imperative of educational reform, 1983), education professionals are still struggling with the issue of improving academic achievement as measured by standardized test scores. To reinforce the sense of national urgency about this issue, The Teaching Commission (2004) published a new report, "Teaching at Risk", stating that teaching quality is a critical factor in attempts to improve our national's global competitiveness, security and future. Whether there is any association between teaching quality and the nation's ability to compete in a global economy is an empirical question mat should be addressed in a the context of carefully defining teacher quality. Purpose Purpose of this article is to examine the issue of the relationship between teacher effectiveness and students' achievement as measured by test scores. A strong belief among policy makers and public as well as private funding agencies is that test scores are directly related to the quality of teaching effectiveness (Kupermintz, 2002). This relationship implies that there could be a direct causality among teacher preparation, teacher quality, and student achievement. The terms "teaching effectiveness" and "teacher effect" are often used interchangeably in these conversations. In the following sections, we will discuss several aspects of each construct. Particularly, we discuss the following issues: (i) teacher effects, (2) teaching or teacher effectiveness, and (3) an educational model of school and teacher effects on student achievement. Fundamental research issues and concerns as well as an alternative conceptual framework for studying the relationship of achievement and teaching will be highlighted. Comparing Teacher Effects and Teacher Effectiveness In recent years, research on effectiveness of teaching has reported a direct relationship between its quality and student learning (Darling-Hammond & Young, 2002). Odden, Borman, and Fermanich (2004) indicated that teachers have a significant influence on student learning. However, the definition of teaching effectiveness is not clear and, in fact, is operationalized in terms of teacher effects, which are more easily quantified in research studies. Based on the literature discussion by Odden, Borman, and Fermanich (2004), the following teacher factors or effects are specifically identified. They were found to be, to different degrees, associated with student achievement and include: (1) years of teaching (Goldhaber & Brewer, 1997), (2) major of undergraduate study, particularly for mathematic and science teachers (Monk, 1994), (3) ACT or SAT test scores (e.g., Ferguson, 1998), (4) course work or degree obtained (Rowan, Chiang, & Miller, 1996), (5) quality of high school (Goldhaber & Brewer, 1997), (6) earning of a license (Darling-Hammond & Young, 2002), and (7) verbal ability (Ehrenberg & Brewer, 1995). Odden et al. (2004) suggest that these variables should be defined further, especially for the variables that show mixed effects. Whereas these teacher effects can be defined relatively easily and studied, the teacher effectiveness is a very different matter. While the teacher effects can be operational zed as, for instance, the gender, experience and salary level of teachers, the operationalization of teacher or teaching effectiveness is not clearly articulated. For example, it is relatively a simple matter to study the relationship between teachers' salary and student achievement as a teacher effect since there is a large variation in teachers' salary. One could conclude, therefore, that students taught by higher paid teaches will be more successful on tests than pupils of lower paid teachers. However, such a teacher effect cannot be necessarily translated into teacher effectiveness; that is, a teacher's salary may not have anything to do with whether a teacher is effective in his/her teaching. …


Tall buttercup is an invasive forb that has been reported in all but eight states and one Canadian province. The species has been of concern in Montana where it has invaded over 8,300 ha, and it has been particularly problematic in irrigated hayfield meadows that are used for forage production. This study sought to develop an integrated management strategy to control tall buttercup while maintaining forage production. Research was conducted over 2 yr at flood-irrigated and subirrigated hayfield meadows near Twin Bridges, MT. Treatments were randomly applied in a split-plot design with four replications at both sites. Herbicide treatments occurred at the whole-plot level: nonsprayed, aminopyralid (172 g ai ha−1), aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron (83 g ai ha−1 + 33 g ai ha−1), and dicamba (981 g ai ha−1). Split plots consisted of mowing and fertilization (28 kg N ha−1). All herbicides provided up to 2 yr of tall buttercup control at both sites. In the second year, aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron and aminopyralid reduced tall buttercup by 93% and 96%, respectively, for the subirrigated and flood-irrigated sites. At the subirrigated site, mowing reduced tall buttercup by 71%, and fertilization reduced it by 57%. Forage decreased following aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron treatments. The integration of herbicide, mowing, and fertilization did not improve tall buttercup control. Nomenclature: Aminocyclopyrachlor; aminopyralid; chlorsulfuron; dicamba; tall buttercup, Ranunculus acris L. RANAC. Management Implications: Tall buttercup has been a problematic invader in New Zealand for many years. In North America the species has recently been of concern, especially in Montana where it is believed to reduce forage production in hayfield meadows. However, there are no published studies on tall buttercup management in North America, and landowners have little guidance about how to control the species, while maintaining productivity and plant diversity. In this study, we sought to develop an integrated management strategy to control tall buttercup while encouraging the growth of desirable forage plants, including perennial grasses and clovers. We used two study sites, one in a subirrigated hayfield and a second in a flood-irrigated hayfield in western Montana. We tested four herbicide treatments, including nonsprayed, aminopyralid (172 g ai ha−1), aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron (83 g ai ha−1 + 33 g ai ha−1), and dicamba (981 g ai ha−1), mowing, and fertilization (28 kg N ha−1), applied individually and in all possible combinations. Aminopyralid and aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron most effectively reduced tall buttercup biomass. Dicamba also reduced tall buttercup compared to the nonsprayed treatment, but was not as effective as the other two herbicides. At the subirrigated site, mowing and fertilization used individually reduced tall buttercup. However, mowing or fertilization at the flood-irrigated site did not reduce tall buttercup, and their combination did not provide control at either site. Moreover, the integration of herbicides with mowing and fertilization did not improve tall buttercup control. Aminocyclopyrachlor + chlorsulfuron reduced perennial grasses at both sites, and all herbicides reduced clover, an important forage component of hayfield meadows, compared to nonsprayed plots across both sites. Although combinations of mowing and fertilization with or without herbicides did not improve control of tall buttercup over the use of herbicides alone, long-term integrated management can reduce selection pressure that could lead to herbicide resistance.


In the current work, the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations along with the energy and concentration equations for the fluid coupled with the energy and mass conservation equations for the solid (wood) are solved to study the transient heat and mass transfer during the heat treatment of wood. The model for wood is based on Luikov's approach and solves a set of coupled heat and mass transfer equations. The model equations are solved numerically for the temperature and moisture content histories under different treatment conditions. The simulation of the proposed conjugate problem allows the assessment of the effect of the heat and mass transfer within wood on the transfer in the adjacent gas, providing good insight on the complexity of the transfer mechanisms. In order to generate data for comparison, measurements of temperature and moisture content of wood samples in a thermogravimetric system were conducted under different operating conditions. It is shown that the predicted and measured values compared very favorably, implying that the proposed numerical algorithm can be used as a useful tool in designing high-temperature wood treatment processes.


Due to the necessity of developing analysis tools in the integrated ICT and power system domain, this paper describes and compares the architecture and configuration of two different ITC-power system co-simulation approaches called SITL (System in the Loop) and HLA (High Level Architecture) Co-simulation platforms. Both platforms make use of the communication network simulator OPNET (Optimum Network Performance). As indicated by the names, the former operates in real time, in order to perform SITL simulations, whilst the latter is based on the HLA interface between OPNET and the power network simulation environment EMTP-rv (Electromagnetic Transient Program). We provide several details on their implementation and present their features by means of the results obtained for two test cases. The paper aims at clarifying the type of analysis that can be effectively carried out by using the two different platforms.


The modern First Amendment began with a turn of the clock, on a Monday on March 13, 1919, the moment of the release of Justice Holmes's seminal opinion in Schenck v. United States. At that pinpoint in time, First Amendment history was reconfigured and the liberty-denying past gradually began to fade away in the years and opinions that followed. Holmes laid his claim to the conceptual turf and what followed is what we call modernity. True, Learned Hand had his moment, too, in 1917 with his district court opinion in Masses Publishing Co. v. Patten. But that opinion, for all its insights, took on meaning primarily as a comparative point to the work of the Great Holmes. And then there is the work of Zechariah Chafee, the scholar who lent his own measure of staying power to the Holmesian notion of free speech law. Before these three Harvard men, however, there was Utah born man who came onto the First Amendment scene, a man far less credentialed and polished, a University of Wisconsin Law School trained lawyer who championed a libertarian creed and contested the will of a very powerful man, Anthony Comstock. That radical lawyer, whose name and work have largely remained cabined in the confines of forgotten history, was Theodore A. Schroeder. Like Holmes, he too had a vision of free speech law. What follows is the first of a series of articles that introduces the reader to Schroeder and his many works concerning free expression. Those works first took root not in political speech, but in area of freedom far more important to the progressives of his day – sexual expression. We come to his story thirteen years before Holmes's glorious moment in 1919, on an occasion when Messrs. Schroeder and Comstock were to debate the topic of sexual expression. Several months later, Theodore Schroeder published an article in the Albany Law Journal ("The Constitution and Obscenity Postal Laws"), which is the main focus of this article. Drawing on a measure of history and analysis, the aim is to provide the reader with an idea of how Schroeder conceptualized his vision of free speech freedom.


Virtual engineering technology has undergone rapid progress in recent years and is being adopted increasingly by manufacturing companies of many engineering disciplines. There is an increasing demand from industry for qualified virtual engineers. The qualified virtual engineers should have the ability of applying engineering principles and mechanical design methods within the commercial software package environment. It is a challenge to the engineering education in universities which traditionally tends to lack the integration of knowledge and skills required for solving real world problems. In this paper, a case study shows some recent development of a MSc Mechanical Engineering course at Department of Engineering and Technology in MMU, and in particular, two units Simulation of Mechanical Systems(SMS) and Computer Aided Fatigue Analysis(CAFA) that emphasize virtual engineering education and promote integration of knowledge acquisition, skill training and industrial application. Keywords—Computational modelling and simulation, mechanical engineering education.