In 1964, a New York television producer penned a popular advice book for young women contemplating a move to the city. With the provocative title, Career Girl, Watch Your Step, author Max Wy lie explained that his chief concern was "the horrible incidence of crime that is overrunning our cities - and what the career girl can do about it to keep herself as safe as possible." Crime and violence were a fact of life in every urban neighborhood, he warned, and constant vigilance was a single woman's best defense. "No matter how accustomed to your own community you may become," Wylie warned, "never grow to feel safe in it. Feel threatened. You are threatened. You are never safe." (1964, 91-92). Wylie s alarmism grew out of his own personal tragedy. A year earlier, his daughter Janice Wylie and her roommate Emily Hoffert had been brutally murdered in their Upper East Side apartment. The gruesome double homicide occurred on August 28, 1963 - the same day as the historic civil rights March on Washington. Articles on the two events ran side by side in New York newspapers, but they seemed to have no relation to each other. In retrospect, though, issues of race, gender, crime, and personal security were closely intertwined in this case and similar ones that filled the headlines during those volatile years. At a moment when civil rights agitation and black militancy were sweeping the city, these cases produced a panic about "career girls" and crime that reinforced notions of women's vulnerability at a time when young white women were enjoying greater autonomy and visibility. While purportedly defending their new freedom, the emerging crime rhetoric sought to circumscribe female behavior and mobility through obsessive precautions with personal security and a reliance on male protection in the form of organized escorts and citizens' patrols. In 1966, conservatives and police exploited this racialized and gendered rhetoric to defeat police reform in the city in what proved to be one of the first major victories of a conservative law-and-order campaign that would come to dominate national politics in the late 1960s and help elect Richard Nixon to the presidency in 1968. Scholars have long noted the importance of race and urban crime in fueling the white backlash of the 1960s. But only recently have historians recognized the role of gender in these anticrime mobilizations (Flamm 2005) . This essay builds on that idea by showing how popular fears of crime in the 1960s were a response not simply to increased crime and racial transition but to new freedoms and opportunities for young white women who were joining the urban workforce in growing numbers. As white New Yorkers mobilized to protect women and children in their neighborhoods; conservatives used racialized and gendered anticrime rhetoric to craft their appeals for law and order. Building on popular narratives of the Wylie-Hoffert murders and similar cases, conservatives presented young women's newfound autonomy in the city as threatened by a growing black crime wave abetted by racial and judicial liberalism. The history of these events illustrates how notions of crime and personal security helped discredit sixties liberalism and the key roles that race and gender played in the process. The murders of Janice Wylie and Emily Hoffert occurred as the city s crime rate was just beginning its historic upward trajectory. New Yorks murder rate had been rising slowly for the past decade, from 4.0 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in the early 1950s to 7.6 in the early 1960s (see fig. 1). From a long-term perspective, crime rates at this time were still relatively low, but rising youth crime in the 1950s and early 1960s was already stirring public concern. In the late 1960s, the crime rate spiked sharply upward, beginning an unprecedented surge that would last until the early 1990s. Scholars do not agree on the causes of this surge, but a variety of factors - demographic changes, economic decline and restructuring, segregation and discriminatory law enforcement, rising rates of family dissolution, and a devastating heroin epidemic - were all likely contributors. …


In its attempt to transform agriculture, the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) focuses on increasing agricultural productivity, ensuring food and nutrition security, while promoting exports and import substitution in a sustainable manner. The Netherlands and Ethiopia collaborate to achieve, a.o. by a joint approach to transforming the Ethiopian seed sector. This project provides the basic analysis and recommendations for future activities to establish an efficient, well-regulated and dynamic seed sector that meets quality standards, adapts to climate change and market conditions, has transparent and inclusive governance and maintains biodiversity. The study focuses particularly on the needs of federal and regional seed authorities in terms of technical know-how, institutional capacity and mandates, skills, knowledge and resources.


The molecular genetic tools using non-invasive samples such as faeces have an important role for the monitoring of wildlife and identification of elusive and rare species of semi-aquatic vertebrates. However, under aquatic environmental conditions the faeces undergo physical changes that harm the direct identification by visual inspection and leads to the confusion of the deposits from different cohabitating species. Consequently, the need of a refinement of molecular procedures is suggested. In this study this task was focused on the study of the reliability of the PCR-RFLP method to easily distinguish the faeces of the desman ( Galemys pyrenaicus ) from ecologically related species, including N. a. anomalus , but using an in silico-RFLP strategy. In this work, the faecal samples were collected from 2013 to 2014 from the LIC "Sierra de Gredos y Valle del Jerte" in the Mountain Central System of Spain, where the southernmost European population of the Pyrenean desman still survives. One primer pair was designed to amplify a very short portion of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene containing targets for the restriction enzymes Hinf I, Mbo I and Hpy CH4 V, because the combination provides species-specific identifications. Pyrenean desman or Mediterranean water shrews were undoubtedly identified in the collected faeces. Moreover, the degree of homoplasy was studied under different scenarios of the three enzymes combination. Finally, the in silico-RFLP profiles given by the three enzymes combination have contributed with valuable information for a successful discrimination of faeces of the Pyrenean desman from those derived of Neomys fodiens , Neomys anomalus , Nectogale elegans and Cinclus cinclus . Click here to access supplementary files .


ESO and a large European consortium completed the phase-A study of EPICS, an instrument dedicated to exoplanets direct imaging for the EELT. The very ambitious science goals of EPICS, the imaging of reflected light of mature gas giant exoplanets around bright stars, sets extremely strong requirements in terms of instrumental contrast achievable. The segmented nature of an ELT appears as a very large source of quasi-static high order speckles that can impair the detection of faint sources with small brightness contrast with respect to their parent star. The paper shows how the overall system has been designed in order to maximize the efficiency of quasi-static speckles rejection by calibration and post-processing using the spectral and polarization dependency of light waves. The trade-offs that led to the choice of the concepts for common path and diffraction suppression system is presented. The performance of the instrument is predicted using simulations of the extreme Adaptive Optics system and polychromatic wave-front propagation through the various optical elements.


A normalized quadratic input distance function is proposed with which to estimate technical efficiency on commercial banks regulated by the Federal Reserve System. The study period covers 1990 to 2000 using individual bank information from the Call and Banking Holding Company Database. A stochastic frontier model is specified to estimate the input normalized distance function and obtain measures of technical efficiency.


Electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) have traditionally taken the form of PDFs and ETD programs and their submission and curation procedures have been built around this format. However, graduate students are increasingly creating non-PDF files during their research, and in some cases these files are just as or more important than the PDFs that must be submitted to satisfy degree requirements. As a result, both graduate students and ETD administrators need training and resources to support the handling of a wide variety of complex digital objects. The Educopia Institute's ETDplus Toolkit provides a highly usable set of modules to address this need, openly licensed to allow for reuse and adaption to a variety of potential use cases.


Achieving food system sustainability is a global priority but there are different views on how it might be achieved. Broadly three perspectives are emerging, defined here as: efficiency oriented, demand restraint and food system transformation. These reflect different conceptualisations on what is practically achievable, and what is desirable, underpinned by different values and ideologies about the role of technology, our relationship with nature and fundamentally what is meant by a 'good life.' This paper describes these emerging perspectives and explores their underlying values; highlights LCA's role in shaping these perspectives; and considers how LCA could be oriented to clarify thinking and advance policy-relevant knowledge. It argues that more work is needed to understand the values underlying different approaches to the food sustainability problem. This can shed light on why stakeholders disagree, where there are genuine misunderstandings, and where common ground is possible and ways


Engineering and scientific education condition us to expect everything, including intelligence, to have a simple, compact explanation. Accordingly, when people new to AI ask "What's AI all about," they seem to expect an answer that defines AI in terms of a few basic mathematical laws. Today, some researchers who seek a simple, compact explanation hope that systems modeled on neural nets or some other connectionist idea will quickly overtake more traditional systems based on symbol manipulation. Others believe that symbol manipulation, with a history that goes back millennia, remains the only viable approach. Marvin Minsky subscribes to neither of these extremist views. Instead, he argues that AI must use many approaches. AI is not like circuit theory and electromagnetism. There is nothing wonderfully unifying like Kirchhoff's laws are to circuit theory or Maxwell's equations are to electromagnetism. Instead of looking for a "right way," the time has come to build systems out of diverse components, some connectionist and some symbolic, each with its own diverse justification." - Patrick Winston


Flexoelectricity is an electromechanical effect coupling polarization to strain gradients. It fundamentally differs from piezoelectricity because of its size-dependence and symmetry. Flexoelectricity is generally perceived as a small effect noticeable only at the nanoscale. Since ferroelectric ceramics have a particularly high flexoelectric coefficient, however, it may play a significant role as piezoelectric transducers shrink to the submicrometer scale. We examine this issue with a continuum model self-consistently treating piezo- and flexoelectricity. We show that in piezoelectric device configurations that induce strain gradients and at small but technologically relevant scales, the electromechanical coupling may be dominated by flexoelectricity. More importantly, depending on the device design flexoelectricity may enhance or reduce the effective piezoelectric effect. Focusing on bimorph configurations, we show that configurations that are equivalent at large scales exhibit dramatically different behavior for thicknesses below 100 nm for typical piezoelectric materials. Our results suggest flexoelectric-aware designs for small-scale piezoelectric bimorph transducers.


This article investigates the profound ambiguity of the state in the organization of contemporary business–society relations. On the one hand, there has been a decisive shift from government to governance, encouraging private actors, such as corporations, communities and NGOs, to address social and environmental concerns themselves, i.e. without the state's involvement. On the other hand, however, the continued importance and relevance of the organized state is difficult to ignore. In this article we examine the role of the state in three cases of mining conflicts in Chile, one of the world's most important mining countries. Through longitudinal, qualitative research of conflictive mining governance relations between state organizations, large corporations and local communities, we show that the modes of influence conducted by the Chilean state oscillate between direct, central steering ('cathedral') and indirect, dispersed vouching ('bazaar'). Elaborating on Foucault's concept of governmentality, we offer a hybrid theory of state organization, where the dematerialization of the state's responsibility is seen not as the norm but rather as a particular mode of governance that sits alongside the underestimated, yet enduring, material involvement of the state.


Anthropogenic disturbances affect ecosystem structure and functioning. The quantification of their impacts on highly diverse and structurally complex ecosystems, such as coral reefs, is challenging. These communities are facing rising fishing pressure, particularly on Pacific Islands such as New Caledonia. The main objective was to quantify harvesting effects on invertebrate assemblages across two contrasting habitats (soft-and hard-bottom), by comparing communities in marine protected areas (MPAs) with non-MPAs using 10 biological and ecological traits. Patterns of trait composition were compared with those of species composition by non-metric multidimensional scaling and permutational analysis of variance analyses. Traits most responsible for differences between MPAs and non-MPAs were determined using SIMPER analysis, and predictions on shellfishing effects were discussed. A total of 248 species were recorded in hard-bottom communities, mainly characterized by mobile epifauna living on corals, crawling, and possessing a shell (molluscs) or a cuticle (crabs and echinoderms). Soft-bottom habitats contained 166 species, dominated by burrowing and sedentary species, especially shelled (largely bivalves) and worm-like organisms. Clear differences in species and trait composition between MPA and non-MPAs were highlighted in both habitats. Harvesting activities have community-wide effects that change the functional composition of invertebrate assemblages, in particular in terms of living habits and mobility. The observed shifts in benthic communities can affect the functioning of tropical coastal ecosystems and need to be included in small-scale fisheries management in poorly known tropical environments.


: P(reposition)-stranding is typologically rare. Nevertheless, many languages exhibit phenomena that look like P-stranding (Campos 1991, Poplack, Zentz, and Dion 2012) or involve P-stranding under common theorizing (see Philippova 2014 and references therein). These studies argue that these are not instances of P-comple-ment movement and provide alternative analyses. This squib addresses Russian prepositions that can be postposed to and apparently stranded by their dependents. They are proposed to be PPs rather than P-heads, with dative dependents adjoined similarly to external possessors. The analysis captures all idiosyncrasies of their nominal dependents and alleviates the need to posit exceptional P-stranding in Russian.


We present a new local approximation algorithm for computing MAP and log-partition function for arbitrary exponential family distribution represented by a finite-valued pair-wise Markov random field (MRF), say G. Our algorithm is based on decomposing G into appropriately chosen small components; computing estimates locally in each of these components and then producing a good global solution. We prove that the algorithm can provide approximate solution within arbitrary accuracy when G excludes some finite sized graph as its minor and G has bounded degree: all Planar graphs with bounded degree are examples of such graphs. The running time of the algorithm is Θ(n) (n is the number of nodes in G), with constant dependent on accuracy, degree of graph and size of the graph that is excluded as a minor (constant for Planar graphs).

Our algorithm for minor-excluded graphs uses the decomposition scheme of Klein, Plotkin and Rao (1993). In general, our algorithm works with any decomposition scheme and provides quantifiable approximation guarantee that depends on the decomposition scheme.


As part of the reconstruction of Interstate 90 in Seattle, Washington, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) designed and supervised the construction of a geosynthetic reinforced soil (GRS) retaining wall located on Rainier Avenue, Seattle. The Rainier Avenue wall had a maximum height of 12.6 m and supported a nearly 6-m-high surcharge fill. At the time it was constructed, it was the highest GRS wall in the world. The wall was extensively instrumented and monitored during and after construction to evaluate its face deflections and the strain levels occurring in it. To define the actual stress distribution occurring in the Rainier Avenue wall, a two-phase research project was conducted by the University of Washington. Phase I included an extensive laboratory test program that used a newly developed plane strain device. Numerical analysis and modeling of the results of the instrumentation and laboratory tests constituted Phase II. The major tasks of the Phase II project were to (1) analyze the test result of the unit cell device (UCD), a plane strain GRS element testing device developed in Phase I; (2) develop numerical models of the Rainier Avenue wall using both material properties and test results of the UCD; and (3) using the results of tasks 1 and 2, develop a methodology for analyzing the working stress-strain distribution in the GRS retaining structures. The Phase II project was conducted from September 1995 to December 1997. During this period, two research programs were conducted simultaneously. One program concentrated on analyzing the UCD test results, and the other on developing the numerical models of the Rainier Avenue wall. Significant results were obtained from both research programs. Products of the Phase II research include an elasticity model that is capable of analyzing GRS behavior, composite properties of GRS elements, and four numerical models of the Rainier Avenue wall. Improved understanding of the working stress-strain distribution inside GRS retaining structures was also obtained with these products.


The complexity of computationally-intensive scientific research poses great challenges for both research data management and research reproducibility. What metadata needs to be captured for tracking, reproducing, and reusing computational results is the starting point in developing metadata models to fulfil these functions of data management. This paper reports the findings from interviews with gravitational wave (GW) researchers, which were designed to gather user requirements to develop a metadata model. Motivations for keeping documentation of data and analysis results include trust, accountability and continuity of work. Research reproducibility relies on metadata that represents code dependencies and versions and has good documentation for verification. Metadata specific to GW data, workflows and outputs tend to differ from those currently available in metadata standards. The paper also discusses the challenges in representing code dependencies and workflows. .


Classes students taken in higher education tend to be lecture dominated. The instructor then lectures to students from notes in his/her possession. It can become a one way street of communication. The message moves from the Instructor to students via lecture notes. Students tend to be passive individuals in the process. The student then is to absorb the information as it is presented. Generally, students take many notes as the lecture is presented. Sometimes, a student has a cassette recorder to record what is being presented. A student may ask ahead of time if this is permissible. While taking notes on the class lecture, the student's attention is divided between the lecture and the notes being taken. There are selected assumptions when using lecture as an only method of instruction in higher education. These assumptions include the following: 1. students learn best with the lecture method of instruction. 2. the instructor has the necessary knowledge to be transmitted which students do not have. 3. lecture is the most efficient approach to use in teaching students. 4. students can use and apply that which has been received from the instructor. 5. committee work and questions from students waste valuable time and tends to deal with the mundane. Philosophies of instruction need to be assessed by the instructor in teaching and learning situations. Might there be additional methods which may be used in teaching on the higher education IeveI? Teaching and Learning In Higher Education There are principles of learning from educational psychology which need to be implemented in the higher education curriculum. These principles of learning should assist students to achieve at a more optimal rate of achievement. Each may be assessed if used by the instructor to improve instruction. Thus, educational psychologists recommend using the following: 1. interest is a powerful factor in learning. Instructors need to develop and maintain student interest in the subject matter being taught. Proper use of the voice with appropriate stress, pitch, and juncture should aid in obtaining student interest. Using a variety of activities should stimulate interest in wanting to learn. Boredom and the routine can be avoided when the instructor varies learning opportunities for students. Goal centered instruction definitely needs to be stressed when a variety of learning opportunities are provided for students. 2. motivated learners achieve at a higher rate as compared to the unmotivated. Thus, learning opportunities for students need to motivate and encourage optimal student achievement. Challenging students with quality learning opportunities and high instructor expectations should definitely foster learner achievement and progress. 3. useful learning opportunities need to be provided. In teacher education classes, students need to experience that which can be useful in teaching and learning in the public schools. Students need to perceive how learning opportunities provided in class and in public school field experiences may be used to become a truly professional teacher. Application of ideas from classroom related experiences may then be used in the present as well as In the nearby future as a fully licensed, certified teacher. Useful knowledge and skills are more acceptable to students compared to that which has little/no perceived use. 4. meaningful learning needs to be in evidence. With meaning, students learn concepts and generalizations in depth, not survey procedures. A variety of procedures need to be in evidence to assist students to achieve intensity in acquiring subject matter. Intensity is opposite of shallow attaining of ideas. With depth, intensity teaching and learning, students should be able to make better use of subject matter from classroom endeavors, if students do not understand content presented from a variety of learning opportunities, they will not be able to use what has been learned. …


At present China is in the period of a market economy and modern social transition. Why has the number of women entrepreneurs increased? What leads women to leave their jobs and start their own businesses? Social capital is fundamental resources for women to be self-employed, with key resources of mobilization in female entrepreneur being directly determined by her amount of social capital which concerns corporate existence and business development. However, for a longtime, due to structural and other factors, opportunities are extremely limited for women access to social capital and gender differences in social capital set women entrepreneurs in a marginal status. Therefore,The purpose of the study was to identify the perceived personal characteristics and social capital within each woman who and how pursued entrepreneurship. Constructing social capital and enhancing the organizations network resources for the expansion of women entrepreneurship space has become essential in the context of constructing harmonious society.


Abstract Stability and bifurcation analyses of boiling water reactors have been carried out using a reduced-order two-channel model developed earlier by Karve et al. To parameterize azimuthal asymmetry in core loading, an amplification factor F is introduced into the model to vary azimuthal mode feedback coefficients. Bifurcation analysis code BIFDD and numerical integration are used to analyze the reduced-order model composed of 22 modified ordinary differential equations. Results are presented for effects of azimuthal asymmetry (as parameterized by the amplification parameter F) on characteristics of oscillations. Analysis of eigenvectors corresponding to the two pairs of complex conjugate eigenvalues with the largest and second largest real parts suggests that one of these pairs is responsible for in-phase oscillations and the other for the out-of-phase oscillations. For a uniform core without azimuthal asymmetry (F = 1), as a bifurcation parameter (total pressure drop) is varied, the pair of eigenvalues corresponding to the fundamental mode first cross the imaginary axis, thus making the system unstable and leading to in-phase oscillations. However, for azimuthally asymmetric cores (corresponding to large values of F) and small inlet subcooling, the pair of eigenvalues corresponding to the first azimuthal mode, whose real part is the second largest for F = 1 case, approach the vertical axis faster (as a bifurcation parameter is varied) than those corresponding to the fundamental mode, thus becoming the dominant pair of eigenvalues. This leads to out-of-phase oscillations. Results of bifurcation analyses show that both sub- and supercritical bifurcation can occur for large as well as small azimuthal asymmetry, depending on values of other operating parameters. Changes in characteristics of oscillations (in-phase or out-of-phase; super- or subcritical bifurcation), therefore, result along the stability boundary. Numerical integrations confirm the results of stability and bifurcation analyses.


We present an analysis of the nearby electromagnetic fields generated by lightning discharges in the presence of a horizontally stratified, two-layer ground. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the effect of ground stratification on underground fields generated by lightning is analyzed. The analysis is performed by solving Maxwell's equations using the finite-difference time-domain technique. The return stroke channel is modeled using the modified transmission line model with exponential decay. The effect of the soil stratification on both above-ground fields and the fields penetrating into the ground is illustrated and discussed for two different cases characterized, respectively, by an upper layer more conductive than the lower level, and vice versa. The analysis was carried out for close distances (10 m-100 m from the channel). It is shown that, for these distances, the ground stratification does not significantly affect the electromagnetic fields above the ground. The above-ground vertical electric field and the azimuthal component of the magnetic field can be calculated assuming the ground as a perfectly conducting plane. The above-ground horizontal electric field is essentially determined by the characteristics of the conductive layer and it can be computed considering a homogeneous ground characterized by the conductive layer conductivity as long as the depth of the upper layer remains below 10 m or so. In general, the fields penetrating into the ground are markedly affected by the soil stratification. The electromagnetic field components inside the stratified soil are generally characterized by faster rise times compared to those of the field components in the case of a homogeneous ground with the upper layer characteristics. The peak value of the horizontal electric field is found to be very sensitive to the ground stratification. The horizontal electric field peak decreases considerably in the presence of a lower layer of higher conductivity. On the other hand, the presence of a lower layer with lower conductivity results in an increase of the peak value of the underground horizontal electric field.


Sensitivity to pain and touch was measured in the nipple, areola, and cutaneous breast tissue of prepubertal boys and girls, postpubertal men and nuliparous women before and after delivery. Before puberty there were no differences between the sexes, but after puberty the tactile sensitivity of all areas of the women's breast was significantly greater than the men's. Tactil sensitivity of all areas also varied during the menstrual cycle, with maximal sensitivity at midcycle and at menstruation; the mid-cycle peak was absent when the women were taking oral contraceptives. But the most dramatic changes occured within 24 hours of parturition, when there was a great increase in breast sensitivity. This may be the key event for activating the suckling-induced discharge of oxytocin and prolactin and inhibiting ovulation during lactation.


The transformation of Chinese cosmopolitanism (tian xia) from the meaning of geographic space in the time of "Five Emperors (wu di) and Three Dynasties (san dai )" to the universal ethics based on humanheartedness (ren ) in the time of the Qin and Han witnesses a critical change in the making of the Chinese people. The importance of Chinese cosmopolitanism is seen in its role in the preservation of a unified Chinese territory and in the integration of the Chinese people. Chinese cosmopolitanism also gave rise to an ethical liberalism of the Chinese style, sustaining Chinese people in their social lives and cultivating their individual achievements. Chinese cosmopolitanism does not only reflect the geographical and ethical experiences of Chinese people that originated in their "Families (jia)" at the stage of patriarchal society, but also symbolizes the Chinese people in their acknowledging of the wider "geographic world" and developing universal values over more than two-thousand years. During the current age of globalization we should aim at mutual communication and benefit between human-heartedness (ren) combined with rites (li, or proper conduct), as exhibited in Chinese cosmopolitanism, and universal human rights as exhibited in world pacifism.


Signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) regulates transcriptional activation in response to interleukin-4 (IL-4)-induced tyrosine phosphorylation by direct interaction with coactivators. The CREB-binding protein and the nuclear coactivator 1 (NCoA-1), a member of the p160/steroid receptor coactivator family, bind independently to specific regions of STAT6 and act as coactivators. In this study we show that an LXXLL motif in the STAT6 transactivation domain mediates the interaction with NCoA-1. Peptides representing this motif as well as antibodies generated against this motif inhibited STAT6/NCoA-1 interaction in glutathione S-transferase pulldown assays. Peptides derived from the STAT6 transactivation domain adjacent to the LXXLL motif as well as antibodies against these peptides showed no inhibitory effect. Mutagenesis of the LXXLL motif eliminated the STAT6/NCoA-1 interaction in vitro and in vivo, supporting the specific role of this motif in NCoA-1 binding. Importantly, mutagenesis of the STAT-LXXLL motif strongly diminished the IL-4-regulated activation of the endogenous STAT6 target gene eotaxin-3. Taken together, these results indicate that the STAT6-LXXLL-binding motif mediates the interaction with NCoA-1 in transcriptional activation and represents a new potential drug target for the inhibition of the STAT6 transactivation function in allergic diseases.


In general, current Building Energy Simulation Tools are used for pre-construction design and comparison of designs rather than a full exact varying representation of reality. To provide the best level of detail full CFD analysis for the entire building would be required. However this is currently by far outside the scope of current computing power for a building energy system. Because these simulation tools are designed for comparison of potential designs and because of the difficulty in predicting occupant behaviour, very often the predicted results do not correlate with the real actual performance when buildings are in operation. From project experience encountered in the EU FP7 IntUBE project, a deficit has been encountered whereby the correlation between simulation results and real measured data is not entirely accurate. This paper discusses a method of validation, which will provide a means of comparing measured data (e.g. sensors and weather data), and simulated data (e.g. near future simulations). This method for validation of building simulation results initially involves a comparison of data from building simulation and respective measured sensor readings. From this comparison, value is added from correction of simulation results, and/or input to simulation parameters. Further worth can also be provided by gaining knowledge for creation of simulation profiles which are difficult to predict before construction & operation. Additional value can also be derived from identifying conditions of poor results and relevant factors which can be corrected. Simulation data and actual data is available from a housing unit in Barcelona Spain and research building in Cork Ireland.The expected result to be derived from this method is to give an indication of quality of simulated data results and provide feedback. If the difference between simulated and real data is too large, steps to improve results will be suggested. In future it is envisioned that automated adjustments may performed to simulation inputs to correct results. Aside from near future simulation validation, the tool may be able to provide long term commissioning feedback to detect and alert users to long term degradation of systems and possible maintenance or repair remedies.


Transparent bilayer coatings that produce total refraction (TR) of obliquely incident monochromatic light into an underlying substrate are considered. When the substrate is transparent, it is shown that TR takes place without any accompanying change of polarization. Totally refracting bilayers are realizable in the IR where high-refractive-index substrates are available. This is illustrated by a BaF2–ZnSe bilayer on a Ge substrate at a 10.6-μm (CO2 laser) wavelength and 45° angle of incidence. Limited changes of the angle of incidence, wavelength, and refractive indices and thicknesses of the two films of the bilayer are introduced, and their effects on the condition of TR are determined. TR (hence absorption) is also possible for absorbing (semiconductor or metallic) substrates using transparent bilayers of films of nonquarter-wave optical thickness, as is further demonstrated in this paper.


[1] We investigated seismic signals generated during a large-scale, multiple iceberg calving event that occurred at Jakobshavn Isbrae, Greenland, on 21 August 2009. The event was recorded by a high-rate time-lapse camera and five broadband seismic stations located within a few hundred kilometers of the terminus. During the event two full-glacier-thickness icebergs calved from the grounded (or nearly grounded) terminus and immediately capsized; the second iceberg to calve was two to three times smaller than the first. The individual calving and capsize events were well-correlated with the radiation of low-frequency seismic signals (<0.1 Hz) dominated by Love and Rayleigh waves. In agreement with regional records from previously published 'glacial earthquakes', these low-frequency seismic signals had maximum power and/or signal-to-noise ratios in the 0.05–0.1 Hz band. Similarly, full waveform inversions indicate that these signals were also generated by horizontal single forces acting at the glacier terminus. The signals therefore appear to be local manifestations of glacial earthquakes, although the magnitudes of the signals (twice-time integrated force histories) were considerably smaller than previously reported glacial earthquakes. We thus speculate that such earthquakes may be a common, if not pervasive, feature of all full-glacier-thickness calving events from grounded termini. Finally, a key result from our study is that waveform inversions performed on low-frequency, calving-generated seismic signals may have only limited ability to quantitatively estimate mass losses from calving. In particular, the choice of source time function has little impact on the inversion but dramatically changes the earthquake magnitude. Accordingly, in our analysis, it is unclear whether the smaller or larger of the two calving icebergs generated a larger seismic signal.


Airborne dust is the main climatic agent in the Martian environment. Local dust storms play a key role in the dust cycle; yet their life cycle is poorly known. Here we use mesoscale modeling that includes the transport of radiatively active dust to predict the evolution of a local dust storm monitored by OMEGA on board Mars Express. We show that the evolution of this dust storm is governed by deep convective motions. The supply of convective energy is provided by the absorption of incoming sunlight by dust particles, rather than by latent heating as in moist convection on Earth. We propose to use the terminology "rocket dust storm," or conio‐cumulonimbus, to describe those storms in which rapid and efficient vertical transport takes place, injecting dust particles at high altitudes in the Martian troposphere (30–50 km). Combined to horizontal transport by large‐scale winds, rocket dust storms produce detached layers of dust reminiscent of those observed with Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Since nighttime sedimentation is less efficient than daytime convective transport, and the detached dust layers can convect during the daytime, these layers can be stable for several days. The peak activity of rocket dust storms is expected in low‐latitude regions at clear seasons (late northern winter to late northern summer), which accounts for the high‐altitude tropical dust maxima unveiled by Mars Climate Sounder. Dust‐driven deep convection has strong implications for the Martian dust cycle, thermal structure, atmospheric dynamics, cloud microphysics, chemistry, and robotic and human exploration.


Principal slip surfaces in fault zones accommodate most of the displacement during earthquakes. The topography of these surfaces is integral to earthquake and fault mechanics, but is practically unknown at the scale of earthquake slip. We use new laser-based methods to map exposed fault surfaces over scales of 10 µm to 120 m. These data provide the fi rst quantitative evidence that fault-surface roughness evolves with increasing slip. Thousands of profi les ranging from 10 µm to >100 m in length show that small-slip faults (slip <1 m) are rougher than large-slip faults (slip 10‐100 m or more) parallel to the slip direction. Surfaces of small-slip faults have asperities over the entire range of observed scales, while large-slip fault surfaces are polished, with RMS values of <3 mm on profi les as long as 1‐2 m. The large-slip surfaces show smooth, elongate, quasi-elliptical bumps that are meters long and as high as ~1 m. We infer that these bumps evolve during fault maturation. This difference in geometry implies that the nucleation, growth, and termination of earthquakes on evolved faults are fundamentally different than on new ones.


It is still unclear why children diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD) experience so many difficulties acquiring their native language. The research described in this dissertation investigated whether differences in the ease with which children acquire language are related to children's sensitivity to statistical regularities (i.e. statistical learning) in the input. The following questions were addressed: (1) can we detect differences in statistical learning at the group and individual level (this concerns the measurement of statistical learning), (2) are individual differences in statistical learning associated with language proficiency and (3) can the language difficulties observed in children with DLD be explained by a statistical learning deficit that is observable across modalities, domains and dependency types? With four empirical studies and two meta-analyses we aimed to answer these questions. Using online and offline measures of learning, we found evidence for statistical learning at the group level. Using these measures, we could not detect learning at the individual level (question 1). This means that we cannot draw a conclusion as to whether individual differences in statistical learning do (or do not) correlate with language proficiency (question 2). As for our third question: our results indicate that children with DLD have an auditory verbal statistical learning deficit. We cannot conclude that they have (or do not have) a statistical learning deficit outside this domain. The presence of a statistical learning deficit in children with DLD may thus depend on several factors, including the domain and modality in which learning is tested.


Abstract It is proposed that a fast-fission, heatpipe-cooled, lunar-surface power reactor system be divided into subcritical units that could be launched safely without the incorporation of additional spectral shift absorbers or other complex means of control. The reactor subunits are to be emplaced directly into the lunar regolith, utilizing the regolith not just for shielding but also as the reflector material to increase the neutron economy of the system. While a single subunit cannot achieve criticality by itself, coordinated placement of additional subunits will provide a critical reactor system for lunar surface power generation. A lunar regolith clustered-reactor system promotes reliability, safety, and ease of manufacture and testing at the cost of a slight increase in launch mass per rated power level and an overall reduction in neutron economy when compared to a single-reactor system. Additional subunits may be launched with future missions to increase the cluster size and power according to desired lunar-base power demand and lifetime. The results address the potential uncertainties associated with the lunar regolith material and emplacement of the subunit systems. Physical distance between subunits within the clustered emplacement exhibits the most significant feedback regarding changes in overall system reactivity. Narrow, deep holes will be the most effective in reducing axial neutron leakage from the core. The variation in iron concentration in the lunar regolith can directly influence the overall system reactivity, although its effects are less than the more dominant factors of subunit emplacement.


In this paper we consider a defending problem on a network. In the model, the defender holds a total defending resource of R, which can be distributed to the nodes of the network. The defending resource allocated to a node can be shared by its neighbors. There is a weight associated with every edge that represents the efficiency defending resources are shared between neighboring nodes. We consider the setting when each attack can affect not only the target node, but its neighbors as well. Assuming that nodes in the network have different treasures to defend and different defending requirements, the defender aims at allocating the defending resource to the nodes to minimize the loss due to attack. We give polynomial time exact algorithms for two important special cases of the network defending problem. For the case when an attack can only affect the target node, we present an LP-based exact algorithm. For the case when defending resources cannot be shared, we present a max-flow-based exact algorithm. We show that the general problem is NP-hard, and we give a 2-approximation algorithm based on LP-rounding. Moreover, by giving a matching lower bound of 2 on the integrality gap on the LP relaxation, we show that our rounding is tight.


The trajectory of global climate governance leading into and out of the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement reveals substantial change in the kinds of mechanisms in play. In their Introduction to this collection, Bäckstrand, Kuyper, Linnér, and Lövbrand (2017) capture these developments under the rubric of 'hybrid multilateralism', defined by emerging linkage between the established multilateral negotiations and the plethora of self-organizing governance initiatives involving varieties of non-state actors cooperating with one another (and sometimes with states). These two governance options were long seen as, if not exactly mutually exclusive, at least as involving very different and rival agendas. Proponents of decentralization took as their starting point the failure of multilateralism. This recognition of failure led Matthew Hoffmann (2011) to celebrate the multiplicity of what he called (somewhat inaccurately, as Abbott (2017) points out) experimental governance as an alternative to 'mega-multilateralism.' Experimental governance, for Hoffman, involves numerous cooperative, market-oriented voluntary initiatives (which he neglects to demonstrate will collectively do enough good). Buoyed by her Nobel Prize, Elinor Ostrom (2009) advocated a polycentric approach involving numerous overlapping programs at multiple levels of government, though again she was short on evidence of effectiveness from climate governance itself. David Victor (2011) for his part stressed the formation of clubs of relatively highambition countries to enable movement beyond impasse in multilateral negotiations. Frank Biermann (2014), in contrast, believes that the solution to any failure of multilateralism is to try much harder, to move toward stronger and reinvigorated multilateralism. He laments at the same time fragmentation in global governance, which Hoffman and Ostrom would surely applaud. Now it seems that the world has moved on. The 2015 Paris Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on


For a basic foundation in computer engineering, universities traditionally teach synchronous sequential circuit design, using discrete gates or field programmable gate arrays, and a microcomputers course that includes basic I/O processing. These courses, though critical, expose students to only a small subset of tools. At co-op schools like Kettering University, Flint, MI, students could strongly benefit from a more diverse set of topics and tool experience in their curriculum. This paper presents an undergraduate course that includes introductions to sequential circuit design using asynchronous logic, ladder logic and its general implementation on programmable logic controllers, and fuzzy logic targeted at both PC and embedded processor applications. The paper discusses the structure of the course, the objectives and material, the laboratory platforms, and the evaluations of the first course offerings that show the course's success.


In this paper, we present gAUDIT, a novel group communication middleware for auditing in request-response manner. With gAUDIT, an auditor is able to implement reliable request-response communication for a group of respondents. But, relying on transport layer retransmission only will not guarantee the delivery of responses, e.g. if respondent applications are allowed to operate unreliable, application layer retransmissions are unavoidable. Additionally, a request-response capable group communication middleware must be able to handle changes in the composition of the group of respondents during an ongoing request-response transaction. gAUDIT is based on application layer retransmission and handling of group members during an ongoing request-response transaction. In this paper we describe the gAUDIT design and use cases. Furthermore, we present a prototypical implementation and evaluation results.


This dissertation studies the economic phenomenon of city size at the occupation level, focusing
on two topics. The first topic is the relationship between city size and wage. According to agglomeration
economy theories, workers engaged in some occupations tend to spatially cluster in big cities
whereas some others are more likely to locate in smaller areas. As various occupations show different
patterns with respect to city size, it is interesting to discover how the city size influences the wages at
the occupation level. Besides a comprehensive descriptive analysis on wage and city size for each individual
occupation, two counterfactual experiments are constructed by leveraging probabilistic modeling
to quantify the effects of city size on wages for each occupation. In addition, a regression model is introduced
to fully understand what characteristics associated with occupation lead to the wage premium.
The second topic is to explore the relationship between migration and city size. With a thorough
data analysis over migration and metropolitan population for each individual occupation, it is found
that workers from different occupations have diverse migration patterns. Thus, a comprehensive study
on migration is conducted by dividing occupations into three categories: occupations attracted to large
cities, occupations preferred to stay in small areas and the rest. Furthermore, a number of key attributes
related to occupation are examined in order to understand why various occupations differ significantly
in terms of migration. The model identifies that average education level, industry coverage and average
residential population are three statistically significant attributes on the tendency of migrating to large
metropolitan areas.


Hyperspectral profiles of downwelling irradiance and upwelling radiance in natural waters (oligotrophic and mesotrophic) are combined with inverse radiative transfer to obtain high resolution spectra of the absorption coefficient (a) and the backscattering coefficient (b(b)) of the water and its constituents. The absorption coefficient at the mesotrophic station clearly shows spectral absorption features attributable to several phytoplankton pigments (Chlorophyll a, b, c, and Carotenoids). The backscattering shows only weak spectral features and can be well represented by a power-law variation with wavelength (lambda): b(b) approximately lambda(-n), where n is a constant between 0.4 and 1.0. However, the weak spectral features in b(b)b suggest that it is depressed in spectral regions of strong particle absorption. The applicability of the present inverse radiative transfer algorithm, which omits the influence of Raman scattering, is limited to lambda < 490 nm in oligotrophic waters and lambda < 575 nm in mesotrophic waters.


This report describes the process of developing and evaluating a component based overlay with the intention of creating a configurable, reusable and extensible implementation. This is done through the use of a new fine grained component architecture accompanied by a surrounding framework to support the interconnection of these components. Through the use of this framework it is then possible to dynamically interchange and reuse components to allow overlays to adapt to their environment through the use of different components. An implementation of the Pastry overlay is then carried out using this approach, allowing a thorough evaluation of the effectiveness of the methodology described in the report.


Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are intimately linked by the export of elements from watersheds. Although export is influenced by land cover within watersheds, few models evaluate how the spatial configuration of land cover influences loading. In this study we examined spatial variation of land cover at a 10 X 10 m resolution by developing a mass balance, maximum likelihood model of lake iron (Fe) concentrations in 93 watersheds. The model estimated lake iron concentrations based on loading, within‐lake processes and losses. Two models were developed. One considered loading from eight land cover types, whereas the second model included the distance of each grid cell to account for Fe losses along flow paths to the lake. In‐lake production and losses were accounted for as a function of lake area, water color, and discharge. If we treated watersheds as homogeneous source areas, export was estimated as 450 mg Fe m‐2 yr‐1; however, in spatial models export varied from negligible to 5,400 mg Fe m‐2 yr‐1 based on differential loadings from eight cover types. Accounting for losses of Fe based on distance from the lake did not improve the model. Although areal export of Fe was greater from wetlands, upland forests dominate the landscape and thus accounted for on average 75% of the total Fe load. Fe losses from lakes were primarily regulated by discharge; however, water color and lake depth were also important. Overall, the analysis revealed that lake Fe concentrations are related to land cover based on strong differential Fe loadings.


—Our goal is to efficiently learn reward functions encoding a human's preferences for how a dynamical system should act. There are two challenges with this. First, in many problems it is difficult for people to provide demonstrations of the desired system trajectory (like a high-DOF robot arm motion or an aggressive driving maneuver), or to even assign how much numerical reward an action or trajectory should get. We build on work in label ranking and propose to learn from preferences (or comparisons) instead: the person provides the system a relative preference between two trajectories. Second, the learned reward function strongly depends on what environments and trajectories were experienced during the training phase. We thus take an active learning approach, in which the system decides on what preference queries to make. A novel aspect of our work is the complexity and continuous nature of the queries: continuous trajectories of a dynamical system in environments with other moving agents (humans or robots). We contribute a method for actively synthesizing queries that satisfy the dynamics of the system. Further, we learn the reward function from a continuous hypothesis space by maximizing the volume removed from the hypothesis space by each query. We assign weights to the hypothesis space in the form of a log-concave distribution and provide a bound on the number of iterations required to converge. We show that our algorithm converges faster to the desired reward compared to approaches that are not active or that do not synthesize queries in an autonomous driving domain. We then run a user study to put our method to the test with real people.


Background:  Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which exerts a variety of immunological functions in vertebrates. TNF-α has been identified and cloned in a number of teleost fish species; nevertheless, the functions displayed by this cytokine in fishes remain poorly understood, given that the low sequence identity compared to their mammalian counterpart, limit fish TNF-α detection using mammalian antibodies. Then, for fish immune response characterization is fundamental the production of specific fish anti-TNF-α antibody.  Results:  We have developed a monoespecific antibody against the pro-inflammatory molecule TNF-α of salmonid fish. TNF-α epitope region was identified and characterized using bioinformatic tools. The epitope sequence was chemically synthesized using Fmoc strategy, analyzed by RP-HPLC and its molecular weight confirmed by mass spectrometry. The synthetic peptide was used to immunize mice and antibodies from ascitic fluid were purified. The resulting antibody was used for molecular and histochemical detection in gut samples from salmonid fishes treated with different food. By ELISA, we detected a differential expression of TNF-α, the western blot analysis shows recognition of the whole TNF molecule and by immunohistochemistry TNF-α positive cells were observed.  Conclusions: We provide an immunological tool, validated through classical immunological assays, which can be a useful tool for characterizing fish TNF-α function.


Abstract. The launch of the proof-of-concept mission GPS/MET (Global Positioning System/Meteorology) in 1995 began a revolution in profiling Earth's atmosphere through radio occultation (RO). GPS/MET; subsequent single-satellite missions CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload), SAC-C (Satellite de Aplicaciones Cientificas-C), GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), METOP-A, and TerraSAR-X (Beyerle et al., 2010); and the six-satellite constellation, FORMOSAT-3/COSMIC (Formosa Satellite mission {#}3/Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) have proven the theoretical capabilities of RO to provide accurate and precise profiles of electron density in the ionosphere and refractivity, containing information on temperature and water vapor, in the stratosphere and troposphere. This paper summarizes results from these RO missions and the applications of RO observations to atmospheric research and operational weather analysis and prediction.


Over 13 centuries, Islam has become a powerful religion whose symbols, whether linked to its doctrine (prayer, the profession of faith, alms giving), or its architecture (the Kaaba, the mosque, the mihrab), reveal a wealth of meaning for those wishing to explore their history and cultural significance. This book provides a visual synthesis of the Islamic world. Its clear text and beautiful full-page color photographs offer a new and fresh approach to the fastest growing religion in the world.


A new perturbation method for the diffraction of a plane wave by a grating with periodic imperfections is presented. The originality of the method lies in the fact that the perturbation occurs on a reference profile that is not a plane but a grating. First, the diffraction by a reference grating is treated. At this stage Maxwell's equations are used in covariant form written in a nonorthogonal coordinate system fitted to the surface geometry. Second, the periodic errors are taken into account. The tensorial formalism permits the elaboration of this two-roughness-level model. The grating profile appears only through two fundamental functions. The variations of these functions under the effect of variation in the profile are expanded in power series of the perturbation parameter v1. v1 represents the maximum of the derivative of the function describing the perturbation. By using this formalism, we determine the efficiencies.


Virtual learning environments (VLEs) may possess many advantages over traditional teaching methods in skills training that offer empowerment of constructing the skills by freely exploring a VLE. However, a conflict between the free exploration and ensuring the learning tasks tackled emerges in the learning process. A strategy to balance the conflict is to employ virtual tutoring agents to scaffold the learning tasks. This research has been carried out to investigate the issues of design and utility of a virtual tutoring agent system in a VLE to allow higher education (university based) students to practise immunology laboratory experiments, which simulates a well known immunochemical assay in the Life Sciences area, namely a Radio Immunoassay. This paper discusses the classification of category of the virtual agents in a VLE and focuses on the design of tutoring agents. Three types of the tutoring agents have been selected and implemented in the Radio Immunoassay simulation. The considered points in programming the virtual tutoring agents and their tasks are presented in this paper. A formative evaluation studies have been carried out and discussed to verify the designed virtual tutoring agents are satisfied to the target students' needs.


Transmission power control is an important means to manage the radio resources in wireless communications. The performance, however may be reduced due to time delays as in any controlled system. Most controllers to date are designed without considering time delays, which may result in oscillatory or unstable systems. To overcome these problems, time delay compensation (TDC) is introduced. The main idea is to adjust the measurements [e.g., signal-to-interference ratio (SIR)] to include the effects of issued but not yet applied power control commands. TDC thereby improves the stability and performance of an arbitrary power control algorithm. The benefits are illustrated by simulations using some popular power control algorithms.


Biological conservation is a social practice that involves complex power relations and differing perspectives. In the past, a protectionist conservation approach, where conservationists restricted the access of local communities to natural resources, was very common. A community-based conservation approach, which allows local people to gain control over their natural resources and design sustainable management plans, is more often seen today. On biosphere reserves, conservation non-governmental organizations (NGOs), residents and government organizations negotiate how natural resources are consumed and preserved. A conceptual framework will be used that demonstrates how the political and historical context of a biosphere reserve shapes the power relations and perspectives between these actors. These power relations and perspectives then shape whether a protectionist or community based conservation approach is used on the biosphere reserve. Included in this conceptual framework is the idea that even when a community-based conservation approach is used, only a selective group of biosphere residents are included in negotiations. This conceptual framework was applied to the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve in Nicaragua and the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala, which were investigated through a comprehensive literature review. Due to the social context in which the biosphere reserves were set, a true community-based conservation approach can be seen in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve while only a partial community-based conservation approach can be seen in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. In both cases selective inclusion of some biosphere residents over others can be seen leading to the conclusion that even a community-based conservation approach operates through restricting access to natural resources.


This paper introduces a novel algorithm for transductive inference in higher-order MRFs, where the unary energies are parameterized by a variable classifier. The considered task is posed as a joint optimization problem in the continuous classifier parameters and the discrete label variables. In contrast to prior approaches such as convex relaxations, we propose an advantageous decoupling of the objective function into discrete and continuous subproblems and a novel, efficient optimization method related to ADMM. This approach preserves integrality of the discrete label variables and guarantees global convergence to a critical point. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach in several experiments including video object segmentation on the DAVIS data set and interactive image segmentation.


Probabilistic inference serves as a popular model for neural processing. It is still unclear, however, how approximate probabilistic inference can be accurate and scalable to very high-dimensional continuous latent spaces. Especially as typical posteriors for sensory data can be expected to exhibit complex latent dependencies including multiple modes. Here, we study an approach that can efficiently be scaled while maintaining a richly structured posterior approximation under these conditions. As example model we use spike-and-slab sparse coding for V1 processing, and combine latent subspace selection with Gibbs sampling (select-and-sample). Unlike factored variational approaches, the method can maintain large numbers of posterior modes and complex latent dependencies. Unlike pure sampling, the method is scalable to very high-dimensional latent spaces. Among all sparse coding approaches with non-trivial posterior approximations (MAP or ICA-like models), we report the largest-scale results. In applications we firstly verify the approach by showing competitiveness in standard denoising benchmarks. Secondly, we use its scalability to, for the first time, study highly-overcomplete settings for V1 encoding using sophisticated posterior representations. More generally, our study shows that very accurate probabilistic inference for multi-modal posteriors with complex dependencies is tractable, functionally desirable and consistent with models for neural inference.


Binge drinking may contribute to long-term alcohol use by promoting anti-stress signaling in the brain. Binge drinking is a common form of alcohol abuse that is often perceived as a way to relieve stress. Binge drinking may alter signaling in the neuronal circuits that regulate reward-seeking behavior and sensitivity to stress. The anti-stress neuropeptide NPY suppresses anxiety, whereas the stress-related hormone corticotropin-releasing factor [CRF, also known as corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)] increases anxiety and encourages ethanol drinking in mice. Pleil et al. found that NPY signaling induced inhibitory postsynaptic currents in CRF-containing neurons in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of the brain, which is involved in reward and anxiety behaviors, and that binge drinking increased this effect by increasing NPY receptor abundance in CRF neurons. Infusion of an agonist to the NPY receptor Y1R into the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST, a part of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), but not the adjacent dorsal striatum, suppressed binge alcohol drinking in mice, whereas infusion of a Y1R antagonist into the BNST increased alcohol consumption. In BNST slices from mice or monkeys that had chronic ethanol consumption, bath administration of a Y1R agonist increased the frequency of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs). In reporter mice, this increased mIPSC frequency occurred in CRF-positive neurons. Bathing slices or injecting postsynaptic neurons in the slices with selective inhibitors of the G protein heterotrimer Gi, protein kinase A (PKA), or receptor trafficking and then monitoring the mIPSC frequency in response to application of NPY or the Y1R agonist revealed that Y1R is a postsynaptic Gi-coupled receptor in the BNST that increases the abundance of postsynaptic γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptors at the cell surface by inhibiting PKA activity. Chemogenetic (viral and drug-induced) activation of Gi signaling in BNST CRF neurons suppressed binge drinking in mice, whereas activation of Gs signaling and hence PKA signaling in CRF neurons promoted binge drinking. Analysis of the effect of the Y1R agonist given at different times in the day suggested that ethanol alters circadian control of Y1R signaling. Mice that binge drank had greater Y1R abundance and activity in postsynaptic CRF neurons during their active phase. Allthough NPY abundance increased only transiently after each episode of binge drinking, Y1R protein abundance and activity (as measured by increased mIPSC frequency) increased after several cycles of binge drinking and persisted for days. Thus, chronic alcohol use appeared to produce an enduring increase in sensitivity of the NPY-Y1R signaling axis in the BNST, which may explain why binge drinking is perceived as a stress reliever. K. E. Pleil, J. A. Rinker, E. G. Lowery-Gionta, C. M. Mazzone, N. M. McCall, A. M. Kendra, D. P. Olson, B. B. Lowell, K. A. Grant, T. E. Thiele, T. L. Kash, NPY signaling inhibits extended amygdala CRF neurons to suppress binge alcohol drinking. Nat. Neurosci. 18, 545–552 (2015). [PubMed]


"According to Greek mythology mankind's first benefactor was the Titan, Prometheus, who gave fire, previously the exclusive possession of the gods, to mortal man." With these words the esteemed scholar Robert Bremner presents the first full-fledged history of attitudes toward charity and philanthropy. Giving is a perfect complement to his earlier work The Discovery of Poverty in the United States. The word philanthropy has been translated in a variety of ways: as a loving human disposition, loving kindness, love of mankind, charity, fostering mortal man, championing mankind, and helping people. Bremner's book covers all of these meanings in rich detail. Bremner describes the ancient world and classical attitudes toward giving and begging; Middle Ages and early modern times, emphasizing hospitals and patients and donors and attributes of charity; the eighteenth century and the age of benevolence; the nineteenth century and the growth of the concept of public relief and social policy; and a careful multiple chapter review of the twentieth century. Bremner reviews the act of giving in such comparative contexts as London, England and Kasrilevke, Russia with such figures as Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens, and Sholem Aleichem, as well as the more familiar wealthy industrialist/philanthropists, forming part of the narrative. The final chapters bring the story up to date, discussing the relationships of modem philanthropy and organized charity, and the uses of philanthropy in education and the arts. Bremner has an astonishing knowledge of the cultural context and the economic contents of philanthropy. As a result, this volume is intriguing as well as important history, written with lively style and wit. Whether the reader is a professional in the so-called "third stream" or "independent sector," or simply a citizen wondering just what the act of giving and the spirit of receiving is all about, Giving will be compelling reading.


Refrigeration systems are major consumers of energy. To reduce this energy consumption, alternative cycles have been studied and one of the most important is the refrigerant injection system. In the last decades, the environmental restraints of refrigerants have increased and refrigerant mixtures have attracted attention. In this context, this work presents the energy and exergy analyses for a conventional vapor compression refrigeration cycle (VCC) and an alternative vapor injection cycle with flash tank (FTVI) using a mixture refrigerant of R290/R600a. The influences of refrigerant mixture composition and expansion ratio in the upperstage valve on energetic and exergetic performance parameters were evaluated. Free expansion and heat transfer were identified as the greatest irreversibilities in VCC and FTVI, respectively, accounting for 26.7% and 23.6% of total exergy inputs in these systems. Higher values of efficiency metrics were observed at around 40% wt of R290 for both cycles. Reasons for the observed behaviors and ways to improve the cycles from the thermodynamic perspective are identified and discussed.


Absolute K-shell x-ray cross sections and Auger-electron cross sections are measured for carbon for 0.6 to 2.0 MeV proton incident on CH₄, n-C₄H₁₀ (n-Butane), i-C₄H₁₀ (isobutane), C₆H₆ (Benzene), C₂H₂ (Acetylene), CO and CO₂. Carbon K-shell fluorescence yields are calculated from the measurements of x-ray and Auger-electron cross sections. X-ray cross sections are measured using a variable geometry end window proportional counter. An alternate method is described for the measurement of the transmission of the proportional counter window. Auger electrons are detected by using a constant transmission energy Π/4 parallel pi ate electrostatic analyzer. Absolute carbon K-shell x-ray cross sections for CH₄ are compared to the known results of Khan et al. (1965). Auger-electron cross sections for proton impact on CH₄ are compared to the known experimental values of RΦdbro et al. (1979), and to the theoretical predictions of the first Born and ECPSSR. The data is in good agreement with both the first Born and ECPSSR, and within our experimental uncertainties with the measurements of RΦdbro et al. The x-ray cross sections, Auger-electron cross sections and fluorescence yields are plotted as a function of the Pauling charge, and show significant variations. These changes in the x-ray cross sections are compared to a model based on the number of electrons present in the 2s and 2p sub shells of these carbon based molecules. The changes in the Auger-electron cross sections are compared to the calculations of Matthews and Hopkins. The variation in the fluorescence yield is explained on the basis of the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock model.


SETTING
Twenty-eight public hospitals in the Free State Province, South Africa.

OBJECTIVE
To examine the association between tuberculosis (TB) infection control (IC) scores in Free State hospitals and the incidence of TB disease among health care workers (HCWs) in 2012.

DESIGN
A cross-sectional survey and mixed-methods analysis of TB IC policies, practices and infrastructure using a comprehensive, 83-item IC audit and observation tool.

RESULTS
As the total IC score increased, the probability of TB in an HCW at that hospital decreased. When adjusted for other covariates in multivariate analysis, if the total score of a hospital increased by one unit, the odds of an HCW having TB decreased by 4.9% (95%CI 0.9-8.8). Significant associations were also seen for the personal protective equipment (PPE) score, where odds decreased by 11.5% (95%CI 1.8-20.1) for each unit increase in score. Administrative score, environmental score and miscellaneous score were not statistically significant in the multivariate model.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings reaffirm that overall IC and PPE are essential to protect HCWs from acquiring TB. More attention to TB IC is required to protect the health care workforce and to stop the South African TB epidemic.


Major infrastructure assets are often governed by a mix of public and private organizations, each fulfilling a specific and separate role i.e. policy, ownership, operation or maintenance. This mix of entities is a legacy of Public Choice Theory influenced NPM reforms of the late 20th century. The privatization of the public sector has resulted in agency theory based 'self-interest' relationships and governance arrangements for major infrastructure assets which emphasize economic efficiency but which do not do not advance non-economic public values and the collective Public Interest. The community is now requiring that governments fulfill their stewardship role of also satisfying non-economic public values such as sustainability and intergenerational responsibility. In the 21st century governance arrangements which minimize individual self-interest alone and look to also pursue the interests of other stakeholders have emerged. Relational contracts, Public-Private Partnerships (PPP's) and hybrid mixes of organizations from the state, market and network modes (Keast et al 2006) provide options for governance which better meet the interests of contractors, government and the community there is emerging a body of research which extends the consideration of the immediate governance configuration to the metagovernance environment constituted by hierarchy, regulation, industry standards, trust, culture and values. Stewardship theory has reemerged as a valuable aid in the understanding of the features of governance configurations which establish relationships between principal and agent which maximize the agent acting in the interests of the principal, even to the detriment of the agent. This body of literature suggests that an improved stewardship outcome from infrastructure governance configurations can be achieved by the application of the emerging options as to the immediate governance configuration, and the surrounding metagovernance environment. Stewardship theory provides a framework for the design of the relationships within that total governance environment, focusing on the achievement of a better, complete stewardship outcome. This paper explores the directions future research might take in seeking to improve the understanding of the design of the governance of major, critical infrastructure assets.


A new type of supported rhodium nanoparticles were reproducibly prepared from N(2)H(4)BH(3) reduction of [Rh(μ-Cl)(1,5-cod)](2) without using any solid support and pre-treatment technique. Their characterization shows the formation of well dispersed rhodium(0) nanoparticles within the framework of a polyaminoborane based polymeric support. These new rhodium(0) nanoparticles were found to be the most active supported catalyst in the catalytic dehydrogenation of ammonia-borane in water at room temperature.


Issues of race, literacy, and self-disclosure link to a long-running debate about the types of assignments and texts used to engage student thought.  At the heart of this debate are teachers who view writing and teaching as a performance that is deeply personal and linked to social consequences resonating beyond the first-year writing experience (Bizzell, "Composition Studies Saves the World;" hooks, Teaching to Transgress ; Prendergast, Literacy and Racial Justice ), and those who see teaching and writing as the acquisition of discrete skills that prepare students to participate in academic discourse (Fish, Doing What Comes Naturally ). Yet, most teaching often takes place somewhere in between these rationales. It is the teacher's views about race, class, and gender informed by their experiences and shaped by their own educational background that continue to serve as a backdrop for their own resistance to antiracist teaching.  For me, race represents an under examined, yet salient component of one's teachings, the saturating force that influences the way one chooses to read and respond to particular educative moments. It is in those moments one should ask how does race shape, complicate or silence the interactions of others? This study uses autoethnography and critical analysis of recent research on race to propose a framework for thinking through attitudes toward student writing, toward the selection of texts, and toward teacher disclosures which are always already gendered, racialized, and classed. In this article I examine my experiences as a writing program administrator at a historically Black University and moments of resistance from faculty members who wished to avoid particular conversations about assignments, texts, and student performance that acknowledged the role of race and privilege in those contexts.  The purpose of this reflection is to connect it to recent work in educational research and critical race studies and begin to stitch a tighter rubric for reflexively analyzing one's teaching decisions to ensure that they consider the complex way discussions of race marks one's teaching identity, shape's student interest, and enhances student literacies. As the work of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva ( Racism Without Racists ) and Imani Perry ( More Beautiful and More Terrible ) note, intention has become an obsolete mechanism for understanding and addressing racist assumptions and stereotypes that shape individual choices and reasoning processes. Given this understanding, it becomes imperative that teacher training and collegial conversations about teaching develop a sophisticated approach to interrogating the intersection of teacher ethos and race.


[1] Ethane and other hydrocarbon gases have strong rovibrational transitions in the 3.3 μm spectral region owing to C-H, CH2, and CH3 vibrational modes, making this spectral region prime for searching possible biomarker gases in extraterrestrial atmospheres (e.g., Mars, exoplanets) and organic molecules in comets. However, removing ethane spectral signatures from high-resolution terrestrial transmittance spectra has been imperfect because existing quantum mechanical models have been unable to reproduce the observed spectra with sufficient accuracy. To redress this problem, we constructed a line-by-line model for the ν7 band of ethane (C2H6) and applied it to compute telluric transmittances and cometary fluorescence efficiencies. Our model considers accurate spectral parameters, vibration-rotation interactions, and a functional characterization of the torsional hot band. We integrated the new band model into an advanced radiative transfer code for synthesizing the terrestrial atmosphere (LBLRTM), achieving excellent agreement with transmittance data recorded against Mars using three different instruments located in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The retrieved ethane abundances demonstrate the strong hemispheric asymmetry noted in prior surveys of volatile hydrocarbons. We also retrieved sensitive limits for the abundance of ethane on Mars. The most critical validation of the model was obtained by comparing simulations of C2H6 fluorescent emission with spectra of three hydrocarbon-rich comets: C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), 8P/Tuttle, and C/2007 W1 (Boattini). The new model accurately describes the complex emission morphology of the ν7 band at low rotational temperatures and greatly increases the confidence of the retrieved production rates (and rotational temperatures) with respect to previously available fluorescence models.


Indian defendants appearing before tribal courts are not protected by the Bill of Rights. Instead, Congress enacted the Indian Civil Rights Act in 1968 to extend some, but not all, constitutional protections unto Indian reservations. Fifty years later and there continues to be extensive litigation surrounding ICRA.

This paper looks at all of the ICRA cases decided in 2017 to attempt to evaluate the merits of ICRA's protections of tribal rights. The picture is decidedly mixed. From these cases the paper calls for three changes that directly respond to trends in civil rights litigation. 1) The paper suggests that courts expand the understanding of habeas jurisdiction to extend when an individual has been banished. It argues that banishment is a form of confinement and a restriction of liberty – albeit one where the jail cell is large, essentially the world minus the reservation. 2) Tribes must adopt codes that provide for a trial by jury and rules for determining who constitutes the jury and how it may be empaneled. While ICRA provides for a trial by jury, tribal courts have an affirmative duty to inform defendants of their right to request a jury trial. It is a violation of ICRA if the tribe does not make provisions for a jury when requested. 3) Finally tribal court judgments, when used in other forums, may be ambiguous because tribal law and tribal procedures are distinct from those followed by states or the federal system. Accordingly, any ambiguity that arises in response to a tribal court judgment should be resolved with a reference to the doctrine of lenity.


This paper introduces an approach based on the Swarm Variant of the Mean-Variance Mapping Optimization (MVMO-S) to solve the multi-scenario formulation of the optimal placement and coordinated tuning of power system supplementary damping controllers (POCDCs). The effectiveness of the approach is evaluated based on the classical IEEE 39-bus (New England) test system. Numerical results include performance comparisons with other metaheuristic optimization techniques, namely, comprehensive learning particle swarm optimization (CLPSO), genetic algorithm with multi-parent crossover (GA-MPC), differential evolution DE algorithm with adaptive crossover operator, linearized biogeography-based optimization with reinitialization (LBBO), and covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES).


Alternans in heart is important as pulsus alternans in cardiac failure and electrophysiological alternans in myocardial ischemia. The explanation of this phenomenon is still unclear. We attempted to investigate the cellular mechanisms of alternans by measuring intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+J1) with the photoprotein aequorin in isolated ferret papillary muscles. Tension and length were also recorded simultaneously. Transient mechanical alternans lasting five to 20 contractions could be reliably induced in this preparation by following a 30-second rest period with stimulation at a fast rate (2-4 Hz). Production of sustained mechanical alternans, which lasted longer than 20 contractions and could persist for several hundred contractions, required additional interventions, consisting of a lower temperature (250 C), a lower external calcium concentration (1 mM), and a lower pH (6.91) than control conditions (0.33-0.5 Hz, 300 C, 2 mM Ca2', pH 7.36). Transient mechanical alternans was associated with transient in-phase alternation of aequorin light and, hence, [Ca2+]1. Sustained mechanical alternans was associated with sustained in-phase alternation of aequorin light as well as incomplete relaxation of tension. However, when muscles were switched from isometric to unloaded isotonic contraction, relaxation between stimuli was complete but contraction and the aequorin light signal continued to alternate. The addition of 10 mM caffeine or 10 ,um ryanodine abolished transient and sustained mechanical alternans and also abolished the associated alternation of aequorin light. Commensurate with the action of ryanodine, which allows the sarcoplasmic reticulum to reaccumulate calcium to a limited extent after a period of rapid stimulation, sustained mechanical alternans sometimes reappeared in an attenuated form 30 to 50 contractions after the addition of ryanodine. These results demonstrate that incomplete muscle relaxation between beats need not be present for alternans to occur, and support the hypothesis that alternans is caused by intracellular calcium cycling


GREW ́07 was held in conjunction with the International Conference on Global Software Engineering in Munich Germany. The aim was to bring researchers and industry practitioners together to discuss the area of global product development from a requirements engineering and product management perspective. The workshop aimed to analyze selected challenges put forward by accepted papers from both industry and academia. The session discussions then focused on identifying future needs for research, the relevance of which was assured by good industry presence at the workshop. The workshop resulted in a number of findings that can play an important role to further develop the field of global product management and requirements engineering.


Grid computing allows flexible resource sharing among geographically distributed computing resources in multiple administrative domains. Virtualization of resources allows jobs to be run on remote resources participating in a grid. While this computing paradigm has been used primarily for batch jobs, we study interactive grid applications rich in graphics and multimedia such as scientific visualization and digital content creation. A host of security issues need to be addressed for such interactive grids to gain acceptance, particularly in industry. The purpose of this paper is to study these security issues. The grid security infrastructure (GSI), a component of the Globus Toolkit (I. Foster et al., 1997), creates grid credentials for every user and resource. We describe how this may be extended to securely set up an interactive session on a remote host, and the additional security issues associated with interactive session management. We propose controlled shell and controlled desktop mechanisms that restrict the user to execute only authorized commands and applications, and controlled user and super-user accounts that customize the shell and desktop using policy files. We also propose a new approach to scoping the security needs of grid systems by defining three generic scenarios: mutual trust, partial trust and mutual distrust. New security issues arise when the user may not be trusted, or the user and the host computer's owner are mutually suspicious.


In recent years the spatial dimension of economic development has attracted increasing interest in the development field. However there is still little analysis and evidence of the ways many spatial dimensions interact with other economic dimensions in the development process. This thesis aims to help filling this gap by bringing a geographical perspective into development economics frameworks. It is empirical in nature and uses data on different sub-national units from India and Uganda. The work is structured around four main papers (divided into six chapters). The first paper analyses two important aspects of the Indian urbanisation process. First it finds a U-shaped relation between rural-urban disparities in living standards and income per capita across Indian states in the Post-Independence period. Second, it shows that the urbanisation process in India has been characterised by convergence in the 20th century: smaller towns grow faster than large ones. The second paper examines the role of the agricultural sector in influencing the shape of the urban system. The analysis suggests that the elasticity of rural-urban labour supply increases both urban primacy and the urbanisation rate in Indian states during the Post-Independence period. The third paper tests for the impact of urban growth on rural poverty using a sample of Indian districts in the period 1981-1999. It finds that urbanisation reduces poverty surrounding rural areas. This effect is largely attributable to positive spillovers from urbanisation rather than to the movement of the rural poor to urban areas. The final paper examines the deteminants of rising returns to schooling in Ugandan districts during the 1990s. The findings suggest that both educational supply and demand factors influenced the wedge between skilled and unskilled labour. Moreover while trade opening reduced this wedge, pro-market reforms increasing inter-district trade raised returns to education in districts relatively abundant in skilled labour.


Scientific prizes confer credibility to persons, ideas, and disciplines, provide financial incentives, and promote community-building celebrations. We examine the growth dynamics and interlocking relationships found in the worldwide scientific prize network. We focus on understanding how the knowledge linkages among prizes and scientists' propensities for prizewinning relate to knowledge pathways between disciplines and stratification within disciplines. Our data cover more than 3,000 different scientific prizes in diverse disciplines and the career histories of 10,455 prizewinners worldwide for over 100 years. We find several key links between prizes and scientific advances. First, despite an explosive proliferation of prizes over time and across the globe, prizes are more concentrated within a relatively small group of scientific elites, and ties among elites are highly clustered, suggesting that a relatively constrained number of ideas and scholars push the boundaries of science. For example, 64.1% of prizewinners have won two prizes and 13.7% have won five or more prizes. Second, certain prizes strongly interlock disciplines and subdisciplines, creating key pathways by which knowledge spreads and is recognized across science. Third, genealogical and coauthorship networks predict who wins multiple prizes, which helps to explain the interconnectedness among celebrated scientists and their pathbreaking ideas.


Throughout the years cultural communities across the world have borne witness to many unending attempts at the destruction of their places of worship. This endemic problem has arisen in a number of places, such as in the USA and in most of the world's former colonies. Having been colonised, South African cultural communities have experienced the same threats to their various sacred sites. This article seeks to argue and demonstrate that cultural communities in South Africa stand to benefit from the properly construed and rich earth jurisprudence arising out of the courtroom experiences of some of the cultural communities identified elsewhere in the world. It also proposes several arguments peculiar to South Africa which could be advanced by cultural communities seeking to protect their sacred lands.


Developmental biology – or 'embryology' – is a subject with a long and distinguished, but uneven, history. It is remarkable for the list of leading scientists and philosophers who have contributed to it from antiquity up to the present era. Because embryos are typically minute and inaccessible direct study and understanding has been slow and relatively recent: before the mid-nineteenth century theories of reproduction and the origin of living forms were largely speculative. Since then embryology has varied greatly in its importance within mainline biological thinking. At one time it provided key evidence for evolution; later for early theories of genetics. Recently, and even now it can be argued, biologists are divided and unclear about how best to demarcate the subject because it overlaps with many other biological themes as diverse as reproduction, malformation, aging and cancer. Today it tends to be approached through the techniques of molecular biology and molecular genetics, and has acquired renewed interest in the context of fertility enhancement, stem cells and genetic engineering.

Key Concepts:

Historically, developmental biology has at times been central to biological thinking: for example as key evidence for change and succession in body forms during evolution.

The historical theme of whether, in part, 'ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny' remains an open question to this day.

Investigative embryology created some of the most elegant and decisive experimental designs in the history of biology.

Developmental biology remains the repository of some of the greatest remaining challenges within biology: for example how to account for the complexity and dynamic properties of living systems.

The concepts of allometry and heterochrony have their origins in the study of embryos.

Developmental biology remains a crucial challenge to the currently dominant explanation of biological systems in terms of molecular genetics: it demonstrates the equal importance of frequently overlooked 'epigenetic' considerations in accounting for biological form.

IVF, the stem cells concept and the potential of regenerative medicine have their theoretical base in the standard concepts derived from developmental biology

Keywords:

developmental biology;
embryology;
recapitulation;
experimentalism;
reductionism;
organiser;
genetic engineering


This paper tests to what extent the Hong and Stein (1999) model explains the stock price performance of firms filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In line with the model's main prediction, I find that the market severely misprices (correctly prices) the bankrupt firms for which information is likely to diffuse slowly (rapidly) across investors. My key finding is robust to a range of alternative methods for adjusting for risk and different periods for computing the abnormal stock returns. My innovative framework provides an acid test of the predictive ability of the Hong and Stein (1999) model, with my results suggesting that it offers important insight into the workings of financial markets, even in the very extreme setting I consider.


Accompanying a major exhibition that will tour Britain in 2010, this thought-provoking yet accessible survey of the art of watercolour in Britain will provide a visual feast. From the glories of Britain's 'golden age of watercolour' in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to the latest contemporary practice, the book will include works by artists as various as JMW Turner, William Blake, the Pre-Raphaelites, John Piper and Henry Moore. Themed sections examine watercolour's place in the British 'national tradition'; its use to portray travels; the versatility of the medium; and watercolour as a means of visionary expression. As well as including major works by familiar artists, the book also highlights the important role of amateurs and the place of women artists in the British tradition of watercolour, different and diverse global traditions of the use of the medium and the reasons for its enduring appeal to the present day. Martin Myrone is Curator of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century British Art at Tate Britain. He is the author of "The Blake Book and George Stubbs".


The purpose of this case study was to answer the research question: what do teachers do in a standards-based classroom? Four teachers in one elementary school participated in the study. Archival data (lesson plans, walk-through feedback) from the previous school year were used to portray and describe the instructional practices, and teaching styles of the teachers. Additional information was obtained through teacher interviews and self-reported surveys. This information helped the researcher gain a better understanding of teacher knowledge-base and comprehension of standards-based instruction. Student reading scores were also used to make connections between standards-based instructional practices and student reading achievement and progress. An analysis of data and documents suggested that two of the four teachers were proficient in regard to their level of implementation of standards and instructional strategies related to standards. All teachers implemented reading standards, but in each situation it was to various levels and with an assortment of strategies. No claims were made regarding a correlation between student reading scores and the level of implementation of standards, but connections could be made in this area. Those teachers considered proficient had higher number of students who made growth in reading or who were meeting/exceeding reading expectations for their grade level.