Starting from 2008 the real estate crisis changed the approach to the development and transformation of urban areas more than many urban planning tools, effectively regulating the development and transformation of urban areas. In the new scenario, the role of the State and public institutions for driving the transformation of cities has gradually decreased, also due to the inefficiency related to the pachydermic and oxidized bureaucracy. Nowadays, urban regeneration – the transformation of existing real estate assets – is the new channel of intervention that is usually delegated to private initiatives: recovery of past industrial areas, railway stations and tracks, and existing (also historical) buildings. Talking about urban regeneration means shifting the focus on issues such as that of smart cities, favouring the existing urban fabric and, even more so, the historical city It also means taking care of the immense heritage of small historic centres, which must necessarily become an engine for rebalancing the territory and economic development, albeit "slow". Based on an economic-urban combined analysis, this document illustrates the opportunities that urban regeneration can (and should) have on the housing market and society and which must be then the (good mechanisms) government by public institutions that are in charge of governing the territory, to achieve a reasonable balance between collective interest and private interest (without demonizing the income). Against the policy of unsustainable growth of new real estate development!


We discuss non-geodesic corrections to orbital and epicyclic frequencies of charged test particles orbiting a non-rotating neutron star with a dipole magnetic field. Using a fully relativistic approach we consider the influence of both the magnetic attraction and repulsion on the orbital and epicyclic motion. The magnetic repulsion introduces a rather complex and unusual behaviour of the circular orbital motion that is well defined down to the radius where the vertical epicyclic frequency loses its meaning. We demonstrate that for the intensity of the magnetic interaction appropriately restricted, the stable circular orbits extend down to the magnetic innermost stable circular orbit (MISCO) that is located well under the geodetic innermost stable circular orbit (GISCO) and even can reach the region under the photon circular orbit. The lowest stable circular orbit at rMISCOmin  = 2.73M, associated with the highest possible orbital frequency , corresponds to the critical value of the particle-specific charge and the neutron star magnetic dipole moment product . For the magnetic attraction acting above the GISCO, the situation is much more simple and we demonstrate that the most significant correction arises for the radial epicyclic frequency and consequently for the location of the MISCO when the strong magnetic attraction pushes its location far behind the location of GISCO. We show that the Lorentz force also naturally violates the equality of the orbital and vertical epicyclic frequencies implied by the spherical symmetry of the background Schwarzschild geometry giving rise to the new effect of nodal precession of the orbital motion plane. Finally, we apply the magnetic attraction corrections on the relativistic precession model of the twin-peak high-frequency quasiperiodic oscillations observed in the galactic low mass x-ray binaries, showing possible high relevance of the modified radial epicyclic frequency.


In many markets in developing countries, especially in remote areas, middlemen are thought to earn excessive profits. Non-profits come in to counter what is seen as middlemen's market power, and rich country consumers pay a "fair-trade" premium for products marketed by such non-profits. This paper provides answers to the following five questions. How exactly do middlemen and non-profits divide up the market? How do the price mark up and price pass-through differ between middleman and non-profits? What is the impact of non-profits entry on the wellbeing of the poor? Should the government subsidize the entry of non-profits, or the entry of middlemen? Should wealthy consumers in the North pay a premium for fair trade products, or should they support fair trade non-profits directly?


We present the first reconstruction of the micrometeorite flux to Earth in the Silurian Period. We searched 321 kg of condensed, marine limestone from the Late Silurian Cellon section, southern Austria, for refractory chrome‐spinel grains from micrometeorites that fell on the ancient sea floor. A total of 155 extraterrestrial spinel grains (10 grains >63 μm, and 145 in the 32–63 μm fraction) were recovered. For comparison, we searched 102 kg of similar limestone from the mid‐Ordovician Komstad Formation in southern Sweden. This limestone formed within ~1 Ma after the breakup of the L chondrite parent body (LCPB) in the asteroid belt. In the sample we found 444 extraterrestrial spinel grains in the >63 μm fraction, and estimate a content of at least 7000 such grains in the 32–63 μm fraction. Our results show that in the late Silurian, ~40 Ma after the LCPB, the flux of ordinary equilibrated chondrites has decreased by two orders of magnitude, almost down to background levels. Among the ordinary chondrites, the dominance of L‐chondritic micrometeorites has waned off significantly, from >99% in the post‐LCPB mid‐Ordovician to ~60% in the Late Silurian, with ~30% H‐, and ~10% LL‐chondritic grains. In the Late Silurian, primitive achondrite abundances are similar to today's value, contrasting to the much higher abundances observed in pre‐LCPB mid‐Ordovician sediments.


Many cyber-physical systems comprise several control applications implemented on a shared platform, for which stability is a fundamental requirement. This is as opposed to the classical hard real-time systems where often the criterion is meeting the deadline. However, the stability of control applications depends on not only the delay experienced, but also the jitter. Therefore, the notion of deadline is considered to be artificial for control applications that promotes the need for new techniques for designing cyber-physical systems. The approach in this paper is built on a server-based resource reservation mechanism, which provides compositionality, isolation, and the opportunity of systematic controller-server co-design. We address the controller-server co-design of such systems to obtain design solutions with the minimal bandwidth to guarantee stability.


Two types of manganese oxides have been prepared by hydrolysis of tetranuclear Mn(iii) complexes in the presence or absence of phosphate ions. The oxides have been characterized structurally using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and functionally by O2 evolution measurements. The structures of the oxides prepared in the absence of phosphate are dominated by di-μ-oxo bridged manganese ions that form layers with limited long-range order, consisting of edge-sharing MnO6 octahedra. The average manganese oxidation state is +3.5. The structure of these oxides is closely related to other manganese oxides reported as water oxidation catalysts. They show high oxygen evolution activity in a light-driven system containing [Ru(bpy)3](2+) and S2O8(2-) at pH 7. In contrast, the oxides formed by hydrolysis in the presence of phosphate ions contain almost no di-μ-oxo bridged manganese ions. Instead the phosphate groups are acting as bridges between the manganese ions. The average oxidation state of manganese ions is +3. This type of oxide has much lower water oxidation activity in the light-driven system. Correlations between different structural motifs and the function as a water oxidation catalyst are discussed and the lower activity in the phosphate containing oxide is linked to the absence of protonable di-μ-oxo bridges.


We investigate and analyze temporal soliton interactions with a dispersive truncated Airy pulse traveling in a nonlinear fiber at the same center wavelength (or frequency), via split step Fourier numerical simulation. Truncated Airy pulses, which remain self-similar during propagation and have a ballistic trajectory in the retarded time frame, can interact with a nearby soliton by its accelerating wavefront property. We find by tracking the fundamental parameters of the emergent soliton-time position, amplitude, phase and frequency-that they alter due to the primary collision with the Airy main lobe and the continuous co-propagation with the dispersed Airy background. These interactions are found to resemble coherent interactions when the initial time separation is small and incoherent at others. This is due to spectral content repositioning within the Airy pulse, changing the nature of interaction from coherent to incoherent. Following the collision, the soliton intensity oscillates as it relaxes. The initial parameters of the Airy pulse such as initial phase, amplitude and time position are varied to better understand the nature of the interactions.


Noise filtering techniques that maintain image contrast while decreasing image noise have the potential to optimize the quality of computed tomography (CT) images acquired at reduced radiation dose. In this paper, a hybrid diffusion filter with continuous switch (HDCS) is introduced, which exploits the benefits of three-dimensional edge-enhancing diffusion (EED) and coherence-enhancing diffusion (CED). Noise is filtered, while edges, tubular structures, and small spherical structures are preserved. From ten high dose thorax CT scans, acquired at clinical doses, ultra low dose ( 15 mAs ) scans were simulated and used to evaluate and compare HDCS to other diffusion filters, such as regularized Perona-Malik diffusion and EED. Quantitative results show that the HDCS filter outperforms the other filters in restoring the high dose CT scan from the corresponding simulated low dose scan. A qualitative evaluation was performed on filtered real low dose CT thorax scans. An expert observer scored artifacts as well as fine structures and was asked to choose one of three scans (two filtered (blinded), one unfiltered) for three different settings (trachea, lung, and mediastinal). Overall, the HDCS filtered scan was chosen most often.


Written in celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this article calls for greater methodological engagement to refine existing human rights approaches to intellectual property and to devise new approaches to advance the promotion and protection of human rights in the intellectual property area.

This article begins by briefly recapturing the past two decades of scholarship on intellectual property and human rights. It documents the progress scholars have made in this intersectional area. The article then draws on the latest research on human rights methods and methodology to explore whether and how we can take the academic discourse to the next level. It highlights three dominant research methods that have been used in this intersectional area: comparative methods, quantitative assessments and contextual analyses.

The second half of this article identifies the contributions a robust discourse on intellectual property and human rights can make to the future development of the intellectual property regime, the human rights regime and the interface between these two regimes. Responding to critics and skeptics in the intellectual property field, the article concludes by explaining why human rights discussions in the intellectual property area will provide important benefits to the future development of the intellectual property regime, especially in relation to developing countries.


This roadmap identifies research topics to be addressed within the SCAPE project between M24 and M38. It provides a general overview of research goals addressed in the R&D work packages in the project, and analyses topics emerging in the cross-section of these and the open issues identified in the general roadmap. We furthermore provide a report on the outcomes of a workshop on Open Research Challenges in DP organised at IPRES 2012. Based on this, we identify a number of key future research topics that will be focus areas for research. These are: (1) information models and benchmarking, (2) advanced simulation and prediction models, and (3) future preservation infrastructures.


Abstract. A simple data assimilation algorithm based on statistical interpolation has been developed and coupled to a long-range chemistry transport model, the Danish Eulerian Operational Model (DEOM), applied for air pollution forecasting at the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Denmark. In this paper, the algorithm and the results from experiments designed to find the optimal setup of the algorithm are described. The algorithm has been developed and optimized via eight different experiments where the results from different model setups have been tested against measurements from the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) network covering a half-year period, April–September 1999. The best performing setup of the data assimilation algorithm for surface ozone concentrations has been found, including the combination of determining the covariances using the Hollingsworth method, varying the correlation length according to the number of adjacent observation stations and applying the assimilation routine at three successive hours during the morning. Improvements in the correlation coefficient in the range of 0.1 to 0.21 between the results from the reference and the optimal configuration of the data assimilation algorithm, were found. The data assimilation algorithm will in the future be used in the operational THOR integrated air pollution forecast system, which includes the DEOM.


Abstract Research on PES programs in agro-ecosystems is recent and limited in developing countries. The authors use a multi-method, quasi-experimental impact evaluation approach to examine direct and indirect livelihood impacts of the Equitable Payments for Watershed Services (EPWS) program piloted in the Morogoro region in Tanzania. The evaluation is based on a survey of 116 program participants and 117 non-participants, 32 semi-structured interviews and 16 focus group discussions to complement the survey data. They find that, while the EPWS program incentives resulted in direct benefits, indirect benefits such as increased crop yields, higher land values, new employment opportunities, more knowledgeable farmers, improved leadership skills as well as increased trust, expanded internal and external networks and strengthened institutions were more important. The results clearly indicate the potential of PES schemes to generate win-win outcomes in agro-ecosystems, but they also call for attention to equity in the design of PES programs implemented on agro-ecosystems.


The article examines public participation and mechanisms of citizens' involvement in the governance of the electrical energy sector. Three aspects of public engagement are analysed: 1) the participants of this process; 2) the level of engagement; 3) the phase of the governance process during which the public is involved. To provide a comprehensive review of the main characteristics of the governance of the Lithuanian electrical energy sector, a semi-structured interview of experts was carried out. Institutions that formulate and implement governance policies are reviewed, the possibilities of public participation and the potential tools of engagement are analysed. Finally, the mechanisms that create proper conditions for citizens' involvement in the governance of the electrical energy sector (as consumers and active electricity sector participants) are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Acute right heart failure (RHF) after left ventricular assist device implantation remains a major source of morbidity and mortality, yet the definition of RHF and the preimplant variables that predict RHF remain controversial. This study evaluated the ability of (1) INTERMACS (Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support) RHF classification to predict post-left ventricular assist device survival and (2) preoperative characteristics and hemodynamic parameters to predict severe and severe acute RHF.

METHODS AND RESULTS
An international, multicenter study at 4 large academic centers was conducted between 2008 and 2016. All subjects with hemodynamics measured by right heart catheterization within 30 days before left ventricular assist device implantation were included. RHF was defined using the INTERMACS definition for RHF. In total, 375 subjects were included (mean age, 57.4±13.2 years, 54% bridge-to-transplant). Mild RHF was most common (34%), followed by moderate RHF (16%), severe RHF (13%), and severe acute RHF (9%). Estimated on-device survival rates at 2 years were 72%, 71%, and 55% in the patients with none, mild-to-moderate, and severe-to-severe acute RHF, respectively (P=0.004). In addition, the independent hazard ratio for mortality was only increased in the patients with severe-to-severe acute RHF (hazard ratio, 3.95; 95% CI, 2.16-7.23; P<0.001). INTERMACS-defined RHF was superior to postimplant inotrope duration alone in the prediction of all-cause mortality. In multivariable analysis, older age, lower INTERMACS classes, and higher pulmonary arterial elastance (ratio of systolic pulmonary artery pressure to stroke volume) before left ventricular assist device, were identified as significant predictors of severe-to-severe acute RHF. Stratifying patients by ratio of systolic pulmonary artery pressure to stroke volume and right atrial pressure significantly improved the discrimination between patients at risk for severe-to-severe acute RHF.

CONCLUSIONS
The INTERMACS RHF classification correctly identifies patients at risk for mortality, though this risk is only increased in patients with severe-to-severe acute RHF. Several predictors for RHF were identified, of which ratio of systolic pulmonary artery pressure to stroke volume was the strongest hemodynamic predictor. Coupling ratio of systolic pulmonary artery pressure to stroke volume with right atrial pressure may be most helpful in identifying patients at risk for severe-to-severe acute RHF.


Acyl carrier proteins (ACPs) are among the most promiscuous proteins in terms of protein-protein interactions and it is quite puzzling how ACPs select the correct partner between many possible upstream and downstream binding proteins. To address this question, we performed molecular dynamics simulations on dimeric Bradyrhizobium japonicum Gly:CP ligase 1 to inspect the origin of its selectivity towards the three types of carrier proteins, namely holoCP, apoCP, and holoCP-Gly, which only differ in the attached prosthetic group. In line with experiments, MM-GBSA analysis revealed that the ligase preferentially binds the holoCP form to both subunits with the binding free energies of -20.7 and -19.1 kcal mol(-1), while the apoCP form, without the prosthetic group, is also recognized, but the binding values of -9.2 and -3.6 kcal mol(-1) suggest that there is no competition for the ligase binding as long as the holoCP is present. After the prosthetic group becomes glycylated, the holoCP-Gly dissociates from the ligase, as supported by its endergonic binding free energies of 2.9 and 20.9 kcal mol(-1). Our results indicate that these affinity differences are influenced by three aspects: the form of the prosthetic group and the specific non-polar hydrophobic interactions, as well as charge complementarity dominantly manifested through Arg220-Glu53 ion pair within the binding region among proteins. A careful examination of the bonding patterns within the ligase active site elucidated the interactions with Arg258, Asp215 and Tyr132 as being predominant in stabilizing the prosthetic group, which are significantly diminished upon glycation, thus promoting complex dissociation.


Abstract. Soil position in the landscape reveals its history of formation and genesis. Therefore, the landscape is the combination of features of the surface of the earth with subsurface components (parent material), while the soil is a three-dimensional, dynamic natural body inserted in the landscape. This research aimed to study the soil-landscape relationship in a sandstone-gneiss topolithosequence in Amazonas, Brazil. The study was carried out along a 9.253-meter transect from the top downwards the softer slope. Soil profiles were selected in five landscape compartments (top, upper third, lower third, transport foothill, and deposition foothill). Morphological, mineralogical, physical, chemical, and ray diffraction characterizations were performed. Soils had different morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical attributes due to the variations of the geological substrate and landscape position. The mineralogy of the clay fraction is composed of kaolinite, goethite, hematite, and gibbsite, with goethite being the predominant iron oxide. A sand fraction dominance was observed in relation to the other fractions in all the profiles, being related to the alluvial nature of the parent material, with the highest values occurring in the lower third. The separation of the landscape into geomorphic surfaces and identification of the parent material were effective for understanding the variation of soil attributes along the landscape.


The effective utilisation of a user's context in improving the performance of web search engines is a subject of intense research interest. In particular, much attention has been directed to the enhancement of queries and the provision of more relevant information by taking user context into account. Progress in this field has been limited to date, however, due to ongoing challenges in capturing and representing contextual information. We describe here the development and evaluation of a webbased contextual information retrieval that addresses some of these challenges and makes progress in defining the information required to create contextual profiles. Our system collects and leverages implicit and explicit user data to modify queries with the aim of more accurately reflecting the user's interests. This data is maintained dynamically in each user's contextual profile and utilised to improve the quality of information found during web searches. Where enabled, this data also contributes to the development of a shared contextual knowledge base that can also be used to augment queries. This shared contextual knowledge base is a key aspect of this research. The system has been tested in an observational study that has considered its ability to improve the user's web search experience. This paper presents experimental data to provide evidence of the system's performance, demonstrating that the shared contextual knowledge base extends the functionality associated with the individual contextual profile.


This work proposes a new architecture for deep neural network training. Instead of having one cascade of fully connected hidden layers between the input features and the target output, the new architecture organizes hidden layers into several regions with each region having its own target. Regions communicate with each other during the training process by connections among intermediate hidden layers to share learned internal representations from their respective targets. They do not have to share the same input features. This paper presents the performance of acoustic models built using this architecture with speaker independent and dependent features. Experimental results are compared with not only the baseline DNN model, but also the ensemble DNN, unfolded RNN and stacked DNN. Experiments on the IARPA sponsored Babel tasks demonstrate improvements ranging from 0.8% to 2.7% absolute reduction in


Semi-active resetable devices have recently been considered to reduce the seismic response of civil engineering structures. Resetable energy dissipation devices are fundamentally hydraulic or pneumatic spring elements that possess the ability to release the stored spring energy at any time. Instead of altering the damping directly, resetable devices nonlinearly alter the stiffness of the structure. This paper describes a series of shaking table tests of a four-storey model structure subjected to seismic excitation. The model structure is a one-fifth scale steel moment-resisting frame and aims to model a typical reinforced concrete frame building. Two semi-active resetable devices were installed in the lateral bracing of the model structure to reduce the seismic response. The devices modified the stiffness of the model structure by following a control algorithm that utilised the measured dynamic response of the structure. The results of the shaking table tests are presented and interpreted.


Background:Despite a large body of research showing racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in cancer treatment quality, the relative role of physician-level variations in care is unclear. Objective:To examine the effect of physicians on disparities in breast and colorectal cancer care. Subjects:Linked SEER Medicare data were used to identify Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with colorectal and breast cancer during 1995–2007 and their treating physicians. Research Design:We identified treating physicians from Medicare claims data. We measured the use of NIH guideline–recommended therapies from SEER and Medicare claims data, and used logistic models to examine the relationship between race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and cancer quality of care. We used physician fixed effects to account for between-physician variations in treatment. Results:Minority and low socioeconomic status beneficiaries with breast and colorectal cancer were less likely to receive any recommended treatments as compared with whites. Overall, between-physician variation explained <20% of the total variation in quality of care. After accounting for between-physician differences, median household income explained 14.3%, 18.4%, and 13.2% of the variation in use of breast-conserving surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for breast cancer, and 13.7%, 12.9%, and 12.6% of the within-physician variation in use of colorectal surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation for colorectal cancer, whereas race and ethnicity explained <2% of the within-physician variation in cancer care. Conclusions:Between-physician variations partially explain racial disparities in cancer care. Residual within-physician disparities may be due to differences in patient-provider communication, patient preferences and treatment adherence, or unmeasured clinical severity.


A 22-month-old African American boy born at 38 weeks by normal vaginal delivery presents to a local hospital from a private pediatric office for failure to thrive. He was seen by his pediatrician until aged 1 month but was lost to follow-up. His delay in walking prompted his mother to reestablish care at age 22 months.


In search for quieter engines there is a need for a better understanding of the acoustic properties of engine intake and exhaust system components. Besides mufflers which have the purpose of reducing pressure pulses originating from the internal combustion (IC) engine, there are many components in a modern car exhaust and intake system, e.g., air-filters, coolers, catalytic converters, particulate filters - all having an effect on the pressure pulses or sound field in the system. In this work the focus is on the turbocharged IC-engine where both, sound scattering (reflection and transmission) and sound generation from automotive turbochargers are studied. In addition, sound reflection from an open ended pipe, such as the tailpipe of an IC-engine exhaust is investigated. Accurate and efficient methods to fully characterize turbochargers by measuring the acoustic two-port have been developed. Compared to earlier work, a number of modifications are suggested for improving the quality of the results. A study on three different automotive turbochargers is also presented, including data for sound scattering for both the compressor and turbine. The results for the transmission of sound, which is of interest for the ability of a turbocharger to reduce noise coming from the engine, is plotted for all tested cases against a dimensionless frequency scale (Helmholtz-number). This makes it possible to generalize the result in order to draw conclusions about the behavior for any turbocharger. The sound generation was also studied and three different methods to estimate the sound power are suggested. The methods were used to investigate sound generation at different operating points and identify source mechanisms for a turbocharger compressor. An accurate method for measuring the reflection of plane acoustic waves from a pipe termination in a duct with hot gas flow has been developed and tested. Representing the acoustical conditions at an exhaust tail-pipe, the data obtained is important for effective modeling of exhaust systems. The experimental results of the reflection coefficient were compared with Munt`s theory on flow duct openings. The measurements were carried out for air jet velocities up to Mach 0.4 and for flow temperatures up to 100°C in order to study temperature effects on the reflection properties. It was concluded, that the experimental results agree well with the Munt theory.


The syntactic monoid of a language is generalized to the level of a symmetric monoidal closed category $\mathcal D$. This allows for a uniform treatment of several notions of syntactic algebras known in the literature, including the syntactic monoids of Rabin and Scott ($\mathcal D=$ sets), the syntactic ordered monoids of Pin ($\mathcal D =$ posets), the syntactic semirings of Pol\'ak ($\mathcal D=$ semilattices), and the syntactic associative algebras of Reutenauer ($\mathcal D$ = vector spaces). Assuming that $\mathcal D$ is a commutative variety of algebras or ordered algebras, we prove that the syntactic $\mathcal D$-monoid of a language $L$ can be constructed as a quotient of a free $\mathcal D$-monoid modulo the syntactic congruence of $L$, and that it is isomorphic to the transition $\mathcal D$-monoid of the minimal automaton for $L$ in $\mathcal D$. Furthermore, in the case where the variety $\mathcal D$ is locally finite, we characterize the regular languages as precisely the languages with finite syntactic $\mathcal D$-monoids.


We report the observation of B-→J/ψΛp and searches for B-→J/ψΣ0p and B0→J/ψpp decays, using a sample of 275×106 BB pairs collected with the Belle detector at the Υ(4S) resonance. We observe a signal of 17.2±4.1 events with a significance of 11.1σ and obtain a branching fraction of B(B-→J/ψΛp)=11.6±2.8(stat)-2.3+1.8(sys)×10-6. No signal is found for either of the two decay modes, B-→J/ ψΣ0p and B0→J/ψpp, and upper limits for the branching fractions are determined to be B(B-→J/ψΣ0p)<1. 1×10-5 and B(B0→J/ψpp)<8.3×10-7 at 90% confidence level. © 2005 The American Physical Society.


DECADES AFTER the evacuation of American troops from Southeast Asia, the teaching of the Vietnam War remains one of the most controversial issues in the American classroom. The lack of a shared perspective--even today--on the Vietnam War stands in sharp contrast to the mobilized support among Americans following the attacks of September 11,2001. The "war on terrorism," following the loss of lives and destruction of property on American soil, has a united nation showing its flag colors on homes, businesses, mailboxes, and cars. Images surrounding the Vietnam War, in contrast, evoke grainy stills of flag-burning protesters and the deepening anxiety among the "establishment" that the constant arrival of body bags from a faraway war might be not only endless but futile. Of course, today's "united we stand" perspective presents its own unique challenges for the classroom teacher. Each moment in history requires its own set of responses for study and reflection. But whether teaching about September 11, 2001, or the Vietnam War, social studies teachers have an obligation to help future generations understand that there are multiple interpretations of global events. Teaching history entails more than teaching about cause and effect or simply providing background sketches of "the enemy." A global education involves helping students increase knowledge and understanding about the larger world. (1) Same Time Next Year The Vietnam War had profound consequences for U.S. foreign policy, domestic politics, and America's social history, yet students in the United States generally know very little about the war. (2) For many students, the end of World War II signals the end of the school year. The reasons are numerous: teachers overburdened by the scope of history, the limitations inherent in a chronological approach toward the subject, the superficiality or distortion of events in many textbooks, the lack of salient supplementary materials, and teachers' own restricted knowledge about the wars. Another reality that can't be ignored is the inability or insecurity among teachers to address the political ramifications and painful memories of the Vietnam War. The limited knowledge students do possess about the war is often steeped in misconceptions and distortions acquired from media. (3) A review in 1979 found that most U.S. textbooks of the 1960s and 1970s had "no firm grip on Vietnamese geography or nomenclature," and presented inaccurate accounts of the "Geneva Accords, Pentagon Papers, Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the My Lai Massacre." (4) By the 1980s, textbooks had improved, although coverage of the war was still inadequate. (5) Student knowledge and understanding of the event were largely derived from distorted images such as Sylvester Stallone's Rambo movies. If teachers shy away from covering major events in the Vietnam War, even fewer teachers consider events from a Vietnamese perspective. Yet an inquiry into this perspective is an important part of the study of the war. Asking what the war was like for the people of Vietnam and how they fared in its aftermath can lead to a greater understanding of that period, and enhance a global perspective of wars. Adolescent Literature When addressing the Vietnam War, social studies teachers can benefit from a body of adolescent literature reflecting Vietnamese perspectives, as well as other materials that assist in teaching what the Vietnamese refer to as the "American Vietnam War" A genre of adolescent literature focuses on young adult characters and themes. Using adolescent literature to supplement history textbooks provides a multidisciplinary approach toward the complex subject of the Vietnam War. Several books address key events in Vietnamese history, including pre-colonial history, the Indochina War, the War in Vietnam, and the refugee experience, as well as the human and environmental impact of the war. …


In April 1917, under the warmth of the Italian Mediterranean sun, two modernist titans began a friendship that would lead to a special artistic collaboration. Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky were brought together as artists commissioned by Serge Diaghilev's celebrated and notorious Ballets Russes. From 1917 until 1919 the pair engaged in an artistic dialoguewhich formed the basis for their collaboration on Ragtime. The journey from friendship to collaborators and the fascinating artistic works this yielded are often neglected in the vast literature on each of these geniuses. I argue, however, that the works Picasso and Stravinsky produced in friendship from 1917 to 1919 reveal insights into their eventual collaboration on Ragtime, where each tried to capture the other's medium in his own. Although Ragtime is a comparatively small work that is often considered incidental,especially when compared to their ballet collaboration on Pulcinella (1920),it is actually a crucial statement of artistic collaboration borne out of the intimacyof friendship.


Aim:  We tested the hypothesis that shredder detritivores, a key trophic guild in stream ecosystems, are more diverse at higher latitudes, which has important ecological implications in the face of potential biodiversity losses that are expected as a result of climate change. We also explored the dependence of local shredder diversity on the regional species pool across latitudes, and examined the influence of environmental factors on shredder diversity.

Location:  World-wide (156 sites from 17 regions located in all inhabited continents at latitudes ranging from 67° N to 41° S).

Methods:  We used linear regression to examine the latitudinal variation in shredder diversity at different spatial scales: alpha (α), gamma (γ) and beta (β) diversity. We also explored the effect of γ-diversity on α-diversity across latitudes with regression analysis, and the possible influence of local environmental factors on shredder diversity with simple correlations.

Results:  Alpha diversity increased with latitude, while γ- and β-diversity showed no clear latitudinal pattern. Temperate sites showed a linear relationship between γ- and α-diversity; in contrast, tropical sites showed evidence of local species saturation, which may explain why the latitudinal gradient in α-diversity is not accompanied by a gradient in γ-diversity. Alpha diversity was related to several local habitat characteristics, but γ- and β-diversity were not related to any of the environmental factors measured.

Main conclusions:  Our results indicate that global patterns of shredder diversity are complex and depend on spatial scale. However, we can draw several conclusions that have important ecological implications. Alpha diversity is limited at tropical sites by local factors, implying a higher risk of loss of key species or the whole shredder guild (the latter implying the loss of trophic diversity). Even if regional species pools are not particularly species poor in the tropics, colonization from adjacent sites may be limited. Moreover, many shredder species belong to cool-adapted taxa that may be close to their thermal maxima in the tropics, which makes them more vulnerable to climate warming. Our results suggest that tropical streams require specific scientific attention and conservation efforts to prevent loss of shredder biodiversity and serious alteration of ecosystem processes.


Aims: Approximately 20% of patients are dissatisfied with their total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Purpose of this study was to determine if patient satisfaction could be improved following TKA using computer technology to obtain the target alignment and precisely balanced gaps. Patients & Methods: 75 consecutive patients undergoing primary robotic-arm assisted TKA (RA-TKA) with real-time intraoperative alignment and gap balancing information were compared with a prospective cohort of 75 consecutive patients undergoing primary TKA with manual jig-based instruments during the same time period. There were no differences between groups with age, gender, BMI, and ASA scores. TKA's were performed by a single surgeon using same implant design, anesthesia and surgical protocols. Patient satisfaction survey using Knee Society (KSS) and Likert scoring system was obtained at 1-year follow-up. Results: Likert scoring system demonstrated 95% of patients in the computer technology group were either very satisfied or satisfied versus 75% in the manual instruments TKA group (p=0.005) at 1-year follow-up. Second question of the KSS which deals with pain at rest was significantly better in RA-Health TKA group (p=0.04). Fifth question which deals with recreational activities was also significantly improved in the RA-TKA group, p=0.02. RA-TKA group had a better average overall satisfaction score of 7.1 versus 6.4 in the manual instrument group, p=0.03. Conclusion: Using intraoperative computer technology to achieve the target alignment with flexion/extension gap balancing to within 1mm, a significant improvement in patient satisfaction was demonstrated compared to TKA using conventional manual jig-based instruments.


In Au/n-GaAs Schottky diodes, a remarkable decrease in the depletion layer capacitance was observed by application of hydrostatic pressure. The capacitance decrease induced by the hydrostatic pressure is attributed to the change of ionized additional donor-like defect centres. Since the capacitance decrease is due to hydrostatic pressure, we suggest an application as a pressure-sensitive capacitor.


Another point of view (see page 565)

Macleod and Davey Smith state that the aim of their paper is to critically examine the role of psychosocial factors in health.1 Unfortunately, what could have been an interesting discussion is compromised by the authors implicit assumption that there is a single pathway linking social position to health. The authors seem to equate parsimonious causal analysis with a narrow, reductionistic perspective, subsequently devoting most of their paper to a discussion of "psychosocial versus material explanation", while ignoring evidence showing multiple pathways linking social position to health.2,3

This commentary widens the debate by considering three issues:

Psychosocial variables encompass two categories of variables. The first consists of psychological attributes like hostility, depression, hopelessness, etc, which exist at the individual level, and are likely to be a result of the process of socialisation. The second category is more structural in nature, work conditions for example. These two categories work synergistically at the individual level, as can be seen from social support at work, which is a function of both work conditions and personal social interaction skills. Although the authors start out with a similar definition of psychosocial variables, in fact they interpret them rather narrowly as being the way in which "poor people feel about their poverty". This restrictive view of psychosocial variables negates the importance of the ubiquitous association between social disadvantage and a host of psychosocial variables in the developed world. We still know very little about the mechanisms that create and sustain this link, and when in the lifecourse this link is established.

In considering the importance of psychosocial variables to health Macleod and Davey Smith create a false dichotomy between "objective disease" and "misery". They themselves acknowledge "misery" to be a legitimate public health issue, particularly in …


Block copolymer micelles are water-soluble biocompatible nanocontainers with great potential for delivering hydrophobic drugs. An understanding of their cellular distribution is essential to achieving selective delivery of drugs at the subcellular level. Triple-labeling confocal microscopy in live cells revealed the localization of micelles in several cytoplasmic organelles, including mitochondria, but not in the nucleus. Moreover, micelles change the cellular distribution of and increase the amount of the agent delivered to the cells. These micelles may thus be worth exploring for their potential to selectively deliver drugs to specified subcellular targets.


This paper deals with the robustness of the class of nonlinear piecewise deterministic systems with unknown but bounded uncertainties. Under the assumption that all the modes of the markovian jump process (disturbance) communicate, the complete access to the system state and the boundedness of the uncertainties, a sufficient condition for stochastic stability of this class of systems is given. An example is presented to validate the proposed results.


What determines the success or failure of far-right organisations? This article uses new qualitative data to explain the sudden rise and subsequent decline of the English Defence League, an anti-Islamic, street protest organisation established in the UK in 2009. We explain the rise and fall of the English Defence League through the lens of the theory of collective action to show that the English Defence League initially motivated activism by supplying selective incentives that were enhanced by the participation of others. The pursuit of 'participatory crowding' led to indiscriminate recruitment into the organisation that enabled numbers to expand into the thousands, but ultimately caused the English Defence League's downfall because it resulted in the presence of large numbers of 'marginal members' with low levels of commitment whose subsequent exit was decisively destructive. Self-governance mechanisms to ensure greater loyalty from members could have prevented the English Defence League's decline but would also have limited its initial success.


It has been successfully synthesized silver nanoparticles by chemical reduction methods. Silver nitrate (AgNO3) is used as a metal precursor and trisodium citrate as a reducing agent with varying concentrations of the stabilizer PVA. The UV-Vis spectrometer shows that increasing the mass concentration of the stabilizer can sharpen the surface plasmon maximum absorption band and there is a shift in the maximum absorption band towards a larger wavelength. This shift occurred from a wavelength of 428.79 nm at a PVA concentration of 0.85 ppm shifted to a wavelength of 429.01 nm, 430.93 nm and 434.13 nm for each PVA concentration of 1.70 ppm, 2.55 ppm and 4.25 ppm. The observation results of the SPR phenomenon showed a shift in the SPR angle when a thin layer of silver as the active ingredient of the sensor was coated with silver nanoparticles. This addition also sharpens the reflectance value. The SPR angle shift and the increase in reflectance value are caused by changes in the surface plasmon wave constant, which becomes a reference that the SPR phenomenon by modifying the sensing surface using an additional layer of silver nanoparticles can increase its sensitivity.


Precarious Creativity examines the seismic changes confronting media workers in an age of globalization and corporate conglomeration. This pathbreaking anthology peeks behind the hype and supposed glamor of screen media industries to reveal the intensifying pressures and challenges confronting actors, editors, electricians, and others. The authors take on pressing conceptual and methodological issues while also providing insightful case studies of workplace dynamics regarding creativity, collaboration, exploitation, and cultural difference. Furthermore, it examines working conditions and organizing efforts on all six continents, offering broad-ranging and comprehensive analysis of contemporary screen media labor in such places as Lagos, Prague, Hollywood, and Hyderabad. The collection also examines labor conditions across a range of job categories that includes, for example, visual effects, production services, and adult entertainment. With contributions from such leading scholars as John Caldwell, Vicki Mayer, Herman Gray, and Tejaswini Ganti, Precarious Creativity offers timely critiques of media globalization while also intervening in broader debates about labor, creativity, and precarity.


PURPOSE
To describe the Radiological Physics Center's new anthropomorphic liver phantom and to report the results from the initial irradiations.

METHODS
A new imaging and dosimetry insert was created for the RPC's pelvic phantom that includes non-coplanar targets. The polystyrene insert represents the liver and includes two Solid WaterTM targets (PTV1 and PTV2) that mimic liver metastases. PTV1, located in the superior-left-posterior region of the insert, is an ovoid 2 cm in diameter and 2.5 cm long. PTV2, located in the inferior-right-anterior region of the insert is a 3 cm diameter sphere. The insert houses one TLD and 3 planes of radiochromic film in each PTV. The phantom, with a motion table to simulate respiratory motion, was sent to institutions planning to participate in an upcoming RTOG SBRT liver protocol. Institutions were instructed to design and deliver a stereotactic treatment plan that delivered 6 Gy to >=95% of each PTV. The maximum motion of the phantom on the motion table was 1 cm in the superior-inferior direction.

RESULTS
Irradiations from 8 institutions have been analyzed. The acceptance criteria, based on the results of the 8 irradiations, were set at ±7% for the TLD and 85% of the pixels in a region surrounding each PTV passing a ±7%/4 mm global gamma analysis. Five of the 8 irradiations passed these criteria. The three irradiations that did not meet the criteria failed to meet only the film criteria. Breath hold, ITV, gating, and tracking techniques were used to account for motion. Pinnacle, Eclipse, and MultiPlan treatment planning systems were used for planning.

CONCLUSION
The new liver insert along with a motion table tests the ability of the institution's ability to deliver dose to multiple moving targets and is a useful credentialing tool for clinical trials using SBRT. Supported by PHS grant CA10953 and CA081647 from the NCI, DHHS.


Background: Personal information about individuals is stored by organisations including government agencies. The information is intended to be kept confidential and strictly used for its primary and legitimate purposes. However, that has not always been the case in many South African government agencies and departments. In recent years, personal information about individuals and groups has been illegally leaked for other motives, in which some were detrimental. Even though there exists a legislation,  Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act , which prohibits such malpractices, illegally leaked information has however, not stopped or reduced. In addition to the adoption of the  POPI Act , a more stringent approach is therefore needed in order to improve sanity in the use and management of personal information. Otherwise, the detriment that such malpractices cause too many citizens can only be on the increase. Objectives: The objectives of this study were in twofold: (1) to examine and understand the activities that happen with personal information leaks, which includes why and how information is leaked; and (2) to develop a conceptual framework, which includes identification of the factors that influence information leaks and breaches in an environment. Method: Qualitative research methods were followed in achieving the objectives of the study. Within the qualitative methods, documents including existing literature were gathered. The activity theory was employed as lens to guide the analysis. Result: From the analysis, four critical factors were found to be of influence in information leaks and breaches in organisations. The factors include: (1) information and its value, (2) the roles of society and its compliance to information protection, (3) government and its laws relating to information protection and (4) the need for standardisation of information usage and management within a community. Based on the factors, a conceptual framework was developed. Conclusion: This study can be used to guide implementation of information protection acts in any environment. It empirically contributes to societal awareness on how and why personal information is leaked and breached. Also, it will benefit academic domain, particularly in the use of activity theory.


In 2009, the major leaders all over the world met together for the summit on climate change in Copenhagen [1]. A clear signal is sent to public that the traditional manner of energy consumption and economic growth needs to be changed fundamentally in the near future. In order to reach the target of reducing green house gas emission, technologies such as renewable energy sources (RES) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) have to be widely adopted. For the sake of accommodating such intermittent generators and flexible loads, the transmission and distribution network of the current electric power system will be adapted toward the next generation electricity infrastructure, namely the Smart Grid, with the capability of real-time pricing, dispatching and management of demand-side response. In this paper, we first describe the Smart Grid from both the functional prospects. Moreover, the basis of the potential of the Smart Grid, a retailing spot market of electric energy is proposed. Its interoperability with other stakeholders in the electric power infrastructure, which is modeled as a cooperating multi-agent system, is elaborated.


Silver(I) complexes bearing N-heterocyclic carbene and diphenylphosphinobenzene ligands, [Ag(IPr)(dppbz)]BPh4 (1, IPr = bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazole-2-ylidene, dppbz = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)benzene), [Ag(IPr)(dfpbz)]BPh4 (2, dfpbz = 1,2-bis[di(4-fluorophenyl)phosphino]benzene), and [Ag(IPr)(dtbpbz)]BPh4 (3, dtbpbz = 1,2-bis[bis[3,5-di(tert-butyl)phenyl]phosphino]benzene), were newly synthesized and characterized. These complexes, especially 3, exhibit intense blue emission in the solid state. The maximum wavelength and lifetime of the photoluminescence of 3 are 440 nm and 14 μs, respectively. The quantum yield of the photoluminescence of 3 in the solid state is 0.5, which is one of the highest values among blue-emissive silver(I) complexes ever reported. Introduction of bulky tert-butyl groups at 3- and 5-positions of the phenyl groups in the diphosphine ligand plays a key role in both the blue-shift and the enhancement of the photoluminescence. Additionally, the reversible hypsochromic shift of the long-lived emission caused by the grinding process is observed for one of the complexes.


What is the relationship between how cities work and what cities mean? Spatial Cultures: Towards a New Social Morphology of Cities Past and Present announces an innovative research agenda for urban studies in which themes and methods from urban history, social theory and built environment research are brought into dialogue across disciplinary and chronological boundaries. The collection confronts the recurrent epistemological impasse that arises between research focussing on the description of material built environments and that which is concerned primarily with the people who inhabit, govern and write about cities past and present. A reluctance to engage substantively with this issue has been detrimental to scholarly efforts to understand the urban built environment as a meaningful agent of human social experience. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary urban case studies, as well as a selection of theoretical and methodological reflections, the contributions to this volume seek to historically, geographically and architecturally contextualize diverse spatial practices including movement, encounter, play, procession and neighbourhood. The aim is to challenge their tacit treatment as universal categories in much writing on cities and to propose alternative research possibilities with implications as much for urban design thinking as for history and the social sciences.


In this work, a selection of unresolved topics regarding the electronic and atomic structures of Si and Ge surfaces, both clean ones and those modified by metal adsorbates, are addressed. The results presented have been obtained using theoretical calculations and experimental techniques such as photoelectron spectroscopy (PES), low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Si(001) surfaces with adsorbed alkali metals can function as prototype systems for studying properties of the technologically important family of metal-semiconductor interfaces. In this work, the effect of up to one monolayer (ML) of Li on the Si(001) surface is studied using a combination of experimental and theoretical techniques. Several models for the surface atomic structures have been suggested for 0.5 and 1 ML of Li in the literature. Through the combination of experiment and theory, critical differences in the surface electronic structures between the different atomic models are identified and used to determine the most likely model for a certain Li coverage. In the literature, there are reports of an electronic structure at elevated temperature, that can be probed using angle resolved PES (ARPES), on the clean Ge(001) and Si(001) surfaces. The structure is quite unusual in the sense that it appears at an energy position above the Fermi level. Using results from a combined variable temperature ARPES and LEED study, the origin of this structure is determined. Various explanations for the structure that are available in the literature are discussed. It is found that all but thermal occupation of an ordinarily empty surface state band are inconsistent with our experimental data. In a combined theoretical and experimental study, the surface core-level shifts on clean Si(001) and Ge(001) in the c(4×2) reconstruction are investigated. In the case of the Ge 3d core-level, no previous theoretical results from the c(4×2) reconstruction are available in the literature. The unique calculated Ge 3d surface core-level shifts facilitate the identification of the atomic origins of the components in the PES data. Positive assignments can be made for seven of the eight inequivalent groups of atoms in the four topmost layers in the Ge case. Furthermore, a similar, detailed, assignment of the atomic origins of the shifts on the Si surface is presented that goes beyond previously published results. At a Sn coverage of slightly more than one ML, a 2√3 × 2√3 reconstruction can be obtained on the Si(111) surface. Two aspects of this surface are explored and presented in this work. First, theoretically derived results obtained from an atomic model in the literature are tested against new ARPES and STM data. It is concluded that the model needs to be revised in order to better explain the experimental observations. The second part is focused on the abrupt and reversible transition to a molten 1×1 phase at a temperature of about 463 K. ARPES and STM results obtained slightly below and slightly above the transition temperature reveal that the surface band structure, as well as the atomic structure, changes drastically at the transition. Six surface states are resolved on the surface at low temperature. Above the transition, the photoemission spectra are, on the other hand, dominated by a single strong surface state band. It shows a dispersion similar to that of a calculated surface band associated with the Sn-Si bond on a 1×1 surface with Sn positioned above the top layer Si atoms. There has been extensive studies of the reconstructions on Si surfaces induced by adsorption of the group III metals Al, Ga and In. Recently, this has been expanded to Tl, i.e., the heaviest element in that group. Tl is different from the other elements in group III since it exhibits a peculiar behavior of the 6s2 electrons called the "inert pair effect". This could lead to a valence state of either 1+ or 3+. In this work, core-level PES is utilized to find that, at coverages up to one ML, Tl exhibits a 1+ valence state on Si(111), in contrast to the 3+ valence state of the other group III metals. Accordingly, the surface band structure of the 1/3 ML √3 x √3 reconstruction is found to be different in the case of Tl, compared to the other group III metals. The observations of a 1+ valence state are consistent with ARPES results from the Si(001):Tl surface at one ML. There, six surface state bands are seen. Through comparisons with a calculated surface band structure, four of those can be identified. The two remaining bands are very similar to those observed on the clean Si(001) surface.


What we know already. The Lothian PROM has shown us that chaplaincy benefitted all in this sample not just the faithful, religious or spiritual. However, this deduction arose from statistical analysis of tick box responses in the previous paper. Whilst this is a powerful finding we do not understand the deeper meaning of this in relation to how chaplains could better target their time, or better use the time they have with patients. What this paper adds. This paper adds depth and context to the findings in the previous paper. It analyses responses to the free text question: 'Please add any final comments you wish to make about how the chaplain's input affected you'. The results illuminate and explain not just the correlations established in the numerical analysis but also provide solid evidence that chaplains deliver person centred care. The importance of this observation to the NHS in particular cannot be overstated. Why this is important. The finding that the responses articulated person centred care is particularly valuable in light of: a) the policy imperative to deliver person centred care b) the growing recognition of the complexity of this agenda, and c) its consistency with the findings from CCL discussed in the following papers in this special edition of SACH. How this impacts upon chaplaincy. The comments analysed here add explanatory depth to the statistical evidence of the impact of chaplaincy. They show the personal value of chaplaincy to a wide range of people. In particular they show the importance of having someone other than a clinician wholly present with people to be with them in testing times.


Although many have dismissed Egypt's first competitive presidential elections and the parliamentary elections of 2005 as a sham, the election campaigns marked a new departure in the Egyptian political sphere, including a shift in the domestic political balance. This article argues that the convergence of developments in the domestic political arena - including the emergence of new movements - the shifting emphasis of US foreign policy towards democratization, and the emergence of the new Arab media space, give the elections real significance despite the predictability of the results. The presidential and parliamentary elections in Egypt (September - December 2005) marked a new peak in the struggle for power in that country's domestic political arena, and also fueled the growing debate about the possibility of establishing genuine political reform in Arab countries. Following Husni Mubarak's overwhelming victory (88%) in the presidential elections, numerous claims were heard, both in and outside of Egypt, that nothing had changed in the Land of the Nile. A New York Times editorial column, headlined "Egypt's Imitation Election" proclaimed: "the election was an elaborate and largely meaningless sham."1 Similar remarks were heard following the parliamentary elections in December. This article examines these elections in three main contexts: the ongoing struggle for power in the domestic Egyptian political arena, the role of US Middle East policy, and the establishment of the new Arab media space. My conclusion is that in all three contexts, the Egyptian elections have reshuffled the deck. In the struggle for domination of the local political arena, the elections are likely not only to instigate a significant change in power relations between the Egyptian regime and its opponents, but could also possibly become a model for reform in other Arab countries. Husni Mubarak entered office under tragic circumstances - following the assassination of President Anwar A1-Sadat (October 6, 1981). In his 11-year administration, Sadat initiated significant reforms in his country's internal, foreign, and security policies. His "Open Door Policy" (al-Infitah) was intended to help Egypt emerge from its calamitous economic state by redefining the national agenda. Sadat's political re-orientation was, first and foremost, based on close cooperation with the United States and resolving the conflict with Israel. His foreign and security policies were derived from this position. In the economic field he initiated a series of steps aimed at creating a market economy in Egypt, expanding activity in the private sector, increasing foreign investments, and minimizing the dominance of the public sector. The social implications of this policy were soon evident. Prices and the cost of living rose steadily, while subsidies on consumer products and fuel were reduced continuously. Unemployment rates reached a new high, especially among the educated. The gap between the affluent and the poor widened, and with it a large segment of the population became increasingly frustrated with its inability to break out of the cycle of poverty and suffering.2 Sadat's assassination occurred against a background of an escalating struggle between the regime and the opposition. Sadat acknowledged his commitment to democracy on many occasions, but any steps implemented were minimal and aimed at ensuring the government's continuing dominance in the political arena. The various opposition movements demanded comprehensive reforms, but the Egyptian leadership was only willing to accept limited reforms that would not substantially upset the existing political order. Egypt's multiple security services enabled the government to effectively keep an eye on the opposition. Still, the government was unable to neutralize its domestic opponents or totally silence their intense criticism. From the beginning of the 1970s, an incipient change was evident in the political arena. …


The study focused on the evaluation of capacity building strategies, as implemented by Merseyside Health Action Zones (MHAZ). The aim was to determine whether capacity building activities constitute as appropriate tools to tackle the underlying causes of poor health, including unemployment, and social exclusion especially amongst young people. This study also determined the MHAZ contributions towards increasing the employability towards enhancing the quality of life for young people, aged between16-25 in the Merseyside areas. The Health Action Zones (HAZs), including MHAZ, were a government programme for action in local communities to tackle the root causes of ill health in other to reduce health inequalities. The qualitative evaluation methodology adopted for this study provided in-depth understanding of participants' experiences of both the processes and the impacts of the projects. 20 project workers and 18 beneficiaries from 5 local authorities in Merseyside were involved as respondents. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews, a focus group meeting, case studies, and an evaluation workshop using the 'theory of change' (TOC) approach to evaluation. The TOC enabled the project workers identify their programmes' logic models as well as enabled the assessment of complex community-based activities of capacity building that operated at many levels. A review of projects' reports and relevant literature provided an overview of project structure.

The study was carried out in three phases: the first phase explored the MHAZ project workers' perception and understanding of the term 'capacity building' in the context of HAZ. The second phase focused on identifying the MHAZ logic models and assessing MHAZ process, focusing on what worked what did not work so well and what could be done differently for better practice in the future learning and development. The third and final phase assessed the impact of capacity building on the project's participants, in relation to enhanced learning (knowledge, experiences, attitudes or skill) and improved conditions, including increased employability and behavioural changes.

Key findings revealed that the MHAZ project workers characterised the activities of capacity building using a more community-friendly terminology such as 'personal development', 're-training-to reactivate-potential', and 'social capital', as their values seemed more in line with what they do. However, the term 'social capital' arguably seemed to have suffered the same fate as the term 'capacity building' at the project level as it seemed - not only is it jargonistic, it is a complex concept as well. Meanwhile the term capacity-building was viewed negatively by most project workers as its philosophy could not easily relate to what they do in the community. This indicates that capacity building can act to marginalize people rather than enhance skills.

Efforts were made to address social exclusion and many projects recorded successes in terms of increased self-confidence, personal qualities and enhanced social skills for both the project workers and beneficiaries. The relationship of trust and respect between the project workers and the young people was obviously very vital to the success of the MHAZ programmes, as positive changes were noted in attitudes and interaction with different groups of people.

The weakness of the MHAZ programmes was attributed to the short term nature of the projects and the uncertainty in the funding system, which had huge negative impacts on both the project workers and the young people. It was therefore not possible to determine on the shorter-term objectives if MHAZ achieved the reduction of health inequality status. Also the absence of a support structure with an inbuilt transitional period meant that the young people were left independently to find their own jobs with little or no confidence. Government could do more to address the real problems of social exclusion amongst young people. Perhaps, the Coalition government 'Big Society' agenda comprising of integrated provisions where parental education, social and health care support provided to vulnerable families should be seen as crucial in addressing health inequality status while improving young people's wider wellbeing. This approach will enable young people to have a sense of belonging within a community network, even after the programmes and projects have drawn to an end.

Suggestions for improvement included: the need for increased funding to extend the life of the projects, and the development of a workable post support structure for the transition period to enable young people prepare their mind-set for employment as well as establishing education, and life skills programmes to gain employment at the end of project's duration.


In this eight specimens were prepared in laboratory. Four of the specimens were with w/cratio (0.4) and the other four specimens were with w/c ratio (0.5). All of the specimens were intentionally contaminated with 3% (by cement weight) of chlorides during the mixing process in order to study the effect of various parameters, like (current density, intermitting the current in different periods, and the w/c ratio), on the total efficiency of the ECE treatment. A titanium net, immersed in calcium hydroxide electrolyte solution, was used in this work, and the current densities were (0.7 and 1.0) A/m2 by steel surface. Two different current-on intervals (12 and 5) days were used as well, while the current-off interval was 2 day in all cases of treatment. The plexiglass-spacers, which used between the anode net and the concrete surface in order to reduce the acidification of the concrete surface, result in lower efficiency of the ECE in the adjacent concrete surface above it. Keeping the concrete surface immersed in the electrolyte solution during all the treatment's period led to diffusing a considerable amount of chlorides in these areas out of the concrete. According to the overall results of the chloride measurement; the 12 days of current-on treatment was most efficient in the early stage of the intermittent treatment, while the 5 days of current-on treatment was most efficient in the advanced stages of the intermittent treatment. Therefore, it can be beneficial to apply the ECE with gradient current-on intervals that starts with long intervals and ends with short intervals. Due to the low current densities that used, the total duration of the treatment was rather long (90 days) and the ECE treatment was most efficient in the specimens that treated with 1.0 A/m2 by steel surface. The variation between the two types of w/c ratios that used in this work was low and therefore, the influence of the w/c ratio on the ECE's efficiency was difficult to be noticed. At the end of the treatment, the rates of extracted chlorides were generally between (80 and86)% in all the specimens excepting two of them which had two parameters in common (current density 0.7 A/m2 and 5 days of current-on intervals). These two specimens gave worst result and only about 66% of chlorides were extracted at the end of the treatment.


Astronaut intestinal health may be impacted by microgravity, radiation, and diet. The aim of this study was to characterize how high and low linear energy transfer (LET) radiation, microgravity, and elevated dietary iron affect colon microbiota (determined by 16S rDNA pyrosequencing) and colon function. Three independent experiments were conducted to achieve these goals: 1) fractionated low LET γ radiation (137Cs, 3 Gy, RAD), high Fe diet (IRON) (650 mg/kg diet), and a combination of low LET γ radiation and high Fe diet (IRON+RAD) in male Sprague-Dawley rats; 2) high LET 38Si particle exposure (0.050 Gy), 1/6 G partial weight bearing (PWB), and a combination of high LET38Si particle exposure and PWB in female BalbC/ByJ mice; and 3) 13 d spaceflight in female C57BL/6 mice. Low LET radiation, IRON and spaceflight increased Bacteroidetes and decreased Firmicutes. RAD and IRON+RAD increased Lactobacillales and lowered Clostridiales compared to the control (CON) and IRON treatments. Low LET radiation, IRON, and spaceflight did not significantly affect diversity or richness, or elevate pathogenic genera. Spaceflight increased Clostridiales and decreased Lactobacillales, and similar trends were observed in the experiment using a ground-based model of microgravity, suggesting altered gravity may affect colonic microbiota. Although we noted no differences in colon epithelial injury or inflammation, spaceflight elevated TGFβ gene expression. Microbiota and mucosal characterization in these models is a first step in understanding the impact of the space environment on intestinal health.


Abstract: Previous studies come to contradictory conclusions regarding the relationship between immigrants' social contacts and their labor market integration. This paper tackles this impasse by exploring the short and long-term effects of social contacts on immigrant labor market outcomes using data collected in the Swedish Level-of-Living survey in 2010. Results from Cox and OLS regressions show that social contacts provide meaningful resources in the initial transition period, but loose importance over time in the host country. The findings moreover reveal substantial heterogeneity by reason for migration. Social contacts provide family related migrants and labor migrants with significant resources in their job search, while social contacts are not able to facilitate labor market entry among refugees. Regarding longer-term integration, earnings differences by social contacts are small. However, compared to other migrants, labor migrants continue to experience an advantage in the labor market. The implications of these findings are that distinguishing between short and long-term integration contributes to our understanding of the association between immigrants' social contacts and their labor market integration. Moreover, information provided by social contacts assists family related migrants and labor migrants in their job search.


Since the early 1970s, when studies of testosterone first gained wide public attention, this principal male sex hormone has taken the rap for a range of characteristics or behaviors, including low intelligence, rape and "road rage". The truth is both remarkably more complex and more interesting scientifically.From prehistory to the present, testosterone has played a significant role in the development of human society as well as in romantic, marital and parental relationships. It affects women as well as men in such areas as language ability, cognition, and spatial orientation.Interweaving intimate case histories with first hand scientific research, Heroes, Rogues and Lovers engagingly explains the animal within us all, revealing testosterone's function in human evolution and its role in surprising links between animal and human behaviors.


In this article we argue that originalism advances the welfare of the present day citizens of the United States, because it promotes constitutional interpretations that are likely to have better consequences today than those of nonoriginalist theories. A constitution that is enacted under a strict supermajority process is likely to be desirable, because such a process has features appropriate for determining the content of entrenched laws. In other words, the desirability of a constitutional provision derives from the consensus support it gained among the enactors. Preserving the meaning of the constitution which the enactors intended preserves that beneficence for today. We show that the enactment and amendment process of the United States Constitution largely followed an appropriate supermajoritarian template, which strongly suggests the desirability of the original constitution and its amendments. Nevertheless, we recognize that the original constitutional enactment process was defective in that it excluded African Americans and women. Accordingly, to address the issues that arise when a constitution is enacted pursuant to faulty supermajority rules, we develop a theory of supermajoritarian failure. We demonstrate that when the supermajoritarian process for enacting a constitution has been defective (and has not been corrected), the nation faces three choices: enacting a new constitution, following the existing constitution despite its imperfections, or permitting the judiciary or some other entity to correct these imperfections outside of the supermajoritarian amendment process. We also show that, given the limited nature of the existing defects in the Constitution, following the Constitution better preserves the benefits of constitutionalism than the alternatives of enacting a new constitution or judicial correction.Our argument does not merely explain why originalism is the preferable theory of interpretation; it also reveals the type of originalism that should be employed. Rather than attempt to determine the best originalist interpretive theory in some abstract sense, we should employ the interpretive rules that the constitutional enactors intended to apply. In that way, we use the meaning that actually passed through the supermajoritarian process. We call this form of originalism "original methods originalism."


Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. Often, a person who has committed suicide had suffered from some sort of mental illness. Mental health workers are at risk for experiencing a client death by suicide at some point in their career. This systematic review was designed to explore what supports are available for mental health workers after a client suicide, and how effective those supports are. The review used peer-reviewed articles from databases Social Work Abstracts, PsycNet, SocIndex and GoogleScholar. These databases were systematically searched and 10 articles met criteria. From these articles, seven themes were identified as being helpful supports to mental health workers after a client suicide: 1) preparatory training; 2) group debriefing/discussion; 3) personal support system; 4) collegial support/shared experience; 5) supervision; 6) perspective of client's right to self-determination; and 7) recommendations for what to avoid. More research is required in order to understand what structured interventions may be beneficial to mental health workers after a client suicide.


Crisis -- whether natural disaster, technological failure, economic collapse, or shocking acts of violence -- can offer opportunities for collaboration, consensus building, and transformative social change. Communities often experience a surge of collective energy and purpose in the aftermath of crisis. Rather than rely on government and private-sector efforts to deal with crises through prevention and mitigation, we can harness post-crisis forces for recovery and change through innovative collaborative planning. Drawing on recent work in the fields of planning and natural resource management, this book examines a range of efforts to enhance resilience through collaboration, describing communities that have survived and even thrived by building trust and interdependence. These collaborative efforts include environmental assessment methods in Cozumel, Mexico; the governance of a "climate protected community" in the Blackfoot Valley of Montana; fisheries management in Southeast Asia's Mekong region; and the restoration of natural fire regimes in U.S. forests. In addition to describing the many forms that collaboration can take -- including consensus processes, learning networks, and truth and reconciliation commissions -- the authors argue that collaborative resilience requires redefining the idea of resilience itself. A resilient system is not just discovered through good science; it emerges as a community debates and defines ecological and social features of the system and appropriate scales of activity. Poised between collaborative practice and resilience analysis, collaborative resilience is both a process and an outcome of collective engagement with social-ecological complexity.


One of the potential side effects of chemotherapy is cardiac toxicity. The resulting damage to the heart can range from non–life-threatening events to devastating heart failure. The spectrum of these events can occur almost immediately, during a drug infusion, or as a delayed complication later in the patient's life. Oncology nurses not only need to be familiar with identifying and intervening in acute cardiac events, but also in some instances will need to monitor for delayed cardiac toxicities during the continuum of the patient's life.


Analysis of Nucleosome Mobility, Fragility, and Recovery: From Embryonic Stem Cells to Invitrosomes Ashley N. Wright Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, BYU Master of Science Several factors direct the placement of specific nucleosomes, which in turn have the ability to regulate DNA accessibility. These factors include, but are not limited to, nucleotide sequence preference, nucleotide modifications, the type of histones present within the nucleosome, and the presence of additional transcription factor or chromatin remodelers. A combination of these and other factors are responsible for tightly controlled efficient transcription within the eukaryotic cell. In order to contribute to the understanding of these complicated processes, three separate hypothesis-driven investigations were carried out. First, we looked into nucleosome positioning and phasing within closely related cells lines. Second, we examined domain level nucleosome occupancy on various portions of the chromosome. Finally, we generated a novel method that significantly reduces data loss in in vitro nucleosome reconstitution experiments caused by nucleosome fragment-end bias. All three of our investigations yielded separate results. First, by examining positions and phasing patterns within similar cell types we find common patterns and minor differences within similar cell types. The presence of minor differences in nucleosome positions may cause unique expression patterns. Secondly, we found that decreased domain level nucleosome occupancy at the chromosome arms is not caused by the presence of a class of nucleosomes, termed fragile nucleosomes. Finally, we found that when our nucleosome recovery method is applied conservatively to our dataset, it is possible to recover 80% of the lost nucleosome reconstitution data.


Adoption of Electric Vehicles (EV) is expected to reach a third of the global fleet, i.e. 159 million vehicles, by 2050. This means that millions of batteries will be soon made available in the market to support electric mobility. Knowing that these batteries will be considered exhausted for EV applications after only 20% of capacity decrease, one can expect serious environmental threats in the next decades coming for a sudden increase of half-drained batteries no longer useful for vehicles' industry. Finding alternatives to introduce a efficiency in the energy storage uses, by prolonging the lifetime of these batteries through a second life is an urgent condition to avoid an environmental catastrophe. A potential use for Second Life Battery (SLB) is the behind the meter space, providing benefits to prosumers and the grid. While the availability of SLB increases, the need of storage in the grid will increase, as policies are pushing towards a highly decarbonized grid. Nevertheless, the main barrier for the deployment of a SLB market oriented to distribution grid prosumers is the quantification of the economic value brought by the SLB and the effect of costumer type, operating conditions and tariff scenarios. This paper proposes a second-life valuation methodology to compare the value of SLB for different prosumers in California, under different conditions and tariffs.


In Australia and most developed countries, depression has vaulted from an obscure affliction to a high-profile modern epidemic, accompanied by a significant escalation in antidepressant prescribing. A strong orthodoxy has developed that depression is common, serious, and treatable, and that the appropriate treatment is antidepressants. However, there are public health and social grounds for questioning this orthodox story. Vastly more people are being diagnosed with depression, and treated with antidepressants, now than several decades ago. Yet diagnosis of depression is subjective, and is based on highly criticised criteria. Furthermore, the evidence that underpins the orthodoxy is weak and biased, and this is compounded by biased interpretation and selective reporting, particularly in relation to clinical trials of antidepressants.Two analytical approaches are used in this thesis. The first is critical analysis of the objective validity of specific claims and assumptions about depression and antidepressants, using a mixture of epidemiological analysis and critical appraisal skills from the evidence-based medicine field. The second approach is a broad analysis of strategies used by advocates of the orthodoxy. This includes an analysis of how claims about depression and antidepressants and related issues such as suicide are deployed in the depression arena, focusing on what claims have been made, by which players, in which contexts, for which reasons, and with what impact. Also analysed are pharmaceutical industry marketing strategies, and strategies used by other players such as psychiatrists and consumer organisations, all of which often utilise claims about depression and so on.The orthodox story has been promoted by many players, including psychiatrists, pharmaceutical companies, marketing companies, health professional organisations, consumer organisations, governments and government agencies, and the media. These players interact in complex ways, based on overlapping and synergistic agendas.Key players have strongly promoted the orthodox story, despite contrary evidence, systematically exaggerating the prevalence and severity of depression and the effectiveness and safety of antidepressants for both depression and suicide prevention. Pharmaceutical companies have played a key role in the establishment and maintenance of the orthodoxy, skilfully recruiting other players to their cause.A detailed case-study analyses how key players, including prominent psychiatrists and consumer advocacy organisations and pharmaceutical companies, have succeeded in making depression a central focus of Australian mental health policy, fuelling the boom in antidepressant prescribing. Not only have antidepressants been remarkably successfully and profitably sold in Australia, but also depression has been reified and marketed as an all-purpose explanation for distress. As well as exposing many thousands of people to adverse effects of antidepressants, this has deflected attention from social determinants of well-being.


The worldwide impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on stock markets, investors and fund managers has lead to a renewed interest in appropriate tools for robust risk management. Quantile regression is a powerful technique and deserves the interest of financial decision makers given its remarkable capabilities for capturing and explaining the behavior of financial return series across a distribution more effectively than ordinary least squares regression methods which are the standard tool. In this paper, we present quantile regression estimation as an attractive additional investment tool, which is more effective than Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) in analyzing information across the quantiles of a distribution. This translates into the more accurate calibration of asset pricing models and subsequent informational gains in portfolio formation. We present empirical evidence of the superior capabilities of quantile regression based techniques as applied across the quantiles of return distributions to derive information for portfolio formation. We show, via stocks in Dow Jones Industrial Index, that at times of financial shocks, such as the GFC, a portfolio of stocks formed using quantile regression in the context of the Fama–French three-factor model, performs better than the one formed using traditional OLS.


Clear, coherent and trusted this book is the perfect guide to the main social research methods in use today. The much anticipated third edition of Clive Seale's bestselling title further expands its coverage to provide an authoritative introduction to all of the social research methods used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data. Written by internationally renowned experts, every chapter is packed with real world examples, student-friendly learning aids and helpful practical tips. Highlights of this edition include: - New chapters covering: research design, sampling, structured data collection, preparing data for statistical analysis, coding and analysing qualitative data, narrative analysis and interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), giving oral presentations, writing a research report and content and comparative keyword analysis - A much expanded glossary now boasting more than 500 definitions - A re-modelled and expanded website containing lecturer PowerPoint slides, extra chapters not included in the book and downloadable journal articles - Revised student exercises, workshops, review questions and key words An invaluable, practical resource this book is an essential companion for every undergraduate and postgraduate student starting a methods course or social research project.


The design and manufacture of a haptic feedback sensor for a robotic surgery platform entails two distinct but complementary aspects: overcoming technical obstacles of designing a sensor for intraabdominal force measurement (miniaturization, biocompatibility, autoclavability and high reusability), while maintaining the minimally required specification of a high-grade force measurement solution (nonlinearity, hysteresis, repeatability, cross-talk, bandwidth and noise-free resolution). Furthermore, the sensor solution provider must have a talented and multidisciplinary engineering team, in-house manufacturing capabilities supported by fully developed quality processes and product/project management proficiency to handle the complex, resource-limited and multi-stakeholder new product development environment. ABSTRACT


When a message is sent over a channel errors can occur due to noise during the transmission. So it is very important to know the error correction and detection capability of the code, which is used to encode the message. There are different types of channels in terms of the memory. In this work we consider channels without memory. Depending on the symbol probability, the channels are symmetric or non-symmetric. The properties of the both types of channels are discussed. For symmetric channels we present codes which are good and proper for error detection. Necessary conditions for codes to be good for error detection are derived and it is shown that large codes are proper for error detection. For the non-symmetric channels some optimal binary and ternary codes which can correct up to t errors and detect all unidirectional errors are constructed. The method includes a generalized lower bound for the length of a code over arbitrary alphabet size. First we make this generalization and then we give a method which is used for the construction. A generalization of the Bose-Lin codes, a class of codes detecting asymmetric errors is made and the minimum weight of an undetected error is determined.


The global financial crisis, which affected global trade and investment, did not leave sub-Saharan Africa untouched. The region registered a decline in economic growth in the period after the crisis and experienced ongoing impacts. The article looks at these impacts, focusing on the realisation of socioeconomic rights in sub-Saharan Africa using the mechanism of the Millennium Development Goals. It begins by describing the major actors that have played a leading role in economic growth in the region, and the realisation of socioeconomic rights. It then focuses on the pre-crisis growth period of 2000 to 2007, examining the drivers of growth in sub-Saharan Africa and how this growth impacted the realisation of socio-economic rights. The article uses the mechanism of the Millenium Development Goals framework and process to measure the achievement of each goal within a high growth period. It finds that while this growth created more resources for the realisation of socio-economic rights, little progress was made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals within that period: The socio-economic conditions of poor, vulnerable and marginalised individuals and groups remained the same. The article then looks at the effects of the global financial crisis on sub-Saharan African economies after 2007, indicating that the crisis had an adverse impact on economic growth, with growth declining to 5.5 per cent in 2008, 3.5 per cent in 2009 and then rebounding slightly to 5.1 per cent between 2013 and 2014 and further to 5.8 per cent in 2015. It says that, although the reduction in economic growth had a great impact on the availability of resources for the realisation of socioeconomic rights, an analysis of the MDG progress after the crisis does not show a marked difference from the MDG progress prior to the crisis. The article concludes that, even though the crisis had some impact on the realisation of socio-economic rights, its impact would have been greatly lessened if these subSaharan African countries had shown political commitment and developed proper mechanisms for the realisation of these rights.


Many computer problems today need the computer power that is only available using large scale parallel processing. For a significant number of these problems, the density of the global communications between the individual processors dominates the performance of the whole parallel implementation on a distributed memory multiprocessor system. In these cases, the design of the interconnection network for the processors is known to play a significant part in the efficient implementation of real problems. Networks of processors connected as an irregular configuration have the advantage that they satisfy the best known criteria for producing configurations that perform well on real applications. This paper presents a new genetic algorithm for the generation of optimal irregular configurations, which is a challenging problem since there is no obvious representation which allows all the main genetic operations to be implemented effectively.


Within the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) framework useful for a wealth of charged soft matter problems, we work out the Coulombic grand potential of a long cylindrical charged polyion in a binary electrolyte solution of arbitrary valency and for low salt concentration. We obtain the exact analytical low-salt asymptotic expression for the grand potential, derived from the known properties of the exact solutions to the cylindrical PB equation. These results are relevant for understanding nucleic acid processes. In practice, our expressions are accurate for arbitrary polyion charges, provided their radius is smaller than the Debye length defined by the electrolyte.


PREMISE OF THE STUDY
The clusioid clade includes five families (i.e., Bonnetiaceae, Calophyllaceae, Clusiaceae s.s., Hypericaceae, and Podostemaceae) represented by 94 genera and ≈1900 species. Species in this clade form a conspicuous element of tropical forests worldwide and are important in horticulture, timber production, and pharmacology. We conducted a taxon-rich multigene phylogenetic analysis of the clusioids to clarify phylogenetic relationships in this clade.

METHODS
We analyzed plastid (matK, ndhF, and rbcL) and mitochondrial (matR) nucleotide sequence data using parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference. Our combined data set included 194 species representing all major clusioid subclades, plus numerous species spanning the taxonomic, morphological, and biogeographic breadth of the clusioid clade.

KEY RESULTS
Our results indicate that Tovomita (Clusiaceae s.s.), Harungana and Hypericum (Hypericaceae), and Ledermanniella s.s. and Zeylanidium (Podostemaceae) are not monophyletic. In addition, we place four genera that have not been included in any previous molecular study: Ceratolacis, Diamantina, and Griffithella (Podostemaceae), and Santomasia (Hypericaceae). Finally, our results indicate that Lianthus, Santomasia, Thornea, and Triadenum can be safely merged into Hypericum (Hypericaceae).

CONCLUSIONS
We present the first well-resolved, taxon-rich phylogeny of the clusioid clade. Taxon sampling and resolution within the clade are greatly improved compared to previous studies and provide a strong basis for improving the classification of the group. In addition, our phylogeny will form the foundation for our future work investigating the biogeography of tropical angiosperms that exhibit Gondwanan distributions.


From the Publisher:
This text is designed for the sophomore/junior level introduction to discrete mathematics taken by students preparing for future coursework in areas such as math,computer science and engineering. Rosen has become a bestseller largely due to how effectively it addresses the main portion of the discrete market,which is typically characterized as the mid to upper level in rigor. The strength of Rosen's approach has been the effective balance of theory with relevant applications,as well as the overall comprehensive nature of the topic coverage.