This appealing memoir introduces the family of Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson: seven children born between 1884 and 1895. It also introduces a large Victorian house in Shadyside (a Pittsburgh neighborhood) and a middle-class way of life at the turn of the century.Mr. Spencer, who worked--not very happily--for Henry Clay Frick, was one of the growing number of middle-management employees in American industrial cities in the 1880s and 1890s. His income, which supported his family of nine, a cook, two regular nurses, and at times a wet nurse and her baby, guaranteed a comfortable life but not a luxurious one. In the words of the editors, the Spencers represent a class that "too often stands silent or stereotyped as we rush forward toward the greater glamour of the robber barons or their immigrant workers."Through the eyes of Ethel Spencer, the third daughter, we are led with warmth and humor through the routine of everyday life in this household: school, play, church on Sundays, illness, family celebrations, and vacations. Ethel was an observant child, with little sentimentality, and she wrote her memoir in later life as a professor of English with a gift for clear prose and the instincts of an anthropologist. As the editors observe, her memoir is "a fascinating insight into one kind of urban life of three generations ago."


Studies worldwide have found that women's pay lags behind men's in academia and women are underrepresented at the top of universities. This is the situation in Sweden and Australia, the two countries under examination in this paper. Gender pay equity reviews are compared at four universities: two in Australia and two in Sweden. This paper also explores the strategies these universities use to reduce gender inequities. The two countries have different types of legislation to implement pay equity reviews. Sweden's legislation requires mandatory pay analyses and wage remediation; whereas, Australia has voluntary pay equity audits with no wage remediation. In terms of gender representation, Swedish universities are more balanced across all levels except for the professorial level, which remains dominated by men. Australian universities have fewer female associate professors, professors, and senior managers. The paper concludes that, despite the regulation of salary scales in the four universities, pay gaps persist due to historic and cultural factors. This underlines the need for a different approach, one which mobilises grassroots action and tangible executive support to dismantle any existing barriers and alter the subtexts related to recruitment and promotion.


ABSTRACT Microscopic detection of parasites has been the reference standard for malaria diagnosis for decades. However, difficulty in maintaining required technical skills and infrastructure has spurred the development of several nonmicroscopic malaria rapid diagnostic devices based on the detection of malaria parasite antigen in whole blood. TheParaSight F test is one such device. It detects the presence of Plasmodium falciparum-specific histidine-rich protein 2 by using an antigen-capture immunochromatographic strip format. The present study was conducted at outpatient malaria clinics in Iquitos, Peru, and Maesod, Thailand. Duplicate, blinded, expert microscopy was employed as the reference standard for evaluating device performance. Of 2,988 eligible patients, microscopy showed that 547 (18%) had P. falciparum, 658 (22%) had P. vivax, 2 (0.07%) had P. malariae, and 1,750 (59%) were negative for Plasmodium. Mixed infections (P. falciparum and P. vivax) were identified in 31 patients (1%). The overall sensitivity of ParaSight F forP. falciparum was 95%. When stratified by magnitude of parasitemia (no. of asexual parasites per microliter of whole blood), sensitivities were 83% (>0 to 500 parasites/μl), 87% (501 to 1,000/μl), 98% (1,001 to 5,000/μl), and 98% (>5,000/μl). Device specificity was 86%.


This paper analyzes the generic professional skills most valued by employers and university graduates. This research is a qualitative and quantitative study that uses data from two main sources: graduates of the University of La Coruna and employers of this province. The analysis herein, applies the Logit model, and it empirically contrasts the influence of certain variables related with skills on the probability of being employed.  The results underpin the opinion stated by experts; currently the most highly regarded skills in the labour market are those that belong to the systematic type, therefore, personal and non-transferable, in detriment of instrumental skills closer related with graduates' capacity and education.


In this paper, we develop a simple empirical method to test two alternative versions of the Melitz (2003) model, one with global fixed export costs and one with bilateral fixed export costs. With global costs, import sales per product variety (relative to domestic sales per variety) are decreasing in variable trade barriers, as a result of adjustment occurring along the intensive margin of trade. With bilateral costs, imports per product variety are increasing in fixed trade costs, due to adjustment occurring along the extensive margin. We apply our approach to data on imports of U.S. motion pictures in 46 countries over 1995-2006. Imports per product variety are decreasing in geographic distance, linguistic distance, and other measures of trade costs, consistent with adjustment to these costs occurring along the intensive margin. There is relatively little variation in the number of U.S. movies that countries import but wide variation in the box-office revenues per movie. The data thus appear to reject the bilateral-fixed-export-cost model in favor of the global-fixed-export-cost model.


A forensics investigation after a breach often uncovers network and host indicators of compromise (IOCs) that can be deployed to sensors to allow early detection of the adversary in the future. Over time, the adversary will change tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs), which will also change the data generated. If the IOCs are not kept up-to-date with the adversary's new TTPs, the adversary will no longer be detected once all of the IOCs become invalid. Tracking the Known (TTK) is the problem of keeping IOCs, in this case regular expression (regexes), up-to-date with a dynamic adversary. Our framework solves the TTK problem in an automated, cyclic fashion to bracket a previously discovered adversary. This tracking is accomplished through a data-driven approach of self-adapting a given model based on its own detection capabilities.In our initial experiments, we found that the true positive rate (TPR) of the adaptive solution degrades much less significantly over time than the naïve solution, suggesting that self-updating the model allows the continued detection of positives (i.e., adversaries). The cost for this performance is in the false positive rate (FPR), which increases over time for the adaptive solution, but remains constant for the naïve solution. However, the difference in overall detection performance, as measured by the area under the curve (AUC), between the two methods is negligible. This result suggests that self-updating the model over time should be done in practice to continue to detect known, evolving adversaries.


This article documents and discusses a local labour control regime employed by Chinese crewing agencies to restrict the mobility of newly graduated officer seafarers. The shipping industry relies on a stable and skilled seafarer workforce on flexible employment, assembled globally with the help of local crewing agencies. A stable workforce and flexible employment do not seem easily compatible. This article examines how Chinese crewing agencies help manage this tension in China through analysing the experience of seafarers. It argues that to cater for the demand of international shipping companies, Chinese crewing agencies adopt a particular local labour control regime that re/produces unfree labour relations. The local control regime is built on existing institutional practices in China, structural weaknesses of seafarers and the disjunctions between the local institutional set‐ups and the global chains of labour supply.


Weigh-in-motion (WIM) scales are installed on various higher order roads in South Africa to provide traffic loading information for pavement design, strategic planning and law enforcement. Some WIM systems produce anomalies that cannot be satisfactorily explained even by highly experienced professionals. Much of the problem relates to the difficulty in determining the appropriate calibration factors to correct systematic measurement error for WIM systems and the inadequacy of data quality management methods. The author has developed a post-calibration method for WIM data, called the Truck Tractor (TT) method, to correct the magnitude of recorded axle loads in retrospect. In addition, it incorporates a series of data quality checks. The TT method is robust, accurate and adequately simple for use on a routine basis for a wide variety of South African WIM systems. The calibration module of the TT method (i.e. the procedure to determine the calibration factor, kTT) has been accepted by SANRAL and incorporated into the model it uses to quantify the cost of overloading on toll concessions. Some of the data quality checking concepts are also being considered for further use and threshold values for tests are being refined by SANRAL for this purpose.


Heterogeneous systems, that marry CPUs and GPUs together in a range of configurations, are quickly becoming the design paradigm for today's platforms because of their impressive parallel processing capabilities. However, in many existing heterogeneous systems, the GPU is only treated as an accelerator by the CPU, working as a slave to the CPU master. But recently we are starting to see the introduction of a new class of devices and changes to the system runtime model, which enable accelerators to be treated as first-class computing devices. To support programmability and efficiency of heterogeneous programming, the HSA foundation introduced the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), which defines a platform and runtime architecture that provides rich support for OpenCL 2.0 features including shared virtual memory, dynamic parallelism, and improved atomic operations. In this paper, we provide the first comprehensive study of OpenCL 2.0 and HSA 1.0 execution, considering OpenCL 1.2 as the baseline. For workloads, we develop a suite of OpenCL micro-benchmarks designed to highlight the features of these emerging standards and also utilize real-world applications to better understand their impact at an application level. To fully exercise the new features provided by the HSA model, we experiment with a producer-consumer algorithm and persistent kernels. We find that by using HSA signals, we can remove 92% of the overhead due to synchronous kernel launches. In our real-world applications, the OpenCL 2.0 runtime achieves up to a 1.2X speedup, while the HSA 1.0 runtime achieves a 2.7X speedup over OpenCL 1.2.


1M. Tech Student, AGPCE, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, 2HOD, Electrical Engineering Department, AGPCE, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India. ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT-The analyzes and compares the performance of a new inverter topology with two types of input sources: Solar PV source and Ideal dc source (battery). It is shown that when the solar panel is connected, spikes are obtained in output voltage waveform. These spikes are eliminated by inserting a capacitor. The capacitor is chosen for a particular power factor which is optimum with respect to cost, size and power quality. Total Harmonic Distortion, Active Power, Reactive Power, RMS Voltage and RMS Current are measured for different load power factor. Finally these results are compared with those obtained using battery with same input voltage magnitude. This shows that for Solar Panel Circuit, THD, P and Q are less for 0.8 and above power factor, however below 0.8 PF, the THD, active and reactive power transfer are more. This means that the performance of Solar Panel in the proposed circuit topology is seen to be better as compared to the same circuit with battery within a range of power factor.


ARTICLE INFO Many structures that have been made of brittle material such as glass, concrete or strength steel plates may be subjected to impact or explosive loading. In this situation, material behavior could be considered elastic. In this research we have studied an elastic cracked plate under dynamic non-periodic load. Thus an especial non-periodic load like a blast load has been considered. Crack length is far lesser than the plate's. By applying load on the plate, stress distribution and deflection of the plate have been obtained. The results of deflection and acceleration have been compared with experimental tests. Using the results, the relationship of a dynamic stress intensity factor at the crack tip located on the plate has been derived. Then it has been modeled with finite element ABAQUS / Explicit software and the results were compared. Finally, the relative error is compared for different crack length.


"To be kept in solitude is to be kept in pain…and put on the road to madness." (E.O. Wilson) The United States engages in extreme practices of solitary confinement that maximize isolation and sensory deprivation of prisoners. The length is often indefinite and can stretch for weeks, months, years, or decades. Under these conditions, both healthy prisoners and those with pre-existing mental health issues often severely deteriorate both mentally and physically. New science and data provide increased insight into why and how human beings (and other social animals) deteriorate and suffer in such environments. The science establishes that meaningful social contacts and some level of opportunity for sensory enrichment are minimum human necessities. When those necessities are denied, the high risks of serious harm apply to all prisoners, no matter how seemingly resilient beforehand. Given these facts, this Article argues that solitary confinement, as commonly practiced in the United States, is cruel and unusual punishment — whether analyzed under current Supreme Court standards or an improved framework. Furthermore, recently released data on states implementing reforms shows that extreme solitary confinement tactics are counterproductive to numerous policy interests, including public safety, institutional safety, prisoner welfare, and cost efficiency. Both the scientific and policy data suggest possible avenues for effective reform.


This paper draws on extensive theoretical research and literature reviews, and presents two cases to illustrate practical applications. It addresses the problem of how learning both from extracorporate sources, like universities, as well as across internal corporate functions, like R&D and manufacturing, can enhance company flexibility and performance in innovation. This paper aims at delivering a new theoretical rationale for industry?university (I-U) learning alliances as a natural way out from the managerial problem of trying to perform both exploration and exploitation within the same company boundaries. Through our theoretical framework, the academic science domain becomes a logical partner to handle the full phase of exploration and support the process of exploitation. The presented cases of Packman and HiFiPower offer new insight into how to perform this act in practice.


Biotransformation of L-phenylalanine (L-1a) and five unnatural substrates (rac-1b–f) by phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) was investigated in a novel microfluidic device (Magne-Chip) that comprises microliter volume reaction cells filled with PAL-coated magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Experiments proved the excellent reproducibility of enzymecatalyzed biotransformation in the chip and the excellent reusability of the enzyme layer during 14 h continuous measurement (>98% over 7 repetitive measurements with L-1a). The platform also enabled fully automatic multiparameter measurements with a single biocatalyst loading of about 1 mg PAL-MNP. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations were used to study the flow field in the chambers and the effect of unintended bubble formation. Optimal flow rate for L-1a reaction and specific activities for rac-1b–f under these conditions were determined.


Objective:To assess the effectiveness of the nonprescription combination of acetaminophen,
aspirin, and caffeine in alleviating migraine headache pain.Design:Three double-blind, randomized, parallel-group, single-dose, placebo-controlled
studies.Setting:Private practice, referral centers, and general community.Patients:Migraineurs with moderate or severe headache pain who met International
Headache Society diagnostic criteria for migraine with aura or without aura.
The most severely disabled segment of migraineurs, including those whose attacks
usually required bed rest, or who vomited 20% or more of the time, were excluded.
Of the 1357 enrolled patients, 1250 took study medication and 1220 were included
in the efficacy-evaluable data set.Intervention:Two tablets of the nonprescription combination of acetaminophen, aspirin,
and caffeine or placebo taken orally as a single-dose treatment of 1 eligible
acute migraine attack.Main Outcome Measures:Pain intensity difference from baseline; percentage of patients with
pain reduced to mild or none.Results:Significantly greater reductions in migraine headache pain intensity
1 to 6 hours after dose were seen in patients taking the acetaminophen, aspirin,
and caffeine combination than in those taking placebo in each of the 3 studies.
Pain intensity was reduced to mild or none 2 hours after dose in 59.3% of
the 602 drug-treated patients compared with 32.8% of the 618 placebo-treated
patients (P<.001; 95% confidence interval [CI],
55%-63% for drug, 29%-37% for placebo); at 6 hours after dose, 79% vs 52%,
respectively, had pain reduced to mild or none (P<.001;
95% CI, 75%-82% vs 48%-56%). In addition, by 6 hours after dose, 50.8% of
the drug-treated patients were pain free compared with 23.5% of the placebo-treated
patients (P<.001; 95% CI, 47%-55% for drug, 20%-27%
for placebo). Other migraine headache characteristics, such as nausea, photophobia,
phonophobia, and functional disability, were significantly improved 2 to 6
hours after treatment with the acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine combination
compared with placebo (P<.01).Conclusions:The nonprescription combination of acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine
was highly effective for the treatment of migraine headache pain as well as
for alleviating the nausea, photophobia, phonophobia, and functional disability
associated with migraine attacks. This drug combination also has an excellent
safety profile and is well tolerated.


Elinor Ostrom had a profound impact on development studies through her work on public choice, institutionalism and the commons. In 2009, she became the first — and so far, only — woman to win a Nobel Prize for Economics (a prize shared with Oliver Williamson). Moreover, she won this award as a political scientist, which caused controversy among some economists. She committed her professional life to expanding traditional economic thinking beyond questions of individualistic rational behaviour towards a greater understanding of self-regulating cooperative action within public policy. In particular, she organized the University of Indiana's Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis with her husband, Vincent Ostrom, and the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). She also earned the reputation of a loyal and caring colleague and mentor. She donated much money to the University of Indiana, including her Nobel Prize money. The purpose of this article is to identify and discuss Elinor Ostrom's legacy in international development. Rather than being a simple obituary, this article also seeks to review the tensions arising from her work, especially concerning the debate about institutions and the commons, and particularly Ostrom's own focus on rational choice theory and methodological individualism as a means of understanding cooperative behavior. Ostrom's work here has defined a field of research, and radically changed understandings. It also inspired work on the governance of public economics (Ostrom et al., 1993), and later writings on the institutions of development aid (Gibson et al., 2005). By so doing, we argue that Ostrom's main legacy within development studies has been her development and communication of rational choice approaches to institutional thinking. In turn, this work has influenced policy debates about natural-resource management, and recent approaches to multi-level governance and polycentrism within environment and development. Yet, this approach has also produced tensions within development studies, which remain largely unresolved (Bardhan and Ray, 2008a). We argue that Ostrom's work reflected wider transitions in social science and international development over a period of decades, but also indicates some of the key dilemmas faced by development studies in integrating political science and economics as useful and respected forms of analysis.


Traditional plain vanilla options may be regarded as contingent claims whose value depends upon the simple returns of an underlying asset. These options have convex payoffs, and as a consequence of Jensen's inequality, their prices increase as a function of maturity in the absence of interest rates. This results in long-dated call option premia being excessively expensive in relation to the fraction of a corresponding insured portfolio. We show that replacing the simple return payoff with the log return call option payoff leads to substantial premium savings while providing the similar insurance protection. Call options on log returns have favorable prices for very long maturities on the scale of decades. This property enables them to be attractive securities for long-term investors, such as pension funds. TOPICS: Options, pension funds Key Findings ▪ This article develops valuation and risk techniques for a log return payoff option under a Geometric Brownian Motion. ▪ A comparison is made between premium advantages of the log return contract to those of traditional European options. ▪ A pricing and optimal excise boundary formula for perpetual and finite maturity American log return options id derived. ▪ This article examines long-term insurance applications of the new contract that are prohibitively expensive for traditional options.


Many ecologists and environmental scientists witnessing the scale of current environmental change are becoming increasingly alarmed about how humanity is pushing the boundaries of the Earth's systems beyond sustainable levels. The world urgently needs global society to redirect itself toward a more sustainable future: one that moves intergenerational equity and environmental sustainability to the top of the political agenda, and to the core of personal and societal belief systems. Scientific and technological innovations are not enough: the global community, individuals, civil society, corporations, and governments, need to adjust their values and beliefs to one in which sustainability becomes the new global paradigm society. We argue that the solution requires transformational change, driven by a realignment of societal values, where individuals act ethically as an integral part of an interconnected society and biosphere. Transition management provides a framework for achieving transformational change, by giving special attention to reflective learning, interaction, integration, and experimentation at the level of society, thereby identifying the system conditions and type of changes necessary for enabling sustainable transformation.


Background: The available comparative studies of computer navigation-assisted and conventional knee arthroplasties have short-term follow-up periods. Therefore, the clinical benefits after long-term follow-up are not clear. The purposes of the current long-term study were to compare clinical outcomes, alignment of the knee components, prevalence of aseptic loosening of the components, implant survival, and complications of total knee arthroplasties performed with and without computer navigation. Methods: We prospectively compared the results of 162 consecutive patients (324 knees) with osteoarthritis. These patients had computer-navigated knee arthroplasty in 1 knee and knee arthroplasty without computer navigation in the other. Nine men and 153 women were enrolled in the study. At the time of the index arthroplasty, the mean age of these patients was 68.1 years (range, 49 to 81 years). The mean duration of follow-up was 12.3 years (range, 12 to 13 years). Clinical and radiographic follow-up examinations of the patients were performed at 3 months, 1 year after the operation, and every 2 or 3 years thereafter. Results: The Knee Society knee score, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) score, and range of knee motion were not significantly different between the groups preoperatively or at 12.3 years of follow-up. Patient satisfaction at the final follow-up was not significantly different between the groups. There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to the position and loosening of the components at 12.3 years of follow-up. The Kaplan-Meier survivorship, with revision or loosening as the end point, was 100% (95% confidence interval [CI], 94% to 100%) at 12.3 years in both groups. The prevalence of anterior femoral notching was higher in the computer-navigated knee arthroplasty group (5%) than in the conventional knee arthroplasty group (0.6%). Conclusions: Clinical function, position, and survivorship of the components were similar between the groups. The only effect of navigation was a negative one, anterior femoral notching. However, comparison of bilateral total knee arthroplasties may dampen the differentiation regarding pain outcomes. Further, the findings of this study are specific to a single navigation and total knee system. Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level I. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.


During invasion of their plant hosts, species of the oomycete genus Phytophthora secrete glucanase inhibitor proteins (GIPs) into the plant apoplast, which bind and inhibit the activity of plant extracellular endo-beta-1,3-glucanases (EGases). GIPs show structural homology to the chymotrypsin class of serine proteases (SP) but lack proteolytic activity due to the absence of an intact catalytic triad and, thus, belong to a broader class of proteins called serine protease homologs (SPH). To study the evolutionary relationship between GIPs and functional SP, database searches were used to identify 48 GIP homologs in the P. sojae, P. ramorum, and P. infestans genomes, composing GIPs, SPH, and potentially functional SP. Analyses of P. infestans-inoculated tomato leaves showed that P. infestans GIPs and tomato EGases are present in the apoplast and form stable complexes in planta. Studies of the temporal expression of a four-membered GIP family from P. infestans (PiGIP1 to PiGIP4) further revealed that the genes show distinctly different patterns during an infection timecourse. Codon evolution analyses of GIP homologs identified several positively selected peptide sites and structural modeling revealed them to be in close proximity to rapidly evolving EGase residues, suggesting that the interaction between GIPs and EGases has the hallmarks of a coevolving molecular arms race.


We explore the uncertainty in projections of emissions, and costs of atmospheric stabilization applying the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model, a computable general equilibrium model of the global economy. Monte Carlo simulation with Latin Hypercube Sampling is applied to draw 400 samples from probability distributions for 100 parameters in the EPPA model, including labor productivity growth rates, energy efficiency trends, elasticities of substitution, costs of advanced technologies, fossil fuel resource availability, and trends in emissions factors for urban pollutants. The resulting uncertainty in emissions and global costs is explored under a scenario assuming no climate policy and four different targets for stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. We find that most of the IPCC emissions scenarios are outside the 90% probability range of emissions in the absence of climate policy, and are consistent with atmospheric stabilization scenarios. We find considerable uncertainty in the emissions prices under stabilization. For example, the CO2 price in 2060 under an emissions constraint targeted to achieve stabilization at 650 ppm has a 90% range of $14 to $88 per ton CO2, and a 450 ppm target in 2060 has a range of $241 to $758. We also explore the relative contribution of uncertainty in different parameters to the resulting uncertainty in emissions and costs and find that, despite the significant uncertainty in future energy supply technologies, the largest drivers of uncertainty in costs of atmospheric stabilization are energy demand parameters, including elasticities of substitution and energy efficiency trends.


Background: Treatment planning for I-125 plaque therapy for uveal melanoma has advanced significantly since the Collaborative Ocular Melanoma Study trial, with more widely available image-guided planning and improved dosimetry. Objective: We evaluated real-world practice patterns for I-125 plaque brachytherapy in the United States by studying practice patterns at centers that comprise the Ocular Oncology Study Consortium (OOSC). Methods: The OOSC database and responses to a treatment practice survey were evaluated. The database contains treatment information from 9 institutions. Patients included in the database were treated between 2010 and 2014. The survey was conducted in 2018 and current treatment planning methods and prescriptions were queried. Results: Examination of the OOSC database revealed that average doses to critical structures were highly consistent, with the exception of one institution. Survey responses indicated that most centers followed published guidelines regarding dose and prescription point. Dose rate ranged from 51 to 118 cGy/h. As of 2018, most institutions use pre-loaded plaques and fundus photographs and/or computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging in planning. Conclusions: While there were differences in dosimetric practices, overall agreement in plaque brachytherapy practices was high among OOSC institutions. Clinical margins and planning systems were similar among institutions, while prescription dose, dose rates, and dosimetry varied.


We are interested in diminishing the aberrations in the lateral zones of a progressive lens. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to resolve a nonlinear optimization problem. In previous work [8], [9], this problem was modeled using bases with local control, particularly using Cubic B-Splines. However, the use of these bases in the model generates ill-conditioned problems. The illconditioning of the matrices makes the optimization process long and, in some cases, impossible to carry out. For this reason, we made modifications in the representation of the lens surface, improving the illconditioning of the matrix, and reducing the number of iterations of the optimization process. The proposed modification consists of using bases with global control, specifically polynomials in the canonical base. This work shows the results obtained when the problem is changed. Indeed, the version with and without pivoting of the Modified Cholesky factorization for the global model does not require corrections, and when the original matrix is approximated by a new positive definite matrix, the error is reduced.


Bank supervisors have made significant strides since 1980 in the area of capital requirements, and they are currently pursuing further refinements. This article looks beyond such developments at longer term supervisory goals. Abstracting to some extent from the current regulatory framework, the author attempts to delineate a set of fundamental principles for future work on capital requirements. He distinguishes minimum capital--an objective standard imposed by regulators across firms--from optimum capital--a subjective standard adopted by individual firms to cover their own risks-- and shows how the two concepts can form the basis for a general supervisory approach to capital.


Continuity of interest is a judicially created doctrine designed to ensure that when holders of corporate interests in tax-free reorganizations exchange those interests merely on paper, the exchange is tax-free. The doctrine was intended to ensure that a holder who continued his interest in a corporation would not be taxed. Unfortunately, the continuity of interest doctrine throughout the years became distorted as a result of misinterpretations of both legislative history and judicial decisions. The doctrine was intended to provide that as long as an exchange is purely on paper and takes place in a tax-free reorganization, the exchange will be tax-free. Instead, it has become a mechanical hurdle where a certain percentage of shareholder participation in an exchange (ranging from 40% to 80%) meets the continuity of interest doctrine. The doctrine itself does little to ensure a continuing interest because shareholders are free to sell their interest immediately after the exchange. Furthermore, the doctrine has been interpreted from judicial decisions to apply only to stock and equity and not to debt. Therefore, even when a reorganization meets the tax-free reorganization provisions, if a debt holder exchanges his interest for a similar debt instrument in the new corporation, he is not included within the continuity of interest doctrine. The doctrine must be revisited and revised. The types of instruments that can be exchanged on a tax-free basis should be narrowed and limited to only instruments that are economically equivalent, excluding exchanges that are not economically equivalent but result in the ownership of instruments labeled as stock. First, the quantitative measure, an ineffective mechanical hurdle that can be used by stockholders to deliberately avoid the tax-free reorganization provisions, should be removed. The current level of required participation is simply too low to be meaningful. In addition, the participation of other shareholders bears little on whether a particular holder intends to continue and maintain his interest in the corporation (the behavior Congress wanted to encourage). This will allow more reorganizations to qualify for tax-free treatment, particularly Type A reorganizations, but because the other reorganization requirements must still be met, it will only serve to defer taxes, not eliminate them. This will also result in putting significantly more pressure on the continuity of business enterprise requirement. Second, the qualitative measure of continuity of interest that determines what counts as an interest in the corporation must be critiqued - specifically, how the continuity of interest doctrine applies to debt. The distinction between debt and equity has become an arbitrary assessment. A label is attached to an instrument created by a tax attorney or investment banker often because of desired tax attributes. However, the label often bears little resemblance to whether the instrument is debt or equity. In reality, making such a determination is often impossible because the corporate instruments created today often carry attributes of both debt and equity. Therefore, the emphasis on equity and stock in the continuity of interest doctrine should be removed. Ultimately the continuity of interest requirement should be evaluated on a holder-by-holder basis, and an exchange should meet the continuity of interest requirement as long as the interests received are economically equivalent to, and mirror, the interests given up. Furthermore, any reorganization would still have to meet all the other requirements under state and federal law for tax-free reorganizations. Any interest holder, irrespective of the label attached to the instrument, should be afforded tax-free treatment provided that the instrument received is economically equivalent to the instrument given up in the exchange.


When presented with two different target-penalty configurations of similar Maximum Expected Gain (MEG), participants prefer aiming to configurations with more advantageous spatial parameters rather than more advantageous gain parameters (Neyedli & Welsh, 2015) – perhaps due to the motor system's inherent prioritization of spatial information during reaching movements. To test this hypothesis, participants chose between target-penalty configurations via keypress responses to reduce feedback and the importance of spatial parameters. Configurations varied in both spatial (target-penalty region overlap) and gain parameters (negative penalty values) and could be of similar or different MEG. Choices were made without prior aiming experience (Experiment 1), after aiming experience provided information of movement variability (Experiment 2), or after aiming experience provided information of movement variability and outcome feedback (Experiment 3). At the group level, configurations with the advantageous spatial or gain parameters were chosen equally (Similar condition) in all experiments. Interestingly, the larger MEG configuration was not chosen at a level above chance (Different condition) when no prior aiming experience or when variability information was given, but was chosen more often when both variability and outcome information were given prior to the keypress task. Further, participant-by-participant analyses revealed 3 subgroups: those with a value preference, a distance preference, or no preference. These individual differences cannot be explained by MEG differences between prospects or participant's movement variability. Overall, the data indicate that prioritization of spatial information did not emerge when performing keypress responses and optimal behaviour emerged only when information regarding movement variability and outcome feedback were given.Acknowledgments: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada


The social image and occupational status of the graphologist are investigated by examining published data. Three occupational groups are cited to show that image building is complex. These groups are detectives, psychologists and graphoanalysts. Such examples illustrate how status can be modified by unexpected people (e.g. writers of fiction and politicians). They also show that the occupation itself can help to shape reputation. There are obstacles to measuring image in graphology, but an attempt is made to identify countries where graphology is likely to be most well known. The calculation is based on the assumption that the level of awareness is related to the number of practitioners operating in a given country. Important countries are identified as Switzerland, France, Israel, Italy and the Netherlands. It is concluded that the image of the graphologist is fragmented and inconsistent. Part of the population is unaware of its nature or its existence. When it is known it is associated with such diverse groups as psychologists, questioned document examiners and "occult" practitioners. These facts do not imply that graphology has a good image. This implication should be a major concern to the graphological community. Without a good image, clients will be hard to find and new students will also think carefully before committing themselves to a training programme. In this situation a major image-building exercise is necessary.


The influence of oblique angle deposition on the surface morphological and microstructure of metallic cadmium films are studied. The films were deposited normally and obliquely at different angles (0 o , 50 o and 70 o ) by vacuum evaporation technique. XRD technique used to study the crystalline structure of these films and shows that the polycrystalline nature of these films and All layers irrespective of deposition parameters develop a preferred (002) plane. The grain size increased with the increase of deposition angle and clearly facetted morphology was observed. The surface morphology of the deposited materials has been studied using atomic force microscopes (AFM) and optical reflection microscope. The AFM results demonstrate that the film deposition at higher oblique angle (70°) has higher surface roughness. Reflection microscope results showed that the smoothness and homogeneity of the films are decreasing with increasing the deposition angle d), and the surface roughness increased with increasing angle. The optical characteristics of the prepared thin films have been investigated by UV-VIS spectrophotometer in a wavelength ranging (350-900) nm and shows by increasing the inclination angle of deposition will lead to transmission decreases of the films.


Making meaningful signs requires understanding both the informational and representational value of them. Signs convey specific information concerning the real object (referent) they "stand for" in an encrypted form. The current paper deals with the investigation of preschoolers' coding orientation of cartographic symbols. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the degree of iconicity applied by preschoolers in the cartographic design they produced. It is assumed that preschoolers mainly construct highly iconic cartographic symbols according to a naturalistic approach to coding orientation. An experimental research was conducted in 3 nursery schools in a rural area of central Greece and comparative, qualitative analysis of data gathered during the pre- and post-test process was implemented. The sample consisted of 24 children: 12 boys and 12 girls (aged 4 to 6). The results indicate that systematic exposure to conventional cartographic symbols along with planned instruction and explicit teaching of the principles of graphic design in a cooperative and authentic learning environment yields positive learning results regarding children's cartographic literacy.


We propose a neural network (NN)-based adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) for link adaptation in MIMO-OFDM systems. The AMC optimizes the best modulation and coding scheme (MCS) under a packet error rate (PER) constraint. In our approach, a NN with a multilayer perceptron (MLP) structure is applied for the AMC and its performance is compared with the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm under the frequency-flat (1-tap) and frequency-selective (4-tap) wireless channel conditions. The simulation results show that the NN classifier outperforms the k-NN algorithm, especially in terms of the PER, due to the fact that the MLP guarantees a MCS with a lower data rate by way of the selection of a class label with a lower index number. It has a slightly worse spectral efficiency performance compared to the k-NN. Thus, the MLP approach provides higher communication robustness over the k-NN. It can be concluded from the results that the selection of the AMC classifier depends on a trade-off between the PER and the spectral efficiency, relying on the user's requirements.


Internet communication relies on the Domain Name System (DNS), which maps a human-readable Internet destination to an IP address. A recent proposal for transmitting DNS over HTTPS (DoH) enhances client privacy by tunneling DNS over secure HTTP (HTTPS). In this paper, we explore the policy implications of consolidated DoH by systematically analyzing the marketplace, measure its performance effects, and investigate how it affects the different stakeholders, including consumers. We enumerate the agents in the marketplace as well as their market incentives. We then examine the performance of DoH through client-based measurements compare unencrypted DNS with DoH. As DoH deployments change the competitive landscape of the market, we explore their effect on other operators, ISPs, and broadband access at the last mile, as well as the potential regulatory and policy implications of DoH deployments.


The aim of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation of labour market segmentation and flexibility. For this purpose, the techniques based on the analysis of job creation and destruction ( see, Davis et al, 1996) have been used. The data analysed stem from a sample of manufacturing firms located in Emilia-Romagna and cover a period of eight years. This dataset allows to analyse the level of employment of both blue and white collars. The analysis shows in details the different dynamics of those two component of manufacturing employment. It is argued that white and blue collars can be considered as two different occupational sub-systems (see, Osterman 1982, 1984) and that internal labour market segmentation gives rise to divergent indicators of numerical flexibility for the two components of employment.


In recent years, Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Rickettsia spp. have been detected in Ixodes ricinus in Germany and a focal distribution has been suggested for A. phagocytophilum. In the present study the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum and spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae was investigated in I. ricinus. DNA-extracts were taken from 2,862 unfed I. ricinus ticks (adults and nymphs) from eight sites in Munich, sampled over a five-month period. Single samples from three comparative sites outside of Munich were also included. A real-time PCR targeting the msp2 gene of A. phagocytophilum was used for screening and a nested PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene for sequencing of 30% of positives. Screening for Rickettsia spp. was performed with a PCR targeting the citrate synthase gene (gltA), followed by PCRs detecting the ompA gene for all gltA positives, and the ompB and 16S rRNA genes for clarifying results of some samples. The overall prevalence was 2.90% (95% CI 2.27 to 3.48%) for A. phagocytophilum and 5.28% (95% CI 4.31 to 6.17%) for SFG rickettsiae. Only 0.31% of the ticks investigated were coinfected. Statistical analysis revealed that prevalence of A. phagocytophilum in ticks from city parks in Munich was significantly higher than in ticks from natural forest, whereas the prevalence of Rickettsia spp. was the opposite. For both, the prevalence in adults was significantly higher than in nymphs. Although wide ranges of prevalence were observed monthly, the variations were not significant along the observational period. Sequence analysis of 16S rRNA PCR products (n=31) revealed 100% homology to Ehrlichia sp. "Frankonia 2", only one differed in one nucleotide position. All differed in one nucleotide position from the HGA agent detected in human patients. All rickettsial PCR products were also sequenced. All gltA sequences of R. helvetica (n=138) were 100% identical to each other and differed in one nucleotide position from the prototype sequence. Two different R. monacensis strains (n=13) were detected, which differed in up to 4 nucleotide positions in gltA, ompA and ompB. Further rickettsial strains (n=3) most probably belonging to rickettsial endosymbionts were also found. These results show, by molecular methods, a wide distribution of A. phagocytophilum and SFG rickettsiae in I. ricinus ticks in Southern Germany. SFG rickettsiae which are thought to be involved in human disease (R. helvetica and R. monacensis) had a significantly higher prevalence in natural forest areas. Prevalence of A. phagocytophilum was significantly higher in city parks; the genetic strain has not yet been associated with human infection.


The incidence of the sudden infant death syndrome parallels that of respiratory tract infections in the paediatric community. On the basis that the aetiology of the sudden infant death syndrome may lie in an unusual response to a trivial intercurrent respiratory infection a necropsy study was carried out investigating pulmonary immunoglobulins in 16 victims of the syndrome and a series of infants (controls) who had died of non-pulmonary causes. Compared with the controls victims of the sudden infant death syndrome had grossly raised concentrations of IgG, IgM, and to a less extent IgA in lung lavage samples. In addition, pulmonary interstitial and terminal airway cells expressing these immunoglobulins were identified far more often in victims than controls. The study failed to determine whether the increased immunoglobulin concentrations were a consequence of an unusual response to a trivial infection or an expression of otherwise altered immunological control in the respiratory tract. Epidemiological evidence and the findings of this study suggest that the respiratory tract is the prime target organ in the sudden infant death syndrome.


For this special issue, we bring together an array of interdisciplinary international scholars who are working across the fields of Black studies, African diasporic studies, slavery studies, American studies, and memory studies. They debate, destabilize, interrogate, and reshape widely known and accepted methodologies within literary studies, art history, visual culture, history, intellectual history, politics, sociology, and material and print cultures in order to do justice to the hidden histories, untold narratives, and buried memories of African diasporic freedom struggles over the centuries. This collection is the result of a symposium that we held in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2018 as part of a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council project titled Our Bondage and Our Freedom: Struggles for Liberty in the Lives and Works of Frederick Douglass and His Family (1818–1920). The inspiration for this project, which we launched in 2018 on the two-hundredth anniversary of Frederick Douglass's birth, emerged from a determination to revisit his legendary life and pioneering works. A world-renowned freedom fighter, inspirational social justice campaigner, mythologized liberator, exemplary philosopher, breathtaking orator, and beautiful writer, Douglass dedicated his life to the fight for Black liberation by any and every means necessary. As he repeatedly maintained in the motto he endorsed for his radical newspaper, the North Star, "Right is of no sex—Truth is of no color—God is the Father of us all, and we are brethren."
Through engaging with the narratives, poetry, speeches, songs, oral testimonies, correspondence, essays, photography, drawings, paintings, and sculptures produced by and/or representing Douglass and his family members, it becomes newly possible to do justice to the psychological, imaginative, and emotional realities of iconic and unknown Black lives as lived during slavery and into the post-emancipation era. Two hundred years after Douglass's birth, in the era of Black Lives Matter, there can be no doubt that the Douglass we need now is no representative self-made man but a fallible, mortal individual. The onus is on academics, archivists, artists, and activists to harness every intellectual tool available in order to tell the stories not only of Black women, children, and men living in slavery but of Black women, children, and men experiencing the illusory freedoms of the post-emancipation era. For Douglass's rallying cry "My Bondage and My Freedom" it is possible to read "Our Bondage and Our Freedom.


Objectives This study aimed to evaluate whether the early achievement of clinical remission influences overall survival in an inception cohort of patients with inflammatory polyarthritis (IP). Methods Consecutive early IP patients, recruited to a primary care based inception cohort from 1990 to 1994 and from 2000 to 2004 were eligible for this study. Remission was defined as absence of clinically detectable joint inflammation on a 51-joint count. In sensitivity analyses, less stringent definitions of remission were used, based on 28-joint counts. Remission was assessed at 1, 2 and 3 years after baseline. All patients were flagged with the national death register. Censoring was set at 1 May 2011. The effect of remission on mortality was analysed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model, and presented as HRs and 95% CIs. Results A total of 1251 patients were included in the analyses. Having been in remission at least once within the first 3 years of follow-up was associated with a significantly lower risk of death: HR 0.72 (95% CI 0.55 to 0.94). Patients who were in remission 1 year after the baseline assessments and had persistent remission over time had the greatest reduction in mortality risk compared with patients who never achieved remission within the first 3 years of follow-up: HR 0.58 (95% CI 0.37 to 0.91). Remission according to less stringent definitions was associated with progressively lower protective effect. Conclusions Early and sustained remission is associated with decreased all-cause mortality in patients with IP. This result supports clinical remission as the target in the management of IP.


Students in school districts throughout the United States are administered standardized tests in an effort to assess achievement. These annual "academic rites of passage" serve as measures of accountability to the citizenry of every locality served. Many at-risk African-American males score in the lower two quartiles on these tests. Remediation efforts have not significantly raised the achievement of these students. However, there are teachers who are effective with these students. They use both verbal and non-verbal behaviors that facilitate learning. This study was designed to answer the question: What non-verbal behaviors are used by effective teachers of at-risk African-American male middle school students?

Data were collected via teacher observations using the Non-verbal Behavior Teacher Observation Form, an instrument developed to record nonverbal behaviors of teachers. The instrument consists of thirteen behaviors that cover seven non-verbal domains. Four teachers were observed three times each for thirty minutes and two teachers were observed one time. The researcher selected a different at-risk male student each observation resulting in a total of fourteen teacher observations and their interactions with fourteen at-risk male students.

Descriptive statistics were used to identify most frequently and least frequently used non-verbal behaviors. When effective teachers in this study interacted with the at-risk African-American male middle school students, they frequently were in close proximity, changed their voice inflections, established eye contact, invaded students' territories (were within two feet), and gestured to students.
The results of this study may be used as a vehicle or catalyst for the implementation of a school or district-wide training program for teachers of at-risk African-American male students. These results may also be used for teacher preparation programs at the college or university level.


Research on the extreme right is rare, and the extreme right has even more rarely been analysed as a social movement. In this volume, the extreme right is compared in Italy, Germany, and the United States using concepts and methods developed in social movement studies. In particular, the book describes the discourse, action, and organizational structures of the extreme right, and explains these on the basis of the available discursive and political opportunities. Three main empirical methods are used in the research. Firstly, the frame analysis looks at the cognitive mechanisms that are relevant in influencing organizational and individual behaviour. Second, network analysis looks at the (inter-) organizational structural characteristics of right-wing organizations. Finally, protest event analysis allows for an empirical summary of the actions undertaken by right-wing extremists over the last decade. The substantive chapters address the organizational structure of the extreme right, their action repertoires, the framing of protest events, the definition of 'us', the struggle against modernity, old and new forms of racism, opposition to globalization, and populism. (author's abstract)


OBJECT
While pulsed electromagnetic stimulation has been shown to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration, the effect of a static magnetic field on nerve repair is less clear. The aim of this study was to establish what effect an imposed exogenous static magnetic field has on peripheral nerve regeneration after transection and repair.

METHODS
Three groups of six adult sheep were used. The first group acted as normal controls. In the second group, the median nerve was divided and immediately repaired by entubulation within a "controlled-release" biodegradable glass tube. In the third group, small magnets were applied to the sides of the biodegradable glass tubes before the median nerve was repaired using these magnetic tubes. The sheep were allowed to recover and were reexamined 10 months later. The animals underwent comprehensive morphometric (cross-sectional morphometry and measurement of internodal lengths), electrophysiological (determinations of stimulated jitter, maximum conduction velocity, refractory period, and F waves), and isometric tension (isometric twitch and tetanic tension) assessments.

CONCLUSIONS
Exogenously applied static electromagnetic fields do not enhance peripheral nerve regeneration.


This exploratory paper attempts to restart a debate about the incorporation of environmental externalities into the cost structure of the organisation. A number approaches are considered; regulation together with all that would follow such as audit and policing; pollution permits, which probably can only be used with a sinking lid application; and other charging mechanisms such as making the private sector pay for public sector capital funding. The fourth alternative, the use of an environmental equity account, has not been widely considered in the literature. The paper proposes the use of an environmental equity account (after Boone and Rubenstein, 1997) with the express intent of generating a charge for environmental impact based on the cost of control. That is, the cost of implementing state of the art technology compared to that currently in use within the organisation, is used as a balance which may be either paid as a capital sum or carried as a balance sheet entry upon which dividend payments would have to be made. It is envisaged that both capital sums and dividend payments would go to an agency responsible for environmental remediation activity.


The concern of the thesis is to clarify the structural relevance between market areas and supply areas through the investigation of firm location under the given conditions of market demand, deposit of inputs and technologies for production. Conventional economic analysis studies a solid interaction between input and output, through the structure of the production function, by means of the duality theory in the input-output framework. This corresponds to the framework of market areas and supply areas in location theory. However, the existing market-area analysis and supply-area analysis focus examination on an independent framework, and a series of approaches has not been sufficiently developed. Although the integrated framework of both types of area would be treated as an extended version of the duality theory, the framework would not be complete unless the analysis took additional spatial factors into consideration. These factors are suggested to be parts of spatially unconstrained and constrained internal and external economies. The spatially constrained types of economies are called agglomeration economies and these, together with spatially unconstrained types of economies, constitute the neglected factors in existing market-area analysis and supply-area analysis. As agglomeration economies have a trade-off interaction with transportation costs, an analysis of assembly and distribution transportation costs is also required. This research clarifies these neglected factors and considers them with the duality theory, applying the input-output framework to both types of area analysis. This alternative approach not only demonstrates the effects of market area change on the spatial structure of supply area and vice versa, but also investigates the incentives governing the determination of the firm location.


Objectives: To study the incidence and to evaluate the risk factors of suspected adverse drug reactions developed in the hospitalized patients of various departments and to assess the causality and severity of adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Methods: It was a retrospective-prospective study conducted in a tertiary care hospital for a period of two years two months, with a specific predefined criterion. A total of 254 subjects with ADRs were identified during the period of study for which 1:1 ratio of subjects with non-ADRs were taken. Subjects of all age groups and of either sex were enrolled. Risk factors included subjects' age group, gender, polypharmacy, comorbidity, intercurrent diseases and concurrent interactive drugs. Statistical analysis used: Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to find the association of risk factors with adverse drug reactions. Results: The incidence of suspected adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients was13% (254/1952, 95%CI). Polypharmacy was the most significant predictor of adverse drug reactions (OR=55.952; 95%CI). Elderly population with multidrug therapy had developed the higher rate of ADRs. Cephalosporin's 27.6%, fluoroquinolones 15.5%, penicillamines 12.1%, anti-hypertensive 8.7%, NSAIDs 8.3% were more frequently implicated. Risk factors for suspected ADRs were: age (more than 60 years) (OR=1.033: 95% CI), gender [Male (OR=55.952; 95% CI)], comorbidity (OR=1.008; 95% CI), intercurrent diseases (OR=19.27; 95% CI). Conclusion: Polypharmacy, history of ADR, concurrent interactive drugs and inter current disease were the significant risk factors of adverse drug reactions. The elderly population was the vulnerable age group for ADRs. Multidrug therapy and comorbidity resulted in higher risk of ADRs in an older population. The Higher rate of suspected ADRs were probable and very less severe. Key words: Adverse drug reaction, Age, Comorbidity, Polypharmacy, Risk factor.


This paper presents scenic beauty assessment of highland environment, in which the study area was Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. There were two methods used in the assessment; photographic questionnaire survey and semi structured interview. Both methods were designed to assess public scenic preferences and the impacts of Highland Management Practices (HMPs) on scenic preferences. Coloured photograph was the survey instrument used to assess the scenic preferences.

The respondents (tourists) were asked to rank a landscape scene in each photograph using a ranking scale from 1 to 12; rank 1 was the most preferred, while rank 12 was the least preferred. An analysis using frequencies (percentages) show that the tourists preferred the scene of tea plantation the most (rank 1); the next preferred scenes were the hill (rank 2), waterfall (rank 3), and forest (rank 4). The least preferred was the commercial scene (rank 12). The next least preferred scenes were the residential housing (rank 11), vegetable farm on terraced land (rank 10), flat landscape (rank 9) and vegetable farm on flat land (rank 8). A semi structured interview was used to support these findings. A total of 10 numbers of local residents was interviewed. Similarly, an analysis using frequencies (percentages) show that preference for tea plantation scene was the highest (rank 1). The next preferred scenes were the forest (rank 2) and hill (rank 2). The least preferred scenes were the vegetable farm (rank 5), waterfalls (rank 4) and residential housing (rank 4). In summary, the results generated from two different methodologies indicate that the patterns of scenic preferences for highland scenes between two different groups of respondent have close similarity. The second part of the survey determined the impact of HMPs on the scenic preferences of tourists using 5 points likert scale; (1=strongly disagree; 2=disagree; 3=neutral; 4=agree; 5=strongly agree). The analysis using frequencies (percentages) shows the impacts of HMPs on the scenic preferences are: components of the natural beauty (e.g. forest, hill, waterfall and lake) have positive impact; components of management activities (e.g. clearing of forest and flattening of hill) have negative impact, where as leaving forest to grow naturally, maintaining hill original landform and planting trees originated from local species along street found enhancing highland's scenic beauty. Finally, the components of land use namely commercial and residential developments provide negative impact, where the land uses of vegetable farm, golf course, resort, and tea plantation provide positive impact. Results of interview show that the local residents agreed that the current HMPs have negative impact on their scenic preferences. In short, several land use (e.g. residential and agriculture) and management activities (e.g. forest clearing and hill flattening) have contributed to this. Similarly, the results generated from two different methodologies indicate that the impacts of HMPs on the scenic beauty preferences of two different groups of respondent have close similarity. Overall, findings have implication to the local authorities of Cameron Highlands because the results found shall assist them in future HMPs decisions. These decisions are important towards establishing good highland environment as well as sustaining the tourism industry here. Importantly, the HMPs decisions must not only involve the local authorities. Inputs from the publics should also be considered as important.


This article is meant to serve as a historiographical study of Iraq by reinserting a largely understudied people, the Assyrians, in an attempt to broaden the more common majoritiest perspective of Middle East studies. It does not intend to argue the validity of definitions of 'nationness' and nationalism, but seeks to provide a brief description of the variety of ways in which Assyrians have been both included and absent and from modern research on the Middle East and, more specifically, Iraq. Second, by doing this, it seeks to situate the Assyrians in the debate and historiography of Iraqi Studies.


CONTEXT
- Immunohistochemical analysis of estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PgR) expression in breast cancer is the current standard of care and directly determines therapy. In 2010 the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the College of American Pathologists (ASCO/CAP) published guidelines for ER and PgR predictive testing, encompassing preanalytic, analytic, postanalytic factors; antibody validation; and proficiency testing.

OBJECTIVE
- To compare the performance of different antibody reagents for ER and PgR immunohistochemical analysis by using CAP proficiency testing data.

DESIGN
- The CAP PM2 survey uses tissue microarrays of ten 2-mm cores per slide. We analyzed survey data from 80 ER and 80 PgR cores by antibody clone from more than 1200 laboratories.

RESULTS
- Laboratories used the ER antibodies SP1 (72%), 6F11 (17%), 1D5 (3%), and the PgR antibodies 1E2 (61%), 16 (12%), PgR-636 (13%), PgR-1294 (8%) in 2015. While 63 of 80 ER cores (79%) were scored similarly using each of the 3 antibodies, there were significant differences for others, with SP1 yielding more positive interpretations. Four cores were scored as ER negative by more than half of the laboratories using 1D5 or 6F11, while SP1 produced positive results in more than 70% of laboratories using that antibody. Despite the greater variety of PgR antibody reagents and greater PgR tumor heterogeneity, 61 of 80 cores (76%) were scored similarly across the 4 PgR antibodies.

CONCLUSIONS
- Accurate ER and PgR testing in breast cancer is crucial for appropriate treatment. The CAP proficiency testing data demonstrate differences in staining results by ER clone, with SP1 yielding more positive results.


In 1969, the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA, later renamed the American Association for Counseling and Development (AACE)]) established a special office for the purpose of identifying and addressing the concerns of non-White members (McFadden & Lipscomb, 1985). After many heated discussions, one of which was about the name, the Association for Non-White Concerns in Personnel and Guidance (ANWC) became the ninth division of APGA. The goals established for ANWC in 1972 have not changed (McFadden, 1986), even though the name of the organization changed in 1985. It is timely, then, to review the historical development of what is now the Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development (AMCD) and the impact of the name change. In so doing, it is important also to examine the goals and services of this organization.


At the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Bali on 3-6 December 2013, the ministers agreed upon the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (ATF). This paper assesses the level of ambition of the ATF from two angles. First, the use of softening language in each provision is examined. Second, the final agreement is compared against the draft text prepared before the Bali conference. Then, the paper considers the likely legal, economic, capacity building, and reform-inducing impacts of the ATF.


Extrusion is a very popular and multi-faceted manufacturing process. A large number of products for the automotive, aerospace, and construction sectors are produced through aluminum extrusion. Many defects in the extruded products occur because of the conditions of the dies and tooling. The problems in dies can be due to material issues, design and manufacturing, or severe usage. They can be avoided by maintaining the billet quality, by controlling the extrusion process parameters, and through routine maintenance. Die problems that occur on a day-to-day basis are mostly repairable and are rectified through various types of die correction operations. These defects and repair operations have not been reported in detail in the published literature. The current paper presents an in-depth description of repairable die defects and related die correction operations in metal extrusion. All major die defects are defined and classified, and their causes, preventive measures, and die correction operations are described. A brief frequency-based statistical study of die defects is also carried out to identify the most frequent die corrections. This work can be of direct benefit to plant engineers and operators and to researchers and academics in the field of metal extrusion.


A scheme for one-step implementation of an n-qubit controlled-phase gate is proposed in a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) system. The distinguishing feature of this scheme is the simultaneous and nonidentical off-resonant Raman coupling of the n SQUID qubits to a single-mode resonator and the microwave pulses. The scheme is efficient and simple because it requires only one-step evolution, and no adjustments of the experimental parameters are needed during the operation.


Reliable access to dynamics is one of the central challenges in humanoid robotics. In this paper we consider the problem of computing both internal and external wrenches in open multiple branches kinematic chains, which are not equipped with joint-level torque sensors, but on the contrary are provided with inertial and tactile sensing, and a set of six-axes Force/Torque Sensors (FTS) distributed within the chain. The proposed method is grounded on the Enhanced Oriented Graph, a graph-representation of the kinematic chain, enriched with the information coming from the different sensors. Under suitable conditions, a maximum of N+1 external wrenches can be estimated from N six-axes FTS. The graph is built dynamically, and internal and external wrenches are consequently updated. Theoretical results have been implemented in a software library (iDyn) released with an open-source license (GPL) as part of the iCub software project. The proposed method has been applied to 32 of the 53 DOF of the iCub humanoid robot.


In chronic portal‐hypertensive rat models, such as portal vein constriction or cirrhosis, the portal blood flow that effectively perfuses the hepatocytes is substantially reduced because of anatomical or functional shunts. It is possible therefore that a feedback mechanism from the liver to the splanchnic bed is responsible for the splanchnic hyperemia observed in chronic portal hypertension. To investigate the possible role of such a feedback mechanism, we examined the chronological changes in both portal and systemic hemodynamics in rats after ligation of a major branch of the portal vein that supplies about 80 of the liver circulation. Rats submitted to sham surgery and portal vein–constricted rats were also studied. Blood flow and portal‐systemic shunting were measured by radioactive microsphere techniques. For 7 days after portalbranch ligation, transient portal hypertension resulted from an elevated portal resistance. However, no significant changes in portal venous inflow or splanchnic arteriolar resistance were found in the portal branch–ligated rats, whereas in the portal vein–constricted rats significant hyperdynamic changes in these parameters were noted. On the other hand, transient hyperdynamic changes occurred in the systemic circulation during the period from the fourth to the sixth day after portal‐branch ligation, similar to those observed in the portal vein–constricted rats. The lack of hyperdynamic changes in the portal territory of the portal branch‐ligated rats suggests that the splanchnic hyperemia found in chronic portal‐hypertensive states is unlikely to be caused by a feedback mechanism from the ischemic hepatic parenchyma. The transient development of a systemic hyperdynamic circulation during the period when the perfused liver mass has not yet fully hypertrophied after portalbranch ligation suggests that such a hyperdynamic change may be related to the impairment of hepatic function. (Hepatology 1994;19:202–209).


Clear description of algorithms and clean design of compiler components. Crafting a Compiler presents a practical approach to compiler construction with thorough coverage of the material and examples that clearly illustrate the concepts in the book. Unlike other texts on the market, Fischer/Cytron/LeBlanc uses object-oriented design patterns and incorporates an algorithmic exposition with modern software practices. An ideal reference and tutorial. MARKET: Software engineers, systems analysts, software architects


Inflatable space habitats offer many advantages for future space missions; however, the long term integrity of these flexible structures is a major concern in harsh space environments. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of these structures is essential to ensure safe operation, provide early warnings of damage, and measure structural changes over long periods of time. To address this problem, the authors have integrated distributed fiber optic strain sensors to measure loading and to identify the occurrence and location of damage in the straps and webbing used in the structural restraint layer. The fiber optic sensors employed use Rayleigh backscatter combined with optical frequency domain reflectometry to enable measurement of strain every 0.65 mm (0.026 inches) along the sensor. The Kevlar woven straps that were tested exhibited large permanent deformation during initial cycling and continued to exhibit hysteresis thereafter, but there was a consistent linear relationship between the sensor's measurement and the actual strain applied. Damage was intentionally applied to a tensioned strap, and the distributed strain measurement clearly identified a change in the strain profile centered on the location of the damage. This change in structural health was identified at a loading that was less than half of the ultimate loading that caused a structural failure. This sensing technique will be used to enable integrated SHM sensors to detect loading and damage in future inflatable space habitat structures.


Due to the superiority of functional requirements of equipment and systems over human requirements in the field of architectural and environmental design of industrial buildings, users have to adapt themselves to the conditions which might be followed by imposed biological and psychological pressures. The present study examines the components and environmental parameters influenced by building features (thermal comfort, lighting quality, office layout, interior decoration, acoustic quality, air quality, cleanliness and maintenance) in typical control building of combined cycle power plants. Using a questionnaire based on Vischer's model of environmental comfort regarding people's environmental perception, the level of users' satisfaction with the environmental factors and their self-estimated performance in relation to these factors at the two levels of physical and functional comforts has been determined. The statistical analysis of the results shows that the lack of consideration of the environmental comfort parameters of workspace in the process of architectural design of industrial buildings influences users' satisfaction with these factors which is directly related to their self-estimated performance in workplace and consequently their job satisfaction by decreasing them. Taking into account the fact that the amount of impact of various environmental factors on the individuals' function was evaluated differently, prioritizing the physical factors in the work place for corrective purposes was finally done using affectability of performance in the degree of satisfaction with any factor.


A sustainable approach to a products End-of-life processing needs to be a balance between the environmental impacts of a particular course of action, and it's economic viability. The research reported in this paper has investigated a structured costing framework to be used in conjunction with improved environmental practises, to provide an economic understanding of varying End-of-Life Vehicle processing routes. The paper presents an holistic end-of-life cost model for the vehicle recovery sector and focuses on the potential applications of this model to support both high and low level decisions, in terms of a processes economic merits and its influence on the ELV Directives recycling and recovery targets.


We investigate how the perceived abstraction quality of stipple illustrations is related to the number of points used to create them. Since it is difficult to find objective functions that quantify the visual quality of such illustrations, we gather comparative data by a crowdsourcing user study and employ a paired comparison model to deduce absolute quality values. Based on this study we show that it is possible to predict the perceived quality of stippled representations based on the properties of an input image. Our results are related to Weber-Fechner's law from psychophysics and indicate a logarithmic relation between numbers of points and perceived abstraction quality. We give guidance for the number of stipple points that is typically enough to represent an input image well.


For this holiday season and just in time for Christmas, Starbucks, in collaboration with fashion brand Rodarte, is preparing a line of limited edition gifts which feature a pixelated print design. All products, including coffee mugs, cup sleeves, tote bags and gift cards, will be represented as a gray, white and silver pattern mixed with…


Our study area in the People9s Victory Canal Irrigation District (PVCID), which is downstream of the Yellow River in China, has been undergoing agricultural water transfer to the city for municipal uses. Water supply condition data from PVCID are used to analyze the impacts of water reallocation on agricultural water supply quality, and field survey data in PVCID are used to examine the impacts of agricultural water supply quality on the utilization degree of canal water. Several issues on the current compensation methods are also discussed. Results show that the amount of irrigation water and the number of days for irrigation are affected by water reallocation, especially when the amount of water diversion significantly decreases. Regression results show that timeliness and adequacy of canal water are important factors affecting the utilization degree of canal water. Several factors reveal significant association with the utilization degree of canal water, such as the water price of canal water, water fee charge methods, soil texture of the largest cropland, precipitation, and age of farm household head. Current compensation methods can hardly compensate for the decrease in canal water reliability. Some recommendations are put forward to compensate for the adverse effects of agricultural water transfer.


Interviews conducted with leading actors in England asking a range of questions about religious diversity and the legal framework and, in particular, about reasonable accommodation, helped identify a number of areas of concern. There was some doubt about whether specific legal provision should be brought in to guarantee reasonable accommodation. However, there was broad support for having the principle adopted in the practice of employers, while some preferred the current informality rather than the principle being enforced through litigation. None of the respondents came up with illustrations outside of Judaism, Christianity or Islam. The results are consistent with recent critical studies showing that the assumption in social sciences that religion is a universal has been imported from theology. Religion-based questions only pick out certain phenomena specific to some cultures and an inevitable skew is created when asking such questions because they only make sense within an Abrahamic religious framework. While enabling the identification of some aspects of culture considered to merit reasonable accommodation on grounds of religion, the results also pose questions about the adequacy of current, standard research methodologies which assume that religion is a universal.A revised and updated version of the article will be published in the International Journal of Discrimination and Law.


This is an edited, annotated transcript of a conference panel discussion on feminism, sex, and gender in law, legal education, and legal scholarship. The transcript reflects widely divergent views of the place of feminism, sex, and gender in the law and legal scholarship. Moreover, the panelists differ as to the role feminism has played in the lives of women as law students and practicing attorneys. In the latter part of the transcript, the panelists' remarks focus in on hotly debated issues surrounding possible gender (or sex) and racial bias in LSAT testing and the innate abilities of women and men as they relate to learning and practicing law. This portion of the piece is exceptionally timely, following on the controversial January 14, 2005 remarks by Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers relating to inherent differences between men and women in career choice and success.


The breadth-first approach to teaching introductory computer science is one way of dispelling the common misperception that programming is the sole task of the computer scientist. The breadth-first approach is particularly useful in courses for non-majors. Hands-on activities that make up laboratory assignments for these courses tend to focus on learning to program or simulations of program execution. These activities unfortunately fail to build on the foundations laid by a breadth-first approach, and serve to perpetuate the computer science = programming misperception. We have developed a set of laboratory activities which are based on what we call authentic computing tasks: everyday tasks that students want to know how to accomplish. Example tasks include image editing, operating system installation and configuration, and building home computer networks. Explicit connections are made between these authentic computing tasks and the computer science concepts being covered in the lecture portion of the course. The course has experienced dramatic increases in enrollment, and we have evidence that students see the connections, rather than coming to believe that performing computing tasks well is the essence of computer science.


We present structural field observations, in situ zircon U-Pb ages, Hf isotopic compositions, geochemistry, and Sr-Nd isotope data from the Puziba granitoid intrusions in the Qinling orogenic belt (China). These intrusions occur as ENE-WSW–oriented dike swarms in a highly deformed phyllite-matrix melange along several major fault zones within the Mianlue suture zone. Granitoid rocks have a relatively wide range of SiO 2 (69–77 wt%, volatile-free) and total alkali contents (Na 2 O + K 2 O = 2.76–4.83 wt%), and K 2 O/Na 2 O ratios >1, and they mostly fall in the granite-granodiorite fields in the total alkalis versus silica diagram. They display relative enrichments of light rare earth elements (LREEs) and relatively flat heavy rare earth elements patterns (HREEs) with weak negative Eu anomalies (δEu = 0.56–0.95) on chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) diagrams. They show enrichment in Th and Zr and depletion in high field strength elements (HFSEs; e.g., Nb, P, and Ti). They are enriched in large ion lithophile elements (LILE) and LREEs and have low zircon e Hf ( t ) (–2.8 to 4.2) values, relatively high initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.7107–0.7188), and variable Mg# (22–46). Their U-Pb zircon crystallization age is ca. 215 Ma, but they also show inherited zircon age clusters in the Paleoproterozoic, Mesoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Paleozoic, with two prominent peaks at ca. 753 Ma and ca. 805 Ma. The high Rb and Ta elemental abundances, smooth chondrite-normalized REE patterns, and e Nd ( t ) values (–5 to –3) of the Puziba dike rocks characterize them as K-rich, calc-alkaline granites. Their magmas were derived from partial melting of garnet-amphibole–bearing lower crust that was triggered by slab breakoff–induced asthenospheric upwelling in the aftermath of the oblique collision of the North and South China blocks during the Late Triassic. Emplacement of the ENE-WSW–oriented Puziba dike swarms was associated with a transtensional stress regime along/across the collisional Mianlue suture zone.


The routing problems are important for logistic and transport sphere. Basically, the routing problems related to determining the optimal set of routes in the multigraph. The Chinese postman problem (CPP) is a special case of the routing problem, which has many potential applications. We propose to solve the MCPP (special NP-hard case of CPP, which defined on mixed multigraph) using the reduction of the original problem into General Travelling Salesman Problem (GTSP). The variants of CPP are pointed out. The mathematical formulations of some problems are presented. The algorithm for reduction the MCPP in multigraph into GTSP is shown. The experimental results of solving MCPP in multigraph through the reduction into GTSP are presented.


Osteochondritis dissecans involves the adolescent radiocapitellar joint and is caused by chronic, compressive forces on the capitellum, ultimately causing injuries ranging from articular cartilage injury to osteochondral avulsion fracture. Plain films are often negative; computer tomography, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and MR arthrography are the examinations of choice. Osteochondritis dissecans should not be confused with a pseudodefect of the capitellum or Panner's disease. Staging of the lesion is important for its management, which is conservative for stages 1 and 2, whereas surgery is indicated for stages 3 and 4. Osteoarthritis is a late complication in 50% of patients with advanced disease.


We study the field dependence of the antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 Heisenberg model on the square lattice by means of exact diagonalizations. In the first part, we calculate the spin-wave velocity c, the spin stiffness rho(s), and the magnetic susceptibility chi(perpendicular to), and thus determine the microscopic parameters of the low-energy long-wavelength description. In the second part, we present a comprehensive study of dynamical spin-correlation functions for magnetic fields ranging from zero up to saturation. We find that, at low fields, magnons are well defined in the whole Brillouin zone but the dispersion is substantially modified by quantum fluctuations compared to the classical spectrum. At higher fields, decay channels open and magnons become unstable with respect to multimagnon scattering. Our results directly apply to inelastic neutron-scattering experiments.


The use of an automated gesture recognition system to teach the commonly adopted, seven-stage hand hygiene technique to veterinary undergraduate students was evaluated. The system features moderate gamification, intended to motivate the student to use the machine repeatedly. The system records each handwash stage, and those found to be difficult are identified and reported back. The gamification element alone was not sufficient to encourage repeated use of the machine, with only 13.6 per cent of 611 eligible students interacting with the machine on one or more occasion. Overall engagement remained low (mean sessions per user: 3.5, ±0.60 confidence interval), even following recruitment of infection control ambassadors who were given a specific remit to encourage engagement with the system. Compliance monitoring was introduced to explore how students used the system. Hand hygiene performance did not improve with repeated use. There was evidence that the stages—fingers interlaced, rotation of the thumb, rotation of the fingertips and rotation of the wrists—were more challenging for students to master (p=0.0197 to p<0.0001) than the back of the hand and of the fingers. Veterinary schools wishing to use such a system should consider adopting approaches that encourage peer buy-in, and highlight the ability to practise difficult stages of the technique.


Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which lipids and cells of the immune system accumulate in the vessel wall. Clinical complications, such as a myocardial infarction or stroke may occur when advanced atherosclerotic lesions become unstable and rupture. In this thesis, the influence of the psychological stress response and stress-related neuropeptides on vascular inflammation and atherosclerotic lesion development has been investigated. We demonstrated that acute stress results in activation of a potent type of immune cell in the vessel wall, the mast cell, leading to increased inflammation and atherosclerotic plaque destabilization. Furthermore, we have shown that (peri)vascular mast cell activation leads to neutrophil recruitment, thus aggravating the local inflammatory response. In addition, we demonstrated increased expression of neuropeptide Y in advanced atherosclerotic lesions and that overexpression of this peptide results in increased lesion development. These insights emphasize a contributing role for psychological stress to atherosclerotic lesion development and as a risk factor for acute cardiovascular syndromes and opens up new avenues for possible future anti-inflammatory therapies to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.


Ivan Sag died on September 10, 2013, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife, Stanford sociolinguistics professor Penny Eckert. In a career spanning four decades, he published over 100 articles and 10 books, centered on the theme of developing precise, implementable, testable, psychologically plausible, and scalable models of natural language, especially syntax and semantics. Sag earned a B.A. from the University of Rochester (1971), an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania (1973) and a Ph.D. from MIT (1976), all in Linguistics. He held teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania (1976–1979) and Stanford University (1979–2013) where he was the Sadie Dunham Patek Professor in Humanities since 2008. In addition, he taught at ten LSA Linguistic Institutes (most recently as the Edward Sapir Professor at the Linguistic Institute at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 2011), at five ESSLLIs, as well as in summer schools or other visiting positions at NTNU (Trondheim), Université de Paris 7, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, the University of Rochester, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University. At Stanford he was a founding member of and active participant in the Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), which housed the HPSG and LinGO projects. He was also a key member of the group of faculty that developed and launched the Symbolic Systems program (in 1985) and was director of Symbolic Systems from 2000–2001 and 2005–2009. Among other honors, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007 and named a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America in 2008. Sag's advisor was Noam Chomsky; throughout his career, he saw himself as furthering what he understood to be the original Chomskyan enterprise. However, in the late 1970s, he broke with the Chomskyan mainstream because he felt it had abandoned central aspects of that original enterprise. Here's how Sag told the story to Ta! magazine in 1993:


Surveys have shown that Zambian urban residents have significantly higher schooling attainment rates than rural residents and are more likely to be literate. To address this inequality in education outcomes it is important to understand to what extent this is a result of a resource gap (for example, differences in teachers or textbooks) or different returns on resources (for example, an additional teacher makes more of a difference in urban areas). To explore this idea this study performed an Oaxaca decomposition on the SACMEQ II data set for Zambia. The results showed that the rural–urban gap was attributable both to differences in the presence of resources (55% of the gap) and differences in the returns on resources (45% of the gap). Since returns on resources are considerably lower in rural areas, additional resource investment alone is unlikely to close the gap between rural and urban schooling outcomes.


High-frequency trading has become a dominant force in the U.S. capital market, accounting for over 70% of dollar trading volume. This study examines the implication of high-frequency trading for stock price volatility and price discovery. I find that high-frequency trading is positively correlated with stock price volatility after controlling for firm fundamental volatility and other exogenous determinants of volatility. The positive correlation is stronger among the top 3,000 stocks in market capitalization and among stocks with high institutional holdings. The positive correlation is also stronger during periods of high market uncertainty. Furthermore, I find that high-frequency trading is negatively related to the market's ability to incorporate information about firm fundamentals into asset prices. Stock prices tend to overreact to fundamental news when high-frequency trading is at a high volume. Overall, this paper demonstrates that high-frequency trading may potentially have some harmful effects for the U.S. capital market.


We analyse the importance of farm level spatial interaction for farm growth. We hypothesize that farms compete on local land markets and interact through knowledge transfer leading to positive and negative feedbacks, respectively. One of the main challenges in the analysis of farm level interaction is to distinguish between actual interactions from the effects of spatially correlated omitted variables. We approach this challenge be estimating a spatially lagged explanatory model (SLX) employing two spatial weighting matrix differentiating between a local and regional neighbourhood. Using a spatially explicit dataset for nearly all Norwegian farms in 1999 and 2009, we found that neighbouring effects differ substantially between local and regional neighbourhood. Our results indicate that the behaviour of directly neighbouring farms is indeed important for farm growth decisions.


Mental HealthTroops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan face tremendous stress, and as many as 300,000 American troops have returned home with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder or depression. Even so, those thousands constitute only a minority of the nearly 2 million U.S. troops deployed in the current conflicts. Why do some people seem to endure the grinding stress and sudden horrors of war better than others? Several research projects are now exploring that question in active-duty troops, drawing on an emerging understanding of the biological roots of fear, anxiety, and depression. Researchers hope to learn more about the biological effects of war-fighting and to identify risk factors that influence individuals' vulnerability to combat stress. The ultimate goal is to develop tests to identify the most vulnerable soldiers and find ways to protect them, perhaps with prophylactic medication or extra training before deployment.


Self-starting operation of a self-conjugating loop oscillator is achieved, for the first time to our knowledge, by use of an optically induced thermal hologram in a nonsaturable absorbing medium. Self-Q-switched single-longitudinal-mode pulses of 12-ns duration are obtained in a near-diffraction-limited spatial mode and with an output energy of >250 mJ . Good correction of intracavity phase distortions is obtained, as well as good extraction efficiency in the laser mode volume. It is shown that one has to set an additional nonreciprocal phase-shift element in the loop to ensure resonant operation of the system.


Social in=uence is an important topic of research, with a particularly long history in the social sciences. Recently, social in=uence has also become a topic of interest among neuroscientists. The aim of this review is to highlight current research that has examined neural systems associated with social in=uence, from the perspective of being in=uenced as well as in=uencing others, and highlight studies that link neural mechanisms with real-world behavior change beyond the laboratory. Although many of the studies reviewed focus on localizing brain regions implicated in in=uence within the lab, we argue that approaches that account for networks of brain regions and that integrate neural data with data beyond the laboratory are likely to be most fruitful in understanding in=uence.