This dissertation consists of three self-contained but interrelated empirical studies focusing on theoretical, empirical and political questions in the multidisciplinary field of neighbourhood effect research. Along with a comprehensive introductory essay, each study addresses questions concerning the potential influence of neighbourhood characteristics on individual social and economic outcomes at different life stages. Study I combines longitudinal register and survey data from the 'golden era' of Swedish welfare policy to evaluate a hypothesised impact of neighbourhood poverty during adolescence on a wide range of outcomes (including, but not limited to, educational and employment status) within a counterfactual model framework based on matching on propensity scores. Extensive empirical analyses indicate that, when two groups of children who are identical according to observed factors before age 10 (including household income, family structure and welfare receipt) live in different types of neighbourhood in adolescence, the outcome for those who grow up in a poor neighbourhood is not more likely to be worse than for those who grow up in a more affluent neighbourhood. Study II considers the maximum theoretical scope of unique neighbourhood influence experienced during the years of growth on individuals' later life income and social assistance recipiency. A three-level hierarchical linear model is applied to simultaneously distinguish variation in the outcomes over time from variation that is attributable to differences between neighbourhoods. By utilising longitudinal register data derived from a birth cohort who grew up in Stockholm at a time when Swedish welfare policy ambitions were at a peak, this study attempts to estimate the long-term significance of neighbourhood origin in the Swedish setting. The analyses clearly show that prior place of residence accounts for an exceedingly modest proportion of the variation in cohort members' subsequent income and receipt of social assistance. Study III explores the hypothesised negative impact of disadvantaged neighbourhood conditions, individual disadvantage, and degree of labour market establishment on levels of social trust. Using data from the Swedish Longitudinal Survey among Unemployed, ordered logit regression analyses indicate that low levels of social trust are contingent upon perceived neighbourhood disorder, personal powerlessness, perceived fear of victimisation, and accumulated episodes of temporary employment. The tentative results also indicate that neighbourhood disorder, powerlessness, and fear of victimisation interact, magnifying the negative impact on social trust.


This paper sets out first, to quantify the stabilization gains from commitment in terms of household welfare and second, to examine how commitment to an optimal or approximately optimal rule can be sustained as an equilibrium in which reneging hardly ever occurs. We utilize an influential empirical micro-founded DSGE model, the Euro-Area model of \cite{SW03}, and a quadratic approximation of the epresentative household's utility as the welfare criterion. We impose the effect of a lower zero nominal interest rate bound. In contrast with previous studies we find substantial stabilization gains from commitment -- as much as a $5-6\%$ permanent increase in consumption. We also find that a simple optimized commitment rule with the nominal interest rate responding to current inflation and the real wage closely mimics the optimal rule


Abstract Which countries are likely to have the productive capabilities to thrive in the green economy? How might countries reorient their existing industrial structures to be more competitive in an environmentally friendly world? To investigate these questions, this paper develops a novel methodology for measuring productive capabilities to the green economy. By constructing a new comprehensive dataset of traded green products and drawing on economic complexity methods, we rank countries in terms of their ability to export complex green products competitively. We show that higher ranked countries are more likely to have higher environmental patenting rates, lower CO2 emissions, and more stringent environmental policies even after controlling for per capita GDP. We then examine countries' potential to transition into green products in the future and find strong path dependence in the accumulation of green capabilities. Our results shed new light on green industrialisation and have a number of implications for green industrial policy.


More than two million tons of agricultural wastes are produced annually in country-region place Malaysia. These agricultural wastes provide feedstock for biochar production, which contributes insignificant net carbon dioxide to the atmosphere after soil incorporation. Three kinds of primary biochar were used in this study, namely, empty fruit bunch biochar (EFB), wood biochar (WB), and rice husk biochar (RHB). EFB and WB were produced by slow pyrolysis, whereas RHB was produced by gasification. This study aimed to investigate the influence of slow pyrolysis and gasification methods on biochar chemical characteristics and short-term soil stability. Results showed that the kinetic parameters of C mineralization, which was calculated by fitting the three-pool kinetic model to evolved CO2-C under field conditions, suggested a tri-phasic C-mineralization process (labile, unstable, and recalcitrance carbon). Our estimates reflected the existence of a very labile C fraction in RHB with a very small decay constant K3. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction showed the three phase transitions of the biochars from the microcrystalline C of the labile fraction to the largely amorphous intermediate C of the unstable fraction and formation of turbostratic crystallite C in the recalcitrant fraction. We concluded that EFB and WB decomposed faster than RHB. Therefore, RHB was a suitable option for C sequestration in soil.


Despite advances in the understanding of postoperative pain, approximately 80% of surgical patients still experience a meaningful level of pain, which can result in unnecessary stress and suffering; compromise the patient's progress, recovery, and outcome; and lead to poor function and the development of chronic pain. In arthroplasty patients, the goals of pain management include improving comfort and satisfaction, enabling patients to ambulate and move their joints soon after surgery, and, where appropriate, reducing the hospital length of stay. Opioid medications have been used for many years as the mainstay of pain management. These drugs, however, are associated with a range of adverse effects and complications, which can lead to increased hospital length of stay or readmission. Furthermore, as-needed administration of opioids allows for the repeated return of pain after the operation as each dose wears off. A balanced multimodal approach that combines different anesthetic and analgesic modalities in a rational way to target the distinct pain pathways, rather than relying predominantly on opioid drugs, is essential for effective control of postoperative pain, avoiding the risk of opioid-related adverse events and complications, reducing length of stay, and improving longterm outcomes.


Synopsis Land available for afforestation in the Western Cape Region has largely been subordinate to agriculture. Eucalypt species have never been tested intensively along the West Coast. Climatic matching suggests planting of species from West Australia as native habitat introductions, or from seed sources in the Mediterranean region where eucalypt species have been tried successfully, such as Morocco and Israel. Promising growth of eucalypt hybrids on marginal sites in the summer rainfall areas of South Africa prompted the inclusion oflocal as well as some hybrid seedlots obtained from Morocco. The terrain of the trial site is an almost flat old dune area (slopes < 3%)with a westerly aspect and 7 km from the sea. The mean annual rainfall is about 400 mm, with most rain falling during winter. The other months are usuallywindy and dry, and the summermonths are hot (maximum tern perature > 35°C). The sandy soils have a coarse texture within the normal rooting depth. During winter water tables were observed on all soils within 2-3 m from the soil surface. The trial was planted during the winter of 1991. It consisted often local hybrid families of different species involving Eucalyptus grandis, 14 E. camaldulensis seedlots from Australia, Morocco and Israel, 7 hybrid lots from Morocco, 4 E. grandis ex Morocco and 11 other species including E. gomphocephala and E. cladocalyx. The results indicate the potential for correct species/provenance selection. Potential yields of 8 to 10 m3/annum/ha are predicted on the assumption that goodgenetic stock and correct silvicultural procedures are used. Most notable was the expected performance of the well known West Australian species (E. gomphocephala, E. cladocalyx). The group of 14 E. camaldulensis seedlots can be regarded as representing a series of provenances from Australia, except for three from Israel and one from Morocco. As expected, the different provenances survived well but performed variably, generally ranking in the bottom 50 %. However, two seedlots - the provenance from Lake Albacutya and the seedlot from Morocco - are worth noting as they actually ranked among the top ten for index score. Generally, the provenances from Queensland (e.g. Petford) and New South Wales that normally do well in summer rainfall regions did not do well. As the relevant parent species originate in summer rainfall regions, the phenomenal growth rate of many of the hybrid families came as a surprise in this trial. The yield of the best E. grandis x E. camaldulensis (GXC) family would have been equivalent to that of E. gomphocephala if the survival was equally good. The E. grandis x E. tereticornis (GXT)family did survive and performed equally well. The second best GXCfamily would have yielded even better than the GXT if it had a better survival. The GXC and GXT families were all within the top 50 % ofthe trial.


Background Cancer treatment and outcomes can be influenced by tumor characteristics, patient overall health status, and comorbidities. While previous studies have analyzed the influence of comorbidity on cancer outcomes, limited information is available regarding factors associated with the increased prevalence of comorbidities and multimorbidity among patients with colorectal cancer in Spain. Patients and Methods This cross-sectional study obtained data from all colorectal cancer cases diagnosed in two Spanish provinces in 2011 from two population-based cancer registries and electronic health records. We calculated the prevalence of comorbidities according to patient and tumor factors, identified factors associated with an increased prevalence of comorbidity and multimorbidity, analyzed the association between comorbidities and time-to-surgery, and developed an interactive web application (https://comcor.netlify.com/). Results The most common comorbidities were diabetes (23.6%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (17.2%), and congestive heart failure (14.5%). Among all comorbidities, 52% of patients were diagnosed at more advanced stages (stage III/IV). Patients with advanced age, restricted performance status or who were disabled, obese, and smokers had a higher prevalence of multimorbidity. Patients with multimorbidity had a longer time-to-surgery than those without comorbidity (17 days, 95% confidence interval: 3–29 days). Conclusion We identified a consistent pattern of factors associated with a higher prevalence of comorbidities and multimorbidity at diagnosis and an increased time-to-surgery among patients with colorectal cancer with multimorbidity in Spain. This pattern may provide insights for further etiological and preventive research and help to identify patients at a higher risk for poorer cancer outcomes and suboptimal treatment.


We investigate the combined effect of application implementation method, container design, and efficiency of communication layers on the performance scalability of J2EE application servers by detailed measurement and profiling of an auction site server.We have implemented five versions of the auction site. The first version uses stateless session beans, making only minimal use of the services provided by the Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) container. Two versions use entity beans, one with container-managed persistence and the other with bean-managed persistence. The fourth version applies the session fasade pattern, using session beans as a fasade to access entity beans. The last version uses EJB 2.0 local interfaces with the session fasade pattern. We evaluate these different implementations on two popular open-source EJB containers with orthogonal designs. JBoss uses dynamic proxies to generate the container classes at run time, making an extensive use of reflection. JOnAS pre-compiles classes during deployment, minimizing the use of reflection at run time. We also evaluate the communication optimizations provided by each of these EJB containers.The most important factor in determining performance is the application implementation method. EJB applications with session beans perform as well as a Java servlets-only implementation and an order-of-magnitude better than most of the implementations based on entity beans. The fine-granularity access exposed by the entity beans limits scalability. Use of session fasade beans improves performance for entity beans, but only if local communication is very efficient or EJB 2.0 local interfaces are used. Otherwise, session fasade beans degrade performance.For the implementation using session beans, communication cost forms the major component of the execution time on the EJB server. The design of the container has little effect on performance. With entity beans, the design of the container becomes important. In particular, the cost of reflection affects performance. For implementations using session fasade beans, local communication cost is critically important. EJB 2.0 local interfaces improve the performance by avoiding the communication layers for local communications.


Despite the growing influence of food justice and conscious consumption in Western society, Westerners exhibit limited knowledge of non-human animal oppression in the food system. This study asked students in seven classes of
Introduction to Sociology offered in a private New Jersey university to estimate
how many non-human animals are killed for food every year in the United States.
Although students had been exposed to reading and lecture material covering
speciesism and non-human animal oppression in the food system, results demonstrate major variation in student retention and awareness. Most students (66%)
severely underestimated the magnitude of killing; the median response was just
65 million while the bottom 10% of responses averaged a guess of 24 667. Exam
grade was slightly correlated with student responses, but gender was not. These
findings support existing research on consumer ignorance and social psychological theories that predict cognitive barriers to understanding large-scale suffering,
alerting educators and policymakers to the difficulties in raising food literacy


We examine the critical merging distance between two equal-volume, equal-potential- vorticity quasi-geostrophic vortices. We focus on how this distance depends on the vertical offset between the two vortices, each having a unit mean height-to-width aspect ratio. The vertical direction is special in the quasi-geostrophic model (used to capture the leading-order dynamical features of stably stratified and rapidly rotating geophysical flows) since vertical advection is absent. Nevertheless vortex merger may still occur by horizontal advection. In this paper, we first investigate the equilibrium states for the two vortices as a function of their vertical and horizontal separation. We examine their basic properties together with their linear stability. These findings are next compared to numerical simulations of the nonlinear evolution of two spheres of potential vorticity. Three different regimes of interaction are identified, depending on the vertical offset. For a small offset, the interaction differs little from the case when the two vortices are horizontally aligned. On the other hand, when the vertical offset is comparable to the mean vortex radius, strong interaction occurs for greater horizontal gaps than in the horizontally aligned case, and therefore at significantly greater full separation distances. This perhaps surprising result is consistent with the linear stability analysis and appears to be a consequence of the anisotropy of the quasi-geostrophic equations. Finally, for large vertical offsets, vortex merger results in the formation of a metastable tilted dumbbell vortex.


With cosmetics, one cannot determine at a glance exactly what product a person is using. This paper analyzes the impact of a consumer network on cosmetics, which are goods that are not conspicuous. Comments in word-of-mouth websites for cosmetics is used as a proxy variable for purchasing behavior, and the relationship between a consumer network and purchasing behavior in a social network is analyzed. In cosmetics, which are not conspicuous, this paper has confirmed that consumers exhibit the same purchasing behavior as when they are in a relationship with structural equivalence within a network and not just in relationships with cohesion.


The origin of the word trend is an ancient one and can be traced back to Middle English and High German where its meaning was to turn, spin or revolve [1]; within fashion the imperative is to constantly evolve and create newness in order to stimulate consumer interest and sales. Fashion trends today are reflective of the contemporary, fast paced, innovative and pioneering century in which we now exist, focused on creative and technological progress. In the last decade a new approach to fashion retailing has developed, omni-channel, social networking savvy, with online only retailers eschewing the traditional bricks and mortar retail models [2].

Most young consumers access such sites through their mobile phones and tablets, the emphasis is on ensuring the product imagery is as accurate as possible; depicting colour and fabric pattern are vital elements to convey to a consumer. However, when over 70% of product sold is in basic or neutral colours such as black, white, navy or grey which are traditionally hard to achieve fine details through photography (Scully & Johnson Cobb, 2012), accurate reproduction, and detailed garment fit information is vital if garment returns are to be reduced and made cost effective to process.

The research analysed a number of online only sites and assessed description of similar goods in the dresses category, selecting party, cocktail or evening dresses in dark hues. Interviews with two online retailers were conducted to ascertain if design decisions were ever influenced by on screen reproduction constraints or past experiences. Online trend forecasting sites were also considered, as often brands purchase trend information to supplement their own knowledge of the market (Hidefi, 2012).

The results will show how the accurate depiction of colour and garments on hand held mobile devices is achieved, and any constraints placed upon design and buying teams when planning and developing fashion ranges. Conclusions will be drawn as to how omni-channel retailing and trend forecasters might work differently in future to support emerging technologies in the market, such as macro photography, and recommendations as to future areas of investigation.


The aim of this project is to establish a lithostratigraphic scheme for the North Downs Chalk and to study its sedimentology. Detailed field studies were made on the Chalk and where necessary supplemented by the analyses of insoluble residues, mostly by the use of X-ray diffraction.
A lithostratigraphic scheme is proposed in which the North Downs Chalk is subdivided into five Formations. In ascending order these are the East Wear Bay Chalk Formation, Abbots Cliff Chalk Formation, Dover Chalk Formation, Ramsgate Chalk Formation and Margate Chalk Formation. A marker bed framework has also been developed and used to correlate the Chalk sections throughout the North Downs.
The sedimentological study has shown that the Chalk was deposited cyclically. The cycles show a fining upward texture and have an average thickness of approximately 2m. A standard cycle is defined, which is supported by the use of facies relationship diagrams.
Scour structures are recognized in association with discontinuity surfaces, which mark the base of the fining upward cycles. These structures are compared with the longitudinal furrows found in modern tidal shelf seas. They are thought to have been formed by the activity of tidal currents within the Chalk sea.
The variation in grain size within the fining upward cycles is interpreted as the result of a gradual decrease in the velocity of the tidal currents. The contiguous development of the fining upward cycles throughout the Chalk indicates that repeated changes in current velocity occurred throughout the period of Chalk deposition.
A study of marl bands, mostly by the X-ray diffraction analysis of insoluble residues, indicates that they are probably the product of airbourne volcanic ashfalls. The resultant comparatively large detrital component makes them lithologically distinct features which are valuable isochronous marker beds.


Summary

A key was produced to describe 10 stages of development of linseed buds, flowers and capsules. Botrytis cinerea conidia germinated more rapidly and germ tubes grew longer on linseed stigmas, petals and mature senescing capsules than on green leaves, sepals and immature capsules. The proportion of conidia which germinated increased and the germ tubes continued growing for longer in the presence of linseed pollen and flower petal extracts. In controlled environment and field experiments, the response of buds, flowers and capsules to inoculation with B. cinerea changed with stage of development; few pre-flowering buds developed symptoms (brown lesions, then grey mould), but high proportions of flowering and post-flowering buds did so. Few immature green capsules developed symptoms and the proportion of capsules which developed symptoms increased as they matured. The presence of linseed pollen decreased the incubation period from inoculation with spore suspensions to appearance of B. cinerea symptoms on buds. A disease cycle was produced to suggest the changes in susceptibility of linseed to infection by B. cinerea conidia during bud, flower and capsule development.


In this study, partial gene sequences of the mycobacterial 32-kDa protein gene were determined by PCR-based sequencing. A total of 50 strains representing 18 potentially pathogenic mycobacterial species were studied. In 10 cases, all three strains of the species studied were identical, and intraspecies variability was found in 6 cases. Thus, the 32-kDa protein gene may be a good target for identification of mycobacteria by PCR-based sequencing.


In this paper a modified mathematical model based on the SIR model used which can predict the spreading of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) and its effects on people in the days ahead. This model takes into account all the death, infected and recovered characteristics of this disease. To determine the extent of the risk posed by this novel coronavirus; the transmission rate (R0) is utilized for a time period from the beginning of spreading virus. In particular, it includes a novel policy to capture the R0 response in the virus spreading over time. The model estimates the vulnerability of the pandemic with a prediction of new cases by estimating a time-varying R0 to capture changes in the behavior of SIR model implies to new policy taken at different times and different locations of the world. This modified SIR model with the different values of R0 can be applied to different country scenario using the real time data report provided by the authorities during this pandemic. The effective evaluation of R0 can forecast the necessity of lockdown as well as reopening the economy.


The LIBOR Markov–functional model is an efficient arbitrage–free pricing model suitable for callable interest rate derivatives. We demonstrate that the one–dimensional LIBOR Markov–functional model and the separable one–factor LIBOR market model are very similar. Consequently, the intuition behind the familiar SDE formulation of the LIBOR market model may be applied to the LIBOR Markov–functional model. The application of a drift approximation to a separable one–factor LIBOR market model results in an approximating model driven by a one–dimensional Markov process, permitting efficient implementation. For a given parameterization of the driving process, the distributional structures of this model and the corresponding Markov–functional model are found to be numerically virtually indistinguishable for short–maturity tenor structures over a wide variety of market conditions, and both are very similar to the market model. A theoretical uniqueness result shows that any accurate approximation to a separable market model that reduces to a function of the driving process is effectively an approximation to the analogous Markov–functional model. Therefore, the conclusions reached in this article are not restricted to the particular choice of driving process. Minor differences are observed for longer maturities; nevertheless the models remain qualitatively similar. These differences do not have a large impact on Bermudan swaption prices. Under stress testing, the LIBOR Markov–functional and separable LIBOR market models continue to exhibit similar behavior, and Bermudan prices under these models remain comparable. However, the drift approximation model now appears to admit arbitrage that is practically significant. In this situation, the authors argue the Markov–functional model is a more appropriate choice for pricing.


We study a Bose–Einstein condensate in a PT?>-symmetric double-well potential where particles are coherently injected in one well and removed from the other well. In mean-field approximation the condensate is described by the Gross–Pitaevskii equation thus falling into the category of nonlinear non-Hermitian quantum systems. After extending the concept of PT?> symmetry to such systems, we apply an analytic continuation to the Gross–Pitaevskii equation from complex to bicomplex numbers and show a thorough numerical investigation of the four-dimensional bicomplex eigenvalue spectrum. The continuation introduces additional symmetries to the system which are confirmed by the numerical calculations and furthermore allows us to analyse the bifurcation scenarios and exceptional points of the system. We present a linear matrix model and show the excellent agreement with our numerical results. The matrix model includes both exceptional points found in the double-well potential, namely an EP2 at the tangent bifurcation and an EP3 at the pitchfork bifurcation. When the two bifurcation points coincide the matrix model possesses four degenerate eigenvectors. Close to that point we observe the characteristic features of four interacting modes in both the matrix model and the numerical calculations, which provides clear evidence for the existence of an EP4.


Good software design is characterized by low coupling between modules and high cohesion inside each module. This is obtained by encapsulating the details about the internal structure of data and exporting only public functions with a clean interface. For programming languages such as C, which offer little support for encapsulation, code analysis tools may help in assessing and improving the access to data structures. In this paper a new representation of the accesses of functions to dynamic locations, called the O-A diagram, is proposed. By isolating meaningful groups of functions working on common dynamic data, such a diagram can be used to evaluate the encapsulation in a program and to drive possible interventions to improve it. Experimental results suggest that the aggregations identified by the O-A diagram are actually cohesive functions operating on a shared data structure. The results are useful in themselves, by providing the programmer with information about the organization of the accesses to dynamic memory. In addition the O-A diagram permits highlighting violations of encapsulation, so that proper restructuring actions can be performed.


News p 181

Some will read the well written report of the Bristol inquiry into children's heart surgery as a "whodunnit?"1 The answer is that "the system done it," but various named individuals behaved dishonourably. Some have been struck off by the General Medical Council.2 All will have paid a heavy price with sleepless nights. The report is primarily, as Ian Kennedy, the chairman, says in his introduction, a tragedy. A great many well intentioned people worked hard to do good but did dreadful harm. Over 30 children under 1 year died unnecessarily, the report concludes.3 Many more were severely injured.

The most chilling thought in the report is that there could have been 50, perhaps 500, even 5000 similar reports about other parts of the NHS. The ingredients that led to the excess deaths in Bristol occur throughout the NHS. The report emphasises not only that the NHS had no system for monitoring quality and no reliable data but also there was no agreement on what constituted quality. "Thus the most essential tool in achieving, sustaining, and improving quality of care for the patient was lacking … clinicians had to satisfy only themselves [the report's italics] that the service was of sufficient quality."

Bristol (and we must accept, as does the inquiry, that Bristol has become a noun that denotes not just a city but also a medical tragedy) came to public attention because there were some data and people concerned to make a fuss. We might have read a report on excess deaths …


Background: Cardiovascular disorders represent the most frequent comorbidities as well as an increased risk of mortality in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Objective. The main goal is to analyze the cardiovascular profile of COPD patients. Methods: The study is performed using our 750-consecutive patient COPD database, built at Timisoara "Victor Babes" Hospital (Oct 2014 – Dec 2016). Spirometry, anthropometric parameters (e.g. gender, age, BMI, smoking status), comorbidities, and questionnaire results are recorded. We select all 570 COPD patients that are also diagnosed with at least one cardiovascular comorbidity (CVC). We consider 3 from the most frequent CVCs among our COPD patients: high blood pressure (HBP), ischemic heart disease (IHD), and congestive heart failure (CHF). Results: The distribution of the 570 COPD-CVC patients on COPD stages is 14.7% in stage 1, 51.4% in stage 2, 27.9% in stage 3, 6% in stage 4. The incidence of CVC in our COPD database is HBP 92.3%, IHD 37.7%, and CHF 20%; these percentages clearly indicates that CVCs overlap. Fig. 1 shows that from COPD stage 1 to stage 4, the percentage of patients with 3 CVCs grows 2.5 times, while the percentage of patients with just one CVC decreases 1.6 times. Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the fact that decreasing of respiratory function in COPD is associated with an increased number of associated highly-risk cardiovascular comorbidities.


The emerging field of semiconductor quantum optics combines semiconductor physics and quantum optics, with the aim of developing quantum devices with unprecedented performance. In this book researchers and graduate students alike will reach a new level of understanding to begin conducting state-of-the-art investigations. The book combines theoretical methods from quantum optics and solid-state physics to give a consistent microscopic description of light-matter- and many-body-interaction effects in low-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures. It develops the systematic theory needed to treat semiconductor quantum-optical effects, such as strong light-matter coupling, light-matter entanglement, squeezing, as well as quantum-optical semiconductor spectroscopy. Detailed derivations of key equations help readers learn the techniques and nearly 300 exercises help test their understanding of the materials covered. The book is accompanied by a website hosted by the authors, containing further discussions on topical issues, latest trends and publications on the field. The link can be found at www.cambridge.org/9780521875097.


We present SEBOOST, a technique for boosting the performance of existing stochastic optimization methods. SEBOOST applies a secondary optimization process in the subspace spanned by the last steps and descent directions. The method was inspired by the SESOP optimization method for large-scale problems, and has been adapted for the stochastic learning framework. It can be applied on top of any existing optimization method with no need to tweak the internal algorithm. We show that the method is able to boost the performance of different algorithms, and make them more robust to changes in their hyper-parameters. As the boosting steps of SEBOOST are applied between large sets of descent steps, the additional subspace optimization hardly increases the overall computational burden. We introduce two hyper-parameters that control the balance between the baseline method and the secondary optimization process. The method was evaluated on several deep learning tasks, demonstrating promising results.


The adjoint of a limited area model has been used to study the sensitivity of 12 h forecast errors to initial and lateral boundary conditions. Upper troposphere potential vorticity and mean sea level pressure verification scores for 1 month of operational forecasts from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute were used to select 2 cases with particularly poor forecast performance. The sensitivity experiments show that errors in initial data is the most likely explanation for one of the forecast failures, while errors in initial as well as lateral boundary data can explain the 2nd forecast failure. Results from the sensitivity experiments with respect to the lateral boundary conditions indicate that poor quality lateral boundary conditions may be improved by utilizing subsequent downstream observations within the model integration area. This result is of great significance with regard to the possibilities for applying 4-dimensional variational data assimilation (4DVAR) for limited area forecast models. Results from the sensitivity experiments also reveal, however, that the lateral boundary treatment in operational limited area models needs to be improved with regard to the mathematical formulation. It is furthermore shown that modifications to be applied to the lateral boundary conditions need to be determined with appropriate time resolution and that some filtering of these lateral boundary modifications has to be introduced to avoid enhanced high-frequency gravity wave noise in the vicinity of the lateral boundaries.


Background: For dairy cattle, high milk production relate closely with feed quality intake especially protein content. Protein usage could be seen from nitrogen retention point of view.  Furthermore N retention for each feedstuff is inflenced by its energy content. N retention in tissue is determined by energy supply and N. Research was conducted to study pollard and bran into feed digetibility, and correlation between N retention with milk production. Method : Eight dairy cattle in 2-3 lactation period with 310-504 kg body weight were used as research material. Cross Over Design used for this reseach, 15 days as preliminary for feed adaptation and 15 days for collected data (10 days for feces collection and 5 days for urine) for each periode. Measured parameter included feed digestibility (dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein), and milk production.  Result : Research showed that treatment have non significant (P>0,05) into dry matter and organic matter digestibility, but gave significant (P<0,05) effect into crude protein digestibility.  The usage wheat pollard gave betterdigestibility than rice bran, especially at digestible crude protein. Fourty percent in average of milk production was influenced by nitrogen retention


In this paper we consider the modeling of opinion dynamics over time dependent large scale networks. A kinetic description of the agents' distribution over the evolving network is considered which combines an opinion update based on binary interactions between agents with a dynamic creation and removal process of new connections. The number of connections of each agent influences the spreading of opinions in the network but also the way connections are created is influenced by the agents' opinion. The evolution of the network of connections is studied by showing that its asymptotic behavior is consistent both with Poisson distributions and truncated power-laws. In order to study the large time behavior of the opinion dynamics a mean field description is derived which allows to compute exact stationary solutions in some simplified situations. Numerical methods which are capable to describe correctly the large time behavior of the system are also introduced and discussed. Finally, several numerical examples showing the influence of the agents' number of connections in the opinion dynamics are reported.


In this paper I discuss the role and sources of innovation in generating culture, and also the role of modularity in preserving it. I also discuss the extent to which biological selection can underly cultural evolution and the interaction between these. Finally I present two sets of pilot experiments mostly as 'intuition pumps' to explore the problem of cultural stability and change. The first models the impact of noisy transmission and modularity on cultural stability. The second looks at the impact on a culture if a biologically-adaptive variant of one cultural trait is present.


LaMMA Consortium, with collaboration of Regione Toscana and Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali (MiBAC), has created the web Geographical Information System for Cultural Heritage and Protected Landscape of Regione Toscana. This system now makes it possible to access the digital maps and the digital archives of archaeological, architectural and landscape related restrictions over the entire region. In order to continuously update the realized system for maintaining its utility and validity, Regione Toscana together with MiBAC signed a protocol agreement (2004), according to which every new restriction measure issued is sent as a copy also to the regional offices and then to LaMMA Consortium, that attends to update the digital archives and the digital maps. Thanks to this agreement, the system counts today over 18,000 measures, with an average yearly increase of almost 250 measures, that determine restrictions for 9.000 areas.


This article investigates the determinants of the employment of foreign skilled workers by firms operating in Sub-Saharan African countries. We use cross section firm-level data on a large sample of foreign and domestic firms collected through the Africa Investor Survey 2010 by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. We find evidence of a strong complementarity between foreign capital inflows and the employment of foreign skilled workers. Our results also indicate that interventions in improving the working regulation and skilled workers immigration regimes may stimulate foreign skilled workers transfer by firms, and thereby foreign direct investments.


The United States has two different rationales for taxing income of non-U.S. persons and entities. First, the income may be "sourced" to the United States, as defined in the Internal Revenue Code. Alternatively, the income may be effectively connected to a trade or business within the United States that provides income to the non-U.S. person or entity. The sourcing rules for income of non-U.S. persons and entities depend heavily on the nature of the underlying transaction and the geographical location where certain key elements of the transaction take place. So long as the non-U.S. person or entity avoids activities that constitute a trade or business within the United States under the Internal Revenue Code, precluding taxable effectively connected income, even significant revenue streams may escape taxation by the United States. With the rise of new models of digital transactions, companies may structure their business operations to limit or avoid U.S. taxation. Twenty years ago, the Department of the Treasury developed regulations governing computer transactions. Since then, new mechanisms for digital deliveries have developed, including the cloud computing products. These products—software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-aservice (PaaS), and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS)—have sprouted, rooted, and blossomed into an expansive and profitable industry. This Comment summarizes the landscape of cloud taxation, reviews different ways to frame cloud transactions under current law, and advocates for new federal action to ensure income does not escape taxation by virtue of the underlying transaction's technological form.


Abstract The succession of Pridolian to lower Eifelian (uppermost Silurian to lowermost Middle Devonian) rhynchonelliformean brachiopod faunas from the Rhenish Massif (Germany) is described and interpreted against the background of sedimentary sequences and facies development. The predominant rhenotypic ('Rhenish') facies is redefined as a neritic-siliciclastic facies type of the Devonian. It is subdivided into eurhenotypic, pararhenotypic and allorhenotypic subfacies, based on sedimentary features and specific brachiopod assemblages reflecting different shallow-marine palaeoenvironments under more or less terrigenous influence. The studied sedimentary successions are subdivided biostratigraphically on the basis of brachiopods, correlated on a supraregional scale, and calibrated in terms of the global chronostratigraphy. Stratigraphic intervals with characteristic brachiopod faunas are distinguished. Faunal turnovers between these are attributed to regional events in the context of short or more extended phases of palaeoenvironmental change presumably caused mainly by sea-level fluctuations in combination with varying crustal subsidence and sedimentation rates. These changes resulted in shelf-wide or more regional extinction or emigration of substantial parts of a brachiopod fauna and subsequent replacement by a largely new one. Finally, new taxa of brachiopods are introduced: Sartenaerirhynchus gen. nov., Paraspirifer (Mosellospirifer) subgen. nov., Paraspirifer (Laurentispirifer) subgen. nov., Iridistrophia (Flabellistrophia) subgen. nov. and Iridistrophia (Flabellistrophia) musculosa sp. nov.


This study examines to what extent recent empirical evidence can substantiate the claim that annual emission constraints have a modest effect on long run economic growth rates. The paper studies specifically the contribution of carbon dioxide emissions on growth in Egyptian economy during the period 1961-2008. Results indicate that there is a negative relationship between GDP per capita and carbon dioxide emissions. Results suggest that institutions play an important role to achieve progress in setting an effective policies and regulations to decrease pollutants' level that arise from industries and rationalising the consumption of energy. Developing countries and especially Egypt need to adopt a set of effective policies to face the vulnerable growth and environmental degradation. Based on these results, we assert that environmental policy should consider the different characteristics of each country and type of pollutant.


Fibers with a longitudinal strain distribution can be used to shape the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) gain spectrum or to increase the SBS threshold power. Theoretical analysis and experimental results on the SBS gain spectrum of coiled fibers with a continuous and arbitrary distribution of longitudinal strain are presented. The concept of a critical gain factor for determining the SBS threshold power with a simple formula is reviewed for fibers with different parameters and spectral shapes. A fiber coiling machine for high coiling forces is described for realizing permanent strain distributions with a maximum strain of more than 3%. SBS spectra were broadened to a spectral width of 1.7 GHz. Measurements verify a significant SBS gain suppression by a factor of 40, which is in excellent agreement with the theoretical analysis. Finally, synthetic triangular and broadened Lorentzian SBS spectral shapes with a spectral width of 550 MHz are demonstrated. The results can be used to suppress SBS in high-power fiber lasers and amplifiers or to tailor almost any arbitrary SBS spectral shapes, which could be useful for slow-light or active optical filter applications.


I was first introduced to Dr. Kariamu Welsh when I was a doctoral student in African American Studies at Temple University in the fall of 2004. As a formally trained dancer, it was a natural fit for me to enroll in an African Dance class as part of my doctoral degree program. The most interesting detail about the first time I met Dr. Kariamu was that it was not supposed to happen. In fact, another instructor was originally assigned to teach the section of African Dance I was enrolled in. Only later did I learn that Dr. Kariamu agreed to teach this class just a few days before our first class meeting. I truly believe this was divine order by God and the ancestors to not only ensure that our paths crossed, but to set the stage for our interaction to continue years later. Dr. Kariamu's class was one of the best moments in my life and is something that continues to have a profound effect on me today. In addition to having the opportunity to just be in Dr. Kariamu's presence and to learn the Umfundalai dance technique; this is where Katherine Dunham metaphorically found me. Although she was still alive at this time and did not make her transition until two years later; Dunham's spirit and the spirit of many other African/Black dancers were always present in our class when we danced. It was the presence of Dunham's spirit that motivated me to learn more about her life and to begin to uncover her many contributions to Black Studies. However, it was Dr. Kariamu who motivated me to bring dance back into my life after taking a few years off, and is one of the many reasons I continue to dance today. I am just one of the many individuals and communities who have been profoundly influenced and affected by this phenomenal, African-centered woman. Dr. Kariamu Welsh (email@example.com) is a world renowned dancer, choreographer, company director, scholar, writer, activist, and Professor. Having earned her M.A. in Humanities and Choreography from the State University of New York at Buffalo and her Doctorate of Arts in Dance History from New York University; she is currently a Professor and former Chair of the Department of Dance in the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. As a Professor, she has taught countless courses in both Dance and Black Studies, and has supervised Dissertations, Master's of Fine Arts Thesis Concerts, Education Master's Thesis, and served on Dissertation committees not only in the U.S., but also in Jamaica. As a scholar, she has published numerous articles in journals on Dance and Black Studies including The Griot; The Zora Neale Hurston Journal; Talking Drum: The Black Dance Journal; Sage: The Scholarly Journal on Black Women; International Journal of African Dance; Journal of Physical Education Health, Recreation, and Dance; Dance Research Journal; and Journal of Black Studies. She has also written poetry, essays, and short stories that have been published in Black World; Buffalo After Dark Magazine; Essence Magazine; Obsidian Literary Magazine; and Journal of Black Studies. Dr. Kariamu has co-authored two books entitled African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity (Greenwood Press, 1985) and The African Aesthetic: Keeper of the Traditions (Greenwood Press, 1993), and has written several other books such as Textured Women, Cowrie Shells and Beetle Sticks (Amulefi Publishing, 1979); Guide to African and African American Art: Manual on African Art (Museum of African and African- American Art and Antiquities, 1980); African Dance: An Artistic, Historical, and Philosophical Inquiry (Africa World Press, 1996); Zimbabwe Dance: Ancestral Voices, Rhythmic Forces, An Aesthetic Analysis (Africa World Press, 2000); The Umfundalai Dance Technique: The Shape of Rhythm (Africa World Press, 2003); and African Dance: An Introduction (Chelsea House Publishers, 2004). Dr. Kariamu has held several esteemed positions such as Fulbright Specialist; Guggenheim Fellow; Pew Fellow in the Arts; Director and Choreographer of the Kariamu and Company; Founder and Artistic Director of the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe; Co-Director of the Center for Positive Thought; and Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer for the Center for Positive Thought. …


This research investigates the influence of PSAK 30 on the financial report in Indonesia companies. The change in PSAK 30 R2007) that originally was rule based become principle based, the change in classification from operating lease to finance lease. The impact of this change caused the change in the treatment of lease account of entity. The researcher carried out the lease capitalization simulation and its impact on the Balance, Income Statement of Companies in Indonesia. The sample of this research consisted of 20 companies that were registered in Indonesian Stock Exchange that had the obligation lease and assets lease. The researcher gathered the data from OSIRIS for year 2006 and 2007 and compares the change in several financial ratios. The researcher hypothesized that adoption PSAK 30 gave the impact on financial report. Results of the research showed 1) the increasing in three variables of the income measurements that is the earning before the income of the tax and depreciation (EBITDA), the income from the operation, as well as the earning per share (EPS) as the impact of operating lease capitalization 2)increasing in weighted assets, the decreasing in weighted liabilities and decreasing in financial leverage 3)the increase in the amortizes cost and interest expense as well as the reduction in the rent expense. The conclusion is, PSAK 30 gave an important impact on financial report and decreasing the distortation in financial report.


Meeting a need for teaching critical reading, writing, and the techniques for research, Perspectives on Contemporary Issues: Readings Across the Disciplines, demonstrates to students the interconnectedness of ideas and the relationship of different areas of curriculum studies to one another. The goals of the book are to sharpen students' thinking skills by presenting them with a variety of perspectives on current individual, national, and global issues. The variety of issues and opinions are aimed to provoke lively classroom discussions and provide writing topics, giving students practice in both oral and written communication.


The States Parties of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will likely vote in 2010 on whether to amend the Rome Statute to allow the ICC to prosecute the crime of aggression. If a robust amendment is widely ratified by states, and if the mechanism for triggering ICC jurisdiction in a particular situation is the ICC itself, then the ICC may emerge as an important voice in the debate over the legality of humanitarian intervention taken without Security Council authorization. Prosecutions, or at least indictments, of leaders of those interventions would considerably strengthen the hand of those who regard such intervention as illegal. Yet an unwillingness on the part of the ICC to indict and prosecute those leaders - an outcome that seems likely for incidents of true humanitarian intervention - may lend considerable credence to the view that such intervention is lawful, as well as define the conditions that characterize such intervention.


Assays of the inhibitory potential against enzymes involved in carbohydrate and lipid digestion (α-amylase, α-glucosidase, and lipase) as well as the total contents of phenolics and anthocyanins, anthocyanin profile, and antioxidant capacity revealed significant differences (p < 0.05) between five varieties of red cabbage. Among the varieties, the highest inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase (IC50 = 3.87 ± 0.12 mg dry weight (DW) of cabbage/mL) and lipase (IC50 = 1.57 ± 0.06 mg DW/mL) was exhibited by the Koda variety, which showed the highest antioxidant capacity in ABTS (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) = 141 ± 4.71 μmol/g DW) and ferric-reducing antioxidant power (TEAC = 125 ± 1.94 μmol/g DW) assays and had the highest total phenolics level (19.6 ± 0.48 mg/g DW). The highest total anthocyanin content (12.0 ± 0.16 mg/g DW) and inhibitory activity against α-amylase (IC50 = 69.0 ± 3.65 mg DW of cabbage/mL) was shown by the Kissendrup variety. The anthocyanin profiles of these two varieties were characterized by the highest percentages of diacylated cyanidin derivatives. There was no correlation between the contents of phenolic compounds and lipase inhibitory activity, but inhibition of α-amylase was correlated with concentrations of monoacylated and diacylated anthocyanins, while inhibition of α-glucosidase increased with total phenolics and diacylated anthocyanins levels.


Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate the level of work–family inter-ference (WFI) for part-time nurses in Norway and Finland. Part-time work is usually cited as a desirable way in which to facilitate work and family harmony. However, the opportunity to work part-time in professions may be associated with greater difficulties and challenges than commonly presumed. Part-time professionals are often stigmatized as being less committed to work and report fewer job rewards than colleagues in full-time positions. This study challenges the notion of the desir-able consequences of work hour flexibility concerning the integration of work and family. Part-time nurses in Norway and Finland report an equal level or even higher levels of interference than nurses in full-time positions. A disproportional distri-bution of inconvenient work schedules appears to be a central explanation for the results reported by Norwegian nurses, but to a lesser degree by Finnish nurses.


TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) is associated with a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases. Although TDP-43 resembles heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins, its RNA targets and physiological protein partners remain unknown. Here we identify RNA targets of TDP-43 from cortical neurons by RNA immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (RIP-seq). The canonical TDP-43 binding site (TG)n is 55.1-fold enriched, and moreover, a variant with adenine in the middle, (TG)nTA(TG)m, is highly abundant among reads in our TDP-43 RIP-seq library. TDP-43 RNA targets can be divided into three different groups: those primarily binding in introns, in exons, and across both introns and exons. TDP-43 RNA targets are particularly enriched for Gene Ontology terms related to synaptic function, RNA metabolism, and neuronal development. Furthermore, TDP-43 binds to a number of RNAs encoding for proteins implicated in neurodegeneration, including TDP-43 itself, FUS/TLS, progranulin, Tau, and ataxin 1 and -2. We also identify 25 proteins that co-purify with TDP-43 from rodent brain nuclear extracts. Prominent among them are nuclear proteins involved in pre-mRNA splicing and RNA stability and transport. Also notable are two neuron-enriched proteins, methyl CpG-binding protein 2 and polypyrimidine tract-binding protein 2 (PTBP2). A PTBP2 consensus RNA binding motif is enriched in the TDP-43 RIP-seq library, suggesting that PTBP2 may co-regulate TDP-43 RNA targets. This work thus reveals the protein and RNA components of the TDP-43-containing ribonucleoprotein complexes and provides a framework for understanding how dysregulation of TDP-43 in RNA metabolism contributes to neurodegeneration.


The study focused on six at-risk students enrolled in the sixth grade at a large urban Southern middle school. These students, along with their classroom teacher, participated in two interactive reading events using illustrated trade books. The purpose of the study was to examine how these students used the pictures and text to create meaning for the stories. The two illustrated selections differed in story complexity, amount of world knowledge required for interpretation, and relationship of pictures to text (i.e., a close relationship indicated both picture and text communicated similar information, while a distanced relationship indicated one source provided story insights not provided by the other medium). Each of the two reading events was analyzed for content that matched the story, level of abstraction, and facilitating guidance provided by the teacher. Results showed these six at-risk learners reconstructed the illustrated stories by widely varying their attention to information sources and using their personal knowledge for story interpretation. They revealed limited ability to retrieve world and cultural knowledge as well as limited acknowledgment that


We begin by using a version of Green correspondence due to Grabmeier to count the number of components of two permutation modules V®r and y®r for the hyperoctahedral group. We quantize these actions to make v®r and y®r into modules for the type B Hecke algebra 1i(r) and then show that, as 1i(r)-modules, y®r is isomorphic to a direct sum of permutation modules MA as given by Du and Scott. This enables us to use our earlier results to show that in the group case, over odd characteristic, the q-Schur2 algebra and the hyperoctahedral Schur algebra are Morita equivalent, as these algebras are respectively the centralizing algebras of the actions of the hyperoctahedral group on y®r and v®r. We then attempt to construct a bialgebra, the dual of whose rth homogeneous part is isomorphic to the q-Schur2 algebra. We show that this is not possible by the usual methods unless q = 1, and give a full description in the group case. Results of earlier chapters lead us to introduce the notion of a balanced Mackey system for a finite group G, and exhibit balanced Mackey systems for wreath products of H and the symmetric group, where H is any finite group, and a new balanced Mackey system for the symmetric group itself. We then use this as a basis for counting the number of simple modules for the partition algebra, and also derive a formula for the dimensions of these simple modules. In the final chapter we conjecture how some of our results may extend to complex reflection groups and Ariki-Koike algebras.


For the North African countries, geological, environmental and technological hazards constitute a constant threat to human life and property, sometimes causing major economic losses and disruption. The rapid urbanization, development of critical engineering works such as dams, decaying building stock, implementation of various industries within and around the main cities, industrialization of cities with modern types of buildings and the large concentration of populations, with a heavy dependency on infrastructure and services, living in large cities and/or settling in hazardous areas, are matters of growing concern, as they contribute to heavier loss of life and seriously increasing the economic losses in future disaster damage. The environmental concerns and an increased official and public awareness of various hazards have, in the last decade, led to a rapid rise of interest in hazard and risk evaluations and thus in disaster risk management.


DAA Form 990-EZ (2021) Contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Add lines 5b, 6c, and 7b to line 9 to determine gross receipts. If gross receipts are $200,000 or more, or if total assets Corporation Form of organization: (Form 990). 527 4947(a)(1) or 501(c) if the organization is not Check u Other (specify) u Accrual Cash Accounting Method: Application pending City or town, state or province, country, and ZIP or foreign postal code Amended return Final return/terminated Room/suite Number and street (or P.O. box if mail is not delivered to street address) Initial return Name change Address change Name of organization Check if applicable: Internal Revenue Service Department of the Treasury OMB No. 1545-0047


Importance We examined whether resuscitation care and outcomes vary by the racial composition of the neighborhood where out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) occur. Objective To evaluate the association between bystander treatments (cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automatic external defibrillation) and timing of emergency medical services personnel on OHCA outcomes according to the racial composition of the neighborhood where the OHCA event occurred. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective observational cohort study examined patients with OHCA from January 1, 2008, to December 31, 2011, using data from the Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium. Neighborhoods where OHCA occurred were classified by census tract, based on percentage of black residents: less than 25%, 25% to 50%, 51% to 75%, or more than 75%. Multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression modeling examined the association between racial composition of neighborhoods and OHCA survival, adjusting for patient, neighborhood, and treatment characteristics. Main Outcomes and Measures Survival to discharge, return of spontaneous circulation on emergency department arrival, and favorable neurologic status at discharge. Results We examined 22 816 adult patients with nontraumatic OHCA at Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium sites in the United States. The median age of patients with OHCA was 64 years (interquartile range [IQR], 51-78). Compared with patients who experienced OHCA in neighborhoods with a lower proportion of black residents, those in neighborhoods with more than 75% black residents were slightly younger, were more frequently women, had lower rates of initial shockable rhythm, and less frequently experienced OHCA in a public location. The percentage of patients with OHCA receiving bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation or a lay automatic external defibrillation was inversely associated with the percentage of black residents in neighborhoods. Compared with OHCA in predominantly white neighborhoods (<25% black), those with OHCA in mixed to majority black neighborhoods had lower adjusted survival rates to hospital discharge (25%-50% black: odds ratio, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.61-0.93; 51%-75% black: odds ratio, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.49-0.90; >75% black: odds ratio, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.50-0.79; P < .001). There was similar mortality risk for black and white patients with OHCA in each neighborhood racial quantile. When the primary model included geographic site, there was an attenuated nonsignificant association between racial composition in a neighborhood and survival. Conclusions and Relevance Those with OHCA in predominantly black neighborhoods had the lowest rates of bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automatic external defibrillation use and significantly lower likelihood for survival compared with predominantly white neighborhoods. Improving bystander treatments in these neighborhoods may improve cardiac arrest survival.


We present an analysis of log data from a semester's use of the OpenDSA eTextbook system with the goal of determining the most difficult course topics in a data structures course. While experienced instructors can identify which topics students most struggle with, this often comes only after much time and effort, and does not provide real-time analysis that might benefit an intelligent tutoring system. Our factors included the fraction of wrong answers given by student, results from Item Response Theory, and the rate of model answer and hint use by students. We grouped exercises by topic covered to yield a list of topics associated with the harder exercises. We found that a majority of these exercises were related to algorithm analysis topics. We compared our results to responses given by a sample of experienced instructors, and found that the automated results match the expert opinions reasonably well. We investigated reasons that might explain the over-representation of algorithm analysis among the difficult topics, and hypothesize that visualizations might help to better present this material.


The recent reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in Europe has had significant impli cations for Leadership in the UK. The move from economic support for food production, to support for environmental deliveries has created the need for a new culture where leaders are very conscious that alliances leading to added political strength and financial viability are now likely to be far more effective than charismatic leadership from the front and top of organizations. The paper will go on to develop the theme of leadership strategy by drawing on many of the writings of the leadership academics and gather experts opinions and ideas regarding farmer's culture and its implications for leadership. The paper concludes that the problem for the agricultural industry at the moment is that so many changes are occurring that a consistent future is very hard to define. Therefore, agricultural leaders now have to articulate the new policies as they evolve on an almost daily basis. The need is for clear and informed leaders who engage widely across society.


Abstract : This technical report documents the findings of an internal research and development effort on system of systems interoperability (SOSI). The study was based on the belief that interoperability must occur at multiple levels within and across programs, and not solely in the context of a system construction. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) looked at the full range of barriers to achieving interoperability between systems, including programmatic, constructive, and operational barriers. An initial SOSI model representing this perspective was developed. The research method consisted of three activities: review of related research, conducting of small workshops, and interviews with experts. The literature survey focused on Department of Defense and related initiatives dedicated to achieving interoperability. Workshops were held in Washington, DC in February and May 2003. Interviews were conducted with experts representing each of the services, the National Reconnaissance Organization, and industry. Results from these activities are presented here.


Seawater desalination technology is emerging as freshwater requirements are alarmingly increasing all over the world. Conventional technologies such as reverse osmosis and multistage flash evaporation have their limitations, such as chemical treatment and scaling. Low-Temperature Thermal Desalination (LTTD) is an attractive technology with vast potential. It makes use of the ocean temperature difference (thermocline) between surface water and deep seawater. Using the experimental setup established at NIOT, studies were carried out by varying the warm and cold water temperatures. A combination of a roots blower with a water ring vacuum pump was used to generate the required vacuum. Based on the experimental results, a desalination plant for technology demonstration was proposed for one of the island groups in the Indian Ocean. It is intended to draw water from a 350 m depth. This cold water is used to condense the vapour that is being flashed under vacuum from surface seawater. In order to reduce the power consumption, barometric sealing is used by placing the flash chamber and condenser at about 10 m. This paper discusses the design and technical details of the seawater desalination plant for Lakshadweep Islands, along with experimental results.


We evaluated the association of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance in relation to reproductive hormones including FSH, estradiol, testosterone, and SHBG. SHBG was used to calculate the free estradiol index and free androgen index. We studied 3,200 women, aged 42-52 yr, in the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, a prospective multiethnic study of the menopausal transition. We measured the hemostatic factors, fibrinogen, factor VIIc, tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), as well as glucose and insulin to calculate insulin resistance. After adjustment for body mass index, site, and ethnicity, SHBG was correlated with PAI-1 (partial r = -0.30) and t-PA (partial r = -0.12). Although testosterone was associated with t-PA (partial r = 0.13) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.07), free androgen index was strongly correlated with t-PA (partial r = 0.18) and PAI-1 (partial r = 0.26). SHBG modified the association of hemostatic factors with insulin resistance. Women with greater insulin resistance had lower SHBG and higher PAI-1. Estrogen measures were not associated with insulin resistance. The influence of sex hormones on hemostatic factors and insulin resistance is poorly understood. SHBG, which influences the amount of bioavailable hormone, significantly modified the association of PAI-1 and t-PA with insulin resistance. The longitudinal Study of Women's Health Across the Nation will help us discern whether this interaction contributes to heart disease and diabetes among postmenopausal women.


The Onset of Literacy addresses one of the main questions in the field of reading research - why the acquisition of skills in reading and writing appears to be so much more difficult than the earlier acquisition of speech communication. As well as posing a major theoretical puzzle, the question has important implications for both instructional practices and ways of dealing with dyslexic children.Research on the reading process has made important progress in recent years, thanks to conceptual and methodological advances in cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and neuropsychology, which have made it possible to deal with complex issues that in the past seemed to defy rational analysis. The Onset of Literacy presents a selective sample of work by major contemporary specialists who focus on current information processing approaches to the reading process and their interface with research on the development of reading and related skills. An introduction by the editor summarizes and places the various contributions within current analyses of reading inspired by the information processing approach.The chapters and their authors are: The Ability to Manipulate Speech Sounds Depends on Knowing Alphabetic Writing, Charles Read, Zhang Yun-Fei, Nie Hong-Yin, and Ding BaoQing. Literacy Training and Speech Segmentation, Jose Morais, Paul Bertelson, Luz Cary, and Jesus Alegria. Phonological Awareness: The Role of Reading Experience, Virginia A. Mann. Word Recognition in Early Reading: A Review of the Direct and Indirect Access Hypotheses, Roderick W. Barron. The Similarities Between Normal Readers and Developmental and Acquired Dyslexics, Peter Bryant and Lawrence Impey. Language Mechanisms and Reading Disorder: A Modular Approach, Donald Shankweiler and Stephen Crain.Paul Bertelson is Professor of Experimental Psychology and Director of the Laboratory of Experimental Psychology at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles. The Onset of Literacy is in a series that is derived from special issues of Cognition: International Journal of Cognitive Science, edited by Jacques Mehler. A Bradford Book.


Bacterial outer membrane porins have a robust β-barrel structure and therefore show potential for use as stochastic sensors based on single-molecule detection. The monomeric porin OmpG is especially attractive compared with multisubunit proteins because appropriate modifications of the pore can be easily achieved by mutagenesis. However, the gating of OmpG causes transient current blockades in single-channel recordings that would interfere with analyte detection. To eliminate this spontaneous gating activity, we used molecular dynamics simulations to identify regions of OmpG implicated in the gating. Based on our findings, two approaches were used to enhance the stability of the open conformation by site-directed mutagenesis. First, the mobility of loop 6 was reduced by introducing a disulfide bond between the extracellular ends of strands β12 and β13. Second, the interstrand hydrogen bonding between strands β11 and β12 was optimized by deletion of residue D215. The OmpG porin with both stabilizing mutations exhibited a 95% reduction in gating activity. We used this mutant for the detection of adenosine diphosphate at the single-molecule level, after equipping the porin with a cyclodextrin molecular adapter, thereby demonstrating its potential for use in stochastic sensing applications.


The subsurface structure of a riverbed can play an important role in groundwater-surface water interactions. Knowledge of this structure provides a basis for characterizing the physical and geochemical
processes in this region, for example, how hydrostratigraphy relates to groundwater seeps or controls the transport of nutrients across this critical interface. However, characterization of riverbed
sediments using conventional hydrological techniques is difficult and particularly challenging for assessing contiguous units of variable geometry. Also, the destructive nature of conventional drilling in a riverbed is often problematic in some systems because of the disturbance to the ecosystem
it supports. Geophysical techniques may provide significant advantages over conventional characterization techniques, provided i) there exists a distinct contrast in the geophysical properties of hydrological units and ii) sufficient resolution and sensitivity to these contrasts can be achieved. We show, through modelling and field application, how electrical resistivity tomography can be used to provide useful knowledge about shallow hydrostratigraphy of riverbed environments. Through synthetic modelling, we show that the main factor affecting sensitivity below the surface water/subsurface interface is the ratio of electrical conductivities of surface water and sub-strata. The modelling reveals that as this ratio increases, the sensitivity shifts upward across the interface, reducing the information yielded from below the riverbed. We also show that this, coupled with the variability in the riverbed topography and composition, has the effect of rendering conventional data coverage from short arrays unusable. With suitable selection of electrode configuration and measurement
scheme, informative results are, however, achievable. We report on a field trial applied to the River Leith, a small groundwater-fed stream in the Eden Valley of Cumbria, UK. The effect of the depth of the water column is shown and although the depth of investigation is relatively shallow, enough structure is revealed to show the boundary between the sandstone aquifer and overlying alluvial sediments. Our findings from model and field studies suggest that electrical geophysical methods could have a valuable role complementing conventional measurements in shallow hydrogeological
characterization studies.


Current optical storage devices such as DVDs have their read/write capabilities fundamentally restricted by the diffraction limit of light. We present an optofluidic architecture for storing cocktails of colloidal quantum dots in electroactive nanowell structures. One application of these devices is the development of a fluidic memory approach which could enable the generation, reading and erasing of multiple bit information packages on single light diffraction limited data marks by spectral and intensity multiplexing of quantum dot cocktails. Here we focus on the development of the electroactive nanowell trapping architecture. Briefly, we have shown that by applying an electric potential between a top and bottom Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) electrodes, particles ranging from 5μm polystyrene spheres to 5nm quantum dots suspended in solution can be attracted, stored and rejected from a targeted well structure by electrokinetic actuation. Nanowells 100 nm in diameter and 1 μm deep were fabricated by depositing silicon and a small oxide thin film on top of an ITO cover slip, patterning the wells on electron beam resist followed by a series of dry etching steps that leave the ITO substrate exposed in the well sites. When the quantum dots are electrokinetically transported to their sensing sites, they are then excited by a UV-blue light, and their discrete fluorescent signal is captured by a fiber spectrometer. Data erasure can be selectively performed by reversing the polarity of the field and ejecting the quantum dots from the nanowell data marks.


Radiation dosimetry for Neutron Capture Therapy (NCT) has been performed since 1959 at Thermal Neutron Irradiation Facility (TNIF) of the three-megawatt light-water cooled Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor (BMRR). In the early 1990s when more effective drug carriers were developed for NCT, in which the eye melanoma and brain tumors in rats were irradiated in situ , extensive clinical trials of small animals began using a focused thermal neutron beam. To improve the dosimetry at irradiation facility, a series of innovative designs and major modifications made to enhance the beam intensity and to ease the experimental sampling at BMRR were performed; including (1) in-core fuel addition to increase source strength and balance flux of neutrons towards two ports, (2) out of core moderator remodeling, done by replacing thicker D 2 O tanks at graphite-shutter interfacial areas, to expedite neutron thermalization, (3) beam shutter upgrade to reduce strayed neutrons and gamma dose, (4) beam collimator redesign to optimize the beam flux versus dose for animal treatment, (5) beam port shielding installation around the shutter opening area (lithium-6 enriched polyester-resin in boxes, attached with polyethylene plates) to reduce prompt gamma and fast neutron doses, (6) sample holder repositioning to optimize angle versus distance for a single organ or whole body irradiation, and (7) holder wall buildup with neutron reflector materials to increase dose and dose rate from scattered thermal neutrons. During the facility upgrade, reactor dosimetry was conducted using thermoluminescent dosimeters TLD for gamma dose estimate, using ion chambers to confirm fast neutron and gamma dose rate, and by the activation of gold-foils with and without cadmium-covers, for fast and thermal neutron flux determination. Based on the combined effect from the size and depth of tumor cells and the location and geometry of dosimeters, the measured flux from cadmium-difference method was 4 - 7 % lower than the statistical mean derived from the Monte-Carlo modeling (5% uncertainty). The dose rate measured by ion chambers was 6 - 10 % lower than the output tallies (7% uncertainty). The detailed dosimetry that was performed at the TNIF for the NCT will be described


Afghanistan is regarded as a classical patriarchal society, where social tradition, religious doctrine and socio-economic and cultural backwardness have made women second-class citizens. But what has been the nature of life for women in Afghanistan? How have they been treated, both in the private sphere and in public? How did they resist mistreatment during the war inside Afghanistan, in refugee camps or in diaspora? Who are the sponsors and perpetrators of violence against Afghanistani women? And what are the connections between Islam, local customs, the mistreatment of women, and women's connectedness to revolution and jihad? This book provides answers to these questions through an innovative study of the life and short stories of one of the country's leading female writers, Maryam Mahboob. It offers a different image of both the suffering and resistance of Afghanistani women than that which the 'West' has come to know.


The contributors to this symposium are currently involved in the DialogPlus project in which staff at two universities in the UK and two in the USA are collaborating to share elearning resources in the subject domains of Physical, Environmental and Human Geography. The project, currently in its third year, is funded by the UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) and the USA's National Science Foundation (NSF). The development period of the project finishes at the end of January 2006, after which there will be a two year embedding phase. In order to support teaching staff in designing and sharing learning activities, project members in the School of Education and the Learning Technologies Research Group at the University of Southampton have developed an online Learning Design Toolkit. Three main strands underpin our approach. These are firstly to research, understand and apply what is going on in the learning design field, particularly evolving standards in the areas of sharing digital resources, interoperability, searching, re-purposing, permissions. Secondly, to work closely with teaching colleagues to analyse their methods, when creating or re-purposing resources, and be guided by their requirements. Lastly, to enshrine good practice within the toolkit, such that it will guide and support teachers in as they create, modify, and share teaching and learning resources. The elements of a learning activity have been defined and taxonomies adopted or developed for learning and teaching approach, learning outcomes, tasks, tools and resources. These have been modelled in the toolkit's database and are used both to guide teachers as they create or re-purpose learning activities and as potential metadata for other practitioners searching for resources. The toolkit has an adaptive interface to offer appropriate support to both experienced and inexperienced academics. The toolkit specification and taxonomies have been compared to other approaches, most notably IMS Learning Design. It has proved informative to map between the toolkit elements and IMS-LD metadata. Work is ongoing in this area. This symposium will be chaired by Professor Conole, Chair in Educational Innovation, who will also present a paper on the initial requirements analysis and top-level design of the toolkit. Dr Christopher Bailey, from the Learning Technologies Group, will describe the technical development of the data model, toolkit processes and user interface. If time and facilities permit, the toolkit will be demonstrated during the session. Dr Sally Priest and Samuel Leung, from the School of Geography, will discuss the user perspective, the benefits of such a toolkit to practitioners, the enabling factors and the barriers to use and their suggestions for further enhancements. The four participants will then debate the effectiveness of this approach to supporting teachers in higher education as they create, discover, re-purpose and share eLearning resources. In chairing the discussion, Professor Conole will outline, and invite the audience to contribute, comparisons with other systems' approaches in this domain.


The purpose of this paper is to present a review of recent research theories and to draw some conclusions for a new tentative research agenda on the role of innovation with focus on its relevance for regional development in a European context. The paper is more policy-oriented than theory-oriented. The analysis is based on a literature review of 15 articles published in 2012 or 2013 and is a further study of a literature review analysis based on selected literature from 2011 and 2012. The method has an explorative approach that is primarily concerned with generating knowledge for building theory. Some tentative implications for a new research agenda are suggested although results imply that for some of the most innovative European regions, innovation does not always pay off. It is suggested to apply a broader view of the concept of regional innovation including not only technological but also other types such as social innovation. Further it is suggested that a region no longer should be viewed as a bounded territory with a set of characteristics but as a space of professionals and social networks. A more proactive role by regional governance is advocated. It is argued that there is an increasing role of regional policymakers, not least to develop policies for different types of knowledge that have not traditionally been considered central to their activities. A constructed regional advantage approach based more on the uniqueness of the capabilities of regions and not only on the basis of R&D efforts is still argued for. The importance of cross-sector knowledge interactions and the importance of combining different types of knowledge for driving innovation are suggested. Further, the concept of "learning region" is criticized and needs to be developed. A theoretical framework towards a suggestion for operationalization of the concept of "learning region" is presented.


Growth analysis is still the most simple and precise method to evaluate the contribution of different ecological processes in plant development. In order to study the effects of organic and inorganic nitrogen on growth indices and yield components of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cv. ILC 482, a spilt plot experiment based on randomized complete block design with four replications was conducted at the Experimental Farm of the Agriculture Faculty, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardebil, Iran. Experimental factors were comprised of inorganic nitrogen fertilizer at four levels (0, 50, 75 and 100 kg ha –1 ) in the main plots applied in the urea form, and two levels of inoculation with Rhizobium bacteria (with and without inoculation) as sub plots. Application of N and Rhizobium inoculation continued to have positive effect on growth indices and yield components of chickpea. Lower levels of nitrogen application and non-inoculated plants showed less growth indices including total dry matter (TDM), leaf area index (LAI), crop growth rate (CGR), relative growth rate (RGR) and net assimilation rate (NAR) while the highest values of these indices were observed at the high levels of nitrogen application and inoculated plants. The highest plant height, number of primary and secondary branches, number of pods per plant and number of grains per plant were obtained from the highest level of nitrogen fertilizer (100 kg urea ha –1 ) and Rhizobium inoculation. Application of 75 and 100 kg urea ha –1 showed no significant difference in these traits. Moreover, the highest grain yield was recorded in the inoculated plants that were treated with 75 kg urea ha –1 . The results indicated that the application of suitable amounts of nitrogen fertilizer (i. e. between 50 and 75 kg urea ha –1 ) as a starter can be beneficial in improving growth, development and total yield of inoculated chickpea.


This is the third in a series of four articles

Tests are routinely used in medicine to screen for, diagnose, grade, and monitor the progression of disease. Diagnostic information is obtained from a multitude of sources, including imaging and biochemical technologies, pathological and psychological investigations, and signs and symptoms elicited during history taking and clinical examinations.1 Each of these items of information can be regarded as a result of a separate diagnostic or screening "test." Systematic reviews of evaluations of tests are undertaken for the same reasons as systematic reviews of treatment interventions: to produce estimates of test performance and impact based on all available evidence, to evaluate the quality of published studies, and to account for variation in findings between studies.2–5 Reviews of studies of diagnostic accuracy involve the same key stages of defining questions, searching the literature, evaluating studies for eligibility and quality, and extracting and synthesising data. However, studies that evaluate the accuracy of tests have a unique design requiring different criteria to appropriately assess the quality of studies and the potential for bias. Additionally, each study reports a pair of related summary statistics (for example, sensitivity and specificity) rather than a single statistic (such as a risk ratio) and hence requires different statistical methods to pool the results of the studies. This article concentrates on the dimensions of study quality and the advantages and disadvantages of different summary statistics for combining studies in meta-analysis. Other aspects, including searching the literature and further technical details, are discussed elsewhere.6

#### Summary points

Systematic reviews of studies of diagnostic accuracy differ from other systematic reviews in the assessment of study quality and the statistical methods used to combine results

Important aspects of study quality include the selection of a clinically relevant cohort, the consistent use of a …


Commissioned for the festschrift in honor of Professor Annette Kur of Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, this book chapter recognizes her important contributions to the intellectual property field. Specifically, it explores her role as an intellectual property structural engineer extraordinaire and her lifelong quest for a coherent intellectual property system.

This chapter draws illustrations from two of her edited books, Intellectual Property Rights in a Fair World Trade System and The Structure of Intellectual Property Law. It also touches on structural concepts that are essential to the development of intellectual property law, such as foundation, floor, ceiling, frame, space, architecture and construction plan. The chapter concludes by noting Professor Kur's confidence and positive attitude towards reforming the existing intellectual property system from the inside.


This paper provides the causes for the decline in recognition skills in the past, the reasons for visual aircraft recognition today, according to potential threats. Aircraft are as much a part of the battlefield, as Surface Based Air Defense systems, for instance. These aerial vectors add a vertical dimension and their presence must be accepted and dealt with by every military in the field. On today's battlefield, a very good trained soldier have to recognize and identify both threat and friendly aircraft. Since there may be many of each type, aircraft recognition training is necessary for every ground observer in the combat force. The visual aircraft recognition process involves two steps. Primary rely to target identification and after that it's about looking for typical characteristics or aspects that makes it identifiable. These two steps means that the aircraft it must be identified as far as possible. When inducting aerial resultant identification, the instructor can conply due to the methods and discover his own characteristics and shapes. The typical aspects help to make the distinction between aircrafts. The WEFT technique will illustrate the main characteristics of airplanes. Allied states develop some programs of aircraft recognition and identification and they may learn more or fewer of aircraft characteristics.


Background Melioidosis is a severe disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei. Clinical manifestations are diverse and acute infections require immediate treatment with effective antibiotics. While culture is the current diagnostic standard, it is time-consuming and has low sensitivity. In endemic areas, inaccessibility to biosafety level 3 facilities and a lack of good serodiagnostic tools can impede diagnosis and disease surveillance. Recent studies have suggested that O-polysaccharide (OPS) and hemolysin co-regulated protein 1 (Hcp1) are promising target antigens for serodiagnosis of melioidosis. Methodology/Principle findings We evaluated rapid ELISAs using crude antigens, purified OPS and Hcp1 to measure antibody levels in three sets of sera: (i) 419 serum samples from melioidosis patients, Thai and U.S. healthy donors, (ii) 120 serum samples from patients with other bacterial infections, and (iii) 423 serum samples from 200 melioidosis patients obtained upon admission and at 12 and 52 weeks post-recovery. We observed significantly higher antibody levels using the crude antigen prepared from wild type B. pseudomallei K96243 compared to that of an OPS-mutant. The areas under receiver operator characteristics (AUROCCs) for diagnosis were compared for individual Hcp1-ELISA or OPS-ELISA or combined Hcp1/OPS-ELISA. For Thai donors, AUROCCs were highest and comparable between the Hcp1-ELISA and the combined Hcp1/OPS-ELISA (0.95 versus 0.94). For U.S. donors, the AUROCC was highest for the combined Hcp1/OPS-ELISA (0.96). Significantly higher seropositivity was observed in diabetic patients compared to those without diabetes for both the Hcp1-ELISA (87.3% versus 69.7%) and OPS-ELISA (88.1% versus 60.6%). Although antibody levels for Hcp1 were highest upon admission, the titers declined by week 52 post-recovery. Conclusions/Significance Hcp1 and OPS are promising candidates for serodiagnosis of melioidosis in different groups of patients. The Hcp1-ELISA performed better than the OPS-ELISA in endemic areas, thus, Hcp1 represents a promising target antigen for the development of POC tests for acute melioidosis.


Being perceived as trustworthy comes with substantial economic benefits in many situations. Making other people think you are a trustworthy person may, therefore, be an important motive for charity and other forms of prosocial behavior, provided these activities work as signals of trustworthiness. This paper shows that donating money to an NGO substantially raises the other players' beliefs about the donors' trustworthiness in a simple trust game. Consequently, donors receive higher transfers. The magnitude of these benefits is substantial.


In parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus, synapses are densely packed and activation of a single synapse may influence the activity of adjacent neurons, the presynaptic neuron, as well as the postsynaptic target neuron. The phenomenon by which adjacent synapses are activated, called synaptic cooperation by Arnth-Jensen et al., has important implications, because drugs may alter this cooperative response, and this response may be an important component to the induction of long-term potentiation. Arnth-Jensen et al. used hippocampal slices and the glutamate transport inhibitor TBOA to show that when glutamate uptake was blocked, the duration of excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) was prolonged. In an experiment designed to measure charge transfer as a result of activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation, they showed that extrasynaptic receptors were activated even when the glutamate uptake was fully functional. In addition to controlling the spatial activation of glutamate receptors, glutamate uptake influenced the duration of the response at a single synaptic pair under conditions of high-frequency stimulation. The implications of these results and the functional relevance of neurotransmitter spillover are discussed by Diamond. N. Arnth-Jensen, D. Jabaudon, M. Scanziani, Cooperation between independent hippocampal synapses is controlled by glutamate uptake. Nature Neurosci. 5, 325-331 (2002). [Online Journal] J. S. Diamond, A broad view of glutamate spillover. Nature Neurosci. 5, 291-292 (2002). [Online Journal]


One of the primary the missions of colleges and universities is dedicated to student success. Traditionally, helping academically probationary students has been challenging for all educational institutions, because there are a multitude of factors involved for the schools and the students including, for example, demographics, socioeconomic issues, student motivation, and student time-management skills. The complexity introduced by these various factors creates obstacles in developing effective programs to aid and assist these students. At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), there exists a course entitled Insights on Success that is designed as an intervention step to improve individual academic performance through self-discovery. The Insights on Success curriculum also works with students on several of the factors that are found in the current literature discussing academically probationary students and examining the factors that contribute to their poor performance, but this study focuses on the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course, itself. Effectiveness of the course for this study was determined by the improvement of the GPA scores of the probationary students who attended the class versus a control group of students who did not attend the class. This research study evaluates the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course on the academic performance of probationary students attending baccalaureate degree programs within RIT's College of Applied Science & Technology. This study presents the research design, discusses strategies for engaging the students, and explains the metrics that were assessed to determine the success or failure of the intervention. Impact of Academic Success Class on Probationary Students 3 Table of