This study explores the experiences of three early childhood educators working in preschools taking part in a year long music collaboration. The aim of the research was to gain a deeper understanding of how best to provide practical professional development in music by listening to how the participant educators perceived and identified their needs throughout the collaboration. The aim of the collaboration was to increase the participant's music skills and confidence through a collaborative model of professional development, to instigate long-term changes to music teaching practice. In this longitudinal, phenomenological study, the researcher acted as a consultant and mentor to the participant educators, offering materials, suggestions, guidance and expertise. Data was collected through a series of semi-structured formal interviews, regular observations of the participant's working, followed by informal discussions. In addition, each participant kept a reflective journal which contributed to the data. The data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. This study does not attempt to generalise, but rather to gain a deep understanding of a small group of educators in the hope of identifying the essential aspects of an effective collaboration model of professional development in music, finding directions that may prove to be applicable to other early childhood educators. The study makes practical recommendations for a more systematic and effective implementation of professional development in music to improve the provision of music in early childhood education in Australia. This study found that a collaborative model of professional development, when conducted over a twelve-month period and located in the educator's working context, was efficacious in improving and establishing the participant educators' music skills, understandings and confidence, resulting in sustained improvements in teaching practice. To meet the educator's needs, a music collaboration needs to address eighteen specific understandings, described here as the 'Group of Music Confidences', of which the first and key step was to identify and interrogate educators' negative self-beliefs around musicality. The study's focus was on the participants, and it is recommended that further research needs to be done which would include the impacts of changes to music teaching practice due to collaborative PD on student outcomes.


ABSTRACT In this article, we study the importance of product market demand and search frictions for hiring. We use a search-matching model with imperfect competition in the product market to derive an equation for total hiring in a local labour market, and estimate it on Swedish panel data. If product markets are imperfectly competitive, product demand shocks should have a direct effect on employment for given levels of prices and wages. Our main finding is that product demand has such a direct effect on hiring. This highlights the importance of taking imperfect competition in the product market into account in studies of employment dynamics and hiring. We also find that, for given levels of prices, wages, and product demand, the number of unemployed workers in a local labour market has a positive effect on hiring, suggesting that search frictions matter. Quantitatively, product demand shocks seem to be more important for understanding the variation in hiring than shocks to the number of unemployed workers.


Why do people work unpaid overtime? We show that remarkable long-term labor earnings gains are associated with unpaid overtime in West Germany. A descriptive analysis suggests that over a 10-year period workers with unpaid overtime experience on average at least a 10 percentage points higher increase in real labor earnings than their co-workers. Applying panel data models this result generally holds. Furthermore, we find some evidence for gender specific differences with respect to the effects of unpaid overtime work. Our results point to the importance of investment in current working hours beyond the standard work week to enhance real earnings prospects.


The construction of polygonal meshes remains a complex task in Computer Graphics, taking tens of thousands of individual operations over several hours of modeling time. The complexity of modeling in terms of number of operations and time makes it difficult for artists to understand all details of how meshes are constructed. We present MeshFlow, an interactive system for visualizing mesh construction sequences. MeshFlow hierarchically clusters mesh editing operations to provide viewers with an overview of the model construction while still allowing them to view more details on demand. We base our clustering on an analysis of the frequency of repeated operations and implement it using substituting regular expressions. By filtering operations based on either their type or which vertices they affect, MeshFlow also ensures that viewers can interactively focus on the relevant parts of the modeling process. Automatically generated graphical annotations visualize the clustered operations. We have tested MeshFlow by visualizing five mesh sequences each taking a few hours to model, and we found it to work well for all. We have also evaluated MeshFlow with a case study using modeling students. We conclude that our system provides useful visualizations that are found to be more helpful than video or document-form instructions in understanding mesh construction.


Disk accretion onto a weakly magnetized central object, e.g., a star, is inevitably accompanied by the formation of a boundary layer near the surface, in which matter slows down from the highly supersonic orbital velocity of the disk to the rotational velocity of the star. We perform high-resolution two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations in the equatorial plane of an astrophysical boundary layer with the goal of exploring the dynamics of non-axisymmetric structures that form there. We generically find that the supersonic shear in the boundary layer excites non-axisymmetric quasi-stationary acoustic modes that are trapped between the surface of the star and a Lindblad resonance in the disk. These modes rotate in a prograde fashion, are stable for hundreds of orbital periods, and have a pattern speed that is less than and of the order of the rotational velocity at the inner edge of the disk. The origin of these intrinsically global modes is intimately related to the operation of a corotation amplifier in the system. Dissipation of acoustic modes in weak shocks provides a universal mechanism for angular momentum and mass transport even in purely hydrodynamic (i.e., non-magnetized) boundary layers. We discuss the possible implications of these trapped modes for explaining the variability seen in accreting compact objects.


The present experiment was designed to investigate the mode of action of indomethacin, a prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, as an antifertility agent, and to examine a possible effect of indomethacin administered during the normal peri-implantation period on the protein content and progesterone concentration in plasma and uterine fluid in pseudopregnant rabbits. The results showed that treatment with indomethacin significantly reduced the plasma progesterone concentrations, decreased progesterone concentrations in uterine flushing, significantly decreased the total plasma proteins, and particularly decreased albumin in the plasma and in the uterine flushings. Uteroglobin production by the rabbit uterus was not affected by this treatment. It is concluded that the antifertility effect of indomethacin at the time of implantation is exerted by reducing progesterone concentrations in plasma and uterine fluid, possibly affecting steroidogenesis, and by reducing the percentage of albumin in plasma and in uterine fluid, probably by increasing renal excretion of albumin. These effects of indomethacin provide an environment within the uterus that would not support embryo implantation and development.


The European Union Constitution' (Constitution) was born of a desire to reorganize and simplify the existing EU Treaties in anticipation of the European Union's (EU or Union) addition of ten new Member States in 2004. Its ratification is still in process at the time of publication of this Article, but the Constitution is intended to become the new foundational instrument for the EU.The internal dynamics of the expanded Union and the external economic and geopolitical forces pressing against it will test the new Constitution, and it is premature to predict whether the instrument, if ratified, will serve the Union well. Nevertheless, one thing that can be done now is to evaluate the Constitution as a document. It can be analyzed in terms of its organization, its consistency, and its readability. Has it been well crafted? Is it more approachable than the Treaties? Is it a fitting product of the process that created it?As background for this critique of the Constitution, Part II of this Article provides a brief overview of the existing EU Treaties, their shortcomings, and the political processes that culminated in the creation of the new Constitution. Of particular interest are certain goals articulated for the new document, such as the desire to replace the complex Treaties with a simpler, more approachable instrument. Part III is a summary of the Constitution's textual content, details that are necessary to illuminate the analysis that follows. Part IV offers a critical review of the awkward manner in which the Constitution is organized. In particular, it focuses on the confusion created by scattering related provisions throughout the various parts of the document. Part V proposes two possible solutions to this drafting problem. One would maintain most of the present text but with many of the overlapping parts merged together. The second would eliminate much of the Constitution's detail in favor of a more basic statement of critical principles. The conclusion is that the Constitution as written is not as effective as it could be, and that its quality as a document does not match its importance as an expression of political will.


SYRIAN REFUGEE HEALTH: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXPERIENCES WITH HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED STATES. Eunice M. M. DeFilippo, Amer Abdullah, Tracy L. Rabin. Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. As refugee populations worldwide increase exponentially, there is growing concern for the health needs of these displaced individuals. This qualitative study examines the illness experiences of newly arrived Syrian refugees as they navigate the complex U.S. healthcare system, in an attempt to identify and characterize potential barriers to care that can be addressed. The specific aims of this study are to understand the experiences, beliefs, and practices regarding general health and healthcare delivery amongst newly arrived Syrian refugees obtaining care at Yale New Haven Hospital. Twenty individuals were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. An Arabic language interpreter was present. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and coded by a multidisciplinary team using grounded theory and analyzed for emergent themes. Participant ages ranged from 20-64; nine were female. Preliminary analysis of five transcripts revealed the following major theme: Unmet expectations for healthcare delivery and patient-provider interactions leads to experiences of perceived healthcare system inaccessibility and insufficiency. Participants described frustration with: 1) Lengthy Wait Times for Care, 2) Prescription Requirements, 3) Delayed Access to Specialists, 4) Dismissed Chronic Complaints, and 5) Language Barriers. Unexpected shifts in care delivery also contributed, such as a lack of knowledge to understand the 1) Referral System, 2) Prescription Drug System, or their 3) Insurance Limitations. As a result, participants experienced delays in care leading to 1) Frustration, 2) Mistrust, and the 3) Reliance on Traditional Medicines. This preliminary analysis reveals key challenges to accessing the U.S. healthcare system and limitations in refugee-provider interactions that may contribute to patients disengaging from care, and are critical to address in efforts to improve care for this population.


BACKGROUND
Mexico and Central America are important travel destinations for North American and European travelers. There is limited information on regional differences in travel related morbidity.

METHODS
We describe the morbidity among 4779 ill travelers returned from Mexico and Central America who were evaluated at GeoSentinel network clinics during December 1996 to February 2010.

RESULTS
The most frequent presenting syndromes included acute and chronic diarrhea, dermatologic diseases, febrile systemic illness, and respiratory disease. A higher proportion of ill travelers from the United States had acute diarrhea, compared with their Canadian and European counterparts (odds ratio, 1.9; P < .0001). During the 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak from March 2009 through February 2010, the proportionate morbidity (PM) associated with respiratory illnesses in ill travelers increased among those returned from Mexico, compared with prior years (196.0 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers vs 53.7 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers; P < .0001); the PM remained constant in the rest of Central America (57.3 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers). We identified 50 travelers returned from Mexico and Central America who developed influenza, including infection due to 2009 H1N1 strains and influenza-like illness. The overall risk of malaria was low; only 4 cases of malaria were acquired in Mexico (PM, 2.2 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers) in 13 years, compared with 18 from Honduras (PM, 79.6 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers) and 14 from Guatemala (PM, 34.4 cases per 1000 ill returned travelers) during the same period. Plasmodium vivax malaria was the most frequent malaria diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS
Travel medicine practitioners advising and treating travelers visiting these regions should dedicate special attention to vaccine-preventable illnesses and should consider the uncommon occurrence of acute hepatitis A, leptospirosis, neurocysticercosis, acute Chagas disease, onchocerciasis, mucocutaneous leishmaniasis, neurocysticercosis, HIV, malaria, and brucellosis.


A linear High-Order Statistics based method is proposed to mitigate the performance degradation caused by multipath RF propagation in a mobile radio communication system using a linear antenna array in the base station receiver. The method is based on Noncausal Autoregressive modeling. It is shown that a set of linear equations (involving only cumulants of the received baseband digitized signal) can be obtained to perform non-iterative deconvolution. An efficient adaptive algorithm is proposed.


The objective of this study was to isolate, identify, and genotype Campylobacter jejuni from various sources in the province of Kayseri, Turkey. A total of 6667 samples consisting of 5167 human fecal swabs, 600 dog rectal swabs, 600 cattle gallbladders, and 300 chicken carcasses were examined. The samples were plated onto mCCDA (cefoperazone charcoal desoxycholate agar) agar. In order to identify C. jejuni, phenotypic tests and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) were performed. C. jejuni was isolated in 1.43%, 43.50%, 31.16%, and 56% of the human, dog, cattle, and chicken samples, respectively. Among the 690 C. jejuni strains that were isolated during the study period, 200 C. jejuni strains (50 strains from each species) were randomly selected. The selected strains were typed by using PCR-RFLP (polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism) fla-typing. DdeI and HinfI restriction enzymes were used for molecular typing. Following the DdeI enzyme application, the strains produced various numbers of bands between 4 and 7, with a total of 20 different band profiles. No similar band profiles were seen among the strains isolated from different sources. It was found that HinfI was not a more discriminative enzyme for fla-typing of C. jejuni isolates.


To support superior ways of sharing scientific, medical and engineering knowledge, Elsevier has been an active participant in a plethora of research projects, multi-stakeholder communities, alliances and data standards organisations. As an example, we will discuss how Elsevier has contributed to organisations that advocate and govern the use of unique identifiers throughout the scholarly lifecycle.
The shared use of unique identifiers for finding and linking to papers, authors, and institutions has been an area where Elsevier has invested in, from the beginning. After the resounding success of the Digital Object Identifier project, which lead to the foundation of CrossRef, a multi-stakeholder organisation that manages DOIs across the publishing landscape, Elsevier was one of the founders of ORCID, intended to assign unique identifiers to scientists.
Further cross-stakeholder initiatives for identifying objects to improve findability were pursued through Force11, a multi-stakeholder organisation to improve scholarly communication, which Elsevier staff helped co-found. The RRID project advocates and governs the use of identifiers for key research resources (such as antibodies and model animals) and the Data Citation Principles advocate a common model of sharing, citing and attributing datasets, based on DOIs for Datasets. These principles have been brought to bear inside the open Mendeley Data platform, where unique identifiers are assigned to datasets, and even versions of datasets, so that distinct iterations of a collection of research data can be cited and found.
Currently, Elsevier staff are collaborating with the University of Manchester to build a portal to generate identifiers for bioinformatics workflows, based on Manchester's 'Research Object' specification. This will allow bioinformatics researchers to link their software, data inputs, outputs, and publications together in a single 'Research Object', which can be found, cited, and linked to publications.


The energy of the model transient eddies at 37.5 m is compared with Geosat altimeter observations, for the South Atlantic Ocean and for the Kuroshio system. The model shows areas of transient motions overlapping the ones obtained from Geosat altimeter data. For the South Atlantic Ocean, the modeled eddy kinetic energy is smaller than the one observed with Geosat, by a factor of 3 for area average on the whole South Atlantic region, and by a factor of 4 for its western boundary. On the Agulhas system, transient eddy activity develops in the region where the Agulhas current retroflects. In the western South Atlantic, the modeled eddy activity is concentrated on the Confluence front; observed variability along a more extended region following the topography is not resolved in the model. For the Kuroshio region, the energy level of the modeled transient motions is comparable with Geosat observations, but the model eddy activity is more concentrated in the Kuroshio Current and not in the Kuroshio extension. The observations show the opposite. For the South Atlantic Ocean, a comparison is also done between model eddy kinetic energy (defined as including standing and transient eddy contributions) with values obtained from surface drifters. The analysis shows differences in the western boundary, and good agreement across the South Atlantic Ocean between 35°S and 45°S. In this formulation, the model mean energy level is smaller than the observed with drifters from the First GARP Global Experiment; differences might be due to an overestimation in the values obtained with the drifters.


BACKGROUND
Novel therapies are urgently needed to treat carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CR-Kp)-mediated infection, which constitute a major health threat in the United States. In order to assess if it is feasible to develop anticapsular antibodies as a potential novel therapy, it is crucial to first systematically characterize capsular polysaccharide (CPS) and virulence traits in these strains.

METHODS
Forty CR-Kp were genotyped by pulsed field gel electrophoresis, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), and molecular capsule typing (C-patterns and wzi sequencing). Their biofilm formation, serum resistance, macrophage-mediated killing, and virulence in Galleria mellonella were compared. MAb (1C9) was generated by co-immunization with 2 CPSs, and cross-reactivity was investigated.

RESULTS
MLST assigned 80% of CR-Kp isolates to the ST258-clone. Molecular capsule typing identified new C-patterns, including C200/wzi-154, which was widely represented and associated with blaKPC-3-bearing strains. Heterogeneity was detected in biofilm formation and macrophage-mediated killing. Differences in serum resistance correlated with virulence in G. mellonella. ST258 strains carrying blaKPC-3 were less virulent than those with blaKPC-2. MAb 1C9 cross-reacted with 58% of CR-Kp CPSs.

CONCLUSIONS
CR-Kp ST258 strains exhibit variability of virulence-associated traits. Differences were associated with the type of KPC gene and CPS. Identification of cross-reacting anti-CPS mAbs encourages their development as adjunctive therapy.


A 29 year old right hand dominant chef presented to the emergency department with a four day history of feeling "not normal." He was sent home from work because of a gradual onset of dull pain on the left side of his neck radiating up into his head, which was getting progressively worse, as well as "seeing two of everything." The pain was not influenced by changes in posture. In addition, his right side felt numb and he was dropping things at work. He felt unsteady on his feet, which prompted him to seek medical advice. He thought all his symptoms had come on suddenly and were gradually getting worse. He denied any recent alcohol consumption, illicit drug use, seizure activity, head injury, or loss of consciousness. He had no medical history of note, apart from hypothyroidism, for which he was taking thyroxine.

On examination, he was alert and orientated. His blood pressure was 141/94 mm Hg and other vital signs were normal. He had moderate weakness on the right side (Medical Research Council grade 4), mainly in the upper limb, with pronator drift, and reduced sensation to pinprick, light touch, and proprioception on the same side. There was evidence of a resting and intention tremor, with dysdiadochokinesia of the upper limbs, which was more evident on the right side than the left. Furthermore, he had a broad based gait consistent with cerebellar ataxia when attempting to walk. He had an upgoing plantar response on the right and a downgoing one on the left. His pupils were equal and reactive to light, but he had diplopia on both extremes of gaze, although there was no clinical evidence of ocular palsy. Papilloedema was not detected on examination of his fundi.

Given his history and the constellation of findings on examination, a …


Previous studies have shown that African Americans have less favorable impressions about wildlands and recreate on wildland areas less frequently than do whites. However, most of these investigations have been conducted on non-rural populations. Rural perceptions of wildlands and visitation to such areas have received relatively little attention. In this exploratory study, we propose that race operates on wildland recreation visitation through the different meanings rural blacks and whites attribute to wildlands. We examine this hypothesis with a structural model which specifies wildland meaning as an intervening factor between race and visitation. Single equation results show blacks visit wildlands less, and have less favorable definitions of wildlands, compared to whites. However, when wildland meaning is included in the structural model, racial differences become insignificant. This suggests that the meanings different racial groups attach to wildlands help explain visitation. Both sex and age are also significant predictors of both wildland meaning and visitation.


The main function of teaching is to enable behavioral change in individuals. In this change process, personal traits of teachers, the level of correspondence of these traits with the requirements of teaching, their knowledge and skills level and their attitudes and behaviors during teaching process all play important roles. On the other hand, cultural values of teachers, beliefs and the political paradigms that form these are important elements that determine teachers' teaching behaviors. All these elements have important effects on forming teachers' teaching behaviors. This study aims to determine teachers' opinions concerning their political levels of attachments and to what extent they reflect their political beliefs to their teaching activities. In order to achieve this aim, the data collecting instrument was applied to the sample consisting of 760 primary school teachers working in Izmit/ Kocaeli. Two data collecting instruments were used: Teachers' Political Commitment Scale and Teacher's Multiple Political Commitment Scale. The findings suggest that despite the fact that teachers' level of political commitment in general is low, political Islamic thought and nationalist thought are the two most committed types of political commitment. The findings also suggest that political focus of commitment differs according to the union membership and teachers place education values in the first place in their teaching activities.


The Appalachian Hardwood Region (AHR) is an important wood producing area of the Eastern United States and is near a large portion of the U.S. population that is growing considerably. Combined, these two forces create the need for assessments of the hardwood forest resources in the region. Here we present results from an investigation into the forest resources of the AHR with particular emphasis on the growth and removals of hardwood timber volume in the region. Total timberland acreage in the AHR remained relatively unchanged from the late 1980s and early 1990s (time 1 estimate) to the most recent estimate (time 2). However, the hardwood forests of the AHR continue to mature and a concomitant decline in early successional hardwood forests is being realized. Moreover, shifts in species composition may be occurring in the region. According to estimates of growth-to-removals ratios, while removals are increasing, growth continues to outpace removals at almost 2 to 1. This study provides an important assessment of the current status and recent utilization of hardwood species in the Appalachians. In addition, it provides a framework in which to continue to monitor the resources of the AHR.


Acting in our environment and experiencing ourselves as conscious agents are fundamental aspects of human selfhood. While large advances have been made with respect to understanding human sensorimotor control from an engineering approach, knowledge about its interaction with cognition and the conscious experience of movement, i.e. the sense of agency, is still speculative. In this thesis I have investigated these relationships by implementing a Virtual Reality platform, which allowed me to adapt agency paradigms previously limited to movements of individual body-parts to continuous full-body movements, i.e. locomotion. In a series of behavioural studies I investigated how a) spatial and b) temporal sensorimotor mismatches between participants' veridical gait-movements and their life-size visual feedback affected agency and gait. Our results illustrate that humans monitor the details of their movements and their location in space with surprisingly low accuracy. Participants did not become aware of sensorimotor mismatches below 15° and temporal mismatches of 210 ms, even though they automatically adapted their movements. These data confirm that gait and gait agency are distinct brain processes, that these can further be separated by taxing cognitive resources in dual task paradigms, and that they are comparable to agency mechanisms that have been described for upper limb movements. Together, these studies help to investigate sensorimotor components of selfhood that are of scientific, clinical, and legal relevance.


Orientation: An instrument based on a theoretical model is necessary to measure the positive side of the work-family interface. Research purpose: To develop items for measurement of work-family enrichment based on the elements contained within a theoretical model and to evaluate the latent trait functioning of these items. Motivation for the study: Major limitations exist regarding the conceptualisation and scale development of the positive side of the work-family interface. Research design, approach, and method: A quantitative research approach using scale development procedures was employed to develop the 95-item instrument. A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data randomly from selected employees; data were processed using Rasch analysis. Main findings: The five-category scale works well for the most part, although a four-category scale could be considered. Thirty-five items either over-fitted or under-fitted the work-family enrichment model. Person ability was measured in the low to middle ranges of work-family enrichment. Participants' experience of work-family enrichment could be represented accurately. Sub-scale items displayed misfit, bias or both. Practical/managerial implications: The developed instrument can be investigated further to identify work-family enrichment factors that can measure workers' experience of enrichment in their work and family domains. Contribution/value-add: This study furthers theory building and empirical research in industrial psychology, by developing a new theory-based measuring instrument for the positive side of the work-family interface in the South African context. This study expanded on the model proposed by Greenhaus and Powell, by including all five categories of resources gains. Furthermore, the total of the resources was diversified, since some of the content of these resources encompasses multiple meanings.


In the present article I attempt to apply advances in the study of instrumental and epistemic rationality to field archaeology in order to gain insights into the ways archaeologists reason. The cognitive processes, particularly processes of decision making, that enable archaeologists to conduct the excavation in the trench have not been adequately studied so far. I take my cues from two different bodies of theory. I first inquire into the potential that rational choice theory (RCT) may have in modeling archaeological behaviour, and I define subjective expected utility, which archaeologists attempt to maximize, in terms of knowledge acquisition and social gain. Following Elster's criticism of RCT, I conclude that RCT's standards for rational action do not correspond with those ostensibly used in field archaeology, but that instrumental rationality has a prominent role in the "archaeological experiment". I further explore if models proposed as reaction to RCT may account for archaeological decision making. I focus on fast and frugal heuristics, and search for archaeological illustrations for some of the cognitive biases that are better documented in psychological literature. I document confirmation and congruence biases, the endowment effect, observer-expectancy bias, illusory correlation, clustering illusion, sunk cost bias, and anchoring, among others and I propose that some of these biases are used as cognitive tools by archaeologists at work and retain epistemic value. However, I find formal logic to be secondary in the development of archaeological reasoning, with default logic and defeasible logic being used instead. I emphasize scientific knowledge as an actively negotiated social product of human inquiry, and conclude that to describe rationality in field archaeology a bounded rationality model is the most promising avenue of investigation.


Women typically earn less than men. The reasons are not fully understood. Previous studies argue that this may be because (i) women 'don't ask' and (ii) the reason they fail to ask is out of concern for the quality of their relationships at work. This account is difficult to assess with standard labor-economics data sets. Hence we examine direct survey evidence. Using matched employer-employee data from 2013-14, the paper finds that the women-don't-ask account is incorrect. Once an hours-of-work variable is included in 'asking' equations, hypotheses (i) and (ii) can be rejected. Women do ask. However, women do not get.


Parental involvement in their children's lives can have a lasting impact on well-being. More involved parents convey to their children that they are interested in their development, and this in turn signals to the child that their future is valued. However, what happens in socio-economically disadvantaged homes? Can the social capital produced by greater parental involvement counteract some of the harmful effects of less financial capital? These questions are examined on the National Child Development Study; a longitudinal study of children born in Britain in 1958. Results on a sample of children raised in two parent families suggest that parental involvement does matter, but that it depends on when it and poverty are measured, as well as the type of involvement and the gender of the parent. Father interest in education has the strongest impact on earlier poverty, especially at age 11. Meanwhile, both father and mother interest in school at age 16 have the largest direct impact on education. The frequency of outings with mother at age 11 also has a larger direct impact on education than outings with father, however, neither compare with the reduction in the poverty effect as a result of father interest in school.


The requirements of dog owners regarding assisted reproduction have been gradually increasing over the last period of time. Artificial insemination in dog has become a common demand in veterinary clinics nowadays. The practitioner's knowledge of the canine reproductive physiology and pathology associated with the skills required to perform specific procedures are essential to ensure success and to avoid problems in the use of artificial insemination in dogs. The aim of this paper is to revise the current knowledge about the techniques used in artificial insemination and some problems associated to these techniques.


Typhoon Morakot (2009), which made landfall in Taiwan during August 7–9, 2009, produced the highest rainfall and became the deadliest typhoon ever recorded in Taiwan since 1958. To assess the role of anthropogenic climate change in the typhoon‐related torrent, we compare the water budget between a pair of cloud‐resolving sensitivity experiments. The pair consists of a control simulation that reproduces Typhoon Morakot (2009) in current climate and a sensitivity simulation in which the same storm is placed in a slightly different climate background where the late 20th century anthropogenic climate change signal is removed. The anthropogenic signal is estimated with the CMIP5 experiments of 18 models for the period of 1985–2005, during which the global warming trend is discernible. In climate states that differ merely by a 20‐year mean anthropogenic change, Morakot (2009) yields 3.4–3.6% more total rainfall in the control experiment than its sensitivity counterpart within a radius of 300–500 km from the storm centre. Water budget analysis indicates that the increase in typhoon rainfall is mainly resulted from the enhanced convergence of vapour flux. The enhancement is, in turn, contributed by the increased tropospheric moisture due to global warming and, to a lesser extent, by a more active secondary circulation in the storm that is associated with the anthropogenic climate change.


Arbuscular mycorrhizal spore population and AM root colonization were positively correlated with different micronutrients viz., Zn Mn and Cu analyzed from cassava soil semiarid tropics of Tamil Nadu. Loamy soil recorded the highest number of AM spores (123.30 100 g of soil) while the root colonization is 49.24 per cent was the highest in clay loam soils of semiarid tropics of Tamil na du. Red soil recorded the least of 100 spore 100 g of soil and 40.70 per cent root colonization. The surface layer (0 - 15 cm) contained the highest spore population. The increase in soil depth up to 90cm showed gradual reduction in spore numbers. A negative correlation existed between the soil depth and number of AM spore present. The genus Glomus was the most predominant followed by either Acaulospora or Gigaspora . The occurrence of Glomus accounted for 45 to 60 per cent of total AM fungi in different soil type's studies except sand and red soil, which accounted for 35.02 and 38.00 percent of total AM fungi. It was found that more than 50 per cent of total AM spore belonged to Glomus and the remaining 50 per cent of the population of AM spore were found to b e shared by Gigaspora , Acaulospora and others. The AM fungus, G. Fasciculatum was found to be most effective for the cassava varieties tested viz., CO - 1, M - 4, MVT - 1 and H - 165 followed by G. mosseae, Acaulospora laevis and Gigaspora margarita. However, no s pecificity existed between varieties and AM fungal species tested.


AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the hematological abnormalities such as anemia, leucopenia and thromocyopenia of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats during the course of infection. METHODS: The SD rats were experimentally infected ip with B. abortus biotype 1 with 1×109 colony forming unit (CFU)/ml. Blood samples were collected from the rats at 0, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 60, 90 and 120 days, after infection. Hematological analysis of the blood samples were performed using an automated blood analyzer. Blood films were prepared on a microscopic slide using blood samples obtained from the uninfected control, acutely and subacutely infected SD rats. Thin blood films were stained with Wright-Giemsastain and examined under light microscope (Olympus, BX51) for observing the hematological changes at 1000X magnification. RESULTS: Hematological analysis revealed significant decrease of WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT and PLT in the infected rats, compared to uninfected control rats (p < 0.05).The blood film of acutely infected rats was characterized by abnormal red blood cells with infiltration of macrophages. Blood film of sub-acutely infected rats was characterized by abnormally shaped red blood cells with infiltration of lymphocytes and macrophages. Blood film of uninfected control rats showed normal shape of red blood cells with very few infiltrations by neutrophils. All of the rats infected with B. abortus during acute and subacute infection manifested splenomegaly. The highest spleen weights were recorded (2.25 ± 0.12 g) at 21 days after infection (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: B. abortus induced hematological changes in SD rats during the acute and subacute stages of infection that could be useful for diagnosis of brucellosis in the free ranging wild rats.


The Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation is a student-edited publication done in a law review format. Each editorial board produces a stand-alone book rather than a number of issues that are eventually assembled in a collective volume. The Yearbook covers primarily domestic U.S. developments in arbitration and mediation, but periodically addresses transborder developments and matters relating to other dispute resolution procedures. The Yearbook publishes scholarly articles resulting from an annual symposium, as well as student pieces on recent case law and legislative enactments, along with book reviews. The U.S. Supreme Court continues to show substantial interest in the law of arbitration and to favor this form of adjudication. State and federal courts generally embrace alternative means of resolving disputes. Arbitration, mediation, and negotiation are now a genuine part of the U.S. legal system and law practice. Additionally, arbitration has become critical to global commerce, and mediation is used in many countries to avoid litigation. The Yearbook fulfills the need for the professional discussion of developments in these areas. Professor Thomas E. Carbonneau, the founder of the Yearbook and its predecessor, and Professor Nancy Welsh are the co-faculty advisors. Professor Carbonneau addresses arbitration matters. Professor Welsh focuses primarily mediation and other consensual dispute resolution procedures.


The fundraising campaigns realised through popular online crowdfunding platforms seem to be exhibiting unstoppable expansion, with the phenomenon reaching an increasing number of people and doubling its turnover year after year. Crowdfunding is one of the most dynamically growing segments of fintech but at the same time, the academic world is voicing justified scepticism in respect of the sustainability and operating background of the original model. For the time being, the position of banks is protected by the legislative and regulatory background, but digitally advanced users are seeking out wallet-friendly and convenient solutions for the administration of their financial affairs as well. According to certain estimates, bank revenues could drop by as much as 20% by 2023 due to the rise of the fintech sector, and one third of bank employees could lose their jobs in ten years. Equity-based crowdfunding has the potential to become an alternative to traditional corporate and project-financing techniques. The communityforming power of online fundraising platforms is strong, and certain campaigns may also serve market communication purposes.


Phasor Data Concentrators (PDC) receive and timesynchronize phasor data from multiple phasor measurement units (PMUs) to produce a real-time, time-aligned output data stream. PDCs are expected to handle large sets of data and may consume substantial hardware resources in terms of memory. This paper presents some preliminary results towards the development of a hard real-time storageless Synchrophasor Gateway based on National Instruments' Compact Reconfigurable Input-Output (cRIO) hardware platform. It utilizes the Khorjin library [1] which is able to receive and parse synchrophasor data from a PMU/PDC based on IEEE C37.118.2 protocol. A fully functional PDC is expected to store and publish PMU data. The proposed real-time hardware prototype, however does not store data, as its goal is to provide essential synchronization and aggregation functions to be used by protection and control devices. Hence, this prototype is described as a Synchrophasor Synchronization Gateway (SSG) instead of a PDC. In this paper, elementary tests related to timing, delay and reliability are performed on the SSG, and the results along with the observed issues are reported.


Many people hold a piece of the puzzle of group relations, yet few people are able to put them together in a meaningful way. In this breakthrough study, Amy L. Fraher provides the most comprehensive account yet written of the history of institutes of group study. The book draws on original documents as well as extensive interviews with key practitioners. The result is a fascinating story of the complex dynamics of organizational life. Developing the construct of idea organizations designed to generate intellectual concepts, rather than to produce goods or services Fraher examines the psychodynamic workings of the National Training Laboratories, Tavistock and A.K. Rice Institutes, as well as early psychoanalytic societies. She shows how the innovatory forces that energize these idea organizations can become the focus of inter-group rivalries, creating a cycle that puts the organizations themselves at risk. Fraher details the cycle of idea organizations through the contributions of experts in the field such as David Armstrong, Gordon Lawrence, Isabel Menzies Lyth, Laurence Gould, Eric Miller, and Kathleen Pogue White, and others. She also uses A.K. Rice's previously unavailable field notes and director's reports to provide a documented overview of group relations theory and conference methodology not offered since Rice's own Learning for Leadership in 1965. This is an accessible and absorbing study, suitable both for experts and those new to the study of groups.


The Independent Advisory Group on Sustainability (IAG) is pleased to submit this final report to the Board of Executive Directors and Management of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). In keeping with our mandate, the Advisory Group undertook a strategic review of the Bank's capacity to address critical environmental and social issues effecting sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean through its Environment and Safeguards Compliance Policy (OP703). Our findings and recommendations are rooted in a deep appreciation of the Bank's commitment to fostering environmentally sustainable growth, social equity, and the reduction of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean and of the historic role the Bank has played as a leading development partner to its member countries.


Through a facile solid-state mechanochemical method, we have prepared WO3 nanobelts with a length of ∼80 nm and a width of ∼10 nm, which were doped into PEDOT:PSS as a hybrid hole-injecting layer (HIL) for conventional red quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). The work function (WF) of the hybrid HIL was enhanced from 4.91 to 5.25 eV and the hole-injecting barrier was decreased from 0.89 to 0.55 eV. Notably, an optimal red QLED based on the hybrid HIL PEDOT:PSS:WO3 (4.0 wt%) achieved a satisfactory reduction in the driving voltage at the luminance of 100 cd A−1 from 5.18 V (pristine PEDOT:PSS) to 2.97 V. Moreover, the optimal device exhibits a maximal current efficiency of 15.5 cd A−1 and a high external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 10.60%, which are nearly two-folds higher than those (8.0 cd A−1 and 5.82%) of the reference device based on pristine PEDOT:PSS. It was demonstrated that doping these as-prepared WO3 nanobelts into the PEDOT:PSS could be an effective route toward high-performance QLEDs.


The success of modular multilevel converters (MMCs) in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) applications has fueled the research on modular converter topologies. New modular converter topologies are often proposed, discussed, and sometimes applied in HVDC, as well as other industrial application such as STATCOMs, DC/DC HVDC, medium-voltage direct current (MVDC), etc. The performance evaluation of new modular converter topologies is a complex and time-consuming process that typically involves dynamic simulations and the design of a control system for the new converter topology. Sadly, many topologies do not progress to the implementation stage. This paper proposes a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the cost and footprint of the converter and a procedure designed to rapidly evaluate these indicators for new converter topologies. The proposed methodology eliminates the need for dynamic simulations and control-system design, and is capable of identifying whether a particular converter is worth considering or not for further studies of a specific application, depending on the operating requirements. Thanks to the method outlined in this work and via the key parameters quantifying the "relevance" of the analyzed converters, promising topologies were easily identified, while the others could be rapidly discarded, resulting in saving valuable time in the study of the solutions that have a real potential. The proposed method is first described from a general point of view and then applied to a case study of the new converter topology—Open-Delta CLSC—and its application in two use cases.


The past century dawned with hope that the presidency might advance the cause of progressive democracy. As first articulated by Henry Jones Ford in The Rise and Growth of American Politics ([1898] 1967), the idea was that American political development had so confounded the intentions of the Framers as to demand a wholly new conception of political-institutional relationships: Congress, the branch closest to the people, had proven itself an "incurably deficient and inferior organ" of democratic will, while the presidency, which was ostensibly designed as a conservative constraint on the Congress, had demonstrated a capacity to operate as "the instrument of the people breaking through the constitutional form" (pp. 279, 293). The potential implicit in this assessment--that a more responsive and democratic state might be built around the presidency--guided thinking about the institution for the next six decades. Ford's idea was picked up and elaborated in the theory and practice of Woodrow Wilson (1908). During the New Deal, the Committee on Administrative Management pressed it forward with recommendations for a presidency-centered reorganization of the federal government (President's Committee on Administrative Management 1937). Richard Neustadt ([1960] 1990) followed up with a sober but still hopeful evaluation of the prospects at midcentury. Progressive aspirations for the presidency unraveled in the wake of the Vietnam War and the Watergate investigations, but they did not disappear entirely. Their influence lingered as leverage for the critique of American political development that followed. In the later decades of the twentieth century, scholars took aim at the disparities between the promise and the performance of the modern presidency, dwelling not only on its limitations as a solution to the problems of American government but on new problems that had been engendered in pursuing this line of political development. This second look at the history of the office pointed to unintended consequences in the presidency's rise to prominence. It laid bare the unfounded pretensions of presidential power and countered overblown expectations of its capacities. It exposed distortions of constitutional principle and democratic theory wrought by the design and practice of "presidential government." In 1985, Theodore Lowi delivered the summary judgment of the twentieth century's great experiment in the reconfiguring of American government and politics: "power invested, promise unfulfilled" (see also Schlesinger 1973; Ceaser 1979). But just as advocacy had its limits, so too has disillusionment. The passage of time--if not an overriding perception of the United States as a great success in negotiating the twentieth century's gravest challenges--has robbed the gloomy prognostications of the post-Watergate era of much of their bite. The presidency may no longer inspire great hope for American politics, but the story line has moved on, shortfalls and dysfunctions notwithstanding. As our experience of the office drifts ever further away from the constructions of history that anchored analysis in earlier days, it tests our capacities to think in new ways about all that has gone before. This strikes me as a moment of considerable importance for presidency research, for it is precisely when the relevant history of the office is thrown into doubt that paradigmatic shifts in the research agenda tend to occur. By the same token, we might expect a third look at the presidency in American political development to be more than an extension or updating of what received histories of the office have told us about the past. The breakpoints that punctuate the old histories deserve close scrutiny in and of themselves, and alternatives that might better illuminate the contemporary universe of political action and possibility need to be considered. The objective should be a conceptual realignment of past and present, one that sustains a more pertinent and productive discussion of current affairs than that offered by the received histories. …


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether management supports police officers adequately, or whether police have to rely on their individual attributes, specifically psychological capital (PsyCap), to cope with red tape and stress. Work outcomes/consequences examined were discretionary power, affective commitment and turnover intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional design using a survey-based, self-report strategy was used to collect data from 588 police officers from USA, who are most engaged with the public. The data were analysed using AMOS and a structural model to undertake structural equation modelling.

Findings

Two significant paths were identified Path 1: management support to red tape to discretionary power to affective commitment and turnover intentions; and Path 2: supervisor relationships to PsyCap to stress to affective commitment and turnover intentions. Further, management support predicted PsyCap, red tape and police stressors. Red tape increased police stressors and turnover intentions.

Research limitations/implications

The use of self-report surveys is a limitation, causing common methods bias. Using Harmon's one-factor post hoc test, the authors were able to provide some assurance that common method bias was of no major concern.

Originality/value

As far as is known, this study is the first to examine, for police officers, how PsyCap impacts upon negative factors (stress and red tape) and enhances positive drivers for employees. Examining the impact of an individual attribute – PsyCap – provides an important piece of the organizational puzzle in explaining the commitment and turnover intentions of police officers. By examining the impact of both organizational and individual factors, there is now more knowledge about the antecedents of police outcomes.


In the last years the Model Based Design for Unmanned Systems aided the safe and rational release of applications running on unmanned systems. In particular in this paper we focus on a hybrid methodology that merges Software in the Loop (SIL) and Model in the Loop (MIL) strategies for cooperative tasks performed by aerial and ground autonomous vehicles. The proposed work flow covers the design and testing of Ground Control Station (GCS) modelled by a finite state machine, the design and testing of navigation code running on UAV and UGV and the testing of cooperative missions. The work-flow is based on a realistic 3D physical simulator interfaced with Matlab-Simulink-Stafeflow. The proposed approach has been successfully tested and evaluated allowing to release runnable and safe code on real targets.


Lactic acid and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) produced by vaginal microbiota have reported antimicrobial and immune modulatory activities indicating their potential as biomarkers of disease and/or disease susceptibility. In asymptomatic women of reproductive-age the vaginal microbiota is comprised of lactic acid-producing bacteria that are primarily responsible for the production of lactic acid present at ~110 mM and acidifying the vaginal milieu to pH ~3.5. In contrast, bacterial vaginosis (BV), a dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiota, is characterized by decreased lactic acid-producing microbiota and increased diverse anaerobic bacteria accompanied by an elevated pH>4.5. BV is also characterized by a dramatic loss of lactic acid and greater concentrations of mixed SCFAs including acetate, propionate, butyrate, and succinate. Notably women with lactic acid-producing microbiota have more favorable reproductive and sexual health outcomes compared to women with BV. Regarding the latter, BV is associated with increased susceptibility to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV. In vitro studies demonstrate that lactic acid produced by vaginal microbiota has microbicidal and virucidal activities that may protect against STIs and endogenous opportunistic bacteria as well as immune modulatory properties that require further characterization with regard to their effects on the vaginal mucosa. In contrast, BV-associated SCFAs have far less antimicrobial activity with the potential to contribute to a pro-inflammatory vaginal environment. Here we review the composition of lactic acid and SCFAs in respective states of eubiosis (non-BV) or dysbiosis (BV), their effects on susceptibility to bacterial/viral STIs and whether they have inherent microbicidal/virucidal and immune modulatory properties. We also explore their potential as biomarkers for the presence and/or increased susceptibility to STIs.


EU trade policy increasingly focuses on the achievement of so-called non-trade policy objectives (NTPOs) such as the promotion of human rights or environmental protection, motivating research on the political economy determinants and effectiveness of linking of trade policy and NTPOs. This research note reports selected findings from a new expert survey of stakeholder perceptions on trade-NTPO linkage. These suggest that EU institutions' views align more with those of civil society organizations than business, but also reveal significant differences in the perceived effectiveness of trade-NTPO linkage strategies. Many stakeholder groups believe that policy instruments other than trade agreements are better tools to pursue NTPOs. These findings suggest that further research on EU trade policy and nontrade issues should consider the broader range of external policy tools available to the EU in pursuit of NTPOs and the determinants of differences in preferences for alternative policy instruments.


SPHIRE (SPARX for High-Resolution Electron Microscopy) is a novel open-source, user-friendly software suite for the semi-automated processing of single particle electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) data. The protocol presented here describes in detail how to obtain a near-atomic resolution structure starting from cryo-EM micrograph movies by guiding users through all steps of the single particle structure determination pipeline. These steps are controlled from the new SPHIRE graphical user interface and require minimum user intervention. Using this protocol, a 3.5 Å structure of TcdA1, a Tc toxin complex from Photorhabdus luminescens, was derived from only 9500 single particles. This streamlined approach will help novice users without extensive processing experience and a priori structural information, to obtain noise-free and unbiased atomic models of their purified macromolecular complexes in their native state.


Competing hypotheses: (1) Large body size confers more efficient energy use (relative efficiency hypothesis). (2) Large body size requires more energy to be sustained, a disadvantage when food is limited (absolute energy demand hypothesis).
Organism: Yellow dung flies, Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae), artificially selected for large and small body size in the laboratory for 24 generations to augment the available phenotypic body sizes.
Methods: Larvae were reared under limited and unlimited food (dung) conditions, and the energy content of pupae was measured at the beginning and the end of the pupal stage in different, size-matched individuals.
Conclusions: Over the pupal period, lipids and glycogen decreased whereas sugar content increased. Net energy loss per unit body mass was higher at unlimited food. Contrary to expectation, males (the larger sex) lost less energy than females. Large selection line pupae showed the highest absolute and mass-specific energy loss during metamorphosis, indicating a correlated physiological response to body size selection because phenotypic body sizes do not differ between the lines at limited dung. We conclude that energetic costs due to greater absolute energy demand of larger individuals during the pupal phase outweigh the benefits due to greater metabolic efficiency.


People in the southern and western border districts of Zimbabwe have always looked South (Botswana and South Africa) for economic prosperity. Reasons for this include proximity, common languages, as well as historical and cultural ties with ethnic groups in the two neighbouring countries. This trend, herein referred to as 'Bulilima's look-south policy' continues to flourish despite the recently declared official national 'Look-east policy' by government in response to Western-imposed 'targeted' economic sanctions over the land seizures from former white commercial farmers in 2000. Although the country has experienced significant increase in cross-border trade as well as brain and brawn (muscle) drain, significant in Bulilima District is brawn drain. In fact, it would appear a man in Bulilima is not yet a man unless and until he has gone to settle and work either in South Africa or Botswana. This southward drift has actually become an initiation ceremony for the district's youth and has reduced it into a district of children, women and the elderly. This study sought to assess the nature, socio-economic and gender implications of this southward flow for the south-western district of Bulilima near the border town of Plumtree. It also sought to identify the most mobile groups as well as specific reasons for migrating down south. The research applies a case study approach. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews, informal discussions as well as observations were used to solicit information from respondents. Systematic sampling was used to select questionnaire respondents while chiefs, school heads and nursing sisters at clinics /hospitals were subjects for interviews. Results show that males migrate more than women and that there was even a marked increase in the number of emigrants in the first decade of 2000 because of the dire socio-economic conditions prevalent in the country then. This southward migration has resulted in both negative and positive socioeconomic implications in the district. It has also seen a shift in gender roles whereby some roles, traditionally identified with a specific sex, are now done by both sexes. The study recommends that the export processing zone status of Plumtree town as well as the dollarization of the economy be used to harness this labour flight. It also recommends that a Bulilima District Association be formed by the emigrants (njivas) to help develop their district, and sensitization programmes on issues of health, children and women's rights be initiated.


In the final years of the twentieth century we live with omnipresent worries. Will the Amazonian forests survive current deforestation trends? Will Amazonia's native populations survive the spread of diseases and the expropriation of traditional territories? Will the promise of biotechnology ever be fulfilled, given the genetic losses we are experiencing? Will scientists find new chemical substances in the forests of Amazonia to cure diseases heretofore incurable or yet unknown? Will we learn to use, rather than thoughtlessly destroy, the thousands of tropical species that we now consider without value? Will we invest in agronomic research to find ways to achieve sustainable cultivation in the humid tropics? In June 1992, at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the world was finally ready to ask these questions. In this well-written, comprehensive, reasonable yet passionate volume, Emilio Moran introduces us to the range of human and ecological diversity in the Amazon Basin. Beginning with a description of its Indian and peasant populations and their knowledge of their environment, he describes the Amazon's widely contrasting ecosystems, their ecological variations, and the human strategies of resource use workable within each environment. Every ecosystem - from upland forests to floodplains, savannas to blackwater rivers - offers opportunities as well as limitations; each has unique characteristics that can be used advantageously or resisted at great cost. By describing the complex heterogeneity of the Amazon's ecological mosaic and its indigenous populations' conscious adaptations to this diversity, Moran leads us to realize that there are strategies of resource use which do notdestroy the structure and function of ecosystems. Finally, and most important, he examines ways in which we might benefit from the study of human ecology to design and implement a balance between conservation and use. Through Amazonian Eyes shows that the traditional inhabitants of Ama


Product disassembly is a labor-intensive process and is far from being automated. Typically, disassembly is not robust enough to handle product varieties from different shapes, models, and physical uncertainties due to component imperfections, damage throughout component usage, or insufficient product information. To overcome these difficulties and to automate the disassembly procedure through human-robot collaboration without excessive computational cost, this paper proposes a real-time receding horizon sequence planner that distributes tasks between robot and human operator while taking real-time human motion into consideration. The sequence planner aims to address several issues in the disassembly line, such as varying orientations, safety constraints of human operators, uncertainty of human operation, and the computational cost of large number of disassembly tasks. The proposed disassembly sequence planner identifies both the positions and orientations of the to-be-disassembled items, as well as the locations of human operator, and obtains an optimal disassembly sequence that follows disassembly rules and safety constraints for human operation. Experimental tests have been conducted to validate the proposed planner: the robot can locate and disassemble the components following the optimal sequence, and consider explicitly human operator's real-time motion, and collaborate with the human operator without violating safety constraints.


Low-rank coal (LRC), as a conventional fossil fuel, has wealth of reserves and a wide range of distribution around the world, and pyrolysis is thought to be an easy way for clean and efficient conversion of LRC. In this chapter, the characteristics and world's reservation of LRC are introduced. Then, the chemical reactions and product formation process during pyrolysis of LRC are described. Meanwhile, how the factors, such as tem- perature, minerals in coal, heating rate, particle size and atmosphere, influence the pyrolysis process are discussed. Finally, three LRC pyrolysis-based polygeneration systems are illustrated for recent developments on LRC industrial practice.


I. INTRODUCTION In the area of criminal law, specifically criminal procedure, the Supreme Court makes a compromise between the sometimes competing notions of "formal" and "substantive" justice. This compromise, found in the Court's doctrine of retroactivity, was developed to prevent the perceived injustice of allowing the factually guilty to challenge their previously rendered convictions on the basis of new developments in case law. The doctrine of retroactivity (which is really one of nonretroactivity) prevents these challenges by providing courts with a mechanism to apply some decisional law prospectively, depending on the law at issue and the stage of the litigant's case. As a judicial contrivance that departs from centuries of precedent, the doctrine of retroactivity may be understood as an act of "civil disobedience" by the Supreme Court designed to avoid the unpalatable and perhaps, unjust, effect that a mechanistic application of the law would produce. This article will demonstrate that, in making this compromise, the Supreme Court subordinates the role of formal justice to achieve the substantive goal of punishing wrongdoers. In order to arrive at this point, this article will first examine the theories of "formal" and "substantive" justice. A. Formal and Substantive Justice Formal justice (sometimes referred to as "procedural justice" (1)) is a principle of justice for an institution, such as a government. (2) The legal philosopher, John Rawls, described formal justice as "adherence to principle ... [or] obedience to system." (3) Its central precept is that the law must be administered evenhandedly. (4) This precept is often formulated as "treat like cases alike." (5) Treating like cases alike requires that the law be administered in accordance with itself, regardless of the circumstances of a particular case and without consideration of its "defects or virtues." (6) Formal justice--a highlight of the American legal system--requires officials to apply the law in the same way to everyone, regardless of whether they approve of the content of the law or the result such uniform application produces. Substantive justice, on the other hand, involves a value judgment about the content of law and its consequences. (7) It is concerned with the outcome or effect of the law. (8) Whereas formal justice finds value internally in the regular and consistent application of law, substantive justice finds value through externalities such as morality, religion, or culture. For example, a system of criminal law may dictate that punishment be proportionate to the crime, or that punishment serve ends such as retribution or rehabilitation. These are substantive goals and substantive justice would be achieved if these ends were met. Accordingly, the theory of substantive justice does not embody any particular substantive goal; indeed, what is considered "substantively just" may vary from person to person. There is debate as to whether a system of formal justice necessarily produces substantively just outcomes. (9) However, the notion that justice may be achieved solely through rigid adherence to the rule of law (or, that formal justice is the epitome of justice) is easily refuted. For example, imagine a law which prohibited people with red hair from entering the park. This law could be equally enforced, with only those who have red hair being punished under the rule. While the evenhanded application of this law would satisfy the requirements of formal justice, it can fairly be said that few people would find such a law just.(10) On the other hand, a law that prohibited people from littering in the park is, arguably, substantively just (because it forwards a worthwhile environmental purpose), but it would be unjust if the park police arbitrarily enforced this rule, based on whim, bias, or any other reason. Thus, injustice appears to result when either formal or substantive justice is missing from the equation. …


Workplace teams are supposed to harness employees' talents to tackle challenges. But the reality often falls short... Now imagine having a team where everyone steps up and performs all of the leadership tasks. Imagine a team that is constantly sharing knowledge and pushing the envelope--one that does long term planning and produces outstanding performance. A Team of Leaders shows readers how to design systems that nurture the leadership potential of every employee--the key to creating high-performance teams. The book's proven principles and techniques include: ? The Five-Stage Team Development Model that maps the transition from traditional to self-directed teams ? Best practices in team process design ? A Team Value Creation Tool that allows members to appreciate the significance of what they contribute each day ? Visual Management ? And more Filled with real-world examples, this fresh approach transforms passive groups of disparate people into effective teams of leaders--workplace teams that work!


"The next revolution with Industry 4.0 represents a huge opportunity for Europe - and it fits the European model. Industry plays a central role in the European economy: It contributes 15% to overall value added and accounts for 80% of innovations and 75% of exports. When taking into account industry-related services as well, industry is the engine of Europe's social economy. But the manufacturing sector has been feeling more and more pressure lately. Due to its declining competitiveness in the face of new market players - particularly from Asia - jobs have been lost in established markets such as the UK ( 29%), France (-20%) and Germany (-8%) over the past 10 years. What's more, countries in Europe are developing differently. While Germany and Eastern Europe continue to increase their share of the industrial market, other EU members are facing de-industrialization. "This development will weaken Europe overall, because more jobs and know-how will be lost in industry. After automation, electrification and digitalization of industry, the introduction of the Internet of Things in the factory marks the advent of a fourth industrial revolution," says Max Blanchet, Partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. However, Europe is much better prepared for this new industrial revolution than many think. In our study entitled "Industry 4.0 - The new industrial revolution - How Europe will succeed," the Roland Berger experts explain what companies and politics should do to support the development of Industry 4.0 and leverage this opportunity for Europe."


Through biographies of China's most colourful and famous personalities, the author displays the five-thousand-year sweep of Chinese history from the legendary sage emperors to the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. This introduction to Chinese history and culture uses more than twenty exemplary lives, including those of statesmen, philosophers, poets, and rulers, to provide the focus for accounts of key historical trends and periods. What emerges is a provocative rendering of China's moral landscape, featuring characters who have resonated in the historical imagination as examples of villainy, heroism, wisdom, spiritual vision, political guile, and complex combinations of all of these. Investigating both the legends and the facts surrounding these figures, Wills reveals the intense interest of the Chinese in the brilliance and in the frail complexities of their heroes. Included, for instance, is a description of the frustrations and anxieties of Confucius, who emerges as a vulnerable human being trying to restore the world to the virtue and order of the sage kings. Wills recounts and questions the wonderfully shocking stories about the 7th-century Empress Wu, an astute ruler and shaper of an increasingly centralized monarchy, who has since assumed a prominent position in the Chinese tradition's rich gallery of bad examples - because she was a woman meddling in politics. The portrayal of Mao Zedong, which touches upon this leader's earthy personality and his reckless political visions, demonstrates the tendency of the Chinese not to divorce ideology from its human context: Maoism for them is a form of "objective" Marxism, inseparable from one man's life and leadership. Each of the 20 chapters provides a many-sided exploration of a "slice" of Chinese history, engaging the general reader in a deep and personal encounter with China over the centuries and today. The biographies repeatedly mirror the moral earnestness of the Chinese, the great value they place on the ruler-minister relationship, and their struggles with tensions among practicality, moral idealism, and personal authenticity. Culminating in a reflection on China's historical direction in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square, the biographies show the modern Chinese still inspired and frustrated by a complex heritage of moral fervor and political habits and preconceptions. This history is written for the general public curious about China and for the student beginning to study its rich cultural heritage.


Law schools and MBA programs have been yielding equal numbers of male and female graduates for 25 years. One would reasonably expect, then, that women would populate Australian boardrooms in large numbers. Yet, only 12% or so of directors are women in Australia and the US, and no more than 3% of public company CEOs or Chairs. Norway, France and Spain have acted to redress their imbalances. They say the only proven method of advancing women into boardrooms in large numbers and in timely fashion is to impose quotas.In September 2012, the Credit Suisse Research Institute reported that public companies with at least one woman on the board handsomely outperform those with none. This is a game changing revelation. Prime Minister Gillard announced soon after that the Australian government is 'committed to achieving a minimum of 40% of women in Australian Government Board by 2015' A quota may be the best way of achieving this.


A stochastic model for intermittent fluctuations due to a super-position of uncorrelated Lorentzian pulses is presented. For a constant pulse duration, this is shown to result in an exponential power spectral density for the stationary process. A random distribution of pulse durations modifies the frequency spectrum, and several examples are shown to result in power law spectra. The distribution of pulse durations does not influence the characteristic function and thus neither the moments nor the probability density function of the random variable. It is demonstrated that the fluctuations are intrinsically intermittent through a large excess kurtosis moment in the limit of weak pulse overlap. These results allow for estimation of the basic properties of fluctuations from measurement data and describe the diversity of frequency spectra reported from measurements in magnetized plasmas.


Sit-to-stand (STS) motion is an important daily activity and many post-stroke patients have difficulty in performing the STS motion. Post-stroke patients who can perform STS independently, still utilize four muscle synergies (synchronized muscle activation) as seen in healthy people. In addition, temporal muscle synergy features can reflect motor impairment of post-stroke patients. However, it has been unclear whether post-stroke patients improve their STS movements in short-term rehabilitation and which muscle synergy features can estimate this improvement. Here, we demonstrate that temporal features of muscle synergies which contribute to body extension and balance maintenance can estimate the effect of short-term rehabilitation based on machine learning methods. By analyzing muscle synergies of post-stroke patients (n = 33) before and with the intervention of physical therapists, we found that about half of the patients who were severely impaired, improved activation timing of muscle synergy to raise the hip with the intervention. Additionally, we identified the temporal features that can estimate whether severely impaired post-stroke patients improve. We conclude that temporal features of muscle synergies can estimate the motor recovery in short-term rehabilitation of post-stroke patients. This finding may lead to new rehabilitation strategies for post-stroke patients that focus on improving activation timing of different muscle synergies.


At the 2009 Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, COP15, so many contradictory demands were apparent that it is doubtful whether it produced many useful outcomes. In this paper we question whether it, and summits like it, may be inherently doomed to fall short of expectations. With its experience of the intrinsic contradictions within socio-technical systems, the Information System"s profession may provide some insights into complex issues such as climate change. IS research has often demonstrated that imposed top-down solutions rarely provide the most promising way to approach highly complex problems. On the other hand, bottom-up emergent processes, though less politically acceptable, may take us in the direction we need to go. This paper reviews and reports Green IS research to make a case for a multifaceted approach to the climate change problem, with the suggestion that the IS experience may inform global approaches to finding bottom-up solutions to climate change.


In mid-twentieth century France, the term "social space" ( l'espace social) -- the idea that spatial form and social life are inextricably linked -- emerged in a variety of social science disciplines. Taken up by the French New Left, it also came to inform the practice of urban planning. In The View from Above, Jeanne Haffner traces the evolution of the science of social space from the interwar period to the 1970s, illuminating in particular the role of aerial photography in this new way of conceptualizing socio-spatial relations. As early as the 1930s, the view from above served for Marcel Griaule and other anthropologists as a means of connecting the social and the spatial. Just a few decades later, the Marxist urban sociologist Henri Lefebvre called the perspective enabled by aerial photography -- a technique closely associated with the French colonial state and military -- "the space of state control." Lefebvre and others nevertheless used the notion of social space to recast the problem of massive modernist housing projects (grands ensembles) to encompass the modern suburb (banlieue) itself -- a critique that has contemporary resonance in light of the banlieue riots of 2005 and 2007. Haffner shows how such "views" permitted new ways of conceptualizing the old problem of housing to emerge. She also points to broader issues, including the influence of the colonies on the metropole, the application of sociological expertise to the study of the built environment, and the development of a spatially oriented critique of capitalism.


Treating imports as intermediate inputs to domestic production, the author adopts the translog function approach to model real gross domestic income (GDI) in Canada over the 1961-2006 period. She explores the role of price ratios, such as terms of trade and the real effective exchange rate, in explaining changes in real GDI, trade openness, trade balance, and labour share of income, after controlling for factor endowments and technological improvements. Models are developed for both the total economy and the business sector, with alternative assumptions about the flexibility of labour input, user cost of capital, and the representation of technological changes.


A core aspect of human intelligence is the ability to learn new tasks quickly and switch between them flexibly. Here, we describe a modular continual reinforcement learning paradigm inspired by these abilities. We first introduce a visual interaction environment that allows many types of tasks to be unified in a single framework. We then describe a reward map prediction scheme that learns new tasks robustly in the very large state and action spaces required by such an environment. We investigate how properties of module architecture influence efficiency of task learning, showing that a module motif incorporating specific design principles (e.g. early bottlenecks, low-order polynomial nonlinearities, and symmetry) significantly outperforms more standard neural network motifs, needing fewer training examples and fewer neurons to achieve high levels of performance. Finally, we present a meta-controller architecture for task switching based on a dynamic neural voting scheme, which allows new modules to use information learned from previously-seen tasks to substantially improve their own learning efficiency.


Given a statistical estimation problem where regularization is performed according to the structure of a large, dense graph G, we consider fitting the statistical estimate using a sparsified surrogate graph G̃, which shares the vertices of G but has far fewer edges, and is thus more tractable to work with computationally. We examine three types of sparsification: spectral sparsification, which can be seen as the result of sampling edges from the graph with probabilities proportional to their effective resistances, and two simpler sparsifiers, which sample edges uniformly from the graph, either globally or locally. We provide strong theoretical and experimental results, demonstrating that sparsification before estimation can give statistically sensible solutions, with significant computational savings.


We give an overview of an implementation of Reverse Time Migration (RTM) on heterogeneous multi-core hardware based on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). We demonstrate the clear advantages of GPU-based hardware for RTM, not only in terms of performance for small to mid-scale problem sizes, but also for imaging 3D volumes on a scale appropriate to full Wide-Azimuth (WAZ) or Rich-Azimuth (RAZ) surveys in areas such as the Gulf of Mexico. We also point to advantages of GPU-based hardware in terms of energy efficiency and datacenter footprint.


It is shown that, given the ability to restructure wafer-level designs, there are different ways to employ redundancy. Redundancy is evaluated by estimating system computational availability over a mission lifetime. This technique is illustrated using two wafer-scale integration (WSI) case studies. The first is a very-fine-grained programmable systolic data processor (PSDP) that contains 4- and 8-b paths, RAM, and control optimized for signal and data processing applications. The second, the Mosaic multicomputer architecture, is a less fine-grained homogeneous architecture in which each node contains a 16-b microprocessor and associated RAM and ROM. Potential benefits of implementing these parallel processing architectures in wafer scale are discussed.<<ETX>>


Summary

1.  The presence of predators may lead to conflict between different stakeholders. Finding ways to resolve such conflicts is a challenge to all involved.

2.  Within the UK a long and, at times, acrimonious conflict has developed around the conservation of hen harriers Circus cyaneus on moorland managed for red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus. This paper follows our original forum article and the replies from colleagues in the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

3.  Whilst differences of opinion remain, there are encouraging signs that both sides are striving for consensus. There is broad agreement that evidence is required on three fronts to address: (1) the ecological, economic and social consequences of alternative forms of land management in the uplands; (2) the efficacy of diversionary feeding of hen harriers; and (3) the utility of a brood management scheme to improve harrier conservation status and reduce the extent of the conflict.

4.  Synthesis and applications: The conflict between hen harrier conservation and red grouse management has existed for decades with little sign of progress. For the first time, stakeholders, researchers and policy advisors are engaged in effective dialogue and are striving for solutions. There are encouraging signs that all sides are now willing to listen to alternative viewpoints and appear prepared to seriously consider compromises. It is to be hoped that a solution to the harrier–grouse conflict can be found as this will have considerable positive ramifications for management of heather moorlands in the UK and wider implications for the conservation of predators around the world.


Probabilistic models for binary spike patterns provide a powerful tool for understanding the statistical dependencies in large-scale neural recordings. Maximum entropy (or "maxent") models, which seek to explain dependencies in terms of low-order interactions between neurons, have enjoyed remarkable success in modeling such patterns, particularly for small groups of neurons. However, these models are computationally intractable for large populations, and low-order max-ent models have been shown to be inadequate for some datasets. To overcome these limitations, we propose a family of "universal" models for binary spike patterns, where universality refers to the ability to model arbitrary distributions over all 2m binary patterns. We construct universal models using a Dirichlet process centered on a well-behaved parametric base measure, which naturally combines the flexibility of a histogram and the parsimony of a parametric model. We derive computationally efficient inference methods using Bernoulli and cascaded logistic base measures, which scale tractably to large populations. We also establish a condition for equivalence between the cascaded logistic and the 2nd-order maxent or "Ising" model, making cascaded logistic a reasonable choice for base measure in a universal model. We illustrate the performance of these models using neural data.


Inspection and imaging through scattering layers is a decades-old problem in optics. Unlike x-ray and ultrasonic imaging techniques, time-domain spectroscopy methods can provide detailed chemical and structural information of subsurfaces along with their depth. Although high-resolution time-of-flight measurement in time-domain spectroscopy provides 3D information, unfortunately it also induces an unwanted sensitivity to misalignments of the system and distortion of the layers themselves. Such high sensitivity to alignment and sample surface is a well known problem in time-domain and interferometric imaging, and is a major concern when the alignment error is comparable to the pulse wavelength. Here, we propose and implement an algorithmic framework based on low-rank matrix recovery and alternating minimization to remove such unwanted distortions from time-domain images. The method allows for recovery of the original sample texture in spite of the presence of temporal-spatial distortions. We address a blind-demodulation problem where, based on several observations of the sample texture modulated by undesired sweep distortions, the two classes of signals are separated with minimal damage to the main features. The performance of the method is examined in both synthetic and real data in the case of a terahertz time-domain system, and the successful reconstructions are demonstrated. The proposed general scheme can be implemented to advance inspection and imaging applications in THz and other time-resolved spectral imaging modalities.


Thematic mapping via a classification analysis is one of the most common applications of remote sensing. The accuracy of image classifications is, however, often viewed negatively. Here, it is suggested that the approach to the evaluation of image classification accuracy typically adopted in remote sensing may often be unfair, commonly being rather harsh and misleading. It is stressed that the widely used target accuracy of 85% can be inappropriate and that the approach to accuracy assessment adopted commonly in remote sensing is pessimistically biased. Moreover, the maps produced by other communities, which are often used unquestioningly, may have a low accuracy if evaluated from the standard perspective adopted in remote sensing. A greater awareness of the problems encountered in accuracy assessment may help ensure that perceptions of classification accuracy are realistic and reduce unfair criticism of thematic maps derived from remote sensing.


Abstract
Researching in a complex-cultured space that exists to help vulnerable young people has illuminated both tensions and rare insights for our research team. The project aimed to explore Ngā Kōti Rangatahi,[1] which are youth courts that take place on marae (tribal meeting places). The focus of this paper is the preliminary work spanning five years  that needed to take place to ensure the protection of young people and for the research to find its place within, between and across spaces occupied by Māori,[2] the pākehā[3] legal system and both pākehā and Māori academic research conventions. The work we needed to do before we could begin the work of researching included doing the work of forming the right team, whakawhanaungatanga (building relationships), making time for kanohi kitea hui (face to face meetings) and the development of the research questions. At the same time, we attempted to walk two paths cognisant of the need of doing things the right way. One was exacting and was based on meeting the orthodox written legal, ethical and academic requirements to conduct research. The other, can be viewed as  pragmatic and its unwritten less structured and rule like approach more flexible and adaptable but equally exacting in determining how marae engagement and consultation should be carried out (Gallagher 2008). This paper offers insights into the strengths and challenges of developing a uniquely kaupapa Maori methodology for conducting research within a marae domain when it is occupied by a foreign legal concept.

[1] Ngā is the plural form of te meaning the, for the purpose of this paper ngā refers a sample of Kōti Rangatahi marae sites researched in this project (n=4). The use of Te can refer to a single rangatahi court or all fourteen currently in operation, the use of te will depend on the context.
[2] Māori are the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
[3]We struggled to find the right word to describe the legal system. It is based on the Parliamentary system which was introduced at the time of European settlement and is largely consistent with the systems in place in the UK and Australia. We considered western and dominant as descriptors, but ultimately decided to use pākehā, the Māori term to describe non-Māori peoples. This was a political as well as a pragmatic decision as we grappled with privilege, domination and colonisation in our research space.


Box filters computed using integral images have been part of the computer vision toolset for a long time. Here, we show that a convolutional layer that computes box filter responses in a sliding manner can be used within deep architectures, whereas the dimensions and the offsets of the sliding boxes in such a layer can be learned as part of an end-to-end loss minimization. Crucially, the training process can make the size of the boxes in such a layer arbitrarily large without incurring extra computational cost and without the need to increase the number of learnable parameters. Due to its ability to integrate information over large boxes, the new layer facilitates long-range propagation of information and leads to the efficient increase of the receptive fields of downstream units in the network. By incorporating the new layer into existing architectures for semantic segmentation, we are able to achieve both the increase in segmentation accuracy as well as the decrease in the computational cost and the number of learnable parameters.


Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Kevin Brown, and on and on. Tom House helped develop these athletes into the great pitchers they became-Hall of Famers and Cy Young award winners. Having spent 20 years in the Major Leagues as a pitcher and pitching coach, and more than that studying the science of pitching, House was well-prepared to unleash the maximum potential from his star pitcher pupils. Now, in the new edition of his highly acclaimed "The Pitching Edge," House accomplishes through a book what he has been doing directly for decades with pitching prodigies.To House, pitchers are products of four things-their genes, their degree of mastery of the pitching motion, their level of physical conditioning, and their mental toughness and skills. The first factor cannot be changed; the other three can, and they form the three parts of "The Pitching Edge." Part I is the best, clearest, and most complete information on pitching mechanics ever presented in a book. Each phase of the pitching motion, from initial set up through the post-follow-through is explained in detail and demonstrated through computer-generated stick figures and accompanying full-body line drawings. Here, and throughout the book, the author offers special trouble-shooting advice for pitching problems in an element called House Calls. Physical conditioning specifically for pitchers is covered in Part II. Far beyond the standard training advice, this section of the book provides clear exercise and program prescriptions for taking care of the throwing arm, preparing between starts and relief appearances, and maintaining all off-season fitness gains throughout the long competitive season. Finally, in Part III House looks at the psychology of pitching. More than the standard goal setting and mental imagery mumbo-jumbo, this section mixes what House has found to be most effective in mental and emotional management on and off the playing field. Always focused on the practical, this part of the book includes many valuable lessons and tips for making winning strategic pitching decisions throughout the course of a game and season. As a bonus feature, House includes his new Athletic Determination Inventory, which measures pitchers' motivational drive and mental makeup. In all, House has masterfully combined the art and science of pitching into a very useful guide for players and coaches. This book truly is "The Pitching Edge."


We present an operating system-level security model for controlling fine-grained programs, such as downloaded executable content, and compare this security model's implementation to that of language-based security models. Language-based security has well-known limitations, such as the lack of complete mediation (e.g., for compiled programs or race condition attacks) and faulty self-protection (effective security is unproven). Operating system-level models are capable of complete mediation and self-protection, but some researchers argue that operating system-level security models are unlikely to supplant such language-based models because they lack portability and performance. In this paper, we detail an operating system-level security model built on the Lava Nucleus, a minimal, fast µ-kernel operating system. We show how it can enforce security requirements for fine-grained programs and show that its performance overhead (with the additional security) can be virtually negligible when compared to language-based models. Given the sufficient performance and security, the portability issue should become moot because other vendors will have to meet the higher security and performance expectations of their customers.


Autonomous navigation in real-world industrial environments is a challenging task in many respects. One of the key open challenges is fast planning and execution of trajectories to reach arbitrary target positions and orientations with high accuracy and precision, while taking into account non-holonomic vehicle constraints. In recent years, lattice-based motion planners have been successfully used to generate kinematically and kinodynamically feasible motions for non-holonomic vehicles. However, the discretized nature of these algorithms induces discontinuities in both state and control space of the obtained trajectories, resulting in a mismatch between the achieved and the target end pose of the vehicle. As endpose accuracy is critical for the successful loading and unloading of cargo in typical industrial applications, automatically planned paths have not been widely adopted in commercial AGV systems. The main contribution of this paper is a path smoothing approach, which builds on the output of a lattice-based motion planner to generate smooth drivable trajectories for non-holonomic industrial vehicles. The proposed approach is evaluated in several industrially relevant scenarios and found to be both fast (less than 2 s per vehicle trajectory) and accurate (end-point pose errors below 0.01 m in translation and 0.005 radians in orientation).