Rapid advances in digital imaging technology offer efficient and cost‐effective methods for measuring seabird abundance, breeding success, phenology, survival and diet. These methods can facilitate understanding of long‐term population trends, and the design and implementation of successful conservation strategies. This paper reviews the suitability of satellites, manned aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and fixed‐position, handheld and animal‐borne cameras for recording digital photographs and videos used to measure seabird demographic and behavioural parameters. It considers the disturbance impacts, accuracy of results obtained, cost‐effectiveness and scale of monitoring possible compared with 'traditional' fieldworker methods. Given the ease of collecting large amounts of imagery, image processing is an important step in realizing the potential of this technology. The effectiveness of manual, semi‐automated and automated image processing is also reviewed. Satellites, manned aircraft and UAVs have most commonly been used for population counts. Spatial resolution is lowest in satellites, limiting monitoring to large species and those with obvious signs of presence, such as penguins. Conversely, UAVs have the highest spatial resolution, which has allowed fine‐scale measurements of foraging behaviour. Time‐lapse cameras are more cost‐effective for collecting time‐series data such as breeding success and phenology, as human visits are only required infrequently for maintenance. However, the colony of interest must be observable from a single vantage point. Handheld, animal‐borne and motion‐triggered cameras have fewer cost‐effective uses but have provided information on seabird diet, foraging behaviour and nest predation. The last of these has been important for understanding the impact of invasive mammals on seabird breeding success. Advances in automated image analysis are increasing the suitability of digital photography and videography to facilitate and/or replace traditional seabird monitoring methods. Machine‐learning algorithms, such as Pengbot, have allowed rapid identification of birds, although training requires thousands of pre‐annotated photographs. Digital imaging has considerable potential in seabird monitoring, provided that appropriate choices are available for both image capture technology and image processing. These technologies offer opportunities to collect data in remote locations and increase the number of sites monitored. The potential to include such solutions in seabird monitoring and research will develop as the technology evolves, which will be of benefit given funding challenges in monitoring and conservation.


Objectives: To develop a photogrammetric method capable of identifying increases in anteroposterior chest diameters suggestive of pulmonary hyperinflation, and to test it with both asthmatic and asthma-free children. Methods: Two distinct study designs were used to achieve these two objectives. The first was a descriptive analysis of diameters measured at the height of the axilla and of the xiphoid on digital images of 56 children aged 8 to 12 years photographed in the orthostatic position. The second was a case-control study of (a) 19 asthmatic children in treatment for at least 12 months; and (b) 37 children free from asthma with no prior history of complaints of respiratory/allergic disease. Diameters were measured on images of the front and left side views using CorelDRAW, and the ratio between the front and side diameters was calculated for the axillary and xiphoid measurements, providing the diameter ratios. Diameter ratios close to or greater than 1 represent geometry tending towards a cylindrical shape, typical of hyperinflation on radiographs. Results: Analysis with the t test for independent samples revealed a mean diameter ratio at the sternum that was significantly greater in the group of asthmatic children (p < 0.01) than the mean for the whole sample and also than the mean for the children without asthma. Conclusions: Despite the existence of disagreement on the best instruments, methods and times for identifying hyperinflation, results indicate that a system using diameter ratios obtained by photogrammetry is a promising tool for the identification of a kinesiopathological manifestation that is known to determine air entrapment in asthma patients. Research that combines clinical data with longitudinal intrapatient follow-up will be necessary to establish the strength of the evidence found in this study. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2008;84(5):410-415: Hyperinflation, photogrammetry asthma.


While cytokine TNF via TNFR1 induces inflammation and apoptosis, it through its second receptor TNFR2 induces cell survival and migration by activating bone marrow non-receptor tyrosine kinase Bmx. Since Bmx has been implicated in self-renewal of stem cells, we hypothesize that TNF via TNFR2 activates Bmx in cardiac stem cells (CSCs) to mediate cardiac repair. We show that in human cardiac tissue affected by ischemia heart disease (IHD), TNFR2 is expressed on intrinsic CSCs, identified as c-kit(+) /CD45(-) /VEGFR2(-) interstitial round cells, which are activated as determined by entry to cell cycle and expression of Lin-28. Wild-type mouse heart organ cultures subjected to hypoxic conditions both increase cardiac TNF expression and show induced TNFR2 and Lin-28 expression in c-kit(+) CSCs that have entered cell cycle. These CSC responses are enhanced by exogenous TNF. TNFR2(-/-) mouse heart organ cultures subjected to hypoxia increase cardiac TNF but fail to induce CSC activation. Similarly, c-kit(+) CSCs isolated from mouse hearts exposed to hypoxia or TNF show induction of Lin-28, TNFR2, cell cycle entry, and cardiogenic marker, α-sarcomeric actin (α-SA), responses more pronounced by hypoxia in combination with TNF. Knockdown of Lin-28 by siRNA results in reduced levels of TNFR2 expression, cell cycle entry, and diminished expression of α-SA (references: Stem Cells 2013;31:1881-1892). In the present study, we detect the c-kit(+)Lin28(+) CSCs populations in a mouse coronary artery ligation ischemic model. Furthermore, the c-kit(+) CSCs are reduced in TNFR2-KO and Bmx-KO mice. Mechanistically, we show a crosstalk between the TNFR2-Bmx and the c-Kit signaling pathways to mediate CSC proliferation, survival and migration. These observations suggest that TNFR2-Bmx signaling in c-kit(+) CSCs induces cardiac repair, providing a potential strategy to stimulate cardiac regeneration by TNFR2-specific agonists.


Abstract With its long-standing coal industry working the measures of the Scottish central belt, fossil plants have long been known in Scotland. The earliest significant work dealing with Scottish palaeontology, David Ure's The History of Rutherglen and East-Kilbride (David Niven, Glasgow) had been published in 1793, with its plates of Equisetum, ferns and bark impressions. But, as in Yorkshire and Lancashire, it was not until the industrial revolution's increased exposure of fossils was matched by the advent of the 'new European botany' (which, in part, grew from substantial improvements in the optics for microscopy) that fossil plant study began in earnest in Scotland. In 1959 John Walton reflected on palaeobotany in Britain at the end of the 19th century, as 'awakening from a long sleep'. In Glasgow, this awakening centred on the university's Botany Department, and the development of the study of fossil plants closely parallels the growth of this department as a whole for much of its time. In the same city during this period a collective of artists called the 'Glasgow Boys' were pushing the boundaries of representational painting. With Frederick Bower's own cohort of palaeobotanical 'Glasgow Boys' (David Gwynne-Vaughan and William Lang) facilitating the work of Robert Kidston, a veritable 'School of Palaeobotany' existed in the university at this time. John Walton himself was also destined to serve an unusual, but critical, later role in the preservation of Kidston's work.


Background: Khat (Catha edulis) is a plant with its leaves containing alkaloids similar to caffeine that provides pleasurable and mildly stimulating effects. Prolonged use of Khat is associated with mental health disturbances and may cause severe damage to the temporomandibular joint.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the effects of Khat on oral health among Khat chewers in the city of Aden, Yemen.
Methodology: A prospective study was carried out among Khat chewers in Aden, Yemen, between October 2013-October 2015. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed among Khat users to explore various aspects related to oral health. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 22.0. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: 240 Khat users participated in the survey. Khat chewing was associated with many side effects. The most common side effects were pain, a clicking sound during opening and closing of mouth, tonicity, loss of teeth, and occlusion. The occurrence of temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD) disorders was higher with those chewing Khat alone (34.2%) than those chewing Khat and other items such as betel nuts (14.6%) and tombol (13.4%). The incidence of TMJD was more in the age range of 15-25 y compared to those in other age groups (P=0.036) and in those chewing Khat>5 days a week (P=0.029).
Conclusion: A significant number of Khat users are affected by TMJD. This public health hazard poses an additional danger to an already substantial list of severe health concerns related to Khat chewing.


Complete CWNA-106 prep, with full coverage and hands-on practice CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator Deluxe Study Guide is your official study guide for the leading wireless certification program. Updated for the new CWNA-106 exam, this book provides coverage of all exam objectives, plus review questions and hands-on exercises that help you build your skills and your confidence before exam day. Start with a pre-assessment test to find out how much you already know, then fill in the gaps with detailed coverage of radio frequency technology, regulations and standards, protocols and devices, network implementation and security, RF site surveying, and much more. Sybex's interactive online learning environment and test bank gives you access to hundreds of questions and robust study tools, including chapter tests, practice exams, flashcards, a glossary of key terms, and bonus chapter material all to help you prepare for and increase your chances of passing the exam the first time around. * Find your starting point with a pre-assessment test * Get up to speed on all CWNA-106 exam objectives * Sharpen your practical skills with hands-on exercises * Test your knowledge with practice exam questions Savvy candidates know that strategic prep is essential to first-time success, and CWNA Certified Wireless Network Administrator Deluxe Study Guide is your toolbox for building the next step in your wireless career.


2 Abstract: Image search based on visual similarity is the widely applicable image processing method, which is used extensively. One of the important stage in content based image retrieval system is Feature Extraction, where low level features are extracted from image, then The features vector is formed by the extracted features. Feature Extraction is used for indexing images and interpretation of image. Effective storage, ranking and organizing a large image database is a critical issue in computer systems. To overcome these problems many methods has proposed. However, the accuracy and speed of image retrieval is still an interesting topic of research. This paper presents a survey of various states-of-the-art- image search techniques such as color edge detection, Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular value decomposition etc. that allows faster and effective visual similarity search.


Multiplayer games have to support activities which have differing usability requirements. The usability of the system is directly influenced by the choice of consistency maintenance algorithm. These algorithms must accommodate usability requirements while ensuring shared data is accurately replicated. We demonstrate that consistency maintenance in games can be organized around the AMP properties which state that separate nodes can maintain their instances of shared data using different algorithms (asymmetry), multiple consistency maintenance algorithms can be used within an application (multiplicity), and that consistency maintenance algorithms should be created as modular components (plug-replaceability). The motivation for AMP is outlined with a review of examples from commercial 3D games and related research. Consistency maintenance algorithms are shown to exist in a usability trade-off space. A set of usability metrics is introduced and used to experimentally explore this space. Our results imply that no single algorithm is suitable for every in-game situation. The thesis concludes with an informal evaluation of the AMP based on our experience using the Fiaa.NET as an AMP framework. We found that AMP had several weaknesses, but that these were outweighed by the benefits for the developer.


This contribution to the proceedings of the Cracow meeting on `Applications of Random Matrix Theory' summarizes a series of studies, some old and others more recent on financial applications of Random Matrix Theory (RMT). We first review some early results in that field, with particular emphasis on the applications of correlation cleaning to portfolio optimisation, and discuss the extension of the Marcenko-Pastur (MP) distribution to a non trivial `true' underlying correlation matrix. We then present new results concerning different problems that arise in a financial context: (a) the generalisation of the MP result to the case of an empirical correlation matrix (ECM) constructed using exponential moving averages, for which we give a new elegant derivation (b) the specific dynamics of the `market' eigenvalue and its associated eigenvector, which defines an interesting Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process on the unit sphere and (c) the problem of the dependence of ECM's on the observation frequency of the returns and its interpretation in terms of lagged cross-influences.


The experiment was carried out to evaluate the survival and growth of catfish larvae Rhamdia quelen with different sources of protein during the first three weeks of life. Five treatments, with three replications, were tested. A total of 3000 larvae were randomly distributed into 15 groups, maintained under controlled conditions using a termoregulatory water re-use system. The artificial diets tested contained 35% of crude protein and digestible energy varied from 3075 to 3286kcal/kg of dry matter. Granulometry of the ration was 100 to 200m, 200 to 400m and 400 to 600m during the first, second and third week, respectively. The diets were offered ad libitum from 8 am to 8 pm. The treatment 1, containig bovine liver and yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisae), resulted in the highest (P < 0.05) survival rate (61%). The remaining treatments: 2 (soybean, yeast), 3 (soybean, bovine liver), 4 (soybean, corn) and 5 (soybean, meat, corn) did not differ significantly among each other, resulting in low survival rates (1.17 to 10.19%). Larvae of T1 were significantly longer (16.46mm) at 21 days of age than the others. It can be concluded that feeding ration containing bovine liver plus yeast results in could be a good performance of catfish larvae.


This study addresses the difficulty in linking ethnic discrimination and integration outcomes of immigrants in empirical research. Many of the existing studies look at the relationship between perceived discrimination and integration, but most are based on cross-sectional data. We argue that perceived discrimination should not be taken as an accurate indicator of actual experiences of discrimination, but rather as a partly subjective interpretation of often ambiguous situations. Reported perceptions may thus not only affect but also reflect integration outcomes. This analysis is one of the few that is based on longitudinal survey data (from the German Socio-Economic Panel) and looks into both the determinants and the consequences of perceived discrimination. Results suggest that PD does in fact reflect both exposure to discrimination and attributional processes. Perceived discrimination is generally and substantially lower in more integrated individuals. More detailed analyses reveal that this link is correlational in nature and to some extent group specific. For groups facing salient ethnic boundaries, integration does not come along with less perceived discrimination. In line with previous studies, our results show further that minorities' structural integration into the labor market is unrelated to perceived discrimination but reflects, above all, individual resources, including language skills and social ties to majority members. There is some evidence that perceived discrimination reduces levels of identification with the receiving society.


The aim of this article is to present a method to calculate the morphological properties of the built environment using LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data, geographic information systems (GIS) data and three‐dimensional (3D) models of cities as a source of information. A hybrid approach that takes into account different types of inputs and consequently evaluates the accuracy of each type of used data is presented. This work is intended to give a first response to the lack of a comprehensive and accurate procedure that uses LiDAR data in order to automatically derive precise morphological properties, such as volumes and surfaces (façades and roofs) of buildings. The method was tested on two case‐study areas in the Geneva region with different characteristics, one in the old town along the Rhone River and the other on the CERN campus. A statistical analysis that compares the results of the computation with the 3D model of the built environment was used to validate the results, complemented by significance statistical tests. Outcomes showed that the proposed method to derive morphological properties can reach high levels of accuracy, thus enhancing the potential uses of LiDAR data for numerous applications, typically for the assessment of the urban environmental quality (UEQ) at the city and district scale, such as the estimation of the potential deployment of renewable energies in the built environment and the determination and monitoring of several urban indicators.


We present a simple approach enabling analytical treatments of size effects in ferroelectric samples of complicated shapes for the cases where long-range depolarizing effects are not involved. The key element of the approach is the presentation of the energy of the system as the sum of the bulk and effective surface energy (like in the classical nucleation problem), while the latter is expressed as a function of the bulk value of the order parameter. The effective surface energy is calculated in terms of the Kretschmer-Binder framework. The size-driven shift of T-C in the ferroelectric thin films with in-plane polarization and the nanowires with axial polarization is studied using the proposed approach and the results are compared with those exact. In the limit of large extrapolation length, the approach reproduces the exact results (analytical and numerical). For short extrapolation lengths, it can provide a good approximation to the exact results for the case of second-order phase transitions. For ferroelectrics with the first-order phase transition having the maximal correlation length smaller than the extrapolation length (a common situation in perovskites), the approach provides as well an appropriate description of the size effect on the transition temperature. The proposed approach can be used for the description of the size effect not only in ferroelectrics, but in other ferroics as well.


Clinical reasoning is a vital skill for physiotherapy professional practice and can be thought of as the thinking and decision making processes used in clinical practice. Learning experiences in traditional pre-registration physiotherapy courses may neglect the development of clinical reasoning and thus the link between theory and practice where clinical reasoning is embedded into the curriculum within other subjects. A new case based, cardiorespiratory, technology enhanced learning module was introduced to second year BSc (Hons) Physiotherapy students on a traditional course, with the aim of improving the link between theory and practice and developing clinical reasoning. Students were asked to participate in wikis in small groups to develop problems and treatment plans for six patient cases. The introduction of a wiki allowed students to practise skills required for clinical reasoning, such as evaluation and making treatment decisions but it also changed the underlying pedagogy for the new module to a constructivist approach rather than a behaviourist approach. It was unclear how this would influence the students' learning and their development of clinical reasoning. This research sought to develop an understanding of these issues.


This work presents a novel object tracking algorithm using incremental Fisher linear discriminant (FLD) algorithm. The sample distribution of the target class is modeled by a single Gaussian and the non-target background class is modeled by a mixture of Gaussians. To a facilitate a multiclass classification problem, we recast the classic FLD algorithm in which the number of classes does not need to be pre-determined. The most discriminant projection matrix that best separates the samples in the projected space is computed using FLD at each frame. Based on the current target location, an efficient sampling algorithm is used to predict the possible locations in the next frame. Using the current projection matrix computed by FLD, the most likely candidate which is closed to the center of the target class in the projected space is selected. Since the FLD is repeatedly computed at each frame, we develop an incremental and efficient method to compute the projection matrix based on the previous results. Experimental results show that our tracker is able to follow the target with large lighting, pose and expression variation.


Application of 1:2 metal complex dyes on pre-cationized cotton has been studied. This unconventional process avoidsthe use of electrolyte required as exhausting agent in conventional dyeing of cotton fabric. Indeed, when we use a largeamount of salt, the discharged wastewater from dye house creates unavoidable environmental threats. The dyeing has beencarried out at the liquor ratio of 1:40 in a sealed stainless steel dyebath housed on the Ahiba Nuance speed varyingtemperature, contact time and sulphate concentration. Optimal conditions are determined using the experimental designsmethod. The results show the possibility of chemical auxiliaries free dyeing of cotton fabrics with 1:2 metal complex dye at75°C for 15 min by treating them with cationizer prior to dyeing. Adsorption kinetic and isotherm are also studied and theparallel exponential model is shown to fit experimental data with higher average regression coefficients.


Background The use of health data for public health, surveillance, quality improvement and research is crucial to improve health systems and health care. However, bodies responsible for privacy and ethics often limit access to routinely collected health data. Ethical approvals, issues around protecting privacy and data access are often dealt with by different layers of regulations, making approval processes appear disjointed. Objective To create a comprehensive framework for defining the ethical and privacy status of a project and for providing guidance on data access. Method The framework comprises principles and related questions. The core of the framework will be built using standard terminology definitions such as ethics-related controlled vocabularies and regional directives. It is built in this way to reduce ambiguity between different definitions. The framework is extensible: principles can be retired or added to, as can their related questions. Responses to these questions should allow data processors to define ethical issues, privacy risk and other unintended consequences. Results The framework contains three steps: (1) identifying possible ethical and privacy principles relevant to the project; (2) providing ethics and privacy guidance questions that inform the type of approval needed; and (3) assessing case-specific ethics and privacy issues. The outputs from this process should inform whether the balance between public interests and privacy breach and any ethical considerations are tipped in favour of societal benefits. If they are then this should be the basis on which data access is permitted. Tightly linking ethical principles to governance and data access may help maintain public trust.


Global asset allocation provides risk diversification. But international market correlation increases sharply during global crises and diversification benefit disappears when it is most needed. We model these correlation breaks and derive the asset allocation implications. The model can quickly detect crises and suggests adapting allocation for changing correlation and volatility, as the crisis probability evolves. The out-of-sample results for ten major equity markets over 2008-2016 show significant improvements in the Sharpe ratio and maximum drawdown over mean-variance, fat-tail distribution, passive indices and 1/N rule. A benefit of the model is that it is conceptually intuitive and amenable to simple implementation in asset allocation and risk management.


In two experiments we investigated the role of eye movements during face processing. In experiment 1, using modified faces with primarily featural (scrambled faces) or configural (blurred faces) information as cue stimuli, we manipulated the way participants processed subsequently presented intact faces. In a sequential same–different task, participants decided whether the identity of an intact test face matched a preceding scrambled or blurred cue face. Analysis of eye movements for test faces showed more interfeatural saccades when they followed a blurred face, and longer gaze duration within the same feature when they followed scrambled faces. In experiment 2, we used a similar paradigm except that test faces were cued by intact faces, low-level blurred stimuli, or second-order scrambled stimuli (features were cut out but maintained their first-order relations). We found that in the intact condition participants performed fewer interfeatural saccades than in low-level blurred condition and had shorter gaze duration than in second-order scrambled condition. Moreover, participants fixated the centre of the test face to grasp the information from the whole face. Our findings suggest a differentiation between featural, configural, and holistic processing strategies, which can be associated with specific patterns of eye movements.


Japan Surgical Society has made a declaration about patients' "unusual death" which incidentally occurred in their clinical courses, in reference to the practitioners' duty to notify the police under Article 21 of the Medical Act. The meanings of this declaration could be summarized in three points. Firstly, it confirms opportunities to reveal evident medical malpractices causing patients' deaths by affirming the duty in the cases it is suspected that patients' deaths were caused by evident medical malpractices. Secondly, it requires impartial inquiries to judge negligence about anticipated complications after surgery by denying the duty in the cases that patients died as results of anticipated complications after surgery. Thirdly, it proposed establishment of a generalized system to be noticed about medical malpractices causing patients' injuries irrespective of causing patients' deaths and to collect data concerning small incidents and risks in medical practice. The society would start to make a detailed guideline of "unusual death" in relation to the clinical practice. However, such a guideline should be made as an applicable one for that of the malpractices which practitioners are obliged to report under the generalized system.


The most compelling question faced by beginning law students is "How am I doing?" They crave feedback that can help them measure and improve their performance. West's TWEN (The West Education Network) offers a quiz function that allows teachers to upload multiple-choice quizzes. Students can take the quizzes on line, on their own schedule, and receive instant feedback. The feedback can include, in addition to the correct answer, an explanation that refers to something in the casebook or course materials. TWEN also allows the teacher to monitor who has, or has not, taken any particular quiz and to track the performance of individual students or the class was a whole. The author explains how he uses nine multiple-choice quizzes, consisting of ten Multistate Bar Exam-style questions each, in his Contracts I course. It is his experience that frequent online quizzes can help students and teachers alike assess academic progress and enhance student success.


Cancer has become leading cause of death in Northeast Indian population. The main reason being poor knowledge of prevention and diagnosis combined with modern lifestyle of the Mizo population. All cancers have been reported in Mizo population including the cancers of stomach, cervix, lungs, breast, oesophagus, rectum, prostate, liver, bladder, oral etc. The cause of such high incidence rates of these cancers may be inherited or genetic and environmental factors such as life style and food habits, especially high consumption of tobacco and alcohol. A peculiar habit of tobacco smoke-infused water (Tuibur) is also in practice in this population. In view of these facts, the present article describes the status of various types of cancers in Mizo population. Besides, attempts have been made to describe the main causes of cancer in this population with their frequency and grading. In this study, increasing number of cancer patients in different age group was observed from 2011 – 2015. The highest incidence of cancer was observed in the patients with age group 50 - 60, followed by age groups above 60. In age group 20-30 years, the breast and cervix cancers were more prevalent, throughout all the years. In middle age group (30-40 and 40-50 years), the cervix, stomach and oesophagus cancers were more prevalent. The common type of cancer in female includes cervical cancer, followed by breast cancer which is shown to be increasing with age of the patients and also increasing each year within this 5 year period from 2011 – 2015. In 2014 and 2015, adenocarcinoma (AC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) are both commonly seen. This study will help in understanding the etiology of cancer and also in developing preventive measures in future.


Periodic exchange of situational information (beacons) is at the basis of most active safety applications in vehicular environments. Despite its fundamental role in raising the level of "situational awareness" onboard vehicles, very little is known to date on beaconing performance in a real vehicular environment. This paper analyzes the results of two measurement campaigns that have been designed with the purpose of disclosing beaconing performance in a variety of vehicular links, for what concerns vehicle configuration (tall/short), line-of-sight conditions (LOS/NLOS), as well as single-hop or two-hop propagation of the information reported in the beacons. For the first time, beaconing performance is characterized in terms of not only the packet (beacon) delivery rate (PDR), but also in terms of the packet (beacon) inter-reception (PIR) time. The latter metric has been suggested in the literature as more accurately measuring the level of "situation awareness" onboard vehicles than the traditional PDR metric. This paper also presents a simulation-based analysis aimed at estimating the benefit of multi-hop propagation of situational information beyond the second hop of communication. The analysis of the data collected in the measurement campaigns as well as the simulation-based analysis disclose a number of interesting insights which might prove useful in the design of active safety applications. Finally, another major contribution of this paper is promoting the Gilbert-Elliot model, previously proposed to model bit-error bursts in packet switched networks, as a very accurate model of beacon reception behavior observed in real-world scenarios.


Does entrepreneurship cause urban economic growth and if so how large is the impact? Empirical analysis of such question is hampered by endogeneity. This paper uses two different sets of variables – the homestead exemption levels in state bankruptcy laws from 1975 and the share of MSA overlaying aquifers to instrument for entrepreneurship and examine urban growth between 1993 and 2002. Despite using different sets of instrumental variables, the ranges of 2SLS estimates are similar, further supporting the significant impact of entrepreneurship on urban growth. I find that a ten percent increase in the birth of small businesses increases MSA employment by 1.1 to 2.2%, annual payroll by 3.1 to 4.0%, and wages by 1.8 to 2.0% after ten years. Furthermore, an accounting exercise at the MSA level indicates that the employment and payroll growth from entrepreneurship are not confined to the newly created businesses but spillover to the aggregate urban economy.


Adult cortical circuits possess considerable plasticity, which can be induced by modifying their inputs. One mechanism proposed to underlie changes in neuronal responses is spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP), an up- or downregulation of synaptic efficacy contingent upon the order and timing of presynaptic and postsynaptic activity. The repetitive and asynchronous pairing of a sensory stimulus with either another sensory stimulus or current injection can alter the response properties of visual and somatosensory neurons in a manner consistent with STDP. To examine whether such plasticity also exists in the auditory system, we recorded from neurons in the primary auditory cortex of anesthetized and awake adult ferrets. The repetitive pairing of pure tones of different frequencies induced shifts in neuronal frequency selectivity, which exhibited a temporal specificity akin to STDP. Only pairs with stimulus onset asynchronies of 8 or 12 ms were effective and the direction of the shifts depended upon the order in which the tones within a pair were presented. Six hundred stimulus pairs (lasting ∼70 s) were enough to produce a significant shift in frequency tuning and the changes persisted for several minutes. The magnitude of the observed shifts was largest when the frequency separation of the conditioning stimuli was < ∼1 octave. Moreover, significant shifts were found only in the upper cortical layers. Our findings highlight the importance of millisecond-scale timing of sensory input in shaping neural function and strongly suggest STDP as a relevant mechanism for plasticity in the mature auditory system.


This study sought to examine the economic structure of the Philippine health care
system, in the light of recent legislative initiatives in the country and global managed
market reforms. In the context of a market-orientated system in the Philippines, the
study modelled the interaction of health care agents in three markets: regulations,
financing or insurance and health services. The bulk of the research examined the
nature of exchange in the health services market, using neo-classical economics. Theories
in industrial organization and public choice served as organizing frameworks for
explaining other market elements. The study' s methodology used primary and
secondary data analysis, as well as findings of other research, to bring together a
coherent picture of the market structure of health care in the Philippines.
The analysis of the regulatory market showed that the rent-seeking nature of
Philippine social, political and medical institutions has weakened regulatory structures in
health care. Compared to its Asian neighbours, the relative position of the country in the
60s in terms of major health indicators, has been eroded. Limited resources and
allocative inefficiencies have affected the government's ability to fulfil its constitutional
mandate to ensure minimum levels of care, especially for the poor.
The performance of the market was examined in terms of health policy objectives
of efficiency and equity in the financing of health care. Private sources, with households
forming the bulk, comprised 64 percent of health care expenditures. The position of
concentration curves drawn to illustrate the equity of household financing, showed
inequities in health and health expenditures. The largely fee-for-service system operating
in the health insurance market had caused risks to be borne largely by consumers and
funders. Low coverage of the population and weak utilization rates, may have
encouraged some providers to behave opportunistically. An examination of the prospects
for an alternative system of compulsory health insurance, illustrated through a project
with health maintenance organizations indicated the problems of contracting.
Estimates of health service market conditions on the demand-side, from an outpatient provider choice model, showed low price and time cost elasticities, with the poor
being more responsive than the rich. Simulations showed that the introduction of user
fees in public services were likely to drive demand towards private care in urban areas,
and out of the market in rural areas. The welfare effect estimates showed that if public hospitals were to charge one-half the price of private doctors, the welfare loss would be
about 10 percent of household budget of the lowest income group. The amounts needed
to compensate losers from the policy change can be transformed into contributions for
risk -sharing schemes.
From the supply-side, the distribution of facilities, productive resources and
technology were shown to have wide variations across regions and types of facilities.
The study cited research that showed that total cost structures in hospital firms were
largely determined by the volume of services rendered. Moreover, variable costs were
shown, by other research, to be neither influenced by scale nor by the scope of
operations.
The analysis of the market structure, based on a modified Hirschman-Herfindahl
measure, showed that no hospital-firms had a dominant share of the market. Regression
results, from the same research on total cost functions, showed that hospital outputs were
unresponsive to actual competition. Price competition appeared to be swamped by nonprice competition. An examination of pricing behaviour showed widespread cost-price
mark-ups, reflecting the 'market power' of providers. The co-existence of competitive
and monopolistic tendencies in the health care market, combined with weak and/or
distortive incentive structures, suggests that the tenets of contestability analysis were not
fulfilled.
The last chapter showed the limitations of the analysis in providing conclusive
evidence on the behavioural underpinnings of the health care market in the Philippines.
Conceptual and methodological difficulties, arising from data and measurement problems,
imply that the results are at best exploratory; and that further work can use the issues
raised as starting points. For health policy reforms in the Philippines, recent legislative
initiatives could improve health sector performance from a three-pronged approach:
enhancing access, agency and co-ordination.


C(4) perennial grasses are being considered for bioenergy because of their high productivity and low inputs. In side-by-side replicated trials, Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) has previously been found more than twice as productive as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). The hypothesis that this difference is attributable to higher leaf photosynthetic rates was tested on established plots of switchgrass and Miscanthus in central Illinois with >3300 individual measurements on 20 dates across the 2005 and 2006 growing seasons. Seasonally integrated leaf-level photosynthesis was 33% higher in Miscanthus than switchgrass (P < 0.0001). This increase in carbon assimilation comes at the expense of additional transpiration since stomatal conductance was on average 25% higher in Miscanthus (P < 0.0001). Whole-chain electron transport rate, measured simultaneously by modulated chlorophyll fluorescence, was similarly 23% higher in Miscanthus (P < 0.0001). Efficiencies of light energy transduction into whole chain photosynthetic electron transport, leaf nitrogen use and leaf water use were all significantly higher in Miscanthus. These may all contribute to its higher photosynthetic rates, and in turn, productivity. Systematic measurement of photosynthesis over two complete growing seasons in the field provides a unique dataset explaining why the productivity of these two species differs and for validating mechanistic production models for these emerging bioenergy crops.


In this article a Vernier effect based sensor is analyzed and demonstrated experimentally in a tri-microfiber coupler (Tri-MFC) and polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) loop interferometer (Tri-MFC-PMF) to provide ultrasensitive refractive index and temperature sensing. The main novelty of this work is an analysis of parameters of the proposed Tri-MFC-PMF with the objective of determining the conditions leading to a "strong" Vernier effect. It has been identified by simulation that the Vernier effect is a primary factor in the design of Tri-MFC-PMF loop sensing structure for sensitivity enhancement. It is furthermore demonstrated experimentally that enhancing the visibility of the Vernier spectrum in the Tri-MFC-PMF allows to achieve an ultrahigh refractive index and temperature sensitivity with improved measurement accuracy. Specifically it is shown that small values of the total phase difference (<bold><italic>π</italic></bold>/<bold>16</bold>+<bold><italic>N</italic><italic>π</italic></bold>)∼(<bold><italic>π</italic></bold>/<bold>4</bold>+<bold><italic>N</italic><italic>π</italic></bold>), where N is an integer, accumulated over the PMF loop and Tri-MFC loop result in a "strong" Vernier effect. Experimentally an ultrahigh refractive index sensitivity of -20588 nm/RIU and temperature sensitivity of 0.019 nm/°C are demonstrated by utilizing the stronger Vernier effect with "clear" Vernier spectrum. This analysis of the parameters may be useful to future researchers seeking to increase the measurement accuracy of sensors by enhancing the spectral visibility of the Vernier effect in other types of fiber optic interferometers.


When counselors acquire (a) awareness of one's own enculturation and related biases, (b) knowledge of the worldviews and values of minority populations, and (c) skills for appropriate interventions, they are said to possess the multicultural counseling competence (MCC) necessary to work effectively with diverse clientele (Ponterotto et al., 1996; Sue & Sue, 2003). Cultural immersion (CI), exiting one's own cultural context and entering into the activities of an identified cultural group, is argued to be effective at increasing MCC (Goodman & West-Olatunji, 2009a, 2009b; Pedersen & Leong, 1997; Pope-Davis, Breaux, & Liu, 1997; West-Olatunji, Goodman, Mehta, & Templeton, 2011). Group process is argued to be the vehicle to increase MCC during CI; however, research to support this is lacking. There is evidence that developmental supervision approaches push trainees to progress from stereotypic thinking and limited awareness to increased awareness (Ancis & Ladany, 2001; Sabnani, Ponterotto, & Borodovsky, 1991). Thus, turning to cognitive / emotional developmental style (CEDS) processing was needed as utilizing dialectic CEDS, and all four CEDS, has been found to foster more cognitively complex thoughts (Ivey, Ivey, Myers, & Sweeney, 2005; Rigazio-DiGilio, Daniels, & Ivey, 1997), which have been correlated with MCC (Benet-Martinez, Lee, & Leu, 2006; Ishii, Gilbride, & Stensrud, 2009; Pedersen, 2000). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between MCC, critical components of CI, and CEDS. The sample consisted of 493 master's-level counselor-trainees who were currently enrolled in or had completed a cross-culture counseling course, and had experience working with clients. They completed a 117-item survey packet. Overall, results supported the expected relationships between MCC, CI, and CEDS. Specifically, a one-way ANOVA indicated immersed trainees had higher mean MCC scores than their non-immersed peers. Results of correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated relationships between the critical components of CI and MCC, with pre-training and interaction emerging as more significant predictors. ANOVA results also indicated trainees with higher dialectical and sensorimotor scores had significantly greater mean MCC. In addition, trainees that could operate within all four CEDS independently, versus those that displayed an inability to operate in at least one, had greater mean MCC. Multiple regressions also were utilized to determine how well two models (a combination of CI history and dialectic score, and a combination of CI history and sensorimotor score) predicted MCC. There was not a stronger correlation between CI and MCC for trainees whose dialectic scores were significantly greater; however, there was a stronger correlation between CI and MCC for counselor-trainees who had higher sensorimotor scores. Finally, results from a two-way ANOVA (with interaction) indicated trainees who were able to operate in all four CEDSs had significantly greater mean MCC scores, regardless of immersion history. These results have implications for counselors and counselor educators. Professional counselors who have not had an immersion experience might find CI useful in gaining KSAs. In addition, CI may be a useful training strategy for counselor educators to utilize to foster the attainment of MCC in counselor-trainees. Both counselors and counselor-trainees may benefit from utilizing the sensorimotor and dialectic CEDS, in addition to processing in all four CEDS. In addition, since the CEDS are taken from the DCT model, these preliminary findings provide support for the use of DCT in both training and practice. Finally, these results have implications for future research. Researchers could explore the impact of additional multicultural counseling training, counseling experience, and working with culturally diverse others on MCC, particularly what types of MCT directly correspond to the observed increase in MCC. Research is needed on international students and their perpetual immersion to elucidate what processes account for their enhanced MCC. Further work is also needed to clarify the impact of specific CI activities on particular domains of MCC. Additionally, there is a need for more effective means of measuring both CI and CEDS. Lastly, these results suggest that future experimental designs of intentional process group structure (using CEDS) to enhance MCC during CI merit attention.


We present an architecture which lets us train deep, directed generative models with many layers of latent variables. We include deterministic paths between all latent variables and the generated output, and provide a richer set of connections between computations for inference and generation, which enables more effective communication of information throughout the model during training. To improve performance on natural images, we incorporate a lightweight autoregressive model in the reconstruction distribution. These techniques permit end-to-end training of models with 10+ layers of latent variables. Experiments show that our approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on standard image modelling benchmarks, can expose latent class structure in the absence of label information, and can provide convincing imputations of occluded regions in natural images.


The cluster of differentiation 147 (CD147), also known as EMMPRIN, is a key molecule that promotes cancer progression. We previously developed an adenoviral vector encoding a tumor suppressor REIC/Dkk-3 gene (Ad-REIC) for cancer gene therapy. The therapeutic effects are based on suppressing the growth of cancer cells, but, the underlying molecular mechanism has not been fully clarified. To elucidate this mechanism, we investigated the effects of Ad-REIC on the expression of CD147 in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. Western blotting revealed that the expression of CD147 was significantly suppressed by Ad-REIC. Ad-REIC also suppressed the cell growth of LNCaP cells. Since other researchers have demonstrated that phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and c-Myc protein positively regulate the expression of CD147, we investigated the correlation between the CD147 level and the activation of MAPK and c-Myc expression. Unexpectedly, no positive correlation was observed between CD147 and its possible regulators, suggesting that another signaling pathway was involved in the downregulation of CD147. This is the first study to show the downregulation of CD147 by Ad-REIC in prostate cancer cells. At least some of the therapeutic effects of Ad-REIC may be due to the downregulation of the cancer-progression factor, CD147.


Palestinian refugee camps, long established in Lebanon, have become havens for people from other nationalities as well, most recently Syrians who fled the civil war. Accustomed to neglect or outright hostility from Lebanese officials, camp residents have come to rely on each other for support. The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched these networks of mutual aid to the limit. This article offers an intimate view of everyday life during the crisis in a camp in northern Lebanon.


This paper's primary goal is to determine the size of the informal sector in the heterogeneous Caribbean countries. The informal economic activities of a country have several implications for their sustainable economic management. First, they have implications for tax revenue and determining what the optimal tax burden should be. Second, unrecorded activities distort national income accounts and any policies that derive from these statistics. The results of the study are based on two methodologies: the electricity consumption method and the currency demand method. In making a final evaluation, the study also considers results and information obtained in other studies. The findings suggest that the size of the informal sector is 20–30 percent in The Bahamas, 30–40 percent in Barbados, 29–33 percent in Guyana, 35–44 percent in Jamaica, 35–45 percent in Suriname, and 26–33 percent in Trinidad and Tobago.


There have been many studies on pedaling skills (Bini et al., 2013) to improve cycling efficiency. Riding position of upper body as well as leg motion is very important for cycling because it has a substantial impact on air resistance and physical fatigue (Burke & Pruitt, 2003). Although camera-based motion capture systems are the most popular solution to measure riders' position during cycling, they limit the range of motion and cannot be applied to actual outdoor cycling. In this study, we aim for developing a bike--mountable position estimation system. For this purpose, as a first step, we propose a method for estimation of handgrip position based on the force measurement during steady pedaling. Wattbike Trainer (Wattbike Ltd.) was used for our prototype system. A 6-- ‐ axis force/torque Sensor (BFS067XS102EU6S, Leptrino) was installed at an ahead- ‐ stem to measure the forces and torques loaded on the handlebar. According to the preliminary experiments, three parameters– 𝐹 ! , 𝐹 ! ,!–were chosen for the estimation. The proposed system classifies the observed data into three classes corresponding to the positions of handgrip, such as drops, hoods, and tops (Fig. 1) based on the SVM (Support Vector Machine) (Cortes & Vapnik, 1995), which is one of the most powerful machine learning techniques Experiments were conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Four amateur male cyclists (mean 45.5 years old) participated in the experiments. The experiments consist of two phases, such as a learning phase and a test phase. To construct an SVM classifier, 60 seconds learning data for each handgrip position was collected at 100Hz for each participant in the learning phase. In the test phase, participants changed their handgrip positions every 30 seconds and steadily pedaled 6 minutes in total. Based on the individually learned SVM classifier, the system estimated the handgrip position at each sampling time. In both phases, the pedaling load and cadence were set according to each participant's preference. Table 1 shows a confusion matrix of the experimental results. The proposed method achieves both high precision and recall. According to the experimental results, the proposed method can estimate the handgrip position with high reliability during steady pedaling. For future works, we will apply our system and estimation method to normal road bikes and develop a method to estimate positions of cyclists' upper body.


Abstract. An algorithm is developed to retrieve the vertical profile of carbon dioxide in the 5 to 25 km altitude range using mid-infrared solar occultation spectra from the main instrument of the ACE (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment) mission, namely the Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). The main challenge is to find an atmospheric phenomenon which can be used for accurate tangent height determination in the lower atmosphere, where the tangent heights (THs) calculated from geometric and timing information are not of sufficient accuracy. Error budgets for the retrieval of CO2 from ACE-FTS and the FTS on a potential follow-on mission named CASS (Chemical and Aerosol Sounding Satellite) are calculated and contrasted. Retrieved THs have typical biases of 60 m relative to those retrieved using the ACE version 3.x software after revisiting the temperature dependence of the N2 CIA (collision-induced absorption) laboratory measurements and accounting for sulfate aerosol extinction. After correcting for the known residual high bias of ACE version 3.x THs expected from CO2 spectroscopic/isotopic inconsistencies, the remaining bias for tangent heights determined with the N2 CIA is −20 m. CO2 in the 5–13 km range in the 2009–2011 time frame is validated against aircraft measurements from CARIBIC (Civil Aircraft for the Regular Investigation of the atmosphere Based on an Instrument Container), CONTRAIL (Comprehensive Observation Network for Trace gases by Airline), and HIPPO (HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations), yielding typical biases of −1.7 ppm in the 5–13 km range. The standard error of these biases in this vertical range is 0.4 ppm. The multi-year ACE-FTS data set is valuable in determining the seasonal variation of the latitudinal gradient which arises from the strong seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere troposphere. The annual growth of CO2 in this time frame is determined to be 2.6 ± 0.4 ppm year−1, in agreement with the currently accepted global growth rate based on ground-based measurements.


Chitosan is biocompatible and biodegradable natural biopolymer widely applied in various fields of biology, medicine, and pharmacy, however, its effects significantly depend on the degree of polymerization (DP) and the degree of deacetylation (DDA) of polymer chains. Evaluation of the chitosan chain diversity by DP requires the use of a highly expensive method of high-performance size exclusion chromatography. The aim of our study was to determine the molecular weight profile of chitosan specimens by the use of electrophoresis in a porosity step gradient polyacrylamide gel and to evaluate the efficacy of this method in monitoring the purification of chitosan fragments and its derivatives. Two types of step gradient porosity gels were used: 1) gels of layers with acrylamide concentration 2.5, 3.5, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0 % w/v for native chitosan or its high molecular fragments; 2) gels of layers with acrylamide concentration 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 15.0, 20.0, 25.0 % w/v for low molecular chitosan fragments. The main amount of molecules from the chitosan pool was localized in the type 1 gel in the region of 550-40 kDa and distributed among three bands, which in different samples differed significantly in percentage. Electrophoresis of chitosan fragments fractionated by gel permeation chromatography provided a clear separation of medium molecular weight fragments (50–400 kDa) in type 1 gel and of low molecular weight fragments (3–40 kDa) in type 2 gel. Thus the method of chitosan electrophoresis in a step-gradient porosity of polyacrylamide gel was developed which permits to characterize the molecular weight profile of chitosan specimens polymer chains and is effective in monitoring the isolation of chitosan fragments by gel penetration chromatography of molecular weights from 3 to 400 kDa.


Registered herbicides for use in sugarcane, ametryn, diuron, asulam, hexazinone, metribuzin, non-registered terbutryn, pendimethalin, and imazapyr were evaluated to control itchgrass ( Roftboellia exaltata ) in sugarcane in field experiments at the Lajas Substation with plant and ratoon crops. Imazapyr, together with pendimethalin, terbutryn and ametryn, provided good itchgrass control in the plant crop, comparable to the hand weeded treatment. In the ratoon crop most herbicides used showed good control, though the Roftboellia population before herbicide application was much lower than for the plant crop. Imazapyr caused chlorosis in sugarcane shoots; chlorosis was more severe in the ratoon crop. These herbicides at the recommended rates of 0.28, 1,78, 2,69 and 4.49 kg/ha, respectively, produced sugar yields ranging from 14.92 to 17.02 tons/ha that were statistically not different from those of the hand weeded plots (17.59 tons/ ha) but significantly higher than those of the diuron, asulam and the unweeded check plots in the plant crop. The combined plant and ratoon crop for sugar production for pendimenthalin (1.78 kg/ha) was as good as for the hand weeded plots, but not statistically better than the rest of the herbicide treatments, except for hexazinone and imazapyr.


The names Milton Friedman and John Taylor are associated with different monetary policy rules; but, as shown in this paper, the difference between their perceptions of how the economy works is not great. The monetary policy rules advanced by Taylor and Friedman are compared by linking the rules to the two economists' underlying views about nominal rigidity, the source of trade-offs, the sources of shocks, and model uncertainty. Taylor and Friedman both emphasized Phillips curve specifications that impose temporary nominal price rigidity and the long-run natural-rate restriction; and they basically agreed on the specification of shocks, policymaker objectives, and trade-offs. Where they differed was on the extent to which structural models should enter the monetary policy decision-making process. This difference helps account for the differences in their preferred monetary policy rules.


This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of the impacts of secure rural agricultural land rights on labour structural transformation from agriculture to non-agriculture as well as on urbanization, with a specific focus on Thailand. Using province-level panel data and instrumental variable strategy, partial land right entitlement (known in Thailand as SPK4-01 titling) is found to have a positive impact on labour movement towards the non-agricultural sector. In particular, approximately 27 per cent of this impact can be explained by enhanced farm productivity. This, in addition, implies that the reduction of the opportunity costs of off-farm employment, which is also a predicted positive impact of titling on non-agricultural employment, should account for the rest of the overall impact on labour structural transformation Although SPK4-01 titling alone is found to have no significant effect on urbanization, its impact depends significantly on within-province transport infrastructure. More specifically, rural land right security increases urbanization more in provinces with poorer road networks. In other words, secure land rights lead to urban concentration and urban non-farm diversification only when it is relatively costly to commute within the province.


Four main ingredients are necessary for the recipe of natural selection: a common demanding and competitive environment; individual, spontaneous variation; inheritance of part of this variation and a sufficient time frame. The result is a differential survival and reproduction of varying individuals, multiplied over generations: self-reproducing lineages of organisms change over time. As a statistical process with probabilistic outcomes, natural selection can be explained without using misleading terms such as "adaptation" and "chance". The selective process is an experienced fact in nature and an explanatory pattern that could be generalised in different forms (such as sexual selection, kin selection and so on). Despite its strong explanatory power, natural selection is a constrained process and is not self-sufficient: it is the pivot within a plurality of complementary and alternative explanatory patterns, the most important of which is the genetic drift.

Key Concepts

Natural selection cannot be reduced to easy metaphors such as "survival of the fittest" or "survival of the strongest".
As differential survival and reproduction over generations, natural selection can be described without references to slippery words such as "adaptation" and "chance".
Natural selection has been the first scientific explanation able to replace the "argument from design" of natural theology.
Saying that we are products of natural selection does not mean that we are children of purely fortuitous chains of events.
It is a mistake to assign to natural selection the old (intentional) attributes of a "designer".
Natural selection needs two additional demanding requirements to occur: a continuously emerging variation and a perceived individual advantage.
Survival and reproduction are two faces of the same coin, inseparable.
Natural selection can be generalised into "selective processes".
Genetic drift is another probabilistic sampling process, but with nonselective outcomes.
Selective processes do not work in a vacuum, but find case by case trade-offs with structural constraints and constraints to variation.

Keywords:

natural selection;
variation;
adaptation;
chance;
sexual selection;
genetic drift;
evolutionary constraints;
exaptation


Extracted from text ... E
Leadership coaching:
360 degree feedback for a winning combination
Management Today July 2006 53
Executive and leadership coaching are increasingly
viewed as a valuable development
option for improving performance
and behaviour. While much of this perception
has been based on anecdotal evidence
rather than quantitative data, the
use of generic or customised 360 degree
assessment has become one of the methods
used to measure the effectiveness of
coaching.
In addition to its measurement advantage,
360 degree feedback itself can be a
powerful resource to the coaching process.
Research conducted by E C Thach which
tracked the progress of 281 ..


Over the first six months of the current fiscal year, almost all the major targets set for FY2007-08 by the current Caretaker Government (CTG) came under serious test. Two successive floods, cyclone Sidr, global market situation, domestic inflation and the consequent impact on investment and business scenarios have raised serious concerns as to whether the macroeconomic targets set for FY2008 could be achieved. Whilst forex reserves, remittance flow, revenue collection by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and stock market performance give some hope, there are alarming developments in the area of prices, export and investment undermining the prospects of achieving the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) target for FY2008. In view of the above, the present report focuses on three major areas : (a) analysis of the performance of major macroeconomic correlates during the first six months of the current fiscal year (depending on data availability); (b) outlook for the prospects of achieving the targets set for FY2008; and (c) some of the major challenges facing the CTG as it moves toward the dead line set for holding the national elections by the end of 2008.


The article shows that in case if the photon is viewed as a particle moving in empty space the zero value of chemical potential of equilibrium electromagnetic radiation cannot be explained basing only on first principles of statistical physics. On the contrary, to explain the chemical potential of equilibrium electromagnetic radiation being equal to zero is rather simple if the photon is considered as a quasi-particle that is the way to describe collective motion of a system consisting of particles whose number is a fixed value. Collective motions of the particles of mentioned system are interpreted in the article as oscillations of an electromagnetic eld that corresponds to observation data of modern astronomy, according to which the space, that fills the gaps, both between massive objects and between massive particles forming them, should be attributed to characteristics of a continuous medium.


Objectives. The Roma people have been known in Europe for a 1000 years, during which they have usually been the subject of discrimination and oppression leading to isolation, powerlessness and poor health. The objective of this study is to investigate the sense of coherence (SOC) in relation to self-reported health among a group of Roma people in southwest Sweden. Study design. A cross-sectional, quantitative pilot study. Methods. A questionnaire was constructed based on the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12) and Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence Scale (SOC-13) and was distributed among Roma people in southwest Sweden (n = 102). Self-reported health was summarised in a physical score (PCS) and a mental score (MCS). Comparisons were made with a general Swedish majority population and a Sami population. Results. The health scores were significantly lower among the Roma people compared to Swedes – PCS: Roma 46.0 (Swedes 52.0) and MCS: Roma 47.5 (Swedes 52.6). The SOC score for the Roma people (54.4) was significantly lower than that of the Swedes (65.2) and Sami (65.0). Conclusions. The low SOC with the Swedish majority society is a strong indication of the marginalisation and exclusion of the Roma people from mainstream society. Low scores in self-reported health among the Roma people also establishes the serious health risks the Roma people are experiencing through their present life situation.


The strong U.S. real income gains and reductions in poverty during the 1990s were largely erased in the following decade, which contained two economic recessions and tepid job growth otherwise. Areas most affected by weak U.S. economic performance could be expected to also have experienced the largest increases in poverty, particularly if interregional labor market adjustment is increasingly limited. We examine this issue, finding that not only was regional poverty affected by regional labor demand shocks, the effect was stronger post-2000, particularly in the long run. Consistent with the poverty results are findings of greater post-2000 regional labor demand effects on employment rates and reduced population adjustments to asymmetric labor demand shocks.


In 1377 classical North African Islamic Scholar, Ibn Khaldun, wrote The
 Muqaddimah [Translated as: Introduction to Universal History].This text by
 many is regarded as being significant in influencing thought, within the social
 sciences. Ibn Khaldun argues that people fall into two general categories:
 city dwellers, who enjoy an urban sedentary lifestyle; and those who live
 in harsh nomadic conditions. When looking specifically at Muslims, with
 Arabic being the language of Islam, Ibn Khaldun also groups Muslims into
 two broad camps: which differentiates individuals according to (1) linguistic
 and (2) cultural Arabization. Ibn Khaldun asserts that intellect, scholarship,
 science and refined culture (such as the arts), evolved through urban linguistic
 Arabs - the most prominent of whom, at his time, hailed from Ancient Persia2
 and Egypt. The classical period of Islam has a signif cant influence on Persia,
 which she reciprocated greatly. Ibn Khaldun writes, that after the Muslim
 conquest of Persia in 633AD, Arabs to a large extent became Persianized.
 Dutton (2002), comments on the early shifts in political authority, from
 Madina to Kufa, then to Damascus and later to the Islamic Golden Age in
 Baghdad. The move to Baghdad harmonised Persian influences, making
 the Muslim world the unrivaled centre of education, science, medicine
 and philosophy. At this time, the prophetic saying arguing that the ink of
 the scholar is more holy that the blood of the martyr, embodied the Muslim
 mind-set. Dutton (2002) also asserts that after the death of Muhammad,
 cultural practices became central in understanding how to derive, interpret
 and apply Islamic law. Ibn Khaldun (2005) and Dutton (2002) paint a picture
 of Muslim acculturation built around urban centres of knowledge, as opposed
 to the Bedouin desert plains, as is often romanticised.


This paper tests the small sample properties of Hansen's (1982) Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) on simulated data from a consumption based asset pricing model. In finite samples the estimates of the coefficient of relative risk aversion and the discount parameter are strongly biased due to the unusual shape of the GMM criterion function for the model and the GMM test statistics perform poorly. In fact, the finite sample properties of the test statistics suggest the rejection results achieved by applying GMM to representative agent asset pricing models with real data (Hansen and Singleton 1982) must be viewed with some circumspection. Revised Version - 1995-018


The disposition of the angiotensin II receptor antagonist L-158,809 was studied in male rats and female rhesus monkeys. Rats were dosed either intravenously or orally with 0.3 mg [3H]L-158,809/kg. The terminal half-life of L-158,809 was 7.6 +/- 3.1 hr. Plasma clearance was 45.5 +/- 15.9 ml/hr/kg, and the volume of distribution at steady state was 0.37 +/- 0.11 liter/kg. The drug was completely bioavailable in rats. After oral administration, the peak plasma concentration of L-158,809 was 0.70 +/- 0.21 micrograms/ml at 15 min; only the parent drug was observed in plasma. After an oral dose of 3.0 mg [3H]L-158,809/kg, the peak plasma concentration of 4.9 +/- 0.6 micrograms/ml occurred at 1 hr. By 24 hr, 53.3 +/- 9.9% of an intraduodenal dose of 0.3 mg [3H]L-158,809/kg was excreted into bile. L-158,809 and its tetrazole-N2-beta-glucuronide were the major biliary components. Rhesus monkeys were dosed orally and intravenously at 1.0 mg and 0.5 mg [3H]L-158,809/kg, respectively. The plasma concentrations of L-158,809 varied considerably between monkeys after oral administration. The peak concentration was 42 +/- 42 ng/ml at 30 min, and the bioavailability was 32.3 +/- 12.6%. Plasma clearance was 839 +/- 364 ml/hr/kg; the volume of distribution at steady state was 1.42 +/- 0.73 liter/kg. Besides the parent, the major metabolite in monkey plasma was the tetrazole-N2-glucuronide of L-158,809. Both species excreted > 10% of the dose in the urine after intravenous or oral dosing; most of the dose was excreted in the feces, indicating extensive biliary excretion.


As positive psychology has matured as a discipline, sub-fields have emerged focusing on particular areas, including a number concentrating on specific life stages. These include positive parenting, positive education, positive youth development, and positive aging. However, until now, there has not been a systematic appreciation of these various developmental paradigms, nor an attempt to consider them as a whole. As such, the current paper introduces the overarching notion of positive developmental psychology, an umbrella term encompassing these intersecting developmental disciplines. The paper offers a narrative review of selected literature within these areas – highlighting key theoretical concepts, empirical studies and applied interventions – doing so through the prism of a multidimensional framework. Thus the paper provides a synthesis of the wealth of theory and research within positive developmental psychology, offering a much-needed overview of this burgeoning new field, and setting out a comprehensive research agenda for the years ahead.


Framing the topic of this symposium as "Human Rights Litigation in State Courts and Under State Law" effectively orients the discussion around the rights of plaintiffs from the outset, the central question being whether they have enforceable rights in U.S. state courts under state law. Standing in the way are various legal doctrines. In broad strokes, the relevant questions become: Which doctrines do, or should, either facilitate or obstruct human rights litigation in U.S. state courts and under state law? How are courts applying these doctrines? How should courts apply these doctrines?Many of the doctrines that potentially stand in the way of human rights claims in state court and under state law reflect the interests of states — including U.S. states, the United States, and foreign nations. State-centered doctrines like sovereign interference, comity, preemption, governmental interest analysis, the political question doctrine, and other doctrines deferential to the political branches threaten to block human rights litigation in state courts and under state law. The discussion thus tends to boil down to human rights versus states — or, perhaps more accurately, plaintiffs' rights versus legal doctrines that capture some non-human rights interest of states.This contribution aims to add another rights dimension to this rapidly evolving doctrinal and normative puzzle by reorienting the discussion around the rights of defendants. More specifically, we ask whether there are defendants' rights that may counterbalance plaintiffs' rights in some situations. We believe there are, and that these rights can and should inform how courts decide human rights cases in state courts and under state law. Because our primary concern is choice of law as opposed to choice of forum, we focus principally on issues related to the application of state law rather than on issues related to state courts entertaining suit. As to the choice of law, we use the concept of what we will refer to as "spatial legality" to identify and frame two main rights: the right to fair notice of the law, and the right to compliance with the law. We then apply these rights through the Due Process Clause to show how they can and should influence human rights litigation under state law. First, we conclude that even if personal jurisdiction exists over a defendant, if the conduct giving rise to the suit exhibits no jurisdictional nexus to the United States, application of purely U.S. law — like state tort law — may violate defendants' rights to fair notice of the law. Second, we suggest that where purely U.S. law — like state tort law — prohibits or creates liability for conduct compelled or required under foreign law in the place where the conduct occurs, defendants may have a due process objection because compliance with the law is impossible. Finally, we argue that both of these objections largely vanish where the U.S. law sought to be applied to foreign conduct implements an international law that imposes liability.


Abstract Background: A comprehensive approach to the control of type 2 diabetes is required to reduce mortality and morbidity. To improve diabetes management, in 2005 a protocol for the monitoring and management of type 2 diabetes, aligned to the 2003 Society for Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes of South Africa (SEMDSA) guidelines, was introduced at Addington Hospital Medical Outpatients Department, Durban, South Africa. Method: Data were collected from 120 randomly selected patients with type 2 diabetes. The number of glycated haemoglobin (HbA10) and lipid estimations, blood pressure (BP) measurements and body mass indices (BMIs) recorded in 2005 was compared with those recorded in 2008 and 2009. The mean levels of these parameters and the number of patients reaching goal in 2008 were compared with the figures for 2009. Results: In 2005, 18.8% of patients had HbA11c levels measured compared with 82.9% in 2009 (R < 0.01). The mean HbA1c was 6.9% (± 1.9) in 2008 and 6.4% (± 2.0) in 2009 (R = 0.1). BR and BMI was measured in over 93% of patients in 2005, 2008 and 2009. BR goals were attained by 21% of patients in 2008 and 30% in 2009 (R = 0.65). The mean BMI in 2008 was 29.4 kg/m2 (24% achieved goal), and in 2009 it was 28.6kg/m2 (29% achieved goal; R = 0.267). Lipid estimations rose significantly from 26% in 2005 to 73% in 2009 (R < 0.01). There was no improvement in the number of patients reaching target lipid levels between 2008 and 2009. Conclusion: The monitoring protocol improved adherence to the SEMDSA 2003 guidelines from 2005 to 2009. Overall glycaemic control was within target, but attainment of most nonglycaemic goals was suboptimal and did not improve over the study period.


This policy brief emphasises that: evidence shows that large-scale, well-designed social-transfer programmes can support micro-level growth processes; social transfers enable investment in human capital and productive assets, laying the foundations for future growth; social transfers can improve the efficiency of household resource allocation by alleviating vulnerability and by targeting individual household members; the growth effect of social transfer programmes is largely determined by programme design: transfers should be regular and reliable, appropriately channelled and complemented by asset-accumulation and asset-protection interventions


Fibres produced from waste catalyst together with commercially available polypropylene fibres were incorporated into ordinary Portland cement paste. The effects of fibre content as well as a mix of different type of fibres on mechanical and physical properties of wet and dry samples were investigated. The results showed that presence of fibres reduced compressive strength of the plain cement in wet and dry state. Contrary, when the combination of 1.5 wt% waste and 1.5 wt% polypropylene fibres was used flexural strength of cement mixture increased by up to 9 % at the age of 28 days. It was observed that addition of 1.5 wt% of only waste fibres improved flexural strength after long hydration period as well. However, the lowest mechanical strength results showed samples with 3 wt% of waste fibres. It was also observed that higher content of waste fibres reduced porosity of the cement mixture and consequently, decreased water absorption capacity. Presence of fibres reduced drying shrinkage of samples and they were lower than plain cement after 28 days of hydration. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.19.3.1992


Significant volumes of Structural and Cohesion Funds have been pre-allocated but remain undisbursed or uncommitted. In Portugal, unused funds amount to 9.3 percent of GDP, in Greece close to 7 percent, and in central and eastern European countries about 15 percent. These funds should be part of a temporary European Fund for Economic Revival (EFER) for 2011-13, which would promote economic growth in crisis-hit countries and facilitate structural reforms.For countries under financial assistance in particular, the European Commission has a role to play in identifying the 'right' objectives for which the funds should be used. The Commission could decide to manage the funds directly with the support of an executive agency.Greater efforts should be made to exploit synergies between EU grants and European Investment Bank loans, allowing EIB loans to finance the total costs of a project or programme in small countries, and leveraging the whole EU budget to attract private investment.


TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION I. THE EVOLUTION OF 3D PRINTING II. HOW 3D PRINTING FITS WITHIN THE PRESENT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY FRAMEWORK A. The Piracy Problem 1. CADs and the Disclosure Requirement 2. The Futility of Patent-Copyright Crossover a. CADs as Representations of Facts b. CADs and Unlimited Customization III. WHY MANUFACTURING MATTERS A. Invention or Innovation? B. Is the Monopoly Always Worth the Embarrassment? C. Reconceptualizing Patent's "Lake" CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION Manufacturers and product developers have used additive manufacturing, a process more commonly known as 3D printing, to create prototypes, mock-ups, and replacement parts for over twenty-five years. (1) Until recently, however, few people outside of those industries had even heard of the technology. (2) With the size of the printers shrinking and the availability of new source material expanding, manufacturers of 3D printers have begun to explore new avenues for the development of their product that promise to bring widespread use of 3D printers into the home. (3) If successful, the transition of manufacturing from the factory to the home will present a novel set of problems for intellectual property owners. At the most obvious level, end-user appropriation of the manufacturing process has the potential to astronomically increase the instances of patent infringement. This result follows for two reasons. First, patent law strictly defines infringement to include anyone who manufactures an invention without authorization, whether for a commercial or a private purpose. (4) Second, the 3D printing process's digital nature establishes the technology within a realm already plagued by rampant piracy, where millions of individual violations occur within a single day. (5) Patent owners then must face the more daunting challenge of asserting their property rights against an international multitude of anonymous infringers. Of course, patent owners could try to prosecute each infringer, assuming they have the ability to track them down, assert jurisdiction, and sufficiently prove the infringing conduct. But this approach would require more time, money, and resources than most patent owners would presumably want to spend. Instead, rights holders will likely try to diminish this new brand of patent infringement at the source: the electronic distribution of Computer-Aided Design Files (CADs). (6) This effort will mark a dramatic shift in the prosecution of patent infringement cases. Traditionally, manufacturers brought suit for patent infringement against other manufacturers. (7) The legislature and the courts encapsulated this dynamic in the development of remedies for patent infringement. (8) After centuries of application, patent law has evolved to create a monopoly right that operates efficiently only in this limited commercial context. (9) If patent owners try to extend the monopoly to address CADs and end-user infringement, courts should approach the matter cautiously before haphazardly expanding the reach of this branch of intellectual property law. Intellectual property law exists as the result of a "bargain" between innovators and the public. (10) Congress alone shoulders the burden of bringing new technology into harmony with the constitutional mandate to "promote the Progress of Science and [the] useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." (11) How Congress navigates this duty in the face of the emergent 3D printing technology will largely depend on which side of the bargain legislators tend to favor: private industry or the advancement of the public store of knowledge. (12) This Note will demonstrate how this bargain should be struck by first briefly introducing 3D printing and exploring the technology's development from the mid-1980s until the present, where increased access to the technology has led commentators to speculate about the role of computer-aided design files in what may turn out to be the next wave of digital piracy. …


Abnormal operation of chemical processec sa used by equipment and sensor faults, such as plugging of pipes, control system failure or improper operation by personnel can result in poor product quality, equipment damage, or a catastrophe process failure leading to loss of equipment and worker injury, as well as significant economic losses. It is estimated that the cost attributable to preventable
losses in the petrochemical industry only is around several billion pounds per year. Independent studies of case
histories by the Health and Safety Commission in the UK and by a Honeywell led industrial consortium in the US and world wide show that human errors represent the major cause
of failures. In contrast to this discovery, the majority of pervious studies on computer aided systems for fault detection and diagnosis has focussed on the process side only. It is now widely acknowledged that there is only limited information on how human factors can be assessed
and even less that is specific to chemical industry,
therefore research is much needed in this area.

This study presents a methodology to involve human
factors into the development of systems for automatic identification and diagnosis of abnormal operations and
develops methods and techniques that can be used to simultaneously capture, characterise and assess the performance of operators as well as of the process. A joint process operator simulation platform was developed which was used as a test-bed for carrying out the studies. The process part is a simulator, which emulates in high fidelity the dynamic behaviour of the process, which is subject to influence of various disturbances and operators intervention. The operator module was developed as a real-time expert system, which emulates operator's behaviour in interpretation of received signals, planning and executions of the decisions. The interaction between the two modules
is managed through an interaction module, which handles the real-time exchange of data using DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange). The interaction module also contains the toolkits for analysing the dynamic behaviour of the joint process-operator system.

The operator simulation module was developed based on a theoretical model of human behaviour, which breaks operator's activities into perception of signals an interpretation of the received information, planning for actions and execution of the decisions. The system was implemented as a real-time expert system using visual Prolog. Numerical models were also integrated into the expert system, e. g. stress models of operators. This flexible system allows studies on individual operators actions, stress, intervene time, the frequency of intervene and near-miss or near-hit in operation.

As part of the effort to use the platform to develop methods and tools for characterising and assessing the dynamic behaviour of the joint process-operator system,
a digraph method for qualitative/quantitative modelling of the dynamic behaviour of the combined system was proposed.
The method involves categorical characterisation of
dynamic trends using principal component analysis and fuzzy c-means and sectioning of the clusters. An iterative method for determining the number of the clusters and sections
based on the global performance was derived. Compared with pervious studies on qualitative process modelling, the proposed approach is more accurate and has higher
resolution, and more importantly is able to deal with joint process-operator systems.

The methods and systems developed were illustrated and fully tested using simulated and industrial case studies.


Objectives: Glenohumeral internal rotation deficit (GIRD) indicates a 20 degree or greater loss of IR on the throwing shoulder compared to the non-throwing shoulder. The purpose of this study was to determine whether GIRD and/or bilateral difference in total rotational motion (TRM) of the glenohumeral joint (external rotation + internal rotation) correlated with shoulder injuries in professional baseball pitchers. Methods: This study was conducted over eight competitive seasons (2005-2012). Each year during spring training, the same examiners assessed passive range of motion (PROM) of both the dominant and non-dominant shoulders of professional pitchers using a bubble goniometer. In total, 505 examinations were conducted on 296 pitchers. Glenohumeral joint motion was assessed in supine with the arm at 90 degrees of abduction and in the plane of the scapula for ER and IR. During ER and IR ROM assessment, the scapula was stabilized per methods previously established. Shoulder injuries and days missed due to injury were assessed and recorded by the medical staff of the team. Results: Significant differences were noted during side-to-side comparisons (p<0.0001) within subjects. Amongst this cohort, there were 77 shoulder injuries in 52 players accounting for a total of 3131 days missed. GIRD did not correlate to increased risk of shoulder injuries (p=0.8629). Pitchers with a deficit of more than 5 degrees in TRM between shoulders had a 1.9x higher risk of injury (p=0.0290). Players with < 5 more degrees of ER motion in their dominant shoulder at 90 degrees of abduction were 2.2 times as likely to have a shoulder injury (p=0.0112). Conclusion: Based on these results, pitchers with bilateral differences in total rotational motion had a significant impact on the risk of shoulder injuries. Loss of ER PROM in the dominant shoulder compared to the non-dominant side appears to contribute to shoulder injury risk as well. Clinicians need to be aware of these findings and plan a program that addresses these issues.


A pilot study was conducted to assess the efficacy and feasibility of daily low-dose cisplatin with concurrent thoracic irradiation for clinically unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients with inoperable NSCLC who had poor risk factors such as advanced age, poor performance status, poor lung function, or concomitant active malignancy were entered into the study. Low-dose cisplatin (6 mg/m2) was administered daily before concurrent thoracic irradiation (2 Gy/day; total dose of 60 Gy) was given. Twenty-five patients were registered. The majority of the patients had either stage IIIA (24.0%) or stage IIIB (60.0%) disease. Fifteen patients (60.0%) completed the planned treatment. Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy were stopped in 3 patients (12.0%) due to poor response, and 7 patients (28.0%) partly received radiotherapy alone as a result of their toxicity response. The proportion of total administered dose to planned dose was 90.9% for chemotherapy and 99.3% for radiotherapy, which were comparable to those in previous studies for LA-NSCLC patients without poor risk factors. Grade 3 leukopenia and neutropenia developed in 14 patients (56.0%) and 10 patients (40.0%), respectively, but grade 4 toxicity was not encountered. Grade 3 pneumonitis and esophagitis were observed in 4 patients (16.0%) and 2 patients (8.0%), respectively. The overall response rate was 60.0%. The median survival time was 22 months, and the 2-year survival rate was 50.3%. Daily low-dose cisplatin and concurrent thoracic irradiation were well tolerated even by poor-risk patients with NSCLC, and showed a therapeutic efficacy similar to that for good-risk patients.


Intraparty candidate selection methods are the drivers of many topics of interest to political scientists. Their operationalization, however, is made complicated because they tend to involve multiple selectorates that differ in their levels of inclusiveness and centralization and that play various roles within the process. This complexity poses a challenge for large-n comparative studies. Drawing on the Political Parties DataBase Round Two to analyze candidate selection methods in 184 parties from 35 democracies, we highlight the inadequacy of the currently available measures to correctly account for this complexity in large-n studies and offer improvements on this front. Specifically, we propose a continuous measure of inclusiveness that better captures the complexity of candidate selection methods and a new measure of complexity to facilitate future analyses into this feature. We recommend that scholars in other cross-national projects consider adopting similar or improved coding strategies in order to better capture these complexities.


: Purpose: The purpose of our work is to analyze the efforts of the Islamic financial industry to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and highlights its support for conventional finance, and global economy. Design/Methodology/Approach: Desk research and case studies were provided to identify type and scope of the legal and economic measures taken by the governance of Islamic finance meeting the challenges imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic and analyze how they match with the conventional finance proposed resolution. Findings: The outcome of this article is the evaluation of main measures of the Islamic finance system according to their effectiveness and efficiency providing a case study of the COVID-19 crisis. Practical Implications: The approach of the best practice to the global financial policy has been proposed. Global Islamic finance is largely concentrated in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa, where the Gulf Islamic finance markets hold a 40.3% share. The findings have been used to consider as the policy directives for the conventional finance system. Originality/Value: The assessment of the impact of the measures taken by Islamic finance industry, in short and long-term as a results of the process of integration and harmonization to conventional finance.


Rhapis plant is one of the plantation which has the potential to be developed in Pekanbaru city because it is one of the high producers area of rhapis plant in Riau Province. The purpose of this research: 1) Determine agribusiness system of rhapis plant in Pekanbaru City, 2) Formulate agribusiness development strategy of rhapis plants in Pekanbaru City. The method used in this study is a survey method by using purposive sampling. Total populations of rhapis farmers in Pekanbaru is 9 rhapis farmers. 2  farmers were sampled according to the criteria of the study. Farmers who are still active in the cultivation and marketing of rhapis plants. The results of the study shows that agribusiness of rhapis plants have a marketing problem is the low price specified by exporters and transportation cost by farmers from Pekanbaru to the port of Tanjung Priok, Jakarta. Agribusiness development priority strategy of rhapis plant is (1). A partnership between farmers and shopkeepers rhapis plants (2). Reducing dependence on exports of raphis (3). Increasing the role of the government in controlling price of rhapis that farmers profit price and bargaining position of farmer (4). Increasing sales of rhapis export scale with government (5). Expanding land rhapis nursery for seedling availability rhapis for  farmers. Keywords ; Agribusiness of Rhapis, Development Strategy, Agribusiness development ,   SWOT analysis


Question answering systems which automatically search for user's information need are considered as a separate issue from the community-generated question answering which answers users' questions by human respondents. Although the two answering systems have different applications, both of them aim to present a correct answer to the users' question and consequently they can feed each other to improve their performance and efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new idea to use the information derived from a community question answering forum in an automatic question answering system. To this end, two different frameworks, namely the class-based model and the trained trigger model, have been used in a language model-based sentence retrieval system. Both models try to capture word relationships from the question-answer sentence pair of a community forum. Using a standard TREC question answering dataset, we evaluate our proposed models on the subtask of sentence retrieval, while training the models on the Yahoo! Answer corpus. Results show both methods that trained on Yahoo! Answers logs significantly outperform the unigram model, in which the class-based model achieved 4.72% relative improvement in mean average precision and the trained triggering model achieved 18.10% relative improvement in the same evaluation metric. Combination of both proposed models also improved the system mean average precision 19.29%.


Author(s): Mark Bolinger | Abstract: Reducing the performance risk surrounding a wind project can potentially lead to a lower weighted-average cost of capital (WACC), and hence a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE), through an advantageous shift in capital structure, and possibly also a reduction in the cost of capital. Specifically, a reduction in performance risk will move the 1-year P99 annual energy production (AEP) estimate closer to the P50 AEP estimate, which in turn reduces the minimum debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) required by lenders, thereby allowing the project to be financed with a greater proportion of low-cost debt. In addition, a reduction in performance risk might also reduce the cost of one or more of the three sources of capital that are commonly used to finance wind projects: sponsor or cash equity, tax equity, and/or debt.Preliminary internal LBNL analysis of the maximum possible LCOE reduction attainable from reducing the performance risk of a wind project found a potentially significant opportunity for LCOE reduction of ~$10/MWh, by reducing the P50 DSCR to its theoretical minimum value of 1.0 (Bolinger 2015b, 2014) and by reducing the cost of sponsor equity and debt by one-third to one-half each (Bolinger 2015a, 2015b). However, with FY17 funding from the U.S. Department of Energy's Atmosphere to Electrons (A2e) Performance Risk, Uncertainty, and Finance (PRUF) initiative, LBNL has been revisiting this "bookending" exercise in more depth, and now believes that its earlier preliminary assessment of the LCOE reduction opportunity was overstated. This reassessment is based on two new-found understandings: (1) Due to ever-present and largely irreducible inter-annual variability (IAV) in the wind resource, the minimum required DSCR cannot possibly fall to 1.0 (on a P50 basis), and (2) A reduction in AEP uncertainty will not necessarily lead to a reduction in the cost of capital, meaning that a shift in capital structure is perhaps the best that can be expected (perhaps along with a modest decline in the cost of cash equity as new investors enter the market).