This paper considers the spatial structure of a city subject to final demand and vertical linkages. Individuals consume differentiated goods (or services) and firms purchase differentiated inputs (or services) in product (or service) markets where forms compete under monopolistic competition. Workers rent their residential lots in an urban land market and contribute to the production of differentiated goods and inputs. We show that firms and workers co-agglomerate and endogenously form a city. We characterize and discuss the spatial distribution of firms and consumers in such cities on oneand twodimensional spaces (linear city and planar city). We show that final demand and vertical linkages raise the urban density and reduce the city spread. We finally show that a city is too much dispersed compared to the social optimum. JEL Codes: C62, F12, R12


In most structural pavement design methods, strains and stresses in the layers are calculated with multi-layer programs based on the Burmister model using the linear elastic theory. Burmister defined loads as a constant pressure applied on a circular surface. New technology for measuring tire-pavement contact stresses has shown that the assumptions used in the multi-layer models do not correspond to reality. This study evaluates the relative influence of different parameters, which diverge considerably from the assumptions made in the multi-layer models. For a constant vertical load and a constant inflation pressure of a super-single tire, calculations of the strains and stresses in a reference structure were made for various methods of load application. Variations concerned the shape of the load surface, the value of the applied mean vertical pressure, the distribution of the vertical load pressure on the load surface and the application of a transversal load. The evaluation of the strain and stress distributions was made at two critical depths in the structure: at the bottom and at the top of the bituminous layers. It was seen from this study carried out on a pavement with a total thickness of 170 mm for the bituminous layers, that the main parameter that influences the stress and strain distributions in the structure was the definition of the shape and the extent of the load surface. It was also noticed that transversal loads have non-negligible effects on the strains and stresses, even at the bottom of the bituminous layers.


The two primary schools participating in this research face the issue of constructing philosophical or religious education in the context of a recently changed climate in the multicultural and multi-religious Dutch society. These schools are situated in a context in which knowledge and understanding of a philosophical or religious tradition cannot be taken for granted. This situation questions existing formats of philosophical and religious education with regard to capacities to elicit the interest of children with different backgrounds to familiarize with philosophical and religious themes and sources in a creative and open manner. In consultation with the schools involved in our research project, a theoretical and empirical research was initiated. Ultimately, children of grade six of both schools were observed during the process of familiarisation with religious stories, in a powerful learning context. The central research question is: "In which way do dialogue and imagination, as identifiers of a powerful learning environment, stimulate sixth grade primary school children in their personal interpretation of the metaphoric language of religious stories and, subsequently, in the process of meaning making and sense giving?". The theoretical part of this study focuses on the creation of new concepts beneficial for the development of a new practical application, in this case a method of philosophical and religious education. The theoretical chapters are based upon an extensive literary review, covering different disciplines, and elaborating on four core concepts namely: dialogical responsiveness, metaphorical sensitivity, inventive imagination and creative interpretation. These concepts and their respective translations into children's capabilities are central in the design of the research instruments and of the analysis of children's (N=18+26) expressions and creations in their response to religious stories. Several research instruments were used in this research project like document analysis, observations and interviews. Additionally, a new instrument was developed for a better understanding of meaning making and sense giving among primary school children during the process of familiarizing with religious stories. The verbal, non-verbal, dramatized, reflective and interactive responses of sixth grade children in the process of familiarizing with the narratives of 'Ester' and 'Joseph' are described, analysed and interpreted. In two multiple case studies the process of meaning construction and sense giving is described with regard to two religious stories by eight pupils (N=4+4). The outcomes of these analyses allow for the formulation of characteristics and patterns in children's interpretations of the religious stories. The results of the analysis allow for the following conclusions and answer of the main research question. Sixth grade primary school pupils appear to be capable to construct meaning and give sense - both individually and collaboratively – to religious stories. First of all, preconditional for the construction of meaning and sense giving of six grade pupils is a powerful learning environment. A second precondition points to the frequently activated imagination of pupils and to their involvement in dialogues with each other, their teacher and with the characters in the religious story.


River Choto Jamuna is an important and well-known river in north-west Bangladesh in terms of fish production and source of income for many fishermen living beside where this study has been conducted from January to December, 2012. This study revealed the existing fish species and their composition along with diversity, richness and evenness indices. A total of 63 species of fishes have been recorded belonging to 41 genera, 23 families and 9 orders. Cypriniformes was recorded as the most diversified fish group in terms of both number of species and individuals observed. Of all the fishes found, 41.27% species were threatened in Bangladesh including 15.87% vulnerable, 15.87% endangered and 9.52% critically endangered species. Overall values of diversity, richness and evenness indices were found to be 3.717, 6.954 and 0.897, respectively. Finally, considering all the findings, the establishment of fish sanctuaries to conserve available fish species, both threatened and non-threatened, naturally is recommended.

 Key words: Fish diversity, Choto Jamuna, biodiversity, Shannon-weaver diversity, Margalef's richness, Pielou's evenness, Bangladesh.


Typically, F1-hybrids are more vigorous than their homozygous, genetically distinct parents, a phenomenon known as heterosis. In the present study, the transcriptomes of the reciprocal maize (Zea mays L.) hybrids B73×Mo17 and Mo17×B73 and their parental inbred lines B73 and Mo17 were surveyed in primary roots, early in the developmental manifestation of heterotic root traits. The application of statistical methods and a suitable experimental design established that 34,233 (i.e., 86%) of all high-confidence maize genes were expressed in at least one genotype. Nearly 70% of all expressed genes were differentially expressed between the two parents and 42%–55% of expressed genes were differentially expressed between one of the parents and one of the hybrids. In both hybrids, ∼10% of expressed genes exhibited nonadditive gene expression. Consistent with the dominance model (i.e., complementation) for heterosis, 1124 genes that were expressed in the hybrids were expressed in only one of the two parents. For 65 genes, it could be shown that this was a consequence of complementation of genomic presence/absence variation. For dozens of other genes, alleles from the inactive inbred were activated in the hybrid, presumably via interactions with regulatory factors from the active inbred. As a consequence of these types of complementation, both hybrids expressed more genes than did either parental inbred. Finally, in hybrids, ∼14% of expressed genes exhibited allele-specific expression (ASE) levels that differed significantly from the parental-inbred expression ratios, providing further evidence for interactions of regulatory factors from one parental genome with target genes from the other parental genome.


Wireless sensor networks are composed of sensor nodes which are small, battery-powered devices having limited resources. Sensor nodes collect data from environment, and transmit them via their radio communication medium towards a base station. Although majority of wireless sensor applications use static sensor nodes, sensor node can be mobile either by itself, or due to environmental factors such as wind, water, or deployment of sensor nodes on moving objects. It is not easy to control sensor nodes once they are deployed in a hostile environment. Due to mostly being unattended, sensor nodes become open to physical attacks such as wormhole attack, which is our focus in this thesis. In wormhole attack, an attacker tunnels messages received in one part of the network over a low-latency wormhole link and replays them in a different part of the network. By doing so, the attacker makes two distant nodes believe that they are in the communication range of each other. The low-latency tunnel attracts network traffic on the wormhole link which can empower the attacker to perform traffic analysis, denial of service attacks; collect data to compromise cryptographic material; or just selectively drop data packets through controlling these routes using the wormhole link. In this thesis, we propose a distributed wormhole detection scheme for mobile wireless sensor networks in which mobility of sensor nodes is utilized to estimate two network features (i.e. network node density, standard deviation in network node density) through using neighboring information in a local manner. Wormhole attack is detected via observing anomalies in the neighbor nodes' behaviors based on the estimated network features and the neighboring information. We analyze the performance of proposed scheme via simulations using different system parameters. The results show that our scheme achieves a detection rate up to 100% with very small false positive rate (at most 1.5%) if the system parameters are chosen accordingly. Moreover, our solution requires neither additional hardware nor tight clock synchronization which are both costly for sensor networks.


Spherical Gold Nanoparticles Impede the Function of Bovine Serum Albumin In vitro: A New
Suspensions of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and spherical gold nanoparticles were analyzed to determine if gold nanoparticles (nAu) affect the ligand binding properties of BSA. A range of diameters of nAu with a carboxylic acid capping agent (nAu-cap) were tested, along with nanoparticles conjugated to amine (nAu-NH3+) and carboxyl (nAu-COO-) functional groups via a covalent polymer bridge. All nAu tested were found to affect BSA conformation as determined by intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Smaller diameters of nAu-cap (30-50 nm), along with nAu-NH3+ and nAu-COO-, impeded the binding of 8-anilino-1-napthalenesulfonic acid (ANS) to BSA. Similarly, smaller diameters of nAu-cap tended to impede oleic acid binding to BSA, with a linear negative correlation observed between nAu-cap diameter and the dissociation constant (KD) of oleic acid over the range of 40-80 nm. 80 nm nAu-cap impeded butanoic acid binding, and necessitated a high-resolution fluorescence assay. As with oleic acid, smaller diameters of nAu-cap tended to impede ibuprofen binding, but no significance could be established.


Conventional intensity cameras recover objects in the direct line-of-sight of the camera, whereas occluded scene parts are considered lost in this process. Non-line-of-sight imaging (NLOS) aims at recovering these occluded objects by analyzing their indirect reflections on visible scene surfaces. Existing NLOS methods temporally probe the indirect light transport to unmix light paths based on their travel time, which mandates specialized instrumentation that suffers from low photon efficiency, high cost, and mechanical scanning. We depart from temporal probing and demonstrate steady-state NLOS imaging using conventional intensity sensors and continuous illumination. Instead of assuming perfectly isotropic scattering, the proposed method exploits directionality in the hidden surface reflectance, resulting in (small) spatial variation of their indirect reflections for varying illumination. To tackle the shape-dependence of these variations, we propose a trainable architecture which learns to map diffuse indirect reflections to scene reflectance using only synthetic training data. Relying on consumer color image sensors, with high fill factor, high quantum efficiency and low read-out noise, we demonstrate high-fidelity color NLOS imaging for scene configurations tackled before with picosecond time resolution.


Context: Tax evasion and tax compliance are important topics on a European level. Next to regulations and fines, the understanding of tax-related issues impacts a tax compliance decision. Vocational business students already pay taxes and are potential future entrepreneurs who will increasingly have to deal with tax-related issues in the future. Tax-related content is, therefore, integrated in the curriculum of business colleges in Austria. Information on business students' conceptions and misconceptions concerning taxes can serve as valuable input for instruction and curriculum development. Approach: In order to explore the conceptions and misconceptions of taxes among potential future entrepreneurs, students aged between 17 and 18 from business colleges in Austria were interviewed. Therefore, the technique of problem-centred interviews was chosen. The material was then analysed by using Mayring's content analytic method of structuring. Findings: The students' conceptions and misconceptions of taxes, the difference to scientific knowledge as well as possible reasons for the misconceptions are analysed and discussed. The results show that misconceptions concerning basic principles of taxes exist, that students only have vague conceptions and little experience when it comes to income tax. They do not perceive themselves as taxpayers even though many of them have work experience and they regularly act as consumers and pay value added tax. Even though the students are more familiar with value added tax rates, misconceptions concerning the reasons behind the differences in rates exist. Finally, most of the students only fragmentally remember the last fundamental tax reform in Austria.Conclusion: The findings as well as an analysis of the curriculum suggest that the students are missing basic knowledge on taxes as for example the on the difference between fees and taxes. On a curricular level, knowledge important for the individual taxpayer should build the ground for further business-related content. Finally, background knowledge on why different forms of taxes exist and on tax reforms should foster a deeper understanding and complement the factual knowledge most students already possess.


Clear is an exploration of how Service Design can be used in the public sector to generate awareness and trigger action regarding environmental topics – in this particular case, air pollution. It is also an exploration of how Systems Oriented Design can help designers to maximize the positive effects of their proposals in the face of complex societal challenges. Air pollution is a sad side effect of carbon-based industrialization. The more industrial activity and growth around the world, the more air pollution. Studies on the adverse effects on health of bad air quality are beginning to surface and the news are not good: some authorities are calling this an global epidemic. This is also true regarding Norway. Big cities in the country have to deal with the effects of growth. But what appears to be clear and obvious, for a big part of the population is still out of sight. Trying to remediate the situation, Miljodirektoratet has engaged in several efforts to spread awareness of the data about air quality, hoping this data would trigger some sort of behaviour change in citizens. But the scenario is very complex, the data is not contextualized and people already have a lot of worries. Air quality maybe is just another one of them. How to reach them, fulfi l Miljodirektoratet's mandate


While physicians acknowledge the importance of the medical record to both patient care and medical education, there is increasing awareness that the record along with our current system of processing medical information is seriously deficient. This paper attempts to document the type and extent of deficiencies in our current system of handling medical data. The extent of these deficiencies has serious implications for the usefulness of current practices of medical record audit. Audit of the record to determine clerical deficiencies is relatively simple and as discussed in this paper can be useful. The audit may also be useful in discovering gross and easily discernible medical errors where the standards are relatively simple and well defined. However, deficiencies in current methods of handling medical data associated with a lack of standards for either the organization of the medical record or the logic and criteria that should govern the collection and use of medical data seriously impair the effectiveness of the audit as a tool for assessing the quality of care. There is a critical need to develop a standardized and systematic approach to record keeping and to begin to define the logic and medical criteria that should govern the collection and use of medical data.


Activated carbons produced from palm oil shell with H3PO4 activation (AC 34) and physical activation (AC 00) were used to adsorb dye solutions, namely Acid Fuchsin and Fast Green. The precursors were carbonized under an inert nitrogen atmosphere for three hours followed by carbon dioxide gas activation for another hour in an electric furnace at 500˚C. Analysis of the adsorption isotherms of N2 at 77 K shows that the surface area of AC 34 (1017 m2/g) is higher than AC 00 (426 m2/g). The average pore diameter for AC 34 and AC 00 is 25.2 and 15.1 A, respectively. Characterization of activated carbons were studied by using various analytical techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), determination of ash and moisture content. The contact time, adsorbent dosage, adsorbate concentration, temperature and pH of the adsorbate that affecting the adsorption process were also studied. The result shows that the AC 34 is very effective in adsorbing Acid Fuchsin and Fast Green compared to AC 00. The adsorption process agreed to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms with endothermic nature. In addition to , the two samples prepared in this study, another two commercial activated carbons (AC 6070 and AC 3040) were also used for comparison. A favorable adsorption of both dye solutions on AC 6070 compared to the other activated carbons is due to its higher BET surface area and micropore volume. The amount of dye adsorbed on adsorbent is in the order of AC 34>AC 00>AC 6070>AC 3040.


This thesis presents an account of an investigation into the use of information theory measures in pattern recognition problems. The objectives were firstly to determine the information content of the set of representations of an input image which are found at the output of an array of sensors; secondly to assess the information which may be used to allocate different patterns to appropriate classes in order to provide a means of recognition; and thirdly to assess the recognition capability of pattern recognition systems and their efficiency of utilization of information. Information assessment techniques were developed using fundamental principles of information theory. These techniques were used to assess the information associated with attributes such as orientation and location, of a variety of input images. The techniques were extended to permit the assessment of recognition capability and to provide a measure of the efficiency with which pattern recognition systems use the information available.


Culturally specific language practices related to vernacular uses of taboo language such as swearing represent a socially communicative minefield for learners of English. The role of classroom learning experiences to prepare learners for negotiation of taboo language use in social interactions is correspondingly complicated and ignored in much of the language teaching research literature. English language teachers confront not only obstacles to effective development of sociolinguistic and cultural knowledge in classroom instruction, and failure of course-books to address taboo language, but also uncertainties they themselves have about addressing such obstacles and omissions. In this paper, we draw on interview data from three experienced teachers of English as an additional language, to explore their perceptions and classroom practices in relation to taboo language. In particular, we explore the situational appropriateness of mild taboo swearing using the lexical item, bloody, which has a strong positioning in Australian language culture. Dilemmas surrounding this potentially troublesome item of Australian English are foregrounded in relation to the extent to which often neglected, but widely used taboo language is actually 'taboo' in the classroom.


The United States (US) and Argentina (ARG) account for more than 50% of the global soybean production. Soybean yields are determined by the genotype, environment, and management practices (G × E × M) interaction. Overall, 50-60% of soybean nitrogen (N) demand is usually met by the biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) process. An unanswered scientific question concerns the ability of BNF process to satisfy soybean N demand at varying yield levels. The overall objective of this project was to study the contribution of N via utilization of different N strategies, evaluating soybean genotypes released in different eras. Four field experiments were conducted during the 2016 season: Ottawa (east central Kansas, US), Ashland Bottoms (central Kansas, US), Rossville (central Kansas, US), and Oliveros (Santa Fe province, Argentina). A wide variety of historical and modern soybean genotypes were used (from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s release decades) in the US and ARG, all tested under three N management strategies (S1: non-N applied but inoculated, S2: all N provided by fertilizer, and S3: late-N applied) and all seeds inoculated. At Ottawa, the study was planted in an area without previous soybean history with yields ranging from 21 to 30 bu/a. Modern genotype (2010) increased yields by 15% relative to the other varieties. As related to the N management approach, higher yields occurred when the N nutrition was based on S2 (overall 10% increase). At Ashland Bottoms, yields ranged from 47 to 65 bu/a, and the 1990s variety out-yielded the rest of the varieties by 13%. There was not statistical significance for N management at this location. At Rossville, yields ranged from 37 to 85 bu/a, with higher yields observed for the modern genotype (released after 2010). Regarding N strategies, S2 increased yields by 18% compared to S1. At ARG, yield ranged from 40 to 74 bu/a, with modern soybean varieties (released after 2010) yielding 34% greater than the rest of the varieties. Nitrogen application S2 increased yields by 5% when compared to the S1 strategy. Relative to yield potential, yield levels in Argentina were similar to those in central Kansas (Ashland Bottoms and Rossville).


ABSTRACT Virus-specific CD4+ T-cell function is thought to play a central role in induction and maintenance of effective CD8+ T-cell responses in experimental animals or humans. However, the reasons that diminished proliferation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific CD4+ T cells is observed in the majority of infected patients and the role of these diminished responses in the loss of control of replication during the chronic phase of HIV infection remain incompletely understood. In a cohort of 15 patients that were selected for particularly strong HIV-specific CD4+ T-cell responses, the effects of viremia on these responses were explored. Restriction of HIV replication was not observed during one to eight interruptions of antiretroviral therapy in the majority of patients (12 of 15). In each case, proliferative responses to HIV antigens were rapidly inhibited during viremia. The frequencies of cells that produce IFN-γ in response to Gag, Pol, and Nef peptide pools were maintained during an interruption of therapy. In a subset of patients with elevated frequencies of interleukin-2 (IL-2)-producing cells, IL-2 production in response to HIV antigens was diminished during viremia. Addition of exogenous IL-2 was sufficient to rescue in vitro proliferation of DR0101 class II Gag or Pol tetramer+ or total-Gag-specific CD4+ T cells. These observations suggest that, during viremia, diminished in vitro proliferation of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells is likely related to diminished IL-2 production. These results also suggest that relatively high frequencies of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells persist in the peripheral blood during viremia, are not replicatively senescent, and proliferate when IL-2 is provided exogenously.


This article utilises the contemporary political theory of Nancy Fraser to explore the seemingly disparate issues of religious diversity and financial regulation in multicultural late capitalism, focusing on Islamic finance. In recent decades, Islamic finance has expanded into an almost trillion dollar global industry based around the rejection of riba, an Arabic word meaning usury. Whilst the growth of Islamic finance has been staggering, there has been little political or sociological analysis undertaken. This paper argues that Islamic finance challenges not only conventional financial wisdom and regulations, but raises numerous issues about religious identity and relationship between religion, politics and the economy. Analysing the development, principles and practices of Islamic finance, this paper argues that the seemingly staid field of financial regulation is actually a field wherein the politics of religious identity is very strong and wherein complex issues of cultural recognition, economic redistribution and political representation have emerged.


AbstractAlthough most scholars of Turkey's civil-military relations argue that the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) insurgency has led to a decrease in civilian control over the Turkish military from the 1980s onwards, this has not always been the case. This article argues that the presence or the degree of the PKK threat is not sufficient to explain the civil-military balance of power in Turkey throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. Instead, the article shows that in the face of the PKK threat, three major factors have influenced the behaviours of both civilian and military policy-makers in Turkey and shaped the level of civilian control. These factors are first, the Turkish political leaders' control over their political parties and these parties' control of a majority of seats in the parliament; second, how negatively or positively the military perceives the political leadership; and third, European Union pressures for democratisation.


This article includes a methodological proposal in which students collaborate with scientists in order to establish a significative series of data to know the impacts of Climate Change on a shellfish bank which represents the main socio-economic motor in a costal population of more than 14000 habitants live. This proposal explains the theoretical background of the experience as well as the teaching strategy through laboratory practices which allows the students to act as efficient scholar scientists on this type of collaborations with research teams. Also described is the practical application of this knowledge on an investigation allowing for the beginning of a temporal series of data about the situation regarding the collection of cockles (Cerastordema edule) to understand how Climate Change can affect this valuable economic resource in Galicia – Spain. This applied scholar science is described ending with the analysis of data through our accumulation of graphs and the creation of our conclusions. Through our conclusions we have found the necessity of carrying on the kind of studies in the following years remarkable both, before and after, the recruitment campaign in order to obtain conclusions about possible adaptations of the duration of the recruitment period to Climate Change. Via our pedagogically obtained conclusions, we have found interest in this type of proposal to be valuable for the acceleration of the incorporation of these contents to the syllabus due to the urgency of the arrival of this knowledge to society.


Purpose – This paper aims to gain a better understanding of how Swedish branded goods manufacturers (BGMs) deal with the increased usage of private labels.Design/methodology/approach – The approach takes the form of answering the three research questions of this study: how private labels are viewed by BGMs on the Swedish market; how Swedish BGMs strategically respond to the increases in private labels; and how the benefits and drawbacks of these strategic responses are perceived by Swedish BGMs. A contrasting multiple case study of four Swedish companies in the fast‐moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry was used.Findings – The perceived advantages of private labels are connected to their overall control of the market in which they operate, whereas the advantages of BGMs are seen to be linked to product development and superior brand reputation. BGMs respond to private labels by taking them seriously and striving to increase the perceived distance of their brands from private labels in the eyes of the consumers. The overall benefit of these strategies is perceived to be preparedness for increased private label competition, while the drawbacks vary between companies.Research limitations/implications – In addition to empirical testing based on previous research on private label competition in a new setting, the study also presents suggestions for future research and the implications of the findings for managers.Practical implications – Findings indicate that BGMs should take the emergence of private labels seriously, while at the same time striving to maintain good business relationships with the retailers.Originality/value – The study provides insights into the competitive situation between private labels and the manufacturer brands in the Swedish FMCG market.


BackgroundWhat are the opportunities and challenges around advanced computing for NZ's research communities 5 to 7 years in the future?NeSI has reached out to various research leaders in New Zealand for the answer to this question.This document offers guidance on carrying out a research community consultation. It is based on consultation activities New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) conducted in 2018. These consultations were typically 1 hour long interviews with individual research leaders in New Zealand, documenting their thoughts on advanced research computing drivers and needs in 5 to 7 years time.Structured interviews were done with 27 research leaders from various institutions. The following 6 topics were the focus of the interviews, taking a view of the situation in 5 to 7 years time:* Research context and drivers: What will be the main drivers that influence research?* Research priorities: What sort of problems will you be solving?* Collaboration: What kind of collaboration will be needed and to what extent?* Research capabilities: What will be the skills and capabilities needed to achieve your research goals?* Adoption of advanced research computing: What kind and how much of advanced research computing will be needed?* Support for the development of key capabilities: What kind of support will be needed?---New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) enables researchers across a wide range of communities and disciplines to tackle large or highly complicated problems and to investigate scientific challenges that were previously impossible. NeSI makes approaching these problems easier for researchers through offering a specialised platform of computational and analytics software and services powered by supercomputers, and placing a strong emphasis on support and training alongside the raw power of its technology platform. NeSI is a collaboration of the University of Auckland, the University of Otago, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, NIWA, and MBIE.


Abstract The tissue kallikreins are serine proteases encoded by highly conserved multigene families. The rodent kallikrein (KLK) families are particularly large, consisting of 13 26 genes clustered in one chromosomal locus. It has been recently recognised that the human KLK gene family is of a similar size (15 genes) with the identification of another 12 related genes (KLK4-KLK15) within and adjacent to the original human KLK locus (KLK1-3) on chromosome 19q13.4. The structural organisation and size of these new genes is similar to that of other KLK genes except for additional exons encoding 5 or 3 untranslated regions. Moreover, many of these genes have multiple mRNA transcripts, a trait not observed with rodent genes. Unlike all other kallikreins, the KLK4-KLK15 encoded proteases are less related (25–44%) and do not contain a conventional kallikrein loop. Clusters of genes exhibit high prostatic (KLK2-4, KLK15) or pancreatic (KLK6-13) expression, suggesting evolutionary conservation of elements conferring tissue specificity. These genes are also expressed, to varying degrees, in a wider range of tissues suggesting a functional involvement of these newer human kallikrein proteases in a diverse range of physiological processes.


Melissa Block is host of National Public Radio's (NPR) All Things Considered. She has worked for NPR since 1985 and held various positions including director, producer, editor, and reporter. In addition to covering such notable domestic stories as the 2000 US presidential election and the World Trade Center attacks, she has also done pieces focusing on aspects of New York City life, including trips through Manhattan, rides on the subway, and strike calls in major league baseball. Ms. Block has also reported on international events such as the crash of TWA flight 800, UN peacekeeping in Angola, and the conflict in Kosovo. Herworkon rape as a weapon of war won NPR's Overseas Press Club Award. HARVARD INTERNATIONAL REVIEW: There was a lot of media attention given to the conflict in Kosovo, some of which focused on military strategy, some on leaders and prominent figures in the Balkans, and some on human interest stories in the region. What was your role in Kosovo? I was part of an NPR team that was sent to Macedonia in June 1999. The original story assignment was to cover the refugee crisis--there were hundreds of thousands of refugees who had fled from Kosovo into Macedonia earlier that spring and later that winter. They had been there for months, and reporters were being cycled in and out to cover the story. As luck would have it, almost immediately after I arrived, the Serbian parliament signed a peace agreement, and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic agreed to it. What had been a refugee story was turning into something very different. The agreement meant that eventually the bombing campaign would end, troops would go in, and the refugees would be returning home. The refugees in the camps were warned not to go home because it was not yet safe, but they began packing their tents on their own. There was a massive exodus back into Kosovo. My stories started in the camps talking to refugees about their reaction to this peace agreement and listening to stories about the abuse that they suffered at the hands of Serbian police and soldiers. The stories became Kosovo stories. I followed a young man and his uncle to their village as they surveyed what was left of their home and were reunited with family members. I ultimately went to Pristina, Kosovo, and spent the rest of my stay doing stories about the regeneration o f the capital and the use of rape as a devastating weapon of war. How well do you feel the situation in Kosovo was reported by the US media? Was there a disconnect between the situation on the ground and how it was perceived in the United States? Obviously there was far less reporting before the troops went in; there was a bit of a vacuum during the whole crisis inside the country. There were some reporters who stayed at the onset of the conflict, but many who did not. I think for some readers there was a lack of information until refugees started pouring out and telling their stories, and then the stories were coming from the camps. I think those stories were reported extremely well, and a lot was learned in a short amount of time. Once NATO forces entered the country and reporters went with them, much more information was gleaned. There was a huge opening up, and the full extent of what had happened there became widely known. Was there any observable agenda behind the way stories were reported in Kosovo, or was there any particular goal on the part of the media? This was a fairly one-sided conflict. The aggression was by Serbs predominantly, directed at ethnic Albanians, so that fact was reported accurately. I do not think it reflects a bias--it reflects an accurate understanding of what was happening on the ground. It was not a conventional war; this was a tremendous aggression by one party against a minority within Yugoslavia. That, I think, was accurately reported. Were there any particular stories from the conflict that made a strong impression on you? …


Our special issue provides a first-of-its kind attempt to examine environmental injustices in the occupied West Bank through interdisciplinary perspectives, pointing to the broader settler colonial and neoliberal contexts within which they occur and to their more-than-human implications. Specifically, we seek to understand what environmental justice—a movement originating from, and rooted in, the United States—means in the context of Palestine/Israel. Moving beyond the settler-native dialectic, we draw attention to the more-than-human flows that occur in the region—which include water, air, waste, cement, trees, donkeys, watermelons, and insects—to consider the dynamic, and often gradational, meanings of frontier, enclosure, and Indigeneity in the West Bank, challenging the all-too-binary assumptions at the core of settler colonialism. Against the backdrop of the settler colonial project of territorial dispossession and elimination, we illuminate the infrastructural connections and disruptions among lives and matter in the West Bank, interpreting these through the lens of environmental justice. We finally ask what forms of ecological decolonization might emerge from this landscape of accumulating waste, concrete, and ruin. Such alternative visions that move beyond the single axis of settler-native enable the emergence of more nuanced, and even hopeful, ecological imaginaries that focus on sumud, dignity, and recognition.


Pain is essential as a warning system for the human body. For some people, however, pain develops into a chronic condition. What makes it particularly difficult to care for patients with chronic pain conditions is that pain is an individual, subjective feeling. Traditionally, medical experts recommend that patients express their pain experience on a numeric scale or with standardised terms, but patients find this too simplistic to convey their condition. Also, the challenge that pain is a social issue, affecting patients' work and social life severely, urged us to look for alternative ways in which people might communicate their pain experiences. In this project we set out to use design materials to 'design' better communication means for patients to convey their pain experiences. In the process we realised a need to develop a tangible vocabulary for grasping what pain is really about.


Beginning in 1986, 7 aerial surveys covering the coastal waters of Iceland have been conducted up to and including 2016. In addition, 7 partial surveys covering portions of the same area and at different times of the year have been flown in the same 30-year period. We present previously unpublished abundance estimates, corrected to the extent feasible for known biases, for common minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), white-beaked dolphins (Lagenorhynchus albirostris) and harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) from some or all of the 2007, 2009 and 2016 surveys. We also examine the distribution of these and other species in Icelandic waters over the 30-year timespan of the surveys, as well as changes observed over the period. The relative abundance of common minke and humpback whales, and white-beaked dolphins, was comparatively low in the spring and fall, and peaked in June and July when all of the main surveys have been carried out. An analysis of changes in density as an index of relative abundance from all surveys (1986-2016) indicates that common minke whale abundance decreased by up to 75% after 2001 and has remained at a relatively low level since then. This decrease has been particularly apparent in the southwest and southeast of Iceland, areas that previously had very high densities. Relative abundance of humpback whales and white-beaked dolphins has increased over the period 1986-2016, particularly in the northern part of the survey area. Estimating harbour porpoise abundance and trend was considered unfeasible except from the surveys conducted in 2007 and 2016, which provide abundance estimates of similar magnitude. We place these observed changes in the context of oceanographic and ecosystem changes documented over the same period.


The musty-earthy taste and odour caused by the presence of geosmin and other compounds in tap water are major causes of consumer complaints. Although ozonation and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption have been practiced in water-treatment plants to remove these compounds effectively, two major problems associated with the application of these processes – formation of stringently regulated bromate ions by ozonation and unhygienic invertebrate colonisation of GAC filters – are still to be resolved. This research advanced the process of adsorption by powdered activated carbon (PAC) by reducing its particle size to the submicrometre range for microfiltration pretreatment. Adsorption pretreatment by using this super (S)-PAC removed the geosmin with vastly greater efficiency than by normal PAC. Removal was attained in a much shorter contact time and at a much lower dosage. The S-PAC was also beneficial in attenuating the transmembrane pressure rises that occurred between both physical backwashings and chemical cleanings.


Mainstream culture often renders gender identities that do not conform to heteronormative ideals as 'deviant' and inauthentic - a failure of the norm. This thesis offers a close reading of Thomas Harris's 1999 work of fiction, Hannibal, and analyses the ways in which, as a contemporary Gothic text, the narrative provides a space for the exploration of transgressive gender identity. Since its inception in the late eighteenth century, the gothic genre has been primarily concerned with exploring subjects considered taboo within mainstream consciousness. Through an analysis that situates Hannibal within a Gothic framework, the thesis argues that Harris re-conceptualises elements of the traditional Gothic and thus produces a subversive narrative that draws attention to gender identities excluded from the heteronormative matrix. Judith Butler's readings of gender help expand the reading of Hannibal as a reconceptualisation of generic gender roles in the Gothic, and facilitate an analysis of transgressive gender identity in the novel. Within the democratic space of the contemporary Gothic, Hannibal can thus be read as critiquing mainstream culture's treatment of those who inhabit a space outside the confinement of the naturalised heterosexual binary matrix. Focusing on selected characters identified as pivotal in the novel, the thesis demonstrates Butler's argument that heteronormative gender categories are illusory, formed as they are on the repudiation of those considered a disruption or failure of the norm. The concluding discussion reinforces this argument by examining the parochialism of mainstream culture and the continued marginalising of alternative gender identities in society.


Attending to global environmental concerns calls for renewed efforts in environmental education and environmental literacy. Important questions regarding equity and access also need to be considered (NAAEE, 2011). Therefore, a goal of this study was to develop a framework for Critical Environmental Agency (CEA) that builds on the work of science education equity scholars (Calabrese Barton & Tan, 2008; Tan, Calabrese Barton, Turner, & Gutierrez, 2012) while incorporating specific components of environmental education (Greenwood, 2013; NAAEE, 2011). An additional goal of this study was to expand and broaden the understanding of how diverse youth engage in environmental education come to see themselves as people who care about the environment and are resolved to help create a more just world. Finally, this study used CEA as a way to qualitatively assess youths' environmental literacy development. Using a critically-oriented sociocultural perspective, I conducted a largely qualitative ethnographic study, which explored the CEA development of 16 diverse youth from low income families who had not attended college. The youth participated in a field ecology program focused on herpetology (the study of reptiles and amphibians) that was a part of a larger multi-year college access program. Data collected included: individual interviews, photovoice focus groups, photovoice assignments, pre/post-tests, pre/post surveys and observations and field notes. Data analyses focused on how youths' experiences were leveraged to develop CEA, how youths' CEA was enabled, and how youths' CEA was constrained. The findings of this study inform our understanding of how diverse youth engage in environmental education and strengthen their CEA. Youths' CEA was most often enabled when they had opportunities to explore their local communities, were given the freedom to make decisions during community explorations, and were provided with multiple opportunities to engage in the practices of field ecology, as success did not always come on their first attempt. The findings also inform our understanding of obstacles that hinder youths' CEA development. Obstacles in this study included youths' limited understanding of local environmental issues, their own views of themselves as not "outdoors" or "science" people, and their thoughts that urban environments were divorced from nature. Implications from this study suggest that youth should be afforded opportunities to act upon, even if in small ways, what they come to see as important for their community's environmental wellbeing.


Port cities are on the front-line of a changing global urban system. There are problems from restructuring of trade, logistics and ship-building, creating economic dependency, social exclusion and cultural destruction. Meanwhile, there exists new opportunities in heritage tourism, cultural industries and ecological restoration, but these opportunities often have negative impacts. This paper addresses the question of how port cities can steer from negative to positive development paths and outcomes. It sets out a way of working with inter-connected economic, social, political and technological factors—a ' synergistic ' approach to mapping of problems and design of policy responses. Looking at three contrasting examples of port cities—Liverpool, Dubai and Mauritius—we can compare the inter-connected dynamics of growth and decline. Then we can understand the inter-connected factors of successful regeneration and sustainable prosperity, not as linear 'policy fixes', but more like synergistic processes of learning, innovation and capacity building. These call for new models for creative innovation in social and community enterprise: cultural heritage both old and new; new social finance and investment; socio-ecological restoration with participative governance, etc . Such pathways and opportunities are now emerging in many different locations; this paper provides methods and tools to understand them and promote them.


Damico, James R. M.S., Department of Geological Sciences, Wright State University, 2003. Geostatistical Characterization of Heterogeneity in the Aberjona River Aquifer, Woburn, Massachusetts Ground water flow and contaminant transport patterns are largely controlled by the distribution of highand low-permeability sediments. Therefore, an accurate description of the aquifer architecture is paramount to producing a representative ground water model. Models of contaminant fate and transport in the aquifer near Woburn, Massachusetts, have previously been created by others using a deterministic approach. As a complement to these prior studies, the proportions, geometry, and juxtaposition of the different lithofacies of the aquifer were statistically characterized for developing stochastic models for the aquifer system. The descriptions of lithology from boreholes were separated into eleven categories based primarily on grain size. Hydraulic conductivity values were available for some of the categories and their frequency distributions were analyzed. However, it was not possible to conclusively divide the categories into facies based on permeability because of the overlap in the values. As a result, three classifications (termed A, B, and C) were devised to explore the effect of assigning the categories into different permeability modes. The classifications were designed to represent both the worstand best-case scenarios with respect to the volumetric proportion of low-permeability facies. In each classification, the study area was divided into three sections: the northern section, the central section, and the southern section. The proportion of low-permeability facies iii was found to be highest in northern section and lowest in central section. The vertical range of the low-permeability facies was characterized using the transition probability models while the variogram model characterized the lateral range of the low-permeability facies. The results of the stochastic characterization were utilized with a sequential indicator simulator code to produce visualizations under each classification. Using previous results of Ritzi et al., (2000) from transport studies of contamination in simulations of areas similar to this study, an assessment of the likelihood of contamination still residing in the aquifer was made. Ritzi et al. (2000) found that residence time for contamination that encountered low-permeability facies was several orders several orders of magnitude greater than the residence time for contamination that did not encounter low-permeability facies. In addition, they demonstrated that the probability of contamination entering the low-permeability regions increased as the proportion of low-permeability facies increased. Using these results, an estimate of the probability that contamination encountered low-permeability regions was made for each section. The results indicate that the section with the highest proportion of low-permeability facies, the northern section, would be the most likely to still contain contamination while the central section, which had the lowest proportion, would have the least likelihood. Thus, the aquifer may appear to be clean while contamination still persists in small proportions in the low-permeability facies. Over time, contamination could leach out of the northern section and migrate toward the lower regions. Remediation would then have to continue indefinitely if contamination is to be fully removed from the area. iv Table of


An algorithm that performs sparse linear discriminant analysis (Sparse-LDA) finds near-optimal solutions in far less time than the prior art when specialized to binary classification (of 2 classes). Sparse-LDA is a type of feature- or variable- selection problem with numerous applications in statistics, machine learning, computer vision, computational finance, operations research, and bio-informatics. Because of its combinatorial nature, feature- or variable-selection problems are NP-hard or computationally intractable in cases involving more than 30 variables or features. Therefore, one typically seeks approximate solutions by means of greedy search algorithms. The prior Sparse-LDA algorithm was a greedy algorithm that considered the best variable or feature to add/ delete to/ from its subsets in order to maximally discriminate between multiple classes of data. The present algorithm is designed for the special but prevalent case of 2-class or binary classification (e.g. 1 vs. 0, functioning vs. malfunctioning, or change versus no change). The present algorithm provides near-optimal solutions on large real-world datasets having hundreds or even thousands of variables or features (e.g. selecting the fewest wavelength bands in a hyperspectral sensor to do terrain classification) and does so in typical computation times of minutes as compared to days or weeks as taken by the prior art. Sparse LDA requires solving generalized eigenvalue problems for a large number of variable subsets (represented by the submatrices of the input within-class and between-class covariance matrices). In the general (fullrank) case, the amount of computation scales at least cubically with the number of variables and thus the size of the problems that can be solved is limited accordingly. However, in binary classification, the principal eigenvalues can be found using a special analytic formula, without resorting to costly iterative techniques. The present algorithm exploits this analytic form along with the inherent sequential nature of greedy search itself. Together this enables the use of highly-efficient partitioned-matrix-inverse techniques that result in large speedups of computation in both the forward-selection and backward-elimination stages of greedy algorithms in general.


This is the Fifth Edition of the textbook that pioneered the teaching of Evidence using problems rather than appellate opinions. The text explores the Rules of Evidence and their rationales in a straightforward fashion without hiding the ball or ignoring complexities. Problems that clarify the Rules appear throughout the chapters; larger problem sets that explore the Rules in detail are found at the ends of chapters. The updated edition discusses important recent cases and introduces social science findings and recent developments in science and technology that bear on the design and operation of the Rules of Evidence, and on their rationale.


Inference for Dirichlet process hierarchical models is typically performed using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, which can be roughly categorized into marginal and conditional methods. The former integrate out analytically the infinite-dimensional component of the hierarchical model and sample from the marginal distribution of the remaining variables using the Gibbs sampler. Conditional methods impute the Dirichlet process and update it as a component of the Gibbs sampler. Since this requires imputation of an infinite-dimensional process, implementation of the conditional method has relied on finite approximations. In this paper, we show how to avoid such approximations by designing two novel Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms which sample from the exact posterior distribution of quantities of interest. The approximations are avoided by the new technique of retrospective sampling. We also show how the algorithms can obtain samples from functionals of the Dirichlet process. The marginal and the conditional methods are compared and a careful simulation study is included, which involves a non-conjugate model, different datasets and prior specifications. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.


Rome underwent a spectacular transformation under Fascist rule; a transformation that was visual and topographical but also deeply symbolic. The 'third Rome' that Mussolini envisioned and sought to realise in the 1920s and 1930s was partly a new city, expanding in all directions from the historic centre, and partly a new vision for an ideal city that emerged from within a cityscape forged across millennia of history. This Rome was intended to be both the capital of a regenerated Italy and the sanctuary of a new international fascist political religion. The book traces the plethora of visions and projects that sought to reimagine, reinvent and reshape the city as a 'fascist capital' over the course of twenty short years. Extensive demolitions, reconfigurations of sites and monuments, as well as ambitious new constructions designed by an array of architects in wildly different styles, chronicle a fascinating story of conquering drive, ruthless appropriation, and interrupted ambition.


This study attempts to empirically investigate the impact of interest rate liberalisation on the efficiency of investment allocation in Kenya – using cointegration-based error-correction model. The study was motivated by the current debate on the efficacy of interest rate liberalisation on the one hand and the painful experience some countries have had with the liberalisation of interest rates on the other. Contrary to the results obtained from some previous studies, the results of this study find a distinct positive relationship between interest rate liberalisation and the efficiency of investment in Kenya. The study concludes that higher interest rates, which result from interest rate liberalisation, are likely to improve the average efficiency of investment in Kenya by transferring capital from projects with low returns to projects with high returns.


Although ultrasound guidance is extensively used in percutaneous interventional procedures, the limitations of B-mode, gray-scale sonographic guidance can restrict clinical use. Little attention has been paid to the use of color Doppler sonography during such procedures. There are several ways in which color Doppler sonography can facilitate percutaneous procedures that involve insertion of a needle or catheter. The advantages of color Doppler sonography include the following: (a) better visualization of the shaft and tip of the needle, especially in solid, echogenic lesions, when the needle is moving, or when the beam-needle angle is narrow; (b) improved targeting of either vessels or non-vascular structures (ie, biliary ducts) to be punctured; (c) avoidance of interposed vascular structures and highly vascular areas during puncture of lesions; (d) improved visualization of poorly echogenic catheters, allowing proper placement; and (e) prompt detection of complications, including active bleeding, after withdrawal of the needle.


Objective: We sought to develop risk scores for the progression from cognitively normal (CN) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: We recruited into a longitudinal cohort study a randomly selected, population-based sample of Olmsted County, MN, residents, aged 70 to 89 years on October 1, 2004. At baseline and subsequent visits, participants were evaluated for demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological measures, and were classified as CN, MCI, or dementia. Using baseline demographic and clinical variables in proportional hazards models, we derived scores that predicted the risk of progressing from CN to MCI. We evaluated the ability of these risk scores to classify participants for MCI risk. Results: Of 1,449 CN participants, 401 (27.7%) developed MCI. A basic model had a C statistic of 0.60 (0.58 for women, 0.62 for men); an augmented model resulted in a C statistic of 0.70 (0.69 for women, 0.71 for men). Both men and women in the highest vs lowest sex-specific quartiles of the augmented model's risk scores had an approximately 7-fold higher risk of developing MCI. Adding APOE ε4 carrier status improved the model (p = 0.002). Conclusions: We have developed MCI risk scores using variables easily assessable in the clinical setting and that may be useful in routine patient care. Because of variability among populations, validation in independent samples is required. These models may be useful in identifying patients who might benefit from more expensive or invasive diagnostic testing, and can inform clinical trial design. Inclusion of biomarkers or other risk factors may further enhance the models.


EulerView incorporates a non-hierarchical classification structure to enable enhanced resource management. We apply the EulerView concept to the use of urls, constructing eli.icio.us which is a tool that realizes the EulerView concept and integrates it with del.icio.us. Currently, in del.icio.us, users can tag urls and browse for similar urls and the results can be displayed via an alphabetically sorted tag cloud. As well as facilitating easy tag management, using an EulerView display has the advantage that the user can use this representation for both tagging urls and for searching or browsing tasks, thus reducing any cognitive difficulties of users due to interacting with multiple representations.


Mixed music is about live musicians interacting with electronic parts which are controlled by a computer during the performance. It allows composers to use and combine traditional instruments with complex synthesized sounds and other electronic devices. There are several languages dedicated to the writing of mixed music scores. Among them, the Antescofo language coupled with an advanced score follower allows a composer to manage the reactive aspects of musical performances: how electronic parts interact with a musician. However these domain specific languages do not offer the expressiveness of functional programming.
 We embed the Antescofo language in a reactive functional programming language, ReactiveML. This approach offers to the composer recursion, higher order, inductive types, as well as a simple way to program complex reactive behaviors thanks to the synchronous model of concurrency on which ReactiveML is built. This article presents how to program mixed music in ReactiveML through several examples.


The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate quality of life in people aged 75 and older with cancer in relation to age, gender, presence and type of complaints, comorbidity, living conditions, perceived economic situation, sense of coherence, receiving help for daily living and social resources. The aim was also to investigate older people's experiences and the meaning of living with cancer in old age. The samples in the first three studies were identified in a larger population study concerning the health situation in people aged 75 and older. The first study comprised interviews with 64 persons with cancer about their experiences of living with cancer. In the second study comparisons were performed, between a study group of people with cancer (n=150) and a comparison group of people without cancer (n=138), as regards quality of life, complaints and comorbidities. In the third study gender differences were investigated between women (n=74) and men (n=76) with cancer and women (n=64) and men (n=74) without cancer. In the fourth study nine persons aged 75 and older, who had just completed cancer treatment, were interviewed about their experience of the meaning of living with cancer in old age.

Interviews with people with a more lingering cancer disease revealed four main categories: living with cancer means (a) bodily, mental, social and existential experiences, (b) being aware of the disease or not, (c) handling daily life, (d) feelings of affirmation and/or rejection in encountering health care professionals. The power to choose how to approach daily life with cancer, the disease and its treatment proved to be crucial for constructively handling and outcome. People with cancer had lower (poorer) scores in different domains of QoL (EORTC QLQ C-30, SF-12), more complaints, and more self-reported diseases than those without cancer. Irrespective of having cancer or not, the oldest old had more complaints than the youngest old. Significant differences in QoL and complaints among age groups between people with and without cancer were seen only between the youngest age groups (aged 75–79 years). Women with cancer were more vulnerable than their male counterparts in QoL, SOC, perceived economic situation and social resources. Receiving help for daily living from others and degree of complaints were associated with poor QoL for both physical and mental component scores (PCS, MCS) of the SF-12. In people with cancer the factors receiving help for daily living, comorbidity, degree of complaints and pain were associated with poor QoL. Interviews in study four revealed three essential themes: a disintegrated existence, a sudden awareness of the finiteness of life, painful insights into losses but also awareness of possibilities. The old persons who just had completed treatment lived under the pressure of being in a transition stage.

In conclusion cancer has an additional negative effect on QoL in old age and in combination with other diseases and especially the complaints. The most vulnerable cancer patients among older people seems to be the youngest old and women and especially cancer-related complaints have negative implications for QoL. Fatigue and pain seem to be the most excruciating symptoms in older people with cancer and thus suggesting a clinically important reduction of their QoL. Comorbidity was most pronounced in the oldest age groups and these people also had the poorest QoL. Oncology nursing to older people requires understanding of what the patients problems and needs are, also including the unspoken ones, as well as specific knowledge about management of symptoms and response to treatment in old age. These old people with cancer present a complex situation and thus require comprehensive assessment and physiological and psychosocial support as well as encouragement to make use of individual strengths and resources to maintain equilibrium during illness and treatment.


One of the challenges that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners experience is the lack of authentic use of the language. In most cases they are confined to the activities conducted in classrooms and lack opportunities to use and practice the target language outside the school in genuine settings. However, the activities done in class are generally decontextualized and lack real world relevance. As a result of this, while learners may have extensive knowledge about the target language—which is referred to as know what—they can scarcely use it for communication in real life—which is referred to as know how.

This study suggests that with the advances in pedagogical theory, authentic learning has much to offer in order to situate learning tasks in contexts that close the gap between the classrooms and real life. In so doing, the aim of this research is to provide learners with opportunities to use the target language in the kinds of purposeful and complex ways that it is used in real life.

In order to achieve this aim, characteristics of authentic learning environments were used as guidelines to design an e-learning environment which was based on real world activities. The study sought to investigate: how students engage with and respond to a computer-assisted language learning environment designed to incorporate characteristics of authentic activities in foreign language education; how students and teachers view the importance of each of the characteristics of authentic activities; how teachers support and scaffold student learning in a computer-assisted language learning environment designed to incorporate characteristics of authentic activities; and the ways in which students achieve foreign language competency through the use of computer assisted task-based authentic activities.

The research was conducted in North Cyprus with pre-university level EFL learners over a period of two semesters. Three teachers and 12 students participated in the study. A design-based research approach was employed in two iterative cycles in the form of an interpretive, qualitative study. The activity that learners were required to complete was based on a fictitious scenario set in a newspaper office. In this scenario learners assumed the roles of members of the editorial board, and the teachers were the editors of a newsletter. Learners researched topics that were socially important to them and produced articles for the newsletter, with all products written, and all communication spoken in the target language. Later, the two newsletters were published and distributed at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU).

Design-based research was employed in two cycles over two semesters. Data was collected through observations, interviews (both individual and group), work samples and video recordings. Later interviews and videotapes were transcribed for in-depth analysis. Cross-case data analysis was used in order to be able to draw conclusions in terms of the applicability of the findings to other similar settings.

The results indicated that despite the lack of learners' experience in using computers as part of their formal education, they found it motivating and educational. Basing the learning environment and activity on the characteristics of authentic activities have provided a real purpose to complete the activity, and many opportunities to use the target language in context, as well as to develop relevant skills. Teachers supported and scaffolded learners to direct their attention to the different resources available and to the different components of their articles. This process has provided the opportunity to focus on the author, content, language, audience and process, and thus enabled learners to develop authorship skills, to develop the content of their product, to correct and improve linguistic errors, to address the needs of the audience, and to develop problem solving skills.

A key outcome of the research was the development of a framework for the design of authentic learning environments to be used in the teaching of foreign languages, in the form of 11 design principles. These principles contribute both theoretically and practically to understanding of how students learn languages in authentic and meaningful contexts.


Jordan triple systems and pairs do not in general possess unit elements, so that certain standard Jordan algebra methods for studying derivations, extensions, and bimodules do not carry over to triples. Unit elements usually arise as a maximal sum of orthogonal idempotents. In Jordan triple systems such orthogonal sums of tripotents are not enough: in order to "cover" the space one must allow families of tripotents which are orthogonal or collinear. We show that well behaved triples and pairs do possess covering systems of mixed tripotents, and that for many purposes such nonorthogonal families serve as an effective substitute for a unit element. In particular, they can be used to reduce the cohomology of a direct sum to the cohomology of the summands.


A precondition for developing diagnostic tools based on analysing physiological time series is that there is pattern, i.e. information, in the data. Systematic variation in the data set is often masked by baseline drift and physiological fluctuations. In this study a simplest possible algorithm to eliminate the effect of drift and detect short-term pattern in physiological data is presented. The time series, xi, is filtered for the occurrences of three consecutive points with different values (xi ≠ xi+1 ≠ xi+2). Six different patterns are identified. The probability distribution of the pattern suggests if the time series is random or generated from a possible goal directed regulating activity. If the information entropy of the probability distribution of the pattern is close to one (not infinite long time series), the time series most likely come from a underlying process not offering qualitative information suitable for diagnostic purposes. The method is demonstrated on a data sequence generated from the logistic map in the infinite periodicity condition and a recorded optokinetic nystagmus amplitude time series.


Franco and the Spanish Civil War is a wide-ranging and insightful analysis of the origins, course, and consequences of the conflict and of Franco's role within it. It offers a broad view of the war through a survey of the social and cultural dimensions, as well as the military and political ones. In particular, it traces Franco's meteoric rise to power, his conduct in the war, and his long subsequent rule. This authoritative introduction illuminates the many different interpretations of the conflict by examining a variety of perspectives. Franco and the Spanish Civil War places the war in its national and global contexts, exploring both nationalist and republican points of view, and giving attention to foreign participation in the conflict.


Rose Jacobs and the organization among whose leaders she numbered—Hadassah, the American Women's Zionist organization—made, during the 1930s and 1940s, important and unprecedented inroads into the Zionist establishment. Jacobs and other Hadassah women used their organization's size and financial power to claim a voice in the making of Zionist policy both in the United States and in the Jewish community in Palestine. The political, international, and economic crises of these two decades enabled Hadassah to expand out of the traditionally female areas to which it had originally been restricted—health and education—and make its voice heard on other issues, among them Jewish-Arab relations. This culminated in Jacobs' election to the Jewish Agency Executive in 1938. Hadassah broke the limitations under which Jewish women's organizations had theretofore operated and used its newfound influence to offer alternatives to the male Zionist leadership's cultural, social, and political doctrines.


In the North Atlantic, there are two main western boundary currents related to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC): the Gulf Stream flowing northward and the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) flowing southward. Here we analyze data from the OVIDE section (GO-SHIP A25 Portugal-Greenland 40–60°N) that crosses the DWBC and the northward extension of the Gulf Stream, the North Atlantic Current. We show that North Atlantic western boundary currents play a key role in the transport of dissolved organic matter, specifically dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Revisited transports and budgets of DOC with new available data identify the eastern Subpolar North Atlantic (eSPNA) as an important source of locally produced organic matter for the North Atlantic and a key region in the supply of bioavailable DOC to the deep ocean. The East Greenland Current, and its upstream source the East Reykjanes Ridge Current on the eastern flank of the mid-Atlantic ridge, are export pathways of bioavailable DOC toward subtropical latitudes. The fast overturning and subsequent remineralization of DOC produced in the autotrophic eSPNA explains up to 38% of the total oxygen consumption in the deep North Atlantic between the OVIDE section and 24°N. Carbon budgets that do not take into account this organic remineralization process overestimates the natural uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere by one third. The inclusion of DOC transports in regional carbon budgets reconciles the estimates of CO2 uptake in the North Atlantic between model and observations.


Knowing the ill effects of dependence upon conventional resources for generation of energy, the world is already making an effort to harness energy from renewable energy sources. However, the use of conventional resources is not fully eliminated from daily lives of people as the renewable energy sources are limited due to their intermittent nature. The paper presents a unique technique of Demand Side Management (DSM) for a domestic consumer whose house is equipped with on-grid solar PV panel system. DSM is the management of energy needs according to its availability. The paper deals with designing of an automated switch which is an adapter and can be inserted into standard 13amp socket. The adapter is equipped with a sensor that transmits data to it. The smart solar switch can detect surplus power generated by the PV system and it controls non-priority loads in the house depending upon the amount of surplus power. The designed switch provides an automatic, fast, easy to install and safe option for customers who want to increase their use of solar energy. Its performance was tested in a lab setup as well as in real time scenario in a home.


Macroeconometric models with forward-looking variables give raise to very large systems of equations that requires heavy computations. These models was influenced by the development of new and efficient computational techniques and they are an interesting testing ground for the numerical methods addressed in this research. The most difficult problem in solving such models is to obtain the solution of the linear system that arises during the Newton step. For this purpose we have used both direct methods based on matrix factorization and nonstationary iterative methods, also called Krylov methods that provide an interesting alternative to the direct methods. In this paper we present performance results of both serial and parallel versions of the algorithms involved in solving these models. Although parallel implementation of the most dense linear algebra operations is a well understood process, the availability of general purpose, high performance parallel dense linear algebra libraries is limited by the complexity of implementation. This paper describes PLSS – (Parallel Linear System Solver) a library which provides routines for linear system solving with an interface easy to use, that mirrors the natural description of sequential linear algebra algorithms.


For finite two-dimensional photonic crystals given as periodic arrays of circular cylinders in a square or triangular lattice, we develop an efficient method to compute the transmission and reflection spectra for oblique incident plane waves. The method relies on vector cylindrical wave expansions to approximate the Dirichlet-to-Neumann (DtN) map for each distinct unit cell and uses the DtN maps to derive an efficient method that works on the edges of the unit cells only. The DtN operator maps the two longitudinal field components to their derivatives on the boundary of the unit cell.


The arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal resources present in wheat fields of the Canadian Prairie were explored using 454 pyrosequencing. Of the 33 dominant AM fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) found in the 76 wheat fields surveyed at anthesis in 2009, 14 clustered as Funneliformis - Rhizophagus, 16 as Claroideoglomus, and 3 as Diversisporales. An OTU of Funneliformis mosseae and one OTU of Diversisporales each accounted for approximately 16% of all AM fungal OTUs. The former was ubiquitous, and the latter was mainly restricted to the Black and Dark Brown Chernozems. AM fungal OTU community composition was better explained by the Chernozem great groups (P = 0.044) than by measured soil properties. Fifty-two percent of the AM fungal OTUs were unrelated to measured soil properties. Black Chernozems hosted the largest AM fungal OTU diversity and almost twice the number of AM fungal sequences seen in Dark Brown Chernozems, the great group ranking second for AM fungal sequence abundance. Brown Chernozems hosted the lowest AM fungal abundance and an AM fungal diversity as low as that seen in Gray soils. We concluded that Black Chernozems are most conducive to AM fungal proliferation. AM fungi are generally distributed according to Chernozem great groups in the Canadian Prairie, although some taxa are evenly distributed in all soil groups.


Lab-on-chip processes often require long dwelling times leading to coiled capillary reactors with laminar flow. These tubular reactors are designed for a reaction time, unfortunately with a wide residence time distribution. This contribution presents a modular concept based on coiled flow inverters (CFI), which achieve high radial mixing with narrow residence time distribution at low Reynolds numbers [1]. The modular design enables quick adaptation to changing residence times and flow rates with low pressure loss. The tube diameters range from capillaries with a few 100 μm to several millimeters for high throughput and long residence time.
 With the aid of a design space diagram, the required pipe diameters and lengths can be quickly determined based on standardized coil diameters [2]. The modular concept enables various arrangements for different residence time and flow rate requirements with minimum pressure loss. In the laboratory, for example, a chemical process in the throughput range of a few grams per hour can be developed and processed in the simple device. The results can be scaled via the platform concept to higher production rates with constant residence time characteristics. The scale-up concept can easily be displayed and designed graphically in the reactor performance diagram.


Debris disks around young main-sequence stars often have gaps and cavities which for a long time have been interpreted as possibly being caused by planets. In recent years, several giant planet discoveries have been made in systems hosting disks of precisely this nature, further implying that interactions with planets could be a common cause of such disk structures. As part of the SEEDS high-contrast imaging survey, we are surveying a population of debris-disk-hosting stars with gaps and cavities implied by their spectral energy distributions, in order to attempt to spatially resolve the disk as well as to detect any planets that may be responsible for the disk structure. Here, we report on intermediate results from this survey. Five debris disks have been spatially resolved, and a number of faint point sources have been discovered, most of which have been tested for common proper motion, which in each case has excluded physical companionship with the target stars. From the detection limits of the 50 targets that have been observed, we find that β Pic b-like planets (∼10 Mjup planets around G–A-type stars) near the gap edges are less frequent than 15%–30%, implying that if giant planets are the dominant cause of these wide (27 AU on average) gaps, they are generally less massive than β Pic b.


Abstract. The geopotential height (GPH) product created from global observations by the High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) instrument on NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS) Aura spacecraft is discussed. The accuracy, resolution and precision of the HIRDLS version 7 algorithms are assessed and data screening recommendations are made. Comparisons with GPH from observations, reanalyses and models including European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Reanalysis (ERA-Interim), and National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) Reanalysis illustrate the HIRDLS GPHs have a precision ranging from 2 to 30 m and an accuracy of ±100 m up to 1 hPa. Comparisons indicate HIRDLS GPH may have a slight low bias in the tropics and a slight high bias at high latitudes. Geostrophic winds computed with HIRDLS GPH qualitatively agree with winds from other data sources including ERA-Interim.


Language teaching is a profession that requires specialized skills. Teachers need a high level of proficiency in the language that they teach in addition to knowledge of second language acquisition and language teaching methodology. However, language teaching is frequently undervalued and misunderstood. This paper examines the (lack of) professionalism in language teaching from two different perspectives. First, the author considers the status of English language teaching around the world, which is adversely affected by the frequent practice of hiring unqualified native speakers. The second section of the paper addresses the current status of foreign language teaching in the United States. In spite of a critical need for foreign language skills in the U.S., language programs are being eliminated at universities around the country, and in some cases classroom instruction is being replaced with self-study software programs.


This survey discusses the human-perspective into networking through the Tactful Networking paradigm, whose goal is to add perceptive senses to the network by assigning it with human-like capabilities of observation, interpretation, and reaction to daily-life features and associated entities. To achieve this, knowledge extracted from inherent human behavior in terms of routines, personality, interactions, and others is leveraged, empowering the learning and prediction of user needs to improve QoE and system performance while respecting privacy and fostering new applications and services. Tactful Networking groups solutions from literature and innovative interdisciplinary human aspects studied in other areas. The paradigm is motivated by mobile devices' pervasiveness and increasing presence as a sensor in our daily social activities. With the human element in the foreground, it is essential: (i) to center big data analytics around individuals; (ii) to create suitable incentive mechanisms for user participation; (iii) to design and evaluate both human-aware and system-aware networking solutions; and (iv) to apply prior and innovative techniques to deal with human-behavior sensing and learning. This survey reviews the human aspect in networking solutions through over a decade, followed by discussing the tactful networking impact through literature in behavior analysis and representative examples. This paper also discusses a framework comprising data management, analytics, and privacy for enhancing human raw-data to assist Tactful Networking solutions. Finally, challenges and opportunities for future research are presented.


Abstract We show that spacing statistics can be obtained for all fracture densities by the same equation. Using the simple 'shear lag' theory, it is demonstrated that the results adequately fit experimental measurements. Theoretically, it is shown that two parameters are sufficient to characterize all spacing distributions. It is found that no real spacing saturation exists. Rather, a very low increase in joint densities occurs for a very high incremental stress increase. Moreover the transition to this kind of saturation is gradual and not abrupt. In this way the high density distributions with very small inter-joint distances, which pose a problem for saturation models, are directly explained. Correlation with creep experiments is also established. Comparison of our method with Weibull statistics is performed.


The National Institute of Corrections selected the Yamhill County Department of Corrections to implement a new evidenced-based decision making program within their criminal justice system. As part of the new program, every individual who was arrested and placed on probation went through a case analysis assessment and had their treatment programs approved by a judge prior to sentencing. In this study 20 randomly selected individuals who received their treatment programming prior to sentencing were matched to 20 randomly selected individuals who received treatment programs post-sentencing. The hypothesis of this study was that those probationers in the pre-sentencing group who had the case analysis assessment and probation treatment programs tailored to their needs and approved by the judge prior to sentencing would have better treatment outcomes than those who received the case analysis post-sentencing. The results of this study concluded that there was a significant difference between the 2 groups in the amount of time it took to complete the case analysis, the number of programs assigned to Running head: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN EVIDENCED-BASED DECISION iv individuals, and in the level of involvement between the 2 groups. Support was found for the hypothesis suggesting that probationers could be better served and cost-savings could be realized for departments with the full implementation of the pre-sentencing program. Running head: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AN EVIDENCED-BASED DECISION v


Abstract Land managers have long identified a critical need for a practical and effective framework for designing restoration strategies, especially where invasive plants dominate. A holistic, ecologically based, invasive plant management (EBIPM) framework that integrates ecosystem health assessment, knowledge of ecological processes, and adaptive management into a successional management model has recently been proposed. However, well-defined principles that link ecological processes that need to be repaired to tools and strategies available to managers have been slow to emerge, thus greatly limiting the ability of managers to easily apply EBIPM across a range of restoration scenarios. The broad objective of this article is to synthesize current knowledge of the mechanisms and processes that drive plant community succession into ecological principles for EBIPM. Using the core concepts of successional management that identify site availability, species availability, and species performance as three general drivers of plant community change, we detail key principles that link management tools used in EBIPM to the ecological processes predicted to influence the three general causes of succession. Although we acknowledge that identification of principles in ecology has greatly lagged behind other fields and recognize that identification of ecological principles and the conditions in which they hold are still being developed, we demonstrate how current knowledge and future advances can be used to structure a holistic EBIPM framework that can be applied across a range of restoration scenarios.


Gas lift is one of the most common forms of artificial lift, particularly for offshore wells. This is due to its relative downhole simplicity, flexibility, reliability, and ability in operating over a wide range of flow rates with the limited well head space. Generally, Gas lift optimization can reduce the operating cost with increase in the Net Present Value (NPV) and maximization of the recovery from the asset. All of the previous researches have reported that conventional gas lift technologies' designs have limitations on gas lift valve. Nonetheless, traditional gas lift technologies that were designed and developed in 1950's do not have resistance when subjected to high temperature and high pressure in subsea wells. This therefore unable the flows of the gas lift to be coherently controlled. Moreover, gas-lifted oil wells can lead to failure unless a smart gas lift valve unit is used in the controlling the amount of the gas inside the tubing string. In this study, an automation gas lift valve unit with the corresponding control line was experimentally simulated on a dedicated apparatus. This enables real-time data on the gas lift valve to the surface to be demonstrated and accordingly analyzed. Under the conventional method of practice the injection pressure of the gas is normally used in operation of the valve. Whereas in this investigation the port size of the gas lift valve was remotely adjusted from the assumed surface using the apparatus. A devoted computer program LabVIEW was also used in determination of the gas passage through the smart gas lift valve, thus distilling the real time data. The results have shown those optimizations are achievable at high gas injection pressure when 87 psi is used and when the valve is 15% open (or 0.95mm port size diameter). Also, the wellhead pressure reaches to the minimum value of 0.9 psi in which high-pressure drop between the reservoir pressure and the top surface will occur. Throughout this investigation, water was used as a working fluid since the column of corresponding water in petroleum production tubing has the highest hydrostatic pressure of 2.8 psig compared with crude oil. Hence, during the gas lift process crude oil will be less cumbersome to produce than water. The results present the maximum production rate of 18.3 lit/min (with 83% improvement on production) could be achieved. The results obtained experimentally were also used in constructing an economic analysis from the use of smart gas lift valve for different scenarios namely: (i) in gas lift natural flow and (ii) the gas lift wells. It was demonstrated that the flow rate can be enhanced from 91bbl/day to 166.5 bbl/day for the gas lift natural flow, and from 'Zero' (or non-production) to165.6 bbl/day for the gas lift well. Based on these results, the NPV of the gas lift natural flow will be approximately $2793 on $37 per barrel and for the gas lift well will be about $6127.2


Background: Neuroendocrine carcinomas (WHO grade 3) are highly aggressive tumors with an immense tendency to metastasize and with a poor prognosis. In advanced disease, there is no standard treatment beyond first-line platin/etoposide-based chemotherapy. Topotecan is widely used as second-line treatment in small cell lung cancer, which also responds markedly on first-line platin/etoposide. Hence, we investigated the feasibility of topotecan in previously treated patients with neuroendocrine carcinomas. Material and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 22 patients with disseminated and progressive neuroendocrine carcinomas (Ki67>20%, G3) successively treated with oral topotecan 2.3 mg/m2 d1-5 every 3 weeks. All patients had previously received treatment with carboplatin/etoposide. Demographic, clinical and pathological features were recorded. CT-evaluations according to RECIST 1.1 were performed after every three courses. Hematological toxicity was assessed by CTC-criteria. Results: Twenty-two eligible patients received a median of 2 courses [range1-6]. Median age: 65 years [35-77]. Male/female: 11/11. Median Ki-67 index: 95% [25-100%]. Median number previous chemotherapy regimens: 2 [1-3]. All patients were evaluable for response: Five achieved stable disease (SD) and 17 progressed (PD). The median overall survival for the 22 patients was 3.2 months and the median progression-free survival was 2.1 months. The one-year survival was 18%. There were no treatment related deaths. The treatment was well tolerated: Haematological toxicity comprised leukopenia CTC grade 3 (14%), grade 4 (9%) and thrombocytopenia grade 3 (14%). Conclusion: Topotecan monotherapy shows modest anti-tumor activity in heavily treated patients with progressive disseminated G3 neuroendocrine carcinomas.


The quotative use of the Dutch preposition van 'of' can be considered as the Dutch counterpart of English like , German so and similar items in other languages, the use of which has increased significantly in many languages of the world in the last four decades. Stylistically, quotative van occurs most frequently in informal spoken language, less in more formal spoken language and infrequently in written language (the written language in the new media included). In this sense, Dutch quotative van fits in to a worldwide trend. Yet, quotative van shows some characteristics that seem to differentiate it from its counterparts in other languages. Firstly, van not only combines with direct speech, but also occurs regularly in combination with indirect speech. Secondly, van is not restricted to youth language; it is widely used in all age groups and regions (also in Belgian Dutch). Thirdly, based on written informal documents and dairies, we show that the quotative use of van has old roots in the history of Dutch, going back to at least the 17th century.


Prioritized Experience Replay (PER) is a deep reinforcement learning technique in which agents learn from transitions sampled with non-uniform probability proportionate to their temporal-difference error. We show that any loss function evaluated with non-uniformly sampled data can be transformed into another uniformly sampled loss function with the same expected gradient. Surprisingly, we find in some environments PER can be replaced entirely by this new loss function without impact to empirical performance. Furthermore, this relationship suggests a new branch of improvements to PER by correcting its uniformly sampled loss function equivalent. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed modifications to PER and the equivalent loss function in several MuJoCo and Atari environments.


Today, Internet of Things (IoT) devices mostly operate in enclosed, proprietary environments. To unfold the full potential of IoT applications, a unifying and permissionless environment is crucial. All IoT devices, even unknown to each other, would be able to trade services and assets across various domains. In order to realize those applications, uniquely resolvable identities are essential. However, quantifiable trust in identities and their authentication are not trivially provided in such an environment due to the absence of a trusted authority. This research presents a new identity and trust framework for IoT devices, based on Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). IoT devices assign identities to themselves, which are managed publicly and decentralized on the DLT's network as Self Sovereign Identities (SSI). In addition to the Identity Management System (IdMS), the framework provides a Web of Trust (WoT) approach to enable automatic trust rating of arbitrary identities. For the framework we used the IOTA Tangle to access and store data, achieving high scalability and low computational overhead. To demonstrate the feasibility of our framework, we provide a proof-of-concept implementation and evaluate the set objectives for real world applicability as well as the vulnerability against common threats in IdMSs and WoTs.