The main structural element of the railway transport is the railroads a multifunctional complex, whose main task is performing all types of repairs, maintenance of tracks and structures. The share of track facilities accounts for more than half of the fixed assets of railway transport, a quarter of the operating costs, the fifth part of our personnel in key areas of activity. The main task of the track facilities is providing road condition, its structures and systems, ensuring smooth and safe movement of trains with specified speeds. This task is implemented on the basis of systematic monitoring of objects by identifying and preventing the causes of their problems and disorders, and also due to perform in the required quantities and in the installed technological sequence of repairs and current maintenance. Conducted research aims at finding ways to improve production technology and to reduce its costs. For this purpose it is necessary to analyze the factors affecting the quality of performed work. The search for solutions to optimize track repair process allowed suggesting efficient statistical methods of quality management. The identified problems let the authors formulate their solutions using the quality control system. 52 % of the fixed assets of the Russian Railways are concentrated in the economy. However, the allocation of investments in this complex is only 18 % of the total volume of investments in Russian Railways. Most of the work on the physical upgrading of fixed assets is funded by capital repairs.


The introduction of two types of unmanned aerial vehicles into a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream suggests that social proof informs untrained human groups. We describe the metaphors used in instructing actors, who were otherwise untrained and inexperienced with robots, in order to shape their expectations. Audience response to a robot crash depended on whether the audience had seen how the actors interacted with the robot "baby fairies." If they had not seen the actors treating a robot gently, an audience member would likely throw the robot expecting it to fly or handle it roughly. If they had seen the actors with the robots, the audience appeared to adopt the same gentle style and mechanisms for re-launching the micro-helicopter. The difference in audience behavior suggests that the principle of social proof will govern how untrained humans will react to robots.


The development of Imatinib Mesylate (IM), the first generation specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) of BCR-ABL, has had a major impact in patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), establishing IM as the standard therapy for CML. Despite the clinical success obtained with the use of IM, primary resistance to IM and molecular evidence of persistent disease has been observed in 20-25% of IM treated patients. The existence of second generation TKIs (SGTKIs), which are effective in patients with IM resistance, makes identification of predictors of resistance to IM an important goal in CML. The aim of this prospective study was to determine prevalence of T315I, which confers full resistance to all available tyrosine-kinase inhibitors, and F317l mutations, which classified as resistant mutation to IM and dasatinib but sensitive to nilotinb, in IM non-responder CML patients from Iraq with highly sensitive Allele-Specific Oligonucleotide-PCR assay (ASO-PCR). Forty four CML patients were recruited from Baghdad Teaching Hospitalet-Hematology Unite from Feb. 2009 to Feb. 2013. Those patients were followed up (hematological, cytogenetically, and molecularly). At the time of sampling, thirty four CML patients in advance phase(accelerated phase(AP) or blast crisis(BC)) or loss their cytogenetic response were IM non-responders while ten CML patients in CP were IM responder, considered as T315I and F317 L mutations negative control group. Ten IM non-responders patients out of those 34 patients were recruited to SGTKIs (Dasatinib and/or Nilotinib). The results shown that only T315I mutation was detected in one IM non-responder CML patient (3%). Although relation between response to SGTKIs and mutation status was non-significance ( P = 0.100), mutation is limited to only one patient who did not respond to either treatment forms. In conclusion , the uses of bcr-abl mutation screening test for T315I and F317L mutations in CML patients may influences the choice of specific SGTKIs after treatment with IM has failed.


In this paper I study the small village Langeruder, situated south west to the city of Hjo. The period I'm investigating is a time period between 1750 and 1850. During that period two major agrarian reform took place, the first 1801 and the second betwen1856 to 1859. My main questions are how this agrarian reform changed the small village Langeruder and developed it to the region as it was supposed to according to the governmental suggestions of different agrarian reforms. To understand the changes I have studied the parish catechetical during the same period, 1788 to 1873. From that study I have collected several data from which I present several charts. This gives me the opportunity to compare data of the development in Langeruder to the major changes in the rest of Sweden.The literature I'm using to expose my theory of the development in Langeruder is mainly to examining the differences among the expression of ownership and tries to give a more nuance way to understand the farmer's perceived resistance against the agrarian reform. Since the Langeruders' reputation is known as a region full of thieves and poor people I also examined literature who discusses the different opinions about the difficulties of the changes due to the agrarian reform and the fact that the farmers according to that reform were able to own the land they were farming. It also illustrate the reforms that made large farms larger and sometimes turned small village to even smaller farms, impossible to feed on which turn a lot of the poorer farmers to work for grand manors. That was one of the expected developments from the government but a lot of the opponents were afraid that they instead were building a population of proletarian.So did the inhabitant in Langeruder start a riot and stole silver in the fine houses in Hjo? Not at all, in fact I'm surprised they didn't steal more due to the poor conditions they had to live by. The highest crime rate during this period was 7 % of the population in Langeruder. But I can see a huge population growth, up to 74 % in Langeruder. Most of them arrive in Langeruder during the 1830's and a lot of them were very large families with a lot of children. Most of the men worked as farmers in some of the grand manors surrounding Hjo community.My conclusion is that the reforms did help to improve some areas to develop and created better farming due to the individual ownership compare to the joint communities that was common before the agrarian reform. But there were also places like Langeruder who instead became the place for poor and outlaws, who created their own way of cope. The lack of notes in the parish catechetical made me wonder if the system they created in Langeruder, where quietly sanctioned by the rest of the population of the community of Hjo. But to really answer that question, the next task should be to investigate more of the opinion in the parish protocols.


Background: The beneficial aspect of positive emotions on the process of learning and the harmful affect of negative emotions on coping with stress and health are well-documented through studies. The Home Guards (HGs) are working in a very stressful situation during election, managing traffic and other crowded places. It is quite essential in present day circumstances that they have to manage their emotions and cope up with different stressful situations. Objective: To study the efficacy of integrated Yoga module (IYM) on emotions (positive and negative affect [PA and NA]) of HGs. Methods: A total of 148 HGs both males and females who qualified the inclusion and exclusion criteria were randomly divided into Yoga group (YG) and control groups (CG). The YG had supervised practice sessions (by trained experts) for 1 h daily, 6 days a week for 8 weeks along with their regular routine work whereas CG performing their routine work. Positive affect negative affect scale (PANAS) was assessed before and after 8 weeks using a modified version of PANAS. Results: PA in YG had significantly increased (P < 0.05) whereas it had decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in CG. Other positive effect in YG had significantly increased (P < 0.001), whereas it had decreased significantly (P < 0.001) in CG. NA in YG had significantly decreased (P < 0.001), whereas it had significantly increased (P < 0.001) in CG. Other NA in YG had significantly decreased (P < 0.001), whereas it had significantly increased (P < 0.01) in CG. Conclusions: The results suggested that IYM can be useful for HGs to improve the PA and to decrease NA score. Moreover, IYM is cost-effective and helps HGs for coping up with emotions in stressful situations.


The financial crisis has had a deep impact on businesses all around the world. This has affected our purchases, both as retailers and as customers. In this thesis I will investigate how the buying behavior has changed, before, during and after the financial crisis with focus on the second hand truck business. I will also investigate which macro environmental factors have affected the buying behavior. Purpose: The purpose of this research is to describe changes in buying behaviors from influence of macro environmental forces. Method: I have used a qualitative method, and as a part of that face to face interviews, to understand and establish a better contact with the respondents. At the selection of companies I have chosen three companies in the second hand truck business, located on the west coast of Sweden. They required to not be mentioned by their name so they are referred to as Company A, B and C. Result and conclusions: The conclusions which can be drawn from this thesis research is that the macro environmental forces which have had a strong impact on the buying behavior after the financial crisis are the political, economical and legal forces. Both retailers' and customers' behavior have changed after the financial crisis. After the financial crisis both retailers and customers are more careful on spending their money. They are more informed about quality and their needs, to make better purchases. Retailers avoid building up stocks instead they are purchasing trucks upon requests. The crisis will likely to continue and make a difference for some years to come. Suggestions for further research: A quantitative method would be interesting to add to a qualitative method with many more companies to base the empirical data. Also a qualitative method would be interesting to make upon additional companies.


This paper has as main objective to explore, adopting a historical and critical perspective, the release of film and anime TV in UK. This would be a first step towards the studio of the peculiar implementation of manganime Culture in Britain. Compared with other European countries, UK has shown to be slower and even reluctant in importing Japanese television products. Thus, while major markets of anime such as France, Italy or Spain expanded considerably during 1975-1995 period, in a recurrent synergy of television markets, and technological publishing, the implantation of the principal channel (televised anime) in UK has been irregular and unstable. Even today, the catalogue of broadcasting anime is limited to some high success movies, late night television on thematic channels and quite recently, video-on-demand services (Netflix). The offer cannot be compare in importance and diversity to other European countries. This fact, far from being anecdotal, has had an impact on the subsequent implantation of media Japanese cultures such as manga, anime, video games and cosplay. What can be the reason of this irregular development of Japanese visual culture in United Kingdom? Characteristic having the television market and / or the UK audience? Main hypothesis in relation to these issues can be considered to be of sociological character, but are reflected in the idiosyncrasies of British television culture and production system. Thus, compared to other Western markets (including the US) which saw the opportunity to purchase economic products for children's television audiences in the late 70s and early 80s, the British 'telly' already offered a broad catalogue (Roobarb, Super Ted, Danger Mouse, etc. ...). The only exception to this children's 'made in Britain' programming was the co-production model. This caused a leak of few products that were not even considered as "Japanese" (Seven Cities of Gold, Godzilla) but mere 'cartoons'. This competition with the British children production as well as the wide catalogue of other forms of British Popular Culture would explain why the film, domestic video and later adults programming would be the marginal routes of entry for manganime.


This paper outlines recent Australian developments in restorative justice and conferencing. Restorative justice encompasses a variety of practices at different stages of the criminal process, including diversion from court prosecution, actions taken in parallel with court decisions, and meetings between victims and offenders at any stage of the criminal process. Apart from the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, all Australian jurisdictions have introduced legislation incorporating conferencing in their responses to youth crime. All but one of the statutory-based schemes favour non-police-run conference models. Australia and New Zealand are world leaders in the use of conferencing as a form of restorative justice. When used as a diversion from court prosecution, conferences involve a young person who has admitted to the offence, his or her supporters, the victim, his or her supporters, a police officer and a conference convenor coming together to discuss the offence and its impact. The conference then moves to a discussion of the outcome that the young offender is expected to complete. The sanctions or reparations may include an apology, paying some form of monetary compensation, undertaking work for the victim or the community and attending counselling sessions, among others. The outcome is legally binding. Research from around Australia is reported in this paper.


Despite continuous research efforts, the role of the European Union regarding spatial planning remains unclear. This article proposes to employ the concepts of soft spaces and soft planning to better comprehend how European spatial planning finds its way into the national planning systems. The EU contributes to the creation of soft spaces, differing from administrative entities, while at the same time, it acts as a driver of soft planning, focusing– both for strategic and legal reasons – on coordination, cooperation and mutual learning, rather than 'hard', regulatory planning. The article claims further that instead of depicting the connections between the EU and its member states, research should pay increased attention to the encounter of European and domestic planning within a country. The scales, actors and instruments that deal with EU inputs within a country might prove to be crucial factors that ultimately determine the impact of EU policies on spatial planning. To illustrate the encounter of European and domestic planning in the light of soft and hard planning, the article introduces a conceptual framework and thereby provides an outline for further empirical research.


Assistants have been working in schools for many years. There are numerous types of assistants at the moment, such as: school caretakers, cleaners, cooks, dinner ladies, classroom assistants (including nursery nurses) and school secretaries. They relieve teaching staff from non-professional or time-consuming tasks, which could be carried out by a responsible adult, rather than a qualified teacher. The ST A initiative introduced a different set of tasks for classroom assistants. These placed a direct emphasis on assistants "contributing to teaching and learning of basic skills" (DfE 1993: par. 33). STAs were trained to work in the classroom supporting children with mathematics and English activities as opposed to carrying out non-teaching tasks such as: photocopying, making booklets or preparing resources for lessons, previously expected of assistants. The ST A scheme was the first initiative to acknowledge explicitly that assistants could contribute to teaching; a professional duty expected of a teacher. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) construed this as a challenge to teachers' professionalism; but the STA initiative has not created a new challenge. The vision that assistants can contribute to teaching has been known for some time. The Plowden Report (CACE 1967) first discussed the prospect of introducing teacher aides almost thirty years ago, but at that time it was not realised. Since then to the present day, assistants have seen their deployment change through the plethora of educational policy and the demands they have placed on teachers in their classrooms. This has led teachers to use the support they receive of assistants in different ways to maintain and raise standards in education. Assistants' roles, in recent years, have vi changed and they are likely to continue to change, as announcements from the government indicate (DfEE 1998). However, a concern regarding the STA scheme is that a minority of STAs' roles went much further than what might be expected. They were used as surrogate teachers with qualified teacher responsibilities.


Social media have been credited with the potential of reinvigorating trust by offering new opportunities for social and political participation. This view has been recently challenged by the rising phenomenon of online incivility, which has made the environment of social networking sites hostile to many users. We conduct a novel experiment in a Facebook setting to study how the effect of social media on trust varies depending on the civility or incivility of online interaction. We find that participants exposed to civil Facebook interaction are significantly more trusting. In contrast, when the use of Facebook is accompanied by the experience of online incivility, no significant changes occur in users' behavior. These results are robust to alternative configurations of the treatments.


Self-healing materials have received considerable development in the last decade. Recent results have demonstrated healing in polymeric materials via a chemical reaction using a healing agent or response to thermal treatment. The goal of this research is to develop a new composite material, for application in wire insulation, that can detect damage and heal itself using resistance heating. The composite material is composed of a conductive network embedded in a polymer matrix. The conductive network is used for damage detection and resistive heating. A matrix material is used that melts when heated and flows to fill damage. External electronic circuitry is used to implement a damage detection algorithm and apply current for resistive heating. Surlyn 8940 is chosen as the polymer matrix and carbon fibers are selected for the resistive heating elements. Methods for melt processing Surlyn are developed and used to produce Surlyn films and composite samples where carbon fiber is embedded in a Surlyn matrix. A finite element model of the resistive heating process is developed to predict the temperature distribution. Thermal imaging is used to characterize resistive heating while optical microscopy and tensile testing are used to characterize healing. Damage detection using capacitive measurements is demonstrated and characterized. The self-healing composite is placed on top of another conductive material such as in the wire insulation application. Capacitance measurements are made using the conductive network inside the composite is used as one electrode and the wide conductor as the second electrode.


Nanoporous polymers offer great promise in chemical capture and separations because of their versatility, scalability, and robust nature. Here, we report a general methodology for one-pot, metal-free, and room-temperature synthesis of nanoporous polymers by highly stable carbon–carbon bond formation. Three new polymers, namely, COP-177, COP-178, and COP-179, are derived from widely available perfluoroarenes and found to be superhydrophobic, microporous, and highly stable against heat, acid, base, and organic solvents. Nitrile, amine, and ether functionalities were successfully installed by SNAr-type postfunctionalization and were shown to increase CO2 uptake twice and CO2/N2 selectivity 4-fold. Due to its inherent superhydrophobicity, COP-177 showed high organic solvent uptake both in liquid and vapor form. Furthermore, in a first of its kind, by combining microporosity and hydrophobicity, COP-177 separated two small molecules with the same boiling point in a continuous column setting.


This study examines one section of the Dodd-Frank "Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act" directing the Federal Reserve Board to develop new regulations for the "interchange fees" charged by banks that issue debit cards for debit card transactions. On June 29, 2011, the Board issued its final rule, "Regulation II: Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing," which became effective on October 1, 2011. The standards set out in Regulation II cap debit card interchange fees at $0.21 per transaction, plus 5 basis points (0.05 percent) of the transaction's value, plus a $0.01 charge per transaction for debit card issuers that meet certain fraud prevention standards. These standards apply only to transactions with debit cards issued by financial institutions with assets of $10 billion or more, covering about two-thirds of all debit transactions. Our analysis found that the new cap on debit interchange fees reduced the fee on the debit transactions covered by the regulation from an average of $0.51 per transaction (with large variations) to $0.24 (with less variation). This overall reduction saved consumers and merchants an estimated $8.5 billion in 2012; we further estimate that $5.87 billion of those 2012 savings were passed along to consumers in lower prices, while merchants retained $2.64 billion. Moreover, we also estimate that the $8.5 billion in cost savings was sufficient to support 37,501 new jobs. However, the $0.21 fixed fee per transaction under Regulation II raised interchange fees on transactions of $15 or less; and on the average small transaction of $7.50, the fee as a share of the transaction exceeds the profit margins on such transactions for six industries that depend on small purchases (including supermarkets, groceries, convenience stores, gas stations and pharmacies). If Regulation II had not raised interchange fees on small debit transactions, consumers and merchants would have saved an additional $690 million in 2012, which could have supported 3,044 more jobs. The new standards do not affect credit card transactions. Our analysis found that if credit card interchange fees on the two dominant, four-party payment networks, Visa and MasterCard, were capped at the maximum $0.24 per-transaction rate set by Regulation II for covered debit transactions, consumers and merchants would have saved an additional $22.4 billion in 2012. Consumers would have captured $15.4 billion of those benefits, and their additional spending could support 56,733 jobs; while merchants could be expected to retain roughly $6.9 billion of those cost savings, and their additional spending and investments could support another 41,918 jobs.


Animals produce communication signals to attract mates and deter rivals during their breeding season. The coincidence in timing results from the modulation of signaling behavior and neural activity by sex steroid hormones associated with reproduction. Adrenal steroids can influence signaling for aggressive interactions outside the breeding season. Androgenic and estrogenic hormones act on brain circuits that regulate the motivation to produce and respond to signals, the motor production of signals, and the sensory perception of signals. Signal perception, in turn, can stimulate gonadal development.


Epictetus, a Greek stoic and freed slave, ran a thriving philosophy school in Nicropolis in the early second century AD. His animated discussions were celebrated for their rhetorical wizardry and were written down by Arrian, his most famous pupil. Together with the "Enchiridion", a manual of his main ideas, and the fragments collected here, "The Discourses" argue that happiness lies in learning to perceive exactly what is in our power to change and what is not, and in embracing our fate to live in harmony with god and nature. In this personal, practical guide to the ethics of stoicism and moral self-improvement, Epictetus tackles questions of freedom and imprisonment, illness and fear, family, friendship and love, and leaves an intriguing document of daily life in the classical world.


BACKGROUND
Rats fed a high fat diet and given a low dose of streptozotocin (STZ) (35 mg/kg) develop type 2 diabetes with insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, moderate hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and salt-sensitive hypertension. We postulated that rats with noninsulinopenic (type 2) diabetes develop lesions of diabetic nephropathy significantly more prominent than those seen in classic insulinopenic (type 1) diabetic rats.

METHODS
Rats were fed regular chow or high fat diet (60% calories from fat and 70% animal fat). After 5 weeks, rats fed regular chow received vehicle (controls) or 55 mg/kg STZ (type 1 diabetes mellitus). Rats fed high fat diet received vehicle (high fat) or low dose STZ, 35 mg/kg (type 2 diabetes mellitus). Rats were sacrificed 14 weeks after STZ/vehicle injection.

RESULTS
Blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, and urinary protein excretion were significantly higher in both diabetes groups than in controls. Serum insulin levels (ng/mL) were higher in type 2 diabetes than in type 1 diabetes groups (0.49 +/- 0.12 vs. 0.07 +/- 0.07) (P= 0.01). Percentage of sclerosed glomeruli was significantly higher in type 2 diabetes group than in control and type 1 diabetes groups. Fibronectin expression was significantly increased in high fat, type 1 and type 2 diabetes groups compared to controls. The expression of type IV collagen, connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) was significantly increased in high fat and type 2 diabetes groups compared to controls.

CONCLUSION
Rats fed a high fat diet and given a low dose of STZ developed diabetes (with normal/high insulin levels), hypertension, and proteinuria. Kidney lesions in this type 2 model appear to be more pronounced than in type 1 diabetic rats despite lower blood glucose levels and proteinuria. We present a nongenetic rat model of type 2 diabetes mellitus and nephropathy.


In this paper, we compare the effects of failures in power grids under the nonlinear AC and linearized DC power flow models. First, we numerically demonstrate that when there are no failures and the assumptions underlying the DC model are valid, the DC model approximates the AC model well in four considered test networks. Then, to evaluate the validity of the DC approximation upon failures, we numerically compare the effects of single line failures and the evolution of cascades under the AC and DC flow models using different metrics, such as yield (the ratio of the demand supplied at the end of the cascade to the initial demand). We demonstrate that the effects of a single line failure on the distribution of the flows on other lines are similar under the AC and DC models. However, the cascade simulations demonstrate that the assumptions underlying the DC model (e.g., ignoring power losses, reactive power flows, and voltage magnitude variations) can lead to inaccurate and overly optimistic cascade predictions. Particularly, in large networks the DC model tends to overestimate the yield. Hence, using the DC model for cascade prediction may result in a misrepresentation of the gravity of a cascade.


The intent of this article is to examine programs and services designed to meet the psychological and psychosocial needs of older people. Knowledge of existing programs is important to planning purposefully and to advancing the development of our field. Therefore, following a historical overview that will provide a perspective for examining mental health services, a variety of settings and programs that provide counseling for older people will be described. These include traditional care settings and programs, emerging settings and programs, and some alternative programs to help meet specific areas of need. This article concludes with a discussion of the gaps and potentialities of the existing delivery system for more adequately addressing the mental health needs of older people.


This work validates the use of integrated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film sensors for dynamic testing, even after being subjected to UV-thermo-hygro-mechanical accelerated ageing conditions. The verification of PVDF sensors' survivability in these environmental conditions, typically confronted by civil and military aircraft, is the main concern of the study. The evaluation of survivability is made by a comparison of dynamic testing results provided by the PVDF patch sensors subjected to an accelerated ageing protocol, and those provided by neutral non-aged sensors (accelerometers). The available measurements are the time-domain response signals issued from a modal analysis procedure, and the corresponding frequency response functions (FRF). These are in turn used to identify the constitutive properties of the samples by extraction of the modal parameters, in particular the natural frequencies. The composite specimens in this study undergo different accelerated ageing processes. After several weeks of experimentation, the samples exhibit a loss of stiffness, represented by a decrease in the elastic moduli down to 10%. Despite the ageing, the integrated PVDF sensors, subjected to the same ageing conditions, are still capable of providing reliable data to carry out a close followup of these changes. This survivability is a determinant asset in order to use integrated PVDF sensors to perform structural health monitoring (SHM) in the future of full-scale composite aeronautical structures.


The development of most unconventional oil and gas resources relies upon subsurface injection of very large volumes of fluids, which can induce earthquakes by activating slip on a nearby fault. During the last 5 years, accelerated oilfield fluid injection has led to a sharp increase in the rate of earthquakes in some parts of North America. In the central United States, most induced seismicity is linked to deep disposal of coproduced wastewater from oil and gas extraction. In contrast, in western Canada most recent cases of induced seismicity are highly correlated in time and space with hydraulic fracturing, during which fluids are injected under high pressure during well completion to induce localized fracturing of rock. Furthermore, it appears that the maximum-observed magnitude of events associated with hydraulic fracturing may exceed the predictions of an often-cited relationship between the volume of injected fluid and the maximum expected magnitude. These findings have far-reaching implications for assessment of inducedseismicity hazards.


James Baldwin first wrote about homosexuality in his famous early novel, "Giovanni's Room". Here, he brings homosexuality and race together in the story of the great gospel singer Arthur Montana. Arthur was found dead in the basement of a London pub at the age of thirty-nine, yet he lies on in this memoir. Written by Hall, his brother and manager, it is in part a subtle and moving study of the treacherous ebb and flow of memory. Set against a vividly drawn background of the civil rights movement of the sixties, "Just Above My Head" explores how Arthur discovers his love for Jimmy - 'with his smile like a lantern and a voice like Saturday nights' - and portrays how profoundly racial politics can shape the private business of love.


In recent years, feminist theory has increasingly defined itself in opposition to universalism and to discourses of human rights. Rejecting the troubled legacies of Enlightenment thinking, feminists have questioned the very premises upon which the international human rights movement is based. Rather than abandoning human rights discourse, however, this book argues that feminism should reclaim the universal and reconstruct the theory and practice of human rights. Discourse ethics and its post-metaphysical defence of universalism is offered as a key to this process of reconstruction. The implications of discourse ethics and the possibility of reclaiming universalism are explored in the context of the reservations debate in international human rights law and further examined in debates on women's human rights arising in Ireland, India and Pakistan. Each of these states shares a common constitutional heritage and, in each, religious-cultural claims, intertwined with processes of nation-building, have constrained the pursuit of gender equality. Ultimately, this book argues in favour of a dual-track approach to cultural conflicts, combining legal regulation with an ongoing moral-political dialogue on the scope and content of human rights.


The article briefly presents some experiences and results of research which has been conducted in order to identify key elements influencing the success of projects managed in informal way with volunteers' participation. These experiences were collected during the realization of several "soft" projects. The general aims of these projects were sports competitions' organisation, cultural events and charity projects for big groups of people. Within research of project management, the following issues were discussed: the project area of activity and function possible to make by volunteers, the rules of volunteers employment in project, factors describing key elements influencing the success of projects including: the trust as the base of informal projects management, wide-understand communication, cooperation and team work. Project risk, reporting and controls of project execution and the role and element of project culture as elements influenced on project success are also discussed.


Abstract. With a GPS receiver on board an airplane, the airborne radio occultation (ARO) technique provides dense lower-tropospheric soundings over target regions. Large variations in water vapor in the troposphere cause strong signal multipath, which could lead to systematic errors in RO retrievals with the geometric optics (GO) method. The spaceborne GPS RO community has successfully developed the full-spectrum inversion (FSI) technique to solve the multipath problem. This paper is the first to adapt the FSI technique to retrieve atmospheric properties (bending and refractivity) from ARO signals, where it is necessary to compensate for the receiver traveling on a non-circular trajectory inside the atmosphere, and its use is demonstrated using an end-to-end simulation system. The forward-simulated GPS L1 (1575.42 MHz) signal amplitude and phase are used to test the modified FSI algorithm. The ARO FSI method is capable of reconstructing the fine vertical structure of the moist lower troposphere in the presence of severe multipath, which otherwise leads to large retrieval errors in the GO retrieval. The sensitivity of the modified FSI-retrieved bending angle and refractivity to errors in signal amplitude and errors in the measured refractivity at the receiver is presented. Accurate bending angle retrievals can be obtained from the surface up to ∼ 250 m below the receiver at typical flight altitudes above the tropopause, above which the retrieved bending angle becomes highly sensitive to the phase measurement noise. Abrupt changes in the signal amplitude that are a challenge for receiver tracking and geometric optics bending angle retrieval techniques do not produce any systematic bias in the FSI retrievals when the SNR is high. For very low SNR, the FSI performs as expected from theoretical considerations. The 1 % in situ refractivity measurement errors at the receiver height can introduce a maximum refractivity retrieval error of 0.5 % (1 K) near the receiver, but the error decreases gradually to ∼ 0.05 % (0.1 K) near the surface. In summary, the ARO FSI successfully retrieves the fine vertical structure of the atmosphere in the presence of multipath in the lower troposphere.


BACKGROUND
People with cystic fibrosis (CF) have increased transport of the salt, sodium across their airway lining. Over-absorption of sodium results in the dehydration of the liquid that lines the airway surface and (along with defective chloride secretion) is a primary defect in people with CF.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether the topical administration of drugs that block sodium transport improves the respiratory condition of people with CF.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Cystic Fibrosis and Genetic Disorders Group Trials Register comprising references identified from comprehensive electronic database searches, handsearching relevant journals and abstract books of conference proceedings. We contacted principal investigators known to work in the field, previous authors and pharmaceutical companies who manufacture ion transport agents for unpublished or follow-up data.Most recent search of the Group's register: 19 December 2013.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Published or unpublished randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-randomised controlled trials of sodium channel blockers compared to placebo or another sodium channel blocker or the same sodium channel blocker at a different dosing regimen.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two authors independently extracted data. Meta-analysis was limited due to differing study designs.

MAIN RESULTS
Five RCTs, with a total of 226 participants, examining the topical administration of the short-acting sodium channel blocker, amiloride, compared to placebo were identified as eligible for inclusion in the review. In three studies over six months, there was a significant difference found in the difference in relative change in FVC in favour of placebo (weighted mean difference 1.51% (95% confidence interval -2.77 to -0.25), although heterogeneity was evident. A two-week study demonstrated that hypertonic saline with amiloride pre-treatment did not result in a significant improvement in respiratory function or mucus clearance, in contrast to pre-treatment with placebo. There were no significant differences identified in other clinically relevant outcomes.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
We found no evidence that the topical administration of a short-acting sodium channel blocker improves respiratory condition in people with cystic fibrosis and some limited evidence of deterioration in lung function.


Loquat trees growing in central Taiwan were inflicted with a disease causing wilting and death of plants due to severe foot and root rot. The vascular tissues of all infected plants turned brown. Typical as well as atypical isolates of Phytophthora parasitica were isolated from the diseased basal stem and root tissues but not from the discolored vascular tissues. Symptoms observed in the field were reproduced when roots and stems of loquat seedlings were inoculated with zoospores of atypical isolates of P. parasitica; whereas only fibrous root rot resulted from inoculation with typical isolates of P. parasitica. Atypical isolates could be differentiated from the typical isolates of P. parasitica by several characteristics, including colony appearance, partial caducous sporangia, size of oospore, growth at 36°C, mycelial soluble protein patterns, and pathogenicity.


Background: Obesity is a growing health care concern with cardiovascular disease (CVD) implications. African American women (AAW) have the highest prevalence rate of obesity and highest CVD morbidity and mortality rate of all ethnic groups. The traditional CVD risk factors have not been sufficient to explain this disparity in disease prevalence and outcomes. Current knowledge is limited regarding the interaction between various levels of adiposity and both traditional and emerging CVD risk factors, particularly in AAW. This study sought to explore these interactions. Methods: The study design was a cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational analysis of 48 AAW ages 18 to 45 who had no known history of CVD. Participants completed a demographic/health history questionnaire and 7-Day Physical Activity Recall Questionnaire. Anthropometric assessment of height, weight, BMI, waist circumference, and waist-hip-ratio were determined. An average of two resting blood pressures was taken. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90 mmHg. Fasting blood levels were drawn of traditional (glucose, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides) and emerging risk factors (fibrinogen, high density C-reactive protein [hsCRP], plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 [PAI-1], E-selectin, quantitative insulin sensitivity check index [QUICKI], and soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 [sICAM-1]). Prediabetes and diabetes were determined based on the American Diabetes Association criteria. Normal values for lipids were based on Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III guidelines. Reference lab norms were used for fibrinogen (< 350 mg/L), hsCRP (< 2 mg/L), and PAI-1 (< 28 mg/mL). Normative values for QUICKI, sICAM-1, and E-selectin have not yet been established, thus cut-points used for these tests were from previous research studies. Analyses included descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square, and Spearman's correlation analysis. An alpha level of 0.05 was set a priori for statistical significance. Results: Only 4.17% of our participants reported a history of diabetes and hypertension. The most common traditional risk factor identified was physical inactivity (72.92%), followed by a positive family history of CVD (58.3%). Obesity, defined as a measured BMI ≥ 30 kg/m, was present in 56.25%. All of our participants had insulin resistance, and 56.25% had elevated fibrinogen levels. Our findings indicated that the obese weight group had a higher systolic blood pressure (p = 0.0002) and diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.0007), and lower HDL-c (p = 0.01) and higher triglyceride levels (p=0.02) than the normal weight group. The obese group had significantly higher levels of hs-CRP (p = 0.002) and fibrinogen (p=0.01) compared to the normal weight groups. Compared to the normal weight group, the obese group had significantly more CVD risk factors (6.9 vs. 4.1, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Obesity is associated with a higher prevalence of both the emerging and traditional cardiovascular risk factors in AAW without a previous history of CVD. Physical inactivity is the most prevalent modifiable risk factor in this population. Focused


The present study was undertaken to provide a better insight into the relationship between different levels of body mass index (BMI) and changing risk for hypertension, using an unselected sample of participants assessed during the Longevity Check-up 7+ (Lookup 7+) project. Lookup 7+ is an ongoing cross-sectional survey started in June 2015 and conducted in unconventional settings (i.e., exhibitions, malls, and health promotion campaigns) across Italy. Candidate participants are eligible for enrolment if they are at least 18 years of age and provide written informed consent. Specific health metrics are assessed through a brief questionnaire and direct measurement of standing height, body weight, blood glucose, total blood cholesterol, and blood pressure. The present analyses were conducted in 7907 community-living adults. According to the BMI cutoffs recommended by the World Health Organization, overweight status was observed among 2896 (38%) participants; the obesity status was identified in 1135 participants (15%), with 893 (11.8%) participants in class I, 186 (2.5%) in class II, and 56 (0.7%) in class III. Among enrollees with a normal BMI, the prevalence of hypertension was 45% compared with 67% among overweight participants, 79% in obesity class I and II, and up to 87% among participants with obesity class III (p for trend < 0.001). After adjusting for age, significantly different distributions of systolic and diastolic blood pressure across BMI levels were consistent. Overall, the average systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure increased significantly and linearly across BMI levels. In conclusion, we found a gradient of increasing blood pressure with higher levels of BMI. The fact that this gradient is present even in the fully adjusted analyses suggests that BMI may cause a direct effect on blood pressure, independent of other clinical risk factors.


This paper reflects on Lancaster University's software design studio, an approach for teaching software engineering that favours practical experimentation over traditional lectures. The studio has been running for two years at Lancaster. In the paper, we reflect on how students have used modeling as part of the studio experience. Our findings show that, given the freedom, students make heavy use of informal modeling but almost never formally model. The paper unpicks the reasons for this and discusses implications for the way modeling is taught more generally.


Predictive analytics, although widely utilized in the private sector, still stir uncertainty and concern on the part of public sector leaders. Daily, however, some national or subnational government makes a dramatic breakthrough in how it delivers services as a result of collecting and analyzing data. This paper examines how officials can use properly analyzed historical data to look for patterns and trends to reorganize the way they deliver services, anticipate future events, and often even prevent potential problems.


Wireless Sensor Networking is envisioned as an economically viable paradigm and a promising technology because of its ability to provide a variety of services, such as intrusion detection, weather monitoring, security, tactical surveillance, and disaster management. The services provided by wireless senor networks (WSNs) are based on collaboration among small energy-constrained sensor nodes. The large deployment of WSNs and the need for energy efficient strategy necessitate efficient organization of the network topology for the purpose of balancing the load and prolonging the network lifetime. Clustering has been proven to provide the required scalability and prolong the network lifetime. Due to the bottle neck phenomena in WSNs, a sensor network loses its connectivity with the base station and the remaining energy resources of the functioning nodes are wasted. This thesis highlights some of the research done to prolong the network lifetime of wireless sensor networks and proposes a solution to overcome the bottle neck phenomena in cluster-based sensor networks. Transmission tuning algorithm for a cluster-based WSNs is proposed based on our modeling of the extra burden of the sensor nodes that have direct communication with the base station. Under this solution, a wireless sensor network continues to operate with minimum live nodes, hence increase the longevity of the system. An information theoretic metric is proposed as a cluster head selection criteria for breaking ties among competing clusters, hence as means to decrease node reaffiliation ,


We describe 6 cases from the University of Washington Hematopathology Laboratory (Seattle) in which prominent, clonal, follicle center B-cell populations were identified by flow cytometry and confirmed by molecular methods, but in which the histologic features showed reactive follicular hyperplasia without evidence of bcl-2 overexpression or the t(14;18). The 6 cases included 5 lymph node biopsy specimens and 1 tonsillectomy specimen. Of the 6 cases, 5 occurred in young males (8-28 years) with no known immunologic abnormality; the other case was a 32-year-old, HIV-positive woman. In all 6 cases, clonal CD10+ B cells representing at least 20% of the total B cells were identified. Available clinical follow-up ranging from 13 to 56 months revealed no evidence of lymphoma in any of the 6 patients. Our findings add rare cases of follicular hyperplasia to the list of histologically reactive settings in which clonal B-cell populations might be present.


The thesis sits between three academic fields: disability studies, development studies and East Asian studies. It is an unusual but important study of disability in a nonwestern
culture. The thesis is unusual because it explores macro-level (rather than grassroots) constructions of disability, focusing on institutions and ideologies. It is important because no-one has (to my knowledge) undertaken this kind of macro-level analysis on a developing country; and also (again, to my knowledge) because the story of the macro-level construction of disability in China has not been told before.
In this thesis, evidence and arguments are put forward with reference to the historical construction of disability in imperial China (Chapter Three), in late Qing and early
Republican China (Chapter Four) and in state socialist China under Mao Zedong (Chapter Five). These chapters explore the place of impairment in Confucian cosmologies; the imperial construction of an administrative category of disability; the influence of western ideas and institutions on internal Chinese debates about the body and nation; and the place of disability and disabled people in state socialist China. A hypothesis of a discourse of body, nation and development is developed, and continues through the next four chapters which focus on disability in post-Mao China. Chapter Six examines the unexpected appearance of disability on the national government's agenda in the 1980s. Chapter Seven explores disability-related policies and their underpinning values. Also in Chapter Seven, three studies are provided which incorporate field-based data to inject some balance (from the "grassroots") into what is
otherwise an intentionally imbalanced thesis. Chapter Eight analyses the content and implications of disability propaganda; Chapter Nine tackles the difficult subject of
disability legislation, in which equal rights and eugenics appear to go hand in hand.
The result is a study of disability and development - and of discourses of disability and development - which will inform current thinking and will provide important
information on disability policies, provision and propaganda in post-Mao China.


Since 2008, catastrophic losses and financial turmoil have deeply shaken the insurance and reinsurance industries. Severe difficulties encountered by sector leaders like AIG and Swiss Re have shed light on the potential fragility of the players, and have increased attention on the subject of reinsurance counterparty risk. This corresponds to the exposure of an insurance company to reinsurer failure and is difficult to assess due to a scarcity of reliable measures. It has long been considered as largely auto-regulated by the insurance market. The impact of reinsurance credit on an insurers' balance sheet, market complexity and lack of coordinated responses among states begs questions concerning the role of control and regulation. In this article, we address the current state of reinsurance counterparty risk and existing means by which to measure it. We then discuss the impact of market discipline on this risk and point out the importance of control within the reinsurance industry. We particularly look at the key role of regulation in providing better risk measurement tools to assist in assessing the importance of reinsurance counterparty risk on insurance levels and the systematic development of risk management tools.


Trash has been blowing across the rock 'n' roll landscape since the first amplified guitar riff tore through American mass culture. Throwaway tunes, wasted fans, crappy reviews, junk bins of remaindered albums: much of rock's quintessence is handily conveyed in terms of disposability and impermanence. Steven L. Hamelman sums up these rubbishy affinities as rock's "trash trope." Trash is an obvious physical presence on the rock scene - think of Woodstock's littered pastures or the many hotel rooms redecorated by the Who. More intriguingly, Hamelman says, trash is the catalyst for a powerful mode of rock composition and criticism. It is, for instance, both the cause and effect when performers like the Ramones or Beck at once critique junk culture and revel in it. Hamelman guides us across five decades of rock to explore the trash trope in all of its audible, visual, and emblematic power. He offers up a personal top-forty list of songs that engage the trash trope at many levels, including "Yakety-Yak," the Coasters' lament about taking out the trash, and Radiohead's "No Surprises," in which the singer's persona likens his heart to a landfill. Drawing extensively on Lou Reed's Berlin, Hamelman gives the "Is rock dead?" debate new meaning by pondering death themes in the music and the morbid romanticism of the best "wasted" recordings. Finally Hamelman looks at rock's "saving" powers - at how a medium steeped in tropes of uselessness and inconsequence can mean so much to countless people. But Is It Garbage? spills over with challenging insights into how rock's creators, critics, and consumers transform, and are transformed by, trash as a fact and a concept. In the music's preoccupation with its own trashiness readers will perceive a wellspring of rock innovation and inspiration - one largely overlooked and little understood until now.


The Chinese government is heavily investing in trade-related infrastructure with its One Belt One Road Initiative (OBOR), a proposal to build a new Silk Road or network of trade routes. This infrastructure-driven innovation will have a large economic, spatial and environmental impact on China; it is also likely to transform entire regions throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe. In pursuing it, the Chinese government seeks to meaningfully combine a strong national interest in infrastructural and economic development with an equally strong national interest in environmental sustainability. This chapter explores how it might meet both goals. How do the initiative's many projects intersect with local interests and needs in China? Will these investments carry out the proclaimed desire of the Chinese government for environmentally sustainable development? This chapter examines these questions by looking at how various governmental players are translating these investments and proposals into spatial plans. It focuses on port city regions, using the Dalian region in Northeast China, one of the OBOR Initiative hubs, as an example. Port regions are key spatial components in the OBOR initiative: as infrastructural hubs and as centres for trade and innovation, as sites of national oil storage, or hubs for the development of new maritime technology. As places where the industrial production and long-distance infrastructure of OBOR encounters densely populated areas, they are also particularly at risk from climate change, including rising sea levels. Thus, the OBOR Initiative's goals of economic improvement and environmental sustainability may well collide.


Corallivory is the predation of coral mucus, tissue, and skeleton by fishes and invertebrates, and a source of chronic stress for many reef-building coral species. Corallivores often prey on corals repeatedly, and this predation induces wounds that require extensive cellular resources to heal. The effects of corallivory on coral growth, reproduction, and community dynamics are well-documented, and often result in reduced growth rates and fitness. Given the degree of anthropogenic pressures that threaten coral reefs, it is now imperative to focus on understanding how corallivory interacts with anthropogenic forces to alter coral health and community dynamics. For example, coral bleaching events that stem from global climate change often reduce preferred corals species for many corallivorous fishes. These reductions in preferred prey may result in declines in populations of more specialized corallivores while more generalist corallivores may increase. Corallivory may also make corals more susceptible to thermal stress and exacerbate bleaching. At local scales, overfishing depletes corallivorous fish stocks, reducing fish corallivory and bioerosion, whilst removing invertivorous fishes and allowing population increases in invertebrate corallivores (e.g., urchins, Drupella spp.). Interactive effects of local stressors, such as overfishing and nutrient pollution, can alter the effect of corallivory by increasing coral-algal competition and destabilizing the coral microbiome, subsequently leading to coral disease and mortality. Here, we synthesize recent literature of how global climate change and local stressors affect corallivore populations and shape the patterns and effect of corallivory. Our review indicates that the combined effects of corallivory and anthropogenic pressures may be underappreciated and that these interactions often drive changes in coral reefs on scales from ecosystems to microbes. Understanding the ecology of coral reefs in the Anthropocene will require an increased focus on how anthropogenic forcing alters biotic interactions, such as corallivory, and the resulting cascading effects on corals and reef ecosystems.


OBJECTIVE Diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains the most common cause of end-stage renal disease and is a major cause of mortality in type 2 diabetes. Insulin sensitivity is an important determinant of renal health in adults with type 2 diabetes, but limited data exist in adolescents. We hypothesized that measured insulin sensitivity (glucose infusion rate [GIR]) would be associated with early markers of DN reflected by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR) in adolescents with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Type 2 diabetic (n = 46), obese (n = 29), and lean (n = 19) adolescents (15.1 ± 2.2 years) had GIR measured by hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamps. ACR was measured and GFR was estimated by the Bouvet equation (combined creatinine and cystatin C). RESULTS Adolescents with type 2 diabetes had significantly lower GIR, and higher eGFR and ACR than obese or lean adolescents. Moreover, 34% of type 2 diabetic adolescents had albuminuria (ACR ≥30 mg/g), and 24% had hyperfiltration (≥135 mL/min/1.73 m2). Stratifying ACR and eGFR into tertiles, adolescents with type 2 diabetes in the highest tertiles of ACR and eGFR had respectively lower GIR than those in the mid and low tertiles, after adjusting for age, sex, Tanner stage, BMI, and HbA1c (P = 0.02 and P = 0.04). GIR, but not HbA1c, LDL, or systolic blood pressure, was also associated with eGFR after adjusting for sex and Tanner stage (β ± SE: −2.23 ± 0.87; P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS A significant proportion of adolescents with type 2 diabetes showed evidence of early DN, and insulin sensitivity, rather than HbA1c, blood pressure, or lipid control, was the strongest determinant of renal health.


The success of the Chinese One-Child policy and its rural adaptations in changing reproductive behavior and bringing about a dramatic fertility decline is unquestionable. However, an important but as yet unanswered question is the extent to which the strict implementation of such policies over the past two decades has been successful in changing fertility preferences. Using data from two overlapping surveys conducted in four counties of rural China in 1991 and 1994, we assess the validity of fertility preferences against subsequent reproductive behavior and explore the conditions under which the move towards wanting no more children occurs. Our results suggest that the acceptance of policy-sanctioned family size partly follows the development gradient and partly reflects the degree of policy enforcement. High acceptance occurs in the most urban and industrialized county and in the county with the most rigid family planning program. Conversely, acceptance is weak among women living in the poorest county and in the county where policy enforcement is most lenient and flexible. These findings have important implications for the future of Chinese fertility in the absence of strict policies and their enforcement.


Utilizing rich end user context information is viewed as one of the necessary approaches in developing more personalized mobile services and user experiences. The practical impact of end user context research and new opportunities in the field provided by emerging data collection methods such as handset-based measurements (i.e., collecting usage data directly from the end users' devices) have inspired new highly interesting large scale empirical context studies, but also brought quite diverse usage of the term context itself. Proper discussion and usage of context requires an unambiguous statement of how the term is understood in the particular case. On one hand the term should be positioned with the existing and commonly understood general definitions, but on the other hand it should also be acknowledged that especially an empirical research paper, or a context-aware service, can grasp only some specific aspects or elements of context. This paper proposes a context classification framework that aims to clarify the use of the term context in handset-based related end user studies. The framework is partly based on the experimental experience accumulated in our own handset panel studies. While helping researchers to plan context data acquisition and communicate and position the end user context elements used, the framework helps other stakeholders, such as application developers and service providers, to identify and utilize research and data most relevant for their particular needs. The paper also demonstrates the expressivity of the framework by examples.


Abstract This study subjectively assessed sleep quality and quantity, state anxiety and electronic device use during a 7-day training week (TRAIN) and a 7-day competitive tournament (COMP). Eight state-level netball players used wrist-watch actigraphy to provide indirect sleep measures of bedtime, wake time, sleep duration, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset and fragmentation index. State anxiety was reported using the anxiety sub-scale in the Profile of Mood States-Adolescents. Before bed duration of electronic device use and the estimated time to sleep after finishing electronic device use was also recorded. Significant main effects showed that sleep efficiency (p = 0.03) was greater in COMP as compared to TRAIN. Furthermore, the bedtime and wake time were earlier (p = 0.01) during COMP. No further differences existed between conditions (p > 0.05). However, strong negative associations were seen between state anxiety and the sleep quality rating. Here, sleep efficiency was likely greater in COMP due to the homeostatic need for recovery sleep, resulting from the change in environment from training to competition. Furthermore, an increased anxiety before bed seems to influence sleep quality and should be considered in athletes portraying poor sleep habits.


Managing traffic during oversaturated conditions is a current challenge for practitioners due to the lack of adequate tools that can handle such situations. Unlike under-saturated conditions, operation of traffic signal systems during congestion requires careful consideration and analysis of the underlying causes of the congestion before developing mitigation strategies. The objectives of this research are to provide a practical guidance for practitioners to identify oversaturated scenarios and to develop a multi-objective methodology for selecting and evaluating mitigation strategy/ or combinations of strategies based on a guiding principles. The research focused on traffic control strategies that can be implemented by traffic signal systems. The research did not considered strategies that deals with demand reduction or seek to influence departure time choice, or route choice. The proposed timing methodology starts by detecting network's critical routes as a necessary step to identify the traffic patterns and potential problematic scenarios. A wide array of control strategies are defined and categorized to address oversaturation problematic scenarios. A timing procedure was then developed using the principles of oversaturation timing in cycle selection, split allocation, offset design, demand overflow, and queue allocation in non-critical links. Three regimes of operation were defined and considered in oversaturation timing: (1) loading, (2) processing, and (3) recovery. The research also provides a closed-form formula for switching control plans during the oversaturation regimes. The selection of optimal control plan is formulated as linear integer programming problem. Microscopic simulation results of two arterial test cases revealed that traffic control strategies developed using the proposed framework led to tangible performance improvements when compared to signal control strategies designed for operations in under-saturated conditions. The generated control plans successfully manage to allocate queues in network links.


With the advent of the increasingly participatory Internet and the growing power of the crowd, "Serious Games" have proven to be a fertile approach for gathering task-specific natural language data at very low cost. In this paper we outline a game we call Doodling, based on the sketch-andconvey metaphor used in the popular board game Pictionary, with the goal of generating useful natural language data. We explore whether such a paradigm can be successfully extended for conveying more complex syntactic and semantic constructs than the words or short phrases typically used in the board game. Through a series of user experiments, we show that this is indeed the case, and that valuable parallel language data may be produced as a byproduct. In addition, we explore extensions to this paradigm along two axes – going online (vs. face-to-face) and going crosslingual. The results in each of the sets of experiments confirm the potential of Doodling game to generate data in large quantities and across languages, and thus provide a new means of developing data sets and technologies for resource-poor languages.


The development of industry, agriculture, transport and urbanization has resulted in excessive emissions of heavy metals into the environment, which due to their bioaccumulative properties express negative effects on the environment and living organisms as a whole. In this work the presence of heavy metals in the soil samples of the urban area of Lukavac and Kalesija municipality and their effect on the health of the population were studied. Soil samples were collected in October 2017 at five locations in the urban area of Lukavac municipality and two urban locations in Kalesija municipality. Concentrations of chromium (Cr) copper (Cu), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) in the soil samples were determined. The results indicated that in some locations the concentration of heavy metals exceeded the maximum permissible concentration (MPC). MPC value for chromium was exceeded at four locations in the urban area of Lukavac, whereas MPC value for nickel and cadmium was exceeded at all locations. In Kalesija, MPC value was exceeded for chromium and nickel at one location, while cadmium MPC was exceeded at both locations. The negative impact of heavy metals on the health of the population is the cause of many malignant diseases. Statistical analysis of the number of patients with malignant diseases in the area of the Lukavac and Kalesija revealed significantly higher prevalence of malignant diseases of the lungs, breast, skin and cervix in the Lukavac (p<0,05) in comparisson to Kalesija municipality.


Self-organization is a term that is increasingly used to describe how engaged citizens come together to create sustainable food systems at the local community level. Yet, there is a lack of understanding of what this self-organizing activity actually means. While previous literature has addressed self-organization as an outcome of building consensus and a collective intentionality shared by the members of a group, we focus on the complex social processes involved when people with a diverse set of interests and motivations interact in the food network. In this study, we analyze what kinds of boundary negotiations emerge when grassroots-led food networks scale up. Our embedded single case study focuses on a REKO ('REjäl KOnsumtion', meaning 'fair consumption' in English) network in Finland comprising distributed local food groups and three types of actors: consumers, producers, and local administrators. We examine a conflict that arose within the REKO network in May–June 2016 when a small group of actors demanded that all local groups should implement similar rules, principles, and ethical standards. Our findings illustrate how moral, geographic, market, and power boundaries emerge in a self-organized grassroots-led food network. We further explicate the challenges that may appear within a self-organized grassroots-led food network, as it grows in scale and scope.


A review of the Permian spiriferid brachiopod genus Trigonolrela and its occurrence in the Early Permian of Argentina is provided herein. Several species are known from the Late Palaeozoic sequences of the Argentinean Precordillera. These include Trigonolrela sp. and Trigonolrela riojanensis (Lech and Acenolaza), from the Rio del Peii.on Formation (Rio Blanco Basin), Trigonolrela pericoensis (Leanza), from the Tupe Formation at the La Herradura creek locality (Paganzo Basin) and Trigonolrela sanjuanensis (Lech and Acenolaza), from Del Salto Formation (Calingasta-Uspallata Basin). These species are characterised by being small to medium sized, relatively transverse, with cardinal extremities often strongly angular. Costae are weakly bifurcated and superimposed on weakly developed lateral flank plications adjacent to the fastigium and sulcus. The Argentinean species are close to the oldest known Indian species of the genus, Trigonotreta hesdoensis (Salmi and Dutt), particularly with respect to the nature of its weakly fasciculated costae. Further study will refine the details of the relationship of the South American species with those from elsewhere in Gondwana and may permit the recognition of a distinctive lineage. The presence of the genus in Argentina in the earliest Permian is an important palaeobiogeographical observation that raises questions about the probable migration routes of the genus from the western Gondwanan South American margin to eastern Australia and India. The Precordilleran region appears to be the likely site of the first appearance of Trigonolrela. Species with relatively simple costae appeared first. These gave rise to more complex species with a more elaborate costal pattern indicating an evolutionary progression through time.


Decision support systems are mainly based on multidimensional modeling. Using On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools, decision makers navigate through and analyze multidimensional data. Typically, users need to analyze data at different aggregation levels, using OLAP operators such as roll-up and drill-down. Roll-up operators decrease the details of the measure, aggregating it along the dimension hierarchy. Conversely, drill-down operators increase the details of the measure. As a consequence, dimensions hierarchies play a central role in knowledge representation. More precisely, since aggregation hierarchies are widely used to support data aggregation, aggregation knowledge should be adequately represented in conceptual multidimensional models, and mapped in subsequent logical and physical models. However, current conceptual multidimensional models poorly represent aggregation knowledge, which (1) has a complex structure and dynamics and (2) is highly contextual. In order to account for the characteristics of this knowledge, we propose to represent it with objects and rules. Static aggregation knowledge is represented using UML class diagrams, while rules, which represent the dynamics (i.e. how aggregation may be performed depending on context), are represented using the Production Rule Representation (PRR) language. The latter allows us to incorporate dynamic aggregation knowledge. We argue that this representation of aggregation knowledge allows an early modeling of user requirements in a decision support system project. In order to illustrate the applicability and benefits of our approach, we exemplify the production rules and present an application scenario.


Genetic evolution may have been driven by cultural innovations during the emergence of modern humans. State-of-the-art DNA sequencing is providing ever more detailed insights into the genomes of humans, extant apes, and even extinct hominins (1–3), offering unprecedented opportunities to uncover the molecular variants that make us human. A common assumption is that the emergence of behaviorally modern humans after 200,000 years ago required—and followed—a specific biological change triggered by one or more genetic mutations. For example, Klein has argued that the dawn of human culture stemmed from a single genetic change that "fostered the uniquely modern ability to adapt to a remarkable range of natural and social circumstance" (4). But are evolutionary changes in our genome a cause or a consequence of cultural innovation (see the figure)?


A complete copy of the gene (cpe) encoding Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin (CPE), an important virulence factor involved in C. perfringens food poisoning and other gastrointestinal illnesses, has been cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli. The cpe gene was shown to encode a 319-amino-acid polypeptide with a deduced molecular weight of 35,317. There was no consensus sequence for a typical signal peptide present in the 5' region of cpe. Cell lysates from recombinant cpe-positive E. coli were shown by quantitative immunoblot analysis to contain moderate amounts of CPE, and this recombinant CPE was equal to native CPE in cytotoxicity for mammalian Vero cells. CPE expression in recombinant E. coli appeared to be largely driven from a clostridial promoter. Immunoblot analysis also demonstrated very low levels of CPE in vegetative cell lysates of enterotoxin-positive C. perfringens. However, when the same C. perfringens strain was induced to sporulate, much stronger CPE expression was detected in these sporulating cells than in either vegetative C. perfringens cells or recombinant E. coli. Collectively, these results strongly suggest that sporulation is not essential for cpe expression, but sporulation does facilitate high-level cpe expression.


In history, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have been both partners and rivals. The well-known parable of the three rings argues in a beautiful paradox how the religion most beloved by the other two will turn out to be in possession of the true ring. This book collects a number of texts in which not just bilateral religious dialogues but the relations between one's own religion and the two others are documented. The texts translated and studied here, date from the medieval period, both from the East and from the West. It brings together in one volume esteemed writers such as the Jews Judah Halevi, Abraham Ibn Daud, Moses Maimonides, and Ibn Kammuna; the Christians John of Damascus, Paul of Antioch, Peter Abelard, Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas of Cusa; and the Muslims 'Abd al-Jabbar, Al-Ghazali, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, and Nur-al-Din al-Raniri. The shared knowledge of different religious traditions as testified to in some of these texts, may come as a surprise. Basic patterns of mutual understanding, pluralism, tolerance and dialogue - still relevant today - are drafted.


Burgoon's expectancy violation model posits that nonverbal rule violations will be evaluated according to the perceptions toward the violator and the behavior itself. However, the violator may have perceptions regarding the appropriateness of the rule. This study measured the perceptions of high school students regarding the rules for classroom interaction. It is believed that the rules for classroom interaction are rules which have been learned through the process of socialization and enculturation into the classroom setting throughout students' careers. These rules should be well known by all students by the time they reach tenth grade, the grade being investigated. A survey questionnaire was developed through a pilot study, and was distributed to 244 students through the English classes of three East Baton Rouge parish high schools. The high schools were chosen by relative drop out rate. Students were grouped by sex, race and age to measure differences in attitude by characteristics of potential dropouts. The study found that males have more negative attitudes toward compliance with laziness rules and the importance of those laziness rules than females. The study also found that Black students have a more positive attitudes regarding the importance of distraction, laziness, and respectfulness rules than non-Black students. Implications regarding the attitudes toward classroom rules are discussed.


This project is to develop an inverter circuit for Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) application. Inverters are circuit that convert DC to AC. The function of inverter is to create an AC voltage by using a DC voltage source and in UPS system, the voltage source that used DC voltage commonly batteries. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) technique is use in this project because with PWM, the amplitude of the output voltage can be controlled with the modulating waveforms. In this project, Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET) is used as switch in the full bridge inverter circuit design. For alternated control purpose, sequential switching is designed for PWM get-way through the MOSFET driver. The function of the driver is to control the ON/OFF of the MOSFET. Driver of the MOSFET is essential in the inverter circuit because the driver use to interface between control circuits (low voltage) and inverter circuit (high voltage). The objective of this project is to develop single phase PWM Inverter for UPS application and to design the circuit, simulate and analyze the switching characteristic of single phase PWM inverter. The simulation of full-bridge single phase inverter for this project has been done by using Unipolar scheme and the output waveform is successfully generated. The switching process in hardware is control by PIC 16F877a and the MOSFET driver is using IR2110. At the end of this project, the results from simulation were compared with hardware.


Grain prices have risen sharply since 2005 and 2006 affecting livestock markets by increasing feed prices and leading to significant volatility shocks. The high price levels and magnitude of sustained high volatilities has raised concerns for many sectors of the economy, in particular those with direct relation to these markets. Policy makers are analyzing the interrelationships among these markets, and the effects of energy market shocks on agricultural markets. This study considers a threshold structure in a multivariate time-series model that evaluates these market linkages, capturing asymmetric correlations between grain and livestock prices, including volatility spillovers. We empirically study the impact of corn usage for ethanol production in the evolution of the above mentioned prices. Results are compared to previous scenarios where corn, soybean and livestock production and consumption did not face the corn demand for ethanol production. We find positive dynamic correlations between corn and soybean and feeder and fed cattle prices, consistent with the literature. And we find an inverse or negative relation between corn and feeder/calf prices for the period post mandated ethanol production, as anticipated by the literature for increased corn prices. Also, we find there are adjustment costs inhibiting price transmission between the crops and the live cattle market, in the form of modifying feeding rations. More relevantly, we identify plausible asymmetric effect on the correlations between the markets, especially when considering the period for the ethanol driven corn consumption versus previous periods of corn consumption. These asymmetric correlations are the result of spillover effects.


Fate and reactivity of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is directly linked to its chemical composition. Therefore, molecular characterisation, for example using Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS), is used for a better understanding of those factors. To study organic compounds in the water column, an efficient extraction method is important. The commonly used extraction method for FT-ICR-MS is solid phase extraction (SPE) using a reversed-phase sorbent (BondElut PPL). But this method, to the best of our knowledge, was not evaluated for its ability to extract organic nitrogen compounds which are important building blocks of life and therefore an important fraction of DOM. In this study, several solid phase sorbents were tested for their ability to extract organic nitrogen compounds from water samples of natural aqueous environments. Different cartridges concerning their retention mechanism and pore size were tested. Three cartridges with different extraction mechanism (reversed phase, cation exchange or a mixture of both) or different pore size were tested. Except for one sorbent type, which heavily contaminated the samples with organic molecules, the tested cartridges leached neither a significant amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) nor dissolved organic nitrogen (DON). The sorbents were tested with lake water to be able to investigate their functionality in real conditions. It could be shown, that the molecular composition of the sample should be considered for the choice of the sorbent material. Additionally, it was shown that a mixed-bed sorbent is a valuable complementary SPE sorbent for the molecular characterisation of lacustrine samples using FT-ICR-MS and it might also be useful for a quantitative extraction. Furthermore, it could be shown that HyperSep Retain CX sorbent allows to extract a broader range of organic nitrogen compounds leading to a more comprehensive data set for investigating organic nitrogen compounds in lakes using FT-ICR-MS.


Transporter mediated drug–drug interactions (tDDI) mediated by ABCB1 have been shown to be clinically relevant. Hence, the assessment of the ABCB1 tDDI potential early in the drug development process has gained interest. We have evaluated the Calcein assay as a means of assessing the ABCB1 tDDI that is amenable to high throughout and compared it with the monolayer efflux assay. We found the Calcein assay, when performed in K562MDR cells using the protocol originally published more sensitive than digoxin transport inhibition in MDCKII-MDR1 cells. Application of the Calcein assay to cell lines containing different amounts of ABCB1, yielded IC50 values that varied 10–100-fold. The differences observed for IC50 values for the same compounds were in the following rank order: IC50, MDCKII-MDR1 >IC50, K562MDR>IC50, hCMEC/D3. Higher IC50 values were obtained in cells with higher ABCB1 expression. The Calcein assay is a high-throughput alternative to digoxin transport inhibition as it appears to have a comparable selectivity but higher sensitivity than previously published digoxin transport inhibition in MDCKII-MDR1 cells. In addition, it can be performed in a barrier-specific manner highlighting the dependence of ABCB1 IC50 values on different ABCB1 expression levels.


Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging is a well-suited multiphoton technique allowing visualization of biological tissues mainly composed of collagen with submicron resolution. Despite its inherent confocal properties, imaging of deeper layers within thick samples has still some limitations. Although the use of longer wavelengths might help to overcome this, the dependence between SHG signals and wavelength is still under discussion. We report here on the dependence with wavelength of SHG signals from collagen-based ocular tissues. The quality of SHG images for two commonly used excitation wavelengths (800 and 1045 nm) is studied. The analysis of the collagen structural information reveals that the information provided by both wavelengths is similar. It was also found that, independently of the depth location, 1045-nm SHG images presented always lower signal levels than those acquired with 800 nm. However, the contrast of the former images was higher, what may improve the visualization of certain features of interest.


The Turkish National Police (TNP) peacekeeping officers experience poor knowledge-sharing practices before, during, and after their tours of duty at the United Nations (UN) field missions, thus causing knowledge loss. The study aims to reveal the current knowledge-sharing practices of the TNP peacekeeping officers and proposes a knowledge-sharing system to share knowledge effectively. It also examines how applicable the knowledge management models are for their knowledge-sharing practices. In order to gain a better understanding about the knowledge-sharing practices of TNP officers, the researcher used a qualitative research method in this study. The researcher used semi-structured interviews in data collection. The participants were selected based on the non-probability and purposive sampling method. Content analysis and constant comparison was performed in the data analysis process. The most important knowledge sources of the peacekeeping officers are their colleagues, the Internet, and email groups. The peacekeepers recommend writing reports, organizing training programs, conducting exit interviews, adopting best practices, and creating a knowledge depository. The study uncovers that organizational culture, hierarchy, and physical proximity are significant factors that have a vital impact on knowledge sharing. Knowledge Conversion Model is substantially applicable for the knowledge-sharing practices of the TNP peacekeeping officer.


This study hypothesises that statistically significant relationships exist between job enrichment characteristics, job satisfaction, and service quality in the retail industry of South Africa. Theoretical and empirical evidence indicates that, to achieve continuous competitive advantage through superior levels of service quality, service organisations need to ensure front-line employee job satisfaction. This, in turn, is achieved through the enrichment and empowerment of front-line employee work tasks. The sample consisted of forty-nine front-line and management staff. They were selected by the non-probability sampling method from two Eastern Cape supermarkets. A 39-item questionnaire with four sections eliciting biographical, job enrichment, job satisfaction, and service quality information was administered to these individuals. The results revealed significant positive relationships between both job enrichment characteristics and job satisfaction, as well as between job satisfaction and service quality, as proposed by the study.


In the dimension stone industry, workers in processing shops may be exposed to harmful levels of respirable silica dust when conducting the different tasks in stone preparation, which include cutting, grinding, polishing, and thermaling. To protect workers from this health hazard, operators sometimes ventilate processing shops using fan-powered dust collectors to capture and filter dust. To investigate this issue, NIOSH, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, in cooperation with a dimension stone operation, upgraded an off-the-shelf dust collector the operator was utilizing in a polishing/cutting shop. Initial dust surveys showed that the unit was under-designed for the amount of dust being generated in the shop. The objective of the research was to cost-effectively increase the air cleaning volume and improve dust capture efficiency of the unit with a larger motor and blower. The unit's original stock 0.56 kw motor and blower was replaced with a 2.24 kw motor and matching blower to increase airflow. The unit was evaluated both in the laboratory and the shop before and after the retrofit to determine the improvement of the upgrade. The study showed that the 2.24 kw upgrade improved the performance over the original 0.56 kw motor resulting in more dust being cleaned from the ambient air in the shop. The 2.24 kw unit cleaned 19% more air and captured 32% more respirable dust than the 0.56 kw unit.


This paper (and its supplemental model) presents novel approaches to modeling interactions and related policies among investment, production, and learning in an emerging competitive industry. New biomass-to-biofuels pathways are being developed and commercialized to support goals for U.S. advanced biofuel use, such as those in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. We explore the impact of learning rates and techno-economics in a learning model excerpted from the Biomass Scenario Model (BSM), developed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to explore the impact of biofuel policy on the evolution of the biofuels industry. The BSM integrates investment, production, and learning among competing biofuel conversion options that are at different stages of industrial development. We explain the novel methods used to simulate the impact of differing assumptions about mature industry techno-economics and about learning rates while accounting for the different maturity levels of various conversion pathways. A sensitivity study shows that the parameters studied (fixed capital investment, process yield, progress ratios, and pre-commercial investment) exhibit highly interactive effects, and the system, as modeled, tends toward market dominance of a single pathway due to competition and learning dynamics.


The semiclassical Wigner-Kirkwood (Planck constant/2pi) expansion method is used to calculate shell corrections for spherical and deformed nuclei. The expansion is carried out up to fourth order in (Planck constant/2pi). A systematic study of Wigner-Kirkwood averaged energies is presented as a function of the deformation degrees of freedom. The shell corrections, along with the pairing energies obtained by using the Lipkin-Nogami scheme, are used in the microscopic-macroscopic approach to calculate binding energies. The macroscopic part is obtained from a liquid drop formula with six adjustable parameters. Considering a set of 367 spherical nuclei, the liquid drop parameters are adjusted to reproduce the experimental binding energies, which yields a root mean square (rms) deviation of 630 keV. It is shown that the proposed approach is indeed promising for the prediction of nuclear masses.


The recent increased market demand for locally grown produce is generating interest in the application of techniques developed for controlled environment agriculture (CEA) to urban agriculture (UA). Controlled environments have great potential to revolutionize urban food systems, as they offer unique opportunities for year-round production, optimizing resource-use efficiency, and for helping to overcome significant challenges associated with the high costs of production in urban settings. For urban growers to benefit from CEA, results from studies evaluating the application of controlled environments for commercial food production should be considered. This review includes a discussion of current and potential applications of CEA for UA, references discussing appropriate methods for selecting and controlling the physical plant production environment, resource management strategies, considerations to improve economic viability, opportunities to address food safety concerns, and the potential social benefits from applying CEA techniques to UA. Author's viewpoints about the future of CEA for urban food production are presented at the end of this review.


We study international trade in a model where consumers have non-homothetic preferences and where household income restricts the extensive margin of consumption. In equilibrium, monopolistic producers set high (low) prices in rich (poor) countries but a threat of parallel trade restricts the scope of price discrimination between countries. The threat of parallel trade allows differences in per capita incomes to have a strong impact on the extensive margin of trade, whereas differences in population sizes have a weaker effect. We also show that the welfare gains from trade liberalization are biased towards rich countries. We extend our model to more than two countries; to unequal incomes within countries; and to more general specifications of non-homothetic preferences. Our basic results are robust to these extensions.


The literature on transaction costs concentrates on established firms in established markets, while the literature on industrial ecology concentrates on new firms in given markets. It is contested in the following that the picture looks differently if the analysis concentrates on establishing new firms in new markets, such as e-commerce or the new private sector in the formerly socialist economies. A new market is defined by high uncertainty. First, the general knowledge of expertise in a society is low, so that young entrepreneurs find it hard, and costly, to acquire the necessary know-how. Second, institutions, might these be the law, business practices, or intermediaries, are poor and underdeveloped. It will be argued that in China therefore entrepreneurship depends crucially on the ability to establish firms, i.e. to find organisational forms for business ventures that facilitate long-term business relations within and around a firm, that is to say, individual entrepreneurship depends on mechanisms for co-ordinating individual or organisational behaviour of firms. These mechanisms were lacking under socialist planning. The legacy of the planned economy was an environment of weak economic institutions in which state-socialist institutions uneasily coexisted with market institutions, and newness of private exchange added to uncertainty. In this environment, economic actors depended on collective action to create their own institutions, driven by the need to agree on rules of conduct in business relations and on sanctions against violation of these rules. The study will concentrate on two essential components of (private) entrepreneurship. One is the search for organisational forms conforming to the situational constraints; the other is the formation of business practices that enable individual entrepreneurship to become a viable and sustainable course of action. In other words, we will attempt to show how the transaction cost advantage of organisational forms and co-ordination mechanisms can compensate entrepreneurs for the disadvantage they face with respect to the lack of clearly defined property rights. Based on extensive fieldwork in two provinces where 100 firms were interviewed the study can show that 1. as predicted by approaches in industrial ecology both experimentation and selection were crucial in shaping the new private business sector; 2. on the individual level the performance-orientation of Chinese culture allowed entrepreneurs to combine rational decision making with tradition. Both factors can explain why for example the family in China but not in Chinese overseas communities is no longer the natural base for private firms, why networks are assessed by their expected performance, or why Chinese firm do not care about building up a core business. 1


OBJECTIVE: This study examined the early developmental context of children in immigrant families (CIF), measured by the frequency with which parents share books with their children. METHODS: Trends in the frequency with which parents report book sharing, defined in this analysis as reading or sharing picture books with their young children, were analyzed across immigrant and nonimmigrant households by using data from the 2005, 2007, and 2009 California Health Interview Survey. Stepwise multivariate logistic regression assessed the likelihood that CIF shared books with parents daily. RESULTS: In this study, 57.5% of parents in immigrant families reported daily book sharing (DBS), compared with 75.8% of native-born parents. The lowest percentage of DBS was seen in Hispanic families with 2 foreign-born parents (47.1%). When controlling for independent variables, CIF with 2 foreign-born parents had the lowest odds of sharing books daily (odds ratio [OR]: 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.54–0.68). When stratified by race/ethnicity, separate multivariate logistic regressions revealed CIF status to be associated with lower odds of DBS for Asian (OR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.38–0.81) and Hispanic CIF (OR: 0.49; 95% CI: 0.42–0.58). CONCLUSIONS: There is an association between the lower odds of DBS and parental immigrant status, especially for Hispanic and Asian children. This relationship holds after controlling for variables thought to explain differences in literacy-related practices, such as parental education and income. Because book sharing is central to children's development of early literacy and language skills, this disparity merits further exploration with the aim of informing future interventions.


In the current environment of cut-throat competition, razor-thin profit margins, and increasing scrutiny from stakeholders, mastering the fundamentals of financial management is a must for everyone with a stake in their companies and in their own professional futures. Packed with step-by-step examples and illustrative case studies, and updated to reflect the latest trends in the economy and in financial policy, Finance and Accounting for Nonfinancial Managers is a nuts-and-bolts guide for managers, entrepreneurs, seasoned executives, teachers, and students alike. Featuring new commentary on corporate accountability, updated interactive templates, study questions, and an online instructor's guide, this new edition covers all the key aspects of financial management.