Scholarly debate is meant to improve the legal community's understanding of both the value and the limitations of a particular strand of research. While it is useful to identify areas of principled disagreement, there are times when criticism is not based on different interpretations of law or theory but instead on a misapprehension of the underlying facts or the context in which the initial analysis is placed. In those types of situations, it is necessary for the original author to provide a formal response to keep errors from entering into the legal literature. This Article provides just such a response to a review of an empirical study of the use and perception of international commercial mediation. While the review in question identifies a number of concerns that are well-taken at the theoretical level, the manner in which those concerns are applied to the original research reflects a number of misconceptions about the nature of the underlying study as well as the realities of international commercial law and practice.
Interestingly, many of the issues raised in the review are typical of the kinds of apprehensions and arguments enunciated by specialists in domestic dispute resolution. As a result, this Article not only sets the record straight with respect to a number of criticisms levelled at the original research but also provides a useful discussion of how the law, practice, and study of international commercial mediation differ from that of national mediation. As a result, readers will be better able to gauge the validity of the underlying empirical study and engage with the field of international commercial mediation going forward.


This study sought to assess the influence of the factors that have contributed to the economic dependency among the educated youth in Makueni County. Survey design was employed in this study which endeavored to establish the underlying factors in the ever persistent socio-economic dependency among especially the educated youth, i.e., those who have attained the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education certificate and above. A sample constituting 108 youth aged 20-35 years was drawn from three randomly selected districts in Makueni County. Relevant stakeholders in the youth development sector were also interviewed. Quantitative data was captured from primary sources including, questionnaires, focus group discussions and key informants and secondary sources like desk reviews and internet. The data was edited, coded and analyzed. The results were presented using frequency tables and percentages. Qualitative data, obtained from focus discussion groups (FDG) and key informants (KI) was also analyzed and used to back-up survey data. The study findings were meant for all sectors of economy focusing on youth development besides other developmental areas.


Proapoptotic proteins act directly on mitochondrial "gatekeeper" proteins to initiate apoptotic events during mouse development. The proteins BAX and BAK act as a key decision point, regulating apoptosis by controlling the permeability of the mitochondrial outer membrane. Evidence has been presented for two mechanisms of activation of BAX and BAK: an indirect mechanism where proapoptotic proteins neutralize the antiapoptotic effects of the protein BCL-2 and its relatives, and direct activation of BAX and BAK by BIM, BID, or PUMA. Analysis of the situation in vivo is complicated by the overlapping function of BIM, BID, and PUMA. Ren et al. (see the Perspective by Martin) thus analyzed triple-knockout mice lacking BIM, BID, and PUMA. Apoptosis during mouse development required a direct effect of one of these proteins to activate BAX or BAK, thereby promoting cell death. D. Ren, H.-C. Tu, H. Kim, G. X. Wang, G. R. Bean, O. Takeuchi, J. R. Jeffers, G. P. Zambetti, J. J.-D. Hsieh, E. H.-Y. Cheng, BID, BIM, and PUMA are essential for activation of the BAX- and BAK-dependent cell death program. Science 330, 1390–1393 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text] S. J. Martin, Opening the cellular poison cabinet. Science 330, 1330–1331 (2010). [Summary] [Full Text]


Studies have shown increased oxidative stress in patients with chronic airflow limitation; however, the population-based evidence for the association of oxidative stress with pulmonary function is limited. The authors analyzed the association of plasma thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, and 6-hydroxy-2,5,7,8-tetramethylchroman-2-carboxylic acid (Trolox)-equivalent antioxidant capacity with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity using data collected from 1996 to 2000 in a general population sample from western New York State (n = 2,346). After adjustment for covariates including smoking status, lifetime pack-years of smoking, education, weight, and eosinophils, multivariate analysis showed an inverse association of TBARS with forced expiratory volume in 1 second and forced vital capacity as the percentage of the predicted value (FEV1% and FVC%, respectively), positive associations of glutathione peroxidase with FEV1% and FVC%, and an inverse association of glutathione with FEV1% in men (p < 0.05). The associations of TBARS and glutathione peroxidase with FVC% in men remained statistically significant after adjustment for serum carotenoid levels. There were no statistically significant associations of oxidative stress with pulmonary function in women. These results suggest that oxidative stress may be associated with airflow limitation in men, and that gender differences may exist in the relation of oxidative stress to pulmonary function.


Two different in situ spectrophotometers are com- pared that were used in the field to determine nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) concentrations at two distinct spring discharge sites. One sensor was a double wavelength spectrophotome- ter (DWS) and the other a multiple wavelength spectropho- tometer (MWS). The objective of the study was to review the hardware options, determine ease of calibration, accuracy, in- fluence of additional substances and to assess positive and negative aspects of the two sensors as well as troubleshooting and trade-offs. Both sensors are sufficient to monitor highly time-resolved NO3-N concentrations in emergent groundwa- ter. However, the chosen path length of the sensors had a significant influence on the sensitivity and the range of de- tectable NO3-N. The accuracy of the calculated NO3-N con- centrations of the sensors can be affected if the content of additional substances such as turbidity, organic matter, nitrite or hydrogen carbonate significantly varies after the sensors have been calibrated to a particular water matrix. The MWS offers more possibilities for calibration and error detection but requires more expertise compared with the DWS.


Cell-free gene expression systems are emerging as an important platform for a diverse range of synthetic biology and biotechnology applications, including production of robust field-ready biosensors. Here, we combine programmed cellular autolysis with a freeze-thaw or freeze-dry cycle to create a practical, reproducible, and a labor- and cost-effective approach for rapid production of bacterial lysates for cell-free gene expression. Using this method, robust and highly active bacterial cell lysates can be produced without specialized equipment at a wide range of scales, making cell-free gene expression easily and broadly accessible. Moreover, live autolysis strain can be freeze-dried directly and subsequently lysed upon rehydration to produce active lysate. We demonstrate the utility of autolysates for synthetic biology by regulating protein production and degradation, implementing quorum sensing, and showing quantitative protection of linear DNA templates by GamS protein. To allow versatile and sensitive β-galactosidase (LacZ) based readout we produce autolysates with no detectable background LacZ activity and use them to produce sensitive mercury(II) biosensors with LacZ-mediated colorimetric and fluorescent outputs. The autolysis approach can facilitate wider adoption of cell-free technology for cell-free gene expression as well as other synthetic biology and biotechnology applications, such as metabolic engineering, natural product biosynthesis, or proteomics.


Software Effort Estimation is one of the most challenging aspects in the software development life cycle. Recent empirical studies in the area of software development estimation indicate the presence of two models for effort estimation: (i) Formal, and (ii) Expert Based (Informal). The IT sector in Palestine is one of the most promising and constantly growing sectors. Nonetheless, studies addressing effort estimation approaches and techniques within the Palestinian IT sector are still highly missing. Therefore, we were motivated to conduct a qualitative study to increase our understanding about how industrial teams approach software effort estimation and to explore the challenges they are facing. Our investigation started with a survey that targeted software professionals, and then we conducted multiple-case study approach involving four different software development companies in Palestine. Results show that: (i) around 25% of cost overrun in software projects is due to inaccurate estimations; (ii) expert based estimation models are the mostly applied models especially within agile environments; (iii) a potential advantage can be achieved when formalizing the process of expert based models by having guidelines and checklists; (iv) accuracy of effort estimation is largely affected by team experience, domain knowledge, and requirements clarity; (v) companies working with outsourcing model do have better effort estimation accuracy than companies working in local market. Based on our findings, we highlight areas that require further investigation.


Australia has traditionally relied on two diplomatic strategies in its attempts to 'engage' Asia. The first has been to couch engagement diplomacy within broader global trends and developments, such as the response to the communist threat during the Cold War or the general move towards the 'new regionalism' after the Cold War. The second strategy has been a dogged prudentialism, building on shared (usually commercial) interests. The shortcomings of both strategies became apparent in the lead up to the 2005 East Asia Summit, during which Australia faced a diplomatic exclusion not as the specific policy choice of another country, but as the unintended by-product of rivalries among Asia's great powers. That the success or otherwise of Australia's regional engagement will be shaped by such rivalries in future was reinforced by the sensitivities aroused over the Prime Minister's trip to China in 2008. Perhaps the bigger lesson is that Asia's rivalries are no longer sub-sets of global dynamics. We may be entering an era in which Asia's rivalries drive broader global dynamics, which in turn will pose severe challenges for Australia's regional diplomacy.


The present paper aims at designing a more accurate and richer model applying the grammaticalization approach to the synchronic study of the Biblical Hebrew verbal system. This new proposal—based on the dynamic description of languages and on the panchronic methodology, which are both necessary consequences of the grammaticalization framework, path and chaos theories, as well as of several principles of cognitive linguistics—constitutes an extension and improvement of the model formulated by John A. Cook. In 2002, J. A. Cook employed grammaticalization laws as the explanatory vehicle of the Biblical Hebrew verbal formations presenting a model which, being based on the findings of the grammaticalization and path theories, went beyond a purely diachronic perspective. However, the contrastive analysis of Cook's proposal with the requirements of the dynamic evolutionary view of languages demonstrates that this first application of the grammaticalization and path theories to the synchronic study of the Biblical Hebrew verb fails to comply with all the prerequisites derived from the two approaches. In light of this, the outline of an exemplary, second generation, model of the improvement will be sketched which in a more truthful manner takes into account the exigencies of the theories related to evolutionary linguistics.


An important but largely unexplored issue in the study of strategy-as-discourse is how emotion affects the discursive processes through which strategy is constructed. To address this question, this paper investigates displayed emotions in strategic conversations and explores how the emotional dynamics generated through these displays shape a top management team's strategizing. Using microethnography, we analyse conversations about ten strategic issues raised across seven top management team meetings and identify five different kinds of emotional dynamic, each associated with a different type of strategizing process. The emotional dynamics vary in the sorts of emotions displayed, their sequencing and overall form. The strategizing processes vary in how issues are proposed, discussed, and evaluated, and whether decisions are taken or postponed. We identify team relationship dynamics as a key mechanism linking emotional dynamics and strategizing processes, and issue urgency as another important influence.


Abstract By inducing a small electron temperature perturbation in a plasma in steady state one can in principle determine the conductive and convective components of the electron heat flux, and the associated thermal diffusivity and convection velocity. The same can be done for other plasma parameters, like density or ion temperature. In this paper experimental and analysis techniques are briefly reviewed. The fundamental question whether the fluxes are linear functions of the gradients or not is discussed. Experimental results are summarized, including so-called 'non-local' phenomena.


1. Previous work has shown that fifth-instar nymphs of Locusta migratoria (L.) compensate for a dilution of their dietary protein by reducing intermeat interval (Simpson & Abisgold, 1985). 2. The effect of dietary protein on intermeal interval is regulated, either directly or indirectly, by the osmolality and free amino acid content of the haemolymph (Abisgold & Simpson, 1987). 3. The possibility that levels of dietary protein and haemolymph composition affect the response of the maxillary palp gustatory receptors is investigated. 4. Insects fed a low-protein diet had a significantly greater receptor response (measured as the total number of spikes in the first second of stimulation of a sensillum) to stimulation with 0.0125 moll −1 leucine in 0.05 moll −1 NaCl, 0.05 moill −1 NaCl alone or 0.025 moll −1 sucrose in 0.05 moll −1 NaCl than did insects fed a high-protein diet, although for both diets the response to sucrose was significantly lower than the response to the other two solutions. 5. Increasing the free amino acid profile of the haemolymph of a low-protein-fed locust up to that of a high-protein-fed locust by injection markedly reduced the response of the receptors to subsequent stimulation with a 0.0125 moll −1 mix of eight of the 10 amino acids injected, but did not reduce the response to stimulation with 0.025 moll −1 sucrose in 0.05 moll −1 NaCl. This reduction was independent of the effect of injection on blood osmolality and was sustained for 50min after the injection. 6. The response to 0.05 moll −1 NaCl alone was influenced both by increases in blood amino acid levels and by osmolality, but the effect was less marked than the specific reduction in response to amino acid stimulation. 7. The possible significance of a reduction in receptor sensitivity on feeding behaviour and the relative roles of blood osmolality and free amino acid content are discussed. Note: Present address: Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute, College House, Wrights Lane, London VV8 5SJ.


Summary and Conclusions
Estimations of efficiency of the formalin-ether sedimentation concentration procedure for the detection of ten common intestinal parasites have been determined from an analysis of data obtained in multiple-stool examination series. Approximately 1,000 residents of four, rural, Japanese villages were examined in two five-stool series and findings were analyzed by the maximum-likelihood method of Sawitz and Karpinos. Mean estimates of efficiency for the detection of protozoan cysts were comparable to those computed by other investigators for the ZnSO4 centrifugation-flotation technic. These estimates, in per cent, for the formalin-ether procedure were 60.2 for Entamoeba histolytica; 75.1 for E. coli; 60.4 for Endolimax nana; 55.7 for Iodamoeba butschlii; and 44.5 for Giardia lamblia. Corresponding figures for helminths were: 91.9 for Ascaris lumbricoides; 92.2 for Trichuris trichiura; 78.9 for hookworm; 41.1 for Trichostrongylus sp.; and 47.6 for Schistosoma japonicum.
The efficiency of the formalin-ether procedure for the detection of some organisms, especially protozoan cysts, was observed to vary and, in some instances, the differences were probably significant. These variations are assumed to be due to a combination of factors including technical error, limitations of the analytical method and the examination procedure itself, possible biologic characteristics of the organisms that might affect their detection, and normal fluctuations in the mean infection intensity in the different population groups.
Re-examination of about one-half of the people within 60 days after the initial examination series permitted a better estimate of the reliability of the technic. The number of additional infections detected in the second examination series was about equal in all instances to the number of cases present in the first series, but absent in the second. The rate of misses for E. histolytica was no greater than the rate for more easily recognized forms. On the basis of the latter data, it was estimated that examination of five separate stools by the formalin-ether technic will detect about 97 per cent of amebiasis cases in a population. Similar data were also obtained for the other nine parasites.


The use of accurate 3D spatial network models can enable substantial improvements in vehicle routing. Notably, such models enable eco-routing, which reduces the environmental impact of transportation. We propose a novel filtering and lifting framework that augments a standard 2D spatial network model with elevation information extracted from massive aerial laser scan data and thus yields an accurate 3D model. We present a filtering technique that is capable of pruning irrelevant laser scan points in a single pass, but assumes that the 2D network fits in internal memory and that the points are appropriately sorted. We also provide an external-memory filtering technique that makes no such assumptions. During lifting, a triangulated irregular network (TIN) surface is constructed from the remaining points. The 2D network is projected onto the TIN, and a 3D network is constructed by means of interpolation. We report on a large-scale empirical study that offers insight into the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability properties of the framework.


Increasingly organizations are considering moving their workloads to clouds to take advantage of the anticipated benefits of a more cost effective and agile IT infrastructure. A key component of a cloud service, as it is exposed to the consumer, is the published selection of instance resource configurations (CPU, memory, and disk). The number of instance configurations, as well as the specific values that characterize them, form important decisions for the cloud service provider. This paper explores these resource configurations; examines how well a traditional data center fits into the cloud model from a resource allocation perspective; and proposes a framework, named CloudAffinity, aimed at selecting an optimal number of configurations based on customer requirements.


We compared seven tools for planting container-grown longleaf pine seedlings in fine sandy loam in Louisiana and in fine sand in Alabama. The tools were (1) JIM-GEM® KBC dibble bar, (2) JIM-GEM® OST Dibble Bar, (3) Terra Tech Styro 8 Dibble Stick, (4) container seedling tube dibble, (5) hoedad, (6) auger, and (7) shovel. Significant differences in variances between the two sites 15 months after planting negated comparing tools between sites. When tools were compared at individual sites, significant root collar diameter and shoot dry weight differences were reported in Louisiana and root distribution differences were reported in Alabama. Root mass, root/shoot ratio, and number of first-order lateral roots egressed from the root plug did not differ significantly among planting tools at either site.


This paper proposes a stability verification method for systems controlled by an early terminated first-order method (e.g., an MPC problem approximately solved by a fixed number of iterations of the fast gradient method). The method is based on the observation that each step of the vast majority of first-order methods is characterized by a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) system which (provided that all data are polynomial) is a basic semialgebraic set; M steps of a firstorder method is then characterized by a basic semialgebraic set given by the intersection of M coupled KKT systems. Using sum-of-squares techniques, one can then search for a polynomial Lyapunov function that decreases between two consecutive time instances for all control inputs belonging to this coupled KKT system. The proposed method applies to nonlinear dynamical systems described by polynomial (or trigonometric) data affected by a (possibly state-dependent) disturbance; in particular the method is not restricted to linear systems and/or convex cost functions. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first verification approach for early terminated optimization schemes with this level of generality.


Context As the prevalence of obesity and diabetes continues to increase there is a need for new interventions to control this epidemic. Multiple alternative treatment methods exist for type 2 diabetes mellitus such as acupuncture, bariatric surgery, yoga, aromatherapy, herbal remedies, etc. Whole Body Vibration is a relatively new area of interest recently utilized as an adjunctive therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus, representing a potentially new and novel treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus. Objective The primary objective of this study was to summarize current literature regarding the effects of whole body vibration on type 2 diabetes mellitus. This review details the effect of whole body vibration on areas of high clinical impact in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus such as glycemic control, body composition, renal function, inflammatory indices, peripheral neuropathy, and wound healing. Methods Reviewers independently screened abstracts and full texts in journal articles and books to extract data from multiple studies and literature to compile a current review on the topic of whole body vibration and diabetes mellitus. Results Current literature in murine and human models reported an overall improvement in glycemic control, renal function, inflammatory indices, and peripheral neuropathy following whole body vibration therapy. Whole body vibration effect on body mass composition is controversial with inconsistent reports of the effect on lean mass, bone density, and fat mass. Conclusions Whole body vibration has demonstrated significant promise in improving multiple systems related to the sequela of type 2 diabetes mellitus, thereby suggesting a new and novel treatment modification in this patient population. Subsequent studies are needed to further analyze the effect of whole body vibration on type 2 diabetes mellitus.


Internet Congestion Control provides a description of some of the most important topics in the area of congestion control in computer networks, with special emphasis on the analytical modeling of congestion control algorithms. The field of congestion control has seen many notable advances in recent years and the purpose of this book, which is targeted towards the advanced and intermediate reader, is to inform about the most important developments in this area. The book should enable the reader to gain a good understanding of the application of congestion control theory to a number of application domains such as Data Center Networks, Video Streaming, High Speed Links and Broadband Wireless Networks. When seen through the lens of analytical modeling, there are a number of common threads that run through the design and analysis of congestion control protocols in all these different areas, which are emphasized in this book. The book also cuts a path through the profusion of algorithms in the literature, and puts the topic on a systematic and logical footing. Internet Congestion Control provides practicing network engineers and researchers with a comprehensive and accessible coverage of analytical models of congestion control algorithms, and gives readers everything needed to understand the latest developments and research in this area.Examines and synthesizes the most important developments in internet congestion control from the last 20 years.Provides detailed description on the congestion control protocols used in four key areas; broadband wireless networks, high speed networks with large latencies, video transmission networks, and data center networks.Offers accessible coverage of advanced topics such as Optimization and Control Theory as applied to congestion control systems.


In car workshops in cleaning the air filter, tighten or remove bolts, fill the air in the tires, and in the use of hydro pneumatic require pressurized air. To obtain the pressurized air required tool, it called compressor. To accommodate the pressurized air generated by the compressor, it require a container, it called tank. The function compressed air reservoir (receiver) to stabilize the usage of compressed air. Pressurized air reservoir that mostly used, it was tank because it have character will be delicate pressure fluctuations on network when the air used by the network.
In the fabrication process very need accuracy in material choosing until the inspection so produce a standrt product and safe on operating. The design of the pressurized air reservoir tank for need car workshop then the designer going to design pressurized air reservoir tank with capacity 1400 liters and operating pressure 600 kPa that will be used for service needs, with the mechanism is air sucked into the compressor and then enter into the tank, when the pressure was in excess of the the maximum design pressure tank safety valve automatically open, after the air stored in tank, air pass the dryer, after that it used to pneumatic tools such as blow gun, the drive screw, lifting car.
The result of pressurized air reservoir tank design was found design pressure 1100 kPa, design temperature 65.560C, corrosion allowance 3 mm, thickness of shell and head 9.53mm, and hydrotest pressure 1430 kPa


This report describes a small-scale 'seed fund' project undertaken with funding from the Communities and Culture Network+. The initial aim of the project was to co-produce design fictions with a community to explore near future scenarios where tax is made visible to encourage the payment of tax, to close the tax gap, to engender wealthier and more resilient communities. As the research progressed the focus on developing community-based, practicable components of the tax system was replaced with exploring the potential of design fiction methods for enabling everyday utopian communities, the Brixton Pound local currency community, to enhance and maintain the attempts to organise society otherwise. The research involved hosting an ideation workshop with community members to develop microfictions, the development of a narrative and artefacts, the filming of a speculative documentary, and a final discussion session to explore how these scenarios enabled the community members to think differently about tax. A key finding was that rather than using co-produced design fictions to respond to the researchers' ideas, in our case how a visible tax system might benefit communities, to enabling communities to have interesting conversations. Thus the significant questions are not how to make tax visible in communities but rather to encourage people in communities to consider different types of communities, the relationships and obligations between citizens and within that alternative configurations of tax collection and expenditure. In the discussions the crucial dimension will be to engender the desire for a better way of being or living and then the collective engagement to make the world otherwise (Levitas 2013).


Relatively few behavioral deficits are apparent in subjects with hereditary absence of the corpus callosum (CC). The anterior commissure (AC) has been suggested to provide an extracallosal route for the transfer of interhemispheric information in subjects with this congenital defect. Anterior commissure size, axon number, axon diameter, and neuronal distribution were compared between normal mice and those with complete CC absence. No difference in midsagittal AC area was found between normals and acallosals, nor were differences found in the numbers or diameters of myelinated axons. However, axon counts indicated an 17% increase or about 70,000 more unmyelinated axons in the AC of acallosal mice, and the mean diameter of unmyelinated axons was slightly less than in normal mice (0.24 vs 0.26 microm). This decrease in axon diameter enabled more axons to pass through the AC without increasing its midsagittal area. The topographical distribution of neurons sending axons through the AC, assessed with lipophilic dyes, was qualitatively similar for almost all the known regions of origin of the anterior commissure in normal and acallosal mice. There was a pronounced deficit of AC cells in the anterior piriform cortex of BALB/c mice, but this occurred whether or not the mouse suffered absent CC. Although the increase in AC axon number is far smaller than the number of CC axons that fail to reach the opposite hemisphere, the higher number of axons present in the AC of acallosal mice may contribute to the functional compensation for the loss of the CC.


In the present work we investigate the existence of multiple nonequilibrium steady states in a coherently driven $XY$ lattice of dissipative two-level systems. A commonly used mean-field ansatz, in which spatial correlations are neglected, predicts a bistable behavior with a sharp shift between low- and high-density states. In contrast one-dimensional matrix product methods reveal these effects to be artifacts of the mean-field approach, with both disappearing once correlations are taken fully into account. Instead, a bunching-antibunching transition emerges. This indicates that alternative approaches should be considered for higher spatial dimensions, where classical simulations are currently infeasible. Thus we propose a circuit QED quantum simulator implementable with current technology to enable an experimental investigation of the model considered.


In this paper we investigate the process of job search, using a unique, large-scale data set for Portugal that allows us to assess the effect of job search methods on escape rates from unemployment and, in a new departure, the impact of job-finding methods used by the unemployed on earnings. In each case, the characteristics of workers receive careful attention. In addition, the effectiveness of the job search process is evaluated in terms of the periodicity of the resulting job match. Some emphasis is accorded the role of the public employment agency which, despite its frequency as a search vehicle, is found to have a low hit rate and to lead to low-paying jobs. Such jobs are also shorter lasting, only partly because they are more likely to be of a fixed-term nature. The policy backdrop is provided by the "employment chapter" of the Treaty of Amsterdam. Given our results, some concern naturally arises as to the capacity of the public employment agency to meet the targets set under European employment initiatives.


Background and Purpose: Low back pain (LBP) is associated with paraspinal muscle dysfunctions. A method to study the deep lumbar paraspinal muscle activation is with intramuscular electromyography (EMG). However, it is currently unknown how paraspinal muscle performance is affected by the invasive intramuscular insertion and the presence of the fine-wire electrode in the muscle. The purpose of this study was to analyze how insertion of fine-wire EMG into lumbar paraspinal muscle affects the lumbar paraspinal muscle fatigue, endurance, activation, and peak extension torque during high exertion spinal extension exercises. Participants: 20 individuals between the ages of 18-40 participated. The participants were healthy with no history of LBP within the last 6 months that required activity modification or medical care. Methods: Data was obtained during 3 separate testing sessions, spaced 5 to 10 days apart. The first session obtained baseline outcome measures without intramuscular insertion (BL), with subsequent sessions utilizing a random order of insertion followed by leaving the intramuscular electrode fine-wire in (WI) or out (WO) of the muscle. Lumbar paraspinal peak extension torque was assessed with isokinetic dynamometry. Lumbar paraspinal endurance was evaluated using the Sorensen test. Paraspinal muscle fatigue was assessed using the rate of change (slope) of the median frequency during the endurance test. Percent of muscle activation was calculated by using the average muscle activation level during the endurance task. Pain and discomfort levels were recorded using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) at specific times during the test sessions. All outcome measures were compared across the 3 conditions using one-way repeated measures ANOVAs and post-hoc analyses when indicated. Results: Our results showed no significant difference in peak torque (p = 0.196) between the BL, WI, and WO conditions. A significant difference in lumbar paraspinal endurance was found between the 3 conditions (p = 0.025). Post-hoc analysis showed that the muscle endurance in the WO condition was significantly longer than the BL condition (161.30 ± 58.267 sec vs. 142.05 ± 48.159 sec; p = 0.037). Percent of muscle activation during the endurance testing was not significantly different between the 3 conditions (p = 0.120). Pain scores reported during the 3 conditions were minimal (ranged 0-4/10). No pain was reported on the first day of testing (BL). No significant difference in pain scores was found between the WI and WO conditions: during each of the the three MVIC trials, after the MVIC trials, during the Sorensen test, or after the Sorensen test (p = 0.104, p = 0.186, p = 0.214, p = 0.330, p = 0.527, p = 0.481, respectively). Discussion: Our findings suggested that the insertion and presence of fine-wire EMG in the lumbar paraspinal muscles had no significant impact on lumbar paraspinal muscle peak extension torque, activation or fatigue and induced minimal pain. However, the results did suggest that the insertion and subsequent removal of…


In this article, the authors examine the role of dedicated online biotechnology news providers in disseminating and shaping stories of technological promise within the bioeconomy. In this field, communication of future-orientated claims is closely linked to a firm's ability to attract speculative investment and so dedicated biotech news services play an important role in facilitating this interaction between technology producers and investors. Using the emerging field of regenerative medicine (RM) as a case study, the authors illustrate how coverage of RM biotechnologies and firms by these online news services acts to increase the intensity of promissory communication and how interaction between news providers can create dominant framings of particular events in which some aspects are emphasized while others are marginalized. Considered cumulatively, the authors show how these accounts ultimately present a highly linear account of technological innovation which renders the actions of multiple technoscientific actors meaningful to investors but at a cost to addressing the local contingencies of scientific research.


IMPROVING ELECTROMAGNETIC BIAS ESTIMATES Floyd W. Millet Electrical and Computer Engineering Doctor of Philosophy The electromagnetic (EM) bias is the largest source of error in the TOPEX/Poseidon and Jason-1 satellite sea surface height (SSH) estimates. Due to incomplete understanding of the physical processes which cause the bias, current operational models are based on empirical relationships between the bias wind speed and significant wave height. These models reduce RMS estimation errors of the EM bias to approximately 4 cm. To improve EM bias estimation the correlation between the bias and RMS long wave slope is studies using data from tower-based experiments in the Gulf of Mexico and Bass Straight, Australia. Models based on significant wave height and RMS slope are more accurate than models based on wave height and wind speed by at least 50% in RMS error between predicted and ground truth bias values. Nonparametric models have been proposed as a method to reduce the variability of EM bias estimates. Using tower data, nonparametric models developed from wind speed and significant wave height measurements are shown to provide some improvement over parametric models. It is also shown that the historical discrepancy between satellite and tower EM bias measurements is reduced by nonparametric modeling. A validity study of rough surface scattering models is conducted for surfaces with Gaussian and power law power spectra. Models in the study include physical optics (PO), geometrical optics, small perturbation method, and small slope approximation. Due to the prevalence of the PO approximation, particular emphasis is placed on the development of a validity criterion for the PO model. An empirical study of the PO approximation shows that the validity of the model is more accurately described by the RMS wave slope than the classic surface curvature criterion for surfaces with a Gaussian power spectrum. For surfaces with a power law PSD, the accuracy of the PO approximation is related to the significant slope (RMS surface height/wavelength of the dominant spectral peak). The validity of other models in the study are also shown to be well approximated by bounds on surface slope. An EM bias model is derived using the physical optics scattering model, hydrodynamic modulation, and non-Gaussian long wave surface statistics. Using a modulation transfer function, the hydrodynamic modulation of small wave heights is shown to be linearly related to the long wave RMS slope. The resulting EM bias model expresses the relative bias as a function of the long wave surface parameters RMS wave slope, surface skewness, and tilt modulation. Coefficients of the long wave parameters are determined by the short ocean waves, and provide insight into the physical mechanisms that cause the bias. From measured values of the ocean surface profile, estimated values of the bias are computed from the bias model. A comparison of these estimated values with in situ EM bias measurements shows a strong correlation between the estimated and measured values. Nadir and off-nadir measurements of the EM bias collected during the BYU Off-Nadir Experiment (Y-ONE) are presented. The in situ measurements are compared with bias estimates computed from an off-nadir generalization of the nadir EM bias model. From theoretical and experimental bias measurements a model of the angular dependence of the bias is developed as a function of the normalized bias at nadir.


Emerald ash borer (EAB; Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, 1888) has been a persistent disturbance for ash forests in the United States since 2002. Of particular concern is the impact that EAB will have on the ecosystem functioning of wetlands dominated by black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.). In preparation, forest managers need reliable and complete maps of black ash dominated stands. Traditionally, forest survey data from the United States Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program have provided rigorous measures of tree species at large spatial extents but are limited when providing estimates for smaller management units (e.g., stands). Fortunately, geospatial data can extend forest survey information by generating predictions of forest attributes at scales finer than those of the FIA sampling grid. In this study, geospatial data were integrated with FIA data in a randomForest model to estimate and map black ash dominated stands in northern Minnesota in the United States. The model produced low error rates (overall error = 14.5%; area under the curve (AUC) = 0.92) and was strongly informed by predictors from soil saturation and phenology. These results improve upon FIA-based spatial estimates at national extents by providing forest managers with accurate, fine-scale maps (30 m spatial resolution) of black ash stand dominance that could ultimately support landscape-level EAB risk and vulnerability assessments.


Marginal implicit prices for selected green pepper quality attributes were estimated using conventional linear regression techniques within an hedonic framework. Results indicated that cooler product temperatures and larger sized fruit were important physical attributes valued by wholesale buyers operating on Atlanta Farmers' Market during the 1985 summer period. In general, marginal implicit valuations for temperature and fruit size did not change appreciably over the marketing season.


Selective laser melting (SLM) is an emerging additive manufacturing (AM) technology for fabrication of complex lightweight components along with improved mechanical properties. However, the properties are highly influenced by the continual heating and cooling during deposition, variation in local temperature, size, and shape of melt pool, and solidification growth rate. Therefore, postprocessing is very often required to control various properties of additive manufactured components. The present work investigates the influence of various postprocessing methods such as heat treatment and electric discharge alloying (EDA) on ambient and elevated temperature wear behavior of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg alloy and compared with its tribological behavior with cast AlSi10Mg. The dry wear tests were conducted using a pin on disk (POD) tribometer with EN-31 as counter body. The EDA treated SLM AlSi10Mg showed the least wear-rate and coefficient of friction (COF) at both ambient and elevated temperatures (1.05 × 10−4 mm3/Nm and 0.434 and 3.12 × 10−5 mm3/Nm and 0.531, respectively) due to its higher hardness (189.8 HV) as compared with other samples. The wear-rate and COF of cast specimen are found to be highest among all specimens at both ambient and elevated temperatures (1.34 × 10−4 mm3/Nm and 0.528 and 4.49 × 10−5 mm3/Nm and 0.724, respectively). Lower wear-rate and higher COF are observed at elevated temperature due to the excessive formation of wear-resistant oxides (Al2O3, SiO2, and MgO) and glaze layers for all samples compared with ambient temperature wear behaviors of its counterparts. Abrasive wear, adhesive wear, oxidation wear, and surface delamination are the prominent wear mechanisms observed for ambient and elevated temperatures for all the specimens.


The museums of the world are full of statues and other artefacts of the Greeks and the Romans. All are given a date. But how are these dates arrived at. What is the evidence? This study provides the student with an introduction and explanation of the ways scholars date the archaeological remains of classical antiquity. Specific examples from architecture, sculpture, and painting are presented, and the differnt methods of dating them are explained. These are supplemented with many original photographs and drawings. Old, and not so old problems in chronology are thus investigated and new theories reviewed from a fresh perspective.


Recently, it was suggested that the presence of total cholesterol (TC), age and sex interaction in Alzheimer's type dementia (AD) is linked with the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. Our objective was to determine whether the serum lipid profile in AD patients and their first degree non-demented relatives of a certain age (NDR) was dependent on APOE genotype. We included 28 mild to moderate AD and 30 NDR according to DSM-III-R and NINCDS-ADRDA criteria. NDR individuals were investigated in an age group similar to the AD group (brother-sister relationship) and in a group including younger individuals (AD patients-children relationship). Our data indicate significant differences between decreased total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio in the group of AD patients versus NDR individuals of similar age, independent of APOE genotype, and an increased total cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio in a group of AD patients versus their children of the same genotype. There was no significant correlation between triglycerides and high density lipoprotein levels with APOE genotype in any of the tested groups. In conclusion, there was a decreased selected lipid serum profile parameters in AD compared to age matched non demented first degree relatives.


About the book: this is the second in the Trentham series on Discourse, Power and Resistance. It explores and critiques government control over educational practice and research in the US and the UK, and examines the impact of this control on teachers and learners. Chapters illustrate the undermining of professional autonomy, the narrowing effect of 'learning outcomes', and the impact of punitive inspection regimes. Other chapters review issues arising from widening participation policies such as the effect of 'therapeutic education' on the self esteem of adult learners, and how the policing and control of student experience undermines the trust between tutor and students.

The book offers a timely reminder to those engaged in shaping, delivering or experiencing the effects of current educational policy that it is all too easy to be swept away by contemporary rhetoric, without considering its impact on practitioners, researchers and learners. This book will be wholly relevant, especially for those working with adult learners. It will also be of value to students in education, policy studies and professional training.
The editors have brought together contributions from Ian Stronach and Patti Lather, Mike Newby, Sue Clegg and Peter Ashworth, James Avis, Valerie Reardon, Pat Sikes and John Clark, Kathryn Ecclestone, Sandra Sinfield, Tom Burns and Debbie Holly, Julia Evans, Roger Harrison and Tamsin Haggis.


Assumptions of increasing secularization have been called into question across the globe but under the socialist variants of modernity traditional forms of religious belief and practice were subject to quite specific forms of repression in favour of 'scientific atheism'. What is the legacy of this socialist experience for the postsocialist era? How is religion mobilized in the public sphere to support assertions of ethnic identity and the building of nations and states? In the private sphere, how does religion help persons to cope with uncertainty and dislocation? What has been the impact of external influences, including pressures to implement religious human rights as well as the missionising efforts of modernist, 'universalizing' faiths, both Christian and Muslim? This book explores new configurations of local, national and global religious communities through ethnographic studies from two regions, Central Asia and East-Central Europe. The main focus is on the consequences of changes in the sphere of religion for generalized civility, which is understood minimally as the acceptance of diverse beliefs and practices in everyday social life.


In 2001, Florian Cramer wondered whether 'the theoretical debate of literature in digital networks has shifted... from perceiving computer data as an extension and transgression of textuality (as manifest in such notions as 'hypertext', 'hyperfiction', 'hyper-/multimedia') towards paying attention to the very codedness–that is, textuality–of digital systems themselves' (Cramer, 2001). I want to extend this focus on the codedness of computer-based textuality into a technosocial 'phenomenology' of the text-as-apparatus. These texts cannot be understood separately from the apparatus that displays and performs them. 'Trilogical' relationships exist between humans and apparatuses that are revealed during the performance of the text-as-apparatus. The trilogue acknowledges the apparatus as an entity that, while lacking consciousness, possesses a pseudo-agency with ramifications for the interpretations of such texts. The result is new types of creative relationships, in which different concepts of language compete, and hopefully combine, to create new types of meaning.


In Japan, there is a government-mandated financial support system to help hearing-handicapped patients. In this welfare law, patients with severe hearing loss are categorized into three grades according to severity of hearing disturbance. Patients in each grade have the right to obtain financial support. Obtaining financial aid is a two-step process. First, the patient must apply for a certificate or license indicating that he/she is indeed hearing handicapped. It usually takes a few weeks to receive this license. Second, the patient must complete a financial support application form, which takes about one month for government approval. A doctor must sign both of these application forms. Between January 2005 and April 2006, we surveyed patients consulting our office for hearing aid counseling to assess the current situation and satisfaction of patients who bought hearing aids using governmental financial support. The patients graded their experience on a 5-point satisfaction scale. Among the eighty-nine patients who consulted our office, 22 (24.7%) patients applied for support; all 22 of these patients qualified as having a severe hearing-handicap. The average ages of patients certified as hearing handicapped and patients not certified as hearing handicapped were 80.9±7.7 years and 75.1±23.3 years, respectively. It took, on average, another 49 days to obtain financial support. Patients receiving governmental financial support rated their satisfaction significantly higher than did patients who did not receive support. The average amount of financial support was 40, 736yen ($340). A small amount of financial support can increase patient satisfaction. To promote the government-mandated financial support system for the hearing handicapped, doctors should show more interest in this law. Doctors should also actively guide and encourage certified patients in applying for governmental financial support for hearing aids, all with long-term goal of helping these patients achieve a better quality of life.


We present probabilistic Symbol-Refined Tree Substitution Grammars (SR-TSG) for statistical parsing of natural language sentences. An SR-TSG is an extension of the conventional TSG model where each nonterminal symbol can be refined (subcategorized) to fit the training data. Our probabilistic model is consistent based on the hierarchical Pitman-Yor Process to encode backoff smoothing from a fine-grained SR-TSG to simpler CFG rules, thus all grammar rules can be learned from training data in a fully automatic fashion. Our SR-TSG parser achieves the state-of-the-art performance on the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) English Penn Tree-bank data.


Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecomunicaciones S.A. v. JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., 685 F.3d 987 (11th Cir. 2012). In a global economy, the ability to obtain evidence located in foreign jurisdictions is necessary for international arbitration to be effective. (1) Yet, despite worldwide efforts to address this persistent concern, United States courts have continued to disagree on whether to grant judicial assistance to certain foreign governmental agencies. (2) In Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecomunicaciones S.A. v. JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., (3) the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit took a prolific step toward authorizing broad discovery assistance when it interpreted "tribunal" according to 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782. (4) The Court rejected the defendant's challenge that the requested evidence was not being used in a proceeding, concluding that a private commercial arbitration panel was a foreign tribunal within the meaning of the statute. (5) Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecomunicaciones S.A. (CONECEL) and Jet Air Service Ecuador S.A. (JASE) had a contractual relationship for over a decade. (6) However, in 2008, the relationship between the two parties deteriorated after CONECEL conducted an internal audit and determined that JASE had been improperly overbilling by millions of dollars. (7) JASE denied the allegations and claimed CONECEL failed to pay multiple invoices in 2008. (8) CONECEL intends to file a civil action against its former employees for collusion in the civil-mercantile court of competent jurisdiction in Quito, Ecuador. (9) Because, under Ecuadorian law, a party must present its evidence up front along with the pleadings, CONECEL sought assistance under 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782. (10) On July 14, 2010, CONECEL filed an ex parte application for judicial assistance in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida in order to obtain evidence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782. (11) On July 20, 2010, the district court granted the ex parte application and authorized CONECEL to issue and serve a subpoena on JAS USA seeking the discovery outlined in CONECEL's application. (12) JASE moved to intervene to quash the subpoena and to vacate the order granting the application. (13) On petition for review, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the district court's decision to grant the section 1782 discovery application, holding that the arbitration tribunal before which JASE and CONECEL's dispute is now pending is a foreign tribunal for purposes of the statute. (14) The growth of international business activities has increased the frequency of transnational conflicts. (15) Motivated to avoid the costs and uncertainty of litigation among the world's diverse judicial systems, parties have frequently utilized arbitration as an alternative for resolving disputes. (16) Nevertheless, for international arbitration to continue as a viable option, judicial assistance in obtaining evidence is needed worldwide. (17) Since the mid-nineteenth century, Congress has authorized the federal courts to grant discovery requests in connection with foreign proceedings. (18) Congress enacted its first statute in 1885 to permit federal courts to assist foreign bodies in acquiring evidence within the United States. (19) Recognizing the Act of 1855's shortcomings, Congress passed new legislation in 1863.20 In 1948, Congress modified the Act of 1863, codifying the amended version as 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782.21 Accepting the reality that the even more changes were necessary to deal with evolving needs of the international community, Congress created the Commission on International Rules of Judicial Procedure in 1958.22 Today, the Committee's findings from 1964 remain in effect and reflect the current version of 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782. (23) The plain reading of 28 U.S.C. [section] 1782 authorizes the federal courts to cover proceedings "in a foreign or international tribunal. …


A massively parallel pyro-sequencing technology commercialized by 454 Life Sciences Corporation was used to sequence the transcriptomes of shoot apical meristems isolated from two inbred lines of maize using laser capture microdissection (LCM). A computational pipeline that uses the POLYBAYES polymorphism detection system was adapted for 454 ESTs and used to detect SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) between the two inbred lines. Putative SNPs were computationally identified using 260 000 and 280 000 454 ESTs from the B73 and Mo17 inbred lines, respectively. Over 36 000 putative SNPs were detected within 9980 unique B73 genomic anchor sequences (MAGIs). Stringent post-processing reduced this number to > 7000 putative SNPs. Over 85% (94/110) of a sample of these putative SNPs were successfully validated by Sanger sequencing. Based on this validation rate, this pilot experiment conservatively identified > 4900 valid SNPs within > 2400 maize genes. These results demonstrate that 454-based transcriptome sequencing is an excellent method for the high-throughput acquisition of gene-associated SNPs.


ABSTRACT Recent US advances in counterinsurgency doctrine have been adopted by developing country armed forces. Nevertheless, no systematic study has examined the barriers they face to implementing highly involved counterinsurgency strategy. Tracing the evolution of Peruvian doctrine demonstrates that Peru was able to quickly improve the unity of effort, intelligence capacity, and military basing to meet the demands of a population-centric hearts-and-minds approach to counterinsurgency. Nevertheless, the limited tactical initiative and flexibility of Peruvian forces remains a challenge. The Peruvian experience is instructive for other militaries undergoing similar transitions. However, given the diversity of insurgent conflicts, this doctrine is not universally appropriate.


This article seeks to determine whether US economic sanctions can be maintained consistently with the obligations of the international trade regime. In Part I, it will consider the extent to which the current prevalence of economic sanctions may create tension with international trading rules. In Part II, the article will assess arguments that sanctions are inconsistent with applicable principles of customary international law. Part III will consider whether sanctions are inconsistent with international trading regimes and consequently are impermissible. In Part IV, the article concludes that while sanctions are legally permissible in the face of indeterminate legal obligations and international trading rules, imposition of sanctions may nevertheless have adverse consequences for a sanctioning state. I. INTRODUCTION Economic sanctions have become an increasingly prevalent feature of US international economic and foreign policy.1 The general impermissibility of the use or threat of armed force has to some degree increased the relative importance of economic sanctions, a form of economic warfare. This is not necessarily a fortuitous development. The less obvious costs of economic sanctions,2 as compared to those of armed force, may encourage a facile resort to economic sanctions that would have been intolerable in the case of armed force. We may see something of this result in the increased frequency of use of economic sanctions in US practice over the past twenty years.3 Understanding the place of economic sanctions within the institutions of international trade can be a complicated undertaking for several reasons. First, while "economic sanctions" may have intuitive meaning as a descriptive term, there is continuing scholarly debate over the technical scope of the term.4 Second, "emergency" sanctions, when continued over a long period of years (such as is the case with sanctions against Cuba), may be assimilated into "normal" trade and foreign policy. Third, sanctions often blur into ordinary trade penalties in ways that make it difficult to distinguish between the two. For example, ordinary penalties available for violations of settled trade policy may reach such critical proportions that they metamorphose into aggressive sanctions in a burgeoning "trade war."5 Similar problems exist when we consider the denial of favorable or preferential trade treatment-itself a feature of trade policy-on the basis of criteria other than those appurtenant to that policy. Thus, economic sanctions may be viewed as occurring within a spectrum in which related governmental actions may blend into "sanctions" at their outer edges. In some situations, we may be able to differentiate sanctions from ordinary trade policy in terms of their respective policy objectives. However, consideration of these contrasting policies may actually underscore the tension inherent in the relationship between economic sanctions and US trade policy. Typically, economic sanctions are effective to the extent that they frustrate the normal expectations of the trade and financial systems. Thus, in a narrow sense, economic sanctions are not a part of US trade policy and are antithetical to the basic rubrics of that policy.6 The imposition of economic sanctions does not, in the short term, reinforce stability in external trade. As a prima facie matter, then, the use of economic sanctions creates tension within international trade regimes. II. POSSIBLE INCONSISTENCIES WITH GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW A. PROBLEM OF INDETERMINACY Customary and even conventional principles of public international law have not had any readily discernible, practical effect on US practice with respect to economic sanctions. In part this may be due to the apparent indeterminacy of international law in this regard. Typical of the indeterminate nature of the principles invoked is the recent attempt by Marc Bossuyt to construct a set of limitations on the use of sanctions under international law. …


The 2008 financial crisis had a tremendous impact on the Greek economy and society. Since 2010, widespread popular mobilizations have emerged against the austerity measures that were part of the bail-out package proposed to the Greek governments by the Troika of creditors (EU-ECB-IMF). Yet the institutional trade unions have failed to impede the reduction of wage earners' income, which, by 2013, had dropped by 50% compared to 2008 levels. These unions have also been largely unable to confirm their leading role in mobilizing the working population. This article examines the reasons for the failure of the institutional trade unions to adequately address the austerity challenge. We consider that the explanation of their shortcomings lies in the generic challenges and problems contemporary trade unions are facing, as documented in the relevant international literature, as well as the specific particularities and traits of the Greek socio-political context. We also investigate the alternatives proposed by militant, grassroots labour organizations, such as neighbourhood-based workers' clubs, industry sector or company-based unions populated by precarious workers, and occupied, self-managed companies. After identifying the strong points of the latter's contributions, as well as the problems and challenges they are facing, we conclude that a diversified and innovative approach is required on the part of the labour movement in order to simultaneously address and exploit all sources of workers' power. The article concludes that a process of strategic rapprochement between mainstream and radical unions in Greece is necessary.


The paper presents the organisational changes in agriculture and makes evaluation of management decisions and basic problems of Bulgarian family farms, cooperatives and partnerships. The paper is based on the field research work of the authors on the project "Comparative analysis of functioning and management of private production structures in agrarian sector" in Bulgaria (1999-2000), granted by the research program of the University for National and World Economy - Sofia. In first part of the paper farm structure is treated in two aspects: management organisation (legal form) and farm size. Independently of relatively small territory in Bulgaria existing and functioning together the both European farm models. In Northeast Bulgaria predominates the large size farm with typical characterizations for "Northern model". The "Southern model" predominates not only in the mountain and semi mountain areas. Very small and small holdings are functioning in everyone villages. The analysis in second part is on data of survey in several regions in country. There are 50 family farms and 55 agricultural production cooperatives with typical production specialization and farm size. The survey includes three groups of questions about production resources, management decisions, organizational problems, production results and others. The last part of paper shows tendencies and alternatives for improvement of the management adaptivity and competitiveness of the newly formed organisations.


The present paper argues, that the investment court fails to guarantee overall compatibility with the Treaty. In particular, the principle of autonomy, which the Court of Justice has over the years developed into an effective tool protecting its own jurisdictional prerogatives, is likely to have an impact on the establishment of the investment court. Accordingly, as the investment court will ultimately engage in the interpretation of EU law and it assessment against broadly defined international standards it fulfills a judicial function that is reserved to the Court of Justice. In the absence of the prior involvement of the Court, and considering the exclusion of domestic courts from the process of dispute resolution, the present paper concludes that the currently envisaged investment court system is incompatible with the Treaty.


With the recent discovery of the ubiquity of organic material in tropospheric aerosols, it has been postulated that the rates of water evaporation and condensation into the aerosols could be affected by thin surfactant films, which could ultimately affect cloud formation. Nathanson et al. have begun to study the effect of water evaporation from sulfuric acid solutions through the short-chain surfactant, butanol. They have found that a nearly full monolayer of butanol fails to reduce water evaporation from the acid. This unexpected result raises many questions about the mechanism of water evaporation. We used molecular modeling to help answer some of these questions as it allowed us to examine the trajectory by which a molecule leaves the liquid at the molecular level. We also are able to study this problem under conditions closer to that of the troposphere because we are free of certain experimental limitations and we intend to do so in the future.


The philosophical genealogy of a remarkable antagonist: the pirate, the key to the contemporary paradigm of the universal foe. The pirate is the original enemy of humankind. As Cicero famously remarked, there are certain enemies with whom one may negotiate and with whom, circumstances permitting, one may establish a truce. But there is also an enemy with whom treaties are in vain and war remains incessant. This is the pirate, considered by ancient jurists considered to be "the enemy of all." In this book, Daniel Heller-Roazen reconstructs the shifting place of the pirate in legal and political thought from the ancient to the medieval, modern, and contemporary periods presenting the philosophical genealogy of a remarkable antagonist. Today, Heller-Roazen argues, the pirate furnishes the key to the contemporary paradigm of the universal foe. This is a legal and political person of exception, neither criminal nor enemy, who inhabits an extra-territorial region. Against such a foe, states may wage extraordinary battles, policing politics and justifying military measures in the name of welfare and security. Heller-Roazen defines the piracy in the conjunction of four conditions: a region beyond territorial jurisdiction; agents who may not be identified with an established state; the collapse of the distinction between criminal and political categories; and the transformation of the concept of war. The paradigm of piracy remains in force today. Whenever we hear of regions outside the rule of law in which acts of "indiscriminate aggression" have been committed "against humanity," we must begin to recognize that these are acts of piracy. Often considered part of the distant past, the enemy of all is closer to us today than we may think. Indeed, he may never have been closer.


The degradation of the extracellular matrix is regulated by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs). Matrix components of the basement membrane play critical roles in the development and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), yet almost nothing is known about the regulation of MMP and TIMP expression in either the pre- or postsynaptic compartments. Here, we demonstrate that TIMP-2 is expressed by both spinal motor neurons and skeletal muscle. To determine whether motor function is altered in the absence of TIMP-2, motor behavior was assessed using a battery of tests (e.g., RotaRod, balance beam, hindlimb extension, grip strength, loaded grid, and gait analysis). TIMP-2(-/-) mice fall off the RotaRod significantly faster than wild-type littermates. In addition, hindlimb extension is reduced and gait is both splayed and lengthened in TIMP-2(-/-) mice. Motor dysfunction is more pronounced during early postnatal development. A preliminary analysis revealed NMJ alterations in TIMP-2(-/-) mice. Juvenile TIMP-2(-/-) mice have increased nerve branching and acetylcholine receptor expression. Adult TIMP-2(-/-) endplates are enlarged and more complex. This suggests a role for TIMP-2 in NMJ sculpting during development. In contrast to the increased NMJ nerve branching, cerebellar Purkinje cells have decreased neurite outgrowth. Thus, the TIMP-2(-/-) motor phenotype is likely due to both peripheral and central defects. The tissue specificity of the nerve branching phenotype suggests the involvement of different MMPs and/or extracellular matrix molecules underlying the TIMP-2(-/-) motor phenotype.


The recurrent attacks of weakness in hypokalemic periodic paralysis (HypoPP) are caused by failure to maintain the resting potential, with paradoxical depolarization in low K+. Remarkably, 24 out of 25 HypoPP mutations are R/X substitutions in S4 segments of voltage-sensing domains of CaV1.1 (70% of cases) or NaV1.4 (10% of cases). Expression studies in oocytes and murine muscle show anomalous gating pore leakage currents (ω-pore) for six of eight CaV1.1-HypoPP mutations, with one exception being the charge-conserving R897K. The proposed consensus pathomechanism, whereby a gating pore leak predisposes to paradoxical depolarization in low K+, is now verified by continuous recording of Vm. Selective measurement of voltage-dependent Ca2+ release, in "healthy appearing" HypoPP fibers, shows only a modest decrease in the Ca2+-dependent peak fluorescence (Oregon green 488/EGTA), and supports the notion that stabilizing Vrest will be sufficient to prevent low-K+-induced loss of force. In our knockin mouse models of HypoPP (CaV1.1-R528H and NaV1.4-R669H), pretreatment with K+-channel openers protects against the loss of force with a 2 mM K+ challenge. Alternatively, gene editing offers the possibility of sustained protection from attacks of weakness, and may prevent the late-onset permanent myopathy. In a proof-of-principle study of cultured myoblasts and in vivo electroporation, we show selective editing of the mutant HypoPP allele, without compromise of the WT allele, using CRISPR/Cas-mediated indel formation to destroy the HypoPP allele or a CRISPR/Cas base editor to correct the missense mutation.


Abstract Food products are typically multicomponent systems, where often the spatial volume is set by a protein continuous network. The ability of protein-based food products to entrap water and to prevent its exudation upon mechanical deformation is important for the texture and thus sensory perception of food products. Understanding of structural origins that determine gel water holding is therefore essential, and would allow designing foods with controlled sensory perception. Water removal from the gel (quantity, kinetics and mechanism) is related to the coarseness and deformation of the network. An understanding of the interplay between the effect of coarseness and stiffness on WH in fine and coarse gels allows one to take a better control and tune juiciness and the release of tastants from food products.


This study reports results from the first International Body Project (IBP-I), which surveyed 7,434 individuals in 10 major world regions about body weight ideals and body dissatisfaction. Participants completed the female Contour Drawing Figure Rating Scale (CDFRS) and self-reported their exposure to Western and local media. Results indicated there were significant cross-regional differences in the ideal female figure and body dissatisfaction, but effect sizes were small across high-socioeconomic-status (SES) sites. Within cultures, heavier bodies were preferred in low-SES sites compared to high-SES sites in Malaysia and South Africa (ds = 1.94-2.49) but not in Austria. Participant age, body mass index (BMI), and Western media exposure predicted body weight ideals. BMI and Western media exposure predicted body dissatisfaction among women. Our results show that body dissatisfaction and desire for thinness is commonplace in high-SES settings across world regions, highlighting the need for international attention to this problem.


It is generally recognized that life is becoming more complex. This article analyzes the human social environment using the "complexity profile," a mathematical tool for characterizing the collective behavior of a system. The analysis is used to justify the qualitative observation that complexity of existence has increased and is increasing. The increase in complexity is directly related to sweeping changes in the structure and dynamics of human civilization—the increasing interdependence of the global economic and social system, and the instabilities of dictatorships, communism and corporate hierarchies. Our complex social environment is consistent with identifying global human civilization as an organism capable of complex behavior that protects its components (us) and which should be capable of responding effectively to complex environmental demands.


Social skill deficits have become a defining characteristic of students with specific learning disability (SLD). Attempts have been made to enhance social functioning through structured training approaches. The effectiveness of these efforts was evaluated in a quantitative research synthesis (meta-analysis), which revealed a "small" effect with very few differences among teachers, peers, or students with SLD themselves who judged the efficacy of training. The relatively modest effects are discussed in relation to a number of theoretical psychometric and design issues that might account for the limited treatment outcomes.


While Pentecostalism exists today in French Polynesia, as in all the South Pacific States, it has followed an unusual path there, taking root initially (during the 1960s) within the Hakka Chinese immigrant community. Long perceived by the historic Protestant Church as "Chinese-style Protestantism", it initially gave birth to several Hakka Churches, each of which combined cultural identity, integration into Polynesian society and adherence to Christianity in different ways. However, after a series of secessions, a significant number of Hakka converts and their children are to be found in a transcultural Church, the Assemblies of God of French Polynesia. The intersecting histories of Pentecostalism and of the Hakka community in French Polynesia thus bear witness, in an exemplary fashion, to the gradual construction of a plural society (both multicultural and multi-confessional), which is in tension with the adherence of (almost) all the population to Christianity, as well as with individual cultural identities.


This article reviews the role of foreign direct investment in industrialisation of various catching-up economies and draws based on this lessons for policy-making in small countries. The author states that the introduction of proactive foreign investment strategy is one of the most effective means in a small country to rapidly increase the knowledge intensity of the economy. However, the Estonian innovation policy, similarly to most of the EU new member states, has underestimated the power and role of such proactive strategies. The author calls for much better focusing of the activities of foreign investment agencies and closer co-ordination of FDI stra tegies with education, research, employment and other policies.


Much of the argument around reforming, remaking, or preserving the traditions of scholarly publishing is built on economic principles, explicit or implicit. Can we afford open access (OA)? How do we pay for high‐quality services? Why does it cost so much? In this article, we argue that the sterility of much of this debate is a result of failure to tackle the question of what a journal is in economic terms. We offer a way through by demonstrating that a journal is a club and discuss the implications for the scholarly publishing industry. We use examples, ranging from OA to prestige journals, to explain why congestion is a problem for club‐based publications, and to discuss the importance of creative destruction for the maintenance of knowledge‐generating communities in publishing.


Quadrature digital modulation techniques are widely used in modern communication systems because of their high performance and flexibility. However, these advantages come at the cost of high power consumption. As a result, power consumption has to be taken into account as a main design factor of the modulator. In this thesis, a low-power quadrature digital modulator in 0.18μm CMOS is presented with the target system clock speed of 150 MHz. The quadrature digital modulator consists of several key blocks: quadrature direct digital synthesizer (QDDS), pulse shaping filter, interpolation filter and inverse sinc filter. The design strategy is to investigate different implementations for each block and compare the power consumption of these implementations. Based on the comparison results, the implementation that consumes the lowest power will be chosen for each block. First of all, a novel low-power QDDS is proposed in the thesis. Power consumption estimation shows that it can save up to 60% of the power consumption at 150 MHz system clock frequency compared with one conventional design. Power consumption estimation results also show that using two pulse shaping blocks to process I/Q data, cascaded integrator comb (CIC) interpolation structure, and inverse sinc filter with modified canonic signed digit (MCSD) multiplication consume less power than alternative design choices. These low-power blocks are integrated together to achieve a low-power modulator. The power consumption estimation after layout shows that it only consumes about 95 mW at 150 MHz system clock rate, which is much lower than similar commercial products. The designed modulator can provide a low-power solution for various quadrature modulators. It also has an output bandwidth from 0 to 75 MHz, configurable pulse shaping filters and interpolation filters, and an internal sin(x)/x correction filter.


Hydrological and carbon cycles are inherently coupled and play a pivotal role in the earth system. Water stress is one of the most limiting factors constraining vegetation productivity in both direct and indirect ways (mainly through nutrition cycling). In this article, we first reviewed the concepts of hydrological and carbon cycles and their interactions and then summarized recent advances in our understanding of how global climate change affects water stress, ecosystem carbon cycling, disturbances, and water use efficiency. A warming climate may continue to benefit plant growth in energy limited areas such as high latitudes and altitudes. However, over many water‐limited regions of the world, a warming climate has led to a drying trend, posing negative effects on land carbon sink capability, as shown by reductions in vegetation growth and increases in ecosystem disturbances (wildfires, insect outbreaks, and tree mortality). Carbon cycle and water use efficiency have responded to climate change in different ways in different areas. Further integrating information from climate records, flux measurements at eddy flux towers, and observations from satellites will greatly advance our understanding of the hydrological and carbon cycles and their evolution. Advancement in our understanding of the evolution of hydrological and carbon cycles under the changing climate will help us to adapt and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and its Committee on Quality Improvement in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and its Commission on Clinical Policies and Research, and in conjunction with experts in neurology, emergency medicine and critical care, research methodologists, and practicing physicians have developed this practice parameter. This parameter provides recommendations for the management of a previously neurologically healthy child with a minor closed head injury who, at the time of injury, may have experienced temporary loss of consciousness, experienced an impact seizure, vomited, or experienced other signs and symptoms. These recommendations derive from a thorough review of the literature and expert consensus. The methods and results of the literature review and data analyses including evidence tables can be found in the technical report. This practice parameter is not intended as a sole source of guidance for the management of children with minor closed head injuries. Rather, it is designed to assist physicians by providing an analytic framework for the evaluation and management of this condition. It is not intended to replace clinical judgment or establish a protocol for all patients with a minor head injury, and rarely will provide the only appropriate approach to the problem. The practice parameter, "The Management of Minor Closed Head Injury in Children," was reviewed by the AAFP Commission on Clinical Policies and Research and individuals appointed by the AAFP and appropriate committees and sections of the AAP including the Chapter Review Group, a focus group of office-based pediatricians representing each AAP District: Gene R. Adams, MD; Robert M. Corwin, MD; Diane Fuquay, MD; Barbara M. Harley, MD; Thomas J. Herr, MD, Chair; Kenneth E. Matthews, MD; Robert D. Mines, MD; Lawrence C. Pakula, MD; Howard B. Weinblatt, MD; and Delosa A.


In the 1960s and 1970s, with the historic emergence of racial and ethnic consciousness movements in the United States, poetry was considered an important vehicle for expressing the politicization of race. Indeed, this poetry could be viewed as a "racial project" in race relations theorists Michael Omi and Howard Winant's sense of forging links between cultural representations and social dynamics of racial inequality and racialized empowerment. Poems were read at rallies, fundraisers, and other events, and circulated in independent low-budget racial and ethnic publications. Rodolfo Gonzales's Yo Soy Jouquin/I am Jouquin (1972 [1967]) is a prime example of a poem that was valued for articulating a cultural and political subjectivity and history that had previously been marginalized. The anthology Time to Greez! Incantations from the Third World (1975), focusing on U.S. "Third World" writing and edited by a multiracial collective, included mainly poetry. Although published in 1984, Audre Lorde's argument that poetry is a genre suited to those with few material resources and little uninterrupted time might have been formulated by her observation of emergent racialized and gendered poetries during this earlier period. "Of all the art forms, poetry is the most economical. It is the one which is the most secret, which requires the least physical labor, the least material, and the one which can be done between shifts, in the hospital pantry, on the subway, and on scraps of surplus paper." Poetry, Lorde argues, "has been the major voice of poor, working class, and Colored women" (116). Lorde's well-known formulation that "poetry is not a luxury" posits that the knowledges conceived and produced by poetic discourse are vital to the cultural survival of marginalized peoples. We can see an apparent turn away from poetry toward prose, however, beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when prose fiction became a prevalent means of circulating narratives of racial difference among a larger audience. Immensely popular works of this period, Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior were "crossover hits" that were considered successes in the mainstream marketplace, i.e., among consumers not necessarily of the same racial identity as the authors. No longer mainly the political tools of "movement" audiences, narratives of race became explicitly commodified and promoted by publishing corporations to white as well as nonwhite readers and to secondary- and college-level educational institutions as teaching materials. When we consider what works are de rigeur in the multicultural literature curriculum and in multicultural literary studies, we think mostly of prose fiction and nonfiction: Richard Wright's Native Son, Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, essays by Richard Rodriguez, Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street and Woman Hollering Creek, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, Sula, and Beloved, Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club, Louise Erdrich's Love Medicine, and Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony, in addition to the above-mentioned titles by Walker and Kingston. I give this recent historical account of the genres in which we "read race" in order to situate my project of reading Asian American poetry within the context of Asian American and multicultural literary studies. What accounts for the contrast in the reception of prose versus poetry within multicultural literary studies? What difference does it make to specifically recognize poetic practices as part of racial, and specifically Asian American, discourse? 1 When Asian American literature is recognized at all as a body of work distinct from Asian literature, it is assumed to be a recently invented and individualistic phenomenon, associated with the names of bestselling authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan. Those that are aware of specific Asian American poets again often assume that the body of Asian American poetic writing originated in recent volumes of poetry by individual critically-lauded writers. …


This article analyzes procedural due process concerns as an element of arbitration in online dispute resolution (ODR) in business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. One factor hindering its growth is the lack of effective dispute resolution. Courts may not be a feasible forum, thus leaving private mechanisms, such as ODR, as the primary source of dispute resolution. Existing incentives may provide for a level playing field for online arbitration in disputes between merchants; however, these incentives may be nonexistent or inadequate with regard to disputes between consumers and merchants. Affirmative positive government regulations to regulate ODR may not keep pace with changes in e-commerce technology and business models. Top-down regulation suffers from governmental inefficiency; it is costly and time-consuming. In the fast moving technical world of the Internet, an enactment may not be promulgated in time to match technology in use. Statutory prohibitions may fail because they consistently emerge only after the harm has been done... Top-down regulation also prevents persons from individually choosing to allow a harm that, in their personal opinion, is harmless. Further, in order to be effective in a global e-market place, positive government regulation would require trans-border coordination between governments. There are no existing transnational or bilateral institutions to coordinate this form of government regulation. Nor are there any significant efforts to create such institutions. Lacking coordinating institutions and the political will to support them, the top-down approach to regulating ODR is doomed to failure. Alternatively, a laissez-faire market solution focusing solely on consumer action is even less likely to succeed, because the process is not transparent. Consumers do not have the time or the incentive to investigate ODR options until the post-contract dispute arises. Further, under the repeat player paradigm that would dominate B2C ODR, the relevant consumers from the perspective of the ODR providers would be the merchant and not the consumer. Accordingly, existing direct market-incentives motivate the ODR provider to cooperate with the merchant rather than a consumer. Regulatory models that provide voluntary safe harbor provisions, coupled with explicit incentives to encourage due process and fair play to ameliorate the repeat-player influence, may be the superior regulatory models because these models are flexible and are more likely to keep pace with the evolution of e-commerce. This article concludes that a hybrid approach to government incentives that encourage the development of consumer institutions to counter the market advantages enjoyed by repeat players (such as merchants) and to change the judicial standard of review for a consumer arbitration award may result in a more level playing field for the consumer. For example, one recommendation is that in the consumer context courts should not automatically grant the arbitral award a deferential standard of review. Rather, courts should examine the processes and procedures that produced the arbitration award. As the processes and procedures used by the arbitrator move along the continuum from arbitrary to due process and fair play, the court will give correspondingly greater deference to the arbitral award. Since awards that fall within these safe harbor provisions will be less expensive to reduce to a court judgment, the arbitrator and the parties have a graduated incentive to assure a more level playing field.


In this paper, we present an algorithm for the detection of local illumination changes due to shadows in real world sequences. The algorithm is designed to be able to work when camera, illumination and scene's characteristics are unknown. This feature is highly desirable for a wide range of applications, such as video production, immersive gaming, and visual surveillance. The algorithm operates as follows. First colour information is exploited, then multiple constraints from physical knowledge are embedded to define the shadow detection algorithm. Colour information is exploited by means of the RGB colour space and by means of photometric invariant features. After colour analysis, a spatio-temporal verification stage is introduced to refine the results. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods and can be applied on both indoor and outdoor image sequences


'Crimson Cabernet' grape (Vitis vinifera) seeds showed physiological dormancy and germinated at ∼60% after 60 days of chilling stratification. Fresh seeds harvested after physiological maturity and sown without drying failed to germinate after 30 days when sown on agar. In agar-sown fresh seeds cut at the distal seed end or intact seeds treated with gibberellic acid (GA), the seeds germinated at ∼20% after 30 days. The highest germination percentages after 30 days were 63% to 83% in fresh, agar-sown seeds that were cut and treated with GA at 5000 mg⋅L–1 regardless of stratification time. Similar results were seen in seeds allowed to dry before sowing. Seeds cut and treated with GA at 5000 mg⋅L–1 germinated at 79% after 30 days. However, dry seeds sown on germination paper showed lower germination after cutting and GA treatment compared with agar-sown seeds. The highest germination percentages after 30 days in dry, cut seeds on germination paper treated with GA at 2000 and 5000 mg⋅L–1 were 33% and 55%, respectively, compared with agar-sown seeds, which germinated at 76% and 79%, with the same treatments. Results from this study provide a system that reduces the need for chilling stratification for grape seed germination by using partial seedcoat removal and GA treatment.


Using the results of the Rossby Centre Ocean model (RCO) the Baltic inflows in summer/autumn 2002 and January 2003 have been studied. The model results were extracted from a long simulation with observed atmospheric forcing Starting in May 1980. In RCO a bottom boundary layer model was embedded. Both the Smaller inflows and the major inflow in January 2003 are simulated in good agreement with observations. We found that a total of 222 km(3) water entered the Baltic in January: the salinity of 94 km(3) was greater than 17 PSU. In August/September 2002 the outflow through the Sound and inflow across the Darss Sill were simulated. The net inflow volume amounted to about 50 km(3).


The Panel on Plant Health assessed the risk of introduction of listed viruses and virus-like agents through the import of pollen for pollination of eight plant genera. Because of the absence of an identified pollen trade for Fragaria, Rubus, Ribes, Vitis and Cydonia, the risk of introduction of viruses listed in Directive 2000/29/EC was assessed to be negligible, with low uncertainty. For Prunus, Malus and Pyrus, trade was identified and the risk evaluated in detail. For 12 viruses and one viroid the probability of entry was rated unlikely to moderately likely and the probability of establishment very unlikely to unlikely. In the case of the two remaining agents, Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) and Apple fruit crinkle viroid (AFCVd), the probability of entry was rated as very unlikely with a moderately likely to likely (ALSV) or very unlikely to unlikely (AFCVd) probability of establishment. Therefore, for all agents, significant limitations to their introduction were identified. Almost all ratings are, however, associated with high uncertainty because of the absence of information on many important aspects. As a consequence, the risk of introduction of listed viruses and viroids by pollen for pollination of the genera Prunus, Malus and Pyrus is considered negligible to low, with high uncertainty. The current legislation provides a substantial level of risk reduction but risks could be further reduced by addressing specifically pollen in Annexes III and IV. The two risk reduction options identified with high or very high effectiveness and feasibility to further reduce the risk of introduction are the extension to all non-EU countries of the existing prohibition on Prunus, Malus and Pyrus pollen imports and a request for the individual testing of all imported pollen shipments. The uncertainty on the effectiveness and feasibility of these measures was assessed as low and low to medium, respectively.


This research analyses the influence of the macroeconomic factors on the primary issue of stocks and debentures in the Brazilian market. Previous studies have agreed on the importance of aspects of the economic situation on a company's capital structure, but have not established a relationship between the macroeconomic variables and the level of aggregate debt; we can mention Procianoy and Caselani (1997) and Terra (2003) as examples of this. According to Leal (2000), the limitations of the Brazilian capital market suggest that management takes advantage of moments of euphoria in the market - whether caused by a reduction in the rate of interest or by the return being offered by the equity market - to raise funds at rates that are more advantageous to the company. This characterizes the first evidence we have of opportunistic behavior influencing a company's financing decisions. Eid Jr. (1996) provides us with the first evidence of this opportunistic behavior in his research in which 47% of those interviewed said that they chose fund sources that are economically more advantageous.


Abstract Using graph data models for business intelligence applications is a novel and promising approach. In contrast to traditional data warehouse models, graph models enable the mining of relationship patterns. In our prior work, we introduced an approach to graph-based data integration and analytics called BIIIG (Business Intelligence with Integrated Instance Graphs). In this work, we compare state-of-the-art systems for graph data management and analytics with regard to the support for our approach in Big Data scenarios. To exemplify the analytical value of graph models for business intelligence, we propose an analytical workflow to extract knowledge from graph-integrated business data. Finally, we show how we use Gradoop, a novel framework for distributed graph analytics, to implement our approach.