In energy-constrained applications, SRAM systems operating in the subthreshold region are often deployed to reduce power consumption. Subthreshold SRAM designs, however, confront numerous challenges, such as susceptibility to process variation and reduced ON–OFF current ratio. Statistical modeling of the variation in cell stability is critical in SRAM design, especially, for designs operating in the subthreshold region, where the process and temperature variations are the most pronounced. In this paper, statistical models for estimating the static noise margins (SNMs) of SRAM cells are built from the perspective of a shifted voltage transfer characteristic. Read (hold) SNM of a subthreshold 8T cell is analyzed. It is shown that the distribution of a single-sided read SNM is a weighted sum of several normal distributions instead of a regular Gaussian distribution. The proposed statistical model is verified with simulation results in 65-nm technology. Furthermore, to mitigate performance and yield degradation, an adaptive body biasing circuit is developed. It is demonstrated through simulation that, with a negligible area and power overhead, the proposed circuit achieves a 15% improvement in the worst case read SNM.


This study attempts to provide pertinent insights into the experiencing of black South Africans who are gay or lesbian. The aims of the investigation were to provide more holistic information on the gay and lesbian worldview in general; to provide a conceptualisation of the ontology of black gay and lesbian individuals in South Africa within a psychosocial context, and to explore the effects of a dual oppressive system related to race and sexual identity. Of 150 questionnaires distributed to black gays and lesbians, 23 were completed. Although frequency tables were utilised to organise the responses to the 73 items on the questionnaire, a phenomenological approach was adopted in interpreting responses. Within this paradigm, the initial focus was on the exposition of individual responses and thereafter, on the contextualisation of common themes in the perceptions of black gays and lesbians as a group. The study generated pertinent insights into the experiences and perceptions of black gays and lesbians, related to the lifespan development processes (early childhood to ageing) and relevant socio-political factors. In this regard the study highlighted issues that need to be addressed by black gays and lesbians in their acknowledgement of sexual identity; concerns the participants experienced as childreni issues regarding relationships, parenting and old age, and the influence of religious, legal, social and political factors on their worldview. Among the most significant findings generated by this investigation, is that of the adoption of society's homonegative attitudes by gays and lesbians themselves at almost every level of their psychosocial development. Respondents also tended to emphasise oppression with regard to being gay or lesbian, than with being black. Recommendations for future research have been identified for the purposes of generating further insights into the experiencing of black gays and lesbians in South Africa. ,


How are nonprofit organizations utilizing social media to engage in advocacy work?   We address this question by investigating the social media use of 188 501(c)(3) advocacy organizations.   After briefly examining the types of social media technologies employed, we turn to an in-depth examination of the organizations' use of Twitter. This in-depth message-level analysis is twofold: A content analysis that examines the prevalence of previously identified communicative and advocacy constructs in nonprofits' social media messages; and an inductive analysis that explores the unique features and dynamics of social media-based advocacy and identifies new organizational practices and forms of communication heretofore unseen in the literature.


In Mutual Futures: Ed Balls, Michael Gove and the Challenge to Faith Schools (2009), Francis Davis and Nathan Koblintz lament how quite often in policy debates within Catholic circles secular considerations are undermined by religious theorists, or else theological considerations relevant to policy decisions are left to a few "enthusiastic individuals." My response to this is not only to welcome secular and evidence-based thinking but also to highlight the dangers of excesses culminating in an idolatrous and performative obsession with numbers. In the context of thinking through the policy to create social enterprise school zones, I propose a model of educational discourse that welcomes the secular and scientific but at the same time is critically open to synthetic, overarching claims of the "true" and the "just" that are typical of religious grand narratives. I end with the suggestion that such kinds of educational discourse might be neoliberal and consider briefly the implications of applying this label in the light of current indiscriminate use of the label. Jude Chua Soo Meng, "Schools as Social Enterprises: The Last Casas Report, Evidence- Based, and Neoliberal Policy Discourse," Journal of Markets & Morality 15, no. 2 (Fall 2012): 391-413


Abstract The effects of increasing nickel contamination of soil on the update of selected microelements by Brassica juncea L. in the presence of raw halloysite (RH) and halloysite modified by thermal treatment (calcination) at 650°C (MH) were investigated experimentally. Such treatment causes partial dehydroxylation and enhances mineral-adsorption properties towards cations. In a vegetative-pot experiment, four different levels of Ni contamination, i.e. 0 (control), 80, 160, 240 and 320 mg kg-1 were applied in the form of an analytical-grade NiSO4·7H2O solution mixed thoroughly with the soil. Among the minerals which were added to soil to alleviate the negative impact of Ni on plant biomass, MH had a particularly beneficial effect on the growth of B. juncea L. The amount of Ni, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb and Cr in Indian mustard depended on the Ni dose and type of accompanying mineral structure. The average accumulation of trace elements in B. juncea L. grown in Ni-contaminated soil follow the decreasing order Mn > Zn > Cu > Ni > Pb > Cr.


Informed consent is understood as a crucial aspect in the ethical practice of research involving the use of human subjects. However, evidence based on the experiences and understanding of research participants shows that they generally do not fully comprehend the study information they have been given. Some experience the consent process as abandonment or as a request to comply with the doctor's wishes, while others actively seek out participation or take charge of research to further their own health and welfare interests. While problems surrounding the limits of consent have been addressed by focusing on ways to improve the consent process, misunderstandings are often not due to a lack of information provided or the inability of subjects to comprehend the information, but rather the preexisting beliefs, norms and expectations about the clinical encounter and the trust, hope and faith in medicine of those taking part, influence their understanding.

Keywords:

informed consent;
risks;
benefits;
norms;
expectations;
hope


Factors such as reduced government spending, increased competition from expanding entertainment markets and shrinking audiences have all placed excess pressure on the
ability of performing arts organisations to make ends meet. Many performing arts organisations operate as not-for-profit organisations, so rely heavily on the combined
efforts of corporate sponsors, government funds and ticket sales to support the organisation. In order to survive in the market economy, the current strategies need to
incorporate a thorough understanding of the drivers of return purchase intent to maximise ticket sales in this setting. The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers'
experience of a general performing arts experience to identify the predictors of positive repurchase intention so marketing efforts can focus on drawing consumers to return.
Experiential service settings, such as the performing, arts are suggested to challenge more traditional service marketing and management theory that repurchase intention is
driven by value, service quality and customer satisfaction alone. It is suggested that in an experiential setting a complex anthology of predictors including the need for affect and goal directed emotional attainment must be considered. Much of the research conducted in this setting approaches the field from an artistic discipline. In contrast, this research approaches the performing arts from a service marketing and management paradigm. By doing this, a set of services strategies applicable to the performing arts will become evident.
Exploratory investigation was undertaken with 26 candidates. In-depth qualitative interviews, using open-ended questioning, were conducted to draw thick description of consumer opinion. The findings reported indicate that in this setting, functional factors,
especially value and service qualities, are extremely important to candidates when deciding to repurchase. Factors such as emotional attainment and show experience, which have been the primary focus of current performing arts organisations' strategic focus, were found to play a lesser role in overall intent to repurchase. The paper identifies some conceptual target segments evolving from this research. Importantly, these findings are applicable to the performing arts but may have implications for other non-profit service organisations, such as fine arts and museums.


The current thesis investigated the emotions of workers at a hospital in the United Kingdom. Historically, the topic of emotion has received scant attention from academics in organisation research. It has been placed antithetical to reason and since the Second World War, for the most part, it has remained off the research agenda. It was in the early 1990's that emotion started to attract attention and since then, research on the topic has gained momentum. Extending this movement further, the current thesis specifically asks the question: How is emotion experienced by workers involved in organizational change?
As a research theme, organisational change has attracted attention by scholars interested in worker emotion. A change context involves emotion because workers stand to gain or lose prospects in such environments. Emotion is a form of adaptive behavior and from a research viewpoint, there is space to further develop our knowledge of how emotional experiences of workers emerge in organizational change. Focusing on this space, the current thesis specifically looks at the mental components of emotion. Case study based investigation and qualitative analysis was conducted with participants employed at a hospital enduring change.
Findings show that emotion as an experience involves intentionality, feelings, and beliefs. To understand how these are formed, further empirical analysis also showed that congruence, immediacy and certainty were related components of emotional experiences that emerged in change. Contributing to knowledge of emotion and implications for change management, the current thesis found that change was met with two types of participant reactions. Firstly, in anger and fear there was a perception that change was doomed to fail. Secondly, there was uncertainty about how change was important for participant prospects. These represent barriers to change which were not managed at the hospital. The contribution is the recommendation that practical policy aimed at setting up programs designed to manage employee adjustment to change should be established.
Contributing to knowledge of emotional experiences of workers involved in change research, findings propose the presence of intentionality. Related to this core component, the participants experienced feelings of frustration. Intentionality functioned to turn feelings to emotion by providing direction towards persons and change programs. Intentionality was present in both beliefs and feelings, wherein the latter component was found to be directly about things rather than through mediation of some logical belief system with clear rationale. Additionally, findings suggest that beliefs and to a lesser extent feelings, explicated congruence, immediacy, and certainty. The latter three concepts represent new territory in the field of organizational change. Integrating the above findings, the current thesis proposes the tripartite model of emotion. The model represents how mental components co-operate and represent a dynamic understanding of emotion in change. In the field of organizational change, such a model has not been proposed in terms of the components that it integrates. The model provides a fresh way of thinking about emotion and how workers endure such experiences during change. Future research can extend the model and review its applicability to other organisational arenas.
The methodology employed in the current thesis is designed to elicit the interpretations that participants harbored in thinking about emotion during change initiatives. The collection and analysis of data involved techniques that reduce, compare, and synthesize data. The technique is designed for this study and presents a possible set of tools available for use in other research projects.


The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB or Board) is the 'independent and quasi-judicial' control organ for the implementation of the drug control treaties. The Board was created under the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and became operational in 1968. It is theoretically independent of governments, as well as of the UN, with its 13 individual members serving in their personal capacities.In addition to producing a stream of correspondence and detailed technical assessments arising from its country visits (all of which, like the minutes of INCB meetings, are never made publicly available), the INCB produces an annual report summarising its activities and views.This response to the Board's Annual Report for 2011 (INCB Annual Reports are usually published in the spring the following year) is organised under 5 inter-related headings. The following sections consequently explore issues surrounding the Board's homage to the Hague Opium Convention; the flaws within its thematic chapter on 'social cohesion, social disorganization and illegal drugs'; the INCB's hostility towards the endeavours of Bolivia to adjust its position towards the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and coca; the continuation of mission creep and a proclivity of the Board to operate beyond its mandate and the reoccurrence of selective reticence, specifically the lack of comment on issues relating to human rights and harm reduction.


The abundance of mobile devices and digital cameras with video capture makes it easy to obtain large collections of video clips that contain the same location, environment, or event. However, such an unstructured collection is difficult to comprehend and explore. We propose a system that analyzes collections of unstructured but related video data to create a Videoscape: a data structure that enables interactive exploration of video collections by visually navigating -- spatially and/or temporally -- between different clips. We automatically identify transition opportunities, or portals. From these portals, we construct the Videoscape, a graph whose edges are video clips and whose nodes are portals between clips. Now structured, the videos can be interactively explored by walking the graph or by geographic map. Given this system, we gauge preference for different video transition styles in a user study, and generate heuristics that automatically choose an appropriate transition style. We evaluate our system using three further user studies, which allows us to conclude that Videoscapes provides significant benefits over related methods. Our system leads to previously unseen ways of interactive spatio-temporal exploration of casually captured videos, and we demonstrate this on several video collections.


The context for global gas markets is changing rapidly, raising new challenges for industry and policy makers alike. The slowdown in Asian gas demand that started in 2014 intensified in 2015, prompting a rare decline in the region's LNG imports and pushing prices to new lows. As the world prepares to welcome a large wave of new LNG projects, market players are left with one burning question: where will all that gas go?
Heavily oversupplied markets in the short term have triggered sharp investment cuts across the industry; if under-investment persists it could sow the seeds of a classic bust-boom commodity cycle. Unlike previous downturns, however, this time there is greater uncertainty about future demand prospects.
Caught between cheap coal and continued policy support for renewables, global gas demand has so far failed to react to the steep fall in prices. Industry participants are now wondering whether this is temporary or whether it marks the beginning of structurally lower growth for gas demand. How countries reassess environmental policies in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement will be key to determining what comes next for gas.
The Medium-Term Gas Market Report
2016 assesses these trends and provides a detailed analysis of global demand supply and trade development through 2021. It also explores the links between today's oversupply and emerging shifts in trade patterns, pricing mechanisms and market structures that have the potential to substantially reshape the global gas industry over the next few years.


A large European multicentric cohort study has been coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer with the objectives of investigating the dose-response relationship between liver cancer and exposure to vinyl chloride and assessing cancer risk for sites other than the liver. A nearly threefold increase in liver cancer was detected on the basis of 24 observed deaths and 8.4 expected (standardized mortality ratio 286, 95% confidence interval 186-425). The excess from liver cancer was clearly related to time since first exposure, duration of employment, and estimated ranked and quantitative exposures. Other cancer sites investigated on the basis of a priori hypotheses were either not in excess (lung) or apparently unrelated to the exposure variables (brain and lymphoma).


A system of identical disks is confined to a narrow channel, closed off at one end by a stopper and at the other end by a piston. All surfaces are hard and frictionless. A uniform gravitational field is directed parallel to the plane of the disks and perpendicular to the axis of the channel. We employ a method of configurational statistics that interprets jammed states as configurations of floating particles with structure. The particles interlink according to set rules. The two jammed microstates with smallest volume act as a pseudo-vacuum. The placement of particles is subject to a generalized Pauli principle. Jammed macrostates are generated by random agitations and specified by two control variables. They are inferred from measures for expansion work against the piston, gravitational potential energy, and intensity of random agitations. In this two-dimensional space of variables there exists a critical point. The jammed macrostate realized at the critical point depends on the path of approach. We describe all jammed macrostates by volume and entropy. Both are functions of the average population densities of particles. Approaching the critical point in an extended space of control variables generates two types of jammed macrostates: states with random heterogeneities in mass density and states with domains of uniform mass density. Criticality is shown to be robust against some effects of friction.


The topic of this dissertation is divided into two parts where the first part presents high-speed data transmission on flexible cables and the second part presents a wireless remote monitoring and controlling system with wireless data transmission. The demand on high-speed data communications has pushed both the wired and wireless technologies to operate at higher and higher frequencies. Classic Kirchhoff's voltage and current laws cannot be directly applied, when entering the microwave spectrum for frequency above 1 GHz. Instead, the transmission line theory should be used. Most of the wired communication products use bit-serial cables to connect devices. To transfer massive data at high speed, parallel data transfer techniques can be utilized and the speed can be increased by the number of parallel lines or cables, if the transfer rate per line or cable can be maintained. However, the lines or cables must be well-shielded so the crosstalk between them can be minimized. Differential lines can also be used to increase the data speed further compared to the single-ended lines, along with saving the power consumption and reducing the electromagnetic interference. However, characterization for differential lines is not as straight forward as for single-ended cases using standard S-parameters. Instead, mixed-mode S-parameters are needed to describe the differential-, common- and mixed-mode characteristics of the differential signal. Mixed-mode S-parameters were first introduced in 1995 and are now widely used. However, improvements of the theory can still be found to increase the accuracy of simulations and measurements, which is proposed and presented in this dissertation. The interest of wireless solution to do remote control and monitoring for cultural building has been increasing. Available solutions on the market are mostly wired and very expensive. The available wireless solutions often offer limited network size with point-to-point radio link. Furthermore, the wired solution requires operation on the building, which is not the preferred way since it will damage the historical values of cultural heritage buildings. Wireless solutions on the other hand can offer flexibility when deploying the network, i.e., operation on the building can be avoided or kept to the minimum. A platform for wireless remote monitoring and control has been established for various deployments at different cultural buildings. The platform has a modular design to ease future improvement and expansion of the system. The platform is based on the ZigBee standard, which is an open standard, specified with wireless sensor network as focus. Three different modules have been developed. The performance has been studied and optimized. The network has been deployed at five different locations in Sweden for data collection and verification of the system stability. The remote monitoring and control functions of the developed platform have received a nomination for the Swedish Embedded Award 2010 and been demonstrated at the Scandinavia Embedded Conference 2010 in Stockholm.Communication


The present work aims at the reduction of transmission delay at the level of AFDX ES (Avionics Full Duplex Switched Ethernet End-Systems). To this end, two approaches, namely Network Calculus and response time analysis (RTA), are employed in the computation of upper bound delay. To evaluate the delay regarding different scheduling policies, the arrival curve of the flow on output of ES is established for given traffic shaping algorithm and service mode. Computational analysis shows that Bandwidth Allocation Gap (BAG) based scheduling is the optimal policy at the level of AFDX ES, which leads to the tightest output arrival curve among all possible scheduling policies. BAG-based scheduling consists in assigning higher priority to virtual links with smaller BAG thus corresponding to the well known Rate-Monotonic Algorithm. Furthermore, schedulability criterion are established based on RTA. Additionally, delay bound computation indicates that response time analysis provides a tighter delay bound than that obtained by Network Calculus. Numerical simulations are carried out to confirm the validity, the applicability, and the performance of the proposed scheduling scheme.


Diverse hypotheses exist to explain allergic and autoimmune diseases. There are 3 factors common to most, if not all, of these diseases: 1. Microbial imbalances, microbial triggers and/or infections, 2. Allergy/hypersensitivity to food and/or environmental substances and 3. Stress. The post-hunter-gatherer era microbe hypersensitivity-enhanced colonization/infection (PHMHEC) hypothesis presented here proposes that these factors are part of a phenomenon that involves an extension of the altered microbiota hypothesis, which is the current leading hypothesis to explain the increase in allergic and autoimmune diseases in the last 75 years in association with westernization. The category of post-hunter-gatherer era microbes (PHM), as defined here, includes many microbes that are encountered much more frequently since humans ceased to live as nomadic hunter-gatherers and began living an agricultural or urban lifestyle. The microbial communities (microbiotas) that humans have been exposed to have changed as human activities have changed. It is postulated that the most intense and rapid changes in these microbiotas have occurred in recent decades in association with westernization. Human genetic makeup evolved largely during the 200 million years during which humans and their mammalian ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers or gatherers. It is proposed here that environmental microbes commonly encountered in association with that lifestyle in a pre-agricultural age would be the most coevolved with the human immune system, and thus the immune system would generally respond to these microbes without leading to debilitating chronic disease. In contrast, according to the PHMHEC hypothesis, at least some of the microbes newly encountered or encountered at higher levels during the post-hunter-gatherer era, the PHM, would be more likely to evade the immune system and/or cause hypersensitivity reactions. A mechanism called hypersensitivity-enhanced colonization/infection (HEC) is postulated to be one means by which low abundance microbes cause disease. Microbes sometimes cause hypersensitivity reactions in a manner that increases their virulence, and these reactions could be enhanced by increased exposure to similar or identical microbes in the environment. Slight differences between antigens of environmental and colonizing microbes could make the colonizing microbes even more difficult for the immune system to effectively target. Multiple secondary opportunistic infections resulting from PHM-induced immune dysregulation/suppression could exacerbate disease processes. Vulnerability to more severe acute infections (e.g., severe COVID-19) could also be increased. The long-term colonization/infection of multiple PHM and accompanying hypersensitivity reactions could contribute to physiological and psychological stress and tax the immune system and other systems of the body and be an underlying factor leading to many allergic, autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. The united holobiont disease hypothesis, which is analogous to the united airway disease hypothesis, is discussed, as well as the view that the concept of sterile inflammation needs revision and perhaps should be replaced with "inflammation without apparent infection" (IWAI) in light of the potential role of low abundance microbes. The relationship between the PHMHEC hypothesis and other hypotheses is discussed for a variety of diseases, ending with a discussion of implications for research and treatment.


The phenomenon of Whiplash-Associated Disorders cannot currently be understood from a biomedical perspective. In contrast to disability, which is frequently seen in patients with WAD, cervical tissue lesions or other biomedical sequellae are seldom found. The approach of WAD from a perspective of functioning and health is an alternative for the biomedical model and can be helpful in assessing and understanding the patients complaints, clinical characteristics and the course of the disorder. The characteristics of a conceptual framework related to functioning and health were explored, with help of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). For the assessment of functioning and health in patients with WAD, there is a need for brief and clinically applicable, condition specific questionnaires for assessment of functioning in patients with WAD. Currently, the Neck Bournemouth Questionnaire (NBQ) is the only self-assessment questionnaire that meets these criteria. After thorough translation, the construct validity, content validity and reliability of the Dutch NBQ (NBQ-NL) was assessed in respect of assessment of WAD from a perspective of functioning and health. Content validity was assessed in relation to the separate constructs of the ICF, by means of Discriminant Content Validity. Results of the study showed moderate to good correlation coefficients, but arguable limits of agreement in relation to the NBQ questionnaire items and counterpart items of other questionnaires. The NBQ-NL showed excellent test-retest reliability, with an ICC of 0.92 for repeated measurements. The NBQ-NL showed to be a multidimensional questionnaire, but most items measure a mixture of constructs within the theoretical framework of the ICF. In clinical practice, there is a need for a consensus based set of measures for the assessment of functioning and health in patients with WAD. Such a core set, may improve clinical decision-making. A consensus based preliminary core set for assessment of patients with acute, sub acute and chronic WAD was developed, with help of a Delphi-study. The preliminary core set of 27 assessment instruments (questionnaires and physical measures). The preliminary core set contains all ICF constructs. Additionally, a WAD-specific questionnaire was developed. This Whiplash Activity and Participation List (WAL) is a 38 item, condition-specific questionnaire based on clinical experience of experts and on patients' experience. The WAL measures the ICF construct "activity and participation". The relative contribution of cervical impairments and psychosocial factors to perceived disability among people with chronic whiplash associated disorders was examined, within a cross sectional design. Results of our study show that depressive symptomatology and catastrophizing explained 61% of the variance in NDI scores. Catastrophizing explained 57% of the variance in NDI scores and 15% of the variance in the sum scores of active cervical rotations.


The dichotomy between perceptions of the acceptability of risk associated with genetically modified (GM) foods and willingness to consume GM foods is investigated. Results indicate that some consumers are willing to consume GM foods even though they may perceive such foods as somewhat unsafe, with determinants such as self-perceived knowledge about the availability of GM foods and altruistic motives having positive and significant effects on their consumption decisions. Efforts toward decreasing perception of risk and ultimately increasing acceptance of and demand for GM foods should address issues related to their altruistic characteristics and outrage.


We have implemented the Linda model of shared distributed tuple space in a functional programming language, Standard ML. We use ML's flexible type system and pattern matching facilities to provide ML programmers with the basic Linda operations on tuples. No preprocessor is used, and no compiler changes are required. We use separate ML modules to implement the Linda interface, operations on tuple space, communication of tuples over the network, and replication of tuple spaces. Our approach allows different compositions of these modules to be used to configure a system with either local or remote access to tuple space, and with either a centralized or distributed implementation of tuple space. The resulting implementation of Linda in Standard ML offers an attractive way to separate the functional and the imperative portions of a distributed system. Individual processes can be written in ML in a pure functional style and the Linda shared tuple space can be used to interconnect the processes and maintain the state of the system. This research was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and monitored by the Air Force Systems Command under Contract F19628-91-C-0128. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or the U.S. Government.


We examine 'heuristic' and 'systematic' candidate-appraisal strategies within a presidential election context. Controlling for political knowledge, we determine whether individual differences in the capacity for ideological thought condition voters' reliance on the major determinants of candidate choice, increasing reliance on policy considerations and decreasing reliance on the heuristic cue of party identification and on perceptions of candidate character when ideological capacity is high, and exerting the opposite effect – decreasing the role of issues and increasing the role of party identification and candidate qualities – when such capacity is low. Using American National Election Studies data from the 1984–2000 period, we find that ideological thinking consistently heightens voters' reliance on issues and decreases their reliance on candidate cues, but only among voters who report being concerned about the outcome of the election. In contrast, the effect of partisanship is stable across levels of ideological thinking and concern about the campaign. We discuss the cognitive processes by which ideological thinking regulates political choice, and assert its centrality in the political decision-making process.


Background Stretching is used in an attempt to improve performance and reduce the risk of muscle injury, with little evidence to support its effectiveness. Hypothesis Four weeks of static or ballistic stretching can attenuate the increased soreness and decreased flexibility seen after eccentric exercise. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Twenty-nine male subjects were randomly assigned to a static stretching, ballistic stretching, or control group. On each of 4 consecutive days, they completed 4 maximal range of motion stretches using a Cybex isokinetic dynamometer to passively stretch the hamstrings at 0.087 rad · s–1 (5 deg · s–1). Stiffness from 0.87 to 1.48 rad (50°-85°), peak range of motion, work absorption, peak resistive torque, and soreness were measured. Participants then completed 4 weeks of either static or ballistic stretching for a total stretching duration of 3600 seconds. After training, the 4 days of testing were repeated with an eccentric exercise task added after day 1. Results Stretching groups had an increase in range of motion and stretch tolerance after 4 weeks of stretching, with no change in muscle stiffness, work absorption, or delayed onset muscle soreness. After eccentric exercise, they also had greater range of motion and stretch tolerance than did controls. Conclusion Both static stretching and ballistic stretching increase range of motion, most likely as a result of enhanced stretch tolerance rather than changes in muscle elasticity. Four weeks of stretching maintain range of motion and stretch tolerance in the days after eccentric exercise.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * THE SEC's NEW AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE RULES could have a significant effect on some tax practitioners. The SEC includes tax among the non-audit services CPA firms provide. * AS PROPOSED, THE SEC RULES PUT IN DOUBT whether an auditor can do anything other than review the tax provision in the financial statements or prepare the client's tax returns without further disclosure or impaired independence. The AICPA tax division suggested impairment be determined circumstantially rather than on the basis of a particular service relationship. * THE FINAL RULES TAKE A MORE MODERATE stance on audit firms providing tax-related services to audit clients. They recognize the important role CPAs play in representing clients in tax matters but provide no guidance on the specific types of tax advocacy that would not impair independence. * CPAs WILL NEED ADDITIONAL GUIDANCE to implement the final rules. It's unclear, for example, whether lobbying for tax law changes or representing an audit client before state and local government tax authorities will impair independence. And it's still unclear whether CPAs can represent audit clients before the U.S. Tax Court. * THE SEC ISSUED PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE in January 2001. Among the issues it resolved was that CPAs can prepare tax studies, such as those related to minimizing state income taxes, sales tax distributions, transfer pricing and Lifo conformity, without impairing independence. The SEC rules may affect all segments of the profession. Much has been written and many have speculated about the impact the new SEC auditor independence rules (effective February 5, 2001) will have on CPA firms that provide services such as consulting to their SEC audit clients. However, few observers have considered the impact rule 2-01 of regulation X will have on tax practice, which the SEC includes among the other non-audit services CPA firms provide. Although the work of the Independence Standards Board is ongoing, there are differences between its approach and the one the SEC took. With many voices discussing standards, all CPAs should be concerned with each step in the evolution of these independence standards and the impact they will have on non-audit services. Accordingly, this article discusses both the changes that are found in the final SEC release as well as the key tax provisions in the original proposal that were dropped (for now) or modified. THE BASIC RULES The SEC was motivated to replace the existing independence rules to "protect the reliability and integrity of the financial statements of public companies." It felt significant structural changes in the accounting profession, including reorganizations and consolidations as well as demographic changes in society, necessitated revising the rules (last amended in 1983) to keep them "relevant, effective and fair." The new rules focus on three areas that might impair independence, provide some limited exceptions and require most public companies to disclose in the annual proxy statement information about auditor independence. The major factors that might impair independence are * Investments by auditors and their families in audit clients. * Employment relationships between auditors or their families and audit clients. There is a chance a national independence standard could emerge for all CPAs, not just those with SEC clients. * Non-audit services including tax that auditors provide to audit clients. The rule creates a safe harbor for otherwise proscribed activity if a (]PA firm has a satisfactory quality control system designed to ensure compliance. The disclosure requirements focus on the nature and magnitude of the otherwise allowable non-audit services auditors provide to audit clients. A WIDE REACH Broad-based professional service firms that do more than review a client's tax accrual for audit purposes will want to understand the potential and actual impact of the proposed and final rules on all other tax-related services. …


There are many critiques of existing forms of urban governance as not fit for purpose. However, what alternatives might look like is equally contested. Coproduction is proposed as a response to address complex wicked issues. Achieving coproduction is a highly complex and daunting task. Bottom up approaches to the initiation of coproduced governance are seen as fruitful, including exemplification of utopian alternatives though local practices. New ways of seeing the role of conflict in participation are needed, including ways to institutionalise agonistic participatory practices. Coproduction in governance drives demands for forms of knowledge production that are themselves coproductive. New urban governing spaces need to be coproduced through participative transformation requiring experimentation and innovation in re-designing urban knowledge architectures. Future research in this field is proposed which is nuanced, grounded in explicit weightings of different democratic values, and which mediates between recognition of contingency and the ability to undertake comparative analysis.


It is fairly commonly known, in certain circles, that open access comes in different 'flavours'. Besides the well-known adage of Richard Stallman that there are multiple types of freedom that can be divided into gratis and libre ('free' as in 'beer' as opposed to 'free' as in 'speech'), the ways in which we provide access to material that is free in either sense are also plural. This piece, consisting of two parts, will give the historical backdrop to 'gold', 'green' and the lesser known 'platinum' models but also frame these routes to access in the light of a failed utopian project that has been undermined by credentialist models of assessment. While May 1968, another utopian failure, gave us slogans of hope – 'Under the paving stones, the beach!' – with open access publishing it seems the chances of finding our way back are growing slimmer, even if some hints of sand and surf shine through in the remaining admirable aspects of the system.

The first portion of this piece will appraise the current taxonomies of open access arguing that 'platinum' is a form of category error; a misplaced term that nonetheless signals current dissatisfaction. The second section here will think, practically, on the question of 'what is to be done?' In this second part, with reference (ironically, given the pragmatism deployed) to Adorno's theorizations of utopia, I will critique the conclusions of the UK's Finch Report as a document that neglects critical thinking, but one whose outcome may be dissent on a wide enough scale to trigger academic disobedience and revolt against the current publication system. From this I will lay out the three criteria that I believe are necessary for a transition away from 'Article Processing Charge'-driven publication practices and the infrastructures that should be in place to capitalize on this dissatisfaction, including a modified Public Library of Science-type model.


Introduction
One of the biochemical tests that microbiology students may use to identify a bacterial species is the starch hydrolysis test.
In this test
, starch agar is inoculated with the species in question. After incubation at an appropriate temperature, iodine is added to the surface of the agar. Iodine turns blue-black in the presence of starch. Absence of the blue-black color indicates that starch is no longer present in the medium. Bacteria which show a clear zone around the growth produce the exoenzyme amylase which cleaves the starch into di- and monosaccharides (1).

These simpler sugars can then be transported into the cell to be catabolized. Bacillus species are known to produce the exoenzyme, amylase (2).
Methods
In this demonstration, the action of
two bacterial species,
Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli, is compared on starch agar. After inoculation in the shape of the corresponding bacterial name initials,
EC for E. coli and BS for B. subtilis,
the plates were incubated for 24 hours at 37°C. Iodine, which changes color from a yellow-brown to blue-black in the presence of starch, was applied to the agar surface
and allowed to stand for 10 minutes
.
The E. coli starch agar plate turned completely blue-black which indicated that all the starch was still present (Fig. 2.). This is a negative reaction for the starch hydrolysis test.

The B. subtilis produced a clear zone around the growth which is a positive reaction (Fig. 1.) and
indicates that the starch has been removed in the area around the bacterial inoculum

.  B. subtilis produced the enzyme amylase which hydrolyzed starch in the agar.

If the species produces and releases amylase, starch hydrolysis in the agar should occur.

References
1.
Bird, R., and R. H. Hopkins. 1954.
The action of some alpha-amylases on amylase.
Biochem. J.
56
:86–99.

2.
Priest, F. G. 1977. Extracellular enzyme synthesis in the genus Bacillus. Bacteriol. Rev.
41
(3)
:
711–753.


This study was done in Ruiru District in Kiambu County. It sought to assess the challenges facing gender mainstreaming in the provincial administration and recommend remedial measures. This was achieved through an assessment of the gender mainstreaming strategies in use, the extent to which they have contributed to gender equality and the challenges that these strategies have not been able to address in order to reduce gender inequalities in the district. A sample of 58 respondents consisting of 33 men and 25 women drawn from Githurai and Ruiru Divisions of the District was used in the study. These included eleven government officers working in the provincial administration among them five women and six men. Twelve men village elders were randomly sampled from a list of seventy nine, while all the six women village elders in the district were purposively sampled for a focus group discussion. The village elders were sampled for the role that they play in helping administrators in discharge of duties within the villages that they serve. Also randomly sampled were 29 members of the public seeking services from the offices of provincial administrators across the district. These were composed of 14 women and 15 men. The study found that though there have been efforts to mainstream/ gender in the provincial administration, women are yet to get their fair share of opportunities in the institution. There are still some gender inequalities in terms of the number of men and women occupying public administration offices and even the expectations of who can hold such an office. Institutional culture and environment appear to be the major challenges to gender mainstreaming efforts. The ministry of provincial administration and internal security has also not done all that is necessary to prepare the district for effective gender mainstreaming. In this respect, ministerial gender policy and action plan were found to be lacking. The study recommends the stepping up of gender mainstreaming efforts which should be preceded by a gender analysis as well as the development of a ministerial gender policy and an action plan. These should form the basis for monitoring and evaluation to ensure the targets set in the Gender Action Plan are on course.


Disorders affecting the basal ganglia can have a severe effect on speech motor control. The effect can vary depending on the pathophysiology of the basal ganglia disease but in general terms it can be classified as hypokinetic or hyperkinetic dysarthria. Despite the role of basal ganglia on speech, there is a marked discrepancy between the effect of medical and surgical treatments on limb and speech motor control. This is compounded by the complex nature of speech and communication in general, and the lack of animal models of speech motor control. The emergence of deep brain stimulation of basal ganglia structures gives us the opportunity to record systematically the effects on speech and attempt some assumptions on the role of basal ganglia on speech motor control.
The aim of the present work was to examine the impact of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) for Parkinson's disease (PD) and globus pallidus internus (GPi-DBS) for dystonia on speech motor control. A consecutive series of PD and dystonia patients who underwent DBS was evaluated. Patients were studied in a prospective longitudinal manner with both clinical assessment of their speech intelligibility and acoustical analysis of their speech. The role of pre-operative clinical factors and electrical parameters of stimulation, mainly electrode positioning and voltage amplitude was systematically examined. In addition, for selected patients, tongue movements were studied using electropalatography. Aerodynamic aspects of speech were also studied. The impact of speech therapy was assessed in a subgroup of patients.
The clinical evaluation of speech intelligibility one and three years post STN-DBS in PD patients showed a deterioration of speech, partly related to medially placed electrodes and high amplitude of stimulation. Pre-operative predictive factors included low speech intelligibility before surgery and longer disease duration. Articulation rather than voice was most frequently affected with a distinct dysarthria type emerging, mainly hyperkinetic-dystonic, rather than hypokinetic. Traditionally effective therapy for PD dysarthria had little to no benefit following STN-DBS.
Speech following GPi-DBS for dystonia did not significantly change after one year of stimulation. A subgroup of patients showed hypokinetic features, mainly reduced voice volume and fast rate of speech more typical of Parkinsonian speech.
Speech changes in both STN-DBS and GPi-DBS were apparent after six months of stimulation. This progressive deterioration of speech and the critical role of the electrical parameters of stimulation suggest a long-term effect of electrical stimulation of basal ganglia on speech motor control.


The creative comparisons prospective chemistry teachers make about "chemistry" and the "chemist" may reflect how they perceive these concepts. In this sense, it seems important to determine which creative comparisons prospective teachers make with respect to these and how these can change after the history of chemistry is treated in the classroom. This study seeks to investigate the impact of the basic History and Philosophy of Chemistry course on prospective chemistry teachers' perceptions towards chemistry and the chemist. The study was conducted during the 2012–2013 academic year at a state university in Turkey with 38 prospective chemistry teachers. A creative comparisons questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection instruments in the study. This questionnaire was administered to the prospective teachers in the form of a pre-test, post-test, and retention test. Results of the analysis showed that the prospective teachers produced creative comparisons related to chemistry in the pre-test that mostly relied on their own experiences and observations, but that in the post-test and retention test, their comparisons mostly contained references to the role of chemistry in daily life, its development, and its facilitating aspects. Similarly, it was observed that in the pre-test, the prospective teachers made creative comparisons regarding the chemist that related mostly to the laboratory, but that the post-test and retention test rather contained the aspects of chemists as researchers, meticulous persons, facilitators and managers. Also, 18 prospective teachers were engaged in interviews to understand their prior knowledge about chemistry and the chemist, as well as the reasons for the changes in their creative comparisons. The results of the interviews indicated that a large majority of the prospective teachers were able to fully reflect on their inadequacy about their previous knowledge about "chemistry" and "chemist," and it was seen that they could explain the reason they changed their creative comparisons as an outcome of the History and Philosophy of Chemistry course. In the light of these results, it can be said that the History and Philosophy of Chemistry course may help prospective chemistry teachers in their perceptions about both chemistry and the chemist and may add depth to their knowledge.


The purpose with this essay is to show how the protagonist in Toni Morrison's novel Beloved can be regarded as a traditional gothic heroine. Yet, she is given different roles and actions than a conventional gothic heroine. It is also argued in this essay that Morrison's heroine is given different qualities in order to reveal important messages. First, a short description of the plot is made in order to show the gothic elements in the novel. In the following, Sethe is dealt with in relation to four traditional gothic elements. These four all appear in the novel. These are: The heroine, the villain, the setting with the haunted house and the supernatural force. Then, Sethe as a different gothic heroine is analysed. Finally, Morrison's messages are brought up.


This paper examines the role of IT in developing collaborative consumption. We present a study of the multi-sided platform goCatch, which is widely recognized as a mobile application and digital disruptor in the Australian transport industry. From our investigation, we find that goCatch uses IT to create situational-based and object-based opportunities to enable collaborative consumption and in turn digital disruption to the incumbent industry. We also highlight the factors to consider in developing a mobile application to connect with customers, and serve as a viable competitive option for responding to competition. Such research is necessary in order to better understand how service providers extract business value from digital technologies to formulate new breakthrough strategies, design compelling new products and services, and transform management processes. Ongoing work will reveal how m-commerce service providers can extract business value from a collaborative consumption model.


The Biitish tanker M/T ALVENUS ran aground 16.1 km south of Cameron, Louisiana, on 30 July 1984. An estimated 10,157 MT of Venezuelan crude oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately 2,700 MT of the heavy viscous oil impacted beaches and an additional 1,360 MT remained in the subtidal areas of west Galveston Island, about 160 km southwest of the accident site. Red drum, which spawn in the Gulf of Mexico in the fall, could have been seriously impacted by oil concentrations potentially lethal to eggs or larvae. The impact of weathered crude oil on the survival, growth, and morphological development of red drum eggs and larvae was assessed in the laboratory. Equal numbers of eggs were randomly assigned to one of six treatments of weathered crude oil (control, 50, 100, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/l) and observed through the yolk-sac stage. There were no differences in mean survival, length of surviving larvae, and frequency of morphological abnormalities among treatments (01 4 0.05). In addition, the frequency of spinal deformity and abnormal mouth development was low in all treatments. The initial chemical composition of the fresh crude oil and the seasonally warm weather contributed to the natural degradation of the soluble toxic components.


Despite failure to improve academic outcomes or close the achievement gab, school choice policies, advanced by education legislation and doctrine, have come to dominate public discourse on public education reform in the United States, with students of color disproportionately enrolling in voucher programs and charter schools. This article moves past the typical market-based critiques of school choice to analyze the particularly racialized constraints on choice for marginalized students and their families in the public school system, the blame-placing that occurs when the individualism and independence that school choice and choice rhetoric promote fails to improve academic outcomes, and the ways in which choice merely masks racial subordination and the abdication of democratic values in the school system. Students of color and their families may be opting out, but their decisions to do so neither improve public education nor reflect genuine choice. This paper ultimately argues that the values underlining school choice and choice rhetoric, like privacy, competition, independence, and liberty, are inherently incompatible with the public school system. The paper concludes by suggesting an alternate legal and rhetorical framework acknowledging the vulnerability of minority students, as well as the interdependence between white students and non-white students in the system, and advances strict limitations on school choice, even, if necessary, in the form of compulsory universal public school education.


This Article compares the natural rights property framework with the human rights framework for intellectual property. These two frameworks share a common theoretical basis in the natural rights tradition, but they appear to lead to conflicting outcomes. Proponents of natural rights to intellectual property tend to support more expansive intellectual property protections. Advocates of a human rights approach to intellectual property contend, however, that human rights will have a moderating influence on intellectual property law. This Article is among the first scholarly works to explore the apparent conflict between these two important frameworks for intellectual property. It concludes that a human rights approach to intellectual property enriches the natural rights intellectual property dialogue by broadening the analysis to acknowledge and value human interests that go beyond the individual property interest.


Ensuring reliable structural condition of sewers is an important criterion for sewer rehabilitation decisions. Deterioration models applied to sewer pipes support the rehabilitation planning by means of prioritising pipes according to their current and predicted structural status. There is a benefit in applying such models if sufficient inspection data for calibration, an appropriate deterioration model, and adequate covariates to explain the variability in the conditions are available. In this paper it is discussed up to what level the application of sewer deterioration models can be beneficial under limited data availability. The findings show that the indirect nature of the explanatory covariates which are commonly used in sewer deterioration models makes it difficult to harness any benefit from modelling sewer conditions at a network level, but that the deterioration model application still may be beneficial for prioritising inspection candidates. The prediction power of the current sewer deterioration models is limited by the adequacy of the explanatory variables available, and by the fact that different failure modes are mixed in the aggregated condition class, and not modelled explicitly.


HAYAT, S., S. YADAV, M. N. ALYEMENI and A. AHMAD, 2014. Effect of sodium nitroprusside on the germination and antioxidant activities of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 20: 140-144 Seeds of tomato were soaked in double distilled water (control) or sodium nitroprusside (SNP; 10-8, 10-7, 10-6, 10-5, 10-4, 10-3, 10-2, 10-1 or 1.0 M) a nitric oxide (NO) donor, for 8h. SNP significantly affected the seed germination, NR activity and seedling growth in a concentration dependent manner. The concentrations ranging from 10-8 to 10-5 M favored these parameters, whereas, the higher concentration of SNP (1M) showed an inhibitory effect. However, proline content and antioxidant enzyme exhibited an increase in response to 1M of SNP. It is concluded from the present investigation that nitric oxide acts as a stimulator at low concentrations whereas at higher concentration it acts as a stress inducer.


Let G be a Lie group with finitely many connected components and let K be a maximal compact subgroup. We assume that G satisfies the rapid decay (RD) property and that G/K has a non-positive sectional curvature. As an example, we can take G to be a connected semisimple Lie group. Let M be a G-proper manifold with compact quotient M/G. Building on [6] and [27] we establish index formulae for the C-higher indices of a G-equivariant Dirac-type operator on M . We use these formulae to investigate geometric properties of suitably defined higher genera on M . In particular, we establish the G-homotopy invariance of the higher signatures of a G-proper manifold and the vanishing of the Â-genera of a G-spin G-proper manifold admitting a G-invariant metric of positive scalar curvature.


An understanding of feasibility of implanting embryonic stem cells (ESCs), their behavior of migration in response to lesions induced in brain tissues, and the mechanism of their in vivo differentiation into neighboring neural cells is essential for developing and refining ESC transplantation strategies for repairing damages in the nervous system, as well as for understanding the molecular mechanism underlying neurogenesis. We hypothesized that damaged neural tissues offer a niche to which injected ESCs can migrate and differentiate into the neural cells. We inflicted damage in the murine (C57BL/6) brain by injecting phosphate‐buffered saline into the left frontal and right caudal regions and confirmed neural damage by histochemistry. Enhanced yellow fluorescent protein‐expressing ESCs were injected into the nondamaged left caudal portion of the brain. Using immunohistochemistry and fluorescent microscopy, we observed migration of ESCs from the injection site (left caudal) to the damaged site (right caudal and left frontal). Survival of the injected ESCs was confirmed by the real‐time polymerase chain reaction analysis of stemness genes such as Oct4, Sox2, and FGF4. The portions of the damaged neural tissues containing ESCs demonstrated a fourfold increase in expression of these genes after 1 week of injection in comparison with the noninjected ESC murine brain, suggesting proliferation. An increased level of platelet‐derived growth factor receptor demonstrated that ESCs responded to damaged neural tissues, migrated to the damaged site of the brain, and proliferated. These results demonstrate that undifferentiated ESCs migrate to the damaged regions of brain tissue, engraft, and proliferate. Thus, damaged brain tissue provides a niche that attracts ESCs to migrate and proliferate.


The Silicon Vertex Detector of Belle II will be fundamental not only for the reconstruction of B meson vertices, but also for the reconstruction of neutral particles like K shorts, and the tracking of low-pt particles like slow pions associated with the decays of the abundant D* mesons. As a consequence great importance is given to the performance of the software that deals with the simulation and reconstruction of the SVD events.
The Belle II experiment is the successor to Belle, one of the two experiments that first observed CP violation in the decay of B mesons. The SuperKEKB collider will deliver 40 times more luminosity than its predecessor KEKB, which requires major upgrades to the detector hardware. This also poses new challenges not only for the data collection and storage, but also for the software framework which is used to process and analyse the experimental data. In this article we present in detail the SVD software framework together with its development for the test of the Vertex Detector system, which took place at DESY in April 2016 using an electron beam.


This is the first edition to assemble all of the earliest known works by Samuel Richardson (1689–1761), one of the most influential authors in the English tradition. Richardson's exercises in conduct-writing, religious controversialism, anti-theatrical polemic, occasional verse, literary criticism – and his popular and surprisingly revealing edition of Aesop's Fables – resonate throughout his later work while claiming ample legitimacy of their own. Readers familiar with only Pamela, Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison will gain a fresh appreciation of the genesis of and the historical and cultural complexities at work in these famous novels, and readers new to Richardson will encounter an agile writer who invites closer consideration. A lengthy introduction situates the constituent works in Richardson's career as well as in the period more broadly, and the extensive textual apparatus records the bibliographical histories of the texts and their treatment by their present editor.


This study evaluated the usefulness of bioceramic materials (ceramic materials that emit high-performance far-infrared (FIR) rays), processed into fabrics using a traditional manufacturing melt spinning method. Numerous measurements were designed to test the biological functions of 1% bioceramic fabrics. These included physical induction of intracellular nitric oxide (NO) in NIH 3T3 cells (mouse fibroblasts), the effects on cell viability in osteoblastic cells (MC3T3-E1) under hydrogen peroxide-mediated oxidative stress, and the effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in a chondrosarcoma (SW1353) cell line. When compared to the control group, the bioceramic fabrics were capable of inducing further intracellular NO production using NIH 3T3 cells, and maintaining increased viability and against cell intoxication of osteoblastic cells by suppressing cell release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) under oxidative stress. In addition, it was found to suppress LPS-induced COX-2 production more significantly in a SW1353 cell line. These processes represent the biomolecular changes occurring during promotion of decline in aging, prevention of osteoporosis, and prevention of inflammatory processes within the human body. Therefore, these bioceramic fabrics are likely to fulfill their claims of having health-promoting benefits.


Keywords: landscape entomology, movement ecology, quantifying movement, population spread, habitat heterogeneity, motility, edge-behaviour, diffusion model, model selection, inverse modelling, Pterostichus melanarius, Carabidae, entomophagous arthropod Biological control provided by entomophagous arthropods is an ecosystem service with the potential to reduce pesticide use in agriculture. The distribution of entomophagous arthropods and the associated ecosystem service over crop fields is affected by their dispersal capacity and landscape heterogeneity. Current knowledge on entomophagous arthropod distribution and movement patterns, in particular for soil dwelling predators, is insufficient to provide advice on how a production landscape should be re-arranged to maximally benefit from biological pest control. Movement has mainly been measured in single habitats rather than in habitat mosaics and as a consequence little information is available on behaviour at habitat interfaces, i.e. the border between two habitats. This study contributes to insight into movement patterns of the entomophagous arthropod Pterostichus melanarius (Illiger) in an agricultural landscape as a knowledge basis for redesign of landscapes for natural pest control. Movement patterns were studied with video equipment in experimental arenas of 5 m2 and with mark-recapture at much larger scales in the field. Interpretation of the results was supported by diffusion models that accounted for habitat specific motility µ (L2 T−1), a measure for diffusion of a population in space and time, and preference behaviour at habitat interfaces. Movement of carabids has mostly been quantified as movement rate, which cannot be used for scaling-up. Available information on movement rate of carabids was made available for scaling-up by calculating motility from published data and looking for patterns through meta-analysis of data from thirteen studies, including 55 records on twelve species. Beetles had on average a three times higher motility in arable land than in forest/hedgerow habitat. The meta-analysis did not identify consistent differences in motility at the individual species level, and a grouping of species according to gender or size did not demonstrate a significant gender or size effect. A methodology to directly estimate motility from data using inverse modelling was evaluated on data of a mass mark-recapture field experiment in a single field of winter triticale (x Triticosecale Wittmack.). Inverse modelling yielded the same result as motility calculated from squared displacement distances. In the first case, motility was calculated as an average over motility of individuals, in the second case motility was estimated from a population density distribution fitted to the recapture data. The similarity in motility between these two very different approaches strengthens the confidence in motility as a suitable concept for quantifying dispersal rate of carabid beetles, and in inverse modelling as a method to retrieve movement parameters from observed patterns. The effect of habitat heterogeneity on movement behaviour was studied for P. melanarius across adjacent fields of oilseed radish (Raphanus sativus) and rye (Secale cereale) in a mark-recapture experiment. The field study was complemented by observations on movement behaviour in the experimental arena. Motility was neither significantly different between the crop species in the field nor in the arena. Overall movement in the field was significantly affected by behaviour at the interface between the crops. Beetles moved more frequently from rye to oilseed radish than in the opposite direction. The arena data indicated greater frequency of habitat entry into oilseed radish as compared to rye. Analysis of video tracking data from the arena resulted in estimates of motility that, when scaled up were close to those obtained in the field. Thus, the studies at the smaller and larger scales gave qualitatively and quantitatively similar results. The effect of habitat heterogeneity on within-season dispersal behaviour was further explored in an agricultural landscape mosaic comprising perennial strips and different crop species with distinct tillage management. Semi-natural grass margins were functionally different from the crop habitats. Motility was lower in margins than in crop habitats, and at the crop-margin interface more beetles moved towards the crop than to the margin. Margins thus effectively acted as barriers for dispersal. In the crop habitats motility differed between fields but no consistent relations were found with crop type, food availability or tillage. Based on the motility in crop habitats P. melanarius was predicted to disperse over a distance of about 100 – 160 m during a growing season in a landscape without semi-natural elements. Given this range little redistribution of beetles is expected between fields within a growing season, even more when fields are surrounded by grass margins or hedgerows, meaning that the success of biological control by this species is more dependent on field management affecting local population dynamics than on habitat heterogeneity. This thesis has resulted in a methodological approach to quantify dispersal behaviour of ground-dwelling insects from mark-recapture data in heterogeneous environments using inverse modelling. The combination of models and data proved to be powerful for studying movement and contributes to the development of predictive dynamic models for population spread of entomophagous arthropods. These models for population spread may be used as part of multi-objective assessment of alternative landscape configurations to find spatial arrangements of land use that maximize the ecosystem service of biological control as part of a wider set of landscape functions.


For the first time ostracod and foraminifera populations living on infralittoral algae were analysed from three different localities near the Ciclopi Islands Marine Protected Area along the Etnean Ionian coast of Sicily, few km N of the city of Catania. Six series of samples, each of three samples, were collected at 5, 10 and 26 m water depth in sea bottom areas where the Biocoenosis of the Infralittoral Algae is developed. Some samples were collected inside the Ciclopi Islands Marine Protected Area (CIMPA) and some outside it. In all the samples the ostracod association is characteristically constituted by a mixture of true shallow water phytal taxa and and infralittoral sediment-dwelling taxa. The family Xestoleberididae is markedly dominant, mainly in the shallowest samples. Xestoleberis dispar represents more than 60% of all the specimens, followed by X. communis and X. dispar. The families Paradoxostomatidae (with Paradoxostoma rarum, P. simile, P. parallelum, P. intermedium , P. atrum and P. caecum ), Hemicytheridae (with Aurila prasina and A. convexa ), Bairdidae (with Neonesidea mediterranea, N. corpulenta , and N. Longevaginata ) follow. Loxoconchidae (with Loxoconcha rhomboidea ) , Pontocyprididae (with Pontocypris mediterranea and Pontocypris pirifera ) and Cytheruridae (with very few specimens of Semicytherura spp.) are subordinate. Foraminifera are represented almost exclusively by phytal benthic taxa. Between them the the family Miliolidae is markedly prevalent, mostly represented by Quinqueloculina species, followed by the family Rotaliidae with Elphidium crispum, E. depressum, E. aculeatum , and Elphidium spp. Discorbidae, with Rosalina spp.; Cibidididae, largely represented by Cibicides refulgens and C. advenum; Planorbulinidae with Planorbulina mediterranensis , are also present.


Hands-on techniques for enabling authentication, authorization, and accounting Understand the security concepts behind the AAA framework Learn message formats, communication, and message encryption using the TACACS+ and RADIUS protocols Configure and troubleshoot AAA on Cisco routers Understand where to position and install the CSACS in your network Explore and customize the CSACS interface Configure CSACS user accounts, user groups, and shared profile components Add AAA clients and manage network connections Configure external databases and perform database replication and backup Explore the various reports and logs available in CSACS Learn how AAA models apply to service provider environments Install and configure Cisco Access RegistrarAs network infrastructures evolve, it is increasingly important that access to vital corporate resources is vigilantly monitored and controlled. The Cisco identity management solutions, including Cisco Secure Access Control Server (CSACS), address this requirement, enabling security, control, and administration of the growing population of users that connect to corporate networks. CSACS, an essential component of the Cisco Identity Based Networking Services (IBNS) architecture, extends access security by combining authentication, user and administrator access, and policy control from a centralized identity-networking framework. This allows greater flexibility and mobility, increased security, and user productivity gains.Cisco Access Control Security provides you with the skills needed to configure authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) services on Cisco devices. Separated into three parts, this book presents hard-to-find configuration details of centralized identity networking solutions. Part I provides an overview of the AAA architecture, complete with discussions of configuring Cisco routers for AAA. Part II addresses enterprise AAA management with CSACS, including installation, configuration, and management details. Part III looks at service provider AAA management with Cisco Access Registrar.Full of detailed overviews, diagrams, and step-by-step instructions for enabling essential access control solutions, Cisco Access Control Security is a practical tool that can help enforce assigned access policies and simplify user management.This book is part of the Networking Technology Series from Cisco Press, which offers networking professionals valuable information for constructing efficient networks, understanding new technologies, and building successful careers.


During the last few years, international surveys have invaded the area of politics, media and pedagogy. They will probably have had some effects, but were all these effects positive? Haven't they had some, not always perceived, perverse side effects? And more importantly, what is their effect on the action, i.e. on all those who contribute to improve the language of teaching? In order to answer these questions, we attempt to analyse the effects of international tests on the basis of nine double edged questions (negative and positive). Next, we examine what is done on a national level in an effort to understand the factors that influence the obtained results and in what way the national evaluations have been influenced by these analyses. From all these analyses, we try to deduct the conditions for these international and national tests to be considered as complementary. © Pub. linguistiques.


Single crystals of Triglycine barium dichloride dihydrate were grown by slow evaporation technique. The unit cell dimensions and space group of the grown crystals were confirmed by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The functional groups present in the structure of the grown crystal are identified by using FTIR spectral analysis. The microhardness study shows that the Vickers hardness number of the crystal increases with the increase in applied load. Dielectric constant and dielectric loss measurements were carried out for different temperatures and frequencies.


Completely automated data analysis techniques often fail to fulfill their jobs, due to their inability to exploit the peripheral knowledge associated with the data. Human beings have a very good ability to interpret data represented in graphical format, and have the wisdom to recognize the associated knowledge. This paper address this dichotomy through a data visualization tool which displays, in a graphical manner, data stored in database relations, without relying on any kind of data summarization. Its objective is to include human beings in the main stream of knowledge data discovery (KDD) processes. The paper develops the conceptual framework which supports the data transformation that enables the visualization of relations composed by attributes of many data types (numbers, dates and texts). This is achieved through the mapping of this multidimensional data into a 3dimensional space, applying a user-defined distance function. The paper shows some examples of utilizations with well-known datasets. Through a set of experiments it also shows that it is scalable to any database size, regarding both number of tuples and number of attributes.


Business intelligence has always been considered an essential ingredient for success. However, it is not until recently that the technology has enabled organizations to generate and deploy intelligence for global competition. These technologies can be leveraged to create the intelligent enterprises of the 21st century that will not only provide excellent and customized services to their customers, but will also create business efficiency for building relationships with suppliers and other business partners on a long term basis. Creating such intelligent enterprises requires the understanding and integration of diverse enterprise components into cohesive intelligent systems. Anticipating that future enterprises need to become intelligent, Intelligent Enterprises of the 21st Century brings together the experiences and knowledge from many parts of the world to provide a compendium of high quality theoretical and applied concepts, methodologies, and techniques that help diffuse knowledge and skills required to create and manage intelligent enterprises of the 21st century for gaining sustainable competitive advantage in a global environment. This book is a comprehensive compilation of the state of the art vision and thought processes needed to design and manage globally competitive business organizations.


The change in allele frequencies within a population over time represents a fundamental process of evolution. By monitoring allele frequencies, we can analyze the effects of natural selection and genetic drift on populations. To efficiently track time-resolved genetic change, large experimental or wild populations can be sequenced as pools of individuals sampled over time using high-throughput genome sequencing (called the Evolve & Resequence approach, E&R). Here, we present a set of experiments using hundreds of natural genotypes of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana to showcase the power of this approach to study rapid evolution at large scale. First, we validate that sequencing DNA directly extracted from pools of flowers from multiple plants -- organs that are relatively consistent in size and easy to sample -- produces comparable results to other, more expensive state-of-the-art approaches such as sampling and sequencing of individual leaves. Sequencing pools of flowers from 25-50 individuals at ∼40X coverage recovers genome-wide frequencies in diverse populations with accuracy r > 0.95. Secondly, to enable analyses of evolutionary adaptation using E&R approaches of plants in highly replicated environments, we provide open source tools that streamline sequencing data curation and calculate various population genetic statistics two orders of magnitude faster than current software. To directly demonstrate the usefulness of our method, we conducted a two-year outdoor evolution experiment with A. thaliana to show signals of rapid evolution in multiple genomic regions. We demonstrate how these laboratory and computational Pool-seq-based methods can be scaled to study hundreds of populations across many climates.


Purpose: The analysis of the characteristics of the industrial companies that invest in
the training of their human capital in comparison to the organizations that do not train
their employees. This characterization is focused especially on the innovative capacity of
firms and their technological applications. It also analyzes the factors that determine
the likelihood that a company invests in personnel training.
Design/methodology/approach: Descriptive characterization of those companies
that invest in personnel training, comparing them against those who do not invest in
improving its human capital. Furthermore, factors influencing the decision that a
company invest in training are analyzed through a logistic regression. Among them we
included the intensity of technological usage and the innovation capacity. This research
is based on data from the Survey of Business Strategies (ESEE) in 2009, conducted
annually. The sample is approximately 1,800 companies, being representative of the
Spanish manufacturing sector.
Findings: Companies with a higher likelihood of investing in training of their workers
are those with a larger number of workers, a higher level of qualification of employees,
more stable labor relations, greater participation foreign capital, and also, have a higher
level of technological uses, carries more technological partnerships with other
organizations and has a more intense innovative activity.
Social implications: In the current situation of job destruction and lack of
competitiveness of the Spanish industry in increasingly globalized markets, training of
workers is seen as the main alternative to increase the productivity of the Spanish
industry. This study shows that the industrial structure does not meet the basic
conditions described in the scientific literature, in order the companies to train their
workers with the risk of exclusion that entails.
Originality/value: The study of the characteristics of Spanish companies that
invest in training, and the factors that influence the likelihood of this
investment, using recent data (2009) with high statistical consistency. There
are still few studies that analyze the improvement of human capital in Spain in
the current period of economic crisis.


The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dihydropyridine supplementation on the laying performance and lipid metabolism of broiler breeder hens. A total of 720 forty-five-week old broiler breeder hens were randomly divided into four experimental groups, each group consisting of six replicates of 30 birds. For 10 weeks the birds were fed a maize-soybean meal diet containing 0, 100, 200, 300 mg dihydropyridine/kg, in the respective treatment groups. The daily egg weight and daily feed intake were not affected by dihydropyridine supplementation, but the laying rate and feed efficiency were significantly increased. The percentage of abdominal fat and percentage of liver fat were significantly decreased by dietary dihydropyridine. A level of 100 mg dihydropyridine/kg had no effect on hormone-sensitive triglyceride lipase (HSL) activity in the liver or abdominal fat, though higher levels of dietary dihydropyridine (200 mg/kg or 300 mg/kg) increased HSL activity in the liver and abdominal fat. The concentration of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) and superoxide dismutase activity were significantly increased by dihydropyridine, but the malondialdehyde content decreased. The apolipoprotein B concentration was increased at levels of 100 and 200 mg dihydropyridine/kg, but the 300 mg level had no effect on apolipoprotein B, compared with the control group. The triiodothyronine concentration was significantly increased by dietary dihydropyridine. It is concluded that supplementing dihydropyridine in the diet has a beneficial effect on the laying performance and regulates the fat metabolism of broiler breeder hens. The results suggest that the supplementation of 200 mg dihydropyridine/kg diet is the optimal dose for broiler breeder hens.


Background In south India, where intensive condom-based targeted interventions (TIs) for female sex workers (FSWs) have been successful, the potential impact of past, current, and proposed universal antiretroviral treatment (ART) eligibility criteria on concentrated HIV epidemics, remains unknown. Methods We developed a mathematical model of heterosexual HIV transmission to simulate the HIV epidemic in three south Indian districts, using district-specific epidemiological data. The model was calibrated to HIV prevalence by risk groups (low-risk, clients, FSWs), population size, and ART coverage. Assuming that condom-based TIs, HIV testing and treatment access, and retention in HIV-care are sustained at current levels, we compared the following scenarios against no ART: (a) continue with the previous eligibility criteria (CD4 ≤ 250 cells/μL) from the start of each district's ART programme; (b) expand from previous to current eligibility (CD4 ≤ 350 cells/μL) after November 2011; and (c) expand to early ART at any CD4 cell count after January 2013. Results Without ART, the three districts achieve local elimination between the years 2040 and 2082, and by 2035–2063 under the current ART programme (eligibility criteria: CD4 ≤ 250 cells/μL prior to November 2011, CD4 ≤ 350 cells/μL thereafter). By January 2013, the current ART programme has potentially averted 7.8–11.0% of HIV infections, and saved 32–44 life-years per 100-person years on ART, in addition to gains achieved by local TIs. By 2023, the additional fraction of HIV infections averted by ART(compared to sustained TIs without ART) under scenarios A, B, and C are 21–42%, 33–57%, and 43–69%, respectively, and the incremental gains in life-years per 100-person years on ART are 120–140, 68–111, and 40–91, respectively. Conclusions In declining HIV epidemics with sustained TIs, current ART programmes and proposed ART expansion could provide additional epidemiological impact. The medium-term incremental gains become smaller as eligibility expands but access and retention in care remain constant.


The study of dihedral f-tilings of the sphere $S^2$ by spherical triangles and equiangular spherical quadrangles (which includes the case of 4-sided regular polygons) was presented by Breda and Santos [ Beitrage zur Algebra und Geometrie , 45 (2004), 447–461]. Also, in a subsequent paper, the study of dihedral f-tilings of $S^2$ whose prototiles are an equilateral triangle (a 3-sided regular polygon) and an isosceles triangle was described (we believe that the analysis considering scalene triangles as the prototiles will lead to a wide family of f-tilings). In this paper we extend these results, presenting the study of dihedral f-tilings by spherical triangles and $r$-sided regular polygons, for any $r \ge 5$. The combinatorial structure, including the symmetry group of each tiling, is given.


We model (interactive) resources that provide Alice with a string $X$ and a guarantee that any Eve interacting with her interface of the resource obtains a (quantum) system $E$ such that the conditional (smooth) min-entropy of $X$ given $E$ is lower bounded by some $k$. This (abstract) resource specification encompasses any setting that results in the honest players holding such a string (or aborting). For example, it could be constructed from, e.g., noisy channels, quantum key distribution (QKD), or a violation of Bell inequalities, which all may be used to derive bounds on the min-entropy of $X$.
As a first application, we use this min-entropy resource to modularize key distribution (KD) schemes by dividing them in two parts, which may be analyzed separately. In the first part, a KD protocol constructs a min-entropy resource given the (physical) resources available in the specific setting considered. In the second, it distills secret key from the min-entropy resource---i.e., it constructs a secret key resource. We prove security for a generic key distillation protocol that may use any min-entropy resource. Since the notion of resource construction is composable---security of a composed protocol follows from the security of its parts--- this reduces proving security of a KD protocol (e.g., QKD) to proving that it constructs a min-entropy resource.
As a second application, we provide a composable security proof for the recent Fehr-Salvail protocol [EUROCRYPT 2017] that authenticates classical messages with a quantum message authentication code (Q-MAC), and recycles all the key upon successfully verifying the authenticity of the message. This protocol uses (and recycles) a non-uniform key, which we model as consuming and constructing a min-entropy resource.


Abstract Historic preservation dwellings offer qualities that benefit both owners and society. At the same time, preservation policies might include some costs and restrictions. Although many studies have aimed to assess the impact of historic preservation on housing values, this study, to our knowledge, is the first to investigate whether the historic preservation premium is due to the changed juridical status (a policy effect), or the qualities observed by the buyers that are unobserved in the model. By using a unique data set that combines data of preserved historic dwellings in Oslo, Norway, and data from the housing market from 1990 to 2017, we study sales prices for the same dwellings both before and after historic preservation. The higher prices of preserved historic dwellings seem to be caused by qualities in the dwellings that correlate with the forthcoming historic preservation, and not by the policy itself.


This paper considers the four antitrust decisions in the Supreme Court's 2006 Term. It offers brief discussions of Weyerhaeuser and Credit Suisse. Weyerhaeuser is a small, modest decision. The Court isn't likely to see another predatory bidding case soon and the Court chose to minimize doctrinal complexity by bringing predatory bidding analysis in sync with the Court's prior treatment of predatory pricing in Brooke Group. Credit Suisse too is minimally incremental. In concluding that federal securities law implicitly precluded claims asserting antitrust violations in the sale of new securities, the Court followed its prior decision in Gordon as well as the Court's more recent preference for regulatory schemes over antitrust as seen in Trinko. Pushing antitrust authority toward specialized regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission broadens the trade-offs that can be made between antitrust concerns and other values and almost certainly expands the circumstances under which industry actors can act collectively. That matters, so Credit Suisse covers more of the economic landscape than Weyerhaeuser, but the decision itself is a small step from prior doctrine. Twombly and Leegin are each, in their own ways, blockbusters. Twombly will appear in case after case, as antitrust defendants try to rely on its new tougher rules for FRCP 12(b)(6) motions. Twombly represents a preference for blunt instruments over sharp edges. The central problem confronted by Twombly is discovery run amok. The Court has the tools in its hands to control that by rewriting the discovery rules and overturning lower court decisions implementing those rules. Twombly suggests that the Court believes that refinement of those rules will fail in controlling discovery and it is willing to pay the price that private plaintiffs will have no good way to get at the best-hidden antitrust conspiracies. Finally, Leegin brings to a close - for now or forever? - the 100-year saga of contractual minimum resale price maintenance. Since its decision in 1911 in Dr. Miles, the Court has confronted this issue again and again in the slightly-refined versions that make up the art of institutional design. Over time, the Court has chipped away at Dr. Miles, first in not finding a violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act for the unilateral minimum RPM in Colgate in 1919 and in then broadly subjecting nonprice vertical restraints to rule-of-reason treatment in Sylvania in 1977. Given that, on what basis would Dr. Miles survive? That is a question of stare decisis and Leegin ends up in an all-out fight over stare decisis in antitrust. That is new: the Court has been overturning old decisions in antitrust for some time and has done so with little stare decisis fanfare. That suggests that the dispute over stare decisis in Leegin is just a convenient forum for the larger dispute over stare decisis that is percolating through a divided Court. I don't have a full-blown theory of stare decisis but I do suggest why the Court has been mistaken to treat stare decisis in statutory cases differently from that in constitutional cases. The Court has made too little of one of its critical tools in shaping statutes, namely, the power to set a default point for subsequent congressional action. Once we treat the Court's decisions as inputs in subsequent lawmaking, there is greater reason to think that the Court should have a uniform approach to stare decisis across the Constitution and statutes.


Computational communication science (CCS) offers an opportunity to accelerate the scope and pace of discovery in communication research. This article argues that CCS will profit from adopting open science practices by fostering the reusability of data and code. We discuss the goals and challenges related to creating reusable data and code and offer practical guidance to individual researchers to achieve this. More specifically, we argue for integration of the research process into reusable workflows and recognition of tools and data as academic work. The challenges and road map are also critically discussed in terms of the additional burden they place on individual scholars, which culminates in a call to action for the field to support and incentivize the reusability of tools and data.


The Black Sea Catchment Observation System has been developed in the frame of the EU/FP7 enviroGRIDS project to inform about crucial regional environmental issues. This system is now making resources accessible to a large community of users for data management and publishing, for hydrological models calibration and execution, for satellite image processing, for report generation and visualization, and for decision support. In this special issue, we present the different components that were developed as well as the encountered challenges in order to bring innovative contributions into the Global Earth Observation System of Systems. One of the major issues was to enable data exchange across different heterogeneous components and infrastructures, more specifically Spatial Data and Grid infrastructures. The interoperability standards proposed by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) support the scalability and the efficient combination of the complex specialized functionalities and the computation potential of these platforms. Another important issue was to build the human, institutional and infrastructure capacities to contribute and use this new observation system.


Emergency procedures vary according to the type and extent of emergency, size of building, occupancy and type of building construction. There is no agreement on how emergency egress information should be provided for persons who are blind. This research investigated the efficacy of a Braille (Brl) sign, a Raised Print (RP) sign, a Tactile Map (TM), an audible route description activated by a pushbutton and exit signs equipped with Remote Infrared Audible Signage (RIAS) for enabling persons who are blind to travel routes to exits. The efficacy of each format in terms of time to acquire route information and time to travel a route was measured. Blind travellers' perceived needs and desires for obtaining emergency egress information were also investigated. Both RIAS and pushbutton-activated verbal route directions enabled participants to access and use emergency egress information efficiently. Auditory information was preferred above tactile information. Of the tactile formats, Brl resulted in more efficient access to egress information than RP and TMs and was preferred. This research is a first step in addressing the complex issues involved in providing emergency egress information to persons who are blind.