In the design of technology for children, many products hope to encourage ideal behavior. Goals or desired outcomes for children-oriented products, such as learning, exploration or self-expression, are often set by adults (e.g. parents, guardians, teachers). These adult goals are often considered alongside the goals and interests of children, but what happens when these are conflicting? It is common for technology creators to have to make choices that support or prioritize one set of goals over the other. In this workshop, we will be discussing real world case studies, as well as theoretical approaches used by researchers, designers, and academics to design technology for children between the ages of 5 and 14. The expected outcome of the workshop will be a set of principles to consider when balancing the needs of children and adults in the design of technology for children.


Many exponentially-hard problems can be solved by searching through a space of states to determine a sequence of steps constituting a solution. Algorithms that produce optimal solutions (e.g., shortest path) generally require greater computational resources (e.g., time) than their sub-optimal counterparts. Consequently, many optimal algorithms cannot produce any usable solution when the amount of time available is limited or hard to predict in advance. Anytime algorithms address this problem by initially finding a suboptimal solution very quickly and then generating incrementally better solutions with additional time, effectively providing the best solution generated so far anytime it is required. In this research, we generate initial solutions cheaply using a fast search algorithm. We then improve this low-quality solution by identifying subsequences of steps that appear, based on heuristic estimates, to be considerably longer than necessary. Finally, we perform a more expensive search between the endpoints of each subsequence to find a shorter connecting path. We will show that this improves the overall solution incrementally over time while always having a valid solution to return whenever time runs out. We present results that demonstrate in several problem domains that AIRS (Anytime Iterative Refinement of a Solution) rivals other widely used and recognized anytime algorithms and also produces results comparable to other popular (but not anytime) heuristic algorithms such as Bidirectional A* search.


This research examined the development of motivation conceptualised as negotiated participation in specific instructional practices, providing opportunities for student leadership in the classroom. The study was conducted at two primary schools by the classroom teacher, who was also the researcher. The instructional aim was to build collaborative learning communities where democratic values were espoused and debated to promote holistic discourses that supported student learning. In Chapters 6-9 the findings are reported as case studies of focal groups of students, which are in the form of publications.

A sociocultural view of learning (e.g. Rogoff, 1992, 1995; Vygotsky, 1978) is at the heart of recent conceptualisations of motivation and framed the current research. Thus, motivation is conceptualised as emerging from the social context and is manifested through both collaborative and individual action. This view of motivation as a socially and culturally situated concept, is further developed in the current research. Motivation is conceptualised as negotiated participation, learning is conceptualised as developing mature participation and not separated from motivation, and emotion is conceptualised as integral to learning and motivation. Conceptualising learning as working within affective zones of proximal development (ZPD) (Goldstein, 1999; Vygotsky, 1978) highlights the role of emotions in learning and motivation. It is argued in this dissertation that foregrounding affective elements of students' learning in the classroom is critical to developing mature participation. This underpins students' motivation to learn. Qualitative research methodology was adopted because the focus was to describe and understand the world of the participants. By situating the researcher, with all their values and assumptions in the world of the students, the teacher/researcher developed understandings of the students' motivation as they participated in the classroom instructional practices (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). The data collection tools were chosen to access the participants' views and actions. Such tools included classroom observation, sociometric surveys and reflective accounts of the children, their parents and the teacher/researcher. The teacher/researcher used photographs of classroom activities during interviews to stimulate students' recall of the classroom practices. Documents related to school policies and classroom instructional practices provided additional contextual data to situate the research.

To elaborate processes of motivational development, Rogoff's (1995) personal, interpersonal and community psychological planes were used to analyse the data. Motivation, at the Community Plane, is described as developing ways for participation, where the teacher's role is crucial to creating collaborative learning communities. At the Interpersonal Plane, interactions create possibilities for motivation as negotiated participation, through modelling and scaffolding values and ways of participation. Personal transformation of understandings was evident on the Personal Plane, with the motivational aspect presented as students being prepared to participate in subsequent similar activities.

The findings from the current research were that more interactive collaborative strategies developed aspects of mature participation that sustained the students' motivation for learning. Further, students developed mature participation and motivation when working within the affective ZPDs. The instructional practices may provide a model for the development of collaborative learning communities in other schools where holistic discourses are supported and the social practices are negotiated with students.


How can we identify and emerge from the chain of bodies, territories and cultures, called 'my body', my 'self'? Can the performing body transcend cultural boundaries? What would such transcendence look like? If it happens, what can it say about a possible intercultural body format? How to create a performance with an extracultural approach? Invasion, migration, and population dislocation over the last five centuries has caused significant movement amongst global populations. Cross-cultural performances have developed from these invasions, migrations, and dislocations. The late 20th and early 21st Centuries have seen the development in the 'West' of intercultural and extracultural theatre/performance. This project presents a performance derived from the unique combination of Brazilian and Australian performance practice. It sheds light on the power of the theatrical event for disparate audiences, and on the performer's experience of the creative process while generating a new performance text that addresses the questions: What is it to 'be' 'Brazilian'? Does 'Brazil' exist? What is it to be 'Latin American'? Does 'Australia' exist? This project, Little World: Four 'Autoethnographic' Performances, explores the author/performer's 'being' 'Brazilian', being 'Latin American' in 'Australia', and a 'performer' in 'theatre', through autobiographical and autoethnographic performance drawing on the writings of Clarice Lispector, Franz Kafka, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena, and the performance practices of Brazilian Candomble and Japanese Butoh. It attempts to place the spectator in the position of the performer, encountering 'Australia' through another culture and language. And following Oswald de Andrade's 'anthropophagy', it proposes and enacts the cannibalising of the 'foreign(er)', the digestion of foreign stereotypes to produce new identities. The thesis component of the project will provide a first person autobiographical and autoethnographic account addressing the questions raised above; the performance-making processes; and the social and theoretical contexts and the aesthetic elements of the performance.


Background: Contemporary technology and its rapid rise to a ubiquitous nature are affecting the way in which technology is used. This holds implications for military information operations and information warfare concepts as the previously separate functional areas are increasingly overlapping due to the increased convergence of information technology. Objective: The aim of the article is to illustrate the convergence of the functional areas of information operations through the use of reported examples and descriptive models. Methods: A qualitative review and analysis of practitioner documents, academic publications, and other reports is conducted. The diverse views of this phenomenon are contrasted and discussed. The possible implications of the convergence and possible management techniques are proposed and discussed. Results: There is strong opinion that the domains are not converging, however practice shows that there is an increasing overlap of operational considerations and organisational structure. Conclusion: It is concluded that the domains are not converging, but the operations and management of the information operations functional areas may converge, and this has an impact across all functional areas that needs to be taken into consideration.


We revisit a recent claim that the Earth's climate system is characterized by sensitive dependence to parameters; in particular, that the system exhibits an asymmetric, large-amplitude response to normally distributed feedback forcing. Such a response would imply irreducible uncertainty in climate change predictions and thus have notable implications for climate science and climate-related policy making. We show that equilibrium climate sensitivity in all generality does not support such an intrinsic indeterminacy; the latter appears only in essentially linear systems. The main flaw in the analysis that led to this claim is inappropriate linearization of an intrinsically nonlinear model; there is no room for physical interpretations or policy conclusions based on this mathematical error. Sensitive dependence nonetheless does exist in the climate system, as well as in climate models – albeit in a very different sense from the one claimed in the linear work under scrutiny – and we illustrate it using a classical energy balance model (EBM) with nonlinear feedbacks. EBMs exhibit two saddle-node bifurcations, more recently called "tipping points," which give rise to three distinct steady-state climates, two of which are stable. Such bistable behavior is, furthermore, supported by results from more realistic, nonequilibrium climate models. In a truly nonlinear setting, indeterminacy in the size of the response is observed only in the vicinity of tipping points. We show, in fact, that small disturbances cannot result in a large-amplitude response, unless the system is at or near such a point. We discuss briefly how the distance to the bifurcation may be related to the strength of Earth's ice-albedo feedback. Correspondence to: I. Zaliapin (firstname.lastname@example.com)


The Ministry of Labor and Employment MTE in 2007 approved an attachment on the Regulatory Standard 17 (NR17 Ergonomics) for telemarketing activity. Thus, companies should adopt ergonomics in the workplace and train your operators on occupational hazards and preventive measures. After eight years of regulation, also points up the breach of the said rule and the lack of information by the workers about the occupational risks they face and the preventive measures. This article aims to present the methodology used in training on prevention of occupational risks, based on Annex II of NR17 to telemarketers. Methodology: The process starts with the visit and participant observation of the work environment. Then schedule to training with all the OT and managers. After occurs a 04 hours clarifying trainning about occupational hazards and preventive measures using active methodology with case studies. Practical activities are carried out to learn to adjust the furniture, sanitize the equipment, voice preparation techniques, visual and mental relaxation and lengthening body. After 06 months as recommended by the NR, there is a second phase of training. Results: The research showed the importance of educating the worker about to occupational risks and the adoption of preventive measures. There was the training of 100% of the operators. In the end, 90% of workers considered the training important and will help in their day-to-day work. In the second phase, after 06 months, all remained at work and 100% participated in the training. In the end 85% considered the training important and will help in their day-to-day. 100% state that the adoption of preventive measures also depends on the company's commitment. © 2015 The Authors.Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of AHFE Conference.


ABSTRACT Unintended consequences arising from EU external migration policy are a result of the multi-actor nature of this policy and of policy interactions. In addition, scholars face serious methodological challenges in establishing what the EU's 'intent' is in external migration policy and, therefore, in determining which consequences are intended and which are unintended. The literature on the implementation and evaluation of EU external migration policy is in its infancy, and future work should take into account all policy outcomes – both those that were intended and those that were not.


The short story is the perfect format for traditional ghost stories. They have their roots in folklore, but in modern form they can be traced back to the romanticised writers of the Gothic tradition. Authors include Charles Dickens, Sheridan Le Fanu, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Mrs Henry Wood, F. Marion Crawford, Elizabeth Gaskell and H. H. Munro (Saki). Perhaps the finest exponent of the genre was M. R. James whose sly, academic tales are well represented in this collection, as well as those of Le Fanu, whom James acknowledged as his inspiration. This is a book to be relished by the fireside, with the curtains drawn against ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night.


This is a doctoral dissertation presented to the FacultyBoard of the Royal Institute of Technology. The dissertationconsists of three self-contained essays on real option pricing.Essay I, written in Swedish, was presented at seminar andaccepted as fulfilling the requirement for a Licentiate Degreein Engineering thesis in 1995. Essay I: This essay studies the option to develop vacantland when the landowner simultaneously determines the optimaldensity and timing of a development. Williams (1991) andCapozza and Li (1994) have recently studied the landdevelopment decision from a realoptions perspective. Bothpapers assume that the production technology is of the commonlyused Cobb-Douglas type, but they use different assumptionsabout uncertainty over future rents and construction costs. Ananalysis of these models and their limitations is carried outand as a result valuation models based on other productiontechnologies than the Cobb-Douglas technology are derived. Essay II: McDonald and Siegel (1996) show that when thebenefit from an investment and the investment cost are assumedto follow correlated geometric Brownian motions, the optimalinvestment policy is given by a simple rule: Invest the firsttime the benefit-cost ratio reaches a certain level. In thisessay, which models the decision to change the use ofaproperty, the investment rule is found to be more complicated.Optimal redevelopment will take place for differentbenefit-cost ratios depending on the relative sizes of thevalue of the property in the different uses and the cost ofchanging the use. Also, for a given current benefit-cost ratiothe value of the option to change use will vary significantlydepending on the relative sizes of the state variables. Essay III: The relationship between the option to choose thecapacity of a real estate development and deliberateoverbuilding is studied in a simple model of investment underuncertainty. The model provides an intuitive measure ofdeliberate overbuilding: the difference between the number ofrental units the owner of an undeveloped site optimally choosesto produce and the number of units expected to be leased at thetime of the building's completion. Numerical simulations withreasonable parameter values show that in some economicenvironments, the optimal production strategy can be to producemore units than are expected to be leased at completion of thedevelopment.


Slovenia is a parliamentary democratic republic that gained its independence after the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991. The same year, Slovenia also adopted its Constitution, which formally signalled the end of the communist system that had been dominant in the country up to that point (Ustava Republike Slovenije, 1991). The European Community recognized Slovenia as an independent state in January 1992, and the United Nations accorded it membership five months later. In the ensuing years, and thanks to its historical ties to Western Europe, as well as its strong economy and stable democracy, Slovenia has managed to transform itself into a modern state. In 2004, the country joined both the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and in 2007 the Eurozone. This article provides an overview of trends in crime, developments in criminal justice, and the role of criminological scholarship in Slovenia over the last three decades, although, as it is also discussed below, criminology itself has a much longer history in the country.


Pickling process is recognized as one of the strongest acid consuming processes in the steel industry. A pickling solution that contains hydrochloric acid (HCl) is used for the metal surface treatment of steel plants. The same acid can be used for a long period of time by means of a regeneration process, in which iron concentration of the acid is decreased to insignificant concentrations. However, regenerated pickling solutions contain copper, especially when scrap is used to produce steel. Furthermore, copper deposits on the metal in the following pickling processes when its concentration exceeds a certain critical value. This study describes an electrochemical treatment process for collecting copper from regenerated pickling solutions of steel plants. Copper concentration, electrolysis time, and current density were selected as the operation variables and pH and conductivity of the acid together with the amount and morphology of the deposition were considered as the response variables for optimization. Graphite was used as the anode due to its high conductivity and stability and copper or stainless steel was used as the cathode in this study. The results showed that electrochemical treatment process decreased copper concentration to about 80 from 127 ppm using stainless steel cathode under the optimum constant current density of 2.0 A/dm 2 and electrolysis time of 4 hours, without any acid loss, which was verified by pH, conductivity and acidity measurements.


In this paper I discuss a Kantian conception of cosmopolitan education. It suggests that we pursue the highest good – an object of morality – in the world together, and requires that we acknowledge the value of freedom, render ourselves both efficacious and autonomous in practice, cultivate our judgment, and unselfishly co-operate in the co-ordination and fulfilment of our morally permissible ends. Now, such an accomplishment is one of the most difficult challenges, and may not be achieved in our time, if ever. In the first part of the paper I show that we, according to Kant, have to interact with each other, and comply with the moral law in the quest of general happiness, not merely personal happiness. In the second part, I argue that a cosmopolitan design of teacher education in Kantian terms can establish moral character, even though good moral character is ultimately the outcome of free choice. Such a design can do so by optimizing the freedom of those concerned to set and pursue their morally permissible ends, and to cultivate their judgment through the use of examples. This requires, inter alia, that they be enabled, and take responsibility, to think for themselves, in the position of everyone else, and consistently; and to strengthen their virtue or self-mastery to comply, in practice, with the moral law.


This contribution proposes a methodological approach based on a coupled canopy-atmosphere radiative transfer model and a Bayesian optimization algorithm, which allows the use of a priori data in the retrieval. This approach was used to estimate LAI and leaf chlorophyll content (Cab) in the agricultural test site Oensingen, Switzerland, from at-sensor radiance data of the new airborne APEX imaging spectrometer. The Bayesian optimization allowed having up to 7 free variables in the optimization. The obtained maps of estimated LAI and Cab values at the field level show a good agreement with our expectations in terms of the values themselves, but also their variation range and spread.


The feedback loop that controls the circadian clock includes the proteins CLOCK and BMAL1, which form a complex that binds to regulatory elements of circadian clock genes and drives their transcription. Two such genes are Period (Per) and Cryptochrome (Cry), whose products PER and CRY accumulate and then inhibit the activity of CLOCK-BMAL1. This feedback loop is entrained in the brain by light-dark cycles, but feeding behavior also seems to play some role. CLOCK was recently characterized as a histone acetyltransferase (HAT), which acetylates histone proteins to facilitate gene transcription, but CLOCK also acetylates nonhistone proteins, including BMAL1. Two groups have now identified the NAD+-dependent protein SIRT1 as the histone deacetylase (HDAC) that counteracts CLOCK. Asher et al. found that the abundance of SIRT1 was regulated in a circadian manner in mouse embryonic fibroblasts; that SIRT1 was necessary for the circadian expression of circadian clock genes; and that SIRT1 bound to CLOCK-BMAL1 and PER2 in a circadian manner. SIRT1 also deacetylated PER2, which promoted its degradation. Nakahata et al. found that the HDAC activity, but not the abundance, of SIRT1 was under circadian control and that knockout of Sirt1 changed the circadian expression of circadian clock genes. SIRT1 was found in a chromatin complex with CLOCK-BMAL1 at the promoter of the circadian clock gene Dbp, where it contributed to the cyclical acetylation-deacetylation of histone H3 and BMAL1. As for PER2, deacetylation of BMAL1 led to its degradation. In commentary, Belden and Dunlap focus more on the similarities than on the differences between these two studies. Because its activity is dependent on NAD+ and thus is affected by metabolism, SIRT1 may be the link that enables metabolic control of the circadian clock. G. Asher, D. Gatfield, M. Stratmann, H. Reinke, C. Dibner, F. Kreppel, R. Mostoslavsky, F. W. Alt, U. Schibler, SIRT1 regulates circadian clock gene expression through PER2 deacetylation. Cell 134, 317-328 (2008). [Online Journal] Y. Nakahata, M. Kaluzova, B. Grimaldi, S. Sahar, J. Hirayama, D. Chen, L. P. Guarente, P. Sassone-Corsi, The NAD+-dependent deacetylase SIRT1 modulates CLOCK-mediated chromatin remodeling and circadian control. Cell 134, 329-340 (2008). [Online Journal] W. J. Belden, J. C. Dunlap, SIRT1 is a circadian deacetylase for core clock components. Cell 134, 212-214 (2008). [Online Journal]


Djerfisherite, an unusual potassium- and chlorine-bearing sulphide K6Na(Fe,Ni,Cu)(24)S26Cl, is found in remarkably fresh rocks of the Udachnaya-East kimberlite pipe, including several varieties of kimberlite and a kimberlite-hosted phlogopite-spinel lherzolite xenolith. In both kimberlite breccia and monticellite kimberlite djerfisherite is a common groundmass mineral. Djerfisherite is also present as a daughter phase in olivine-hosted inclusions of trapped carbonate-chloride melt and sulphide melt. The mineral is present as irregular or rounded grains (up to 80-100 mu m) in association with magnetite and pyrrhotite in the kimberlite groundmass, and together with carbonates, Na-K-chlorides, silicates, magnetite, sulphates and Fe-Ni-sulphides in melt inclusions. Djerfisherite in the lherzolite xenolith is mainly interstitial (up to 100 mu m) and commonly rims primary mantle sulphides that show clear signs of replacement. Broad compositional variations in Fe, Ni and Cu are common in djerfisherite from different occurrences of the Udachnaya-East pipe. Textural relations, heating stage experiments with melt inclusions and compositional data, suggest a late magmatic origin of djerfisherite in the Udachnaya-East kimberlite groundmass, at shallow depths and at T <= 800 degrees C. In contrast, djerfisherite in the lherzolite xenolith appears to be a product of direct precipitation from evolved kimberlite magma infiltrating into lithospheric xenoliths or reactions of evolved kimberlite fluids/melts with primary minerals in xenoliths.


Abstract Toxicity of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) has been reported both in vitro and in vivo. However, the intracellular stability and chemical state of Ag NPs are still not very well studied. In this work, we systematically investigated the cellular uptake pathways, intracellular dissolution and chemical species, and cytotoxicity of Ag NPs (15.9 ± 7.6 nm) in Chinese hamster ovary cell subclone K1 cells, a cell line recommended by the OECD for genotoxicity studies. Quantification of intracellular nanoparticle uptake and ion release was performed through inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) was employed to assess the chemical state of intracellular silver. The toxic potential of Ag NPs and Ag+ was evaluated by cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and live–dead cell staining. The results suggest that cellular uptake of Ag NPs involves lipid-raft-mediated endocytosis and energy-independent diffusion. The degradation study shows that Ag NPs taken up into cells dissolved quickly and XANES results directly indicated that the internalized Ag was oxidized to Ag−O− species and then stabilized in silver−sulfur (Ag−S−) bonds within the cells. Subsequent cytotoxicity studies show that Ag NPs decrease cell viability and increase ROS production. Pre-incubation with N-acetyl-l-cysteine, an efficient antioxidant and Ag+ chelator, diminished the cytotoxicity caused by Ag NPs or Ag+ exposure. Our study suggests that the cytotoxicity mechanism of Ag NPs is related to the intracellular release of silver ions, followed by their binding to SH-groups, presumably coming from amino acids or proteins, and affecting protein functions and the antioxidant defense system of cells.


This volume of the New Testament Library offers a thorough and careful commentary on the complicated book of Hebrews, showing its meaning within the context of ancient culture and the theological development of the early church. Written by one of the leading New Testament scholars of the present generation, this commentary offers remarkable insights into the Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish contexts of the book of Hebrews.The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.


Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) an autoimmune multifactorial disease impairing the quality of life of the diseased is a challenging prospect in terms of treatment. The disease has been treated from ancient times and from their wisdom, we have taken one traditional Chinese medicinal compound named kirenol. The compound is from herbal extract of Herba Siegesbeckiae and in this study we are exploring its inhibiting potential of cytokine target i.e. TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6 using Auto Dock tool. In our study we have used Auto Dock 4.2 an Insilico tool to check the effect of the kirenol on three important cytokine target i.e. TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6. The molecular docking approach using AutoDock 4.2 tool with default parameters was used to calculate the binding energies. All the three cytokines showed spontaneous binding with kirenol, varying from a ΔG range of -6.75 to -2.68 Kcal/mole. The results generated showed IL-6 to be the best target for kirenol. Both, its binding energy and number of interactions is higher when compared to that of other two.


In some Seyfert galaxies, the hard X-rays that produce fluorescent emission lines are thought to be generated in a hot corona that is compact and located at only a few gravitational radii above the supermassive black hole. We consider the possibility that this X-ray source may be powered by small-scale magnetic flux tubes attached to the accretion disc near the black hole. We use three-dimensional, time-dependent, special relativistic, force-free simulations in a simplified setting to study the dynamics of such flux tubes as they get continuously twisted by the central compact star/black hole. We find that the dynamical evolution of the flux tubes connecting the central compact object and the accretion disc is strongly influenced by the confinement of the surrounding field. Although differential rotation between the central object and the disc tends to inflate the flux tubes, strong confinement from surrounding field quenches the formation of a jet-like outflow, as the inflated flux tube becomes kink unstable and dissipates most of the extracted rotational energy relatively close to the central object. Such a process may be able to heat up the plasma and produce strong X-ray emission. We estimate the energy dissipation rate and discuss its astrophysical implications.


(Appendix to SICS Research Report R86009) This appendix shows in detail how to make the time for the garbage collection algorithm presented in [AHS 86] become proportional to n log n , where n is the number of non-garbage cells. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with [AHS 86] since no further presentation of the notation used is made here. The compaction phase of that algorithm is proportional to the amount of memory, i.e. proportional to the sum of garbage and non-garbage. This is unfortunate since for instance a garbage collection using copying is just proportional to the amount of non-garbage. If a program generates much more garbage than non-garbage, it might be a severe drawback of a garbage collection algorithm to depend on the amount of garbage. This paper shows how to make the garbage collection in [AHS] independent of the amount of garbage.


There is an extensive debate going on in Sweden about the being or not being of the statutory audit for small limited companies. Sweden is one of the few European countries that still have a statutory audit for all limited companies, and the debate is even more of immediate interest when the Swedish accounting and auditing standards are converging more and more to international standards. A member state in the European Union has the possibility to exempt small limited companies from the statutory audit. But due to the current regulations in Sweden, all limited companies are to follow the same rules, which is questioned in the debate. This debate is a current and important issue due to that approximately 200 000 limited companies would be affected if the statutory audit would be abolished.The overall purpose of this thesis is to contribute to the debate about the statutory audit for small limited companies, by moving beyond the "yes and no debate". We will describe and explain the attitudes towards the statutory audit and the existing accounting regulations among micro companies in two different business sectors.In order to fulfil the purpose, we have conducted a qualitative study. We have interviewed the owners of six micro companies from two different business sectors, namely organizational consultants and building contractors.The main conclusions from this study are that independent of their respective attitudes towards the statutory audit, none of the respondents would like the statutory audit to be abolished for small limited companies. Further, the respondents within the building contractors business perceive the accounting rules as more complicated than the respondents within the organizational consultants sector do, and a simplification of regulation would not change any of the respondents' attitudes towards the statutory audit.


This overview introduces and summarizes the findings of a practical volume on managing volatility and crises. The interest in these topics stems from the growing recognition that non-linearities tend to magnify the impact of economic volatility leading to large output and economic growth costs, especially in poor countries. In these circumstances, good times do not offset the negative impact of bad times, leading to permanent negative effects. Such asymmetry is often reinforced by incomplete markets, sovereign risk, divisive politics, inefficient taxation, procyclical fiscal policy and weak financial market institutions factors that are more problematic in developing countries. The same fundamental phenomena that make it difficult to cope with volatility also drive crises. Hence, the volume also focuses on the prevention and management of crises. It is a user-friendly compilation of empirical and policy results aimed at development policy practitioners divided into three modules: (i) the basics of volatility and its impact on growth and poverty; (ii) managing volatility along thematic lines, including financial sector and commodity price volatility; and (iii) management and prevention of macroeconomic crises, including a cross-country study, lessons from the debt defaults of the 1980s and 1990s and case studies on Argentina and Russia.


Vincent J. Pitts chronicles the life and times of one of France's most remarkable kings in the first English-language biography of Henri IV to be published in twenty-five years. An unwelcome heir to the throne, Henri ruled over a kingdom plagued by religious civil war and political and economic instability. By the end of his reign in 1610 he had pacified his warring country, restored its prosperity, and reclaimed France's place as a leading power in Europe. Pitts draws upon the rich scholarship of recent decades to tell the captivating story of this pivotal French king. From boyhood, Henri was destined to be leader and protector of the Huguenot movement in France. He served as chief of the Calvinist party and fought for the Huguenot forces in the bloody Wars of Religion before an extraordinary sequence of dynastic mishaps left the Protestant warlord next in line for the French crown. Henri was forced to renounce his faith in support of his claim to the Catholic throne and to unite his deeply divided country. A master of political maneuvering, Henri restored order to a country in the throes of great religious, political, and economic upheaval. He was assassinated in 1610 by a Catholic zealot. Vincent Pitts expertly recounts this history and skillfully untangles its complex set of personalities and events. Pitts engages the vast amount of literature relating to the king himself as well as the large body of recent scholarship on France during this time. The result is a fascinating biography of a French king and a comprehensive history of sixteenth-century France.


Objective To determine the clinical and cost effectiveness of booklet based vestibular rehabilitation with and without telephone support for chronic dizziness, compared with routine care. Design Single blind, parallel group, pragmatic, randomised controlled trial. Setting 35 general practices across southern England between October 2008 and January 2011. Participants Patients aged 18 years or over with chronic dizziness (mean duration >five years) not attributable to non-vestibular causes (confirmed by general practitioner) and that could be aggravated by head movement (confirmed by patient). Interventions Participants randomly allocated to receive routine medical care, booklet based vestibular rehabilitation only, or booklet based vestibular rehabilitation with telephone support. For the booklet approach, participants received self management booklets providing comprehensive advice on undertaking vestibular rehabilitation exercises at home daily for up to 12 weeks and using cognitive behavioural techniques to promote positive beliefs and treatment adherence. Participants receiving telephone support were offered up to three brief sessions of structured support from a vestibular therapist. Main outcome measures Vertigo symptom scale-short form and total healthcare costs related to dizziness per quality adjusted life year (QALY). Results Of 337 randomised participants, 276 (82%) completed all clinical measures at the primary endpoint, 12 weeks, and 263 (78%) at one year follow-up. We analysed clinical effectiveness by intention to treat, using analysis of covariance to compare groups after intervention, controlling for baseline symptom scores. At 12 weeks, scores on the vertigo symptom scale in the telephone support group did not differ significantly from those in the routine care group (adjusted mean difference −1.79 (95% confidence interval −3.69 tο 0.11), P=0.064). At one year, both intervention groups improved significantly relative to routine care (telephone support −2.52 (−4.52 to −0.51), P=0.014; booklet only −2.43 (−4.27 to −0.60), P=0.010). Analysis of cost effectiveness acceptability curves showed that both interventions were highly cost effective; at very low QALY values, the booklet only approach was most likely to be cost effective, but the approach with additional telephone support was most likely to be cost effective at QALY values more than £1200 (€1488; $1932). Using the booklet approach with telephone support, five (three to 12) patients would need to be treated for one patient to report subjective improvement at one year. Conclusions Booklet based vestibular rehabilitation for chronic dizziness is a simple and cost effective means of improving patient reported outcomes in primary care. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00732797.


This paper analyzes the appointment of candidates made by the leader of the Liberal Party prior to the 1993 and 1997 federal elections. It argues that the appointments made by the leader were only in part a response to the expectations that political parties should become more descriptively representative of the Canadian population. Further, the paper raises a number of concerns regarding the use of the leader's appointment power in order to ensure a more descriptively representative party and legislature. It is argued that while other potential reforms were ignored, a rather minimalist and centralizing strategy was utilized. Expectations regarding descriptive representation and conventions concerning candidate selection in Canadian political parties are briefly considered in order to place the 1993 and 1997 nominations in context


In this paper, we present a novel embedded-target detection system built upon a visible image sensor. This system can detect both static and dynamic targets under difficult situations. It is small in size, light in weight, has low power consumption, and can be embedded into the system of robotics and intelligent systems. In this system, the target images are captured by a visible image sensor and then processed by a digital signal processor based on the ripple algorithm proposed in this paper. The ripple algorithm uses several templates to represent the target in different view angles and sizes. Then, it extracts the features of objects by a group of concentric circles, and compares the features to those of the templates. These features are invariant to image rotations or target translations and scaling to overcome the robotics moving characteristics of swing and sway. In addition, the algorithm has low computational complexity, and can fulfill the requirement of real-time applications. From this experiment, it is shown that the developed automatic target detection system is effective to detect static or dynamic targets in the real-time application of robotics, and the ripple algorithm is correct and effective.


Due to the lack of learning and adaptation abilities in traditional game models, e.g., the strategic Nash game, they can't describe the dynamic behaviors and strategy interactive selections well in the cognitive context. The Markov game theoretical modeling approach is investigated to deal with the power control in the cognitive radio (CR) context, which well captures the learning and adaptation abilities of CRs. With the complex interaction relationship of multiple secondary users (SUs), multiple primary users (PUs) with wireless coexistent environment into consideration, both the secondary overall utility maximization and fairness among the SUs are considered from the mathematical model formulation and the algorithm design perspective. A power control approach to searching for the fair and optimal Nash equilibrium solution (NES) based on the improved multi-agent Q-learning is proposed. Meanwhile, the parameters of the presented algorithm are analyzed through simulations. The numerical results confirm that the proposed algorithm can improve the system utility and also guarantee the fairness among the SUs well.


For very slowly-varying fading channels as in the case of atmospheric turbulence-induced fading, it is possible to reliably estimate the channel state information and send it back to the transmitter. The transmitter can use this information to vary the transmission parameters such as power, modulation size, code rate etc according to the channel conditions. This is known as link adaptation. In this paper, we consider a turbo-coded free-space optical (FSO) system with M-ary pulse position modulation over log-normal turbulence channels and propose an adaptive modulation scheme under peak power constraints. Our simulation results demonstrate significant performance improvements of the proposed adaptive scheme over non-adaptive counterparts.


How much can one say with confidence about what constitutes "the freedom of speech" that Congress shall not abridge? In this Article, I address that question in the context of the transmission of speech - specifically, the regulation of Internet access known as net neutrality. This question has implications both for the future of economic regulation, as more and more activity involves the transmission of bits, and for First Amendment interpretation. As for the latter, the question is what a lawyer or judge can conclude without having to choose among competing conceptions of speech. How far can a basic legal toolkit go? Using that toolkit, I find that bare transmission is not speech under the First Amendment, and that most forms of manipulation of bits also would not qualify as speech. Adopting any of the leading conceptions of the First Amendment would narrow the range of activities covered by the First Amendment. But even without choosing among those conceptions we can reach some meaningful conclusions about the limited application of the First Amendment to Internet access providers.


Experimental infections of Endamoeba histolytica have been established in several laboratory animals, many of which have been utilized in chemotherapeutic studies. Jones (1948) ably reviewed the history of the infection of dogs, cats, and monkeys with E. histolytica and stated that "such valuable amebicides as stovarsol, carbarsone, Vioform, and Diodoquin have resulted." Anderson et al. (1947, 1950) have further shown the activity of some thioarsenites and antibiotics against natural amebic infection in the monkey. The suitability of the dog as a test animal was studied critically by Thompson et al. (1949, 1950) who reported a satisfactory correlation between the response of canine and human amebiasis and stated that the dog should be particularly useful in the search for new chemotherapeutic agents. Clampit (1948) found that some cases of acute fulminating amebiasis produced experimentally in the kitten were cured by the use of Vioform, chiniofon, and carbarsone but none were cured by emetine.


A flurry of structural data provides sometimes conflicting insights into the M2 proton channel. The M2 protein from influenza A virus forms an acid-activated tetrameric proton channel in the viral envelope and is essential for viral replication. Two manuscripts shed light on the functional mechanism of this channel. Sharma et al. (see the Perspective by Fiorin et al.) determined the structure of the conductance domain in a lipid bilayer and propose that a histidine and tryptophan from each monomer form a cluster that guides protons through the channel in a mechanism that involves forming and breaking hydrogen bonds between adjacent pairs of histidines. Hu et al. (see the Perspective by Fiorin et al.) focused on the structure and dynamics of the proton-selective histidine at high and low pH, proposing that proton conduction involves histidine deprotonation and reprotonation. M. Sharma, M. Yi, H. Dong, H. Qin, E. Peterson, D. D. Busath, H.-X. Zhou, T. A. Cross, Insight into the mechanism of the influenza A proton channel from a structure in a lipid bilayer. Science 330, 509–512 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text] F. Hu, W. Luo, M. Hong, Mechanisms of proton conduction and gating in influenza M2 proton channels from solid-state NMR. Science 330, 505–508 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text] G. Fiorin, V. Carnevale, W. F. DeGrado, The flu's proton escort. Science 330, 456–458 (2010). [Abstract] [Full Text]


An efficient algorithm is proposed for Bayesian model calibration, which is commonly used to estimate the model parameters of non-linear, computationally expensive models using measurement data. The approach is based on Bayesian statistics: using a prior distribution and a likelihood, the posterior distribution is obtained through application of Bayes' law. Our novel algorithm to accurately determine this posterior requires significantly fewer discrete model evaluations than traditional Monte Carlo methods. The key idea is to replace the expensive model by an interpolating surrogate model and to construct the interpolating nodal set maximizing the accuracy of the posterior. To determine such a nodal set an extension to weighted Leja nodes is introduced, based on a new weighting function. We prove that the convergence of the posterior has the same rate as the convergence of the model. If the convergence of the posterior is measured in the Kullback–Leibler divergence, the rate doubles. The algorithm and its theoretical properties are verified in three different test cases: analytical cases that confirm the correctness of the theoretical findings, Burgers' equation to show its applicability in implicit problems, and finally the calibration of the closure parameters of a turbulence model to show the effectiveness for computationally expensive problems.


Thermodynamics is a physical branch of science that governs the thermal behavior of dynamical systems from those as simple as refrigerators to those as complex as our expanding universe. The laws of thermodynamics involving conservation of energy and nonconservation of entropy are, without a doubt, two of the most useful and general laws in all sciences. The first law of thermodynamics, according to which energy cannot be created or destroyed, merely transformed from one form to another, and the second law of thermodynamics, according to which the usable energy in an adiabatically isolated dynamical system is always diminishing in spite of the fact that energy is conserved, have had an impact far beyond science and engineering. In this paper, we trace the history of thermodynamics from its classical to its postmodern forms, and present a tutorial and didactic exposition of thermodynamics as it pertains to some of the deepest secrets of the universe.


An MD simulation of a 2.2m aqueous LiI solution between 12-6 Lennard-Jones walls has been performed which extended over 19 ps at an average temperature of 283 K. The basic tetragonal cell contained 200 ST2 water molecules and eight ions of each kind described as Lennard-Jones spheres with an elementary charge at the center. The effect of the walls on the hydration shell of the ions is investigated by means of ion-water radial distribution functions. Anisotropic water pair correlation functions are reported in order to show specific structural features near the walls. Changes in translational and rotational motions of the water molecules near the walls are discussed by means of velocity and angular velocity autocorrelation functions and their spectral densities, respectively.


Learn effective C++ network programming with Boost.Asio and become a proficient C++ network programmerAbout This BookLearn efficient C++ network programming with minimum coding using Boost.AsioYour one-stop destination to everything related to the Boost.Asio libraryExplore the fundamentals of networking to choose designs with more examples, and learn the basics of Boost.AsioWho This Book Is ForThis book is for C++ Network programmers with basic knowledge of network programming, but no knowledge of how to use Boost.Asio for network programming.What You Will LearnPrepare the tools to simplify network programming in C++ using Boost.AsioExplore the networking concepts of IP addressing, TCP/IP ports and protocols, and LAN topologiesGet acquainted with the usage of the Boost librariesGet to know more about the content of Boost.Asio network programming and Asynchronous programmingEstablish communication between client and server by creating client-server applicationUnderstand the various functions inside Boost.Asio C++ libraries to delve into network programmingDiscover how to debug and run the code successfullyIn DetailBoost.Asio is a C++ library used for network programming operations.Organizations use Boost because of its productivity. Use of these high-quality libraries speed up initial development, result in fewer bugs, reduce reinvention-of-the-wheel, and cut long-term maintenance costs. Using Boost libraries gives an organization a head start in adopting new technologies.This book will teach you C++ Network programming using synchronous and asynchronous operations in Boost.Asio with minimum code, along with the fundamentals of Boost, server-client applications, debugging, and more.You will begin by preparing and setting up the required tools to simplify your network programming in C++ with Boost.Asio. Then you will learn about the basic concepts in networking such as IP addressing, TCP/IP protocols, and LAN with its topologies. This will be followed by an overview of the Boost libraries and their usage.Next you will get to know more about Boost.Asio and its concepts related to network programming. We will then go on to create a client-server application, helping you to understand the networking concepts. Moving on, you will discover how to use all the functions inside the Boost.Asio C++ libraries. Lastly, you will understand how to debug the code if there are errors found and will run the code successfully.Style and approachAn example-oriented book to show you the basics of networking and help you create a network application simply using Boost.Asio, with more examples for you to get up and running with Boost.Asio quickly.


The early hopes for the Seeger melograph, a device for recording the pitch and intensity of vocal performances, have not been realized because musicologists found the graphic traces of pitch and intensity too difficult to interpret. In this article, proposals are advanced for redesigning the melograph to provide researchers with more symbolically meaningful information. This involves abandoning the notion of fully separable parameters, relaxing the constraint that representations be culturally neutral, and developing ways to represent musical motion qua motion. The discussion is illustrated with redesigned melograms drawn from analyses of a particularly florid excerpt of South- Indian singing. Comparisons between the performances of a South-Indian singer and the performances of two of her students suggest ways in which cultural conditioning can affect vocal performance.


Although sales of brokered patent packages reach an estimated $153 million a year, lack of data makes this a tricky market to evaluate. We attempt to illuminate this information void with our review of 186 patent packages consisting of a total of 5,394 issued US patents and 7,595 total patent assets worldwide. Here is our detailed report on the 2013 brokered patent market.


In this paper we address the origin of the phenomenon of clitic doubling in the Balkan linguistic continuum based in data from the earliest Old Bulgarian manuscripts. We argue that our data witness instances of what we consider clitic doubling proper, similar to the Modern Bulgarian phenomenon of the same type. Our analysis is substantiated by general considerations related to the overall OV structure of Old Bulgarian (cf. Dimitrova-Vulchanova & Vulchanov, in press; Pancheva 2005) and a distinction between clitic doubling and other related constructions, such as e.g., clitic left dislocation, the hanging topic construction and clitic right dislocation. We consider clitic doubling in Old Bulgarian and its Modern parallel as exclusively sanctioned by a specific Information structure value we currently define as [+contrastive topic], which is a sufficient trigger for the surfacing of doubling clitics. Our analysis is justified on the basis of the discourse properties of the earliest instances of the phenomenon and the clear parallel with Modern Bulgarian on the one hand, the parallel with other modern Balkan languages, such as Albanian (cf. Kallulli, this volume) and Macedonian (Tomic, this volume) on the other.


Professor Jan H. Stock, an inspiring zoologist of international fame (born 22 February 1931), will retire from the University of Amsterdam at the end of this year. It is his wish to settle in his beloved island Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles and there to continue his taxonomic and zoogeographic researches, especially on Crustacea and Pycnogonida. So, we may expect many more "Amsterdam Expeditions to the West Indian Islands" reports in the years to come, either by Jan Stock himself, or by others, based on material collected by him. Meanwhile, the editorial board of Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde will lose a most remarkable and energetic editor. Jan Stock has led our editorial board for 23 years in a very dynamic way. When he took over the editorship from his predecessor, Professor H. Engel, in 1968, the journal was a sedate, beautifully printed elite periodical appearing only once a year. As early as 1970, he made it appear biannually with a more attractive cover. During his editorship the total number of pages published per year grew considerably, resulting in the recent decision (1989) to publish Bijdragen quarterly. He stimulated the editorial activities and maintained contacts with the authors in an easy, uncomplicated way. As for its contents, Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde means Contributions to Zoology; it was Jan's adage that articles for Bijdragen should always contribute something new to zoology — he saw to it that they did.


Six representatives of a luminous bacterium commonly found in association with deep, cold-dwelling marine fishes were isolated from the light organs and skin of different fish species. These bacteria were Gram-negative, catalase-positive, and weakly oxidase-positive or oxidase-negative. Morphologically, cells of these strains were coccoid or coccoid-rods, occurring singly or in pairs, and motile by means of polar flagellation. After growth on seawater-based agar medium at 22 degrees C for 18 h, colonies were small, round and white, with an intense cerulean blue luminescence. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity placed these bacteria in the genus Photobacterium. Phylogenetic analysis based on seven housekeeping gene sequences (16S rRNA gene, gapA, gyrB, pyrH, recA, rpoA and rpoD), seven gene sequences of the lux operon (luxC, luxD, luxA, luxB, luxF, luxE and luxG) and four gene sequences of the rib operon (ribE, ribB, ribH and ribA), resolved the six strains as members of the genus Photobacterium and as a clade distinct from other species of Photobacterium. These strains were most closely related to Photobacterium phosphoreum and Photobacterium iliopiscarium. DNA-DNA hybridization values between the designated type strain, Photobacterium kishitanii pjapo.1.1(T), and P. phosphoreum LMG 4233(T), P. iliopiscarium LMG 19543(T) and Photobacterium indicum LMG 22857(T) were 51, 43 and 19 %, respectively. In AFLP analysis, the six strains clustered together, forming a group distinct from other analysed species. The fatty acid C(17 : 0) cyclo was present in these bacteria, but not in P. phosphoreum, P. iliopiscarium or P. indicum. A combination of biochemical tests (arginine dihydrolase and lysine decarboxylase) differentiates these strains from P. phosphoreum and P. indicum. The DNA G+C content of P. kishitanii pjapo.1.1(T) is 40.2 %, and the genome size is approximately 4.2 Mbp, in the form of two circular chromosomes. These strains represent a novel species, for which the name Photobacterium kishitanii sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain, pjapo.1.1(T) (=ATCC BAA-1194(T)=LMG 23890(T)), is a luminous symbiont isolated from the light organ of the deep-water fish Physiculus japonicus.


Abstract This essay focuses on and analyzes the role of prophet that Bartolomé de las Casas (1485–1566) lived out in the conquest and settlement of the New World. Borrowing a great deal from a shorter essay written years ago by Stafford Poole on the history and nature of prophets, we examine how Las Casas's life mirrored so many of the qualities and characteristics of the prophet, especially those of the Old Testament. It is part of our general argument that one can only truly understand the life of Las Casas, often described as the greatest defender of American Indians (the "indigenous" in today's jargon), by placing him squarely within the Scriptural prophetic tradition that drove both is thinking and his actions. This is a "Critical Essay" and it was originally delivered as a public lecture.


Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are computer tutors that provide individualised instruction by maintaining models of their students. Traditionally, these models have been hidden from the student. However, recent work in the area has suggested educational benefits in exposing the student model. This approach, known as open student modelling, allows the student to inspect their model thereby facilitating reflection, which is known to enhance the learning process. To date, few evaluations have been conducted to determine the effects that open student models have on learning. This is the focus of our work. In particular, we are interested in whether even a simple open model can have a positive effect on learning. For this purpose, we have exposed the student model in an existing ITS and have performed an initial evaluation study. Subjective results from the study are encouraging, although a more extensive study is needed to draw reliable objective conclusions. This report presents the extended ITS, followed by the results from the evaluation study.


Amply endowed with natural resources but handicapped by its landlocked situation, Central Asia has experienced unparalleled growth rates over the past ten years. The exploitation of" these resources and the investments that have been made, often with the help of foreign capital, provide the basis for this paradigm of growth and productivity. However, many challenges including economic diversification and private sector development hamper future growth prospects. Abundant Resources in a Landlocked Region The existence of oil deposits is a major factor in the distribution of wealth among the Central Asian republics. While on one hand Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and to a lesser extent Uzbekistan, have major reserves of fossil fuels, on the other, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have no oil and gas reserves at all. This difference can be seen in national economic indicators. In 2009, Kazakhstan's GDI per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP) was more than US$10,000, five times greater than that of Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan. Besides oil and gas deposits in the Caspian Sea, Central Asia also has abundant natural resources. Gold deposits in Kyrgyzstan account for 15 percent of its GDP. Tajikistan has significant hydroelectric potential, and Uzbekistan is one of the world's leading exporters of cotton, though its gold deposits could potentially make it a major gold-exporting country. Kazakhstan is richly endowed with natural resources: a major exporter of wheat and flour, the country also has large deposits of precious metals such as chromium, zinc, lead, and uranium. What these countries have in common is their geographical location, which is both a disadvantage and a source of opportunity. Being landlocked is first a disadvantage in that many countries have low population densities. Difficult climate also tends to increase the transaction costs associated with trade such as the costs of crossing borders (time spent in customs, possible corruption, the unpredictability of delivery dates, etc.) as well as costs of transport and storage. It is secondly a source of opportunity in that Central Asia lies mid-way between Asia and Kurope and could therefore serve as a transit zone and logistics platform for trade between the two continents. Overcoming the problems arising from being landlocked is key to the future success of the region. The key limitations implied by this geographical situation is high transportation cost, waste due to lack of 'cold1 supply chains in the agro-business sector, and most importantly, slower pace in development of sub-national regions due to high cost of infrastructure. The creation of transnational transport infrastructure and the elimination of red tape at border crossings within the region call for close cooperation among the countries in the region, which could use improvement. A key to addressing this challenge and improving the competitiveness of the region is also tapping into the potential of its neighbours. Although land-locked, Central Asia is also surrounded by some of the world's fastest-growing and most dynamic economies, including three of the BRICs (Russia, India and China). Recognizing the importance of being further connected to their fast-growing neighbours. Central Asian policy makers have embarked on a number of initiatives. One example is the Central Asia-China gas pipeline, which was launched in 2003 and is set to become the first pipeline to bring Central Asian natural gas to China. It connects Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and China. A Natural Resource-Driven Growth Model Over the past ten years, the economic growth rates of Central Asian countries have reached record levels for a variety of reasons, including high prices commanded by raw materials in world markets and relative macroeco-nomic stability, with single-and sometimes double-digit inflation compared to the much higher levels reported in the 1990s; for the poorest states in the area (Tajikistan and Kirghizstan), remittances of earnings by emigrant workers in Russia as well as financial aid from abroad have played a major role. …


National Park Service 100th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act - Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to mint and issue gold, silver, and half-dollar clad coins in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the National Park Service (NPS). Authorizes the issuance of coins under this Act only for a one-year period, beginning on January 1, 2016. Requires all sales of coins minted under this Act to include a surcharge of $35 per gold coin, $10 per silver coin, and $5 per half-dollar clad coin. Requires all of the surcharges received from the sale of such coins to be paid to the National Park Foundation for projects and programs to help preserve and protect resources under the stewardship of the NPS and to promote public enjoyment and appreciation of those resources. Prohibits the surcharges paid to the Foundation from being used for land acquisition.


The growing problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has led to calls for antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) to control antibiotic use in healthcare settings. Key strategies include prospective audit with feedback and intervention, and formulary restriction and preauthorization. Education, guidelines, clinical pathways, de-escalation, and intravenous to oral conversion are also part of some programs. Impact and quality of ASP can be assessed using process or outcome measures. Outcome measures are categorized as microbiological, patient or financial outcomes. The objective of this review was to provide an overview of quality measures for assessing ASP and the reported impact of ASP in peer-reviewed studies, focusing particularly on patient outcomes. A literature search of papers published in English between 1990 and June 2015 was conducted in five databases using a combination of search terms. Primary studies of any design were included. A total of 63 studies were included in this review. Four studies defined quality metrics for evaluating ASP. Twenty-one studies assessed the impact of ASP on antimicrobial utilization and cost, 25 studies evaluated impact on resistance patterns and/or rate of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Thirteen studies assessed impact on patient outcomes including mortality, length of stay (LOS) and readmission rates. Six of these 13 studies reported non-significant difference in mortality between pre- and post-ASP intervention, and five reported reductions in mortality rate. On LOS, six studies reported shorter LOS post intervention; a significant reduction was reported in one of these studies. Of note, this latter study reported significantly (p < 0.001) higher unplanned readmissions related to infections post-ASP. Patient outcomes need to be a key component of ASP evaluation. The choice of metrics is influenced by data and resource availability. Controlling for confounders must be considered in the design of evaluation studies to adequately capture the impact of ASP and it is important for unintended consequences to be considered. This review provides a starting point toward compiling standard outcome metrics for assessing ASP.


According to traditional scholarship women rarely went to sea. Nineteenth-century concepts of separate spheres supposedly kept women tied to home and family while men explored the vast oceans. Women, however, did go to sea but researchers have few sources to understand their place in the Atlantic World. One area, often overlooked in examining women at sea is the shipwreck narrative. Within these short accounts of shipwreck, researchers can begin to understand these women as well as the ways in which society understood meanings of class and gender. Even though women's roles were usually minor and always secondary to the main events, women protected the children and themselves, and prayed to God for mercy and divine guidance. Female passengers remained pious and obedient as they waited for men to decide the best course for survival. Although most women perished in the accounts, their reputations continued and they became models for female readers by validating idealized feminine behavior


Robust Automatic Speech Recognition: A Bridge to Practical Applications establishes a solid foundation for automatic speech recognition that is robust against acoustic environmental distortion. It provides a thorough overview of classical and modern noise-and reverberation robust techniques that have been developed over the past thirty years, with an emphasis on practical methods that have been proven to be successful and which are likely to be further developed for future applications. The strengths and weaknesses of robustness-enhancing speech recognition techniques are carefully analyzed. The book covers noise-robust techniques designed for acoustic models which are based on both Gaussian mixture models and deep neural networks. In addition, a guide to selecting the best methods for practical applications is provided. The reader will: * Gain a unified, deep and systematic understanding of the state-of-the-art technologies for robust speech recognition* Learn the links and relationship between alternative technologies for robust speech recognition * Be able to use the technology analysis and categorization detailed in the book to guide future technology development* Be able to develop new noise-robust methods in the current era of deep learning for acoustic modeling in speech recognition * The first book that provides a comprehensive review on noise and reverberation robust speech recognition methods in the era of deep neural networks* Connects robust speech recognition techniques to machine learning paradigms with rigorous mathematical treatment* Provides elegant and structural ways to categorize and analyze noise-robust speech recognition techniques* Written by leading researchers who have been actively working on the subject matter in both industrial and academic organizations for many years


An attractive combination of properties of the ferroelectric copolymer of vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene (P(VDF-TrFE)), including a relatively high spontaneous polarization and low dielectric constant as well as low processing temperature makes this material useful for studying the ferroelectric gate operation for 1T nonvolatile ferroelecetric memory applications. Here we explore a silicon-based ferroelectric field effect transistor with P(VDF-TrFE) gate showing a persistent switching of the drain current with the "on"/"off" current ratio of 103–102 and retention exceeding 5 days. The physical mechanism of the retention loss has been addressed by monitoring the drain current relaxation in combination with the time-resolved piezo-force scanning probe microscopy. The results suggest that the retention loss is controlled by the polarization screening due to the charge injection into the interface-adjacent layer rather than the polarization loss due to the depolarization effect.


ABSTRACT Comparing with the fission product nuclide (FP) decay heat summation calculation result in MeV/sec/fission based on the JENDL FP decay and yield data files 2011 for the burst fission, FP decay heat calculated by ORIGEN2.2 coupled with JENDL-4.0 base library ORLIBJ40 was verified at the cooling time from 1 sec to 108 sec for 235U (thermal), 238U (fast), 239Pu (thermal) and 241Pu (thermal). For these fission nuclides, FP decay heat calculated by CASMO5 at the same cooling time after a short irradiation (104 sec) was also compared with that of ORIGEN2.2. In the analysis of decay heat measurements at the cooling time from 2.3 years to 27 years consisting of four data sets on the fuel assemblies discharged from the US PWRs and BWRs, and the Swedish PWRs and BWRs, the average values of the ratios of the calculated to measured results (C/E's) were from 0.972 to 1.031 for ORIGEN2.2, and from 0.977 to 1.016 for CASMO5. The standard deviations of C/E's for the four data sets were from 0.02 to 0.03 for the both codes except for those of the US BWR fuel assemblies which were from 0.11 to 0.12. The obtained C/E's were similar to those in the precedent study.


An electronically tunable distributed feedback (DFB) laser heterogeneously integrated on a silicon photonics platform is experimentally demonstrated. Tuning is achieved through carrier injection into the tuning layer of a tunable twin‐guide III–V membrane on silicon. A 2 nm continuous tuning range is achieved with a single tuning current. Continuous‐wave single‐mode laser operation with a side‐mode suppression ratio larger than 44 dB across the tuning range is obtained. Measured wavelength switching times are on the order of 3 ns and non‐return‐to‐zero on‐off keying direct modulation at 12.5 Gbit s−1 is readily achieved. This work can be a major advance toward the realization of optical burst or packet switching systems for future data center networks.


Despite the decade-long effort of Saul Bellow's biographer, James Atlas, to collect the letters Bellow sent to "wives, friends, lovers, enemies, writers he admired and writers he detested, teachers, students, disciples, [and] fans," the job will likely never be complete ("The Last Time I Saw Saul: Bellow's Biographer Says Goodbye." New York [18 April 2005]: 18). There will probably always be an unknown and unlikely Bellow letter, such as the one he wrote to me on September 3, 1983. Given Bellow's large body of work, and the enormous freight of critical writings devoted it, the most to be expected of newly uncovered letters is confirmation, not illumination. But such confirmation can be valuable to scholars interested in Bellow's views of his own work. Critics must find a way to assess the value of Bellow's many comments on his writings--comments prompted by dogged interviewers since at least the early 1950s (Cronin and Siegel). The Viking critical edition of Herzog attests to the importance of the author's views. That volume includes one Bellow interview and three Bellow essays in addition to the scholarly reviews (Herzog: Text and Criticism, Ed. Irving Howe [NY: Viking, 1976]:345-88). Evidence that Bellow found one of his own remarks especially revealing could direct scholars to an insight that might otherwise be overlooked. For more than ten years I overlooked such evidence. That is how long I owned Conversations with Saul Bellow before noticing that it contains an interview that records Bellow's delight in realizing something important about Herzog, and that Bellow offered the same insight in the letter he wrote to me. The Bellow interview On March 12, 1983, three interviewers spent two hours with Bellow discussing various aspects of his work. The interview was published the following year in TriQuarterly (Gray 199) During the course of the interview Bellow had this to say about Moses Herzog: He has received an utterly useless education and breaks down as soon as he faces a real crisis. Simply doesn't know what to do. He starts to drag books from the shelves to see what Aristotle advises, or what Spinoza has to say. It's a joke. To his credit, he quickly understands this. His blindness ends when he begins to write letters. By means of these letters the futility of his education is exposed. On Job's dunghill, and scraping himself with a potsherd, he recognizes (with joy!) how bad an education he has had. And this was what I was after in my book.... Herzog is thus a negative Bildungsroman. It goes in reverse (Gloria L. Cronin and Ben Siegel, eds. Conversations with Saul Bellow. [Jackson:UP of Mississippi, 1994]:213-214). …


Phage typing has a long history with regard to the di<erentiation of Salmonella serovars of human and animal origin. =is method provides the fast and cheap characterization of frequent serovars on the sub-serovar level and is especially useful for primary epidemiological analysis before investigation by other, more expensive molecular techniques. Since the discovery of bacteriophages many di<erent Salmonella typing schemes have been developed. More than one typing scheme may have been developed for a serovar. Several phage-typing schemes have been published for Salmonella Enteritidis. =e most widely used is that of Ward et al. In Poland a di<erent typing scheme is used − the Lalko et al. scheme. It employs eight typing phages for di<erentiation more than 20 phage types. Basing on the results of Salmonella Enteritidis phage typing, which has been conducted in Poland for many years, it can be noted that Salmonella Enteritidis infections reported in our country during the last fi?y years were associated with two serious epidemics. Among the strains isolated during the first epidemic, phage types 2, 5, 7, 8 and 12 were predominant and the great majority of the strains were represented by types 8 and 5. Phage types 1, 6 and 7 were found to be dominated during 27 years of the second Salmonella Enteritidis epidemic in Poland. =e strains of type 7 were the most numerous ones. =e results of phage typing indicate that sources of infections of these two Salmonella Enteritidis epidemics are quite di<erent. However, a relationship between them exists: Salmonella Enteritidis type 7 organisms occur in both. During the first epidemic they were isolated in a relatively small percentage and only from humans. =e great majority of sources of Salmonella Enteritidis infections associated with the second epidemic were dominated by them. =ey were also prevalent in human isolates. Generally, during the last 27 years, no significant changes in the distribution of Salmonella Enteritidis phage types in Poland have been observed. Although, it is noteworthy that except the same, permanent phage types continuously existing in the environment, the new types start to appear. =ey can suggest an appearance of new sources of Salmonella Enteritidis infections, unknown yet in our country, which is very possible as a result of e<ective elimination of currently existing ones.


One of the centerpieces of the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation was the creation of a new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of the Federal Reserve. Few bureaucratic agencies in American history, if any, have combined the simultaneous degree of vast, vaguely-defined power and lack of public accountability of the new bureau. It is an independent agency inside another independent agency (the Federal Reserve). It is presided over by a single director (rather than a multi-member commission structure) appointed for a term of five years and insulated from removal by the President. It has a guaranteed budget drawn directly from the Federal Reserve and is thus outside of Congress's appropriations process. Its actions are unreviewable by the Federal Reserve and can be checked bureaucratically only by a supermajority vote of the Financial Stability Oversight Commission (FSOC) and only if its actions would imperil the safety and soundness of the American financial services industry.Proponents of the new agency argue that this extreme level of independence is justified in order to provide the new bureau with insulation from political pressures. But the history of regulation has taught that insulation can be isolation, resulting in rudderless and inefficient regulation. In addition, scholars of regulation over the past several decades have identified a number of common pathologies associated with bureaucratic behavior. Astonishingly, the CFPB is structured in such a manner that it virtually guarantees the manifestation of those bureaucratic pathologies in practice: excessive risk-aversion, agency imperialism, and agency tunnel vision. Indeed, it is as if the CFPB were an agency frozen in amber during the Nixon Administration and thawed out today as if it were completely unaware of the lessons of the past several decades on how to structure an effective and efficient regulatory strategy.In the end, by manifesting these bureaucratic pathologies, the CFPB is likely to raise the price and reduce access to credit, thereby harming the very consumers it was founded to protect.


The improved simulated annealing method which is based on the self-similatiry of cost function is proposed. The simulated annealing method is a stochastic computational algorithm derived from statistical mechanics, and has much success in various fields. However, this method wastes too much computational time to obtain a solution. In practical problems it can be expected that cost functions are statistically self-similar. If cost functions have self-similar property, a quasi reduction of the state space will be achieved, then, computational time can be reduced. Moreover, this procedure can be applied hierarchically by the degree of smoothness. Based on this idea, the proposed method hierarchically repeats the search for the region in which higher quality solutions seem to exist. Finally the standard simulated annealing method is also applied in the highly restricted region of the state space. The traveling saleman problems are dealt with in this paper. After verifying the cost functions which have statistical self-similar property for the traveling salesman problem, computational experiments for the benchmark data, i. e., the 249-city problem and the 600-city problem will show that the proposed method can achieve much reduction of computational time compared with the standard simulated annealing method.


We report on the detection of the ground-state rotational line of ortho-D2H + at 1.477 THz (203μm) using the German REceiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) onboard the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The line is seen in absorption against farinfrared continuum from the protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 in Ophiuchus. The para-D2H + line at 691.7 GHz was not detected with the APEX telescope toward this position. These D2H + observations complement our previous detections of para-H2D + and ortho-H2D + using SOFIA and APEX. By modeling chemistry and radiative transfer in the dense core surrounding the protostars, we find that the ortho-D2H + and para-H2D + absorption features mainly originate in the cool (T < 18 K) outer envelope of the core. In contrast, the ortho-H2D + emission from the core is significantly absorbed by the ambient molecular cloud. Analyses of the combined D2H + and H2D + data result in an age estimate of ∼ 5× 10 yr for the core, with an uncertainty of ∼ 2× 10 yr. The core material has probably been pre-processed for another 5× 10 years in conditions corresponding to those in the ambient molecular cloud. The inferred time scale is more than ten times the age of the embedded protobinary. The D2H + and H2D + ions have large and nearly equal total (ortho+para) fractional abundances of ∼ 10−9 in the outer envelope. This confirms the central role of H3 in the deuterium chemistry in cool, dense gas, and adds support to the prediction of chemistry models that also D3 should be abundant in these conditions.


The negative correlation between equity and commodity futures returns is widely perceived by investors as an unexploited hedging opportunity. A Lucas (1982) asset-pricing model is adapted to analyse the fundamentals driving equity and commodity futures returns. Using the model we argue that such a negative correlation could arise as an equilibrium relationship which reflects traders' perceptions about the shocks driving the fundamentals such as energy and consumables, and does not necessarily indicate any hedging opportunity.


Many long-term care systems in economically developed countries are reliant on informal care. However, in the context of population ageing, there are concerns about the future supply of informal care. This article reports on projections of informal care receipt by older people with disabilities from spouses and (adult) children to 2032 in England. The projections show that the proportions of older people with disabilities who have a child will fall by 2032 and that the extent of informal care in future may be lower than previously estimated. The policy implications, in the context of the Dilnot Commission's report, are explored.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on the career paths in higher education taken by 351 doctoral graduates in mathematics education and provides insight into their career path and their resulting workload. Because some of the sample is drawn from graduates of programs with NSF funding related to doctoral preparation, it represents a best-case scenario of doctoral preparation experiences. Notable findings are that about one-half of the doctoral graduates in mathematics education are employed in mathematics departments, the majority (60%) of doctoral graduates remain in their initial faculty position upon completing their doctorate, and that workloads differ substantially across doctorate-granting and non-doctorate-granting institutions.


This is a groundbreaking look at Muslim South Asian art. This pioneering work traces the emergence of the modern and contemporary art of Muslim South Asia in relation to transnational modernism and in light of the region's intellectual, cultural, and political developments. Art historian Iftikhar Dadi here explores the art and writings of major artists, men and women, ranging from the late colonial period to the era of independence and beyond. He looks at the stunningly diverse artistic production of key artists associated with Pakistan, including Abdur Rahman Chughtai, Zainul Abedin, Shakir Ali, Zubeida Agha, Sadequain, Rasheed Araeen, and Naiza Khan. Dadi shows how, beginning in the 1920s, these artists addressed the challenges of modernity by translating historical and contemporary intellectual conceptions into their work, reworking traditional approaches to the classical Islamic arts, and engaging the modernist approach towards subjective individuality in artistic expression. In the process, they dramatically reconfigured the visual arts of the region. By the 1930s, these artists had embarked on a sustained engagement with international modernism in a context of dizzying social and political change that included decolonization, the rise of mass media, and developments following the national independence of India and Pakistan in 1947. Bringing new insights to such concepts as nationalism, modernism, cosmopolitanism, and tradition, Dadi underscores the powerful impact of transnationalism during this period and highlights the artists' growing embrace of modernist and contemporary artistic practice.


Fluid injection into deep wellbores can increase pore pressure, reduce effective stress, and trigger earthquakes. The extent of the seismogenic response to injection provides insight into how close faults are to failure in the injection-affected area. The seismogenic response to injection operations in hydrocarbon basins is examined in California and Oklahoma. Changes in spatial and temporal seismicity rates are tested for significant variations, and timing and location of such variations are determined based on nonparametric modeling of background seismicity rates. Oklahoma has experienced a recent surge of seismic events, which exceeded the 95% confidence limit of Poissonian background rates in c. 2010. Annual injection volumes in Oklahoma increased systematically between 1998 and 2013 and have been connected to several earthquake sequences. In California, injection volumes increased monotonically between 2001 and 2009; however, the seismogenic response was limited and was devoid of large-scale background rate increase. A detailed comparison of injection parameters in Oklahoma and California included well density, wellhead pressures, peak and cumulative rates, and injection depths. No detectable difference was found that could readily explain the observed changes in seismicity rate in Oklahoma and the lack thereof in California. A strongly different seismogenic response to similar pressure perturbations indicates that the injection parameters considered are only of secondary influence on the resulting earthquake activity. The primary controls on injection-induced earthquakes might be the specific geologic setting and the stress state on nearby faults.


We present two-dimensional (2D) two-particle angular correlations measured with the STAR detector on relative pseudorapidity eta and azimuth phi for charged particles from Au-Au collisions at root s(NN) = 62 and 200 GeV with transverse momentum p(t) >= 0.15 GeV/c, vertical bar eta vertical bar <= 1, and 2 pi in azimuth. Observed correlations include a same-side (relative azimuth <pi/2) 2D peak, a closely related away-side azimuth dipole, and an azimuth quadrupole conventionally associated with elliptic flow. The same-side 2D peak and away-side dipole are explained by semihard parton scattering and fragmentation (minijets) in proton-proton and peripheral nucleus-nucleus collisions. Those structures follow N-N binary-collision scaling in Au-Au collisions until midcentrality, where a transition to a qualitatively different centrality trend occurs within one 10% centrality bin. Above the transition point the number of same-side and away-side correlated pairs increases rapidly relative to binary-collision scaling, the eta width of the same-side 2D peak also increases rapidly (eta elongation), and the phi width actually decreases significantly. Those centrality trends are in marked contrast with conventional expectations for jet quenching in a dense medium. The observed centrality trends are compared to perturbative QCD predictions computed in HIJING, which serve as a theoretical baseline, and to the expected trends for semihard parton scattering and fragmentation in a thermalized opaque medium predicted by theoretical calculations and phenomenological models. We are unable to reconcile a semihard parton scattering and fragmentation origin for the observed correlation structure and centrality trends with heavy-ion collision scenarios that invoke rapid parton thermalization. If the collision system turns out to be effectively opaque to few-GeV partons the present observations would be inconsistent with the minijet picture discussed here. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.86.064902


Few books have had as great an impact on intellectual history as Kant's The Moral Law. In its short compass one of the greatest minds in the history of philosophy attempts to identify the fundamental principle 'morality' that governs human action. Supported by a clear introduction and detailed summary of the argument, this is not only an essential text for students but also the perfect introduction for any reader who wishes to encounter at first hand the mind of one of the finest and most influential thinkers of all time.


Supported by the wide diffusion of mobile technologies, internet- based media risk to become a popular alternative to traditional print media. The ubiquitous connection to the internet enables to reach a multitude of virtual con- tents such as videos, images, 3d representations and hypertexts. Moreover in- ternet-based media enable the direct interaction between user and publisher: the user can provide feedback, express preferences and receive related recommen- dations. Motivated by the necessity to modify the traditional paradigm of print media to face the competition of internet-based media, we show a perspective oriented to integrate paper medium and internet-based contents. This approach finds expression in the core results of our research: the ontology model of a general mixed reality (MR) environment for hybrid media, which is adopted to describe our system, and the integration of a recommender system into a MR environment, which is possible through the development of an automated app creation process.


As 100-Gb/s coherent systems based on polarization- division multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying (PDM-QPSK), with aggregate wavelength-division multiplexed (WDM) capacities close to 10 Tb/s, are getting widely deployed, the use of high-spectral-efficiency quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) to increase both per-channel interface rates and aggregate WDM capacities is the next evolutionary step. In this paper we review high-spectral-efficiency optical modulation formats for use in digital coherent systems. We look at fundamental as well as at technological scaling trends and highlight important trade-offs pertaining to the design and performance of coherent higher-order QAM transponders.


The story of ipecacuanha, derived from the plant Cephaelis, is a fascinating one. It was discovered in Brazil in the 1600s and then transported to Paris in the latter part of the same century. It was used there by the physician Helvetius on various members of the French royal court to treat the flux (dysentery) with some success. Later, in the eighteenth century, it was taken up by the physician and privateer Thomas Dover and became, with opium, a fundamental constituent of his celebrated powder, which was used widely to treat fevers and agues for the next 200 years. Progress was then delayed until the early 1800s when the School of Chemistry at Paris established that the dried root of ipecac contained two powerful alkaloids, emetine and cephaeline, that consistently caused vomiting and diarrhoea. The discovery of the pathogenic amoeba, Entamoeba histolytica, in the latter part of the nineteenth century, allowed a distinction to be made between the two main forms of dysentery (amoebic and bacillary). Emetine was shown to be active against the amoebic form of dysentery but ineffective against that caused by bacteria. Ipecacuanha, its root and the pure alkaloid emetine have now been abandoned on the grounds of toxicity. They have been replaced by safer, more effective compounds. Nevertheless, they deserve an honoured place in the history of medicine, especially in the search for an effective treatment for amoebic dysentery.


This publication summarizes the proceedings and key outcomes of the first day ("Day 1") of the 3-day workshop on "Dissolution and Translational Modeling Strategies Enabling Patient-Centric Product Development." The overall aims of the workshop were to foster a productive dialog between industry and regulatory agencies and to discuss current strategies toward the development and implementation of clinically relevant dissolution specifications as an integral part of enhanced drug product understanding and effective drug product life-cycle management. The Day 1 podium presentations covered existing challenges and concerns for implementing highly valuable, yet often unique and novel experimental dissolution setups as quality control tools. In addition, several podium presentations highlighted opportunities to replace conventional dissolution testing with surrogate test methods to enable robust drug product and process understanding within the context of quality by design (QbD), new manufacturing technologies, and real-time release testing (RTRT). The topics covered on Day 1 laid the foundation for subsequent discussions which focused on the challenges related to establishing an in vitro–in vivo link and approaches for establishing clinically relevant drug product specifications which are becoming an expectation in regulatory submissions. Clarification of dissolution-related terminology used inconsistently among the scientific community, and the purpose of various testing approaches were key discussion topics of the Day 1 breakout sessions. The outcome of these discussions along with creative ways to overcome challenges related to bridging "exploratory dissolution approaches" with methods suitable for end-product control testing are captured within this report.


Transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are an essential component in modern optoelectronic devices, such as solar panels and touch screens. Their ability to combine transparency and conductivity, two properties that are normally mutually exclusive, have made them the subject of intense research over the last 50 years. SnO2, doped with F or Sb, is a widely used and relatively inexpensive transparent conducting material, however, its electronic structure leaves scope for improving its properties for use in many TCO applications, especially in solar cell devices. Here we show using density functional theory that incorporation of Pb into SnO2 reduces the band gap through lowering of the conduction band minimum, thereby increasing the electron affinity. The electron effective mass at the conduction band minimum decreases alongside the band gap, indicating improved charge carrier mobilities. Furthermore, the calculated optical absorption properties show the alloys retain their transparency in the visible spectrum. Our results suggest that alloying of PbO2 with SnO2 will enable improved electronic properties, including a highly tuneable workfunction, which will open up the material for other applications, such as hole injection layers in organic photovoltaics.


Recently, researchers have investigated the different structural forms of young children's nonsocial play behaviors. The primary goal of this research was to develop and validate the Preschool Play Behavior Scale (PPBS), a teacher rating scale designed to assess the multiple forms of young children's solitary behaviors. In this regard, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, 39 preschool children were observed, and their social and nonsocial behaviors recorded over a three month period. Teachers then completed the PPBS. Results supported the construct validity of the PPBS; teacher-rated and observed nonsocial and social behaviors were significantly associated in predicted ways. In Study 2, parental (e.g., demographic, child temperament) and teacher (e.g., PPBS, child behavior problems) ratings were collected for 337 preschoolers. Results established the psychometric properties of the PPBS (e.g., inter-rater reliability, factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity).