LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS George William Mugwanya. Human Rights in Africa: Enhancing Human Rights through the African Regional Human Rights System. New York: Transnational Publishers, 2003. xxvi + 504 pp. Appendix. Bibliography. Index. $135.00. Cloth. Since its adoption in June 1981, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, the normative framework of the African human rights system, has generated considerable interest, much of it tinged with pessimism. Certain unique aspects of the charter-including its invocation of African philosophy, its equal emphasis on civil and political rights and economic, social, and cultural rights, and its provisions on duties, as well as what are often perceived as its weak mandates and institutions-have engendered ample doubts about its credibility, efficacy, and relevance to the human rights problems of the continent. Most early commentators, including some otherwise well-meaning scholars, dismissed it as little more than a sham. Subsequent scrutiny of its normative framework, together with the activities and development of its institutional regime, have produced a steady stream of literature. The present book adds to and further enriches the pool of impressive scholarship generated by this most innovative of regional human rights regimes. In this book, apparently a revised doctoral thesis, Mugwanya undertakes an ambitious examination of the African human rights system and its role in furthering the realization of universal human rights norms in Africa. The book underscores the primacy of an indigenous human rights system, but argues that inherent normative and institutional limitations as well as the all-too-familiar political paralysis of the United Nations have often undercut the ability of the system to adequately address the numerous, widespread human rights challenges facing Africa. This, Mungwanya maintains, leaves Africa to confront its myriad problems on its own. He then provides an admirable and extensive analysis of the African human rights system, including its impact and limitations. Lest the book be accused of being rich in generalities and short on specificities, it draws on case studies from Uganda and South Africa to highlight the impact of both global and African regional systems. Mungwanya champions a more evenhanded African system, one that responds to all human rights violations without deference to a state's political system, whether dictatorship, so-called democracy, or liberal regime. Extensive in breadth and scope, the book covers a range of important issues. It includes a survey of European, inter-American, and inchoate Middle Eastern systems to demonstrate the importance and comparative advantage of regional over global systems; a discussion of existing human rights problems in Africa that underlines the "necessity of inter-governmental human rights systems in general and the African regional system in particular" (53); an examination of the role, contributions, and limitations of human rights regimes within the U.N., citing all the relevant U.N. Charter organs with direct and indirect responsibility for human rights; an assessment of the human rights role of the OAU (Organization of African Unity) prior to the adoption of the African Charter; an analysis of the African Charter and the protocol establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights; and finally a detailed, if rather general, examination of the work of the monitoring body of the African Charter, the African Commission, and the prospects of the African Court for improving human rights protection in Africa. …


Chromosomal abnormalities or aberrations were investigated in ten bovines, three canines and three equines presenting cutaneous papillomatosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate possible chromosomal abnormalities as a biomarker of genomic instability induced by the interaction of the viral genome with the chromatin of the host cell in peripheral blood lymphocytes and skin warts lesion cultures. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples and epithelial biopsies. Amplification products from PCR using degenerated primer pair FAP59/FAP64 were sequenced. Peripheral blood lymphocytes and tumor cell cultures were performed. Structural chromosomal aberrations were verified as associations, chromosomal fragments, centric fusions, open chromatids, gaps, rearrangements and rings. Several levels of premature chromosome condensation were observed in both cultures. Numeric abnormalities as aneuploidy were also detected and hipoployd cells were found in a larger number than the hiperployd cells. This cytogenetic study in detecting premature chromosome condensation in the three species investigated describes by the first time the structural and numerical abnormalities in canines and equines presenting papillomatosis lesions. These abnormalities are similar of the three groups of animals, but virus specific. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 4(1): 104-112


This critical introduction to British musical theatre since 1950 is the first book to discuss its post-war developments from the perspective of British – as opposed to American – popular culture. The genre is situated within the historical context of post-war British society in order to explore the range of forms through which significant sociocultural moments are represented.

Introductory chapters analyse the way British musicals have responded to social change, the forms of popular theatre and music from which they have developed and their originality in elaborating new narrative strategies since the seventies. A key feature of the book is its close readings of twelve key works, from Salad Days (1954) and Oliver! (1960) to global smash hits such as Les Miserables (1985) and The Phantom of the Opera (1986) and beyond, including the latest critical and box-office success Matilda (2011). Also analysed are British favourites (Blood Brothers, 1983), cult shows (The Rocky Horror Show, 1975) and musicals with a pre-existing fan-base, such as Mamma Mia! (1999).


Aims An early postoperative endoscopic recurrence of Crohn´s disease after ileocaecal resection remains unclear concerning its pathogenesis and risk factors. In our study, we evaluated the influence of histological inflammation at the resection margins on endoscopic recurrence. Methods Patients with CD who underwent ileocaecal resection have been prospectively followed up in our study. The specimens were histologically analysed for inflammation at both of the resection margins (ileal and colonic). We evaluated whether histological results of the resection margins are correlated with endoscopic recurrence of CD based on colonoscopy 6 months after ileocaecal resection. Results We have included 107 patients in our study. Six months after ileocaecal resection, 23 patients (21.5 %) had an endoscopic recurrence of CD. The histological signs of CD at the resection margins were associated with a higher endoscopic recurrence (56.5 % versus 4.8 %, p < 0.001). Conclusions Microscopic inflammation at the resection margins was significantly associated with a higher risk of early postoperative endoscopic recurrence after an ileocaecal resection for CD.


The Quasiparticle Trapping Transistor (QuaTraTran, QTT) was proposed by Booth et al. as a new, multi-purpose superconducting electronic device for the amplification of low-level electrical signals at low temperatures. In this paper we consider its application as a cold 'pre-preamplifier' for signals coming from a superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) used as a soft X-ray detector. The mplification of signals in an STJ itself relies on multiple tunneling of quasiparticles, which has a large associated noise when compared to the Fano noise. In the soft X-ray domain (i.e for photon energies < 1 keV), tunnel noise is the limiting factor for the energy resolution. The amplification in a QTT, on the other hand, depends on the down-conversion of quasiparticles at the superconducting gap of a superconducting metal to the Fermi level when they enter a normal metal. The charge created in the absorber layer tunnels through an asymmetric SIS' junction with a high tunnel probability in one direction only. This SIS' junction is in direct contact with a NIS junction, together forming the QTT. We investigate the prospects of applying QTT read-out to a strip detector, and its possible advantages over a design based on STJs. The goal is to improve on the energy resolution of STJs, while retaining the advantages of the STJ approach, such as its application in imaging detectors and single photon detection. Estimates are made of influences on the noise of the SIS part of the QTT, the down-conversion process, thermal quasiparticles and recombination and thermal phonons.


Mode-locked fiber and solid state lasers have played an essential role in several scientific and technological developments. The integration of mode-locked lasers on chips could enable their use in a wide range of applications. The advancement of semiconductor mode-locked laser diodes has been going on for several decades, but has recently seen the development of novel devices based on generic InP and III-V-on-silicon photonic integration platforms. These photonic integration platforms enable the use of standardized components and low-loss waveguides within the laser cavity, allowing for the design of advanced extended cavities. In this manuscript we give a review of these novel devices and compare their performance.


Communication managers in public sector organizations operate in increasingly complex environments. An influential political realm, diverse stakeholder environments, and media scrutiny combined with macro-level developments in the public sector put high demands on their media and stakeholder relations. Media are both important stakekeepers and sources of information for other stakeholders. Therefore, we assume that individual-level perceptions of the media in relation to the organization are important factors in understanding stakeholder relations, but these perceptions have not been systematically analyzed and theorized. The present qualitative interview study focused on communication managers of Dutch independent administrative bodies. We developed a new conceptualization of media orientation and empirically explored how its dimensions are reflected in the managers' understandings of stakeholder relations. We found that communication managers try to cope with sector-specific challenges by implementing integrated communication strategies and exploring their communicative autonomy. Level of management support and incidents are key determining factors.


Objective 1) To characterize normal, horizontal active dynamic visual acuity (DVA) and passive canal plane head thrust DVA (htDVA) across ages to establish appropriate control data and 2) to determine whether horizontal active DVA and passive canal plane htDVA are significantly different in individuals with superior canal dehiscence syndrome (SCDS) before and after surgical repair in the acute (within 10 d) and nonacute stage (>6 wk). Study Design Prospective study. Setting Tertiary referral center Patients Patients diagnosed with SCDS (n = 32) and healthy control subjects (n = 51). Interventions Surgical canal plugging on a subset of patients. Main Outcome Measures Static visual acuity (SVA), active horizontal DVA, and canal plane htDVA. Results Visual acuity (SVA, active DVA, and htDVA) declines with age. In SCDS, SVA and active DVA are not significantly affected in individuals after surgical canal plugging; however, htDVA in the plane of the affected canal is significantly worse after canal plugging. Conclusion Age-based normative data are necessary for DVA testing. In SCDS, htDVA in the plane of the affected canal is normal before surgery but permanently reduced afterward.


Lesion studies indicate that the auditory cortex is required for accurate sound localization in many species. However, we still have a poor understanding of how auditory spatial information is encoded in the cortex and of the relative contribution of different cortical areas to spatial hearing. Electrophysiological recordings from neurons in the primary auditory cortex (Al) have shown that their spatial selectivity is shaped by a combination of binaural interactions and spectral cues provided by the external ears. Neurons with similar binaural and spatial response properties appear to be arranged in clusters, although there is no conclusive evidence for any topographic order in spatial selectivity within the cortex. Recent studies using virtual acoustic space stimuli, which simulate over headphones all the localization cues associated with real sound sources, have shed light on the way in which those cues are processed by A neurons and on the factors that influence the development of their spatial response properties.


The heat pump water heater (HPWH) is one of the most energy efficient technologies for heating water for household use. The present work proposes a simplified model of coefficient of performance and examines its predictive capability. The model is based on polynomial functions where the variables are temperatures and the coefficients are derived from the Australian standard test data, using regression technics. The model enables to estimate the COP of the same HPWH under other test standards (i.e. US, Japanese, European and Korean standards). The resulting estimations over a heat-up phase and a full test cycle including a draw off pattern are in close agreement with the measured data. Thus the model allows manufacturers to avoid the need to carry out physical tests for some standards and to reduce product cost. The limitations of the methodology proposed are also discussed.


We live in a time of increasing publication rates and specialization of scientific disciplines. More and more, the research community is facing the challenge of assuring the quality of research and maintaining trust in the scientific enterprise. Replication studies are necessary to detect erroneous research. Thus, the replicability of research is considered a hallmark of good scientific practice and it has lately become a key concern for research communities and science policy makers alike. In this case study we analyze perceptions and practices regarding replication studies in the social and behavioral sciences. Our analyses are based on a survey of almost 300 researchers that use data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a multidisciplinary longitudinal multi-cohort study. We find that more than two thirds of respondents disagree with the statement that replications are not worthwhile, because major mistakes will be found at some point anyway. Nevertheless, most respondents are not willing to spend their time to conduct replication studies. This situation can be characterized as a "tragedy of the commons": everybody knows that replications are useful, but almost everybody counts on others to conduct them. Our most important finding concerning practical consequences is that among the few replications that are reported, a large majority is conducted in the context of teaching. In our view, this is a promising detail: in order to foster replicability, one avenue may be to make replication studies a mandatory part of curricula as well as of doctoral theses. Furthermore, we argue that replication studies need to be more attractive for researchers. For example, successful replications could be listed in the publication lists of replicated authors. Vice versa, data sharing needs to receive more recognition, for example by considering data production and subsequent data sharing as scientific output.


This
study investigates the biofilm formation, presence and distribution of
virulence genes and the capacity to induce an inflammatory response in strains
of Staphylococcus aureus isolated
from milk samples in Bahia, Brazil. A total of 132 samples of raw milk were
collected from four dairy farms (designated A to D) located in southwestern
Bahia, in the municipality of Vitoria da Conquista, from October/2009 to
September/2010. After processing of the samples, 94 (71.2%) S. aureus isolates were obtained. These
strains were subjected to the antibiogram method MIC (Minimum Inhibitory
Concentration). As for the pathogenicity, tests were performedin vitrobiofilm formation induced by
glucose. Moreover, we performed PCR for their virulence genes: sea (enterotoxin A), seb (B), sec (C), pvl (Panton-Valentine
Leukocidin), clfA (Clumping Factor A)
and spa (protein A) and analysis of
cytokine induction in the inflammatory response of J774 macrophages by
exocellular lipoteichoic acid. No isolates were resistant to oxacillin and
vancomycin. In biofilm production, 5.31% (5/94) isolates did not produce
biofilm, 5.31% (5/94) of the samples were poor
producers, 15.96% (15/94) strains were moderate producers, 18.09% (17/94) were
producers and 55.32% (55/94) of isolates were strong biofilm producers.
One (1.06%) isolate expressed the seb gene, one (1.06%) sec, 18 (19.2%) cflA and 44 (46.8%) had spa. There was no expression of sea and pvl between isolates analyzed. The analysis of cytokine induction
in the inflammatory response did not show statistical difference in the levels
of IL-6, TNF-α and IL-10 induction.
However, there was statistical difference in IL-1 induction between isolates
from different farms. Thus, it appears that the results obtained in this study
show significant effects for the region studied, since it is an important dairy
region, hence the need for further studies, with the intent of attracting
funding that contributes to improving prevention and control in both dairy
farms and dairy industries, since milk contamination poses a serious potential
health risk to consumers.


Mankind has often taken inspiration from the nature to solve problems since nature has sophisticated processes, refined for thousands of years. While manmade systems are unsustainable, natural processes embody sustainability principles; therefore, there are many things to learn from nature in order to solve design problems and create a more sustainable future. This is the promise of a biomimetic design approach. Another design approach is biodesign, and it also involves utilizing natural elements inside the design. The building façade is a problematic research area since it is at the intersection between living spaces and natural environment; thus it faces many problems especially regard ing energy-air-water transition between indoors and outdoors. Application of key sus - tainability concepts in architecture such as energy requirements, form and structure, and sustainability considerations can be enhanced by learning from natural processes. This chapter looks at cutting-edge design principles, materials, and designs in building façades through the lens of biomimetics and biodesign. First, the design principles and then the materials and some cases are explained. The concepts of biomimicry and biodesign are in harmony with the concept of sustainability; however, to reach sustainable façade solu - tions, the sustainability principles should be at the core of the design problem definition.


Algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) methods, which use real number parity values computed in two separate comparable ways to detect computer-induced errors in numerical processing operations, can employ wavelet codes for establishing the necessary redundancy. Wavelet codes, one form of real number convolutional codes, determine the required parity values in a continuous fashion and can be intertwined naturally with normal data processing. Such codes are the transform coefficients associated with an analysis uniform filter bank which employs downsampling, while parity-checking operations are performed by a syndrome synthesis filter bank that includes upsampling. The data processing operations are merged effectively with the parity generating function to provide one set of parity values. Good wavelet codes can be designed starting from standard convolutional codes over finite fields by relating the field elements with the integers in the real number space. ABFT techniques are most efficient when employing a systematic form and methods for developing systematic codes are detailed. Bounds on the ABFT overhead computations are given and ABFT protection methods for processing that contains feedback are outlined. Analyzing syndromes' variances guide the selection of thresholds for syndrome comparisons. Simulations demonstrate the detection and miss probabilities for some high-rate wavelet codes.


Nothing could have afforded Me so much Satisfaction as to have been able to inform you, at the Opening of this Session, that the Troubles, which have so long distracted My Colonies in North America, were at an End; and that My unhappy People, recovered from their Delusion, had delivered themselves from the Oppression of their Leaders, and returned to their Duty. But so daring and desperate is the Spirit of those Leaders, whose Object has always been Dominion and Power, that they have now openly renounced all Allegiance to the Crown, and all political Connection with this Country. They have rejected, with Circumstances of Indignity and Insult, the Means of Conciliation held out to them under the Authority of Our Commission: and have presumed to set up their rebellious Confederacies for Independent States. If their Treason be suffered to take Root, much Mischief must grow from it, to the Safety of My loyal Colonies, to the Commerce of My Kingdoms, and indeed to the present System of all Europe. One great Advantage, however, will be derived from the Object of the Rebels being openly avowed, and clearly understood. We shall have Unanimity at Home, founded in the general Conviction of the Justice and Necessity of Our Measures.


Just as painters of previous centuries found their subjects in the realities of everyday life, Andreas Gursky finds inspiration in his own spontaneous visual experience and in reports of global phenomena in the daily media. The resulting pictures, depicted here in gorgeous full-color spreads, have a formal congruence deriving from a bold and edgy dialogue between photography and painting, empirical observation and artfulness, conceptual rigor and spontaneity, representation and abstraction. Parrish Art Museum director Terrie Sultan provides a perfect introduction to the twenty-plus works that span three decades of the artist's career. Sultan highlights how Gursky's worldview fuses the flux of life and nature with the stillness of metaphysical reflection, while at the same time situating his work within the world of landscape painting more generally.


In this special issue we present three papers selected from the 18th meeting of the EURO Working Group on Transportation (EWGT) which was held in July 2015 in Delft, the Netherlands, organized by Delft University of Technology. The selected contributions reflect the diversity of topics that were addressed in this conference, which is dedicated to mathematical modeling of transportation problems. We are happy to have a small but representative sample in which three different modes of transportation are in focus: the bicycle, the car and the airplane. The editors are very grateful for all the work that authors and referees have put in creating interesting research papers in this broad field of transportation research. This editorial first explains what the EWGT is and how the EWGT conference was organized. The three contributions are then presented and put into the perspective of the Dutch edition of the EWGT conference.


Acquiring disaster information quickly after an earthquake is crucial for disaster and emergency rescue management. This study examines a digital social network – an earthquake disaster information reporting network – for rapid collection of earthquake disaster information. Based on the network, the disaster information rapid collection method is expounded in this paper. The structure and components of the reporting network are introduced. Then the work principles of the reporting network are discussed, in which the rapid collection of disaster information is realised by using Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) messages to report the disaster information and Geographic information system (GIS) to analyse and extract useful disaster information. This study introduces some key technologies for the work principles, including the methods of mass sending and receiving of SMS for disaster management, the reporting network grouping management method, brief disaster information codes, and the GIS modelling of the reporting network. Finally, a city earthquake disaster information quick reporting system is developed and with the support of this system the reporting network obtained good results in a real earthquake and earthquake drills. This method is a semi-real time disaster information collection method which extends current SMS based method and meets the need of small and some moderate earthquakes.


BACKGROUND
Interventional pulmonology (IP) is an emerging subspecialty with a dedicated 12 months of additional training after traditional pulmonary and critical care fellowships with fellowships across the country. A multiple-choice question (MCQ) examination was developed to measure didactic knowledge acquired in IP fellowships.

METHODS
Interventional pulmonologists from 10 academic centers developed a MCQ-based examination on a proposed curriculum for IP fellowships. The 75 multiple-choice question examination was proctored, time limited (120 min), and computer-based. The examination was administered to IP faculty, IP fellows in their last month of fellowship, graduating pulmonary and critical care fellows in their last month of training, and incoming first-year pulmonary and critical care fellows.

RESULTS
The mean score for IP faculty was 87% (range, 83%-94%), 74% for IP fellows (range, 61%-81%, SD 5.09, median 76%), 62% for graduating pulmonary and critical care fellows (range 52% to 73%), and 50% for incoming pulmonary/critical care fellows (range, 35%-65%). There was a graduated increase in mean scores with level of IP training. Scores differed significantly across the four groups (P = .001).

CONCLUSION
A validated MCQ examination can measure IP knowledge. There is a difference in IP knowledge based on IP training exposure.


Introduction. One of the most frequent changes that can occur during pregnancy is ureterohydronephrosis (dilatation of pylon and of the renal calices) which happens in about 90% of pregnancies. If this situation is accompanied by what seems to represent a renal colic, we have to carefully evaluate the situation because our therapeutic decisions can affect both mother and fetus.
Material and method. We analyzed the experience of Urology and Kidney Transplant Clinic in Iași as regards the management of the pregnant woman with symptomatic ureterohydronephrosis through the cases presented and admitted in the course of the year 2015. The group studied was represented by pregnant women admitted to whom we have analyzed the age, ureterohydronephrosis stage, gestational age and its connection with the dilatation degree and the need for a surgical maneuver during admission or in postpartum recovery.
Results. The majority of the patients were between the ages of 20 and 29 years. Gestational age was relatively evenly distributed in the group studied without a linear correlation between the age of the patients and gestational age at presentation, although we observed a slight tendency for the presentation of the cases in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. We have noticed an increase of the ureterohydronephrosis degree correlated with the gestational age. Patients presented with minimal dilation had an average gestational age of 17,71 weeks, those with dilation grade I had gestational age average of 22,41 weeks, dilation grade II: 24,15 weeks and the degree III: 29 weeks. The majority of cases (72.9%) have ureterohydronephrosis on the right kidney. Of the admitted patients 45 had a favorable evolution after conservative treatment (antispastic/antibiotic) and only a number of 25 (35,7%) requiring a surgical procedure due to the unfavorable evolution, this procedure being represented by the insertion of a JJ stent. After birth only a number of 3 cases have required a therapeutic approach adapted to a stone that was persistent.
Conclusions. Although ureterohydronephrosis in pregnant woman presents an increased risk of developing various complications, frequently, under conservatory treatment, progress is favorable. Otherwise the insertion of a JJ stent can be a simple and safe maneuver witch ensures a favorable status, in spite of the symptoms accompanying the wearing of an urinary stent. After delivery the patient must return to urologist for evaluation of the presence or absence of an urethral calculus that will require a subsequent therapeutic approach. The vast majority of patients have no litiasic obstacle, the simple extraction of the JJ stent being the only maneuver they will still have to bear.


Recent trend in the development of mobile devices, wireless communications, sensor technologies, weblogs, and peer-to-peer communications have prompted a new design opportunity for enhancing social interactions. This paper introduces our preliminary experiences in designing a prototype utilizing the aforementioned technologies to share life experience. Users equipped with camera phones coupled with short-range communication technology, such as RFID, can capture life experience and share it as weblogs to other people. However, in reality, this is easier said than done. The success of weblogs relies on the active participation and willingness of people to contribute. To encourage active participations, a ranking system, AgreeRank, is specifically developed to get them motivated.


This paper reports the first set of results from a comprehensive set of experiments to detect realistic insider threat instances in a real corporate database of computer usage activity. It focuses on the application of domain knowledge to provide starting points for further analysis. Domain knowledge is applied (1) to select appropriate features for use by structural anomaly detection algorithms, (2) to identify features indicative of activity known to be associated with insider threat, and (3) to model known or suspected instances of insider threat scenarios. We also introduce a visual language for specifying anomalies across different types of data, entities, baseline populations, and temporal ranges. Preliminary results of our experiments on two months of live data suggest that these methods are promising, with several experiments providing area under the curve scores close to 1.0 and lifts ranging from ×20 to ×30 over random.


This paper tries to reconcile evidence on the effect of schooling on income and on GDP growth from the microeconometric and empirical macro growth literatures. Much microeconometric evidence suggests that education is an important causal determinant of income for individuals within countries as diverse as Sweden and the United States. At a national level, however, recent studies have found that increases in educational attainment are unrelated to economic growth. This finding is shown to be a spurious result of the extremely high rate of measurement error in first-differenced cross-country education data. After accounting for measurement error, the effect of changes in educational attainment on income growth in cross-country data is at least as great as microeconometric estimates of the rate of return to years of schooling. We also investigate another finding of the macro growth literature -- that economic growth depends positively on the initial stock of human capital. We find that the effect of the initial level of education on growth is sensitive to the econometric assumptions that are imposed on the data (e.g., constant-coefficient assumption), as well as to the other covariates included in the model. Perhaps most importantly, we find that the initial level of education does not appear to have a significant effect on economic growth among OECD countries. The conclusion comments on policy implications for Sweden based on the human capital literature.


This working paper undertakes econometric analysis to assess the impacts of climate mitigation policies and the quality of the investment environment on investment and innovation in renewable power in OECD and G20 countries. It also assesses how countries' investment environments interact with climate mitigation policies to influence investment and patent activity in renewable power. The paper gathered and tested data across OECD and G20 countries on more than 70 explanatory variables, which were analysed using two Poisson-family regression models: one to investigate determinants of investment flows in renewable power from 2000 until 2014; and one to investigate determinants of patent counts in renewable-power technologies from 2000 until 2012. Results of the econometric analysis are consistent with the main hypothesis in this paper that beyond setting climate mitigation policies, policy makers need to strengthen the general investment environment and align it with climate mitigation policies in order to mobilise investment and innovation in renewable power across OECD and G20 countries.


We introduce the task of spatially localizing narrated interactions in videos. Key to our approach is the ability to learn to spatially localize interactions with self-supervision on a large corpus of videos with accompanying transcribed narrations. To achieve this goal, we propose a multilayer cross-modal attention network that enables effective optimization of a contrastive loss during training. We introduce a divided strategy that alternates between computing inter- and intra-modal attention across the visual and natural language modalities, which allows effective training via directly contrasting the two modalities' representations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by self-training on the HowTo100M instructional video dataset and evaluating on a newly collected dataset of localized described interactions in the YouCook2 dataset. We show that our approach outperforms alternative baselines, including shallow co-attention and full cross-modal attention. We also apply our approach to grounding phrases in images with weak supervision on Flickr30K and show that stacking multiple attention layers is effective and, when combined with a word-to-region loss, achieves state of the art on recall-at-one and pointing hand accuracies.


People in developed countries consume about 3 to 4 times as much meat and fish, and 5 to 6 times as much milk products per capita as in developing Asia and Africa. Yet, meat, milk, and fish consumption per capita has barely grown in the developed countries as a whole over the past 20 years. Growth in per capita consumption and production has occurred in developing regions such as developing Asia, where income has increased from a low level and urbanization is rapid. By 2020, according to projections by IFPRI's IMPACT model, the share of the developing countries in total world meat consumption will rise from 47 percent currently to 64 percent. The net impact on food access for the poor of the world will depend on their role as producers of meat, milk, and fish, their role as consumers, and their need for protein. The amount of cereals per capita consumed directly by rural people will decline as they diversify their diets into animal proteins, but feed use will increase greatly. Available evidence suggests that on balance poor consumers in developing countries will probably be better off.


In the article potential of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), the situation of public sector services important for business are analyzed. There were distinguished instruments and factors influencing and stimulating activity and entrepreneurship in SMEs. The possibilities of improvement the situation of SMEs activity were foreseen. Fulfilled scientific literature analysis, document analysis, situation and comparative analysis revealed that stimulating instruments for SMEs were not properly used in Lithuania. The price, number of procedures, and time of public sector services for business are not motivating and should be improved. Improvement of political and legal environment, favorable financing possibilities, development of e-public services should be made developing favorable environment for Lithuanian SMEs. Learning and education initiatives by responsible institutions could be rather effective instruments for development of entrepreneurial SMEs, better cooperation between business and education sectors. Entrepreneurial SMEs creation depends a lot from new generation and positive view to business and entrepreneurship in society overall.


In this review, we adopt the definition that 'Data citation is a reference to data for the purpose of credit attribution and facilitation of access to the data' (TGDCSP 2013: CIDCR6). Furthermore, access should be enabled for both humans and machines (DCSG 2014). We use this to discuss how data citation has evolved over the last couple of decades and to highlight issues that need more research and attention. Data citation is not a new concept, but it has changed and evolved considerably since the beginning of the digital age. Basic practice is now established and slowly but increasingly being implemented. Nonetheless, critical issues remain. These issues are primarily because we try to address multiple human and computational concerns with a system originally designed in a non-digital world for more limited use cases. The community is beginning to challenge past assumptions, separate the multiple concerns (credit, access, reference, provenance, impact, etc.), and apply different approaches for different use cases.


OBJECTIVE
To assess clinical and histopathologic changes occurring after long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS).

DESIGN
Prospective, controlled clinical and histologic study of patients with Hurley stage II HS disease.

SETTING
Outpatient dermatology department at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan.

PARTICIPANTS
Nineteen patients with Fitzpatrick skin types II to VI with Hurley stage II HS lesions of the axilla and groin. Interventions Two monthly laser sessions were performed using the long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser. Main Outcome Measure Clinical response was scored using the modified Sartorius scale for HS reflecting Lesion Area and Severity Index (LASI). Histologic changes were examined before treatment and 1 week, 1 month, and 2 months after treatment.

RESULTS
The percentage change in HS severity after 2 sessions of laser treatment was -31.6 over all anatomic sites (P < .005), -24.4 for the axillary site (P = .008), and -36.8 for the inguinal site (P = .001). Histologic changes corresponded to clinical response. Findings from serial biopsy specimens showed increased inflammation at 1 week after treatment and decreased inflammation with resulting fibrosis and scarring at 1 month and 2 months after treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
The long-pulsed 1064-nm Nd:YAG laser is a novel effective treatment option for HS. Our histopathologic data suggest that HS is primarily a follicular disorder. The Nd:YAG laser penetrates for selective photothermolysis of the follicular unit and destruction of organized inflammatory lesions in the superficial to mid dermis. Our study offers insight into the pathogenesis of HS and the mechanism of the Nd:YAG laser in treatment of patients with this chronic, debilitating disease.


The note of interrogation which serves as the precondition for this essay resonates out from around a single question: What might we stand to gain from bringing the hermeneutic apparatus of psycho-analysis to the logic of economics? The passage reproduced above gives us a starting point from which to begin this foray, a clue, that is in essence, Nietzschean. On this reading, the discovery of the unconscious, the principal enabling achievement of psycho-analysis should be thought first and foremost as the sounding out of a false idol; the self-same one that fills the hollow center of Slavoj Zizek�s latest work, The Ticklish Subject. I am speaking of course of the cartesian self, the self-identical cogito, the idol of rationality and reason as the master of its own house. In exorcising this phantasm, in creating a space for an understanding of the way that irrational processes cut right to the heart of human subjectivity, Freud carved out a toehold for radical critique in an otherwise sheer and intransigent epistemological fortress. Following in an unintended way from Nietszche�s invocation to philosophise with a hammer, Freud�s conceptualisation of the unconscious set in train an intellectual concatenation whose reverberations can still be heard today, even by those of us who, unlike the philologist from Basel, do not possess ears behind our ears.

But the metaphor of the hammer should not be misunderstood. Despite the insistence of many of his Anglo-American critics, Nietzsche�s was not a destructive, nor even a nihilistic philosophy. Likewise, Freud�s clinical reassessment of the enlightenment subject was never envisioned as an act of negative critique. Which leads us, after a fashion, to a reading of the discovery of the unconscious as a sublime act of creative destruction on the part of the inventor of psychoanalysis, an act perfectly in line with the less commonly grasped dimension of the Nietzschean critical imperative; to sound out idols with the tuning fork of re-valuation.

Which brings us, in a round about kind of way to economics, or more precisely, to neo-classical economics and the logical and discursive system in which it has found expression. What greater false idol presents itself to our 21st century eyes than this monstrous reifying system that, disguised as the technical recipe for guaranteeing a new capitalist prosperity for all, was smuggled into the institutional corridors of the civil society with the invidious political agendas of Thatcherism, Reaganomics and in this country, Economic Rationalism. This Hayekian blueprint for world apprehension which has served, variously, as the grounds for the neo-classical and econometric hijacking of political economy and the source of philosophical legitimacy for the previously mentioned political movements acts at the present moment in coalition with even more powerful juggernauts hell bent on implementing the latest and most devastating stages of globalisation. In combination with compromised and acquiescent governmental institutions at every legislative level, these megaliths continue to entangle greater and greater regions of our planet in the sticky web of capitalist economism. When coupled with the explosive growth in reach and influence of the world�s financial power elite, the spread of the technocratic Weltanschauung held in common by these various parties seems to bring us closer and closer to the brink of the abyss beyond which lies the dire state of affairs described by Horkheimer and Adorno in the opening paragraph of The Dialectic of Enlightenment: the fully enlightened earth which radiates disaster triumphant.


Purpose: Several studies have examined intralimb coordination between the shoulder and elbow joints during target-oriented movements. These studies have observed consistent patterns in coordination despite changes in movement variables such as speed, direction, and inertia. Researchers used intersegmental dynamics to quantitatively analyze these patterns between shoulder and elbow joints while systematically changing values of these movement variables. Some studies have examined central nervous system adaptations to inertial changes at the elbow and entire arm during a movement, but none have examined inertial changes to the upper limb. Methods: Five male and five female participants aged 27 to 39 years (mean age = 33 ± 4.3 standard deviation) performed a maximal speed, point-to-point, reversal hand movement in the sagittal plane with and without a 2.2 kg. weight attached to their dominant, right upper arm. To determine the effects of the added mass, dependent t-tests were performed on elbow and shoulder peak muscular torques generated during the reversal region of the movement. Results: A significant increase in shoulder joint torque (p < 0.05), a significant increase in movement time (p < 0.05) and a non-significant decrease in elbow muscular torque (p = 0.1074) was shown to achieve the movement objective with the added weight. Conclusions: While future studies may result in more conclusive findings, this study showed a pattern of increased shoulder torque and decreased elbow torque due to the added inertia. Larger shoulder torque was needed to overcome the added inertia and v move at high speed. As a result of the higher shoulder force, interaction torque at the elbow increased, and a reduction in elbow torque was needed to control the hand path and accurately hit the targets. This pattern supports Bernstein's proposal that passively arising phenomena (i.e., interaction torque) is exploited during multi-segment movement. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


With the increasing penetration of wind power on power systems, the wind farms models are required to be developed for representing the steady behaviour of wind farms on power systems. The impact of large-scale wind power on power system small signal stability is investigated in this paper. The wind generator model is established, which its shaft is taken into account, and then the power flow calculation of power system with wind farm integration is proposed. The analysis of oscillation modes, damp ratios and participation factors are performed by the solution of the eigenvalues when operation parameters, such as the wind power capability and the distance to integration, change. A two-area system is employed to analyse for drawing some important conclusions. Based on these analyses, generalized regression neural network (GRNN) is applied to carry out small signal stability forecast. The feasibility and validity of the GRNN forecast method is compared with traditional eigenvalue analysis.


Heat curable polysiloxane inorganic - organic hybrid materials, prepared from the hydrolysis and condensation of chloro - or alkoxysilanes, have been investigated as possible electric device encapsulants. Preparation - structure - property relationships have been determined for a simple difunctional system prepared by the direct hydrolysis of chlorosilanes. The system cyclisation was found to be highly dependent upon the system concentration, and most sensitive at low dilution. Due to the dilution associated with the addition of an aqueous base, even a solventless preparation was found to result in a large cyclic content, a result independent of the organic nature of the precursor employed.

The copolymerisation of inorganic monofunctional end - blocking units with difunctional species was found to be beneficial in reducing the level of cyclisation within the system. However, high levels of end blocker with unreactive organic functionalities are to be avoided as the resulting high levels of oligomeric species are deleterious to the material's thermal and dielectric properties. The introduction of thermally reactive organics at much higher levels are possible without property degradation although high levels of reactive groups such as vinyl (-CHCH2) or allyl (CH2CH=CH2) are deleterious to the hermetic properties of the material.

Introduction of tri - and tetrafunctional inorganic units into the difunctional systems, to prepare inorganically cross - linked materials, was easily achievable by the cohydrolysis of the precursors. The inorganic cross - linking afforded control over the system viscosity which was found to be particularly sensitive to the distribution of the di - and trifunctional species throughout the network, which in turn was a function of both the preparation pH and temperature. Useable materials were obtained for T group levels of less than 20%. Levels up to 50% were possible for more homogeneous T group distributions.

Interpenetrating networks employing short and long chain components were successfully prepared. Their mechanical properties were assessed and correlated to their composition and structure. The role of the inorganic cross - links was found to be a larger determinant of the mechanical properties than the inorganic network. Extreme values of Young's moduli of 288kPa and 16.6 MPa were obtained for low and high vinyl containing materials respectively. Their dielectric properties were comparable to conventional encapsulation materials, with E' and tanS being in the range 3.36±O.06 to 3.9±O.1 and O.OOl±O.OO5 to 0.0370±O.OOO2 respectively. A number of IPN materials exposed to environmental testing (85°C I 85% RH), all afforded protection over the entire l000hrs test period, with no failure resulting from sample limitations.


An optical-vortex filament is characterized by a dark core of vanishing size and fluidlike propagation dynamics in the near-field region. This type of phase singularity does not naturally occur as an eigenmode of a cylindrically symmetric system, but it can be easily formed by computer-generated holography. The size of the core is an important attribute affecting vortex–vortex interactions within a laser beam. Here we demonstrate a means to minimize the core size, and we experimentally show that a beam-to-core size ratio exceeding 175 may be readily achieved.


The delivered performance on modern processors that employ deep memory hierarchies is closely related to the performance of the memory subsystem. Compiler optimizations aimed at improving cache locality are critical in realizing the performance potential of powerful processors. For scientific applications, several loop transformations have been shown to be useful in improving both temporal and spatial locality. Recently, there has been some work in the area of data layout optimizations, i.e., changing the memory layouts of multidimensional arrays from the language-defined default such as column-major storage in Fortran. The effect of such memory layout decisions is on the spatial locality characteristics of loop nests. While data layout transformations are not constrained by data dependences, they have no effect on temporal locality. On the other hand, loop transformations are not readily applicable to imperfect loop nests and are constrained by data dependences. More importantly, loop transformations affect the memory access patterns of all the arrays accessed in a loop nest and, as a result, the locality characteristics of some of the arrays may worsen. This paper presents a technique based on integer linear programming (ILP) that attempts to derive the best combination of loop and data layout transformations. Prior attempts to unify loop and data layout transformations for programs consisting of a sequence of loop nests have been based on heuristics not only for transformations for a single loop nest but also for the sequence in which loop nests will be considered. The ILP formulation presented here obviates the need for such heuristics and gives us a bar against which the heuristic algorithms can be compared. More importantly, our approach is able to transform memory layouts dynamically during program execution. This is particularly useful in applications whose disjoint code segments demand different layouts for a given array. In addition, we show how this formulation can be extended to address the false sharing problem in a multiprocessor environment. The key data structure we introduce is the memory layout graph (MLG) that allows us to formulate the problems as path problems. The paper discusses the relationship of this ILP approach based on the memory layout graphs to other work in the area including our previous work. Experimental results on a MIPS R10000-based system demonstrate the benefits of this approach and show that the use of the ILP formulation does not increase the compilation time significantly.


The wiring system is one of the most important and one of the most expensive part of modern passenger vehicles. It ́s production is done manually to nearly 100% since the early years of car manufacturing. Until today it wasn ́t possible to automatize these cost-intensive step of the car production in an effective and cost efficient way. This paper shows how the routing process of the wiring harness as a part of the whole production process can be automatized with easy and cost efficient production methods. Collaborative robots and 3D-printed prototypes of cable grippers were used to treat with the complexity of the job and to finally create a sustainable and cost efficient production system. Further the routing concept has been brought to a prototypical production cell which has been tested in various routing experiments at the institute's laboratory. Finally, a discussion of the results brings up the strengths and weaknesses of the concept and shows possible solutions.


This article is the first installment of a three-part contribution to the Common Knowledge symposium on xenophilia. The series of three examines the ways in which Anglo-American writers, from the mid-nineteenth until the late twentieth century, turned to Russian literature and literary theory to escape the otherwise inevitable influence of French avant-garde literary movements. These writers— Henry James in part 1, Donald Davie in part 2, and the "American Bakhtinian" critics in part 3—found in Russian examples a responsible yet radical and morally oriented alternative to what they considered the extravagant, haughty, and corrupt aestheticism of French literary culture. Thus, these essays concern the interplay of xenophilia with xenophobia. Part 1 treats James's turn, commencing around 1875, to the example of Ivan Turgenev as a way of getting beyond the example of Flaubert and the other "grandsons of Balzac" with whom he was then keeping company in Paris. Turgenev and Flaubert were both Realists, but the Russian writer, in contrast to the French, cared not only for verbal beauty but also for what James called "moral glamour" in the art of fiction.


We give an algorithmic computation for the height of Kauffman's clock lattice obtained from a knot diagram with two adjacent regions starred and without crossing information specified. We show that this lattice is more familiarly the graph of perfect matchings of a bipartite graph obtained from the knot diagram by overlaying the two dual Tait graphs of the knot diagram. Furthermore we prove structural properties of the bipartite graph in general. This setting also makes evident applications to Chebyshev or harmonic knots, whose related bipartite graph is the popular grid graph, and to discrete Morse functions.


Sinceits founding by Jacques Waardenburg in 1971, Religion and Reason has been a leading forum for contributions on theories, theoretical issues and agendas related to the phenomenon and the study of religion. Topics include (among others) category formation, comparison, ethnophilosophy, hermeneutics, methodology, myth, phenomenology, philosophy of science, scientific atheism, structuralism, and theories of religion. From time to time the series publishes volumes that map the state of the art and the history of the discipline.


In order to generate credible 0.1–2 μm spectral energy distributions, the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) project requires many gigabytes of imaging data from a number of instruments to be reprocessed into a standard format. In this paper, we discuss the software infrastructure we use, and create self-consistent ugrizYJHK photometry for all sources within the GAMA sample. Using UKIDSS and SDSS archive data, we outline the pre-processing necessary to standardize all images to a common zero-point, the steps taken to correct for the seeing bias across the data set and the creation of gigapixel-scale mosaics of the three 4 × 12 deg2 GAMA regions in each filter. From these mosaics, we extract source catalogues for the GAMA regions using elliptical Kron and Petrosian matched apertures. We also calculate Sersic magnitudes for all galaxies within the GAMA sample using sigma, a galaxy component modelling wrapper for galfit 3. We compare the resultant photometry directly and also calculate the r-band galaxy luminosity function for all photometric data sets to highlight the uncertainty introduced by the photometric method. We find that (1) changing the object detection threshold has a minor effect on the best-fitting Schechter parameters of the overall population (M*± 0.055 mag, α± 0.014, ϕ*± 0.0005 h3 Mpc−3); (2) there is an offset between data sets that use Kron or Petrosian photometry, regardless of the filter; (3) the decision to use circular or elliptical apertures causes an offset in M* of 0.20 mag; (4) the best-fitting Schechter parameters from total-magnitude photometric systems (such as SDSS modelmag or Sersic magnitudes) have a steeper faint-end slope than photometric systems based upon Kron or Petrosian measurements; and (5) our Universe's total luminosity density, when calculated using Kron or Petrosian r-band photometry, is underestimated by at least 15 per cent.


It is possible to obtain a negative or a positive refraction, as a function of the slab-width of a Photonic Crystal. Using this property we realize a very simple, very efficient and wide angle beam-splitter polarizator, where TM polarization is refracted in positive direction whereas TE component is negatively refracted.


Purpose: The study aims to analyze risk factors for exposure of orbital implants after evisceration by comparison of patients with and without exposure of implants. Methods: This is a case control study in retrospective interventional case series; Group A- implant exposures after evisceration, Group B - Patients on follow up after evisceration with implant, without exposure, with matched duration of follow up. The sample size is calculated for a power of 80. Results: Group A comprised 32 sockets with implant exposure, presenting at median 18 months after surgery; Group B included 61 eviscerated sockets, without implant exposure, with follow up median 36 months. Odds Ratio (OR) was calculated; infected eyes -OR 1.3, P = 0.6; phthisical eye - OR 1.4, P = 0.43; multiple prior surgeries- OR 1.55, P = 0.33. Group A had 59.3% porous implants, Group B 55.7%, - OR 1.3, P = 0.5. Mean implant size in Group A 19.06 mm, Group B 18.78 mm- showed no statistical difference. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed no significant risk factor for exposure. Surgeon factor was not analyzed since there were multiple surgeons. Conclusion: This is the first study with calculated sample size, comparing implant exposure patients to a control group. Porous implant material, presence of infection, phthisical scleral shell, and prior surgery showed higher trend of exposure (Odds ratio >1), but none was conclusive. Larger size of implant was not a risk factor for exposure. Eliminating the role of several factors in implant exposure allows the surgeon to make better surgical choices: such as place an implant of appropriate size, of a material of surgeon's choice, and do primary placement of implant in a patient with evisceration post-corneal ulcer or endophthalmitis. A hypothesis and a recommendation is that meticulous attention be paid to surgical technique.


Modern 3D seismic data and the associated extracted attributes have allowed better description of reservoir heterogeneities and more realistic assessment of hydrocarbons in place. However, the establishment of a complicated nonlinear relationship between seismic attributes and reservoir properties has been a major challenge for working geoscientists. Recently, supervised neural networks have been used for predicting reservoir properties away from the boreholes in interwell regions after establishing the relationship between seismic attributes and well-log data. The effectiveness of these neural network techniques in 3D seismic interpretation is demonstrated in this paper through a real data example from India's Cambay Basin.


We have previously found that cigarette smoke disrupts metabolic function, in part, by increasing muscle ceramide accrual. To further our understanding of this, we sought to determine the role of the cytokine high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), which is increased with smoke exposure, in smoke-induced muscle metabolic perturbations. To test this theory, we determined HMGB1 from lungs of human smokers, as well as from lung cells from mice exposed to cigarette smoke. We also treated cells and mice directly with HMGB1, in the presence or absence of myriocin, an inhibitor of serine palmitoyltransferase, the rate-limiting enzyme in ceramide biosynthesis. Outcomes included assessments of insulin resistance and muscle mitochondrial function. HMGB1 was significantly increased in both human lungs and rodent alveolar macrophages. Further testing revealed that HMGB1 treatment elicited a widespread increase in ceramide species and reduction in myotube mitochondrial respiration, an increase in reactive oxygen species, and reduced insulin-stimulated Akt phosphorylation. Inhibition of ceramide biosynthesis with myriocin was protective. In mice, by comparing treatments of HMGB1 injections with or without myriocin, we found that HMGB1 injections resulted in increased muscle ceramides, especially C16 and C24, which were necessary for reduced muscle mitochondrial respiration and compromised insulin and glucose tolerance. In conclusion, HMGB1 may be a necessary intermediate in the ceramide-dependent metabolic consequences of cigarette smoke exposure.


Rodents possess an array of facial whiskers on either side of their snout, which they use to collect tactile information about their surroundings. In layer IV of the somatosensory cortex, individual whiskers are represented by dense clusters of cells called barrels. Together, the barrels form the barrel field, a somatotopic representation of the whiskers on the snout. Layer 4 barrels receive direct sensory input from the thalamus, which is then distributed to all other layers of the cortex along the so-called canonical microcircuit, resulting in widespread cortical activation. In the reeler mouse, the loss of function of the reelin protein causes abnormal development of the cortex leading to the loss of cortical lamination. In this chaotic cortex, neurons that ought to be grouped together in layers are found in ectopic positions, scattered across the cortical depth. Although solid evidence exists that barrel equivalent structures may form in reeler, the functional organization and connectivity of its somatosensory cortex remains obscure. Here, using in vivo intrinsic signal optical imaging, we demonstrate that sensory input reaches and activates the barrel cortex of the mutant mouse normally, and that somatotopy persists in spite of laminar disorganization. Furthermore, using in vitro whole cell recordings and optogenetics, we demonstrate that thalamic input to layer IV equivalent neurons is direct in reeler. Direct thalamic input is weakened, however, while network activity increases with respect to the normal cortex. These results reveal an unexpected paradox in the reeler brain, one that opposes a weakened thalamic input to a normal activation of cortical networks. We propose a model of cortical network changes that solves this paradox, whereby a weakened thalamic input can be rescued by an increase in the gain of its intracortical amplification and an adaptive shift in the excitation-inhibition balance. These results question the hitherto prevailing view that both connectivity and function are left unchanged in the reeler mouse, and may contribute to a reappraisal of its relevance as a model of adaptive circuit plasticity.


A review of seismic design solutions for connections is presented in this paper, with particular focus on methods that are already "pre‐approved" or "acceptable to code" for use by engineers in steel‐framed structures using hollow sections. This review is intended to illustrate the limited options currently available to structural engineers. The survey mainly covers European and North American design solutions, but the latter are also heavily influenced by Japanese practice. The scope includes both braced frame connections (utilizing hollow sections for the bracing members at least) and unbraced frame connections (utilizing hollow section columns), the latter including both rigid and semi‐rigid beam‐to‐hollow section column connections. Dissipative and non‐dissipative connection types are considered where appropriate. Emphasis is placed on connection configurations and concepts rather than detailed design information, but references to other sources are given for further details. Areas in which there is a paucity of established design guidance are noted, and the review concludes with recommendations for further research and development regarding specific types of connections to hollow sections subjected to seismic loading.


Open-source software is not for hobbyists any more. Instead, it is a business strategy with broad applicability. Businesses can be built around this idea. In this paper, I want the reader to grapple with the specifics of how to build and grow such a business. To this end, I have proposed three fundamental business models - Distributor, Software producer [GPL and non-GPL] and the Third-Party Service Provider. These are sustainable models that can lead to robust revenue streams. The business models provided here can be enhanced by the addition of further revenue streams. For instance, we now know that certification of developers on an Open-Source product can lead to strong revenues. Not all products have the same profit potential. Therefore, not all Open Source Software products have the same profit potential. I have classified Open Source Software products into four categories - Stars, High-profile nichers, Low-profile nichers and Mainstream utilities. Businesses can be built around Stars. High-profile nichers can lead to robust revenue streams if properly marketed. The other two categories may not lead to high profits. Since many Open Source Software products are freely available, managers must scan public repositories to find out which products will be suitable for their business. The future of Open Source Software is bright. Increasingly, we will find that these products will take a central role in the realm of software and will find a larger place in all our lives.


The European waterfrog, Rana esculenta, is a hemiclonal hybrid that must coexist with the parental species Rana lessonae in order to reproduce. It is not clear what allows the two morphologically, genetically, and ecologically similar forms to coexist, but differential success of the hybrid and its sexual host among environments suggests that these frogs may differ in their adaptive abilities, and that ecology plays an important role in determining the relative frequencies of the two related species. The objective of this study was to identify factors that may promote coexistence. We investigated the effect of temperature, food level, and food quality on a variety of life history traits in a laboratory experiment. Our results indicated that tadpoles of the two forms respond differently to temperature. Probability of metamorphosis and survival of R. lessonae were higher at 248C, while the hybrid, R. esculenta, had a better survival rate and a much larger body mass at metamorphosis at 188C. We then tested the results of our laboratory experiment by assessing the distribution of the hybridogen and the parental species in natural populations as a function of temperature, and found that the relative frequency of R. esculenta tadpoles declined with increasing temperature. We use these results to evaluate the applicability of the generalist and frozen niche variation models that had been proposed earlier as explanations for the coexistence of the sexual parental species, R. lessonae, and the hybridogen, R. esculenta.


Protected areas are usually said to contribute to favourable ecological, social and economic development. As many protected areas are located in peripheral regions, sharing the benefits of biodiversity conservation with local residents is a major issue to reduce poverty and contribute to the livelihood of people. By considering demographic change, change of land use and economic structures, regional GDP growth and in particular, the tourism sector in the most prominent Austrian national park (Hohe Tauern), this paper argues that the impacts of protected areas are rather hard to prove. The results of this paper nevertheless show that in the long run, protected areas can contribute to regional sustainable development in terms of improving infrastructure, favourable structural change and benefits for the tourism industry, provided that national park policies are credibly enforced and thus, respect the ecological carrying capacity, and that potential conflicts between nature conservation and economic development are solved.


This case discusses the situation of a novice scholar, Dr Maryam Ali, who has to decide between accepting an attractive job offer in a different city or staying in her current position to work on a community project aimed at empowering poor women in a small town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). The case explains how Maryam, while writing a grant proposal, gets to know the harsh financial realities of the extremely poor women of the local area. While she wins the grant for the project, she is offered an attractive job in another city. Given her family circumstances, particularly her husband's job and the kids' schooling, Maryam should immediately move to the other city. However, Maryam does not want to move without completing the project that gave much hope to the needy women for initiating small-scale earnings. The intrinsic motivation to actually help the poor women eventually superseded her desire for extrinsic rewards to earn professional recognition for executing the community project. Her decision to run the project led to tensions and arguments between the couple. The case examines interesting ways to explore and debate compassionate orientation of a highly career-oriented woman. The case exposes the participants to a variety of issues related to public service motivation including self-sacrifice, compassion, commitment to public interest and work–family life balance.


During the production of a hydrocarbon reservoir, the compaction
of weakly cemented sedimentary materials can result from increases in
effective stress, and lead to surface subsidence. Such a phenomenon
has recently been observed in the oil and gas bearing chalk fields in
the Central North Sea. In order to evaluate the compaction potential
of sedimentary materials during exploitation of a reservoir,
laboratory experiments- were performed on chalks and clays. These
experiments were predominantly K0 (zero lateral strain) tests.

The tests were performed in a high pressure triaxial cell, the
development of which continued throughout the experimental 'programme.
Tests performed on chalks from the Central North Sea, and from two
onshore sites in southern -England showed similar deformational
trends. The analyses of these results concentrated on the variables
of testing and the possible errors resulting from the use of
laboratory data in the modelling of field situations. The analyses of
the tests also include a comparison between the experimental methods
and the interpretation of the results of this study and those of
other workers on the subject of reservoir compaction. A parametric
description of the compaction of chalk is presented as a summary to
these tests.

Two compaction tests on clay samples from the Central North Sea
were also undertaken. The clays were uncemented and show contrasting
behaviour to the chalks. These tests were performed to evaluate the
amount of compaction likely to occur in the overburden of a
hydrocarbon reservoir during production.
The results of the deformational trends obtained from this study. are compared to those obtained by other workers, with particular
reference to the changes in physical parameters during compaction.
This follows a literature survey into hydrocarbon reservoir
compaction.
The K0 tests performed in this study are thought to represent the
condition of sediment burial in a tectonically inactive basin. This
subject is briefly reviewed, and the relevance of the results
presented earlier discussed in terms of the prediction of stresses
existing within differing lithologies.
The analysis of the results have been performed using parameters
commonly used in soil mechanics, this seemed to be appropriate for
the deformations undergone by the materials used in this study.


ABSTRACT Evidence-based policies to monitor and manage migration flows require accurate data. Data collection on international migration flow statistics is based on a range of data sources and measures. Discrepancies in reported migration flow data are apparent when comparing flow statistics from receiving countries on the number of arriving migrants by their country of origin with statistics from sending countries on the number of departing migrants by their country of destination. In recent decades the relative incompleteness and non-comparability in reported migration statistics have motivated a number of initiatives to improve data in European countries. In this paper we illustrate graphically the discrepancies between sending and receiving migration flow statistics provided to Eurostat by European countries. We find a reduction of the discrepancies between receiving and sending migration flow data after the implementation of regulations to improve the availability and comparability of migration data.


The aim of this study was to evaluate two typical recreational forests in Russia and Sweden in terms of their potential for recreation. The study of Russian and Scandinavian literature was carried out as a background for the analyses of the obtained results. With these analyses the possible trends, weaknesses and strengths of the both recreational forests as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the selected method were planned to be studied.
292 forest stands covering 256.3 ha of the national park "Losiny Ostrov" (Russia) and 101 forest stands covering 198.5 ha of the Torup forest (Sweden) were investigated by the study.
The selected method examines recreational forest from its attraction and comfort for visitors and tolerance (stability) to anthropogenic influence. The outcome of the estimation is based on integral assessment of these three categories, which express the recreational potential as Class of Recreational Value (CRV).
The lowest results are registered among indices of stability category. It confirmed the study hypothesis about determinative function of these indices and stability category as a whole in estimation of recreational potential of forests. In about 90% of the stands in the both surveyed areas, restrictions and limits for precise recreation utilization and sustainable development in the future were recommended due to the low stability/high sensitivity of the forests.
The main differences between the results from the two areas were found with regards to the attraction and comfort categories owing to social specific and traditions in forest management of the countries.
The analysis showed that the method mainly corresponds with many statements of other studies in the subject.
Generally the method considered as quite objective and reliable one. Nevertheless the study found it recommendable to rewrite or modify some weak points of the method but only with respect to tradition and specific of country or forest type. For the both case areas accurate forest management has to be well balanced between recreation and other forest uses.
One of the main decisions should be increase the amount of, and qualities related to mature stands. This definitely could increase first of all aesthetic values of the areas.


This paper analyses the link between technological product and processes innovations and expectations about future employment for different types of labour in manufacturing. The empirical model allows for endogeneity of the firm's innovation decision in the labour demand equations. The system of probit equations is estimated using simulated ML based on 800 West German firms. The empirical evidence for different measures of technological innovations indicates that introduction of new market products is more important than any other measure of product innovation in determining the expected employment probabilities for homogeneous labour. Furthermore, as expected, technological innovations have the strongest impact on university graduates. Joint implementation of new products and new processes have a stronger impact on the employment expectations of university graduates than product innovations alone. Labour quality and turnover growth are also important factors of employment growth. Finally, tests of the exogeneity assumption of new market products in the labour demand equations can not be rejected.


With Community Question Answering (CQA) evolving into a quite popular method for information seeking and providing, it also becomes a target for spammers to disseminate promotion campaigns. Although there are a number of quality estimation efforts on the CQA platform, most of these works focus on identifying and reducing low-quality answers, which are mostly generated by impatient or inexperienced answerers. However, a large number of promotion answers appear to provide high-quality information to cheat CQA users in future interactions. Therefore, most existing quality estimation works in CQA may fail to detect these specially designed answers or question-answer pairs. In contrast to these works, we focus on the promotion channels of spammers, which include (shortened) URLs, telephone numbers and social media accounts. Spammers rely on these channels to connect to users to achieve promotion goals so they are irreplaceable for spamming activities. We propose a propagation algorithm to diffuse promotion intents on an "answerer-channel" bipartite graph and detect possible spamming activities. A supervised learning framework is also proposed to identify whether a QA pair is spam based on propagated promotion intents. Experimental results based on more than 6 million entries from a popular Chinese CQA portal show that our approach outperforms a number of existing quality estimation methods for detecting promotion campaigns on both the answer level and QA pair level.


Abstract: Multimedia learning materials are now available in many academic disciplines.
 With their interactive and dynamic approach they are potentially a means of improving the quality of student learning. They address students' learning needs in a variety of ways and offer students involvement in and control over their learning process, even in classes that are larger than traditional tutorial groups. Effective use of these new materials requires, however, that they be integrated with the rest of the course and that students have appropriate support and guidance in their use.

The teaching process is defined by Laurillard (1993 )
 as forming a link between the world and the learner. Not only do we need good educational materials but we also need to use them in a way that enables students to learn from them. This paper shows how different kinds of courseware features help various individuals achieve their learning goals and how a Workbook can complement software, ensuring students get the maximum benefit from the screens. A combination of materials that offer flexibility in use can meet a variety of different learning needs. It can also incorporate a number of different teaching strategies that are recognised as contributing to the advance of learning.

The examples shown are taken from the WinEcon economics courseware and an accompanying WinEcon Workbook. WinEcon evaluation results are given, together with information on how the courseware is at present being used. Reviewers: Edith Esch (Cambridge U.), Greg Kearsley (George Washington U.), Agnes Kukulska-Hulme (Open U.)
 Interactive elements: The WinEcon interactive sampler presents a substantial amount of interactive material, and the author's audio-visual slideshow introduces some of the key elements of WinEcon's design.
Fully interactive 'sampler' demonstrations of WinEcon ( Student and Lecturer samplers) can be downloaded from the WinEcon website (samplers require Microsoft Windows 3.1/95/98). The author also describes key features of WinEcon in an Audio-visual slideshow . UPDATE: A Web/Java version of WinEcon called Web.Econ is now in development.


Proponents of restorative justice have suggested that its practices have the potential to reduce reoffending by those responsible for a harm. This article examines these claims using the results of two separate studies of the reconviction of offenders dealt with by processes that had restorative characteristics. The first study examines reconviction rates over'a'period'of'six years for a sample of young people who took part in family group conferences. The second study examines outcomes for samples of 100 offenders involved in each of two different community panel pre-trial diversion schemes for adults. One scheme involved offenders and victims meeting together with community panel members to determine outcomes that would repair harm to the victim and contribute to preventing reoffending. The second scheme involved Maori offenders meeting with representatives of their tribe in a setting with spiritual meaning for Maori. Those participating in both the community panel schemes were less likely to reoffend than matched samples of others who had committed similar offenses. There were also economic savings to the criminal justice system when offenders were dealt with by the panels compared to those dealt with by traditional methods. Taken together, these projects indicate that restorative processes and practices can have a positive impact on helping people to avoid reoffending.


Introduction Among the most salient developments in present societies are fundamental and rapid changes of mass media. Public discussions and academic literature are speculating on the societal consequences of these changes. There is a concern that media changes contribute to a deterioration of the political process in general and to a fragmentation of the public sphere and an increase of political cynicism in particular (Schulz, in Splichal, 2001). Research on this area has mixed conclusions on how communication technologies affect the public sphere. More importantly is that political and communication sciences literature on democratization offer little guidance on the hypothesized relationship between electronic communications and public sphere and the level of democracy within a nation. This is of course not surprising; given the novelty of the Internet, e-mail, direct satellite broadcasting and even the widespread availability of fax machines. (Hill & Hughes). On the other hand, we should not read the ongoing broadcast transformation as a linear process leading to a truly independent and critical political role for television in contemporary Arab societies. The emergencies of commercial television and the restructuring of government-operated systems are in no way conducive to political pluralism and diversity in Arab societies dominated by authoritarian political systems (Aysh, 2002). I argue that most of questions about the impact of satellite television on the public sphere in the Arab world have not been answered yet and what has been written on the subject reflects individual understanding of the hypothesized links between developments of satellite television and that of public sphere. It is unlikely to find an empirical research project in the Arab region focusing on the possible impact of communication technologies on public sphere. It is also evident that most of what has been written about the public sphere is mainly based on the writings of Habermas and mostly reflects the Western perspective on the public sphere. Mass media including satellite television have been referred to in writings of Habermas and many other Sociologists, Political Scientists, and Philosophers as mere instruments and not as a legitimate force in defining and shaping the public sphere. This paper adopts the "media constructed public sphere" approach originally developed by Winfied Schulz (2001) in his article" Changes in Mass Media and Public Sphere". The main idea of this approach is that media are regarded as constitutive of a public sphere. This does not ignore the fact that there are some other social arenas in which persons interact face-to-face in order to exchange information and opinions, such as, coffee houses, club meetings, and party conventions. This article discusses how satellite television introduces a new public space for Egyptians to engage in and debate relevant sociopolitical issues. Since the programs of any Arab satellite television channels can be received by Egyptian audience, it is difficult to separate the impact of Egyptian satellite channels from that of non-Egyptian channels. Arabs share the same Arabic language, culture historical background and many other characteristics that made it possible for any Arab audience to easily receive and interact with the programs of all Arab television satellite channels. The article is based on the argument that the revolution that has been taking place in Arab satellite television since the mid-1990s introduced a new public space to the Egyptians with new political programs, with different style in news coverage and different style in talk shows. The Arab satellite television revolution has also positively affected the original government-controlled terrestrial television in Egypt. The new public sphere made it possible for Egyptians to engage in political debate completely different from the kind that was presented on government-controlled television. …


This thesis is about mathematical optimization. Mathematical optimization involves the construction of methods to solve optimization problems, which can arise from real-life problems in applied science, when they are mathematically modeled. Examples come from electrical design, engineering, control theory, telecommunication, environment, finance, and logistics.
This thesis deals especially with semidefinite optimization problems. Semidefinite programming is a large class of convex optimization problems with convex constraints and these constraints take the form of linear matrix inequalities, where the matrix variables lie in a semidefinite cone. The inequalities induce a bound on the eigenvalues of sums of symmetric or hermitian matrices. Eigenvalues will play an important role if we reformulate the semidefinite optimization problem. Optimization has been used for centuries, but since the 1950 s, at the beginning of the computer technology, it has become more famous. Computers have made it possible to apply algorithms to real life applications, which usually involve a large number of variables and or relations between those variables. The size of the problem can be in the order of thousands or even millions of variables. In certain applications the computations must be completed in a fraction of a second, so apart from powerful computers, e±cient algorithms are also needed. In this thesis we will concentrate on the design of an e±cient solution method for solving semidefinite programming problems, applicable or extensible to large-scale convex programming problems. Methods that consume less computation time are needed, for example, subspace methods that already exist for solving linear equations, or eigenvalue problems.
Subspace methods project the data of a specific problem on a much smaller subproblem that can be solved very fast, and return a good approximation for the solution of the real problem. We do this by transforming the semidefinite programming problem to a convex non-smooth optimization problem by writing its constraint as an eigenvalue constraint, and we develop an algorithm that solves the semidefinite optimization problem for this formulation. The algorithm can be adjusted to apply subspace methods for eigenvalue problems. The newly designed algorithm is verified by some testing problems.
As already noted, the developed method uses a subspace procedure, which reduces the size of the matrix variables dramatically. As a consequence for the reduced problems, all computations can be done without restriction on the memory or computation time when setting the subspace size to a small number. The most expensive part of the newly designed algorithm is the computation of a small amount, say s, of eigenvalues every iteration. The value of s is considerably smaller than m, the amount of constraints, and n; the size of the matrix variable in the semidefinite programming problem. By using an appropriate iterative eigensolver for the computation of the eigenvalues we expect a large gain in the computing time and for memory requirements.


Simulation and experimental measurements are presented for 60 GHz transmission systems based on upconversion. We demonstrate that chirp in modulated semiconductor lasers combined with upconversion allows to realize a simple system resistant to chromatic dispersion without the need for customized filter. The comparison between two 60 GHz modulation schemes highlights the possibility to reduce power fading, due to chromatic dispersion, to a value as low as optical fiber attenuation.


Abstract: The stereotype of immigrants as a "criminal threat" has armed anti-immigrant sentiment and policy despite social scientists having consistently demonstrated that immigrants are less likely to engage in crime than are their U.S.-born counterparts. This paper critically examines the link between immigrants and crime, paying special attention to two periods of high immigration to the U.S. During the 19th century through the early 20th century, mostly ethnic white European and Asia immigrants were victims of interethnic and racial violence, culminating in policies that restricted Asians, and prompted mass expulsions of mostly Mexicanos. By the late 20th century and into the 21st century, Latinos and Asians entered en masse. The ensuing anti-immigrant sentiment and policies that sought to disenfranchise these groups, coupled with the rhetoric that evolved from "alien" to "criminal alien," have progressively served to justify the expansion of enforcement-only policies that include workplace and home sweeps, deportation, and increasingly, detention. Arguably, these forms of policing, along with contemporary immigration policies, have given rise to, and fueled, the Immigration Industrial Complex-an industry based on immigrant detainees and supported by Congressional powers. I argue that, like the rise of the Prison Industrial Complex, that along with the "war on drugs" sought to eradicate the potential political threat of post-civil rights era young black males, the Immigration Industrial Complex is a system that is being used to eradicate Latino immigrants from society; to stifle their potential social advancement stemming from the Browning of America, an imminent and perilous demographic, political, and economic threat to the degenerating white hegemonic order. Keywords: browning of America; expulsion; eradication; hegemony; immigration and crime; immigration industrial complex; immigration policy; prison industrial complex INTRODUCTION In this paper, I argue that racialized stereotypes of immigrants as "criminal threats" have strengthened anti-immigrant sentiment and have provided rhetorical support for policies that criminalize immigrants. These stereotypes have endured despite social scientific research demonstrating that immigrants are less likely to engage in crime than are their US-born counterparts. Although the US prides itself as a "nation of immigrants," immigrants have historically been viewed by a sector of the public as "our oldest national problem" (Stockwell 1927), a situation which has recently prompted a rise in hate crimes against Latino immigrants, thereby justifying their disenfranchisement from fully engaging in the U.S. political landscape. Data documenting this rise in hate crimes are found in a variety of sources, most notably the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) annual Hate Crime Statistics, and in information compiled and analyzed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Federal Bureau of Investigation data disclosed that in the mid- to late-1990s, ethnicity-based hate crimes against Latinos ranged from an average of 719 a year in the five years between 2005-2009, compared with an average of 646 a year in the five-year period 2000-2004, and an average of 639 a year in the five-year period 1995-1999. This represents a 12.5% increase in the most recent period compared to the earliest period for which data is available and an 11.3% increase during 2000-2004 (FBI 2010). During these same periods the annual average number of anti-immigration hate groups identified by the SPLC increased from 0 in 1995-1999, to 3.6 in 2000-2004, and 11.4 in 2005-2006, most of these being in the West, Mid-West and Plains states (SPLC 2010). In this paper, I also examine the link between immigrants and crime, while paying keen attention to two periods of high immigration to the U.S. The first period commences in the early 19th century into the early 20th century, and a second contemporary period covers mostly Asian and Latin American immigration concentrated in the latter part of the 20th century to the present. …


To reduce risk, investors seek assets that have high expected return and are unlikely to move in tandem. Correlation measures are generally used to quantify the connections between equities. The 2008 financial crisis, and its aftermath, demonstrated the need for a better way to quantify these connections. We present a machine learning-based method to build a connectedness matrix to address the shortcomings of correlation in capturing events such as large losses. Our method uses an unconstrained optimization to learn this matrix, while ensuring that the resulting matrix is positive semi-definite. We show that this matrix can be used to build portfolios that not only "beat the market," but also outperform optimal (i.e., minimum variance) portfolios.


The monitoring of invasive grasses and vegetation in remote areas is challenging, costly, and on the ground sometimes dangerous. Satellite and manned aircraft surveys can assist but their use may be limited due to the ground sampling resolution or cloud cover. Straightforward and accurate surveillance methods are needed to quantify rates of grass invasion, offer appropriate vegetation tracking reports, and apply optimal control methods. This paper presents a pipeline process to detect and generate a pixel-wise segmentation of invasive grasses, using buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) and spinifex (Triodia sp.) as examples. The process integrates unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) also commonly known as drones, high-resolution red, green, blue colour model (RGB) cameras, and a data processing approach based on machine learning algorithms. The methods are illustrated with data acquired in Cape Range National Park, Western Australia (WA), Australia, orthorectified in Agisoft Photoscan Pro, and processed in Python programming language, scikit-learn, and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) libraries. In total, 342,626 samples were extracted from the obtained data set and labelled into six classes. Segmentation results provided an individual detection rate of 97% for buffel grass and 96% for spinifex, with a global multiclass pixel-wise detection rate of 97%. Obtained results were robust against illumination changes, object rotation, occlusion, background cluttering, and floral density variation.


This Discussion Paper starts at the local level and reimagines primary health care (PHC) and the PHC workforce from the perspective of people living in rural and underserved urban areas of lowand middle-income countries (LMICs). Drawing on research evidence and successful examples, it presents a "start local" health service delivery model, health system design framework, and financing models intended to ensure highquality local comprehensive PHC is available and accessible to all. Core PHC team members (community health workers, registered nurses, specialist family physicians, and administrators) and other health practitioners are generalists in their disciplines, working together in collaborative practice as the frontline providers of care that responds to the health needs of the population they serve. The most successful model of education and training for local comprehensive PHC is socially accountable, immersive community-engaged education woven into a facilitated education and training pathway starting with recruiting local students from rural and underserved communities. Successful attraction, recruitment, and retention of PHC team members results from the systematic approach of the Workforce Stability Framework with the three main tasks of plan, recruit, and retain supported by a long-term strategy and five conditions for success. High-quality local comprehensive PHC is successful in improving local population health when it is part of an integrated health system that connects clusters of autonomous local health service delivery organizations through partnerships with regional referral centers and other specialist service organizations that value the expertise of local PHC providers. All levels of the health system (local, regional, and national) are enhanced by intersectoral collaboration with active participation of all Partnership Pentagram members (policy makers, health administrators, health professionals, academics, and communities), underpinned by a local health needs– focused national health strategy, up-front local investments in PHC infrastructure and personnel, and funding models that reward achieving health outcomes.


Detailed arguments about the importance of recognition were present in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments but received little attention in classical and neoclassical economics. However recognition is re-emerging as an important concept in social and economic research. In this study we consider the importance of recognition and misrecognition for a nuanced understanding of the motivation to undertake paid care work. We use survey and interview data from a mixed-methods study of the employment intentions of Australian women working in aged care to investigate links between recognition, wage rates and intentions to remain working in the sector. Our findings suggest that low wages convey misrecognition and that both wages and misrecognition have adverse implications for the future labour supply of aged care workers. We conclude by considering particular challenges faced by the aged care sector and its workers in redressing low wage rates.