The reorganization of Cataloging Services at the Pennsylvania State University Libraries (PSU) in 1995 altered the responsibilities of library faculty and staff in a way that was not even imagined seven years ago. The hierarchical structure was eliminated and the beginning of an organization based on shared leadership and responsibility was created. In this environment, leadership is truly and fully shared, with all team members, faculty, and staff sharing responsibility for team activities including coordination, monitoring, work prioritization, and training. This article will focus on the roles that faculty librarians serve as members of teams that include paraprofessionals. That segment of team membership and its effect on team dichotomy will be examined in detail. Specifically this will be addressed as it applies to the team structure in Cataloging Services at the PSU Libraries.


This paper describes the development of NZ Transport Agencyrs rural intersection active warning system (RIAWS) and summarises key outcomes from trials at six high risk intersections from around New Zealand. The RIAWS has the aim of reducing fatal and serious crashes at high risk intersections by reducing traffic speed when potential for a collision exists. Side road and right-turn vehicles at the intersection trigger a variable speed limit of 70 km/h on the through road, thus reducing both the likelihood and energy of crashes. At two intersections a lcross overr study design was used to evaluate the relative effectiveness of electronic 70 km/h variable speed limit signs and lSlow downr warning signs. Motorist behaviour and perceptions since the RIAWS have been operational have been positive. Traffic speeds at the intersections when the 70 km/h speed limit sign is activated have reduced significantly although the lSlow downr sign was much less effective. Based on driver feedback from the initial pilot site, most drivers both support and understand the RIAWS. The findings suggest that while motorists do naturally moderate their speed slightly through rural intersections in the presence of potentially conflicting vehicles, the variable speed limit causes a more substantial speed reduction and is likely to significantly reduce casualties at high speed intersections.


Objectives: A range of porous synthetic and natural polymer hydrogels were produced using cryopolymerisation method and their potential as biomaterials for tissue regeneration was assessed. Methods: The cryopolymers of polyvinyl alcohol, poly-HEMA, fibrinogen, collagen and gelatin were synthesized in aqueous solutions at temperatures below 273 K. The ice crystals were used as a pore-forming substance and the procedure led to formation of robust macroporous polymer structures capable of retaining their integrity upon multiple hydration-dehydration cycles. The pore structure of cryopolymers was characterized using cryo-NMR, confocal laser scanning microscopy, m-CT and SEM. Infiltration and proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts were used to study potential of cryopolymers as tissue scaffolds for wound healing. Results: The porous structure of cryopolymers was comprised of fully interconnected (super) macropores in the range of 50-200 mm, suitable for cell migration and proliferation. In vitro results in a human skin model followed by experiments using large animal model showed high healing properties of the cryopolymers, which were better than in control experiments using commercial materials. Depending on the application, cryopolymers can be made biodegradable or stable, which depends on the degree of cross-linking and the nature of the polymer. Conclusions: Cryopolymer-based tissue scaffolds have shown high efficiency in wound healing and potential for internal organ regeneration.


Insight for living life like a champ, based onwhat drives the most dominant athlete ofthe modern era--Tiger Woods How Tiger Does It gives you the secrets to livinglife to the fullest-the Tiger way. Using intimateinterviews with Tiger's contemporaries and examplesfrom his professional and personal life, Brad Kearnsanalyzes the mental drive behind Tiger's success toreveal the heart and mind of a great champion. Withemphasis on the three Tiger Woods' Success Factors,the book shows you how to apply Tiger traits toyour everyday challenges, from building a career toraising a family and much more.


This thesis is a study of the unification of the four main characters under British colonization in Scorpion Orchid. Since my topic is about the characters' unification under the British, I choose to discuss how each of the main characters reacts differently during the British's oppression and why the four main characters, with their diverse ethnic backgrounds, are able to be united regardless their diverse reactions toward the British's oppression. The purpose of the study is to find out the ways the characters respond to the oppression of the British and the reason of the unification of the characters despite of their diverse reactions. I use cultural approach and some concepts from post-colonialism; they are anti-colonialism, mimicry, nation and nationalism, and integration. To support the analysis, I also use the historical background of Malaya and Singapore as the comparison to the events happen in the novel. From the analysis, I find the characters' sharing the same awareness of being oppressed by the British in react differently. Sabran, Santinathan, and Guan Kheng, respond to British colonialism by demonstrating the idea of anti-colonialism. In addition to that, Guan Kheng also shows the idea of integration. Yet, Peter performs his reaction by mimicking the colonizer. Later, I discover that the unification of the characters is based on their growing sense of belonging to one nation. Thus, despite the fact that they have diverse reactions in dealing with the British colonization, they are able to be united into one group of community. As a conclusion, as long as the members of a nation are willing to merge into one community, the unification is achievable.


Abstract. Aquatic biogeochemical processes can strongly interact, especially in polar regions, with processes occurring in adjacent ice and sediment layers, yet there are few modelling tools to simulate these systems in a fully coupled manner. We developed a 1-Dimensional Ice-Pelagic-Benthic transport model (IPBM) for coupled simulation of ice, water column, and upper sediment biogeochemistry. IPBM describes the processes of diffusion and particle sinking in both ice and water, as well sedimentation and bioturbation processes in the sediments. To describe ice, pelagic, and benthic biogeochemical dynamics (reaction terms), IPBM was partly coupled to the European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM) and partly to the Bottom RedOx Model biogeochemistry module (BROM-biogeochemistry) using the Framework for Aquatic Biogeochemical Models (FABM). To test the coupled system, hydrophysical forcing for a site in the Kara Sea area from a Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) simulation was used. The test run showed reasonable results for all main variables. IPBM reproduces the ice algae bloom in July followed by a pelagic phytoplankton bloom in August–September, as well as seasonal variability of nutrients in the water column.


Silver has the highest reflectance of all of the metals, but it tarnishes in the presence of sulfides, chlorides, and oxides in the atmosphere. Also, the silver reflectance is very low at wavelengths below 400 nm making aluminum more desirable mirror coating for the UV region. We have found a way to prevent silver tarnishing by sandwiching the silver layer between two thin layers of NiCrNx , and to extend the metal's high reflectance down to 200 nm by depositing the (thin) Ag layer on top of Al. Thus, the uv is transmitted through the thin Ag layer below 400 nm wavelength, and is reflected from the Al layer underneath. This UV-shifted durable coating1 provides a valuable alternative to the aluminum coating for telescope mirror coatings where collection efficiency is an important consideration.


Extensive literature on backdoor poison attacks has studied attacks and defenses for backdoors using "digital trigger patterns." In contrast, "physical backdoors" use physical objects as triggers, have only recently been identified, and are qualitatively different enough to resist most defenses targeting digital trigger backdoors. Research on physical backdoors is limited by access to large datasets containing real images of physical objects co-located with misclassification targets. Building these datasets is time- and labor-intensive. This work seeks to address the challenge of accessibility for research on physical backdoor attacks. We hypothesize that there may be naturally occurring physically co-located objects already present in popular datasets such as ImageNet. Once identified, a careful relabeling of these data can transform them into training samples for physical backdoor attacks. We propose a method to scalably identify these subsets of potential triggers in existing datasets, along with the specific classes they can poison. We call these naturally occurring trigger-class subsets natural backdoor datasets . Our techniques successfully identify natural backdoors in widely-available datasets, and produce models behaviorally equivalent to those trained on manually curated datasets. We release our code to allow the research community to create their own datasets for research on physical backdoor attacks.


In the play Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, which was "devised by" (1) Athol Fugard, John Kani, and Winston Ntshona, Sizwe Bansi is stranded without a work permit in Port Elizabeth. The only solution to his dilemma is summarized in Kafkaesque terms by his benefactor Buntu: You talk to the white man, you see, and ask him to write a letter saying he's got a job for you. You take that letter from the white man and go back to King William's Town, where you show it to the Native Commissioner there. The Native Commissioner in King William's Town reads that letter from the white man in Port Elizabeth who is ready to give you the job. He then writes a letter back to the Native Commissioner in Port Elizabeth. So you come back here with the two letters. Then the Native Commissioner in Port Elizabeth reads the letter from the Native Commissioner in King William's Town together with the first letter from the white man who is prepared to give you a job, and he says when he reads the letters: Ah yes, this man Sizwe Bansi can get a job. So the Native Commissioner in Port Elizabeth then writes a letter which you take with the letters from the Native Commissioner in King William's Town and the white man in Port Elizabeth, to the Senior Officer at the Labour Bureau, who reads all the letters. Then he will put the right stamp in your book and give you another letter from himself which together with the letters from the white man and the two Native Affairs Commissioners, you take to the Administrative Office here in New Brighton and make an application for a Residence Permit, so that you don't fall victim of raids again. Simple. (25-26) The problem is that Sizwe Bansi knows no white man to start with. In the circumstances, Buntu's evaluation of the situation is straightforward: "There's no way out, Sizwe. You're not the first one who has tried to find it. Take my advice and catch that train back to King William's Town" (26). However profound the personal implications for Sizwe Bansi may be, the problem as formulated by Buntu appears to be a purely social one. Within moments, however, another dimension grows from it. When Buntu suggests, as the only other "way out," a job on the mines, Sizwe refuses point-blank. "You can die there." Whereupon Buntu, prompted "into taking possibly his first real look at Sizwe," remarks, "You don't want to die." And Sizwe affirms, "I don't want to die" (26-27). The statement is echoed in Antigone's acknowledgment in The Island that "I know I must die" (76), and in the resignation to "a susceptibility to death" in Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act (82). This is Unamuno territory: "The man of flesh and bone; the man who is born, suffers, and dies--above all, who dies" (Unamuno 1). The man who dies and who does not want to die. It is also Camus territory, as we know from Fugard's illuminating Notebooks, and from Dickey and many other commentators. It is not irrelevant to note that, according to Walder, one of the Serpent Players' major productions, only months before Sizwe Bansi, had been Camus' Les Justes (AF 81). Much of the impact of this moment in Sizwe Bansi derives from the way in which it represents an interface between the play's two key dimensions: the sociopolitical and the existential. Sizwe Bansi has long been recognized not only as "an indictment of the depravity and inhumanity of apartheid" (Vandenbroucke 123), but also as a "watershed" of a "new theatre" in South Africa (Mshengu 46). Stanley Kauffmann even dismissed the play as "superficial" because it was, he believed, "only about the troubles of South African blacks" (Rev. of Sizwe 26). On the other hand, it is well known that Fugard himself has always aimed at transcending the "merely" sociopolitical. Significantly, in the seven-page introduction that precedes the three Statements plays, he concerns himself with some of the dramaturgical and philosophical problems he confronted in them, without a single reference to their ideological or sociopolitical context. …


The thesis investigates immigrants' labour market performance and migrants' remittance behaviour using survey data from Spain and Australia. Using empirical estimation techniques, it examines the following three aspects: (1) the impact of immigrants' educational mismatch at home on the incidence and wage effects of over-education in the destination country; (2) the extent to which immigrants' social and ethnic capital can correct over-education; and (3) the role of initial motives to migrate, employment conditions and education on immigrants' remittance behaviour. Using individual data from Spain, the empirical results show that immigrants' education-occupation mismatch can largely be explained by an existing education-occupation mismatch in the last job held in the home country. In addition to this, a high persistence in over-education is observed throughout their stay in the destination country, with significant wage penalties, especially for the higher educated group. It is argued that immigrants' performance in the labour market can be improved by their social capital as it provides access to useful resources that could help them in finding a job. However, this does not necessarily mean that social capital can help in finding a better matched job over time. Using a longitudinal household panel survey from Australia, the results suggest that social capital does not contribute in reducing over-education. In particular, social participation and ethnic networks are strong contributors in accentuating over-education. Mixed results are found when distinguishing between levels of education, with the higher educated being better off in the labour market through their contacts. In addition to this, initial motives to migrate, labour market conditions in the host country as well as human capital accumulated may in fact have an impact on immigrants' decision to stay in the host country, which could in turn affect their remittance behaviour. Evidence from Spain shows that labour migrants are more likely to send money back home, while family migrants have a lower propensity to remit. In addition, employment stability throughout the stay in the host country has a strong negative impact on both, the decision and the amount sent. Significant differences are observed between years of arrival, where the higher educated remit more as time spent in the host country increases, while level of income and employment stability appear to be important determinants for recent arrivals than for those who spent more than 10 years abroad.


Recent studies indicate that Arabic digit knowledge rather than non-symbolic number knowledge is a key foundation for arithmetic proficiency at the start of a child's mathematical career. We document the developmental trajectory of 4- to 7-year-olds' proficiency in accessing magnitude information from Arabic digits in five tasks differing in magnitude manipulation requirements. Results showed that children from 5 years onwards accessed magnitude information implicitly and explicitly, but that 5-year-olds failed to access magnitude information explicitly when numerical magnitude was contrasted with physical magnitude. Performance across tasks revealed a clear developmental trajectory: children traverse from first knowing the cardinal values of number words to recognizing Arabic digits to knowing their cardinal values and, concurrently, their ordinal position. Correlational analyses showed a strong within-child consistency, demonstrating that this pattern is not only reflected in group differences but also in individual performance.


Intracranial infection of susceptible mice with Theiler's virus results in persistent infection and spinal cord demyelination similar to human multiple sclerosis. While central nervous system infiltrating lymphocytes (CNS-ILs) in these mice display no virus-specific CTL activity, the cells were found to be activated killers using a specificity-independent assay. We previously demonstrated that the depletion of T cells in persistently infected mice significantly decreases demyelinating disease. Consequently, we have investigated the killing pathways employed by CNS-ILs that are isolated from persistently infected animals, the relative contribution of CD4 and CD8 cells in the generation of these CTLs, and the reactivity of this cell population to two putative autoantigens in the CNS. In vitro or in vivo manipulation of T cell populations using Abs or genetic knockout strategies demonstrate that the cytotoxic activity is primarily mediated by CD8+ T cells, and that perforin is an important molecule in the effector pathway. Since effector functions in infected mice were not inhibited by the depletion of CD4 cells with mAb but was blocked genetically in CD4 knockout mice, CD4+ T cells appear to play a helper role in the generation of CD8+ CTLs. We found no evidence of autoimmune-mediated demyelination, as the CD8+ CTLs were not reactive to two major myelin autoantigens, myelin basic protein and proteolipid protein. Our finding that CNS-ILs that are isolated from mice susceptible to persistent virus infection are neither specific for virus or myelin autoantigens is consistent with the possibility that CD8+ CTLs mediate CNS damage as a result of nonspecific activation by virus.


Cultivated pastures are the dominant land-use unit in Brazil, with the cattle raising sector representing ∼50% of the total Brazilian emissions of greenhouse gases. About 44% of the Brazilian cattle herd is located in the 204 million ha Cerrado, the Brazilian savanna biome and one of the world's hotspots for conservation, where pasture is still the major driving force behind the ongoing land clearance. In the face of the environmental challenges posed by the Cerrado cultivated pastures, 50% of which are estimated to be already severely degraded and where most of the pasture-related fires in Brazil occur, in this study we report the findings on the use of key Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land (MODLAND) products for retrieving biophysical patterns and trends of cultivated pastures over the entire Brazilian savanna biome. The areas of Cerrado covered by cultivated pastures were analysed by the following 2008 MODIS products: MOD13Q1 enhanced vegetation index, MOD11A2 land-surface temperature, MOD15A2 leaf area index, and MCD45A1 fire-affected areas. Specifically, 23 MOD13Q1 composites for the whole year of 2008 were used as a net primary productivity proxy. Our results indicate the ability of moderate resolution orbital imagery to consistently depict the main characteristics and regional variation in the biophysical properties of the Cerrado pastures, which clearly depend on management practices, usage, and environmental conditions. In particular, these results corroborate the feasibility of an operational MODIS-based monitoring system providing early fire warnings and overall quality assessments in support of a more efficient and sustainable herd occupation and more appropriate land-use destination.


This paper presents an experimental evaluation of different features for use in speaker identification. The features are tested using speech data provided by the chains corpus, in a closed-set speaker identification task. The main objective of the paper is to present a novel parametrization of speech that is based on the AM-FM representation of the speech signal and to assess the utility of these features in the context of speaker identification. In order to explore the extent to which different instantaneous frequencies due to the presence of formants and harmonics in the speech signal may predict a speaker's identity, this work evaluates three different decompositions of the speech signal within the same AM-FM framework: a first setup has been used previously for formant tracking, a second setup is designed to enhance familiar resonances below 4000 Hz, and a third setup is designed to approximate the bandwidth scaling of the filters conventionally used in the extraction of Mel-fequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs). From each of the proposed setups, parameters are extracted and used in a closed-set text-independent speaker identification task. The performance of the new featural representation is compared with results obtained adopting MFCC and RASTA-PLP features in the context of a generic Gaussian mixture model (GMM) classification system. In evaluating the novel features, we look selectively at information for speaker identification contained in the frequency range 0-4000 Hz and 4000-8000 Hz, as the instantaneous frequencies revealed by the AM-FM approach suggest the presence of structures not well known from conventional spectrographic analyses. Accuracy results obtained using the new parametrization perform as well as conventional MFCC parameters within the same reference system, when tested and trained on modally voiced speech which is mismatched in both channel and style. When the testing material is whispered speech, the new parameters provide better results than any of the other features tested, although they remain far from ideal in this limiting case.


Achieving emission reductions through REDD+ requires four preconditions for overcoming politico-economic hurdles: i) the relative autonomy of nation states from key interests that drive deforestation and forest degradation; ii) national ownership over REDD+ policy processes; iii) inclusive REDD+ policy processes; and iv) the presence of coalitions that call for transformational change. Formulating and implementing effective national REDD+ strategies is most challenging in those countries where international actors are the sole force driving REDD+ policy processes. New coalitions capable of breaking up institutional and political pathdependencies will need the participation of state elites and the engagement of business actors to affect the political agenda in a significant way.


In the present medical context, the evaluation and the monitoring of factors other than mere physical symptoms are an urgent demand. In particular, the issue of quality of life (QoL) has become a relevant target in the treatment of cancer. However, the approach towards these aspects is not well standardized and the actual applications in a concrete setting are fragmented, left to personal or local initiative. If this is true for QoL in general, it is particularly relevant in the specific field of nutrition. Indeed, though the growing awareness of a correlation between chronic diseases and dietary habits has led to an increased interest in nutrition, both before and after cancer, very little is still known about the methods that measure this important variable of the QoL. Indeed, good nutrition may have a relevant impact on QoL, positively affecting both the physical and psychological well-being. Targeting this issue implies using proper instruments to both monitor and educate the patients. Hence, we argue that it is vital for oncologists to be able to individuate the best tool available in a specified context, so as to achieve an important goal with little effort, also adopting standardized strategies proved to be efficacious. In this framework, we briefly reviewed the tools more frequently reported in the scientific literature. We suggest that through a cognitive approach, it is possible to achieve important clinical targets, initially by understanding the patients' needs, values, and psychosocial factors involved in nutritional behaviour and food-related decisions, in order to develop a personalized approach. Hence, this is the only way to support concrete actions for promoting healthier diets, thus preventing recurrences, monitoring chronic conditions, and supporting a good QoL.


Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, accounting for about 9,000 to 14,000 deaths in Austria annually. Tobacco is a major health hazard not only to its users, but also to exposed non-smokers who experience a higher risk of smoking-related diseases. Yet, tobacco is also an important economic commodity seeking ever increasing markets, and opposi- tion to regulation is very strong. The need to control its use is increasingly apparent from the growing numbers of smokers worldwide, in particular among very young people and women, the growing evidence of the effect of smoking on health of both smokers and non-smokers, and also the growing awareness of the hazards of environmental tobacco smoke. This study examines tobacco policies in Austria, in particular in the context of European Union policies. A review of tobacco industry documents, literature on tobacco control measures in European and overseas countries, EU laws, and activities of the WHO and the EU with regard to tobacco control is followed by a description of smoking patterns in Austria, including new analyses of existing data, and an analysis of the health situation in Austria, with a focus on smoking-related diseases and mortality and a cohort analysis on lung cancer mortality. This leads to a critical analysis of tobacco control measures in Austria. The study concludes with an overall analysis of Austrian tobacco policy, seeking the reasons why so little has been done and the forces and key actors involved, and offers recommendations for further action. The main findings are that party-political ties, economic considerations, and close relationships between the Austrian tobacco industry, the government, and leading "anti-smoking advocates", experts and scientists have hampered the development of effective tobacco control policy in Austria. Compared to many other European and overseas countries, Austria's tobacco policy lacks both political will and the implementation of effective measures to reduce smoking prevalence and to protect non-smokers from the hazards of tobacco smoke.


ABSTRACT The Tillabéri region in Niger has quickly lapsed into a state of violence and come under the control of 'violent entrepreneurs' – that is, non-state armed actors possessing some kind of political agenda, which is implemented in tandem with different types of income-generating activities. Violent entrepreneurs rule by force and violence, but they also distribute resources, provide some level of order and offer protection to (at least parts of) the population in the areas they control, or attempt to control. In many local communities in peripheral areas of the Sahel, these violent entrepreneurs have a stronger presence than international community actors and their national allies. This situation is partly the result of spill-over effects from the war in Mali and local herder-farmer conflicts, but the key factors are the ability of jihadi insurgents to appropriate local grievances and the failure of the state to resist this.


If we are given the spectrophotometric curves of a color and three colorants to be used in matching it, the computation of the concentrations of the three colorants required for a tristimulus match is a complicated nonlinear problem. However, with the help of an approximating assumption, a linear solution may be obtained by a matrix inversion technique. Although this is an approximate solution, it is better the less meta-meric the match. With this rough solution as a starting point, iteration may be used to approach an exact match to any desired degree of accuracy. The inverted matrix used for the iterative computation is identical to that used for the rough solution.


Net CO2 uptake in full sunlight, total leaf area (TLA), projected leaf area of detached leaves (PLA), and the silhouette area of attached leaves in their natural orientation to the sun at midday on June 1 (SLA) were measured for sun shoots of six conifer species. Among species, TLA/SLA ranged between 5.2 and 10.0 (X = 7.3), TLA/PLA ranged between 2.5 and 2.9 (X = 2.7) and PLA/SLA ranged between 2.0 and 3.7 ( X = 2.2). These ratios were reflected in the ratios of net photosynthesis computed on the basis of the three measures of leaf area. The much smaller values for TLA/PLA compared with the values for TLA/SLA indicate that leaf orientation effects, or shading, or both, caused more variation in the interception of solar radiation than did variation in leaf geometry (i.e., cross-section). Silhouette leaf area of lodgepole pine, (Pinus contorta spp. latifolia) and subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa) shoots measured at the summer solstice varied almost 2-fold with diurnal changes in solar altitude and azimuth. Sun shoots of both species and shade shoots of lodgepole pine had the greatest SLA during the early morning and late afternoon. The midday decline in SLA was related to the relatively upright orientation of needles of subalpine fir sun shoots and the relatively upright orientation of both sun and shade shoots of lodgepole pine. Shade shoots of subalpine fir reached a maximum in SLA at midday and this was related to the near horizontal orientation both of the shoots and the needles on them.


All national and international monetary structures have evolved to assist in the creation and management of sovereign fiat currencies. This sovereign currency status quo was suddenly upended with the arrival of the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, in 2008 which introduced a peer-to-peer digital fiat currency without the need of a central banking system, through a trustless, fungible and tamper-resistant distributed accounting system known as blockchain. The response to the threat posed by cryptocurrency has ranged from declaring it illegal, attempting to regulate it, ignoring it, treating it as a commodity and/or like any other financial asset and regulating it as such; or more recently seriously considering state-backed digital currency. Presently the assessment appears to be that of 'co-existence' with central banks providing national/sovereign currency, primarily digital currency, and cryptocurrency vying with gold as a back-up or 'insurance' against the perils of a sovereign fiat currency.


The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene is one of the most investigated of the genes associated with chronic human diseases because of its associations with hyperhomocysteinemia and toxicity. It has been proposed as a prototype gene for the prevention of colorectal cancer (CRC). The major objectives of this meta-analysis were to examine the polymorphism-mutation patterns of MTHFR and their associations with risk for CRC as well as potential contributing factors for mutations and disease risks. This analysis included 33,626 CRC cases and 48,688 controls across 92 studies for MTHFR 677 and 16,367 cases and 24,874 controls across 54 studies for MTHFR 1298, comprising data for various racial and ethnic groups, both genders, and multiple cancer sites. MTHFR 677 homozygous TT genotype was protective (p < .05) for CRC for all included populations; however, with heterogeneity across various racial–ethnic groups and opposing findings, it was a risk genotype for the subgroup of Hispanics (p < .01). Additional countries for which subgroup analyses resulted in 677 TT as a risk genotype included Turkey, Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal, Mexico, Brazil, U.S. Hawai'i, Taiwan, India, and Egypt. Countries with the highest mutation rates and risks for both MTHFR 677 and 1298 genotypes are presented using global maps to visualize the grouping patterns. Meta-predictive analyses revealed that air pollution levels were associated with gene polymorphisms for both genotypes. Future nursing research should be conducted to develop proactive measures to protect populations in cities where air pollution causes more deaths.


Access to Justice addresses a remarkable experiment in the funding of money damage claims - largely personal injury claims - which began in 2000 and which the Government effectively abolished in 2013. The model - recoverable conditional fees - adopted by the incoming New Labour administration was unique and, for reasons that the book explains, it has remained so. This book is based on a review of published material, the author's own view as a 'participant' in the process and anonymised semi structured interviews with other participants, from Government; claimant and defendant lawyers and litigation insurers. It covers the development, subsequent amendment and effective abolition of the model. It examines the process of policy development, the motivation and objectives of the policy makers and the reactions of the parties attempting to grapple with the new system. It asks whether a development process incorporating a range of models addressing the evidence base might have produced a better result: a workable policy based on the core of Government objectives or, possibly, an entirely different model.


T‐cell leukemia/lymphoma protein 1 (TCL1) was recently shown to display an expression pattern in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) corresponding to molecular subtypes, where poor‐risk patients demonstrated higher expression levels. Here, we examined the mRNA expression pattern of TCL1 in 144 patients with CLL, including 67 immunoglobulin heavy‐chain variable (IGHV) mutated, 58 IGHV unmutated and 19 patients with IGHV3‐21 usage. A higher TCL1 expression level was detected in patients with CLL with unmutated vs. mutated IGHV genes (P < 0.001), whereas no difference was demonstrated within the IGHV3‐21 cohort (i.e., mutated vs. unmutated and stereotyped vs. non‐stereotyped complementarity determining region 3). The IGHV3‐21 subgroup displayed high TCL1 mRNA expression, differing significantly from other IGHV mutated cases (P < 0.001), although 11/19 had mutated IGHV genes. Furthermore, high TCL1 expression levels were associated with significantly shorter overall survival (P < 0.001). Altogether, we show that TCL1 mRNA expression may predict clinical outcome in CLL and that the IGHV3‐21 subset, regardless of mutational status, displays high TCL1 expression.


Some policy makers are requiring the use of national teacher performance assessments for teacher education program completion, certification, approval, and/or license upgrade (Darling-Hammond, Wei, & Johnson, 2009). Because teacher education is a historically-situated social practice, the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of teacher educators are shaped by personal, programmatic, and institutional contexts and political, social, intellectual, and economic influences (Cochran-Smith, et al., 2016; Delandshere & Petrosky, 2004). Proponents of teacher performance assessment argue that the assessment is an authentic, valid and reliable measure for assessing candidate readiness for teaching and may promote program renewal and professionalize the teaching force (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Wei & Pecheone, 2010). Others recognize unintended consequences of the standardized assessment which may narrow the curriculum (Kornfeld, Grady, Marker, & Ruddell, 2007), create tensions for teacher candidates who are learning and developing (Meuwissen & Choppin, 2015), and overlook program values important for preparing candidates to teach in a global society (Sato, 2014). This case study addressed one elementary teacher education program's response to a state-mandate requiring a teacher performance assessment, edTPA® for certification. Teacher educators served as embedded units in the single-case design with the program as the holistic unit of analysis (Yin, 2014). I used the following data sources while conducting on-going analysis of interviews, audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim, follow-up interviews and/or emails, and multiple program documents. I conducted an inductive, naturalistic inquiry, generating descriptive findings using constant comparative analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). By understanding program educators' perceptions of edTPA and their subsequent actions, others may be informed as they navigate similar issues in high-stakes contexts to act responsively, to avoid pitfalls, and to increase the engagement of multiple stakeholders. Policy makers may consider time for educators to develop knowledge and to explore the educative use of edTPA, while establishing supports for their novices to increase sustainability and to promote program improvement. INDEX WORDS: Teacher performance assessment; Performance-based; edTPA; TPA, PACT; Accountability and reform. HIGH-STAKES TESTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN TEACHER EDUCATION: UNDERSTANDING ONE PROGRAM'S RESPONSE TO EDTPA by CARLA LYNN TANGUAY


Training programmes are popular development interventions that aim to address problems of youth unemployment. This paper estimates the impact of a youth entrepreneurship programme in Tanzania on financial literacy and employment knowledge. Using primary data within a successive cohort design in a community-led programme, the authors employed propensity score matching and fixed-effect estimation methods to assess changes in knowledge, skills and attitudes of marginalised youth. They found strong positive effects of the programme on key intermediate employment outcomes: savings ability, employment confidence and personal finance. The positive impact of this programme supports youth entrepreneurship training programme and non-experimental evaluation methods.


Abstract
 Corynesporopsis curvularioides sp. nov. is described and illustrated from specimens collected on dead branches in Guangxi Province. The fungus is characterized by its terminal, monotretic conidiogenous cells with catenate, obclavate to ellipsoidal, pale brown to brown, 15–35 × 7–11 µm, 1–5-euseptate conidia. Brachysporiellina pulneyensis, Catenularia cubensis and Kylindria excentrica are newly recorded from China.


This paper argues that the staffroom is an important professional learning space where beginning teachers interact to understand who they are and the nature of their professional work. The authors highlight the theoretical importance of space and place in the construction and negotiation of beginning teacher subjectivities. To illustrate the staffroom as a particular place where important professional learning could occur the authors use two narratives based on the lived experiences of two beginning teachers, one in a primary context, the other secondary. The authors conclude by calling for greater research attention to the significance of the staffroom and its interaction with teacher subjectivities. At the level of practice we also call for the teaching profession to recognise staffrooms as important sites of professional learning and places that should support induction and mentoring of beginning teachers. Such recognition could enhance the retention, satisfaction, and effectiveness of new and experienced teachers alike.


Decades of wind turbine research, development and installation have demonstrated reductions in levelized cost of energy (LCOE) resulting from turbines with larger rotor diameters and increased hub heights. Further reductions in LCOE by up-scaling turbine size can be challenged by practical limitations such as the square-cube law: where the power scales with the square of the blade length and the added mass scales with the volume (the cube). Active blade load control can disrupt this trend, allowing longer blades with less mass. This paper presents the details of the development of a robust load control system to reduce blade fatigue loads. The control system, which we coined sectional lift control or SLC, uses a lift actuator model to emulate an active flow control device. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) Methodology for SLC design to reduce dynamic blade root moments in a neighborhood of the rotor angular frequency (1P). (2) Analysis and numerical evidence supporting the use of a single robust SLC for all wind speeds, without the need for scheduling on wind speed or readily available measurements such as collective pitch or generator angular speed. (3) Intuition and numerical evidence to demonstrate that the SLC and the turbine controller do not interact. (4) Evaluation of the SLC using a full suite of fatigue and turbine performance metrics.


Cochlodinium polykrikoides is one of the causative agents for harmful algal blooms occurring in the west cost of Sabah, which result in massive economic damage to the aquaculture and mariculture industries. Currently, limited information is available on the genomics of C polykrikoides. The objectives of this study were to develop a protocol for the construction of an expressed sequence tag (EST) library for C polykrikoides cells cultured under normalized conditions, to design gene specific primers using sequence information of related dinoflagellates and to test the gene specific primers against the DNA and RNA of C po/ykrikoides. Cochlodinium polykrikoides stock cultures were obtained from the Unit for Harmful Algal Blooms Studies (UHABs) of the Borneo Marine Research Institute, Universiti Malaysia Sa bah and cultured in f /2 medium. Optimization of total RNA isolation from C polykrikoides was performed using five different methods. Among the five methods tried, the RNA isolation protocol using the TRizol reagent produced the best results. Synthesis of cDNA was performed on successfully isolated RNA samples followed by cloning and direct sequencing of the purified clones. In addition, fourteen gene specific primer pairs were designed and synthesized using sequence information from other harmful algae species. Genomic DNA samples isolated from C polykn1<oides cells were used as templates for the PCR amplification carried out using the synthesized gene specific primers. Amplification products from three gene specific primers, psaAl F/R, COX-1 F/R and ATPsynC F/R were purified and subsequently cloned and directly sequenced. Based on the sequencing results, the cloned products were found to produce identity matches to genes encoding products from similar and related protein families, such as the oxidoreductases and cytochrome oxidases.


Low velocity impacts on composite laminates can cause a significant amount of delamination that is often referred to as barely visible impact damage (BVID). This damage can cause significant degradation of structural properties, especially the compressive strength after impact. The aim of this work was to utilise thin ply carbon/glass hybrid laminates to activate new types of damage mechanisms under indentation (quasi-static impact) that are more gradual and easier to detect. Therefore, 3 different types of hybrid composite plates fabricated from novel hybrid architectures of thin ply high modulus carbon (HS40) and standard thickness S-glass laminates were investigated. For comparison, a laminate containing only S-glass plies was investigated as well. The investigated specimens were interrupted at different load-levels and a detailed assessment of the damage evolution was carried out using X-ray Computed Tomography (CT). For all the hybrid configurations, a larger damage area was observed mostly under the indenter and the delaminations were smaller in the middle plies compared to the upper plies. In contrast, for the Glass laminates the delaminations were larger in the middle plies compared to the upper plies. For the hybrid laminates, the percentage of the first load drop in the global load–displacement curves was lower whereas the percentage of the stiffness reduction after the first load drop was higher, compared to the Glass laminate. Overall the hybrid results showed some different damage mechanisms, i.e. carbon ply fibre fracture and delamination under the indenter, with a gradual failure behaviour and less damage to the inner layers. The degradation mechanisms were visually detectable from the indented face from the early stage of the loading for some of the hybrid configurations, which can act as impact damage indicator.


The discoveries of new superconducting materials, most of them during the last 30 years, have served very much as the context for further developments in theory which continue to the present. In many of these cases, the observations of superconductivity in new materials were completely unexpected and therefore may be regarded as real discoveries. Even the most visible progress, which followed a search using, to some extent, conventional wisdom, was finally rather unexpected - the discovery of high-Tc superconductivity in copper oxides. This book presents superconductivity in this materials context and displays some of the underlying simplicity in the materials record that provided fuel for the theoretical developments. Not only is the phenomenon deeply interesting, the metallic systems where it plays out are as well, and superconductivity gives a very interesting window from which to view the nature of electrically conducting materials. The level is not advanced, yet allows the serious reader to access the current developments in the literature. This title addresses in detail the exciting developments after 1980. It demonstrates that progress in superconductivity is to a large extent due to progress in materials synthesis and characterization. It offers a gateway to the current developments in the literature.


We provide a systematic quantitative description of the structure of edge states and magnetosubband evolution in hard wall quantum wires in the integer quantum Hall regime. Our calculations are based on the self-consistent Green's function technique where the electronand spin interactions are included within the density functional theory in the local spin density approximation. We analyze the evolution of the magnetosubband structure as magnetic field varies and show that it exhibits different features as compared to the case of a smooth confinement. In particularly, in the hard-wall wire a deep and narrow triangular potential well (of the width of magnetic length lB) is formed in the vicinity of the wire boundary. The wave functions are strongly localized in this well which leads to the increase of the electron density near the edges. Because of the presence of this well, the subbands start to depopulate from the central region of the wire and remain pinned in the well region until they are eventually pushed up by increasing magnetic field. We also demonstrate that the spin polarization of electron density as a function of magnetic field shows a pronounced double-loop pattern that can be related to the successive depopulation of the magnetosubbands. In contrast to the case of a smooth confinement, in hard-wall wires the compressible strips do not form in the vicinity of wire boundaries and spatial spin separation between spin-up and spin-down states near edges is absent.


Abstract. Heterogeneous ice formation induced by volcanic ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano eruption in April 2010 is investigated based on the combination of a cirrus cloud observed with a backscatter lidar over Julich (western Germany) and model simulations along backward trajectories. The microphysical properties of the cirrus cloud could only be represented by the microphysical model under the assumption of an enhanced number of efficient ice nuclei originating from the volcanic eruption. The ice nuclei (IN) concentration determined by lidar measurements directly before and after cirrus cloud occurrence implies a value of around 0.1 cm−3 (in comparison normal IN conditions: 0.01 cm−3). This leads to a cirrus cloud with rather small ice crystals having a mean radius of 12 μm and a modification of the ice particle number (0.08 cm−3 instead of 3 × 10−4 cm−3 under normal IN conditions). The effectiveness of ice nuclei was estimated by the use of the microphysical model and the backward trajectories based on ECMWF data, establishing a freezing threshold of around 105% relative humidity with respect to ice in a temperature range from −45 to −55 °C . Only with these highly efficient ice nuclei was it possible for the cirrus cloud to be formed in a slightly supersaturated environment.


This intriguing introduction to Japanese erotic art, known as shunga, is full of humour and human interest. A large quantity of paintings, handscrolls, prints and illustrated books of erotica was produced in Japan between 1600 and 1900. As urban culture expanded rapidly during the seventeenth century, erotic woodblock prints were in demand, first as books then as print series. From the 1760s printed works, produced using full-colour woodblock technology, constitute some of the finest examples of art-printing in Japan, using sumptuous materials and special printing effects. This book includes pictures by some of the most renowned artists, such as Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806) and Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), who produced erotic imagery as a standard part of their work.

When creating erotica, artists usually played on sexual situations in everyday life: a wife catches her husband seducing a maid, a couple are spied on by a curious servant, and mice start copulating in imitation of the humans. Japanese erotic art was characterised by exaggeration and fantasy and, as one verse-writer warns, 'The foolish couple copy shunga and pull a muscle'. There was frequent recourse to satire and parody, often in defiance of contemporary censorship and sumptuary regulations. The background scripts, many translated here for the first time, are irreverent and amusing.

The erotic encounters depicted in shunga reflect multiple perspectives – male, female, heterosexual and same-sex. This book examines this under-explored area of Japanese culture, and is fully illustrated with fascinating images from the rich collections of the British Museum, many of which have never been published before.

With 140 colour illustrations.

Contents
Preface and acknowledgements
Picturing sex in Japan, 1600–1900
Features of shunga
Patterns of sensual pleasure: from luxury paintings to popular prints, 1600–1750
Poem of the Pillow: masterpieces of the late eighteenth century
Erotic adventures: heightened drama in the nineteenth century
Chronology
Glossary
Notes
Further reading
Illustration acknowledgements
Index


In 1923 Louis de Broglie introduced the notion of matter waves, the particle-wave duality of matter which is the reciprocal extension of the notion of the particle-wave duality of light. The wave nature of matter is evidently a "memory" of its origin in light, much as the particle aspect of light suggests its capacity to create matter. Such dualities are part of the connective tissue of the Cosmos and its two principle energy forms, light and matter (free and bound electromagnetic energy). The less massive the particle, the more strongly is its wave nature expressed. The wave nature of the tiny electron is very pronounced, as is famously demonstrated by the interference phenomena of the canonical 2-slit experiment of quantum mechanics. In the extreme case of neutrinos, which apparently have almost no mass, their wave nature completely dominates their particle nature. However, as particles become heavier and more massive, their wave nature becomes rapidly overwhelmed, until for ordinary macroscopic masses to which we are sensible it is completely obscured.


The victory in the November 2002 elections of the religiously rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been a challenge for Turkish democracy with its strong secular state tradition. The Turkish Armed Forces, as guardians of the state, are wary of any AKP policies that may undermine secularity. Although the military condemns the use of religion for political purposes, it has, in the past, used religion as a political tool to serve national interests. The use of religion both as a threat against and as a tool for the state results in ambiguity with regard to secularity in Turkey.


Wave aberrations in the human eye are usually known with respect to the ideal spherical wavefront in the exit pupil. Using Kirchhoff's diffraction theory, we have derived a diffraction integral to compute the optical field on the retina from the wave aberration data. We have proposed a numerical algorithm based on the Stamnes-Spjelkavik-Pedersen (SSP) method to solve that integral. We have shown which approximations are admissible to reduce the complexity of the diffraction integral. In addition, we have compared our results with those of the conventional procedure used to compute intensities on the retina. We have found significant differences between our results and the conventional ones.


Globally, higher education and legal education have embraced the development of skills as an integral part of student learning. It is no longer enough that graduates enter the workplace armed only with a body of disembodied discipline knowledge. It is expected that graduates have complementary skills – both generic and professional. These skills do not appear 'magically'; rather it is the role of the law teacher to facilitate students' development of these skills during their studies. The imperative to design curricula that embed skills development has become more urgent with the advent of discipline standards and the new quality regime in Australia. This paper reports on a wide-ranging survey of Australian property law teachers undertaken in late 2011. The paper analyses teaching methods, skills and outcomes in the teaching of property law. In particular, the paper considers how property teachers deal with the development of skills in the property law curriculum, testing Gray's suggestion that '[i]t is in Property Law that consciously or unconsciously the student learns a basic competence in a number of skills which are of immense importance in later life.' If this is true, this paper asks, how and to what extent do Australian property law curricula embrace the teaching of skills?


This enlightening and significant new volume focuses on the nature, causes and features of economic growth across a wide range of countries and regions. Covering a variety of growth related topics - from theoretical analyses of economic growth in general to empirical analyses of growth in the OECD, transition economies and developing economies - the distinguished cast of contributors address some of the most important contemporary issues and developments in the field. These include, amongst others: endogenous growth theory, Keynesian theories of the business cycle and growth, unemployment and growth, FDI and productivity spillovers, and knowledge externalities and growth. This useful analysis of the many facets of economic growth will be an essential read for those interested in economic theory and economic policy-making, as well as students and scholars of macroeconomics and finance.


This volume presents the results of research which represent a significant contribution to the knowledge of equity in the finance and delivery of health care in ten countries. It compares the experience of nine European countries and the US using a consistent methodology to draw out comparable results from ten very different health care systems. Such an approach facilitates not only a greater understanding of the performance of the health care systems of other countries but also the identification of the lessons that can be learnt from international comparisons. In recent years it has been recognized that many health and health care problems are similar across many countries and their solution can be usefuly informed by the abandonment both of isolation and the belief that an individual country's problems are unique. The contents of this book demonstrate that given efficient research teams, research funding can produce both significant new knowledge of direct relevance to the reform of health care systems world-wide, and also collaborative, mutually informative work between Europeans and others living outside the EEC.


Depth perception is one of important abilities of the human visual system to perceive the three dimensional world. Shadow technique that offers different depth information from different viewing points, known as Da Vinci stereopsis, has been used in classical paintings. In this paper, we report a method towards measuring the relative depth information stimulated by Da Vinci stereopsis in a classical painting. We set up a positioning array of cameras for capturing images from the portrait using a high resolution camera, where the changes of shadow areas are measured by featuring the effects as point and line changes. The result shows that 3D effects of the classical painting are not only a perceptual phenomenon but they are also physically tangible and can be measured. We confirm validity of the method by its implementation even on a typical single image and comparison of results between the single image and the portrait.


Innate signals are fundamental to determine the class of adaptive response against
infection. The translation of microbial signatures into adaptive immunity is mediated by
pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which are expressed in specialized leukocytes
called dendritic cells (DCs) and results in responses matched to the nature of the
offending microbe. Here, I provide evidence that two Syk-coupled C-type lectin
receptors (CLRs), Dectin-1 and Dectin-2, act in the coordination of adaptive immune
responses to fungal stimuli and fungal pathogens.
DC activated via Dectin-1 are strong elicitors of IL-17 production by CD4+ T cells.
Results presented in this thesis demonstrate that Dectin-1 signalling in DCs results in
the generation and Foxp3+-IL-17+ T cells, a cell type that defies either regulatory or
Th17 classification. This process is dependent on IL-23, which is produced by DCs
upon Dectin-1 ligation.
In addition, this work identified an additional CLR responsible for the induction of
Th17 responses during the course of fungal infections. This thesis demonstrates that
Dectin-2 is a second Syk-coupled PRR involved in DC activation by fungi. In a model
of Candida albicans systemic infection, Dectin-2 is essential for the induction of Th17
responses to the organism.
Finally, I have generated tools to study responses of T cells specific for a fungal-associated
antigen. Furthermore, I provide preliminary evidence regarding the
activation, proliferation and trafficking of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells
during systemic fungal infections.


A research project was carried out to generate solutions for improving three children and youth integrated services centres in Hong Kong. The centres have been operated by a non-government organisation: The Boys' and Girls' Clubs Association of Hong Kong. Based on the research findings, the members of the design team of the Research Group on Urban Space and Culture worked with the organisation to investigate the needs of the centres, and to redesign and carry out renovations of them. Instead of only involving the researchers and designers in the project as is the conventional practice, we adopted participatory research methods. We invited the "users" of the centres to voice their opinions and aspirations. The research methods included questionnaires, observations, interviews, "photovoice", and design drawing workshops. The use of participatory action research in such an organised way to collect data for the designing of children and youth integrated services centres was a new step for Hong Kong. The result of the research and design efforts received very encouraging and satisfactory comments from government officials, the social welfare sectors, design professionals and the users of the centre. Most importantly, the project has aroused the awareness of the public, and has led the government, non¬government organisations and professionals to consider the importance of participatory research and design. This paper first gives an overview of the project and illustrates the needs and aspirations of the different types of users of the centres. It discusses the rationale behind and the importance of allowing users to participate in research, and the advantages and limitations of this kind of user participation. It then argues that creativity lies not only in the imagination of designers, but is more related to the participation of the users. Only through such participation can designs meet the actually needs, preferences and aspirations of the users.


Natural variability and change of the Earth's climate have significant global societal impacts. With its large heat and carbon capacity and relatively slow dynamics, the ocean plays an integral role in climate, and provides an important source of predictability at seasonal and longer timescales. In addition, the ocean provides the slowly evolving lower boundary to the atmosphere, driving, and modifying atmospheric weather. Understanding and monitoring ocean climate variability and change, to constrain and initialize models as well as identify model biases for improved climate hindcasting and prediction, requires a scale-sensitive, and long-term observing system. A climate observing system has requirements that significantly differ from, and sometimes are orthogonal to, those of other applications. In general terms, they can be summarized by the simultaneous need for both large spatial and long temporal coverage, and by the accuracy and stability required for detecting the local climate signals. This paper reviews the requirements of a climate observing system in terms of space and time scales, and revisits the question of which parameters such a system should encompass to meet future strategic goals of the World Climate Research Program (WCRP), with emphasis on ocean and sea-ice covered areas. It considers global as well as regional aspects that should be accounted for in designing observing systems in individual basins. Furthermore, the paper discusses which data-driven products are required to meet WCRP research and modeling needs, and ways to obtain them through data synthesis and assimilation approaches. Finally, it addresses the need for scientific capacity building and international collaboration in support of the collection of high-quality measurements over the large spatial scales and long time-scales required for climate research, bridging the scientific rational to the required resources for implementation.


In this paper, a three-dimensional spiral cochlear Finite Element (FE) model was established by using PATRAN software based on the experimental data of synchronous light source imaging from Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The acoustic-solid-liquid coupling analysis was carried out by NASTRAN software and the effects of fissura ante fenestra sclerosis on spiral cochlea were simulated in the paper. The satisfactory agreements between simulated results of ratio of displacement at 12 mm from Basilar Membrane (BM) to that at the vestibular window and experimental data in the literature confirm the validity of the FE model. Comparing the frequency response of the basilar membrane of normal and diseased ears, it can be found that greater hearing loss occurs at low frequency (100-600 Hz) and high frequency (2000-10000 Hz), but the hearing loss is less in the middle frequency. In this paper, the numerical simulation is used to make up for the lack of related researches and it provides a new way for clinical treatment of cochlear lesions.


This thesis focuses on the political discourse of Mughal Emperor Akbar Shah (r.1556-1605) and its application to his history, Akbarnāma, which was prepared by his statesman and ideologue Abu'l-Fazl. Through the family line designed for him, the sacredness attributes and light symbolism, the book covers a wide range of points which makes it more than just history and gives it a unique position in terms of its understanding of history. A new Mughal ideology of kingship is formulated throughout Akbar's reign and gradually shaped in accordance with conjunctures. Akbar's reign needs to be examined in the context of the 16th century and according to his sources of legitimization, policies, religiosity and ceremonial. It should also be considered in comparison with other empires of the time, all of which played a part in the formation of his rulership theory. Since one of the hallmarks of the Mughal Empire is its multiplicity, Akbar and Abu'l-Fazl use a wide range of notions from different traditions, philosophical ideas combining different cultures, symbols and ceremonies which have different religious backgrounds in order to provide one common discourse i.e. sacred and divine kingship ideology. This is an attempt to make sense of Akbar's political discourse within a wider context while taking into consideration the different and common understandings of notions in Mughal India. It analyses the reign in terms of the challenges, concerns and expectations it faces and tries to see how they are resolved or whether they are resolved with the end-product i.e. Akbarnama.


Aim To report the outcome of treatment of localised non-invasive ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN) where topical 5-fluorouracil (5-FU 1%) is used as an adjuvant to surgical excision. Methods The study was a prospective non-comparative interventional case series. 55 cases of primary localised OSSN and 10 cases of recurrent localised OSSN were treated with excision, cryotherapy and adjuvant 5-FU 1%. In all cases, irrespective of the involvement of surgical margins, a single cycle of 5-FU 1% was administered, four times a day for 2 weeks continuously. The main outcome measures were (1) recurrence and (2) complications related to adjuvant topical chemotherapy. Individuals were reviewed for a minimum of 12 months. Results There was a single case of recurrence (1.5%). 57% of patients had short-term complications secondary to 5-FU 1%, most frequently lid toxicity (49%), followed by superficial keratitis, epiphora and corneal epithelial defects. Four patients were unable to complete the course of 5-FU 1% because of local toxicity. Conclusions The management of localised non-invasive OSSN with adjuvant 5-FU 1% was associated with a low rate of local recurrence. Although 5-FU 1% frequently results in short-term complications, most commonly lid toxicity, a full course is usually tolerated. Serious complications appear uncommon in the treatment of localised disease.


In a reed organ the free reed is mounted above the windchest and is typically surrounded by a reed cell cavity with small cross‐sectional area. The length of this tubelike cavity varies from just slightly longer than the reed in some instruments to several centimeters longer in others. A series of measurements of the frequency and spectrum of the radiated sound have been made on reeds from American reed organs mounted on a laboratory windchest, using a simulated reed cell of varying dimensions. The presence of the reed cell cavity generally results in a lower frequency of vibration at the same blowing pressure and increased amplitudes of the higher harmonics relative to the fundamental, although some anomalous effects are observed for longer reed cells. Some hysteresis effects are observed as the blowing pressure is continuously increased and decreased.


Emojis are ideograms which are naturally combined with plain text to visually complement or condense the meaning of a message. Despite being widely used in social media, their underlying semantics have received little attention from a Natural Language Processing standpoint. In this paper, we investigate the relation between words and emojis, studying the novel task of predicting which emojis are evoked by text-based tweet messages. We train several models based on Long Short-Term Memory networks (LSTMs) in this task. Our experimental results show that our neural model outperforms a baseline as well as humans solving the same task, suggesting that computational models are able to better capture the underlying semantics of emojis.


The study entitled 'the role of taxation on resilient economy and development of Rwanda was carried out under the period 2013-2016. The main objective of the study was to assess the role of taxation on economic development. The Methodology such as qualitative and quantitative was used in data collection where both primary and secondary data were collected. A questionnaire was designed to 90 sample sizes out of 920 total employees of RRA purposively selected and a documentary technique was used. After collection, data were analysed using SPSS where a correlation coefficient was determined to measure the relationship between variables. Based on the correlation coefficient r=0.790, we concluded that there is a significant relationship between taxation and Rwanda economic development. Thus 62% of Rwandan economic development should be addressed to taxation for enhancement purposes. It is in this regard RRA should develop goods description standards manual for verification purpose and data analysis and Carry out door to door field visits to identify potential traders to be registered.


Two cD-NAs coding for proximal tubular Na-Pi cotransport (NaPi-2) and Na-SO4 cotransport (NaSi-1) have been transfected by the use of a dexamethasone-inducible vector (pLK-neo) into MDCK and LLC-PK1 cells. By reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, expression of corresponding mRNAs was observed after stimulation with dexamethasone only. Similarly, expression of the NaPi-2 protein was detected only after induction with dexamethasone. In transfected Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, dexamethasone induced a large increase of Na-Pi or Na-SO4 cotransport, whereas, in transfected LLC-PK1, cell transport was only minimally expressed. In MDCK cells grown on filter supports, transfected Na-Pi-cotransport activity was equally expressed at both cell surfaces; dual location of expressed NaPi-2 protein was also observed by immunohistochemistry. In contrast, transfected Na-SO4 cotransport activity was predominantly expressed at the apical cell surface of MDCK cells. The results demonstrate that 1), in MDCK cells, the sorting behavior of two proximal tubular cotransport systems seems to be different: apical for Na-SO4 cotransport (NaSi-1) and dual location for Na-Pi cotransport (NaPi-2); and 2) LLC-PK1 cells seem not to be a suitable system to functionally express sodium-dependent cotransport systems for phosphate and sulfate.


Most of today's commercial companies heavily rely on social media and community management tools to interact with their clients and analyze their online behaviour. Nonetheless, these tools still lack evolved data mining and visualization features to tailor the analysis in order to support useful marketing decisions. We present an original methodology that aims at formalizing the marketing need of the company and develop a tool that can support it. The methodology is derived from the Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISP-DM) and includes additional steps dedicated to the design and development of visualizations of mined data. We followed the methodology in two use cases with Swiss companies. First, we developed a prototype that aims at understanding the needs of tourists based on Flickr and Instagram data. In that use case, we extend the existing literature by enriching hashtags analysis methods with a semantic network based on Linked Data. Second, we analyzed internal customer data of an online discount retailer to help them define guerilla marketing measures. We report on the challenges of integrating Facebook data in the process. Informal feedback from domain experts confirms the strong potential of such advanced analytic features based on social data to inform marketing decisions.


Solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) irradiance that reaches the Earth's surface acts as a biotic stressor and has the potential to modify ecological and environmental functioning. The challenges of reconstructing ultraviolent (UV) irradiance prior to the satellite era mean that there is uncertainty over long-term surface UV-B patterns, especially in relation to variations in solar activity over centennial and millennial timescales. Here, we reconstruct surface UV-B irradiance over the last 650 years using a novel UV-B proxy based on the chemical signature of pollen grains. We demonstrate a statistically significant positive relationship between the abundance of UV-B absorbing compounds in Pinus pollen and modelled solar UV-B irradiance. These results show that trends in surface UV-B follow the overall solar activity pattern over centennial timescales, and that variations in solar output are the dominant control on surface level UV-B flux, rather than solar modulated changes in ozone thickness. The Pinus biochemical response demonstrated here confirms the potential for solar activity driven surface UV-B variations to impact upon terrestrial biotas and environments over long timescales.


Monitoring wear particles in lubricating oils allows specialists to evaluate thehealth and functionality of a mechanical system. The main analysis techniquesavailable today are manual particle analysis and automatic optical analysis. Man-ual particle analysis is effective and reliable since the analyst continuously seeswhat is being counted . The drawback is that the technique is quite time demand-ing and dependent of the skills of the analyst. Automatic optical particle countingconstitutes of a closed system not allowing for the objects counted to be observedin real-time. This has resulted in a number of sources of error for the instrument.In this thesis a new method for counting particles based on light microscopywith image analysis is proposed. It has proven to be a fast and effective methodthat eliminates the sources of error of the previously described methods. Thenew method correlates very well with manual analysis which is used as a refer-ence method throughout this study. Size estimation of particles and detectionof metallic particles has also shown to be possible with the current image analy-sis setup. With more advanced software and analysis instrumentation, the imageanalysis method could be further developed to a decision based machine allowingfor declarations about which wear mode is occurring in a mechanical system.


Interactive dynamical ocean and atmosphere models are commonly used for predictions
on seasonal timescales, but initialisation of such systems is problematic. In this thesis,
idealised coupled models of the El Ni~no Southern Oscillation phenomenon are used to
explore potential new initialisation methods. The basic ENSO model is derived using
the two-strip concept for tropical ocean dynamics, together with a simple empirical
atmosphere. A hierarchy of models is built, beginning with a basic recharge oscillator
type model and culminating in a general n-box model. Each model is treated as a
dynamical system. An important step is the 10-box model, in which the seasonal
cycle is introduced as an extension of the phase space by two dimensions, which paves
the way for more complex and occasionally chaotic behaviour.
For the simplest 2-box model, analytic approximate solutions are described and
used to investigate the parameter dependence of regimes of behaviour. Model space
is explored statistically and parametric instability is found for the 10-box and upward
versions: while it is by no means a perfect simulation of the real world phenomena,
some regimes are found which have features similar to those observed.
Initialisation is performed on a system from the n-box model (with n = 94), using
dimensional reduction via two separate methods: a linear singular value decomposition
approach and a nonlinear slow manifold (approximate inertial manifold) type
reduction. The influence of the initialisation methods on predictive skill is tested using
a perfect model approach. Data from a model integration are treated as observation,
which are perturbed randomly on large and small spatial scales, and used as initial
states for both reduced and full model forecasts. Integration of the reduced models
provides a continuous initialisation process, ensuring orbits remain close to the attractor
for the duration of the forecasts. From sets of ensemble forecasts, statistical
measures of skill are calculated. Results are found to depend on the dimensionality of
the reduced models and the type of initial perturbations used, and model reduction
is found to result in a slight improvement in skill from the full model in each case, as
well as a signifi�cant increase in the maximum timestep.


Given a transportation network having source nodes with evacuees and destination nodes, we want to find a contraflow network configuration, i.e., ideal direction for each edge, to minimize evacuation time. Contraflow is considered a potential remedy to reduce congestion during evacuations in the context of homeland security and natural disasters (e.g., hurricanes). This problem is computationally challenging because of the very large search space and the expensive calculation of evacuation time on a given network. To our knowledge, this paper presents the first macroscopic approaches for the solution of contraflow network reconfiguration incorporating road capacity constraints, multiple sources, congestion factor, and scalability. We formally define the contraflow problem based on graph theory and provide a framework of computational workload to classify our approaches. A greedy heuristic is designed to produce high quality solutions with significant performance. A bottleneck relief heuristic is developed to deal with large numbers of evacuees. We evaluate the proposed approaches both analytically and experimentally using real world datasets. Experimental results show that our contraflow approaches can reduce evacuation time by 40% or more.


We prove an L2 recovery bound for a family of sparse estimators defined as minimizers of some empirical loss functions -- which include hinge loss and logistic loss. More precisely, we achieve an upper-bound for coefficients estimation scaling as (k*/n)\log(p/k*): n,p is the size of the design matrix and k* the dimension of the theoretical loss minimizer. This is done under standard assumptions, for which we derive stronger versions of a cone condition and a restricted strong convexity. Our bound holds with high probability and in expectation and applies to an L1-regularized estimator and to a recently introduced Slope estimator, which we generalize for classification problems. Slope presents the advantage of adapting to unknown sparsity. Thus, we propose a tractable proximal algorithm to compute it and assess its empirical performance. Our results match the best existing bounds for classification and regression problems.


THE MONTESSORI METHOD"S USE OF SEGUIN"S THREE-PERIOD LESSON AND ITS IMPACT ON THE BOOK CHOICES AND WORD LEARNING OF STUDENTS WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING Rebecca L. W. Jackson It has been well established in the literature that the acquisition of literacy presents a significant challenge for most students who are deaf or hard of hearing (Allen, 1986; Babbini & Quigley, 1970; Holt, 1993; Lane & Baker, 1974; Marschark, Lang, & Albertini, 2002; Moog & Geers, 1985; Traxler, 2000; Trybus & Karchmer, 1977). Vocabulary, which has been identified as one of the critical skills necessary for reading (NRP, 2000), is an area of language acquisition in which students with hearing loss demonstrate particular weakness (Davey & King, 1990; Gilbertson & Kamhi, 1995; LaSasso & Davey, 1987; Paul & Gustafson, 1991; Paul & O'Rourke, 1988). The Montessori Method uses Seguin"s three-period lesson as a way to introduce new words to students. The individualization provided by the three-period lesson, as well as the simplicity of language and lack of feedback involved all hold potential benefit for students who are deaf or hard of hearing. While little research has been conducted on the book choices of students, King and Quigley (1985) demonstrated that text difficulty is less important when students have a high level of interest in a book. In theory, increasing student interest in a book by using it in book share sessions and teaching some of the unknown words may make that book more accessible to students. The current study examined the impact of book share sessions, as well as two different types of vocabulary instruction on the book choices and word learning of students. Six students from a first-grade classroom in a school serving students who are deaf participated in this study. A mixed-model design with alternating treatments employing the framework of qualitative analyses and single-subject design was used. The dependent variables were book choice and long-term retention of vocabulary items. The independent variable was the type of vocabulary instruction. While the data showed no impact of any intervention on participants" book choices, five of six participants retained more words taught to them using the Montessori Method than those taught to them using traditional direct instruction. The study also demonstrated the efficiency of the Montessori Method in teaching vocabulary as compared with direct instruction that included verbal feedback and tangible reinforcement.


It has been some thirty-five years since Rosemary Radford Ruether published Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism. (1) Her sweeping 1974 study covers an enormous chronological range, from pagan antiquity to the Holocaust, in order to dig down to the roots of Antisemitism in Christian thought. Ruether described the revocation of the Mosaic covenant as being at the heart of Christology and put this at the core of her theological argument. (2) The termination of the covenant with Moses, she averred, is the key to Christian Antisemitism from the Christian Scriptures onward; thence, she drew her conclusion through the patristic and medieval periods. (3) Ruether was careful to point out the Christian distinction between a spiritualized covenant of faith--made with Abraham and affirmed in the Christian Bible--and the covenant with Moses that was abrogated with the coming of Jesus. (4) It is this distinction, she feels, that fuels Antisemitism. (5) While the abrogation of the Mosaic covenant appears to tell Ruether's story about Christian Antisemitism, continuity of the Abrahamic covenant was of little concern to her. The division between Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants itself, she insisted, is the fault line between Jews and Christians, and this break is to be exposed and rejected wherever found. (6) The ambitious scope of Ruether's study was bound to attract attention, both positive and negative, to her work. (7) Indeed, her work on antiquity and the early church has been challenged and qualified since its publication, most notably by John G. Gager. (8) Ruether's assertions about covenant and the Middle Ages, however, have generated little sustained reflection from the scholarly community. (9) In fact, her popularization of the story of covenantal supersessionism that begins in the decades after the Crucifixion (and continues to the Holocaust and beyond) is still found in surveys of the period, and her book is uncritically cited in numerous works. (10) In this essay, I will set forth some of the evidence for a more nuanced view of Christian thought on covenant in the Middle Ages. In particular, I will discuss the endurance of the Abrahamic covenant, its impact on Christian understanding of the Mosaic Law, and the changing reception of this important doctrine within the medieval Christian imagination. As shall be seen, this story differs greatly from the one told by Ruether and others. I. The Idea of Covenant The concept of covenant has inspired modern scholarship on ancient Hebrew Scripture and religion since Julius Wellhausen published his monumental study, Prolegomena zur Geschichte Israels, in 1885. (11) Following Wellhausen's treatise, a number of scholars of religion generally and of ancient Israel specifically have turned their attention to the role of covenantal election in the formation of Israelite religion and identity. (12) The undeniable importance of covenant in ancient Judaism, and in early Christianity, is also evinced in a number of studies. (13) The balance of interest in covenant shifts, however, as we move into studies of the medieval period. (14) While there is a wide range of biblical covenants, the majority of scholarship on covenant in the Middle Ages is content to examine, or simply suppose, the predominance of supersession--that is, the cessation of the Mosaic covenant with the coming of Christ and the transfer of God's election to the followers of Jesus. (15) While supersession was never officially endorsed by the early or medieval churches, one can follow the trates of this theological viewpoint from the apologetics of Justin Martyr (c. 100--c. 165 C.E.), (16) to the polemics of John Chrysostom (347-407), and, much later to Petrus Alfonsi (1062-1140), to the violence and expulsions that eventually characterized Jewish-Christian relations in later medieval Europe. Nevertheless, this "lachrymose narrative" is not the only one; in fact, the historiographical construct of increasing supersessionism in the Christian Middle Ages needs to be revised in light of a number of texts that offer another view of the matter. …


Many institutional investors have target annual returns in the range of 7% to 8% or higher. This could take the form of an actuarial assumed rate of return for a pension fund or a spending rate plus an inflation assumption for a foundation. Achieving this target return, however, is anything but guaranteed. In fact, events have conspired to make the challenge of meeting this goal particularly daunting over the next decade. While this challenge may be formidable, it is not insurmountable. This paper reviews various approaches that investors can take that may improve the likelihood of achieving their objectives.


In the absence of silicate in the growth medium, Netzelia tuberculata cells withdraw their feeding lobopodia, become quiescent, and cease to divide. Upon replenishment of silicate, growth resumes within 18–24 hours. Cytoplasmic changes produced by a low silicate medium result in a zonal arrangement, with siliceous particles at the outer periphery of the cytoplasm in a region rich in Golgi bodies (Region A), a more centrally located layer containing endoplasmic reticulum, lipid reserves, and finely granular cytoplasm (Region B), and a region of partially digested food and waste material fringed by fine rhizopodia extending into the central space of the test (Region C). The reserve siliceous particles in the outer peripheral cytoplasm are foreign particles that contain a fragile deposit of silica and appear to be incomplet. This may be a mechanism for conserving silica in the low‐silicate medium by coating particles instead of making particles of solid silica de novo. Upon addition of silicate to the growth medium, new siliceous particles are synthesized within vacuoles in the region of the Golgi apparatus within 2–18 hours. Vacuoles containing fine silica deposits, characteristic of new particle production, are surrounded by Golgi‐derived vesicles previously shown to be a source of membrane for the silica‐secreting vacuoles. The newly synthesized particles are solid silica as is characteristic of de novo secreted test particles, in contrast to the numerous silica‐coated foreign bodies found in quiescent cells produced in low‐silicate medium.


Novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are no longer "novel" but their reversal agents definitely are. Although NOACs enjoy high clinical efficacy, monitoring and reversal of their effect is a challenge which this review attempts to surmount. Ideally, for NOAC activity measurement, specific anti-Factor IIa levels and anti -Factor Xa levels should be monitored (chromogenic assays), but such tests are not readily available. Modifications of the existing coagulation tests catering to this unmet need for quantification of DOAC activity have been reviewed. The available United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved reversal agents, idarucizumab for dabigatrin and andexanet alfa for anti-Xa direct acting oral anticoagulants have given promising results but are prohibitively priced. Medline, Embase, and Scopus databases were thoroughly searched for clinical trials on laboratory investigations and specific as well as non-specific reversal-agents for DOACs.


In the fall of 2008, the U.S. subprime mortgage loans defaults have turned into Wall Street's biggest crisis since the Great Depression. As hundreds of billions in mortgage-related investments went bad, banks became suspicious of one another's potential undisclosed credit losses and preferred to reduce their exposure in the interbank markets, thus causing interbank interest rates and credit default swaps increases, a liquidity shortage problem and a worsened credit crunch condition to consumers and businesses. Massive cash injections into money markets and interest rates reductions have been assured by central banks in an attempt to shore up banks and to restore confidence within the financial system. Even Governments have promoted bail-out deal agreements, protections from bankruptcies, recapitalizations and bank nationalizations in order to rescue banks from disastrous bankruptcies.The credit crisis originated in the previous years when the Federal Reserve sharply lowered interest rates (Fed Funds at 1%) to limit the economic damage of the stock market decline due to the 2000 dot.com companies' crisis. Lower interest rates made mortgage payments cheaper, and the demand for homes began to rise, sending prices up. In addition, millions of homeowners took advantage of the rate drop to refinance their existing mortgages. As the industry ramped up, the quality of the mortgages went down due to poor credit origination and credit risk assessment. Delinquency and default rates began to rise in 2006 as interest rates rose (Fed Funds at 5,25%) and poor households across the US struggled to pay off their mortgages. Many of them went bankrupt and lost their homes but the pace of lending did not slow. Banks have transformed much of the high-risk mortgage debt (securitizations) into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and collateralised debt obligations (CDO), and have sold these assets on the stock markets to financial firms and insurance companies around the world, transferring to these investors the rights to the mortgage payments and the related credit risk. With the collapse of the first banks and hedge funds in 2007 the rising number of foreclosures helped speed the fall of housing prices, and the number of prime mortgages in default began to increase. As many CDO products were held on a "mark to market" basis, the paralysis in the credit markets and the collapse of liquidity in these products let to the dramatic write-downs in 2007. When stock markets in the United States, Europe and Asia continued to plunge, leading central banks took the drastic step of a coordinated cut in interest rates and Governments coordinated actions that included taking equity stakes in major banks.This paper written by the Author (on October 7th, 2008) at the rise of these dramatic events, aims to demonstrate, through solid and fact-based assumptions, that this dramatic global financial crisis could have been addressed and managed earlier and better by many of the stakeholders involved in the subprime mortgage lending process such as, banks' and investment funds management, rating agencies, banking and financial markets supervisory authorities. It also unfortunately demonstrates the corporate social responsibility failure and the moral hazard of many key players involved in this crisis, since a lot of them probably knew quite well what was happening but have preferred not to do anything or to do little and late in order to change the dramatic course of the events.


We present a new real-time hand tracking system based on a single depth camera. The system can accurately reconstruct complex hand poses across a variety of subjects. It also allows for robust tracking, rapidly recovering from any temporary failures. Most uniquely, our tracker is highly flexible, dramatically improving upon previous approaches which have focused on front-facing close-range scenarios. This flexibility opens up new possibilities for human-computer interaction with examples including tracking at distances from tens of centimeters through to several meters (for controlling the TV at a distance), supporting tracking using a moving depth camera (for mobile scenarios), and arbitrary camera placements (for VR headsets). These features are achieved through a new pipeline that combines a multi-layered discriminative reinitialization strategy for per-frame pose estimation, followed by a generative model-fitting stage. We provide extensive technical details and a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis.


There has been considerable interest and research in the design of learning and teaching environments but to what extent does this knowledge enable us to create suitable environments for the teaching and learning of design? This paper will consider the opportunities for new ways of teaching and learning design offered by Web2 technologies, outlining the JISC-funded AtelierD project at the Open University (OU). This project takes its learning and teaching cues from the notion of the 'Atelier' and applies these to the development of online design communities. The atelier concept facilitates the combination of well-established practice in art and design education with the affordances of Web 2.0 tools to create a powerful new approach to learning and teaching design.

A team of academic staff are engaged on the two year, AtelierD project, to explore the use of a number of web2 tools and evaluate their potential for widespread use in design teaching. The second year of the project will see the use of an integrated virtual atelier, OpenDesign Studio, which is to be used on a new online course in Design Thinking, launching in February 2010, and expected to have over 1000 students in its first year.

In this paper the authors will discuss the preliminary findings from the first year of the project , in which discreet elements of the atelier have been trialed with students to inform and shape their development. These elements include commercial resources such as Facebook and SecondLife as well as in-house, but publicly available resources such as the knowledge mapping software 'Compendium' and FM conferencing. The authors will also discuss the thinking behind 'OpenDesign Studio' and the ways in which it will be used by learners taking the new course.

The paper addresses the topics of Virtual Learning Environments in Art Design and Communication, Innovations in teaching and learning in Art, Design and Communication and The Social and Educational Interface.


To mitigate automobile caused externalities, several European cities have introduced fare-free transit schemes. Best known are the plans introduced in Hasselt, Belgium, and Templin, Germany. The staggering increases in ridership in both cities seem to prove the overwhelming success of this policy. In addition, a study carried out for the German Federal Ministry of Transportation scrutinized the program in Templin and found that a positive net effect is likely and fare-free transit is a viable policy to curb automobile externalities. Fare-free schemes are based on the economic theory of the second-best. Automobile users should be encouraged to shift to environmentally friendly transit. An undesired side effect, however, may be the increase in the demand by former transit users and the attraction of pedestrians and bicycle riders. In Templin, the side effect was prevailing, whereas the shift from automobile to transit was only minimal. The positive net benefit was due to the reduction in fatalities and casualties. Since pedestrians and bicycle riders belong to the most endangered road users, every decrease in these modes will lead to a reduction of automobile-caused costs. The undesired side effect thus became the main effect.