Most et al. (2001) demonstrated that an unexpected object (UEO) is noticed when it is similar to the target but dissimilar to the distractors. The authors concluded that inattentional blindness is influenced by attentional sets based on relationships among targets and distractors (e.g., lighter or darker). The present study further examined the role of relational attentional sets in inattentional blindness. In experiment one, participants monitored gray letters while ignoring either black or white distractors. The UEO was black, gray, or white. Participants were least likely to report seeing UEOs that matched the distractor color. Furthermore, UEOs that were in the opposite direction of the relationship between the target and the distractors (e.g., white UEO when the distractors were darker than the targets) were noticed either more often or equally as often as UEOs that matched the target. In experiment two, we examined whether this finding would generalize to relationships among colored targets and distractors. Participants either monitored dark orange targets with light orange distractors or light orange targets with dark orange distractors. Therefore, an attentional set could be created for "redder" or "yellower" and the UEO was either red, dark orange, light orange, or yellow. The results supported a relational attentional set when the targets were light orange and the distractors were dark orange (reporting of the UEO was highest for yellow UEOs > light orange > red > dark orange). However when participants should have been set for redder because the targets were dark orange and the distractors were light orange, reporting of the UEO was still high for the yellow UEO (red > dark orange = yellow > light orange). Overall, these results are consistent with previous research showing that attentional sets can be relational. However, there are also instances where saliency may override a relational attentional set. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Introduction: Teaching and learning are the most important factors affecting education. Different style of teaching have been used in different countries. This study aimed to compare the effect of lecture-based method versus group discussion method on the perception of achievement and satisfaction of pre-university students in Neka and Behshahr during 2010-2011 semesters. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. A questionnaire was developed to pre-test and post-test the perception of satisfaction and achievements of the participants in lecture-based teaching arm (n=138) and group discussion teaching arm (n=144). Overall, 282 participants were randomly selected from the pre-university students studying in Neka and Behshahr.. To assess validity and reliability of the questionnaires, test retest method and Cronbach alfa was measured ( α =0.75) Results: There was a significant difference between the two methods. It was found that students were more satisfied with the lecture-based teaching method and their achievements were higher. Conclusion: Given the current university entrance exam is centralized and that there is limited infrastructure for group based learning is available, students perceived the lecture based method more satisfying. Concerning the content of the text books and existing evaluation system in pre-university level, it is suggested that policy makers consider the underlying causes of this preference which should be, according to the literature, the other way around.


This study examined two different groups employed in the post-secondary education sector in Newfoundland and Labrador, instructors and their employers, regarding their views of the importance of pre-service teacher preparation for post-secondary instructors prior to the commencement of teaching. As well, it examined the views of those same groups according to geographical sector; east, central, west, or north. The study also sought to identify the nature of pre-service training, if any, that was deemed important by these same groups. -- Using a geographical cluster method, in which the Province was sectioned into four geographical sectors, east, central, west and north, and a single college as a cluster within each sector, a survey sample of 20% of the total population of instructors (n = 235) and 37% of the total population of employers (n = 31) was drawn using a table of random numbers. A total of 26 colleges, 116 instructors, and 18 employers participated in the study. -- The survey was conducted using a mail-out questionnaire. The instructor questionnaire contained a total of 53 items and the employer questionnaire a total of 47. The questionnaires were composed often open-ended items, six closed items (on the instructor questionnaire only) and a series of 37 items that asked the individual to respond on a five-point Likert-type scale. The 37 items were grouped into nine categories that corresponded to different areas of teacher training. -- There were no significant differences found between the views of instructors and employers across the Province, with both instructors and employers having the view that pre-service teacher training for post-secondary instructors has importance. -- The means for each section of the questionnaire were slightly different which indicated some areas of pre-service training were considered more important than others. The area given the most importance was "Lesson Presentation Skills". -- There was a significant difference in the views of instructors and employers towards pre-service teacher training for post-secondary instructors among the different geographical sectors, with the west sector generally placing less importance on it than their counterparts in the east, central and north sectors. -- The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are that pre-service teacher training for post-secondary instructors has importance. Therefore, it is recommended that instructors obtain teacher training before entering the classroom. As well, there were differences between geographical sectors with regards to views regarding the importance of pre-service teacher training. Therefore, further research into why this disparity exists should be conducted.


The calculation and use of effect sizes—such as d for mean differences and r for correlations—has increased dramatically in second language (L2) research in the last decade. Interpretations of these effects, however, have been rare and, when present, have largely defaulted to Cohen's levels of small (d = .2, r = .1), medium (.5, .3), and large (.8, .5), which were never intended as prescriptions but rather as a general guide. As Cohen himself and many others have argued, effect sizes are best understood when interpreted within a particular discipline or domain. This article seeks to promote more informed and field-specific interpretations of d and r by presenting a description of L2 effects from 346 primary studies and 91 meta-analyses (N > 604,000). Results reveal that Cohen's benchmarks generally underestimate the effects obtained in L2 research. Based on our analysis, we propose a field-specific scale for interpreting effect sizes, and we outline eight key considerations for gauging relative magnitude and practical significance in primary and secondary studies, such as theoretical maturity in the domain, the degree of experimental manipulation, and the presence of publication bias.


Meta-analyses of the results of randomised controlled trials of the efficacy of psychotherapy have shown that, when a researcher has a prior belief in the superiority of one of the treatment conditions within a comparative study, the results of the study tend to favour that condition. Recently, there has been a re-examination of the issue of researcher allegiance. The aim of the present paper is to examine the implications of researcher allegiance for policy and practice in the field of psychotherapy research. It is proposed that the topic of researcher allegiance can operate as a source of learning that has the potential to contribute to the advancement of psychotherapy research, by stimulating interest in the development of consumer-generated appraisals of the effectiveness of therapy, reinforcing a greater awareness of the significance of researcher reflexivity, and opening up debate around epistemological issues in research design.


Three-dimensional, nested tracer simulations of a pollution plume originating from the Indian sub-continent over the Indian Ocean, in the framework of the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), between 5 and 9 March 1999, were performed with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), to provide insight into the transport patterns of the pollutants, as well as to investigate the dynamical mechanisms controlling the vertical structure of the plume and its evolution in the vicinity of the Maldives Islands. Airborne and ground-based LIDAR observations of the structure of the haze plume made on 7 March 1999 were used to assess the quality of the simulations, as well as the impact of grid resolution on the vertical structure of the simulated plume. It is shown that, over the Arabian Sea, in the vicinity of the Maldives Islands, the pollutants composing the plume observed by the airborne LIDAR essentially originated from the city of Madras and that the vertical structure of the plume was controlled by the diurnal cycle of the continental boundary layer depth. A combination of tracer simulations and remote sensing observations (airborne LIDAR, ship-borne photometer, ground-based LIDAR in Goa) was used to analyse the diurnal evolution of the haze plume over the sea. We find evidence that the sea breeze circulation and orographic lifting taking place in the southern part of the Indian sub-continent during the daytime play a crucial role in the modulation of the continental boundary layer depth, and in turn, the haze plume depth. The eastward shift of the subtropical high from central India to the Bay of Bengal after 6 March lead to an increase in the tracer concentrations simulated over the Arabian Sea, in the region of intensive observations north of the Maldives, as transport pathways form Hyderabad and Madras were modified significantly. The nesting of a high horizontal resolution domain (5 km, with 39 vertical levels below 4000 m above mean seal level) allows for a better representation of local dynamics, the circulation of sea and mountains breezes, and therefore a noticeable improvement in the representation of the pollutants' plume in the simulation.


Preface Chapter 1: Financial Accounting and Accounting Standards Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting Chapter 3: The Accounting Information System Chapter 4: Income Statement and Related Information Chapter 5: Balance Sheet and Statement of Cash Flows Chapter 6: Accounting and the Time Value of Money Chapter 7: Cash and Receivables Chapter 8: Valuation of Inventories: A Cost-Basis Approach Chapter 9: Inventories: Additional Valuation Issues Chapter 10: Acquisition and Disposition of Property, Plant, and Equipment Chapter 11: Depreciation, Impairments, and Depletion Chapter 12: Intangible Assets Chapter 13: Current Liabilities and Contingencies Chapter 14: Long-Term Liabilities


Quantum error correction and symmetry arise in many areas of physics, including many-body systems, metrology in the presence of noise, fault-tolerant computation, and holographic quantum gravity. Here, we study the compatibility of these two important principles. If a logical quantum system is encoded into n physical subsystems, we say that the code is covariant with respect to a symmetry group G if a G transformation on the logical system can be realized by performing transformations on the individual subsystems. For a G-covariant code with G a continuous group, we derive a lower bound on the error-correction infidelity following erasure of a subsystem. This bound approaches zero when the number of subsystems n or the dimension d of each subsystem is large. We exhibit codes achieving approximately the same scaling of infidelity with n or d as the lower bound. Leveraging tools from representation theory, we prove an approximate version of the Eastin-Knill theorem for quantum computation: If a code admits a universal set of transversal gates and corrects erasure with fixed accuracy, then, for each logical qubit, we need a number of physical qubits per subsystem that is inversely proportional to the error parameter. We construct codes covariant with respect to the full logical unitary group, achieving good accuracy for large d (using random codes) or n (using codes based on W states). We systematically construct codes covariant with respect to general groups, obtaining natural generalizations of qubit codes to, for instance, oscillators and rotors. In the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence, our approach provides insight into how time evolution in the bulk corresponds to time evolution on the boundary without violating the Eastin-Knill theorem, and our five-rotor code can be stacked to form a covariant holographic code.


Abstract As the number of fish reproduction studies has proliferated, so has the number of gonadal classification schemes and terms. This has made it difficult for both scientists and resource managers to communicate and for comparisons to be made among studies. We propose the adoption of a simple, universal terminology for the phases in the reproductive cycle, which can be applied to all male and female elasmobranch and teleost fishes. These phases were chosen because they define key milestones in the reproductive cycle; the phases include immature, developing, spawning capable, regressing, and regenerating. Although the temporal sequence of events during gamete development in each phase may vary among species, each phase has specific histological and physiological markers and is conceptually universal. The immature phase can occur only once. The developing phase signals entry into the gonadotropin-dependent stage of oogenesis and spermatogenesis and ultimately results in gonadal growth. The spawning capable phase includes (1) those fish with gamete development that is sufficiently advanced to allow for spawning within the current reproductive cycle and (2) batch-spawning females that show signs of previous spawns (i.e., postovulatory follicle complex) and that are also capable of additional spawns during the current cycle. Within the spawning capable phase, an actively spawning subphase is defined that corresponds to hydration and ovulation in females and spermiation in males. The regressing phase indicates completion of the reproductive cycle and, for many fish, completion of the spawning season. Fish in the regenerating phase are sexually mature but reproductively inactive. Species-specific histological criteria or classes can be incorporated within each of the universal phases, allowing for more specific divisions (subphases) while preserving the overall reproductive terminology for comparative purposes. This terminology can easily be modified for fishes with alternate reproductive strategies, such as hermaphrodites (addition of a transition phase) and livebearers (addition of a gestation phase).


A newly developed analytical method was conducted for the determination of Ketotifen fumarate (KTF) in pharmaceuticals drugs via quenching of continuous fluorescence of 9(10H)-Acridone (ACD). The method was applied using flow injection system of a new homemade ISNAG fluorimeter with fluorescence measurements at ± 90◦ via 2×4 solar cell. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 1-45 mmol/L, with correlation coefficient r = 0.9762 and the limit of detection 29.785 µg/sample from the stepwise dilution for the minimum concentration in the linear dynamic ranged of the calibration graph. The method was successfully applied to the determination of Ketotifen fumarate in two different pharmaceutical drugs. A comparison was made between the newly developed method analysis and the classical method using the standard addition method via the use of individual and paired t-test and F-test. It was noticed that there was no significant difference between the two methods at 95 % confidence level.


Does the dramatic rise of plural citizenship portend a postnational future? This essay describes how plural citizenship both reflects and accelerates postnationalism, in the sense that it undermines state-based identities. This proposition may pose an initial paradox, insofar as plural citizenship could be thought to facilitate state-based connections. But acceptance of plural citizenship is likely to lower the intensity of the citizen-state affiliation and, in turn, the intensity of bonds among citizens. A citizenship regime tolerant of dual citizenship will count more members who subordinate the attachment to other national attachments, as an inevitable corollary of the move from an exclusive to a non-exclusive relationship. States, however, have incentives to accept plural citizenship notwithstanding these identity-diluting effects. Moreover, insofar as international norms begin to require acceptance of plural citizenship, at least in some cases, states will be increasingly constrained from rejecting the status at the same time that acceptance may result in constitutive challenges to the state as a form of community.


This is an extensive collection of short essays and other pieces by C.S. Lewis brought together in one volume for the first time. As well as his many books, letters and poems, C.S. Lewis also wrote a great number of essays and shorter pieces on various subjects. He wrote extensively on Christian theology and the defence of faith, but also on various ethical issues and on the nature of literature and story-telling. In the ESSAY COLLECTION we find a treasure trove of Lewis's reflections on diverse topics.


ZL is a C++-compatible language in which high-level constructs, such as classes, are defined using macros over a C-like core. ZL's parser and macro expander are similar to that of Scheme. Unlike Scheme, however, ZL must deal with C's richer syntax. Specifically, support for context-sensitive parsing and multiple syntactic categories (expressions, statements, types, etc.) leads to novel strategies for parsing and macro expansion. In this paper we describe ZL's approach to parsing and macros.


Context: In Bangladesh, typhoid fever is a round the year problem which sometimes take epidemic proportions. The reason behind such occurrences are unsafe water supply, defective sewage system and unhygienic food handling practice. This study was designed to find out the prevalence of typhoid fever and related factors like sanitation facilities and food practice among the children of low income group people living in Kamrangir char and its adjacent areas in the semi urban Dhaka. Methodology: Data were collected from June 2009 to May 2010, from a sample of 96 patients with fever of more than seven days duration, who presented in the paediatric outpatient department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka. Detailed history, comprehensive physical examination and other relevant informations of the patients were recorded by following standard procedures. A raised anti O level with titre of >1:160 as well as other blood parameters were considered significant of having typhoid fever. Results: This study shows that 84(87.50%) patients had typhoid fever based on clinical examination and serological test results (widal test). It was observed that prevalence of enteric fever was high among the patients of school going age group (66.67%), habituated with unsafe drinking water (58.33%) and junk foods (72.92%). Statistical analysis showed that SSC level education in the parents who remain outside during the major part of the day for their livelihood had significant positive relationship with prevalence of typhoid fever. It was concluded that prevalence of typhoid fever was high among the children of school going age, who consume unsafe drinking water and food from outside source. Keywords: Typhoid fever; semi urban area; children. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jdmc.v20i1.8570 J Dhaka Med Coll. 2011; 20(1) :37-43


This paper presents the development of a conceptual model of construction partnering. This model aims at exploring the relationship between two types of partnering (project and strategic) by studying the key factors that affect the partnering process stages. It also helps to determine the critical success factors (CSFs) of the two types of partnering. The paper commences by reviewing the literature on project and strategic partnering to develop the conceptual model. A survey was conducted to test the model. Results indicate that there are some critical factors (i.e. top management support, mutual trust, open communication, and effective co‐ordination) affecting both types of partnering, while some are specific to project (i.e. facilitator) or strategic partnering (i.e. long‐term commitment, continuous improvement, learning climate, and partnering experience). Practical implications are given to advise how to facilitate the implementation of partnering. Future research directions are also given to suggest how to improve our understanding of the concept of partnering.


Abstract. To investigate the timing of deposition and provenance of early Mesozoic strata in the northeastern North China Craton (NCC) and to understand the early Mesozoic paleotectonic evolution of the region, we combine stratigraphy, U–Pb zircon geochronology, and Hf isotopic analyses. Early Mesozoic strata include the Early Triassic Heisonggou, Late Triassic Changbai and Xiaoyingzi, and Early Jurassic Yihe formations. Detrital zircons in the Heisonggou Formation yield  ∼ 58 % Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic ages and  ∼ 42 % Phanerozoic ages and were sourced from areas to the south and north of the basins within the NCC, respectively. This indicates that Early Triassic deposition was controlled primarily by the southward subduction of the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate beneath the NCC and collision between the NCC and the Yangtze Craton (YC). Approximately 88 % of the sediments within the Late Triassic Xiaoyingzi Formation were sourced from the NCC to the south, with the remaining  ∼ 12 % from the Xing'an–Mongolia Orogenic Belt (XMOB) to the north. This implies that Late Triassic deposition was related to the final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean during the Middle Triassic and the rapid exhumation of the Su–Lu Orogenic Belt between the NCC and YC. In contrast,  ∼ 88 % of sediments within the Early Jurassic Yihe Formation were sourced from the XMOB to the north, with the remaining  ∼ 12 % from the NCC to the south. We therefore infer that rapid uplift of the XMOB and the onset of the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate beneath Eurasia occurred in the Early Jurassic.


Does the continuing assignment of legislative power to international institutions like the WTO, NAFTA, and the U.N. infringe the U.S. Constitution? The political controversy over the continued reliance on such organizations, and the potential effect on welfarist and democratic values, is increasingly perceived to have a legal dimension. Recent scholarship has taken two radically different views. One recent strain takes the position that such delegations are constitutionally problematic, chiefly in terms of the nondelegation doctrine and federalism, and proposes that the gap between these principles and constitutional practice be reduced. But others argue that these doctrines lack legal or normative salience. Delegations of legislative authority, it is argued, are functionally indistinguishable from any other kind of legislation; federalism, others maintain, offers no conceivable advantages over managed decentralization. The answer to the incongruity between the increasing use of international delegations and U.S. constitutional principles, in this latter view, is to conclude that nondelegation and federalism doctrines are underenforced for good reason, and to be done with them. This paper favors neither view, and advances a new perspective. After describing the range of international delegations that raise colorable constitutional issues, I first defend the proposition that, at least with respect to international commitments, the delegation of legislative authority is meaningfully distinct from normal exercises of legislative or treaty authority. But the reasons why delegation analysis remains conceptually relevant - including the difficulty any one nation has in controlling institutions with multiple principals, and the durability of international commitments - reveal that such delegations actually serve other constitutional values, particularly the value federalism places on the diffusion of authority and the creation of checks on the power of the national government. That is, if we look beyond the adverse effects international institutions may have on the existing agents of U.S. federalism, the states, we can see that delegations serve many of the same ends. After explaining this thesis at length, and reconciling the pursuit of diffusion with other welfarist and democratic concerns, the paper closes by focusing on kinds of international delegations that remain problematic. The objective is to move beyond the ascendant generalizations about the disadvantages of international delegations, without at the same time denying the continuing salience of constitutional values.


Abstract. The National Map provides geospatial data that support various uses such as resource management, disaster response, and science investigations. To properly support these needs, data themes of the National Map must be regularly updated and spatially integrated as the features on the ground change because of environmental or man-made events. The elevation theme of the National Map is managed through the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP), which is currently (2019) coordinating collection of high resolution (HR) elevation data for the United States over an eight-year period (Sugarbaker et al. 2014). Through this program, lidar point-cloud data are being collected for the conterminous United States, Hawaii, and U.S. territories, with coarser resolution interferometric synthetic aperture radar (ifsar) data being collected for the remote areas of Alaska. HR digital elevation models (DEMs) can be generated at 1 and 3 meter resolution from the lidar point-cloud data and are also furnished by 3DEP.This research develops automated methods to update the hydrography and transportation themes of the National Map in a manner that integrates with the HR elevation and image layers. Surface water drainage networks can be extracted from a HR DEM using flow-direction and flow-accumulation modelling, but results of these methods vary depending on environmental conditions and the existence of anthropogenic features that may affect the accuracy of the elevation model, such as vegetative cover, roads, bridges, and other urban structures. Hydrologic conditioning or enforcement of a HR DEM overcome some of these issues and improve flow modelling for drainage network extraction through techniques such as filtering (Passalaqua et al. 2010), filling sinks (Tarboton 1997), cutting channels through embankments at culvert and bridge locations (Poppenga et al. 2012), or burning-in existing streams (Maidment 1996). However, drainage network extraction results can vary substantially with these techniques and the methods generally require some manual intervention and/or tuning of parameters (Poppenga et al. 2013). Consequently, additional work is needed to streamline and further automate such methods for the various landscape conditions within the United States.


In the present study we aimed primarily to examine cycling time and distance when inactive subjects were provided with electrically assisted bicycles. Secondly to evaluate changes in maximal oxygen uptake. Inactive employees in a selection of public and private corporations in three Norwegian cities were invited to participate. Inclusion criteria were: a desire to cycle to work, residence more than 3 km from the workplace, and not physically active according to guidelines. There were 25 participants in the study and we provided them all with electrically assisted bicycles fitted with GPS bike computers to record usage. The participants were followed for three to eight months, 226 days on average. Measures of maximal oxygen uptake were performed before and after the intervention. Demographic characteristics and prior transportation habits were reported in a questionnaire at baseline. Participants cycled for 107.1± 62 min per week covering 37.6 ± 24 km per week. The distances cycled were significantly greater in the autumn (47.4 km/week, p=0.035) than in the spring (32.1 km/week). Participants cycled more on weekdays (7.1 km/day, p < 0.001) compared to weekends (0.9 km/day, p<0.001). Maximal oxygen uptake improved significantly, 2.4 ml/min/kg (7.7 %), p<0.001 and this was associated with cycling distance (r=0.49, p=0.042) and self-reported commuting distance (r=0.51, p=0.018). Offering electrically assisted bicycles to inactive employees may initiate transport-related physical activity and may give positive health effects.


Several approaches have been applied for the improvement of direct fermentation
of sago starch to solvent by C. acetobutylicum. Optimization of medium based on
gelatinised sago starch as a carbon source and kinetics of solvent-yielding batch
fermentation of individual sugars and their mixture derived from enzymatic hydrolysis of
sago starch were carried out using batch fermentation in Scoth bottle. Development of
pH control strategy for improvement of solvent production was carried out in batch
fermentation using 2 L stirred tank fermenter. The data gathered from batch fermentation
were used for development of models to describe direct fermentation of sago starch to
solvent. The 2 L and 0.5 L stirred tank fermenter were used to investigate the feasibility
of using continuous culture (single stage and two stage) on the improvement of direct
fermentation of sago starch to solvent. In all modes of fermentation investigated, the
activities of enzymes relevant to solvent fermentation (crotonase, thiolase, phosphate butyryltransferase and β-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase) were determined in order
to find their relationship with acid and solvent production.
The use of 30 g/L gelatinised sago starch as the sole carbon source produced 11.2
gIL total solvent i.e. 1.5-2 times higher than fermentation using pure maltose or glucose.
Enzymatic pretreatment of gelatinised sago starch yielding maltose and glucose
hydrolysate prior to the fermentation did not improve solvent production as compared to
direct fermentation of gelatinised sago starch. The inefficiency of the amylolytic enzymes
secreted during the fermentation in hydrolyzing starch to maltose and glucose is the main
problem in direct fermentation of sago starch to solvent. The a-amylase and
glucoamylase of C. acetobutylicum have different pH and temperature optima. The pH
optima for a-amylase and glucoamylase were found to be at 5.3 and 4.0-4.4, respectively.
a-amylase showed a broad pH stability profile, retaining more than 80% of its maximum
activity at pH 3.0-8.0 after 24 h incubation at 37°C. However, glucoamylase was only
stable at pH 4.0-5.0, maintaining more than 90% of its maximum activity after 24b
incubation at 37°C.
Production of solvent (11.0 g/L) in fermentation using 30 g/L sago starch was
comparable to fermentation using corn starch and about two times higher than
fermentation using potato and cassava starches. At the range of sago starch concentration
investigated (10 to 80 g/L), the highest solvent production (18.8 g/L) was obtained at 50
g/L. A mixture of yeast extract and ammoniwn nitrate produced total solvent (18.8 g/L)
of about 6 times higher than that produced by fermentation using yeast extract alone. The individual concentration of nitrogen and carbon influenced solvent production to a
greater extent than carbon to nitrogen (C/N) ratio. Simple unstructured models employing
Logistic and Leudeking-Piret equations were found sufficient to describe the growth of
C. acetobutybcum and the production of acid and solvent.
In fermentation without pH controL initial culture pH 6 gave the highest solvent
production (14.13 g/L) with the overall productivity of 0.5 g/L/h. Growth of C.
acetoburylicum, rate of starch hydrolysis and solvent production were greatly reduced in
fermentation where pH was controlled at 4.5 during acidogenic phase. Excessive acid
production (32 g/L) was obtained in fermentation where pH was controlled at 6.0 during
the acidogenic phase which reduced solvent production significantly (7.1 g/L). In order to
reduce acid accumulation, the fermentation where pH was allowed to decrease naturally
by self-acidification during acidogenic phase was suggested. Solvent production was also
reduced when pH during the solventogenic phase was controlled at 6.5. Substantial
improvement of solvent production was achieved in fermentation where pH was not
controlled during acidogenic phase (initial culture pH was 6) and then the pH was
controlled at 5.5 during solventogenic phase. Using this pH control strategy, the overall
productivity (0.79 g/L.h) was improved by 1.6 times as compared to fermentation without
pH control, though the final solvent concentration (16.82 g/L) was about the same. The highest crotonase and phosphate butyryltransferase activity was observed in
fermentation where pH was controlled at 5 during acidogenic phase, which was
corresponded to fairly high acid production but low solvent production. On the other hand, specific activity of β-hydroxybutyryl-CoA was the highest at pH 5.5, which was
corresponded to high acid and solvent production. In fermentation with controlled pH
during solventogenic phase, the highest thiolase specific activity was obtained at pH 5.25,
which was corresponded to the highest production of acetone. On the other hand, the
highest specific activity of crotonase, β-hydroxybutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase and
phosphate butyryltransferase was observed at pH 5.5, and this was corresponded to the
highest production of ethanol and butanol.


Hypergolic materials synthesis is a new preparative technique in materials science that allows a wide range of carbon (nanosheets, dots, hollow spheres, discs, fullerols, graphene/graphite) or inorganic (magnetic, photocatalytic, metallic or metal alloy) solids with useful properties to be obtained. Solely based on simple hypergolic reactions that lift-off rockets to space, the method not only allows the fast and spontaneous synthesis of several nanomaterials at ambient conditions, but also releases sizable amounts of energy that can be directly converted into useful work, such as chemical, mechanical, photovoltaic, thermoelectric or heating fluids. The present review aims to summarize the basic principles behind this new technique, to emphasize the general character and simplicity of the method by citing several paradigms of carbon and inorganic functional materials syntheses, as well as, to discuss some future prospects for large scale implementation based on rocket fuel engineering concepts.


The Financial Reporting Review Panel ('the Panel') was set up in 1991 as part of the new regime under the Financial Reporting Council, with the objective of improving the quality of financial reporting in the UK. Arguably, the Panel was the most radical innovation since it was concerned with the previously not addressed issue of the enforcement of financial reporting regulations. However, it has no direct powers of enforcement and is funded at a level at which it can only react to complaints about company accounts rather than seek out problems. While the Panel has been granted powers to take companies to court with a view to compelling them to revise their accounts, these powers have not been exercised. Nevertheless, there is some evidence that its existence encourages companies to be more scrupulous about compliance with accounting standards and relevant company law before publishing their annual reports. Explanations for compliance include the possibility that adverse findings by the Panel result in economic damage or loss of reputation to the company or its management. This paper investigates a key aspect of possible economic damage: that press notices issued by the Panel about individual cases have an adverse effect on the share price of the company concerned. A share price event study was carried out on 33 companies that, since the inception of the Panel, had been the subject of press notices. We have found no evidence of an adverse share price reactions following the publication of press notices. Improvements in compliance may be attributable to other reasons, one possibility being the belief by management that an adverse finding will affect the share price.


ABSTRACT This work analyses the politics of anticipation and ensuing fears, tensions and conflicts in relation to Kenya's Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor which is to pass through several previously marginalized counties in the north of the country. Isiolo county, in the centre of Kenya is home to several different ethnic groups of whom some are perceived to be better informed about LAPSSET than others, or have certain advantages in terms of claims to indigeneity, ethno-political dominance, land tenure security or access to markets, which help them to position themselves accordingly. This anticipatory positioning – actions people take in anticipation of the future – is raising fears and heightening the claiming of land and ethnic boundary-making, leading to heightened tensions and exacerbating existing conflicts of which three specific cases are considered. We show how ethno-political divides on a national and regional level become effective at the local and county level, but at the same time, how the positioning of actors in anticipation of future investments impacts on ethnic boundary-making, as division lines are re-enacted and redrawn.


This study advances and tests four interlinked hypotheses explicating the relationship between talent mindset competency, job satisfaction and job performance. Talent mindset competency is dimensionalised as: (a) value and goal alignment with the organisation, (b) manager's talent mindset, (c) talent application in everyday behaviours, (d) autonomy using talent and (e) development of talent in organisation. Results generated from a series of path analyses from a data set of 198 public and private sector employees suggest that strategies centred on talent management impact job performance, but through job satisfaction which acts as a mediator. Thus, it is not postulated that we have to pursue job satisfaction as a main underlying contributor to job performance, but rather that if we develop and institutionalise a comprehensive talent system, this can affect both job satisfaction (directly) and job performance (indirectly).


Purpose: The aim of this paper is to review the use of content analysis as a research method in understanding SEA and to examine current contemporary foci of this research tradition. Further, several research method issues relating to the use of content analysis are examined. Methodology: Contemporary focus and research issues are analyzed to provide some future directions for scholars in the field of SEA, by categorizing work in the SEA, social environmental reporting (SER) and intellectual capital reporting (ICR) literature, according to the following: normative literature/theory/commentaries; focus of empirical investigation; quality SER research; combined research methodologies; content analysis method issues. Findings: Literature indicates that few attempts have been made to combine other research methodologies with content analysis although it has proven fruitful with the limited investigation undertaken to examine aspects of SER. Further extending the performance reporting by combining SER with ICR may provide useful information. Research Implications: Increasingly, researchers in the field of social and environmental accounting (SEA) need to be able to justify the specific research methods they use when collecting the empirical data that they examine in order to support and test opinions regarding the merit of different approaches to managing, measuring and reporting of SEA.


This paper presents a study on regional development and innovation systems. The theoretical points of departure are gender theory and two perspectives from human geography and sociology: the theory of network governance for regional development and the theory of homosocial networks. The regional policy of the EU today is characterized by a strongly emphasized governance model: i.e., an orientation towards networks and cluster initiatives. The 2004–2007 regional development programme in Värmland, a Swedish county, is a template for this policy. Its basic principles included partnership engagements, networking, EU-specific linguistic usage and superstar rhetoric. However, this seemingly innovative regional policy has roots in traditional industrial society (ironworks and paper mills). The network-planning model allows informal social structures to re-enter the arena of regional planning. Gender equality in regional government policy was challenged by the presence of a homosocial shadow (seamy-side) structure, such as secret networks and clubs on the outside of the official organizations. Networks were also important in the reproduction of traditional power structures, male dominance and hegemony. One conclusion we reach is that networking can be used mutually as a progressive force and as a conservative tool among actors in the innovation of policy.


th , 2012; revised November 21 st , 2012; accepted December 11 th , 2012 The critical dependence of armed forces on teams carrying out tasks in a continuously changing, uncertain and often dangerous environment, raises questions about how to better understand factors that enable or hamper effective team learning. So far there is no developed field of research into team learning in the Swedish Armed Forces. This is the first of several studies within the Swedish Armed Forces to explore and gain a better understanding of team learning. In this first study of team learning we followed a military staff exercise. The theoretical base in this study is Amy Edmondson's theoretical model for studying and analyzing team learning. The model consists of context support, team leader coaching, team psychology safety and team learning behavior. The results of this study supports the theoretical model of team learning and describe factors that are important for creating good conditions for team learning behavior.


The pyrolysis of lignocellulose facilitates the rapid production of syngas, bio-oil, and biochar. However, its low thermal conductivity and high water content result in its low heat transfer efficiency. In this study, we demonstrate the ultra-fast pyrolysis of lignocellulose using highly tuned microwaves (MWs). The efficient pyrolysis of model biomass (cellulose and alkali lignin) and real biomass (rice straw) was facilitated using a cylindrical cavity resonator and a frequency-auto-tracking solid-state MW generator without any MW susceptors as thermal media. The heating rate of cellulose using 2.45 GHz MWs was 960 °C min−1 at 40 W, which was 8-fold higher than that obtained using conventional conductive heating (120 °C min−1) at 100 W. The highest heating rate of 330 °C s−1 was reached when rice straw was subjected to 915 MHz MWs. Using in situ resonance frequency monitoring, the carbonisation of rice straw occurred within seconds during fast heating under MW irradiation. This study demonstrated that highly tuned MW energy could facilitate the ultra-rapid pyrolysis of lignocellulose by directly applying MW energy without using a thermal medium.


Upper Campanian and Maestrichtian Atlantic Coastal Plain sediments of New Jersey contain abundant delicately preserved planktonic foraminifera, and well-preserved late Campanian planktonic foraminifera have been recognized from Delaware Coastal Plain sediments. Twenty-eight species of planktonic foraminifera have been identified from the New Jersey and Delaware samples. One new species of Hedbergella is described and illustrated. Apparently the Maestrichtian Boreal planktonic foraminiferal faunas differed somewhat from those of the Tethys.


Recent work in domain adaptation bridges different domains by adversarially learning a domain-invariant representation that cannot be distinguished by a domain discriminator. Existing methods of adversarial domain adaptation mainly align the global images across the source and target domains. However, it is obvious that not all regions of an image are transferable, while forcefully aligning the untransferable regions may lead to negative transfer. Furthermore, some of the images are significantly dissimilar across domains, resulting in weak image-level transferability. To this end, we present Transferable Attention for Domain Adaptation (TADA), focusing our adaptation model on transferable regions or images. We implement two types of complementary transferable attention: transferable local attention generated by multiple region-level domain discriminators to highlight transferable regions, and transferable global attention generated by single image-level domain discriminator to highlight transferable images. Extensive experiments validate that our proposed models exceed state of the art results on standard domain adaptation datasets.


ASCE held an engineering education conference in April, 1985, entitled, Educators and Practitioners—Where Are We Going? Participants agreed that a greater interchange is beneficial between faculty and students at the university and practitioners in the business world. On other subjects the conference attendees were less than united. Among issues addressed were the role of computers in civil engineering education, a five-year engineering program, the need for better communications skills among engineering graduates, a divorce of civil engineering and the construction industry, a dearth of research funds, and the reputation of civil engineering as a low technology profession.


Metastasis is the leading cause of morbidity for lung cancer patients. Here we demonstrate that murine tumor propagating cells (TPCs) with the markers Sca1 and CD24 are enriched for metastatic potential in orthotopic transplantation assays. CD24 knockdown decreased the metastatic potential of lung cancer cell lines resembling TPCs. In lung cancer patient data sets, metastatic spread and patient survival could be stratified with a murine lung TPC gene signature. The TPC signature was enriched for genes in the Hippo signaling pathway. Knockdown of the Hippo mediators Yap1 or Taz decreased in vitro cellular migration and transplantation of metastatic disease. Furthermore, constitutively active Yap was sufficient to drive lung tumor progression in vivo. These results demonstrate functional roles for two different pathways, CD24‐dependent and Yap/Taz‐dependent pathways, in lung tumor propagation and metastasis. This study demonstrates the utility of TPCs for identifying molecules contributing to metastatic lung cancer, potentially enabling the therapeutic targeting of this devastating disease.


This thesis describes an experimental study of the electronic properties of semiconductor heterostructure tunnel devices. InAs self-assembled quantum dots (QDs) are incorporated into the barrier layer of a GaAs/AlAs/GaAs tunnel diode. When a voltage, V, is applied across the device, we observe resonant features in the tunnel current, I, whenever an electron state in one of the qds comes into resonance with an occupied electron state in the emitter. We employ an electron state of a single qd as a spectroscopic probe of a two-dimensional electron system (2DES), from the Fermi energy to the subband edge [1]. For magnetic field B applied parallel to the current, we observe peaks in the I(V) characteristics corresponding to the formation of Landau levels in the 2DES. We obtain quantitative information about the energy dependence of the quasiparticle lifetime, Tqp, of the 2DES. We find that Tqp ~ 2.5 hbar=(Ef - E), in contrast with the expectation for a normal Fermi liquid, but in agreement with predictions for a Fermi liquid state of a disordered 2DES. Close to filling factor nu = 1 we observe directly the exchange enhancement of the g factor.

This thesis also describes the design, realisation and measurement of a tunnel diode incorporating InAs QDs and a series of 4 planar electrostatic gates. By applying a bias to the gates, it is possible to selectively inject current into a particular QD. We use magneto-tunnelling spectroscopy to determine the energy levels of the ground and excited state of a single QD, and to map the spatial form of the wave functions of these states [2].

The effect of pressure on the resonant tunnelling of the QDs is also described.

[1] P. C. Main et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84, 729 (2000)
[2] R. J. A. Hill et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 79, 3275 (2001)


Much has been written over recent years questioning the value of exporting systems of VET from developed countries and expecting them to meet the needs and demands of developing countries. Most recently, the main recipients of development aid, particularly from the EU, have been the countries of the former 'eastern bloc'. As a consultant working on an EU project to upgrade VET in Bulgaria, the author was involved in delivering staff development seminars concentrating on 'new' teaching and learning strategies to teachers within the secondary vocational sector. Although the staff development was well received at the time, questions were raised about whether such fundamental changes in approach, from a very authoritarian and didactic approach, to an approach that is student-centred, could be sustained on the basis of a series of seminars. This thesis examines what impact these seminars have had in promoting the use of the 'new' strategies. In particular, the author examines to what extent cultural and / or contextual factors have played a role in the effectiveness of implementation of the 'new' student-centred teaching and learning strategies.


Building on secondary data, this paper seeks to make two contributions to literature. First, to present a description of the sex differentials in course applications into Nigerian universities, using the University of Lagos as a sample and second, to describe the variation in the selection of courses in the fields of  Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) by prospective students that are females. Findings showed that female applications for degree programmes were higher than male applications in most fields, including some core science fields which involve human-oriented professions like pharmacology and medicine. Nevertheless, the overall statistics revealed that the proportion of male applicants were fractionally higher during the four sessions under review. The sex differentials were highest in engineering and environmental sciences fields where male applications outnumbered female applications by a ratio of about three to one. Furthermore, female applicants were more likely to choose biological, people-oriented and care-centred fields, leading to female apathy towards engineering and other technical programmes, especially those with mathematics, physics and geography as core subjects. We, therefore, recommend the development of nationwide programmes aimed at dispelling gendered misconceptions about certain fields, especially STEM fields. This is very essential in a world where science and technology define national economies. Nigeria cannot afford to leave half her population behind.


This essay responds to Orin S. Kerr, Searches and Seizures in a Digital World, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 531 (2005), http://ssrn.com/abstract=697541. Professor Kerr has published a thorough and careful article on the application of the Fourth Amendment to searches of computers in private hands - a treatment that has previously escaped the attentions of legal academia. Such a treatment is perhaps so overdue that it has been overtaken by two phenomena: first, the emergence of an overriding concern within the United States about terrorism; and second, changes in the way people engage in and store their most private digital communications and artifacts. The first phenomenon has foregrounded a challenge by the President to the very notion that certain kinds of searches and seizures may be proscribed or regulated by Congress or the judiciary. The second phenomenon, grounded in the mass public availability of always-on Internet broadband, is leading to the routine entrustment of most private data to the custody of third parties - something orthogonal to a doctrinal framework in which the custodian of matter searched, rather than the person who is the real target of interest of a search, is typically the only one capable of meaningfully asserting Fourth Amendment rights to prevent a search or the use of its fruits. Together, these phenomena make the application of the Fourth Amendment to the standard searches of home computers - searches that, to be sure, are still conducted regularly by national and local law enforcement - an interesting exercise that is yet overshadowed by greatly increased government hunger for private information of all sorts, both individual and aggregate, and by rapid developments in networked technology that will be used to satisfy that hunger. Perhaps most important, these factors transform Professor Kerr's view that a search occurs for Fourth Amendment purposes only when its results are exposed to human eyes: such a notion goes from unremarkably unobjectionable - police are permitted to mirror entirely a suspect's hard drive and then are constitutionally limited as they perform searches on the copy - to dangerous to any notion of limited government powers. Professor Kerr appreciates this as a troublesome result - indeed, downright creepy - but does not dwell upon it beyond suggesting that the copying of data might be viewed as a seizure if not a search, at least so long as it involves some physical touching or temporary commandeering of the machine. This view should be amplified: If remote vacuum cleaner approaches are used to record and store potentially all Internet and telephone communications for later searching, with no Fourth Amendment barrier to the initial information-gathering activity in the field, the government will be in a position to perform comprehensive secret surveillance of the public without any structurally enforceable barrier, because it will no longer have to demand information in individual cases from third parties or intrude upon the physical premises or possessions of a search target in order to gather information of interest. The acts of intruding upon a suspect's demesnes or compelling cooperation from a third party are natural triggers for judicial process or public objection. If the government has all necessary information for a search already in its possession, then we rely only upon its self-restraint in choosing the scope and depth of otherwise unmonitorable searching. This is precisely the self-restraint that the Fourth Amendment eschews for intrusive government searches by requiring outside monitoring by disinterested magistrates - or individually exigent circumstances in which such monitoring can be bypassed. Taken together, the current areas of expansion of surveillance appear permanent rather than exigent, and sweeping rather than focused, causing the justifications behind special needs exceptions to swamp the baseline protections established for criminal investigations. This expansion stands to remove the structural safeguards designed to forestall the abuse of power by a government that knows our secrets.


Transport, and in particular road transport, represents a significant global threat to long-term sustainable development, and is one of the fastest-growing consumers of final energy and sources of greenhouse gas emissions. In this book, long-term energy–economy–environment scenarios are used to identify the key technological developments required to address the challenges passenger car transport poses to climate change mitigation and energy security. It also considers possible targets for policy support and examines some of the elements that contribute to the significant levels of uncertainty – particularly social and political conditions. The book then builds on this long-term scenario analysis with a broad review of recent empirical examples of relevant policy implementation to identify near-term options for the passenger transportation sector which may promote a shift towards a more sustainable transport system over the longer term.


Innovative composite sandwich structures have attracted great fundamental and industrial interests because they can be used partly instead of steel and concrete using for structural engineering and construction. In this work, the fundamental mechanical properties and engineering applications of the innovative composite sandwich structures were investigated. At first, the mechanical properties of the innovative FRP sandwich composite structures in tension, compression, bending, shear, and torsion conditions were investigated. Furthermore, three interfacial reinforcement methods were employed to enhance the interface of the composite sandwich structures, including groove reinforced, perforate reinforced, and web reinforced methods. Among these, web reinforced method is critical to this novel structure. Additionally, the node connection of the composite sandwich structures is the key and difficult of design and application. Adherence I-shaped steel joints were used for node connection. Importantly, the engineering products of the innovative composite sandwich structures in civil engineering were exploited, including composite pavement matting, composite sheet piles, composite truss bridges, composite floating structures, composite collision avoidance facilities, and so on. With the additional advantages of light-weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance, this new structure can be exploited as an alternative method for manufacturing large structures using in civil engineering field.


Core–shell nano-structured carbon composites have been used as electrode materials in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with increasing attention. The large volume swing during lithiation/delithiation processes and poor electronic conductivity are two key issues in the newly-proposed electrode materials, which severely limit their practical applications in LIBs. In order to solve these problems, we report a facile and versatile method to prepare core–shell nano-structured carbon composites using low cost and widely available tannic acid as the carbon source. The carbon layers with controlled thicknesses of 6–12 nm and 1–3 nm were coated on the surface of Si and TiO2 nanoparticles, respectively. Due to the carbon layers, both the Si@C and TiO2@C nanocomposites used as anode materials in LIBs showed excellent electrochemical performances including good cycling stability and high rate capability. We believe that this method may be applicable to various carbon-coating nanocomposites.


Gamification, or the use of game elements in non-game contexts, has been identified as a really interesting technique for improving motivation, effort and many others positive values usually appearing in games. While it has already been applied in different areas like marketing, human resources and even in cultivation of customer loyalty in the education field it has just been installed. The goal of this TFC is to define gamification concept and present the best known gamification techniques and game mechanics elements that could be used to get a motivating gamification experience. Part of this analysis consists in presenting a number of arguments both for and against of using this method in schools. The result of the analysis identifies the need of a gamification platform. This result leads to the second part of this project, researching which are the current existing platforms in the education field and group them based on their main features. A platform of each group has been chosen to design different gamification experiences. In the last part of this project a use case for each selected platform has been designed, identifying and defining all the necessary steps to make the gamificated activity as motivating and enriching as possible for both: the students and the teachers.


This interpretative qualitative study was designed to examine the experiences and perspectives of teacher educators as they worked to integrate the Blackboard Course Management System (BbCMS) into their courses. More specifically, it focused on how teacher educators' perspectives of the value of the affordances of course managements systems for course delivery and their pedagogical beliefs influenced their integration of the BbCMS into their courses.
The study consisted of two stages. In the first stage data were collected from 53 out of 112 teacher educators using an open-ended questionnaire. In the second stage I collected data from eight teacher educators who were purposively selected and individually interviewed. My framework for analyses focuses on Pajares' (1992) assumptions of teacher beliefs, Becker's (2000) principles of teacher-centred pedagogy and Savery and Duffy's (1995) principles of constructivist instruction.
The results suggest that teacher educators hold the perspective that the affordances of the BbCMS can enhance teaching and learning when used with face-to-face classroom sessions. The affordances most used were accessibility, followed by communication and collaboration and diversity. The study also found that many teacher educators with espoused constructivist beliefs did not integrate the BbCMS in ways that were consistent with their beliefs. Additionally, teacher educators experienced several challenges which may have prevented them from integrating the BbCMS in ways consistent with their espoused constructivist beliefs. These challenges included: administrative, teacher and technical issues.
My recommendations include a comprehensive professional development programme which provides training in both the technical aspects of the BbCMS and also how to use the affordances of the BbCMS to create a constructivist learning environment. I also recommend that a dedicated support desk be establish to provide assistance to teacher educators in resolving pedagogical issues that they may encounter while attempting to integrate the affordances of the BbCMS into their courses.


The Long Valley region of eastern California (United States) is the site of abundant late Tertiary–present magmatism, including three geochemically distinct stages of magmatism since ca. 3 Ma: Mammoth Mountain, the Mono-Inyo volcanic chain, and Long Valley Caldera. We propose two tectonic models, one explaining the Mammoth Mountain–Mono-Inyo magmatism and the other explaining the presence of Long Valley Caldera. First, the ongoing Mammoth Mountain–Mono-Inyo volcanic chain magmatism is explained by a ridge-transform-ridge system, with the Mono-Inyo volcanic chain acting as one ridge segment and the South Moat fault acting as a transform fault. Implicit in this first model is that this region of eastern California is beginning to act as an incipient plate boundary. Second, the older Long Valley Caldera system is hypothesized to occur in a region of enhanced extension resulting from regional fault block rotation, specifically involving activation of the sinistral faults of the Mina deflection. The tectonic models are consistent with observed spatial and temporal differences in the geochemistry of the regional magmas, and the westward progression of magmatism since ca. 12 Ma.


A 21 residue peptide from the C2 domain of the antihaemophilic factor VIII competes with factor VIII for membrane-binding sites in vitro. Here, we provide the structure and topography of the peptide in solution, on dodecylphosphocholine (DPC) micelles, determined using 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The peptide assumes an amphipathic structure comprising an extended N-terminal region and a C-terminal helix. The average root-mean-square deviation is 0.7+/-0.2 A for the superimposition of the backbone atoms of Ile6 to Arg18 on the lowest energy structure. Whereas the backbone conformation is similar to that in SDS micelles, the Trp11 side-chain orientation is dramatically changed. The indole ring is nearly parallel to the peptide backbone in SDS micelles but perpendicular in DPC micelles. Further, pKa values of the two histidines change by more than 1 pH unit in SDS relative to DPC, which localizes the imidazole rings to the interfacial region. Line-broadening induced by spin-labelled phosphatidylcholine shows that most of the amino acid side-chains that penetrate the DPC micelle are hydrophobic. Thus, the long axis of the peptide lies parallel to the micelle surface and the hydrophobic face of the alpha-helix provides hydrophobic membrane interaction. The large chemical shift changes shown by Trp11 and N-terminal amino acid residues in SDS relative to DPC indicate that this region may be involved in membrane phospholipid recognition. 1H-NMR assignments, CD spectra, one-dimensional 1H-NMR spectra, chemical-shift analysis and nuclear Overhauser effect information are reported in Supplementary Publication SUP 50184 (11 pages), which has been deposited at the British Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby, West Yorkshire LS23 7BQ, U.K, from whom copies can be obtained according to the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1997) 321, 8.


Internet-Based Computing Dear Readers, It is our pleasure to present to you a long-awaited special issue of the SCPE journal. Since the issue is finally published in the rejuvenated SCPE, we will not delve into the reasons for the delay. Instead, we present to you 8 extended papers that were originally presented during the First International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing that took place in Iasi, Romania, in August, 2001. Out of the collection of very good papers we have selected these that dealt with Internet-oriented computing. The first three pages deal with peer-to-peer and meta computing: W. Hoschek Enabling Rich Service and Resource Discovery with Database for Dynamic Distributed Content, K. Power, J. P. Morrison Ad Hoc Metacomputig With Compeer and J. P. Morrison, P. D. Healy Implementing a Condensed Graphs Based Metacomputer with XML. The next three papers deal with various issues in performance analysis: G. Da Costa, R. Olivier Impact of RealisticWorkload in Peer-to-Peer Systems a Case Study: Freenet, E. Caron, F. Desprez, F. Suter Parallel Extension of a Dynamic Performance Forecasting Tool, and R. Harakaly, P. Primet, F. Bonnassieux, B. Gaidioz Probes Coordination Protocol for Network Performance Measurement in GRID Computing Environment. The remaining three papers are: D. Weyns, E. Eddy, P. Verbaeten Serialization of Distributed Threads in Java, V. Fiolet, B. Toursel Distributed Data Mining, and W. Gawinecki, M. Gordon, P. Kaczmarek, M. Paprzycki The Problem of Agent-Client Communication on the Internet. W believe that even though time has passed since original preparation, the quality of the papers remains high and they are definitely worthy your attention. Dan Grigoras John Morrison Marcin Paprzycki


The extent of demographic changes in Europe and Asia is much more drastic than in the US. This paper studies the effects of population aging on the interactions between economic growth and living standards in Europe with labor market and pension reform, behavioral adaptations, and international capital flows. Our analysis is based on an overlapping generations model with behavioral reactions to reform which is extended to the multi-country situation typical for Europe. While the negative effects of population aging on growth in Europe can in principle be compensated by reforms and economic adaptation mechanisms, they may be partially offset by behavioral reactions.


Location plays a very important role in the retail business due to its huge and long-term investment. In this paper, we propose a novel semisupervised regression model for evaluating convenience store location based on spatial data analysis. First, the input features for each convenience store can be extracted by analyzing the elements around it based on a geographic information system, and the turnover is used to evaluate its performance. Second, considering the practical application scenario, a manifold regularization model with one semi-supervised performance information constraint is provided. The promising experimental results in the real-world dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in performance prediction of certain candidate locations for new convenience store opening.


All formal hardware verification tools in the market today interpret hardware description languages (HDLs) based on their synthesis semantics. This limits formal verification to synthesizable designs. The result, either a proof or a counterexample, produced by a formal tool can be inconsistent with simulation due to synthesis and simulation mismatches. And finally, conversion from a synthesized gate-level circuit to a formal model such as a Kripke structure or a Mealy machine is complex for designs containing gated clocks or latches. Existing solutions are often based on heuristics rather than language semantics. In this paper, we propose a new approach that constructs formal models based on simulation semantics. We symbolically simulate HDL designs using non-canonical word-level expressions to represent the values of design signals. We show that the formal model is consistent with simulation at specified sample points, which can be chosen to represent a clock cycle or a transaction. Our approach has been implemented in a tool called Simon. Experimental results show that Simon can efficiently construct formal models for large industrial designs.


The small-scale research study reported in this paper aimed to explore the ways in which mentors in primary school settings approach the assessment of trainee teachers within the English Initial Teacher Education system. Consistency and accuracy of assessment is judged by Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) as a key indicator of quality, and yet very little is understood about the ways in which assessment is enacted by mentors. The paper explores some of the tensions involved in mentor assessment of trainees: variable interpretations of criteria, the dichotomous role of the mentor and differing operating contexts and personal constructs of mentors. It is concluded that these all influence mentor decision making, and a 'mentor assessment identity' is theorised, based on mentors' previous and current experiences, contexts and beliefs. Consistency in terms of the application of criterion-based assessment to trainees' teaching is thus fundamentally critiqued, and a way forward is suggested based on qualitative formative feedback. It is thus suggested that ITE providers could move away from grading and focus instead on strengths and areas for development for trainee teachers.


This policy report highlights the main findings of the research project by the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and the AXA Research Fund. The research explores the connections between the international response to climate change, migration and human rights. Taking the Pacific region as its geographic focus, Fiji and Vanuatu – two of the countries most affected by climate change – serve as case studies to further examine the process of international environmental law implementation in the region. The existence of two legal systems in the Pacific islands – the custom or traditional law originally derived from indigenous communities and the national or state law, introduced by colonial powers – is a potential source of conflicting perspectives that could challenge the implementation of international standards. This report aims to look at these potential discrepancies, identifying gaps and legal risks, and analyzing their impact on human rights, migration and the overall response to climate change. The findings build on field research conducted in Fiji and Vanuatu, countries chosen due to the similarities of their legal systems. This research comprised a sample of 39 surveys answered by the local population, as well as semi-structured interviews with representatives of the government and international bodies in the region, legal experts and chief police officers. In light of the findings, this report formulates seven policy recommendations for both the Pacific island states and the international community with which to further advance in successfully addressing climate change and climate related migration, building on custom and state law from a human rights perspective.


The pre-B cell receptor (pre-BCR), comprising a heavy chain and a heterodimeric surrogate light chain (SLC), is a signaling complex that acts as a checkpoint in B cell development. Bankovich et al. report the structure of a pre-BCR Fab-like fragment at 2.7 angstrom resolution. The structure shows how the requirement for pairing with the SLC might constrain the repertoire of heavy chains in the mature antibody population. The crystal structure, together with electron microscopy data and biochemical analysis, supports a model of antigen-independent SLC-mediated dimerization of the pre-BCR to promote pre-B cell activation and expansion. A. J. Bankovich, S. Raunser, Z. S. Juo, T. Walz, M. M. Davis, K. C. Garcia, Structural insight into pre-B cell receptor function. Science 316, 291-294 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The multi-armed bandit problem forms the foundation for solving a wide range of on-line stochastic optimization problems through a simple, yet effective mechanism. One simply casts the problem as a gambler that repeatedly pulls one out of N slot machine arms, eliciting random rewards. Learning of reward probabilities is then combined with reward maximization, by carefully balancing reward exploration against reward exploitation. In this paper, we address a particularly intriguing variant of the multi-armed bandit problem, referred to as the {\it Stochastic Point Location (SPL) Problem}. The gambler is here only told whether the optimal arm (point) lies to the "left" or to the "right" of the arm pulled, with the feedback being erroneous with probability $1-\pi$. This formulation thus captures optimization in continuous action spaces with both {\it informative} and {\it deceptive} feedback. To tackle this class of problems, we formulate a compact and scalable Bayesian representation of the solution space that simultaneously captures both the location of the optimal arm as well as the probability of receiving correct feedback. We further introduce the accompanying Thompson Sampling guided Stochastic Point Location (TS-SPL) scheme for balancing exploration against exploitation. By learning $\pi$, TS-SPL also supports {\it deceptive} environments that are lying about the direction of the optimal arm. This, in turn, allows us to solve the fundamental Stochastic Root Finding (SRF) Problem. Empirical results demonstrate that our scheme deals with both deceptive and informative environments, significantly outperforming competing algorithms both for SRF and SPL.


Given that full duplex (FD) and MIMO both employ multiple antenna resources, an important question that arises is how to make the choice between MIMO and FD? We show that optimal performance requires a combination of both to be used. Hence, we present the design and implementation of MIDU, the first MIMO full duplex system for wireless networks. MIDU employs antenna cancellation with symmetric placement of transmit and receive antennas as its primary RF cancellation technique. We show that MIDU's design provides large amounts of self-interference cancellation with several key advantages: (i) It allows for two stages of additive antenna cancellation in tandem, to yield as high as 45 dB self-interference suppression; (ii) It can potentially eliminate the need for other forms of analog cancellation, thereby avoiding the need for variable attenuator and delays; (iii) It easily scales to MIMO systems, therefore enabling the coexistence of MIMO and full duplex. We implemented MIDU on the WARP FPGA platform, and evaluated its performance against half duplex (HD)-MIMO. Our results reveal that, with the same number of RF chains, MIDU can potentially double the throughput achieved by half duplex MIMO in a single link; and provide median gains of at least 20% even in single cell scenarios, where full duplex encounters inter-client interference. Based on key insights from our results, we also highlight how to efficiently enable scheduling for a MIDU node.


Literature is created and consumed by human being, but it is not easy to understand or to appreciate literary works whether in the form of story, poem and novel. The readers should have a sense of art to know the massage that the author wants to say. Novel as one of literary works has purpose for entertainment, enjoyment and information. Reading novel means reading the society because its story is similar with human daily life. The purpose of this study is to find out the answers to the research problems: (1) What are the main characters' conflicts in "The Trouble with Tamsin? (2) What is the most dominant conflict? How do the main characters solve their conflicts in "The Trouble with Tamsin"? In this study, the writer of this thesis used descriptive research design, because there was no treatment as it was in experimental research. Mimetic approach was used in analyzing the study, because the thesis writer supposes literary work as the picture or reflection of real life of human being. The population of this study was the whole events or element which existed in Julie Garratt's novel "The Trouble with Tamsin", while the sample of this study was some paragraph or dialogue quotations that were related to the main characters conflicts. The results of this study are as follows: (1) The main characters' conflicts in "The Trouble with Tamsin" are social conflict and psychological conflict. (2) The most dominant conflict is social conflict because it exists more frequently in the story of this novel. (3) In the end of this story, Craig Andrews died after Clare Faulkener killed him. Clare Faulkener got a terrible accident which made Patric couldn't leave and divorce her. Meanwhile, Cass Fairburn moved to the other town to forget Patric Faulkener. In addition, Tamsin Curtis came back to Heronsea. Tamsin worked at lighthouse again where she lived and worked before. Tamsin wanted to be near Mark and married him.


The standard conception of separation of powers presumes three branches with equivalent ambitions of maximizing their powers. Today, however, legislative abdication is the reigning modus operandi. Instead of bemoaning this state of affairs, this piece asks how "separation of powers" can be reflected within the Executive Branch when that branch, not the legislature, is making much law today. The first-best concept of legislature v. executive checks-and-balances has to be updated to contemplate second-best executive v. executive divisions. A critical mechanism to promote internal separation of powers is bureaucracy. Much maligned by both the political left and right, bureaucracy serves crucial functions: it creates a civil service not beholden to any particular Administration and a cadre of experts with a long-term institutional worldview. Executives and academics routinely malign bureaucracy as inefficient, but the inefficiency presumed in the Founders' design of three overlapping branches needs some internal replication given the seismic shift in power to the Executive Branch. This Article therefore proposes a set of mechanisms that can create checks and balances within the Executive Branch. The apparatus of these restraints is familiar - separate and overlapping cabinet offices, mandatory review of government action by different agencies, civil-service protections for their workers, reporting requirements to Congress, and an impartial decisionmaker to resolve inter-agency conflicts. The idea is to create a more textured conception of the Presidency than either the unitary executivists or their critics espouse.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) research that has a vague positioning of the bounded rationality of an actor. By borrowing insights from other disciplines, this study aims to develop the IMP approach further by acknowledging the importance of individuals who act and make decisions on behalf of their companies.

Design/methodology/approach
This study is conceptual. By examining the IMP studies in combination with decision-making literature from behavioral economics and psychology, this paper provides a new understanding of the phenomenon in question.

Findings
This study demonstrates that individual decision-making is not as rational as has previously been thought, thus indicating the bounded rationality of the actor. After examining the most common negative emotions that influence the decision-making process, the paper presents a research agenda. It provides a series of research topics and methodological choices for future IMP research endeavors.

Research limitations/implications
As this paper is conceptual, empirical research is needed to examine the role of negative emotions in dynamic decision-making processes.

Practical implications
Managerial implications of this paper are focused on providing instructions for managers on how to deal with negative emotions in dynamic decision-making processes.

Originality/value
To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is one of the first papers that attempts to connect the IMP studies with the dynamics of decision-making by examining negative emotions in the business world.


The purpose of this document is to guide the design of congestion
notification in any lower layer or tunnelling protocol that
encapsulates IP. The aim is for explicit congestion signals to
propagate consistently from lower layer protocols into IP. Then the IP
internetwork layer can act as a portability layer to carry congestion
notification from non-IP-aware congested nodes up to the transport
layer (L4). Following these guidelines should assure interworking
among IP layer and lower layer congestion notification mechanisms,
whether specified by the IETF or other standards bodies. This document
updates the advice to subnetwork designers about ECN in RFC 3819.


Background: Data at primary healthcare (PHC) clinics are handwritten in registers by nurses for submission to the District Health Information System (DHIS). Compared to pen and paper, data capture, using handheld computers, has fewer errors, is more efficient and is readily accepted by users. This study describes the process of developing a tablet computer programme to capture data, and explores nurses' experiences of using tablets at a community health centre. Method: OpenDataKit® was used to design XForms for touchscreen entry. Data for tuberculosis screening were captured by nurses on Android® 9.7-inch tablets over a week. Their experience was explored by means of a focus group interview. Results: Data were recorded for 24 patients and seamlessly transferred for analysis. Nurses thought that the tablets were easy to use and saved time. They would be happy to use tablets in preference to pen and paper. They expressed a desire to extend the use of tablets to other areas of their work. Conclusion: Tablet computers were readily accepted by the nurses. They are a feasible alternative to pen and paper for recording data at point of care. This tablet-based system could be used to transfer PHC data directly to the DHIS.


IT projects are known for the high rate at which they fail. Past work by the authors has investigated the building of cognitive causal maps to find and represent what the participants in a project feel are factors that lead to project success or failure. It was found that while agreement can often be reached on the broad causes of failure, there tended to be differences about the precise nature of the identified factors (for example the exact meaning of 'inadequate resources'). The position paper proposes the use of ontological models to enrich and clarify causal maps with information about the classes of object in the real world to which they refer. This would facilitate more effective planning of new projects. An aspiration of the authors is to use the information generated by ontology-enriched causal maps to provide guidance on the tailoring of methodologies, particularly Agile ones, for specific projects.


OBJECTIVE
To provide an updated review on extrahepatic biliary atresia, focusing mainly on its etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.

SOURCES
MEDLINE and PubMed databases were searched using the following keywords: biliary atresia, etiopathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, children.

SUMMARY OF THE FINDINGS
Extrahepatic biliary atresia is the main indication for liver transplantation among pediatric patients. As to its etiology, cytomegalovirus, reovirus and rotavirus have been widely investigated as possible triggers of the immunomediated obstruction of the biliary tree. The immune response, especially the predominant TH1 and interferon-gamma responses, genetic susceptibility and disorders related to the embryonic development of the biliary tree can play a role in the etiopathogenesis of extrahepatic biliary atresia. Yet today, portoenterostomy is the only available treatment, with better results when performed in the first 2 months of life. As to prognosis, all untreated children eventually die due to complications resulting from portal hypertension and liver cirrhosis, and most treated children have to undergo liver transplantation.

CONCLUSIONS
Extrahepatic biliary atresia is still the major indication for pediatric liver transplantation, and to change this scenario some more light should be shed upon the etiopathogenesis of biliary atresia in different disease phenotypes. Future research into the role of interferon-gamma and of other cytokines is necessary in order to assess whether these aspects should be potential targets for therapeutic intervention.


Introduction: Brain is a metabolically active organ which consumes 20% of total oxygen and glucose entering the human body. As a result of high energy metabolism level, brain become more sensitive to oxidative stress. Aims: This study aims to proof the state of oxidative stress, and to analyze the relationship between malonyl dialdehyde (MDA) and gluthation (GSH) level, with oxidative stress induced by chronic systemic hypoxia (CSH) in rat brain. Methods: An in vivo experimental model of CSH was carried out using rats, which were randomly divided into 6 treatment groups, i.e. group I as a control group or without hypoxic condition, groups II, III, IV, V, and VI were treated under hypoxic condition for 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days, respectively. The results were then analyzed using an ANOVA test and Pearson correlation test. Results: Increased levels of MDA highest and lowest GSH levels decrease rat brains hypoxia occurs in 5 days, MDA correlation with GSH obtained strong and significant negative relationship. Discussion: The CSH induction was able to create an oxidative stress conditions that was identified by an increased MDA and decreased GSH rat brains level. on the 5th day. There were strong negative and significant correlation between MDA and GSH level. Keyword: Chronic systemic hypoxia, GSH, MDA, rat


In this series we address key topics for clinicians who conduct research as part of their work in the ED. In this section we will address important statistical concepts for clinical researchers and readers of clinical research publications. We use practical clinical examples of how to describe clinical data for presentation and publication, and explain key statistical concepts and tests clinical researchers will likely use for the majority of ED datasets.


It is well known that the water vapor in the troposphere plays a fundamental role in radio propagation. The refractivity of water vapor is about 20 times greater in the radio range than in near-infrared or optical regimes. As a consequence, phase fluctuations at frequencies higher than about 1 GHz are predominantly caused by fluctuations in the distribution of water vapor, and thus radio seeing at these frequencies is predominantly caused by tropospheric turbulence. Radio seeing shows up on lled-aperture telescopes as an anomalous refraction (AR), i.e. an apparent displacement of a radio source from its nominal position, corrected for large-scale refractive eects. The magnitude of this eect, as a fraction of the beam width, is bigger on larger telescopes and thus its impact on the pointing is likely to become critically important in the next generation of electrically large lled- aperture radio telescopes (D= > 10 4 ) and in particular on the Large Millimeter Telescope. AR eects are expected to reduce the total eective observing time at the highest frequencies and will aect on-the-fly mapping. Here we present the results of systematic AR measurements carried out with the 13.7-m telescope of the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory. The measured AR pointing errors range from 1 00 3 00 (winter) to about 20 00 (summer) and most of the events last less than about 4 s. We analysed the structure function, power spectrum and Allan variance of the data and we have carried out a statistical analysis to identify correlations of the statistical functions with selected observing parameters such as precipitable water vapor, time of day, season and elevation angle. Our results suggest that uncompensated AR may be the most important dynamic environmental source of pointing errors on the new large radio telescopes (ALMA, GBT, LMT, SRT) and may guide the design of active AR-compensation devices and help allocating suitable observing time through dynamic scheduling.


We use a mutually pumped phase conjugator to guide the output beam of a single-mode laser diode into the active region of a high-power laser-diode array. This injected beam locks the frequency of the array, causing it to emit a single, 1.45 times diffraction-limited, continuous-wave output beam containing 85% of the array's total output power. Phase-conjugate injection dramatically improves the coupling into the laser array, so that less than a milliwatt of injected power is sufficient to lock all the array's 450-mW output to the frequency of the master laser.


Far from being neutral, social media platforms – such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and WeChat – possess their own material characteristics, which shape how people engage, protest, resist, and struggle. This innovative collection advances the notion of social media materialities to draw attention to the ways in which the wires and silicon, data streams and algorithms, user and programming interfaces, business models and terms of service steer contentious practices and, inversely, how technologies and economic models are handled and performed by users. The key question is how the tension between social media's techno-commercial infrastructures and activist agency plays out in protest. Addressing this, the volume goes beyond singular empirical examples and focuses on the characteristics of protest and social media materialities, offering further conceptualizations and guidance for this emerging field of research. The various contributions explore a wide variety of activist projects, protests, and regions, ranging from Occupy in the USA to environmental protests in China, and from the Mexican Barrio Nomada to the Copenhagen-based activist television channel TV Stop (1987–2005).


Kabbalah (Hebrew for "receive") is an oral tradition of wisdom which traces its origins to early Biblical times. Legend tells us that God, wishing to behold His own image, created the Universe to act as a mirror. In order to serve God the work of the Kabbalist is the perfection of the (visible and invisible) world(s). In accordance with the maxim of "as above, so below" the position of the heavenly bodies has an effect on the physical world while the reverse also applies "as below, so above" not only means that our actions in the physical world can lead to harmony or discord in the higher worlds but places a greater degree of responsibility for our actions upon us than we might otherwise think. One of the principal tools of Kabbalah is the diagram of the Tree of Life, consisting of ten circles linked by twenty-two paths and which describes the way the universe works. The diagram has three columns, or pillars the right pillar symbolises expansion or energy and the left pillar symbolises form, structure or contraction while the middle pillar is known as the pillar of consciousness. Each circle (Sefirah in Hebrew, plural Sefirot) constitutes an aspect of God such as compassion, beauty or discernment while an eleventh circle (shown with dotted lines but not designated as a Sefirah) shows the place of knowledge (Da'at). Since the diagram is said to represent the entire universe, any and every situation we encounter may be set upon the Tree including astrology. When these correspondences are examined interesting and perhaps unexpected insights may be gained.


The subterranean amphipod genus Bactrurus (Amphipoda: Crangonyctidae) is comprised of eight species that occur in groundwater habitats in karst and glacial deposits of the central and eastern United States. We reexamine the distribution, biogeography, and conservation status of Bactrurus in light of new species distribution records and divergence time estimates in the genus from a recent molecular study. In particular, we discuss hypotheses regarding the distribution and dispersal of B. mucronatus and B. brachycaudus into previously glaciated regions of the Central Lowlands. We also conducted the first IUCN Red List conservation assessments and reassessed global NatureServe conservation ranks for each species. We identified 17 threats associated with increased extinction risk that vary in source, scope, and severity among species, with groundwater pollution being the most significant threat to all species. Our conservation assessments indicate that five of the eight species are at an elevated risk of extinction under IUCN Red List or NatureServe criteria, with one species (B. cellulanus) already extinct. However, none of the eight species are considered threatened or endangered by any state or federal agency. Significant knowledge gaps regarding the life history, ecology, and demography of each species exist. Given results of our conservation assessments and available information on threats to populations, we offer recommendations for conserva tion, management, and future research for each species.


Web site delays are often unavoidable and have consistently been a major complaint of users online. Feedback can be provided to help alleviate users' frustrations with delay. Two theories of time estimation— the internal clock theory and the attentional gate theory— are compared to determine how feedback may impact users' estimations of delay length. Attentional and uncertainty reduction perspectives are then utilized to establish how feedback can influence perceived acceptability of a delay as well as satisfaction with and intention to return to a Web site. An experiment was conducted using a simulated online bookstore and search task. Perceptual data were collected using a questionnaire, and physiological data were collected using eye tracking equipment. Results of the analysis suggest that providing feedback does not affect estimations of delay but does increase perceived acceptability of the delay, satisfaction with the site, and intention to return to the site.


The hyper-chaotic least square method finding all real solutions of nonlinear equations was proposed and the forward displacement analysis on the 31th 2-coupled–degree nine-link Barranov truss was completed. Four constrained equations were established by vector method with complex numbers according to four loops of the mechanism and four supplement equations were also established by increasing four variables and the relation of sine and cosine function. The established eight equations are that of forward displacement analysis of the mechanism. Combining least square method with hyper-chaotic sequences, hyper-chaotic least square method based on utilizing parameter coupling hyper-chaotic discrete system to obtain locate initial points to find all real solutions of the nonlinear questions was proposed. The numerical example was given. Comparison was also done with other finding solution method. The result shows that all real solutions have been quickly obtained, and it proves the correctness and validity of the proposed method.