The financial crisis and the responses to it from Member States and market participants have presented significant and unique challenges to the Commission's state aid policy, both in terms of the volume and nature of the aid measures being implemented and the speed with which they have been proposed and market conditions have evolved. It is unsurprising then that the Commission's approach to assessing state aid in the financial crisis has also evolved over the last 15 months, with apparently quite dramatic changes in both the substance and procedure of state aid control. After a period of a cautious approach between October 2008 and March 2009 with a strong focus on the stability of the financial sector, the Commission has increasingly tightened state aid control in the banking sector through the application of the principles of restructuring aid. These principles have been developed in the context of industries with overcapacity and often with firms suffering from idiosyncratic difficulties, and rely on assumptions which lead to results consistent with a proper effects-based analysis (albeit not an unstructured "rule of reason" analysis) in those cases. The banking industry during the current financial crisis, however, differs in fundamental ways from the earlier restructuring cases, in particular the under-supply of lending due to a general lack of confidence and the systemic causes of the recipient banks' difficulties. As a result, several of the assumptions underlying the restructuring principles do not hold and the restructuring principles lead to a fundamentally different outcome then under an effects-based analysis. By applying the restructuring principles in a fundamentally different context, the Commission risks pursuing a policy which not only fails to achieve any benefits but which is highly likely to make a bad situation worse, harming consumers, the banking industry and the economy at large. The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the causes and effects of the financial crisis in Europe while Section 3 summarises the Commission's state aid policy response to the financial crisis from the days prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers to the recent publication of the Financial Crisis Restructuring Guidelines. Section 4 provides a brief overview of the elements of an economics-based analysis which is subsequently applies to restructuring aid under Article 87(3)(c) (in Section 5). The rationale of "normal" restructuring aid cases is then contrasted with restructuring aid to banks in the financial crisis: Section 6 sets out the case for and the implications of an effects-based assessment of restructuring aid under Article 87(3)(b) while the following section looks at the impact of the Commission's remedies. Section 8 concludes.


The shortages of entrepreneurial skills, both perceived and actual, have lowered the rate of opportunity-driven women's entrepreneurship. This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship, gender and development with a theoretical and empirical analysis linking gender differences in entrepreneurial outcomes to skills and business training. The role of skills, including self-confidence, and training for the entrepreneurial performance is tested on a survey of urban entrepreneurs in Swaziland. The results help explain why narrow business training programs for female entrepreneurs have often limited success in improving performance of women-run firms. Training programs for women entrepreneurs encompassing advanced business and technical (e.g. hard) skills as well as networking and confidence building (e.g. soft skills) could be more effective.


THE AFRICAN AMERICAN AND OROMO MOVEMENTS HAVE BEEN ANTICOLONIAL struggles, and they have aimed to dismantle racial/ethnonational hierarchies legitimated by the ideology of racism in the hegemonic state of the United States and the peripheral and imperial state of Ethiopia. The African American and Oromo ethnonational minority groups are similar in numerical size, and different in political strength. Each population numbers about 30 million. However, African Americans constitute only 13% of the U.S. population of 270 million, while Oromos make up about 50% of the Ethiopian population of 60 million. As the African American movement developed in opposition to American slavery, racial segregation, and underdevelopment, the Oromo movement emerged to fight Ethiopian settler colonialism and its institutions, and underdevelopment. The two movements emerged in opposition to colonial domination, a racial/ ethnonational hierarchy, economic and labor exploitation, cultural destruction and repression, and the denial of individual and national rights. The capitalist world-system that produced modern slavery, colonization, genocide or ethnocide, cultural destruction and repression, and continued subjugation also facilitated the emergence and development of the African American and Oromo movements. Initially, African Americans and Oromos resisted slavery and colonization without systematically organizing themselves. Their cultural and political resistance continued after their enslavement and colonization because in Ethiopia and the United States, these two peoples were assigned the status of slaves and colonial subjects and second-class citizens. Moreover, since the early 1950s the United States has sided with the Ethiopian state to suppress Oromo society (Jalata, 1998; 1999). Although the national struggles of these two peoples represent a continuation of previous resistance, they emerged from certain social-structural, historical, and sociological factors. This comparative essay historically situates the emergence and development of these two movements and elaborates on the gradual transformation of resistance to slavery, racial segregation, colonial domination, and underdevelopment into the African American and Oromo movements--their phases and objectives, similarities and differences, and successes and failures. By using a comparative-historical approach, we critically and comparatively examine the causes, processes, and outcomes of the African American and Oromo movements. The African American Movement The African American movement developed as a mass movement during the mid-20th century. A cultural, intellectual, ideological, and political movement, its purpose was to achieve civil equality, human dignity, and development by overthrowing white racial and colonial dictatorship. This development was facilitated by the cumulative struggles of the previous generations and social changes and conjunctures. Various forms of individual and group resistance struggles and proto-nationalism existed in African American society before the 20th century. The ancestors of African Americans, individually and in groups, resisted enslavement in Africa and fought against slavery on slave ships and later on American plantations. They fought culturally and some ran away, while others engaged in mutinies and armed resistance. Clarke (1976: 41) notes that African culture "sustained the Africans during the holocaust of the slave trade and the colonial system that followed it.... African culture, reborn on alien soil, became the cohesive force and the communication system that helped to set in motion some of the most successful slave revolts in history." There were about 250 slave rebellions in America between the 17th and 19th centuries (Colston, 1979: 234). About 50 maroon communities were formed by thousands of runaway slaves and their descendants between 1672 and 1864 in the forests and mountains of Southern states (see Aptheker, 1947; 1979). …


Organizational structures such as hierarchies provide an effective means to deal with the increasing complexity found in large-scale energy systems. In hierarchical systems, the concrete functions describing the subsystems can be replaced by abstract piecewise linear functions to speed up the optimization process. However, if the data points are weakly informative the resulting abstracted optimization problem introduces severe errors and exhibits bad runtime performance. Furthermore, obtaining additional point labels amounts to solving computationally hard optimization problems. Therefore, we propose to apply methods from active learning to search for informative inputs. We present first results experimenting with Decision Forests and Gaussian Processes that motivate further research. Using points selected by Decision Forests, we could reduce the average mean squared error of the abstract piecewise linear function by one third.


This research compares the time-course of the written production of bare nouns to that of noun phrases. French adults named pictures of objects either using or not using determiners. Resulting pauses and writing rates were analyzed in relation to word-orthographic frequency, syllabic length, and phoneme-to-grapheme consistency at the end of words. More specifically, we showed that the noun production process begins as soon the determiner production is initiated (word frequency effect on latencies, length and consistency effects on determiner writing rate) and continued during the course of the noun production. When the determiner was absent, the management of writing was different: the writer slowed the production speed, probably in order to realize the lexeme processing that s/he could not do in the absence of the determiner production time. These results provided further evidence that some form of parallel processing occurs in written word production and led us to sketch the time-course of the noun spelling in written denomination of a noun phrase.


Over the past years there has been an increasing interest in developing distributed computation methods over wireless networks. A new communication paradigm has emerged where distributed algorithms such as consensus have played a key role in the development of such networks. A special case are wireless sensor networks (WSN) which have found application in a large variety of problems such as environmental monitoring, surveillance, or localization, to cite a few. One major design issue in WSNs is energy efficiency. Nodes are typically battery-powered devices and thus, it is critical to make a proper use of the scarce energy resources. This fact motivates the search for optimal conditions that favor the communication environment. It is well known that the rate at which the information is spread across the network depends on the topology of the network and that finding the optimal topology is a hard combinatorial problem. However, using convex optimization tools, we propose a method that tries to find the optimal topology in a consensus wireless network that uses broadcast messages. Our results show that exploiting the broadcast nature of the wireless channel leads to more energy efficient configurations than using dedicated unicast messages and that our algorithm performs very close to the optimal solution.


Canacophilus chordeumopygus nov. spec. New Caledonia, Mt. Mou, 2000 ft. under stones, 8-14 March 1914 (coll. P. D. Montague, New Caledonia Expedition), 1 ♂ (holotype), 2 ♀ ♀. Colour. — Head rather dark brownish gray. Antennae of the same colour, though slightly paler. Body segments similarly coloured as the head, but the metatergites, including the posterior portion of the lateral keels and except a zone near the waist, paler, more yellowish brown. Legs and anal segment rather dark brownish gray. Width. — Holotype ♂ : 3.1 mm; paratype ♀♀: 3.5 mm. Head and antennae. — Labrum moderately narrow, moderately emarginate, tridentate. Clypeus rather weakly impressed towards the labrum, weakly convex, the lateral borders emarginate. Headplate smooth, with weak cellular structure. Clypeal and frontal parts moderately to rather weakly setiferous, the setae varying from short to rather long. Antennal sockets separated by about one and a half times the diameter of one socket or by about two thirds the length of the second antennal segment. Postantennal groove and the wall in front of it rather weakly developed. Vertex not demarcated from the frontal area, moderately convex, with a few setae. Vertigial sulcus weakly impressed, not reaching the upper level of the sockets. Antennae rather long and slender, moderately to, distally, rather densely setiferous. Length of the segments: 2 = 3 > 4 = 5 = 6; the sixth segment about two thirds the second. The fifth and sixth segments distinctly thicker than the proximal segments. Collum. — About as wide as the head. Dorsal outline subsemicircular, very slightly transversely elongate. Anterior border widely and evenly rounded. Posterior border weakly emarginate in the middle, laterally widely


Projections of expenditures for old age pensions, survivor pensions, and disability pensions were made for the period 1985-2050 on the basis of future developments in the population structure by age, sex, and marital status. Four demographic scenarios were formulated: (i) a Benchmark scenario, with demographic rates kept constant at their 1980-84 level; (ii) a Fertility scenario, with a rise of the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) towards replacement level; (iii) a Mortality scenario, with reductions in mortality rates of 30 percent for females, and 45 percent for males; (iv) a Western scenario, which combines extreme demographic conditions of several West European countries: a TFR of 1.28, proportions never-marrying of one-third, one-third of marriages ending in divorce, and male and female life expectancies of 74 and 81 years, respectively.

The current pension system was combined with all four scenarios. Also, the impact of high female labor force participation, and a rise in the average age at retirement were investigated. The results indicate that changes in demographic conditions cannot prevent increases in and funding problems for pension expenditures in Italy. An increase in fertility has no effect on the pension system until 2030, when a larger generation will enter the labor force. Longer active periods for males and females will cause increases in pension expenditures in the future and are not long term solutions of the pension problem. Postponement of retirement age would help to balance the pension funds, but depends on the economic situation and on the labor market.


Quench sensitivity, the dependence of strength and hardness on the cooling rate after extrusion or solution treatment, limits the applications of extrusions of heat treatable aluminium alloys. Reduced properties in slow cooled samples have long been attributed to the loss of solute on heterogeneous nucleation sites during cooling. While minimum cooling rates to avoid precipitation of Mg-Si-containing phases and reduced properties have been mapped out for a broad range of commercial alloys, little is understood about the physical mechanisms leading to quench sensitivity. In this investigation the difference in hardness evolution between slow cooled and fast quenched samples of various commercial and model Al-Mg-Si alloys has been determined for a broad range of natural and artificial ageing times. This has demonstrated that the artificial ageing response of fast quenched samples differs greatly from the artificial ageing response of slow cooled samples. In contrast to fast cooled samples, where natural ageing has a negative effect, the artificial ageing response of slow cooled samples is less dependent on natural ageing time. As a result, hardness differences between fast and slow cooled samples is large during artificial ageing after short natural ageing times, but small after long natural ageing times, such that quench sensitivity strongly varies. In order to explain this phenomenon, the cooling rate dependent microstructural development has been investigated using hardness measurements, electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). From TEM investigations and theoretical considerations of the diffusion range it has been determined that solute is only lost from a limited region around the non-hardening precipitates forming during cooling on secondary dispersoids. The increased age hardening rate in fast cooled samples after short natural ageing times is therefore the result of a high vacancy supersaturation rather than a high solute supersaturation compared to slow cooled samples. Non-equilibrium vacancies appear to act as precipitation sites for the precursor of the strengthening β"-precipitates. In slow cooled samples the formation of β"-precipitates seems to be suppressed. In lean alloys with a low solute content, such as the investigated AA6060, the age hardening response is almost independent of the cooling rate. Small additions of Cu or changes in the Mg:Si-ratio in alloys with a combined Mg+Si-content greater than 1 wt.% have little effect on precipitation of non-hardening phases during cooling, but affect natural and artificial ageing behaviour. The cooling rate after extrusion or solution treatment was also found to affect whether natural ageing has a negative effect or not. In fast cooled samples of Al-Mg-Si alloys with combined Mg+Si-contents greater than 1 wt.% the decrease in ageing kinetics due to the decrease of non-equilibrium vacancies with increasing natural ageing time contributes to the negative effect. In slow cooled samples the initial number of quenched-in vacancies is low, such that ageing kinetics are independent of the natural ageing time.


Abstract Several integrate-to-threshold models with differing temporal integration mechanisms have been proposed to describe the accumulation of sensory evidence to a prescribed level prior to motor response in perceptual decision-making tasks. An experiment and simulation studies have shown that the introduction of time-varying perturbations during integration may distinguish among some of these models. Here, we present computer simulations and mathematical proofs that provide more rigorous comparisons among one-dimensional stochastic differential equation models. Using two perturbation protocols and focusing on the resulting changes in the means and standard deviations of decision times, we show that for high signal-to-noise ratios, drift-diffusion models with constant and time-varying drift rates can be distinguished from Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, but not necessarily from each other. The protocols can also distinguish stable from unstable Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, and we show that a nonlinear integrator can be distinguished from these linear models by changes in standard deviations. The protocols can be implemented in behavioral experiments.


Existing fiber optic network employ simplex transmission scheme where two fibers
are needed, each to transmit and received signals between connecting points. The
increasing demand has seen fiber, particularly in the metro area, are used up in no time.
The conventional solution is to install new fibers to support new customers. However
fiber installation are always expensive and fussy. Thus, a new approach is desirable in
solving the problem. In this thesis, new technique is proposed to double the link
bandwidth by fully utilizing the two fiber cores.
The technique is based on the basic ligthwave principle that two photons do not know
each other. Therefore the optical signals, transmitted and received ones can be made to
propagate in the opposite direction in the same fiber, as long as they can be split and
isolated at the receiver side. The techniques proposed here in achieving the goal is
simple but quite powerful. The components used in developing the device are all
passive products. Each of them was characterized prior to developing them according to
the design. Then the whole device was tested further both on its own, and in network
environment.From the tests conducted, it is important to reduce the reflection from transmitters to
adjacent receivers, which is due to SFDC directivity. From the study it is found that the
minimum isolation needed between actual and reflected signal to achieve good
transmission quality is around 13 dB. Testing on SDH network was successfully
conducted on over 50 km fiber link with zero errors. The test was conducted in both
laboratory and testbed environment, with cooperation from Telekom Malaysia. Testing
on WDM system was conducted in laboratory environment only. The test shows that no
error is introduced. Finally it is concluded that SFDC is reliable to be used as a device to
realize full duplex transmission, as its realization would result in huge increase in fiber
bandwidth utilization with minimum installation and maintainance complexity and cost.


Some effects in the spectra of individual sparks between copper electrodes electroplated with thin deposits of silver were studied with the aid of a time-resolving spectrograph. The initial phase of the discharge is characterized by short-lived broadened lines of N ii and O ii, plus an intense continuum. The line spectrum is predominantly that of Ag ii with but a few lines of Ag i present. All of the high-level lines of Ag ii, and only these lines, are initially asymmetrically broadened and shifted to the red, but return to their normal wavelength positions after 6–9 µsec; while the low-level lines are characterized by self-reversal and associated continuum. The strong similarity to the spectrum of exploding Ag wire indicates that the same mechanism is operative in both. These effects are explained in terms of a Stark effect induced by the fields of neighboring electrons and ions.


In this paper, we propose a successive learning method in a chaotic neural network using a continuous pattern input. It can distinguish an unknown pattern from the stored known patterns and learn the unknown pattern successively. In the proposed model, it makes use of the difference in the response to the input pattern in order to distinguish an unknown pattern from the stored known patterns. When an input pattern is regarded as an unknown pattern, the pattern is memorized. Furthermore, it can estimate and learn a correct pattern from a noisy unknown pattern or an incomplete unknown pattern by considering the temporal summation of the continuous pattern input. In addition, similarity to the physiological facts in the olfactory bulb of a rabbit found by Freeman (1991) is observed in the behavior of the proposed model. A series of computer simulations shows the effectiveness of the proposed model.


In combinatorics on words, a word $w$ over an alphabet $\Sigma$ is said to avoid a pattern $p$ over an alphabet $\Delta$ if there is no factor $x$ of $w$ and no non-erasing morphism $h$ from $\Delta^*$ to $\Sigma^*$ such that $h(p) = x$. Bell and Goh have recently applied an algebraic technique due to Golod to show that for a certain wide class of patterns $p$ there are exponentially many words of length $n$ over a $4$-letter alphabet that avoid $p$. We consider some further consequences of their work. In particular, we show that any pattern with $k$ variables of length at least $4^k$ is avoidable on the binary alphabet. This improves an earlier bound due to Cassaigne and Roth.


Brown shrimp and white shrimp populations available to the shrimp trawl in Mobile Bay were estimated on a monthly basis by two methods: one using existing commercial statistics and the other using experimental trawling. These methods produced similar estimates for brown shrimp whose peak standing crop in Mobile Bay occurred in June-July and was estimated at 200,000-300,000 pounds. Commercial landings peaked in July at about 342,000 pounds and were higher than the standing crop, indicating an extremely fast growth rate. White shrimp data were variable, with commercial statistics indicating a crop in Mobile Bay of about 100,000 pounds from September to November and with experimental trawl data indicating a peak of 267,000 pounds in August. Average monthly harvests approached 100,000 pounds from August to October. Abundance of pink shrimp was erratic and commercial shrimp statistics indicate variation from 475 pounds landed in 1956 to 34,000 pounds landed in 1957.


Strongly sorbing compounds such as P, pesticides, and heavy metals can be transported through soils while being adsorbed to mobile colloidal particles. While the rapid leaching of nonadsorbing chemicals is relatively well understood, the particle‐facilitated transport of highly sorbing chemicals such as P requires further investigation. The aim of this work was to study spatial variations in particle‐facilitated transport of P at the field scale, and investigate which soil‐physical or chemical parameters relate to the observed variations. Leaching experiments were performed in the laboratory on 42 undisturbed soil columns sampled in a grid covering 25 by 30 m of an agricultural field. The columns were equilibrated in the laboratory to a pressure head of −20 cm and irrigated at a rate of 10 mm h−1 with an artificial rainwater solution. The experiments exhibited considerable variation among the columns in the accumulated mass of particles and P leached during the 3.5 h of irrigation. Columns taken from the lower part of the field showed the highest mass of leached particles. These columns had higher clay contents and contained more continuous macropores. The mass of particles was negatively correlated to the average electrical conductivity of the effluent, and positively correlated to the macropore flow velocity. The accumulated masses of particulate organic and inorganic P were linearly related to the accumulated mass of particles leached. About 75% of the leached P was transported in a particle‐facilitated manner. Overall, soil structure controlled to a large extent the leaching of particles and particle bound P.


Abstract Background European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in tertiary education at Universities of Applied Sciences recommend a high level of competence orientation. This can be achieved and evaluated by the definition of Learning Outcomes. Furthermore, these Outcomes can assure a comparison of the level of education after graduation. Efforts should be made to achieve this form of Quality Assurance for the professional education of physiotherapists. Objective The aim of this paper is to state consensus of the Austrian Universities of Applied Sciences Network for Physiotherapy in Neurology through the definition of shared Learning Outcomes for the field of Neurology for undergraduate physiotherapy students. Methods Based on the guidelines of the European Qualification Framework (EQF), Physio Austria (Austrian Association of Physiotherapists) published the competency profile for physiotherapists describing learning outcomes of EQF levels 6 as the first study cycle with Bachelor degree. Specific learning outcomes for Physiotherapy in Neurology were added for the further development and differentiated assurance of Quality Standards in coordination with experts from the Universities of Applied Sciences in Austria. Results In addition to the Learning Outcomes described in the competency profile of Physio Austria, this consensus paper describes those specifically for the EQF Level 6 of physiotherapy in neurology. Specifications in neurology were made for the following roles: Expert in Physiotherapy, Communicator, Teamworker, Health Promoter, Innovator, Health Professional. Conclusion Recommendations for quality assurance in tertiary education are actively pursued across all participating Universities of Applied Sciences. This allows a better comparability of the educational standards in Physiotherapy in Neurology in Europe as well as internationally. This is of great importance for physiotherapists as health professionals.


Simplicial complexes are now a popular alternative to networks when it comes to describing the structure of complex systems, primarily because they encode multinode interactions explicitly. With this new description comes the need for principled null models that allow for easy comparison with empirical data. We propose a natural candidate, the simplicial configuration model. The core of our contribution is an efficient and uniform Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler for this model. We demonstrate its usefulness in a short case study by investigating the topology of three real systems and their randomized counterparts (using their Betti numbers). For two out of three systems, the model allows us to reject the hypothesis that there is no organization beyond the local scale.


The thesis investigates the pricing efficiency of the commonly used cost of carry model in pricing stock index futures and its applicability on the German blue-chip index DAX and related futures contracts in recent years. The work considers the deviations of the observed futures prices from their theoretical counterparts as well as the fitness of the model through regression analysis. The results show that while there are many deviations from the fair values suggested by the model these are small in magnitude when compared with the potential transaction costs implying the contracts are efficiently priced. It is confirmed that there is a cointegrating relationship between futures and spot index values, however, given the regression analysis results the prices do not entirely follow the model design. The other part of the analysis focuses on the behaviour of the basis throughout the life of the relevant futures contracts. The results suggest that there is indeed a decreasing tendency towards the expiration of a contract, nevertheless, it is subject to considerable fluctuations. The paper also documents other factors that might impact stock index futures prices yet not included in the standard pricing formula. JEL Classification C12, C14, C22, G13


Understanding the flow of ice is essential to predict the contribution of the polar ice sheets to global mean sea level rise in the next decades and centuries. During this PhD project, the recrystallization and deformation mechanisms that govern the flow of ice were studied along the length of the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) ice core in northwest Greenland. Two methods were used during this study: (i) cryogenic electron backscatter diffraction (cryo-EBSD) in combination with (polarized) light microscopy and (ii) flow law modelling using two different flow laws for ice constrained by the actual temperature and grain size data from the NEEM ice core. The NEEM ice core was divided up into three depth intervals originating from different climatic stages that differ strongly in terms of impurity content, microstructure, deformation mode and temperature: the Holocene ice (01419 m of depth), the glacial ice (1419-2207 m of depth) and the Eemian-glacial facies (2207-2540 m of depth). Microstructures indicate that the Holocene ice deforms by the easy slip system (crystallographic basal slip) accommodated by the harder slip systems (non-basal slip), also known as dislocation creep, and by recovery via strain induced boundary migration (SIBM), which removes dislocations and stress concentrations and allows further deformation to occur. The amount of non-basal slip that is activated is controlled by the extent of SIBM. The dominant recrystallization mechanisms in the Holocene ice are SIBM, bulging recrystallization and grain dissection in total leading to dynamic grain growth, with a contribution from normal grain growth in the upper 250 m. The strain rate variability with depth in the Holocene ice, estimated by flow law modelling, is low. In contrast, the strain rate variability is relatively high in the glacial ice as a result of variability in grain boundary sliding (GBS) with depth that accommodates basal slip (GBS-limited creep). Grain boundary sliding in the glacial ice is particularly strong in fine grained sub-horizontal bands which contain many aligned grain boundaries. Subgrain boundaries (SGBs) form ahead of the aligned grain boundaries in these fine grained subhorizontal bands and when a misorientation angle of 5.0°-6.0° is reached, the SGB has rotated into a sliding boundary. Rotation recrystallization is more prominent, while SIBM is less important in the glacial ice compared to the Holocene ice. The ice in the Eemian-glacial facies, which is affected by premelting along the grain boundaries, alternates between relatively fine grained glacial ice with a single maximum crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) and very coarse grained Eemian ice with a partial girdle CPO. Due to the difference in grain size and CPO, it is argued that the glacial ice in the Eemian-glacial facies deforms almost entirely by GBS-limited creep in simple shear and at high strain rates, while the Eemian ice in the Eemian-glacial facies deforms at much lower strain rates in coaxial deformation with a roughly equal contribution of GBS-limited creep and dislocation creep to bulk strain rate. The large difference in microstructure, and consequently viscosity, between impurity-rich glacial ice and impurity-depleted interglacial ice in the premelting layer (262K<T<273K) of polar ice sheets can have important consequences for ice dynamics close to the bedrock, which provides the major contribution of the horizontal movement of ice towards the oceans. Glen's flow law (Glen, 1955; Paterson, 1994), which is independent of grain size, predicts a higher strain rate along the NEEM ice core than the grain size sensitive composite flow law of Goldsby and Kohlstedt (1997, 2001) for which the flow law parameters of the dislocation creep mechanism were modified during this PhD project. Only a grain size sensitive flow law can predict the variability in strain rate resulting from a variability in grain size with depth, which is expected to be large in the NEEM ice core.


A novel and flexible photonics-based scheme is proposed for generating phase-coded RF pulses suitable for coherent radar systems with pulse compression techniques. After selecting two modes from a mode-locked laser (MLL), the technique exploits an optical in-phase/quadrature modulator driven by a low-sample rate and low-noise direct digital synthesizer to modulate the phase of only one mode. The two laser modes are then heterodyned in a photodiode, and the RF pulse is properly filtered out. The scheme is experimentally validated implementing a 4-bit Barker code and a linear chirp on radar pulses with a carrier frequency of about 25 GHz, starting from an MLL at about 10 GHz. The measures of phase noise, amplitude- and phase-transients, and autocorrelation functions confirm the effectiveness of the scheme in producing compressed radar pulses without affecting the phase stability of the optically generated high-frequency carriers. An increase in the radar resolution from 150 to 37.5 m is calculated. The proposed scheme is capable of flexibly generating software-defined phase-modulated RF pulses with high stability, even at very high carrier frequency, using only a single commercial device with potentials for wideband modulation. It can therefore allow a new generation of high-resolution coherent radars with reduced complexity and cost.


Aeolian sediment input into coastal dunes represents a key component of sediment budget analysis of beach-dune systems. Calculations of sediment input to the foredunes are traditionally based on onshore winds, often excluding the role played by offshore wind events. However, recent work has shown that offshore flows play an essential role in post-storm dune recovery and maintenance. As a perpendicular offshore flow meets the dune crestline the surface flow layer detaches from the ground and generates an area characterised by turbulent eddies in the dune lee slope. At some distance downstream the flow separates into an offshore "re-attached" component and a reversed component directed toward the dune toe, with the potential to transport sediment. The existence of flow separation or steering has previously been qualitatively linked with dune topography and angle of wind approach, but not yet quantitatively described.

This study was specifically developed to examine dune re-circulation airflow characteristics under a range of incident wind velocities and offshore directions. Field work was undertaken in April-May 2010 at Magilligan, Northern Ireland. Wind data was measured using a grid of ultrasonic anemometers deployed at the beach-dune surface covering an area of 90 m long-shore by 65 m cross-shore. The field investigation was supplemented by Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations to help prepare the field test procedure and help site the rake of masts and it's mounting of ultrasonic anemometers. CFD simulations were also performed to explore the potential use and accuracy of CFD simulation in geomorphological investigations, and improve understanding of wind flow characteristics through 3D wind flow visualisation. Previous work by the authors has highlighted differences in the characteristics of leeward re-circulation and re-attachment patterns under scenarios of perpendicular and oblique offshore wind flows. In the present work, an attempt is made to identify the origin of unique spatial wind and flow separation and re-attachment characteristics discovered in the measured wind data. The ultrasonic anemometer measurements obtained on a grid 0.5 m above the terrain within the leeward recirculation zone indicated that the flow re-attachment points varies significantly along the fore-dune length.

The complimentary use of Computational Fluid Dynamics helps the investigation by allowing visualisation of basic wind flow characteristics. It also enables us to explore in detail whether the spatial wind flow features found in the leeward dune zone is primarily a function of subtle dune topography changes along the shoreline or whether terrain roughness at the windward and leeward zones is the dominant trigger in dictating leeside flow behaviour. Previous CFD simulation results were supported by our fieldwork measurements which suggested that the spatial wind distribution in the zone leeward of the fore-dune is in fact dependent on the changes in the topography along the dune crests with further correlations to wind direction and even wind speed. The work here attempts to quantify these influences.

In the present investigation a simplified geometry of the fore-dune surface terrain is created that closely mimics the 3-D topography but allows the isolation of terrain form, roughness and wind directional effects. We initially compare CFD results over the simplified 3-D fore-dune system with measured 3-D anemometry results then present simulations and comparisons for varying wind direction, terrain roughness and fore-dune form parameters. Results highlight that for offshore winds, relatively small undulations in foredune form may be the primary driver for the unique spatial distribution of the re-attachment point, more so than upstream roughness effects. It also confirms that dune orientation, relative to the offshore winds, is key in influencing alongshore steering or recirculating leeward flows and associated potential aeolian sand transport.


This short paper presents initial results from a project, in which we investigated differences in how users view relevant and irrelevant Web pages on their visits and revisits. The users' viewing of Web pages was characterized by eye-tracking measures, with a particular attention paid to changes in pupil size. The data was collected in a lab-based experiment, in which users (N=32) conducted assigned information search tasks on Wikipedia. We performed non-parametric tests of significance as well as classification. Our findings demonstrate differences in eye-tracking measures on visits and revisits to relevant and irrelevant pages and thus indicate a feasibility of predicting perceived Web document relevance from eye-tracking data. In particular, relative changes in pupil size differed significantly in almost all conditions. Our work extends results from previous studies to more realistic search scenarios and to Web page visits and revisits.


This report explores a range of underlying factors which appear to motivate the social behaviour of adults with severe learning difficulties. While there is ample evidence to suggest that these adults often behave in ways viewed as unacceptable by the wider population a skills deficit approach to the issue is frequently adopted. This dissertation argues that this view is both over-simplistic and inappropriately judgmental and that the behaviours demonstrated often serve an important purpose in the lives of the individuals concerned.

This research is located within a number of theoretical perspectives related to inclusion and the politicisation of disability, the development of personal and social identity and the acquisition of emotional intelligence.

The study is focused on a group of adults with severe learning difficulties who attend a further education college in Northern Ireland. Data were collected by observation and interviews with students, college staff, carers, volunteers and other professionals.

A number of salient themes have emerged. The perceptions of the student group are at great variance with those of carers and professionals, which suggests major communication barriers and the need for on-going reality checks for the students themselves and for those working with them. In addition, there is little awareness among the non-disabled participants of the extent to which the students' behaviours are a response to their own expectations and actions. Interestingly, too, those students viewed as demonstrating the most 'undesirable' behaviours are the students who most want to be included in mainstream life.

Finally, where a need for skills development work is identified, it is argued that this should take account of recent developments in emotional intelligence and attribution theories. A social skills model, involving learned acceptance of set rules, is not seen as acceptable. In addition, teaching staff are encouraged to view the gaining of student perceptions as an integral, planned part of their own teaching. Challenging professional attitudes and approaches to the delivery of programmes is essential for the development of good practice within educational institutions.


BACKGROUND
Breastfeeding has numerous maternal and infant benefits. Progesterone contraception after birth is frequently recommended, but because a decrease in progesterone is required to initiate lactation, early postpartum progesterone contraception use could inhibit lactation. The purpose of this article is to critically evaluate the scientific basis for conflicting clinical recommendations related to postpartum medroxyprogesterone use among breastfeeding women.

METHODS
Relevant peer-reviewed literature was identified through a comprehensive search of PubMed through December 2010. The search was restricted to clinical trials, randomized clinical trials, or comparative studies written in English and conducted among humans. The studies included in this review addressed the effect of medroxyprogesterone administration at <6 weeks postpartum on breastfeeding exclusivity and/or duration and measured breastfeeding outcomes at ≥ 6 weeks postpartum.

RESULTS
Of the 20 articles identified, only three studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. However, all three studies were of low-quality methodological rigor, and none accounted for potential confounders.

CONCLUSION
Current evidence is methodologically weak and provides an inadequate basis for inference about a possible causal relationship between early postpartum medroxyprogesterone use and poor breastfeeding outcomes. However, given the presence of a strong biological model describing the potential deleterious effect of postpartum medroxyprogesterone use on lactation, further research that improves on current literature is warranted. Meanwhile, we recommend that potential breastfeeding risks associated with early (<6 weeks) postpartum medroxyprogesterone use be disclosed to allow for a fully informed consent and decision-making process.


The progression from newborn to sophisticated language user in just a few short years is often described as wonderful and miraculous. What are the biological, cognitive, and social underpinnings of this miracle? What major language development milestones occur in infancy? What methodologies do researchers employ in studying this progression? Why do some become adept at multiple languages while others face a lifelong struggle with just one? What accounts for declines in language proficiency, and how might such declines be moderated? Despite an abundance of textbooks, specialized monographs, and a couple of academic handbooks, there has been no encyclopedic reference work in this area--until now. The Encyclopedia of Language Development covers the breadth of theory and research on language development from birth through adulthood, as well as their practical application. Features: This affordable A-to-Z reference includes 200 articles that address such topic areas as theories and research tradition; biological perspectives; cognitive perspectives; family, peer, and social influences; bilingualism; special populations and disorders; and more. All articles (signed and authored by key figures in the field) conclude with cross reference links and suggestions for further reading. Appendices include a Resource Guide with annotated lists of classic books and articles, journals, associations, and web sites; a Glossary of specialized terms; and a Chronology offering an overview and history of the field. A thematic Reader's Guide groups related articles by broad topic areas as one handy search feature on the e-Reference platform, which includes a comprehensive index of search terms. Available in both print and electronic formats, Encyclopedia of Language Development is a must-have reference for researchers and is ideal for library reference or circulating collections. Key Themes: Categories Effects of language on cognitive development Fundamentals, theories and models of language development Impairments of language development Language development in special populations Literacy and language development Mechanisms of language development Methods in language development research Prelinguistic communicative development Social effects in language acquisition Specific aspects of language development


The fifth generation of mobile networks (5G) is expected to provide diverse and stringent improvements such as greater connectivity, bandwidth, throughput, availability, improved coverage, and lower latency. Considering this, drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices are perfect examples of existing technology that can take advantage of the capabilities provided by 5G technology. In particular, UAVs are expected to be an important component of 5G networks implementations and support different communication requirements and applications. UAVs working together with 5G can potentially facilitate the deployment of standalone or complementary communications infrastructures, and, due to its rapid deployment, these solutions are suitable candidates to provide network services in emergency scenarios, natural disasters, and search and rescue missions. An important consideration in the deployment of a programmable drone fleet is to guarantee the reliability and performance of the services through consistent monitoring, control, and management scheme. In this regard, the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) paradigm, a key technology within the 5G ecosystem, can be used to perform automation, management, and orchestration tasks. In addition, to ensure the coordination and reliability in the communications systems, considering that the UAVs have a finite lifetime and that eventually they must be replaced, a scheduling scheme is needed to guarantee the availability of services and efficient resource utilization. To this end, in this paper is presented an UAV scheduling scheme which leverages the potential offered by NFV. The proposed strategy, based on a brute-force search combinatorial algorithm, allows obtaining the optimal scheduling of UAVs in time, in order to efficiently deploy network services. Simulation results validate the performance of the proposed strategy, by providing the number of drones needed to meet certain levels of service availability. Furthermore, the strategy allows knowing the sequence of replacement of UAVs to ensure the optimal resource utilization.


Zinc Oxide (ZnO) has attracted interest due to its potential applications including nonlinear optical devices, blue‐violet emission device, buffer layer for GaN‐based devices, visible‐range transparent electrodes for solar cell and flat panel displays, surface acoustic wave devices, piezoelectric and piezooptic devices, gas sensors for oxygen, and integrated optical devices such as optical waveguides. Furthermore, ZnO is nontoxic and inexpensive and has comparable electrical and optical properties to commercially available Indium Tin Oxide (ITO). ZnO thin films were grown on glass substrates by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique using a KrF excimer laser with wavelength of 248nm. The influence of ambient oxygen pressure, substrate temperature, laser fluence, the number of pulses and doping with silicon was investigated. The structural, optical and electrical properties of ZnO thin films were investigated using X‐ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), spectrophotometers and resistance measurement by the four‐point probe. Regarding the influence of oxygen pressure, XRD measurements indicate that the ZnO thin films deposited at the oxygen pressure of 10 mTorr (1.3 Pa) crystallize well. AFM results show that the surface roughness of ZnO film increases with an increase of oxygen pressure. The electrical resistivity showed a minimum for an oxygen partial pressure of 10 mTorr (1.3 Pa). The effect of the substrate temperatures in the range of 100'C to 500'C on the properties of ZnO thin films was investigated with the oxygen pressure kept at 10 mTorr. The lowest resistivity was observed for a substrate temperature of 200 C. The effect of post‐growth annealing showed that for temperatures < 300'C , it is observed that the resistivity of the ZnO films decreases slightly. As the annealing temperature increases up to 500 'C, the resistivity of the ZnO films increases dramatically. Furthermore, The ZnO films show an increase of transmittance with annealing temperature, which probably indicates that the annealing treatment improved the crystallinity. ZnO thin films were deposited using a different number of pulses in order to investigate the thickness dependence of the structural, electrical and optical properties of the films. It was found that correlation between thickness and resistivity of ZnO thin films is negative due to the thicker films having fewer point defects such as oxygen vacancies. The transmittance of ZnO thin films is decreased due to the thickness effect. Laser energy density was varied in the range from 1.16 J/cm\(^2\) to 2.73 J/cm\(^2\) and it was observed that the resistivity of ZnO thin films declines with increasing laser fluence up to 1.51 J/cm\(^2\). However, at higher fluences up to 2.27 J/cm\(^2\), the resistivity dramatically increases, and the relatively low resistivity of the ZnO thin films of 3.1x10\(^{‐3}\) Ω/cm is found at a laser fluence of 1.51J/cm\(^2\). The optical transmittance increases with increase of laser fluence, from 1.16 J/cm\(^2\) to 2.27 J/cm\(^2\) in the range of wavelength of 350 nm to 450 nm. However, as the laser fluence increases up to 2.73 J/cm\(^2\), the optical transmittance significantly declines. The influence of impurity doping was investigated by using a 2 wt% Si‐ZnO target. It was observed that the doped films had lower resistivity than pure ZnO films (from 9 x10\(^{‐3}\) Ω cm to 7 x10\(^{‐4}\) Ω cm). Probably due to the increase in carrier concentration with doping the Si ions entering into the ZnO lattice caused a shift in the absorption edge and the average transmittance increased to 85 % in the visible region after doping with 2 wt% silicon.


Abstract:Pakistan's July 2018 parliamentary election brought to power the right-wing Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf, headed by former cricket star Imran Khan. The victory of Khan, who rails against political elites and against corruption, fits with the global trend of rising support for extremist populist leaders. Yet it also reflects the particular realities of Pakistan's hybrid regime. Khan became a serious contender thanks in large part to his alliance with the military, which had grown increasingly antagonistic toward the rival Pakistan Muslim League of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif (ousted over corruption charges in mid-2017 and later jailed). Serious accusations of fraud and a range of military machinations marred the 2018 electoral contest. Although the July vote formally marked Pakistan's second peaceful turnover of power, the country's political system may be most accurately classified as a pseudodemocratic façade covering the reality of continued military tutelage.


The Gilded Stage is a comprehensive tour of the world of opera. From its origins in the courts of northern Italy, to its internationally recognised position in modern culture, Snowman explores the social history of opera houses and impresarios, composers and patrons, artists and audiences. Even the most flamboyant composers could scarcely have imagined the global reach of opera in our own times. More opera is performed, financed, seen, heard, filmed and broadcast than ever before, and the world's leading performers are worshipped and paid like pop stars. Yet the art form is widely derided as 'elitist' and parts of the classical recording business appear close to bankruptcy. Pinpointing the scandals, forgotten history and key revolutions in the form with light erudition and a brilliant anecdotal eye, Daniel Snowman reveals that the world of opera has always known crisis and uncertainty - and the resulting struggles have often proved every bit as dramatic as those portrayed onstage.


Real-world networks are often noisy, and the existing linkage structure may not be reliable. For example, a link which connects nodes from different communities may affect the group assignment of nodes in a negative way. In this paper, we study a new problem called link selection, which can be seen as the network equivalent of the traditional feature selection problem in machine learning. More specifically, we investigate unsupervised link selection as follows: given a network, it selects a subset of informative links from the original network which enhance the quality of community structures. To achieve this goal, we use Ratio Cut size of a network as the quality measure. The resulting link selection approach can be formulated as a semi-definite programming problem. In order to solve it efficiently, we propose a backward elimination algorithm using sequential optimization. Experiments on benchmark network datasets illustrate the effectiveness of our method.


The present document seeks to set forth the IDB's commitment to the objectives contained in the Declaration of Guadalajara and the parallel Memorandum of Understanding, a commitment that has taken shape in Bank programs and lending, as well as in a growing number of coordination efforts and analytical contributions. Despite progress thus far made, a long road lies ahead if more cohesive societies are to be achieved. Challenges in the operational arena include moving from good design to good execution, the need to improve and expand evaluation, and the building and further consolidation of country institutional capacity. We hope that this document, with its proposal on how to define and measure social cohesion and its discussion of Bank activity and the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, will help to ensure that such opportunities result in concrete achievements for the region.


This study used several model-based tools to analyse the dynamics of the Arctic Basin between 1997 and 2006 as a linked system of land-ocean-atmosphere C exchange. The analysis estimates that terrestrial areas of the Arctic Basin lost 62.9 Tg C yr-1 and that the Arctic Ocean gained 94.1 Tg C yr-1. Arctic lands and oceans were a net CO2 sink of 108.9 Tg C yr-1, which is within the range of uncertainty in estimates from atmospheric inversions. Although both lands and oceans of the Arctic were estimated to be CO2 sinks, the land sink diminished in strength because of increased fire disturbance compared to previous decades, while the ocean sink increased in strength because of increased biological pump activity associated with reduced sea ice cover. Terrestrial areas of the Arctic were a net source of 41.5 Tg CH4 yr-1 that increased by 0.6 Tg CH4 yr-1 during the decade of analysis, a magnitude that is comparable with an atmospheric inversion of CH4. Because the radiative forcing of the estimated CH4 emissions is much greater than the CO2 sink, the analysis suggests that the Arctic Basin is a substantial net source of green house gas forcing to the climate system.


The recent national census which revealed that Kenya's population
shot up by 50 percent. over the last decade has caused a lot
of concern to the country's planners and has underlined the clear
need for an urgent review of present planning methodologies.
Kenya's annual growth rate of 3.9 percent is one of the highest
if not the highest figure in the world. Over the remaining
years of this century capital resources will be strained to the
limits, reflecting the economic and social move towards
industralisation. Natural population increase in the urban areas
combined with rural-urban migration will exacerbate an already
deteriorating housing situation. Particularly, the growth of
families in the low-income bracket (K.Shs.200 - K.Shs.l,400
monthly) will become a serious liability for urban councils.
Official house construction for the low income population has
always been a meagre percentage of actual needs. Therefore, the
current trend of the Kenyan Government is to move away from
actual house building to the provision of services only. The
current implementation of site and service schemes and squatter
upgrading programmes reftect this trend.
In the sanitation field, it is becoming clear, that conventional
sewerage is both too costly and frequently inappropriate for the
situation.
This study will try to identify some of the possible alternatives.


The purpose of this study was to examine the personal perceptions of older Americans in regards to the aging process and the characteristics of successful aging. In addition, the study aimed to determine individual perceptions of adult education programs and resources necessary in aging successfully. The study examined current resources, services and adult education programs through surveys from an individual perspective regarding successful aging. Research obtained addressed the educational issues of older Americans and provided recommendations for adult education programs that most appropriately meet the aging needs of the elderly population. Findings from the Successful Aging research study revealed that a majority of older Americans perceive mental health issues as more important than physical issues. Survey participants contended there is a need for better appropriation, accountability, and allocation of current funding for services, programs, and resources. Almost all participants acknowledged interaction with friends and family, the ability to remain active mentally as well as physically, independent, and the autonomy to make decisions about their own aging needs as arguably the most significant distinctions which assist in aging successfully. Additionally, the study provides fundamental data and research in their field of gerontology to assist stakeholders with future strategic planning of services, programs, and resources for older Americans which most appropriately and adequately equipment them in aging successfully.


The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between EFL learners' multiple intelligences and their performance in reading, grammar and vocabulary. In total, 64 intermediate level female students from a high school in Tirana, Albania, participated in the study. Descriptive analysis of the data collected through conduct of Multiple Intelligences Inventory for Adults and administration of an English language proficiency test identified the learners' intelligence types; to explore possible relationships between the learners' achievements in reading, grammar, and vocabulary and specific intelligence types, the data were analyzed inferentially through correlation analysis. The findings revealed significant but negative relationships between students' success in grammar and bodily and interpersonal intelligences. Whereas no relationship was found between the participant learners' intelligence types and their success in reading, vocabulary had positive relationship with logical intelligence and negative relationship with bodily and interpersonal intelligences.


C-heterochromatin and chiasma distribution patterns of meiotic chromosomes were studied in the dipodids Allactaga tetradactyla, Jaculus jaculus jaculus and Jaculus orientalis and chiasma terminalization was discussed. Darkly stained C-band located at the centromeric region of some bivalents was observed in all species at diakinesis and metaphase I. Of the occurrence of C-heterochromatin in the 24 bivalents, J. orientalis exhibited the highest percentage of absence of the C-blocks, where it was 68.8%, compared to 18.8% in A. tetradactyla and 14.6% in J. j. jaculus. Analysis of variance of the means of relative distances of interstitial and terminal chiasmata from the centromere in the larger bivalents no. 1 and 2 of each species at diakinesis and metaphase I showed that the interstitial chiasmata are stable in their positions at the two stages and do not move to the chromosome termini, while the terminal chiasmata scored at diakinesis are in fact achiasmatic terminal associations and some of them gradually terminalize at metaphase I. Therefore, it is concluded that C-heterochromatin pattern of meiotic chromosomes is quite similar to that of mitotic chromosomes except the pair no. 1 in A. tetradactyla, stability of interstitial chiasmata at the two stages might negate the idea of chiasma terminalization and C-heterochromatin has not any role in the distribution of chiasmata.


Background. Some experts have proposed limiting the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, for calorie-dense foods or subsidizing SNAP purchases of healthier foods. Objective. To estimate health effects and cost-effectiveness of banning or taxing sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or subsidizing fruits and vegetables purchased with SNAP. Design. Microsimulation. Data Sources. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, US Department of Agriculture Quarterly Food-at-Home Price Database, and SNAP program data. Target Population: US adults aged 25 to 64 y. Time Horizon. 10 y. Perspective. Governmental. Outcome Measures. Incremental costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), body mass index, Alternative Healthy Eating Index, Food Security Score, diabetes person-years, and deaths from myocardial infarctions (MIs) and strokes. Results of Base-Case Analysis. Banning SSB purchases using SNAP benefits would be expected to avert 510,000 diabetes person-years and 52,000 deaths from MIs and strokes over the next decade, with a savings of $2900 per QALY saved. A penny-per-ounce tax on SSBs purchased with SNAP dollars would produce higher cost savings due to tax revenues but avert fewer chronic disease deaths. However, some SNAP participants are likely to preferentially purchase SSBs through their disposable income, indirectly reducing their food security. A 30% produce subsidy would be expected to avert 39,000 diabetes person-years and 4600 cardiovascular deaths over 10 y without effects on food security. Results of Sensitivity Analysis. Results are sensitive to the intake elasticities of SSBs and produce. Limitations. Input data did not provide information on heterogeneity in response to price changes within the SNAP-using population. Conclusions. SNAP restrictions on SSBs could lower chronic disease mortality, but further testing should examine indirect effects on disposable income and food security. Subsidizing produce could confer fewer benefits or risks but at higher cost.


Over the past decades, the software development community has increasingly embraced the principles of a model-driven approach, resulting in the definition of many such methodologies. It is now an appropriate time to consolidate the many software model-driven approaches into a set of well-defined and related techniques, and processes. This set of techniques and processes, would be the building block for subsequent model-driven development methodologies. Such an accomplishment would provide a framework from which rigorously defined domain-specific methodologies are crafted. It would also provide a platform from which the next significant advancement in software development may be launched.

The objective of this research is the definition and implementation of a platform independent environment for model-driven software development that incorporates formal specification techniques with informal graphical modeling notations. The methodologies of the environment will amalgamate some of the best practices in model-driven development from academia and industry. The success and viability of this defined environment will be manifested in its adaptation by industrial partners.


Nonmonotonic Description Logic (DL) programs support rule-based reasoning on top of Description Logic ontologies, using a well-defined query interface. However, the interaction of the rules and the ontology may cause inconsistency such that no answer set (i.e. model) exists. We thus consider repairing DL-programs, i.e., changing formulas to obtain consistency. Viewing the data part of the ontology as the source of inconsistency, we define program repairs and repair answer sets based on changes to it. We analyze the complexity of the notion, and we extend an algorithm for evaluating DL-programs to compute repair answer sets, under optional selection of preferred repairs. The extension involves a generalized ontology repair problem, in which the entailment and non-entailment of sets of queries with updates to the ontology must be achieved. While this is intractable in general, we identify for the Description Logic DL-LiteA some tractable classes of preferred repairs that are useful in practice.


HYBRID COMPUTATIONAL TOXICOLOGY MODELS FOR REGULATORY RISK ASSESSMENT Prachi Pradeep Marquette University, 2015 Computational toxicology is the development of quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) models that relate a quantitative measure of chemical structure to a biological effect. In silico QSAR tools are widely accepted as a faster alternative to time-consuming clinical and animal testing methods for regulatory risk assessment of xenobiotics used in consumer products. However, different QSAR tools often make contrasting predictions for a new xenobiotic and may also vary in their predictive ability for different class of xenobiotics. This makes their use challenging, especially in regulatory applications, where transparency and interpretation of predictions play a crucial role in the development of safety assessment decisions. Recent efforts in computational toxicology involve the use of in vitro data, which enables better insight into the mode of action of xenobiotics and identification of potential mechanism(s) of toxicity. To ensure that in silico models are robust and reliable before they can be used for regulatory applications, the registration, evaluation, authorization and restriction of chemicals (REACH) initiative and the organization for economic co-operation and development (OECD) have established legislative guidelines for their validation. This dissertation addresses the limitations in the use of current QSAR tools for regulatory risk assessment within REACH/OECD guidelines. The first contribution is an ensemble model that combines the predictions from four QSAR tools for improving the quality of predictions. The model presents a novel mechanism to select a desired trade-off between false positive and false negative predictions. The second contribution is the introduction of quantitative biological activity relationship (QBAR) models that use mechanistically relevant in vitro data as biological descriptors for development of computational toxicology models. Two novel applications are presented that demonstrate that QBAR models can sufficiently predict carcinogenicity when QSAR model predictions may fail. The third contribution is the development of two novel methods which explore the synergistic use of structural and biological similarity data for carcinogenicity prediction. Two applications are presented that demonstrate the feasibility of proposed methods within REACH/OECD guidelines. These contributions lay the foundation for development of novel mechanism based in silico tools for mechanistically complex toxic endpoints to successfully advance the field of computational toxicology.


The abyssal ocean is filled with cold, dense waters that sink along the Antarctic continental slope and overflow sills that lie south of the Nordic Seas. Recent integrations of chlorofluorocarbon‐11 (CFC) measurements are similar in Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) and in lower North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), but Antarctic inputs are ≈ 2°C colder than their northern counterparts. This indicates comparable ventilation rates from both polar regions, and accounts for the Southern Ocean dominance over abyssal cooling. The decadal CFC‐based estimates of recent ventilation are consistent with other hydrographic observations and with longer‐term radiocarbon data, but not with hypotheses of a 20th‐century slowdown in the rate of AABW formation. Significant variability is not precluded by the available ocean measurements, however, and interannual to decadal changes are increasingly evident at high latitudes.


ABSTRACT
 A vertebrate bloodmeal is required by female mosquitoes of most species to obtain nutrients for egg maturation. The yellowfever mosquito, Aedes aegypti (L.), feeds predominantly on humans, despite having the capacity to use blood from other hosts for this process. Here, we report that female Ae. aegypti infected with a virulent strain of the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia pipientis (wMelPop) from Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) have a reduced ability to use blood for egg development. Blood feeding by wMelPop-infected females on mouse, guinea pig, or chicken hosts resulted in a near complete abolishment of reproductive output associated with both a decline in the numbers of eggs oviposited as well as the hatching rate of successfully laid eggs. In contrast, the reproductive output of wMelPop-infected females fed human blood was only mildly affected in comparison to individuals fed animal blood sources. Blood-feeding assays over two reproductive cycles definitively illustrated a nutritional interaction between host blood source and egg development in wMelPop-infected Ae. aegypti. Removal of Wolbachia from mosquitoes using antibiotic treatment rescued egg development on all blood sources. Further investigation of this phenotype may provide new insights into the nutritional basis of mosquito anthropophily.


This article considers the conditions, possibilities, and challenges of creating what is referred to here as a 'reflective space' within a higher education course for principals. It is informed by the findings of a qualitative research inquiry conducted in the interests of enhancing the principals' learning and professional praxis and the university educators' pedagogical praxis, within a Swedish course for school and preschool principals. Analysis of the findings highlighted two significant patterns. The first relates to the transformative benefits of creating a 'reflective space' for the principals attending the course. The second is more ambiguous and reflects their relation to and engagement with scientifically constructed knowledge. Based on these findings, the article offers considerations relevant for creating 'reflective spaces' as a means to enhance the quality of learning in higher education. Additionally, some guiding pedagogical implications are included in the final remarks.


The recent decade witnessed a surge of increase in financial crimes across the public and private sectors, with an average cost of scams of $102m to financial institutions in 2022. Developing a mechanism for battling financial crimes is an impending task that requires in-depth collaboration from multiple institutions, and yet such collaboration imposed significant technical challenges due to the privacy and security requirements of distributed financial data. For example, consider the modern payment network systems, which can generate millions of transactions per day across a large number of global institutions. Training a detection model of fraudulent transactions requires not only secured transactions but also the private account activities of those involved in each transaction from corresponding bank systems. The distributed nature of both samples and features prevents most existing learning systems from being directly adopted to handle the data mining task. In this paper, we collectively address these challenges by proposing a hybrid federated learning system that offers secure and privacy-aware learning and inference for financial crime detection. We conduct extensive empirical studies to evaluate the proposed framework's detection performance and privacy-protection capability, evaluating its robustness against common malicious attacks of collaborative learning. We release our source code at https://github.com/illidanlab/HyFL .


– The theory of probabilistic dynamics (TPD) offers a framework capable of modeling the interaction between the physical evolution of a system in transient conditions and the succession of branchings defining a sequence of events. Nonetheless, the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation, besides being inherently Markovian, assumes instantaneous changes in the system dynamics when a setpoint is crossed. In actuality, a transition between two dynamic evolution regimes of the system is a two-phase process. First, conditions corresponding to the triggering of a transition have to be met; this phase will be referred to as the activation of a "stimulus." Then, a time delay must elapse before the actual occurrence of the event causing the transition to take place. When this delay cannot be neglected and is a random quantity, the general TPD can no longer be used as such. Moreover, these delays are likely to influence the ordering of events in an accident sequence with competing situations, and the process of delineating sequences in the probabilistic safety analysis of a plant might therefore be affected in turn. This paper aims at present-ing several extensions of the classical TPD, in which additional modeling capabilities are progressively introduced. A companion paper sketches a discretized approach of these problems.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to visualize the structure of SCImago Journal & Country Rank (SJR) coverage of the extensive citation network of Scopus journals, examining this bibliometric portal through an alternative approach, applying clustering and visualization techniques to a combination of citation-based links.

Design/methodology/approach

Three SJR journal-journal networks containing direct citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling links are built. The three networks were then combined into a new one by summing up their values, which were later normalized through geo-normalization measure. Finally, the VOS clustering algorithm was executed and the journal clusters obtained were labeled using original SJR category tags and significant words from journal titles.

Findings

The resultant scientogram displays the SJR structure through a set of communities equivalent to SJR categories that represent the subject contents of the journals they cover. A higher level of aggregation by areas provides a broad view of the SJR structure, facilitating its analysis and visualization at the same time.

Originality/value

This is the first study using Persson's combination of most popular citation-based links (direct citation, co-citation and bibliographic coupling) in order to develop a scientogram based on Scopus journals from SJR. The integration of the three measures along with performance of the VOS community detection algorithm gave a balanced set of clusters. The resulting scientogram is useful for assessing and validating previous classifications as well as for information retrieval and domain analysis.


BACKGROUND
The degree to which one identifies as male or female has a profound impact on one's life. Yet, there is a limited understanding of what contributes to this important characteristic termed gender identity. In order to reveal factors influencing gender identity, studies have focused on people who report strong feelings of being the opposite sex, such as male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals.

METHOD
To investigate potential neuroanatomical variations associated with transsexualism, we compared the regional thickness of the cerebral cortex between 24 MTF transsexuals who had not yet been treated with cross-sex hormones and 24 age-matched control males.

RESULTS
Results revealed thicker cortices in MTF transsexuals, both within regions of the left hemisphere (i.e., frontal and orbito-frontal cortex, central sulcus, perisylvian regions, paracentral gyrus) and right hemisphere (i.e., pre-/post-central gyrus, parietal cortex, temporal cortex, precuneus, fusiform, lingual, and orbito-frontal gyrus).

CONCLUSION
These findings provide further evidence that brain anatomy is associated with gender identity, where measures in MTF transsexuals appear to be shifted away from gender-congruent men.


Abstract. Two years ago the German Aerospace Center (DLR) reported on the ISRSE36 in Berlin about the FireBird Mission (Lorenz, 2015). FireBird is a constellation of two small satellites equipped with a unique Bi- Spectral Infrared Instrument. Whereas this instrumentation is mainly dedicated to the investigation of high temperature events a much wider application field was meanwhile examined. The first of these satellites – TET-1 – was launched on July 22nd 2012. On the ISRSE36 could be presented the results of two years of operation. The second satellite – BIROS – was launched on June 22nd 2016. The outstanding feature of the Infrared Instruments is their higher ground sampling resolution and dynamic range compared to systems such as MODIS. This allows the detection of smaller fire events and improves the quality of the quantitative analysis. The detailed analysis of the large number of data sets acquired by TET in the last two years caused significant methodically improvements in the data processing. Whereas BIROS has the same instrumentation as TET a number of additional technological features implemented in the satellite bus expand the application field of the instruments remarkably. New High-Torque-Wheels will allow new scanning modes and generating with this new data products to be discussed. A Giga Bit Laser downlink terminal will enable near real time downlinks of large data volumes reducing the response time to disaster events. With an advanced on board processing unit, it is possible to reduce the data stream to a dedicated list of desired parameters to be sent to users by an OrbCom modem. This technology can serve such Online Information Portals like the Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) in South Africa. The paper will focus on these new items of the FireBird mission.


In viruses, recombination may allow foreign genes to be acquired or may create a composite genome through recombination between different virus variants. The ability to identify a recombinant virus and the positions where recombination occurred is only as certain as the identification of the component parental viral genomes from which it was generated. Recombination detection thus shares many elements and is ultimately dependent on evolutionary reconstructions and, most importantly, on methods for the delineation of separate phylogenetic groups. The structure of the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of picornaviruses provides a further example of modular exchange through recombination during the evolution of separate genera within the picornavirus family. Members of the same picornavirus genus show conserved gene order and content, and over the much shorter evolutionary time scale in which species and serotypes developed, gene exchange is best documented as homologous recombination events. One of the problems with conceptualizing the process of recombination of enteroviruses and other picornaviruses revolves around the fundamentally different sequence relationships between serotypes in structural gene and nonstructural (NS) region sequences. From the evidence we have from the current range of picornaviruses infecting humans and other mammals, recombination has been a pervasive influence on both the early and contemporary evolution of these viruses. The wide range of molecular tools developed in picornavirus research, reverse genetics, and methods for in vitro and in vivo culture provides unprecedented future opportunities to explore the causes and consequences of recombination in RNA viruses.


Abstract A particle-in-cell calculation code was made to simulate the operation of an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion device. The computation includes the effects of ionization by electron impact. Several techniques to save computational time are introduced in this program code. One of them is time-dependent fine space meshes used in the regions where the particles concentrate. Several superparticles that have similar radial position as well as similar energy are merged, while one superparticle is divided into several particles with a somewhat different velocity when the total number of superparticles decreases. The methods enable more precise determination of the characteristics of an IEC device in a shorter time than by previous methods.


The article deals with the problem of whether Kant's conception of fine art, as it is presented in the Critique of the Power of Judgment (1790), can account for what many art lovers consider one of the highest virtue of artworks, i.e., profundity. According to this framework, a crucial mark of artistic profundity is the impossibility of fully capturing the content of a work of art, or our response to it, conceptually. Kant's description of our response to works of art, or more precisely to works of genius, strikes a very similar note. The possibility of a Kantian version of artistic profundity should not be taken for granted, however. In fact, we tend to think that in profound art we are offered a deep understanding or deep treatment of a topic, and we tend to assume that depth and truth are related. But it is disputable whether notions such as 'understanding' and 'truth' can find a place in a theory of art such as Kant's, which sets a use of the reflecting power of judgment that is not cognitive as a standard of artistic success and which furthermore puts at the heart of artistic experience a class of intuitions – aesthetic ideas – that, not being fully captured by conceptual description, are not truth-apt. This seems to affect the very possibility of a Kantian account of profundity, but it will be shown that this difficulty can be overcome.


In the development of modern IT systems, there is a trend towards adaptive systems. In the meantime, there are diverse approaches in the area of Ambient Intelligence, where a smart environment adapts itself to its user. But current researches also analyze adaptivity in the area of business process and business service management. An approach for adaptivity is context awareness. In this paper, we describe a holistic approach for the context-aware configuration and execution of business services and their underlying processes, which is being developed within the German research project Robot2Business. We consider the integration of context on three different levels (business services, processes, technology). The approach will be evaluated in two different use cases within the project (agriculture and IT service management) in order to proof both the context-aware re-combinability and configuration of service modules (build time) and the context-aware exception handling in the associated processes (run time).


Abstract Attitudes are at the heart of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), but problems in defining and measuring attitudes have contributed to typically low ability to predict behaviour. This article investigates the impact of potential disjuncture between evaluations that an individual externally verbalises (explicit attitudes), and evaluations that are internally held and may exist outside of conscious awareness (implicit attitudes), on the predictive ability of TRA. We study consumers' attitudes towards eating healthy food and subsequent behaviour in a context of socially consensual behaviour. An Implicit Association Test (IAT) is used to measure implicit attitudes, and these scores are contrasted with self-reported explicit attitude scores. Ninety one participants took part in the study. We found, surprisingly, that implicit attitude has no significant effect on behavioural intention. However, a disjuncture between an individual's implicit and explicit attitudes, reflecting internal psychological conflict, affected behaviour.


Irrigation is an essential element of agricultural production whose absence would create great economic hardship in many regions of the global South. Yet irrigated agriculture uses 70% of global fresh water withdrawals, putting major pressure on global water resources. Whilst much research has focused on technological solutions to improve irrigation efficiency, irrigation water governance arrangements remain poorly investigated. This paper examines the irrigation water governance arrangements in place in the Canale Emiliano Romagnolo (CER) district in Italy. The objective is to understand key factors driving or hindering irrigation efficiency, and to identify context-relevant policy-making dynamics that could enable greater efficiency. The analysis is conducted following the Policy Arrangement Approach, which describes a policy domain in terms of actors, rules, resources and discourses, and identifies opportunities for change in the interplay of these dimensions. Findings suggest that the existing governance arrangements have led to improvements in irrigation efficiency over the past decades in the CER district. Key factors of this performance include public financial investment in research and farm modernization, the existence of local capacity building and social capital, and the presence of a public-private organization with capacity to raise resources and to generate and transfer knowledge to both policy-makers and farmers. © 2014 IWA Publishing.


Major and trace elemental concentrations as well as Sr and Pb isotopic data, obtained for 41 plutonic samples from the Coast Mountains Batholith ranging in age from ∼108 to ∼50 Ma, indicate that the source regions for these rocks were relatively uniform and typical of Cordilleran arcs. The studied rocks are mineralogically and chemically metaluminous to weakly peraluminous and are mainly calc-alkaline. Initial whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr ratios range from 0.7035 up to 0.7053, whereas lead isotopic data range from 18.586 to 19.078 for 206Pb/204Pb, 15.545 to 15.634 for 207Pb/204Pb, and 37.115 to 38.661 for 208Pb/204Pb. In contrast to these relatively primitive isotopic data, δ 18O values for quartz separates determined for 19 of the samples range from 6.8 up to 10.0‰. These δ 18O values preclude the possibility that these melts were exclusively generated from the Mesozoic mantle wedge of this continental arc, just as the Sr and Pb data preclude significant involvement of an old (Precambrian) crustal/mantle lithospheric source. We interpret the high δ 18O component to represent materials that had a multi-stage crustal evolution. They were originally mafic rocks derived from a circum-Pacific juvenile mantle wedge that experienced a period of near-surface residence after initial crystallization. During this interval, these primitive rocks interacted with meteoric waters at low temperatures, as indicated by the high δ 18O values. Subsequently, these materials were buried to lower crustal depths where they remelted to form the high δ 18O component of the Coast Mountains Batholith. This component makes up at least 40% (mass) of the Cretaceous through Eocene batholith in the studied area. The remainder of the source materials comprising the Coast Mountains Batholith had to be new additions from the mantle wedge. A prolonged period of contractional deformation beginning with the Early Cretaceous collisional accretion of the Insular superterrane is inferred to have been responsible for underthrusting the high δ 18O component into the lower crust. We suggest that mafic rocks of the Insular superterrane (e.g. Alexander–Wrangellia) are of appropriate composition, and were accreted to and overthrust by what would become the Coast Mountains Batholith just prior to initiation of magmatism in the region.


According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people worldwide have disabilities. The field of disability studies defines disability through a social lens; people are disabled to the extent that society creates accessibility barriers. AI technologies offer the possibility of removing many accessibility barriers; for example, computer vision might help people who are blind better sense the visual world, speech recognition and translation technologies might offer real time captioning for people who are hard of hearing, and new robotic systems might augment the capabilities of people with limited mobility. Considering the needs of users with disabilities can help technologists identify high-impact challenges whose solutions can advance the state of AI for all users; however, ethical challenges such as inclusivity, bias, privacy, error, expectation setting, simulated data, and social acceptability must be considered.


OBJECTIVE
Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare genetic condition in which progressive ossification of fibrous tissue, tendons and ligaments leads to severe physical handicap. Most affected individuals who have been studied have a recurrent 617G>A mutation in the ACVR1/ALK2 gene that codes for activin A type 1 receptor/activin-like kinase 2. The majority of publications on the genetics of FOP have concerned whites or Asians, and no genetic information is available concerning sub-Saharan blacks. The aim of the project was to determine whether or not this mutation is present in affected persons in South Africa.

METHOD
Molecular mutational analysis was undertaken on genomic DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes from 6 affected South African of different population groups (4 Xhosa, 1 coloured, 1 white).

RESULTS
The 6 persons with FOP were all heterozygous for the ACVR1/ALK2 617G>A mutation. This mutation was absent in 6 controls.

CONCLUSION
Confirmation of the presence of this recurrent mutation facilitates diagnostic accuracy in affected persons in South Africa, and allows researchers to narrow the search for molecular targets for rational intervention to the ACVR1/ALK2 domain.


The paper focuses on an energy-service sector and its value to the economy of developed countries. The processes of formation of energy service in Russia and the problems that accompany this type of economic activity are analysed. The subjects of the research are methods, forms, and tools of government regulation in the energy-service sector. The purposes of the research are an explanation of the regulatory mechanisms and influence of the government in the energy-service sector. We evaluated efficacy of the regulatory impact of legal regulations (national and international) on the implementation of the Russian government's energy strategy and government policy in the sphere of energy conservation and increasing energy efficiency. We used economic analysis of law and individual institutions and comparative-legal method. We established correlation of economic and legal concepts for energy conservation, energy efficiency, and energy services. The characteristics of energy services as a business activity from perspectives of the target object, the legal status of participants, sources of legal regulation were justified. The paper draws conclusions about future trends in the development of government regulation for the energy-service sector (medium term), the prospects for the development of a special (energy) legislation, the possibility and advisability of borrowing positive foreign experience of the regulatory influence of the government in the energy-service sector. Progressive norms of national and foreign laws and business practices of implementation energy-service contracts were evaluated. Conclusions can be used in domestic law-making practices and legislative initiatives of various subjects of law making. Generalizations of contractual practices and recommendations for the use of legal structures in the energy-service sector could be of interest to entrepreneurs. The significance of the research derives from the need for strengthening of government regulation in the energy-service sector, the effectiveness of the use of certain legal forms, methods and tools for these purposes.


The authors were asked to examine a problem of employee absenteeism from the abuse of sick and annual leave during Competitive Sourcing Program (CSP) study at an U.S. Air Force organization. The purpose of this study was therefore, to determine if there was statistically more or less absenteeism in the form of leave being taken in an organization undergoing downsizing through a CSP. Therefore, in order to answer that question, a comparison of two sets of stratified random samples of leave usage data comparing employees in a CSP study organization against employees in an organization not under a CSP study was conducted. The research shoved that the employees in an organization undergoing a Competitive Study took fewer sick leaves than the employees in the control organizations not undergoing a CSP study. Whether this was due to fear of being singled out for being let go first or a prudent strategy for the employees to improve the unit's competitiveness with outside contractors must be the subjects of further research. In any case, this research shows the value of researching the facts to verify significant management's concerns about employee behavior.


Book synopsis: This volume brings together international scholars working at the intersection of Spinoza studies and critical and feminist philosophy. It is the first book-length study dedicated to the re-reading of Spinoza's ethical and theologico-political works from a feminist perspective. The twelve outstanding chapters range over the entire field of Spinoza's writings—metaphysical, political, theological, ethical, and psychological—drawing out the ways in which his philosophy presents a rich resource for the reconceptualization of friendship, sexuality, politics, and ethics in contemporary life.

The clear and accessible Introduction offers a historical sketch of Spinoza's life and intellectual context and indicates how Spinoza's philosophy might be seen as a rich cultural resource today. Topics treated here include the mind-body problem and its relation to the sex-gender distinction; relational autonomy; the nature of love and friendship; sexuality and normative morality; free will and determinism and their relation to Christian theology; imagination and recognition between the sexes; emotion and the body; and power, imagination, and political sovereignty. The essays engage in a rich and challenging conversation that opens new paths for feminist research.


The vernacular architecture of Puerto Rico has been previously investigated, but research has yet to address the symbolic and aesthetic expression of that form through formal paint analysis. Guayama's urban houses are distinctive through their style, color and materials. Color plays a fundamental role in domestic architectural expression, but it is often overlooked by the preservation field. To date, there has been limited scientific research completed to record the materials and palette used in Caribbean architectural painting. As a general rule buildings are frequently studied as isolated entities, but rarely as a group, addressing color schemes and paint palettes across a building typology or locale. This thesis attempts to generate a historically derived exterior color palette by examining paint samples from a group of representative houses to gain an understanding of the finishes employed in Pan-Caribbean domestic architecture. The research utilizes: 1) historical research and documentation of representative structures, 2) stratigraphic analysis of paint finishes, 3) comparative analysis of decorative trends, and 4) visual tools for understanding the buildings original finishes. The historic paint research conducted for this thesis focused on the front elevations or balcones (porches) of vernacular creole houses. Historically paint and decorative motifs are concentrated on the façade of a house making it the most vibrant and diverse feature. Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Suggested Citation: Prime, Betty L. (2011). Exterior Architectural Finishes in Puerto Rico: The Painting Traditions of Guayama's Vernacular Architecture. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/164 EXTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL FINISHES IN PUERTO RICO: THE PAINTING TRADITIONS OF GUAYAMA'S VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE.