Climate change scenarios predict an increased frequency of extreme climatic events. In Arctic regions, one of the most profound of these are extreme and sudden winter warming events in which temperatures increase rapidly to above freezing, often causing snow melt across whole landscapes and exposure of ecosystems to warm temperatures. Following warming, vegetation and soils no longer insulated below snow are then exposed to rapidly returning extreme cold. Using a new experimental facility established in sub‐Arctic dwarf shrub heathland in northern Sweden, we simulated an extreme winter warming event in the field and report findings on growth, phenology and reproduction during the subsequent growing season. A 1‐week long extreme winter warming event was simulated in early March using infrared heating lamps run with or without soil warming cables. Both single short events delayed bud development of Vaccinium myrtillus by up to 3 weeks in the following spring (June) and reduced flower production by more than 80%: this also led to a near‐complete elimination of berry production in mid‐summer. Empetrum hermaphroditum also showed delayed bud development. In contrast, Vaccinium vitis‐idaea showed no delay in bud development, but instead appeared to produce a greater number of actively growing vegetative buds within plots warmed by heating lamps only. Again, there was evidence of reduced flowering and berry production in this species. While bud break was delayed, growing season measurements of growth and photosynthesis did not reveal a differential response in the warmed plants for any of the species. These results demonstrate that a single, short, extreme winter warming event can have considerable impact on bud production, phenology and reproductive effort of dominant plant species within sub‐Arctic dwarf shrub heathland. Furthermore, large interspecific differences in sensitivity are seen. These findings are of considerable concern, because they suggest that repeated events may potentially impact on the biodiversity and productivity of these systems should these extreme events increase in frequency as a result of global change. Although climate change may lengthen the growing season by earlier spring snow melt, there is a profound danger for these high‐latitude ecosystems if extreme, short‐lived warming in winter exposes plants to initial warm temperatures, but then extreme cold for the rest of the winter. Work is ongoing to determine the longer term and wider impacts of these events.


: Introduction. Part One: Conceptual Perspectives on the Development of Talent. 1.D.H. Feldman, Developmental theory and the Expression of Gifts and Talents. Introduction. The Need for a Framework to Guide Research and Practice. Towards a Framework for the Study of Giftedness and Talent. The Universal to Unique Continuum. The Development of Gifts and Talents. The Evolution of Gifts and Talents. Conclusion. 2.Ad W. Smitsman, Slumbering Talents: Where Do they Reside? Introduction. Talents as Hidden Core: Preformism and Unwanted Dichotomies. Development and the Organism-Environment System. The Significance of the Environment for an Organism's Developing Capabilities. Enhancement of Capabilities to Act by tool Use. Conclusion . Part Two: Intellectual Giftedness. 3.R.J. Sternberg, Successful Intelligence: A Unified View of Giftedness. The Concept of Successful Intelligence. Components of Successful Intelligence. Putting together the Three aspects of Successful Intelligence. Acknowledgement. 4.F.E. Weinert, E.A. Hany, The Role of Intelligence as a Major Determinant of a Successful Occupational Life. Introduction. The GOLD Study: Method. Results. General Discussion and Concluding Remarks. Part Three: Specific Talents: Personality, Morality, Emotionality, Academic Achievement, and Art. 5.C.F.M. Van Lieshout, R.H.J. Scholte, M.A.G. Van Aken, G.J.T. Haselager, J. M. Riksen-Walraven, The Gifted Personality: Resilient Children and Adolescents, Their Adjustment and their Relationships. Different Approaches to Personality. Resilience Across the Primary School Years. Resilient Adolescents. Subtypes of Resilient Children and Adolescents. Agentic and Communal Resilients, Perceived Support, and Sociometric Status. Boys Versus Girls. Conclusions. 6.T. Olthof, The Morality Paradox: Choosing Not to Be Moral as a Component of Moral Excellence. Introduction. The Nature of Morality. Moral Excellence. The Case of R. The Hazards of Untamed Moral Commitment. In Search of Moral Excellence: Beyond the Fusion of Goals. Acknowledgements. 7.P. Heymans, Talent For Development: Responding to Contextual Promises. Introduction. The Developmental Nexus and Its Dependence On Symbolic Structures. Young Marc Making A Developmental Opportunity Come True. Concluding Observations. Acknowledgement. 8.H.W. Stevenson, S. Lee, X. Mu, Successful Achievement In Mathematics: China and the United States. Introduction. Academic Achievement In China. High Achievers In China and the United States. Conclusions. 9. W. Deutsch, It's (Im)Possible to Become A Genius! the Development of Drawing. Introduction. A Short Survey About Drawing. The Documentation of Children's Drawings. The Development of Drawing: Three Individual Case Studies. Development and Talent. Acknowledgements. Part Four: Supporting the Development of Talent. 10.J.M. Riksen-Walraven, J. Zevalkink, Gifted Infants: What Kinds of Support Do they Need? The Role of Experience In the Development of Talents. A Supportive Environment For Gifted Infants is One That Fosters Competence. Motivation. Quality of Support Provided By Parents. Quality of Parental Support and Achievement of Excellence In Surinamese-Dutch Infants. Conclusions: Back to the Beginning. 11.J. Freeman, Teaching For Talent: Lessons From the Research. Problems of Definitions. Some Specific Research Concerns. How the Talented are Different. Educating for the Development of Talent. Current Trends In Developing Talent. Conclusions. 12.R.F. Subotnik, The Juilliard Model For Developing Young Adolescent Performers: An Educational Prototype. Introduction: The Juilliard School. Structure of the Study. Explicit Talent-Development Variables. More Implicit Talent-Development Variables. Conclusions. Note. 13. H.J.M. Hermans, M.F. Poulie, Talent and Self-narrative: The Survival of an Underachieving Adolescent. The


The atom laser has long been a holy grail within atom physics and with the creation of an atom laser we hope to bring a similar revolution in to the field of atom optics. With the creation of the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) in 1995 the path to an atom laser was initiated. An atom laser is continues source of BEC. In a Bose condensate all the atoms occupy the same quantum state and can be described by the same wave function and phase. With an atom laser the De Broglie wavelength of atoms can be much smaller than the wavelength of light. Due to the ultimate control over the atoms the atom laser is very interesting for atom optics, lithography, metrology, etching and deposition of atoms on a surface. All previous atom lasers have been created from atoms coupled out from an existing Bose-Einstein Condensate. There are different approaches but common to them all is that the duration of the output of the atom laser is limited by the size of the initial BEC and they all have a low flux. This leaves the quest to build a continuous high flux atom laser. An alternative approach to a continuous BEC beam is to channel a continuous ultra cold atomic beam into a magnetic guide and then cool this beam down to degeneracy. Cooling down a continuous beam of atoms faces three large problems: The collision rate has to be large enough for effective rethermalization, since evaporative cooling in 2D is not as effective as in 3D and a large thermal conductivity due to atoms with a high angular momentum causes heating downstream in the guide. We have built a 4 meter magnetic guide that is placed on a downward slope with a magnetic barrier in the end. In the guide we load packets of ultra cold rubidium atoms with a frequency rate large enough for the packets to merge together to form a continuous atomic beam. The atomic beam is supersonic and when the beam reaches the end barrier it will return and collide with itself. The collisions lowers the velocity of the beam into subsonic velocities and a shock wave is created between the two velocity regions. In order to conserve number of particle, momentum and enthalpy the density of the atomic beam passing through the shock wave must increase. We have build such a shock wave in an atomic beam and observed the density increase due to this. As an extra feature having a subsonic beam on a downward slope adds an extra density increase due to gravitational compression. Loading ultra cold atoms into a 3D trap from the dense subsonic beam overcomes the problem with 2D cooling and thermal conductivity. This was done and evaporative cooling was applied creating an unprecedented large number rubidium BEC.


Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), the reserve asset issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have lately reappeared in the news. The G-20 leaders, at their recent meeting in London, endorsed a proposal to issue $250 billion in SDRs to counteract the financial crisis, while the governor of the People's Bank of China has called for SDRs to gradually replace the dollar at the center of the international monetary system, a plan that would be facilitated by allowing countries to convert their dollar reserve holdings into SDRs. John Williamson reviews the history of the IMF's SDRs and provides an overview of these and other proposals that would increase this synthetic currency's role in the international monetary system. The SDR was originally created to resolve a recognized flaw in the structure of the postwar Bretton Woods monetary system, but the eventual breakdown of Bretton Woods and the subsequent evolution of the current dollar-centered system have relegated the SDR mostly to the minor role of serving as a unit of account for the IMF's transactions. Recent proposals would return the SDR to greater prominence and could help to create a financial system that is free from the imbalances that have plagued the world of late.


Speech signal processing for voice communications can be characterised in terms of silence compression, noise reduction, and speech compression. The limit in the channel bandwidth of voice communication systems requires efficient compression of speech and silence signals while retaining the voice quality. Silence compression by means of both voice activity detection (VAD) and comfort noise generation could present transparent speech-quality while substantially lowering the transmission bit-rate, since pause regions between talk spurts do not include any voice information. Thus, this thesis proposes smoothed likelihood ratio-based VAD, designed on the basis of a behavioural analysis and improvement of a statistical model-based voice activity detector. Input speech could exhibit noisy signals, which could make the voice communication fatiguing and less intelligible. This task can be alleviated by noise reduction as a preprocessor for speech coding. Noise characteristics in speech enhancement are adapted typically during the pause regions classified by a voice activity detector. However, VAD errors could lead to over- or under- estimation of the noise statistics. Thus, this thesis proposes mixed decision-based noise adaptation based on a integration of soft and hard decision-based methods, defined with the speech presence uncertainty and VAD result, respectively. At low bit-rate speech coding, the sinusoidal model has been widely applied because of its good nature exploiting the phase redundancy of speech signals. Its performance, however, can be severely smeared by mis-estimation of the pitch. Thus, this thesis proposes a robust pitch estimation technique based on the autocorrelation of spectral amplitudes. Another important parameter in sinusoidal speech coding is the spectral magnitude of the LP-residual signal. It is, however, not easy to directly quantise the magnitudes because the dimensions of the spectral vectors are variable from frame to frame depending on the pitch. To alleviate this problem, this thesis proposes mel-scale-based dimension conversion, which converts the spectral vectors to a fixed dimension based on mel-scale warping. A predictive coding scheme is also employed in order to exploit the inter-frame redundancy between the spectral vectors. Experimental results show that each proposed technique is suitable for enhancing speech quality for voice communications. Furthermore, an improved speech coder incorporating the proposed techniques is developed. The vocoder gives speech quality comparable to TIA/EIA IS-127 for noisy speech whilst operating at lower than half the bit-rate of the reference coder. Key words: voice activity detection, speech enhancement, pitch, spectral magnitude quantisation, low bit-rate coding.


Migraine, tension-type headache (TTH) and headaches attributed to temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are prevalent in patients with TMD-pain. The objective was to describe the course of headache complaints as compared to the course of TMD complaints in TMD-pain patients with headache during usual care multidisciplinary treatment for TMD. This was a 12-week longitudinal observational study following adults with TMD-pain and headache during a usual-care multidisciplinary TMD-treatment. The Graded Chronic Pain Scale was used for both TMD and headache to measure pain-related disability (primary outcome measure), pain intensity, days with pain and days experiencing disability (secondary outcome measures). Stratified for the headache type, general linear modelling for repeated measures was used to analyze changes over time in the TMD complaints and the headache complaints. TMD-pain patients with migraine (n = 22) showed significant decrease of pain-related disability for both TMD and headache complaints over time. No difference in the effect over time was found between the two complaints. Patients with TMD-pain and TTH (n = 21) or headache attributed to TMD (n = 17) did not improve in disability over time. For the secondary outcome measures, the results were equivocal. In conclusion, TMD-pain patients with migraine, improvement in TMD-related disability was comparable to headache-related disability for TMD-pain patients with TTH or with headache attributed to TMD, no improvements in disability were found.


As a novel Internet architecture, Named Data Networking (NDN) shifts the communication model from address-centric to content-centric. An NDN router caches the data in its content store, greatly reducing network traffic. NDN adopts the hierarchical naming schema, which allows the name aggregation and enables high scalability. However, in a richly connected topology, the nearest data replica are often not on the path dictated by NDN's tree-like data fetching model. This might result in a lower data delivery efficiency compared with the flat self-certifying naming schema in other Information-Centric Networking (ICN) architectures. To address the low efficiency problem, we propose a CDN-like enhancement to the NDN design, called Fetching the Nearest Replica (FNR). In FNR, when a consumer sends an interest for a popular data, the data is fetched from the nearest replica in the network, regardless of whether it is on the best path from the producer to the consumer. We present the design details and theoretical overhead analysis for FNR. Our evaluation results using ndnSIM simulator show that on average FNR reduces the total (inter-domain, intra-domain) traffic by 25.6% (53.0%, 18.2%) on average, compared to the default NDN approach. In addition, the average latency is reduced by 37% and the average cost is reduced by 51.4%. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first NDN enhancement in the literature to support nearest replica fetching in NDN.


Hydrogen-vacancy complexes can form in a material due to the exothermic binding of hydrogen atoms to vacancy sites. We explore the structure and electronic properties of hydrogen-vacancy complexes in delta-Pu using a density functional theory supercell approach, with up to eight hydrogen atoms stored in the vacancy site. We find that the hydrogen atoms bind to the inner edge of the vacancy site, preferring pseudo-octahedral configurations that optimize the Pu-H bond length. Hydrogen binding to the vacancy site remains exothermic, with binding energies around -0.4 eV/H atom. A statistical mechanics analysis is derived and applied to reveal the range of hydrogen chemical potentials that would lead to hydrogen-vacancy complex formation. We find that these chemical potentials are higher than those required to form the hydride phase, indicating that hydriding should occur before any appreciable concentration of vacancy-hydrogen complexes is realized. Some remarks are made comparing this theoretical finding to the experimental work on this topic, with suggestions given for future work that may help reconcile some apparent contradictions.


The Main Uralian Fault has been considered the original arc–continent suture for 2000 km along the Uralide orogen. The symmetry of the tectonic units across it suggested a consistent east-dipping polarity for the palaeosubduction zone, which, together with its topographic and aeromagnetic signature, supported the idea of a single suture. However, several characteristics vary at different latitudes. In the Middle Urals, it is a strike-slip fault zone with moderately deformed and metamorphosed volcanic arc fragments in its hanging wall, and low-grade metamorphic rocks of the East European Craton in its footwall. Here, it has a prominent NNW-trending magnetic signature which cross-cuts north-trending anomalies in its hanging wall, and a pronounced reflection seismic signature that can be traced to the top of the middle crust at c. 5 s. TWT. In the Southern Urals, it is a serpentinite mélange zone of ambiguous kinematics, with a weakly deformed and metamorphosed volcanic arc in its hanging wall, and moderately metamorphosed to high pressure rocks of the East European Craton in its footwall. In this part of the orogen, it has a weak reflection seismic character, and a magnetic signature that parallels that of its hanging wall. On the basis of an integrated analysis of these different data sets, we suggest that the Main Uralian Fault, as it is currently defined, is not a single entity, but rather the original arc–continent suture in the south, and the western strand of a strike-slip fault system that reworked the original suture in the Middle Urals.


Rationalization, in our intended sense of the term, occurs when a person favors a particular conclusion as a result of some factor (such as self-interest) that is of little justificatory epistemic relevance, if that factor then biases the person's subsequent search for, and assessment of, potential justifications for the conclusion. Empirical evidence suggests that rationalization is common in ordinary people's moral and philosophical thought. We argue that it is likely that the moral and philosophical thought of philosophers and moral psychologists is also pervaded by rationalization. Moreover, although rationalization has some benefits, overall it would be epistemically better if the moral and philosophical reasoning of both ordinary people and professional academics were not as heavily influenced by rationalization as it likely is. We discuss the significance of our arguments for cognitive management and epistemic responsibility.


OBJECTIVE
Obesity is a public health problem in Puerto Rico. Dietary patterns that include high intakes of energy and sweetened drinks and low consumption of fruits, vegetables and fiber are associated with obesity. The aim of this study is to relate dietary patterns with body composition in obese subjects.

METHODS
Dietary patterns were evaluated using 3-day food records. Body composition was assessed by body weight, hip and waist circumferences and % body fat, and then used to classify subjects by obesity stages using BMI and by low or high risk using WHR or % body fat. The resulting comparison groups were associated with energy, macronutrients, fruits, vegetables, fiber, and sweetened drinks intake and with meal energy density and meal frequency intake. Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney tests were used to compare groups and Spearman correlations were used for continuous variables.

RESULTS
Thirty subjects completed the study. By BMI, 30% were obese type I, 33% type II and 37% type III; by WHR, 43% were low risk and 57% high risk; by % body fat, all were high risk. Dietary patterns were similar between groups. WHR was positively correlated with fiber consumption (r = 0.42; p < 0.05) and CHO intake (r = 0.35; p = 0.057).

CONCLUSION
In this pilot study, dietary patterns appeared similar between groups and sound with nutritional recommendations; however, we observed a poor quality of the diet due to very low intakes of fruits, vegetables and fiber and high intakes of sweetened drinks.


The synthesis of metal–organic frameworks with organic linkers connected through a flexible polymer backbone (polyMOFs) has relied on macromolecular ligands with limited control over molecular weight and dispersity. An approach utilizing a reversible deactivation radical polymerization (RDRP) would significantly expand the scope of this emerging class of materials. Herein, we report the synthesis of polyMOFs from macromolecular ligands prepared by reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, in which the key MOF-forming benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2bdc) linkers are on pendant side chains. While the macromolecular ligands alone were found to produce amorphous materials upon exposure to metal ions, addition of 1–3 equivalents of free H2bdc yielded mixed-ligand polyMOFs with tunable properties based on the amount of H2bdc added, including stability under ambient conditions and BET surface areas up to 608 m2/g. The combination of RDRP and mixed ligand strategies opens new possibilities for tuning the properties of polyMOFs through tailoring macromolecular ligand architecture and free linker composition.


Tourism receipts have a large impact on the Croatian economy. The large inflow of foreign exchange during the summer season provides not just income but also a stabilising effect on the local currency, the kuna. The author compares two demand models using OLS and SUR estimation techniques. The model is a system of equations covering five countries, which represent around 72%-78% of total foreign annual arrivals. The model describes arrivals to be a function of the home country's real GDP and the real exchange rate. Based on estimates of forecasting accuracy, it seems that the SUR model yields more precise predictions of foreign arrivals.


A conditional oscillator is one that requires input to oscillate. An example of such is the gastric mill network of the stomatogastric ganglion of the crab Cancer borealis which requires a modulatory input from outside the stomatogastric ganglion and input from the pyloric network of the animal in order to oscillate. Here we study how the frequency of the gastric mill network is determined when it is receives rhythmic input from two different sources but where the timing of these inputs may differ. We find that over a certain range of the time difference one of the two rhythmic inputs plays no role what so ever in determining the network frequency, while in another range, both inputs work together to determine the frequency. The existence and stability of periodic solutions to model sets of equations are obtained analytically using geometric singular perturbation theory. The results are validated through numerical simulations. Comparisons to experiments are also presented. AMS Classification: 34A26, 37C25 92B05


We report a high-spatial-resolution and long-range distributed temperature sensor through optimizing differential pulse-width pair Brillouin optical time-domain analysis (DPP-BOTDA). In DPP-BOTDA, the differential signal suffers from a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) reduction with respect to the original signals, and for a fixed pulse-width difference the SNR reduction increases with the pulse width. Through reducing the pulse width to a transient regime (near to or less than the phonon lifetime) to decrease the SNR reduction after the differential process, the optimized 8/8.2 ns pulse pair is applied to realize a 2 cm spatial resolution, where a pulse generator with a 150 ps fall-time is used to ensure the effective resolution of DPP-BOTDA. In the experiment, a 2 cm spatial-resolution hot-spot detection with a 2 °C temperature accuracy is demonstrated over a 2 km sensing fiber.


The main purpose of this thesis was to study, whether drinkable yoghurt enriched with probiotic bacteria could have any effect on constipation and body weight (BW) among older people with dementia. Further, it concerns poor nutritional status among older people with physical and cognitive impairments and its relationship with factors commonly occur in older people living in residential care facilities. It also discusses how body composition changes with ageing and the associations between changes in muscle mass and functional balance after a high-intensity weight-bearing exercise program (the HIFE program) and the ingestion of an additional milk-based protein-enriched energy supplement. A six-month feasibility study that included a probiotic drink was performed among 15 old people who were living in special units for people with dementia and who all had constipation. The effects of the probiotic drink on stool habits, and BW were studied. The outcome measures were followed daily for bowel movements and at three and six months for BW. The staff found the study easy to carry out and that the drink was well accepted by the participants. No convincing beneficial effects on stool habits were observed. In addition, a mean BW loss of 0.65 kg/month was registered. A poor nutritional intake, low physical activity level, and an over-night fast of almost 15 hours, 4 hours longer than recommended were also observed. As a part of the FOPANU Study (Frail Older People-Activity and Nutrition Study), a randomized controlled trial was carried out in Umea - the associations between nutritional status and factors common among old people with physical and cognitive impairments living in residential care facilities was studied. Assessments were made of nutritional status using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) scale, fat-free mass (FFM) and fat mass (FM) using both bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) and skinfold thickness measurements. The effects of a high- intensity functional exercise program with an additional protein-enriched milk drink on ability to build muscle mass were evaluated. Analyses were made to investigate whether nutritional status, assessed using the MNA scale, was associated with medical conditions, drugs, activities of daily living (Barthel ADL index), cognitive impairment (Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)), and depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)) at baseline. The associations were assessed with multiple linear regression analyses with additional interaction analyses. An independent association was found between poor nutritional status and having had a urinary tract infection (UTI) during the preceding year and being dependent in feeding for both women and men, and having lower MMSE scores for women. A large proportion of the participants, were at risk of malnutrition or were already malnourished. Women, but not men, had significantly lower Fat-Free Mass Index (FFMI) and Fat Mass Index (FMI) with age. Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy results correlated with skinfold thickness measurements, but on different levels on value for FM%. Despite the high-intensity exercise had long-term effects (at six months, three months after the exercise) on functional balance, walking ability and leg strength. No effects on muscle mass and no additional effects from the protein-enriched drink could be observed after the three months of high intensity exercise. A negative, long-term effect on the amount of muscle mass and BW was revealed at six months (three months after the intervention had ended). The effects from the exercise did not differ for participants who were malnourished. No statistical interactions were observed between sex, depression, dementia disorder, and nutritional status, and the level of functional balance capacity on the outcome at three or six months. In summary, the majority of the included older people with dementia had a low dietary intake, low physical activity level, and lost BW despite receiving a probiotic drink supplement every day for six months. The supplementation had no detectable effect on constipation. Among the participants in the FOPANU Study, UTI during the preceding year was independently associated with poor nutritional status. Being dependent in feeding was associated with poor nutritional status as were lower MMSE scores for women but not for men. Despite the high-intensity exercise program had long-term effects on the fysical function was no effect on the amount of muscle mass at three months observed. The FFM and FM expressed as indexes of body height were inversely related to age for women, but not for men. A high-intensity exercise program did not have any effect on the amount of muscle mass. The ingestion of a protein-enriched drink immediately after exercise produced no additional effect on the outcome and the results did not differ for participants who were malnourished. The negative long-term effect on amount of muscle mass, and BW, indicate that it is necessary to compensate for increased energy demands during a high-intensity exercise program. High age, female sex, depression, mild to moderate dementia syndrome, malnutrition, and severe physical impairment do not seem to have a negative impact on the effect of a high-intensity functional weight-bearing exercise program. Consequently, people with these characteristics in residential care facilities should not be excluded from training and rehabilitation including nutrition. More research is needed in large randomized controlled trials to further explore the association between energy balance and malnutrition among frail old people, with a special focus on UTI and constipation, but also to study how physical exercise affects older people's nutritional status.


Summary

The explosion of the web has made search an integral part of our daily lives. We search for almost any conceivable topic. Web search engines have made search easily approachable to almost everyone. Yet, for information professionals it is more important than ever before to know "how search works" in order to be more effective in their work. Search Engines or Information Retrieval systems often appear to searchers as "black boxes." There is some sort of magic that happens between typing some keywords in a query box and getting back results. This approach contributes to the development of inadequate conceptual models of search.

The panel brings LIS and CS educators involved in teaching "information retrieval" to discuss experiential learning approaches to teaching IR. Efthimiadis (UW) will be presenting the IR-Toolbox, an interactive system developed for teaching IR processes to Information School students. Ray Larson (UCB) will be discussing his approach of using open source IR engines to create a mini-TREC competition environment in class. Jamie Callan (CMU) will be talking about the Lemur Toolkit system and its use in teaching undergraduate and graduate students.

Following the panel presentation of the experiential teaching methods, an interactive session with the audience will follow. The discussion session will focus on the audience's needs and experiences while learning or teaching information retrieval.


Understanding the structural repertoire of RNA is crucial for RNA genomics research. Yet current methods for finding novel RNAs are limited to small or known RNA families. To expand known RNA structural motifs, we develop a two-dimensional graphical representation approach for describing and estimating the size of RNA's secondary structural repertoire, including naturally occurring and other possible RNA motifs. We employ tree graphs to describe RNA tree motifs and more general (dual) graphs to describe both RNA tree and pseudoknot motifs. Our estimates of RNA's structural space are vastly smaller than the nucleotide sequence space, suggesting a new avenue for finding novel RNAs. Specifically our survey shows that known RNA trees and pseudoknots represent only a small subset of all possible motifs, implying that some of the 'missing' motifs may represent novel RNAs. To help pinpoint RNA-like motifs, we show that the motifs of existing functional RNAs are clustered in a narrow range of topological characteristics. We also illustrate the applications of our approach to the design of novel RNAs and automated comparison of RNA structures; we report several occurrences of RNA motifs within larger RNAs. Thus, our graph theory approach to RNA structures has implications for RNA genomics, structure analysis and design.


Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) produces 1 of 91 capsular polysaccharides (CPS) that define the serotype. The cps loci of 88 pneumococcal serotypes whose CPS is synthesized by the Wzy-dependent pathway were compared with each other and with additional streptococcal polysaccharide biosynthetic loci and were clustered according to the proportion of shared homology groups (HGs), weighted for the sequence similarities between the genes encoding the shared HGs. The cps loci of the 88 pneumococcal serotypes were distributed into eight major clusters and 21 subclusters. All serotypes within the same serogroup fell into the same major cluster, but in six cases, serotypes within the same serogroup were in different subclusters and, conversely, nine subclusters included completely different serotypes. The closely related cps loci within a subcluster were compared to the known CPS structures to relate gene content to structure. The Streptococcus oralis and Streptococcus mitis polysaccharide biosynthetic loci clustered within the pneumococcal cps loci and were in a subcluster that also included the cps locus of pneumococcal serotype 21, whereas the Streptococcus agalactiae cps loci formed a single cluster that was not closely related to any of the pneumococcal cps clusters.


This paper compares impact of economic liberalization on political Islamic movements in Turkey and Egypt. This comparison focuses on the economic and cultural effects of integration with the international markets on the constituencies of political Islam, and how exactly these constituencies realign their political preferences as a result of this process. I argue that the divergence in the implementation of economic liberalization programs in Turkey and Egypt produce different results as to the economic and political orientation of the political Islamic constituencies in these countries. Implementation of a comprehensive economic liberalization program in Turkey facilitates the emergence of a devout bourgeoisie that is well-integrated with the international markets, whereas a more controlled and restricted liberalization program in Egypt limits the level of integration of political Islamic constituencies with international markets preventing the emergence of a devout bourgeoisie. Expansion of the devout bourgeoisie in Turkey in return generates a significant tide within the political Islamic movement towards democracy and liberalism resulting in the establishment of the Justice and Development Party. While in Egypt absence of such a forceful social change contributes to sustained hesitant and divided approach towards liberalism and democracy within mainstream political Islam. The paper primarily focuses on the experiences of the Justice and Development Party in Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.


By enhancing the traditional static network (e.g., based on electric switches) with a dynamic topology (e.g., based on reconfigurable optical switches), emerging reconfigurable data centers introduce unprecedented flexibilities in how networks can be optimized toward the workload they serve. However, such hybrid data centers are currently limited by a restrictive routing policy enforcing artificial segregation: each network flow can only use either the static or the flexible topology, but not a combination of the two.
 This paper explores the algorithmic problem of supporting more general routing policies, which are not limited by segregation. While the potential benefits of non-segregated routing have been demonstrated in recent work, the underlying algorithmic complexity is not well-understood.
 We present a range of novel results on the algorithmic complexity of non-segregated routing. In particular, we show that in certain specific scenarios, optimal data center topologies with nonsegregated routing policies can be computed in polynomial-time. In many variants of the problem, however, introducing a more flexible routing comes at a price of complexity: we prove several important variants to be NP-hard.


Exclusive dealing is the last vestige of the pre-economic era of antitrust. And it shows. The Supreme Court's decision in GTE Sylvania nearly 40 years ago was the turning point for the evolution of modern antitrust law in the United States because it made clear "that the analysis of economic effects provided the proper basis for evaluating conduct under the antitrust laws." In the area of vertical restraints in particular, the critical lesson that has emerged from the economic revolution in antitrust law has been that such conduct must not be condemned without economic evidence of harm to competition. The Supreme Court should grant certiorari in FTC v. McWane because, unfortunately, it is a vivid demonstration of the fact that exclusive dealing law remains untouched by the intellectual revolution in antitrust doctrine since the Supreme Court's decision in GTE Sylvania. The Federal Trade Commission's analysis in FTC v. McWane, and thus the Eleventh Circuit opinion, are not only in significant tension with the modern antitrust approach to vertical restraints, they reject it altogether. McWane presents a unique and timely opportunity for the Supreme Court to bring exclusive dealing law in line with modern antitrust law and economic analysis, to recalibrate the doctrine to focus on harm to competition, and to provide guidance to lower courts with respect to the application of rule of reason analysis in cases involving exclusive dealing arrangements.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Cognitive impairment often occurs in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), and dysfunction involving executive function, new learning, and working memory is especially common. Compromised activities of daily living are linked to this cognitive impairment, and people with MS are apt to be unemployed and struggle to manage domestic responsibilities. Financial decision making is an important activity of daily living, and no study has examined whether it is compromised by neuropsychological dysfunction in people with MS. Method: A battery of neuropsychological tests and a measure of financial decision making (Financial Capacity Instrument, FCI: Marson, D. C. 2001. Loss of financial capacity in dementia: Conceptual and empirical approaches. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 8, 164–181) were administered to 50 participants (34 patients with MS and 16 cognitively healthy adults). Based on the neuropsychological test results, 14 patients were classified as having cognitive impairment, and 20 had no significant impairment. Results: The impaired MS patients performed significantly worse than unimpaired patients and the healthy comparison group on most financial tasks. The impaired group retained abilities to count money and display adequate financial judgment. Regression analyses showed that measures of mental flexibility and working memory correlated most strongly with performance on the FCI domains across groups. Conclusions: Cognitively impaired patients with MS have degraded financial skills, which are linked to executive function and working memory deficits.


Microblogging has recently become a popular means to disseminate information among millions of people. Interestingly, software developers also use microblog to communicate with one another. Different from traditional media, microblog users tend to focus on recency and informality of content. Many tweet contents are relatively more personal and opinionated, compared to that of traditional news report. Thus, by analyzing microblogs, one could get the up-to-date information about what people are interested in or feel toward a particular topic. In this paper, we describe our microblog observatory that aggregates more than 70,000 Twitter feeds, captures software-related tweets, and computes trends from across topics and time points. Finally, we present the results to the end users via a web interface available at http://research.larc.smu.edu.sg/palanteer/swdev.


Rachel Louise Carson was an American author and marine biologist who is widely credited with advancing the global environmental movement. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention from nature writing to conservation—specifically, towards problems that she believed were linked to synthetic pesticides—and gathered evidence about a looming environmental disaster. The result was the book Silent Spring, which brought environmental concerns to the attention of an unprecedented portion of the American public. Both Carson and her book were met with fierce opposition by agriculture and chemical companies. These companies argued that restrictions placed on pesticides, specifically DDT, caused tens of millions of needless deaths and hampered agriculture. In the face of such criticism, Carson fought back and stood up to those who did not share her values or see things the way she did, urging society to stop and listen to what she was saying. This book review is available in Osgoode Hall Law Journal: https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol55/iss2/7


The effects of mine drainage on 2 bacterial processes were examined in Rocky Mountain streams affected by mine drainage. Thymidine incorporation into bacterial DNA was measured as an index of bacterial production, and nitrification was examined because it is sensitive to a variety of stressors. These processes, as well as pH, concentration of dissolved Zn, and deposition rate of metal oxides, all of which are influenced by mine drainage, were measured at 37 sites. The concentrations of inorganic nutrients and dissolved organic carbon (DOC), as well as algal biomass (as chlorophyll a), also were measured at each site. The rate of incorporation of thymidine into DNA was negatively related to deposition of metal oxides and positively related to pH, algal biomass, and concentration of DOC. pH, DOC, and algal biomass together explained 59% of the variation in thymidine incorporation among sites in a multiple regression. Metal oxide deposition probably influenced thymidine incorporation through suppression of algal biomass and through sorption of a fraction of the DOC. The nitrification potential for microbes on gravel substratum removed from streams was estimated as the rate of NO3− production following addition of NH4+. Nitrification was undetectable at pH < 5.3 or Zn > 2 mg/L. Low pH (<6, as a categorical variable), concentration of Zn (which had a negative effect), and algal biomass (which had a positive effect) explained 77% of the variation in nitrification potential. The results suggest that bacterial processes vary in their sensitivity to the stressors from mine drainage, and that they can be disrupted both directly and indirectly. Nitrification was sensitive to direct influences of acid mine drainage, namely acidity and dissolved Zn. Low pH also affected thymidine incorporation. In contrast, acid mine drainage indirectly affected both thymidine incorporation and nitrification potential through its influence on algal biomass, which declined in response to deposition of metal oxides.


The presence of long-range dependence and nonlinear dynamics in stock returns is examined using data from the Athens Stock Exchange. The authors apply (among other well-known time series techniques) the Rescaled Range (R/S) Statistic AND THE modified R/S statistic, as being more appropriate for tracking short and long memory in the stock market and as more robust to other alternative methods. The results support evidence of short memory in all single stock returns in the sample used but there is an agreement between the two types of R/S statistics regarding existence of strong long memory in the squared returns. The findings are in agreement with recent empirical evidence investigating long-range and short-range statistical dependence in other stock exchanges apart from the Greek stock market. Furthermore, nonlinear dynamics are supported in the results from evidence of strong conditional autoregressive evolution in the stock return path. The authors consider these results as indicative of a rapidly developing and strengthening market and not a symptom of inefficiencies in the Greek capital market.


The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) performance standards for power plants are an important step forward in regulating GHGs in terms of both their substantive impact and legal precedent. Nevertheless, we have some concerns with the proposal, which we discuss in the following comments submitted to the agency. The majority of our comments are directed to ways that EPA can increase certainty for the industry—reducing costs and, possibly, improving environmental outcomes. We highlight two specific areas of concern. First, the current proposal contributes to the significant uncertainty facing existing sources. Second, EPA's proposed averaging option for new facilities that will install carbon capture-and-storage (CCS) technology in the future, although intended to create a flexible pathway, unfortunately creates some new regulatory uncertainty. We also comment on EPA's decision to combine most coal and gas generators into a single source category. We believe this decision is legally valid and practically important, and that EPA should resist pressure to reconsider.


This paper addresses the knowledge gap that exists in relation to understanding and quantifying the sensitivity of organic-rich archaeological deposits with respect to changes in the soil environment. Based on two case studies we demonstrate that it is possible to quantify the current decay rate in unsaturated archaeological deposits by combining decay rates measured in the laboratory with on-site monitoring data in a simple decay model. The decay of organic archaeological deposits is highly sensitive to variations in soil temperatures and soil water content. Measurements of soil water content cannot always stand alone as a representative measurement of oxygen availability; which suggests that in situ measurements of oxygen content or redox potential are needed in order to understand the preservation conditions at a site. The results of this study emphasize the advantage of combining monitoring data with laboratory studies, in order to document in more detail where and when degradation takes place.


A lightweight, collapsible funnel trap designed for crayfish was furnished with a smaller mesh and then used to study adult breeding populations of five species of newts in five ponds in France. Observations were made in spring, at the peak of breeding activity, over an 11-year period. Annual experiments involved on average 7.7 traps and 5.3 overnight sampling sessions at 2.0 day intervals. In 95 out of 171 experiments (56%) the probability for an individual to go undetected was <1%. A trend was observed for catchability to increase with body size (Lissotriton < Ichthyosaura < Triturus). The two Triturus species involved were frequently exhaustively sampled in a single overnight session. In spite of their smaller size, L. helveticus males were more readily captured than females, presumably reflecting breeding associated locomotor activity. The numbers captured decreased over time suggesting 'trap shyness' to operate. We noted some predation by diving beetles (family Dytiscidae) affecting L. helveticus males in particular.


If a host can send packets larger than an Internet path can forward, it relies on the timely delivery of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) messages advising that the packet is too big to forward. An ICMP Packet Too Big message reports the largest packet size - or Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) - that can be forwarded to the next hop. The iterative process of determining the largest packet size supported by a path by learning the next-hop MTU of each MTU-constraining link on the path is known as Path MTU Discovery (PMTUD). It is fundamental to the optimal operation of the Internet. There is a perception that PMTUD is not working well in the modern Internet due to ICMP messages being firewalled or otherwise disabled due to security concerns. This paper provides a review of modern PMTUD failure modes. We present a tool designed to help network operators and users infer the location of a failure. The tool provides fairly detailed information about each failure, so the failure can be resolved. Finally, we provide data on the failures that occurred on a large jumbo-capable network and find that although disabling ICMP messages is a problem, many other failure modes were found.


Dental pulp tissue contains stem cells that can be isolated and used for regenerative medicine in tooth restoration or autologous transplantation. The aim of this study was to observe the mineralization and gene expression in dental pulp cells (DPCs) following treatment with snail mucus. Snail mucus was collected from adult Achatina fulica and processed as a dry powder by the freeze-drying technique. The mucus powder was dissolved in a culture medium at a concentration of 15 μg/mL. DPCs were prepared by the outgrowth technique and cultured in a 6-well plate at a density of 5 × 104 cells per well. A mucus-supplemented medium (15 μg/mL) was added to each well. Cell culture was maintained for 3 weeks. The results of Alizarin Red S staining indicated that the DPCs cultured in a medium supplemented with snail mucus showed a higher number of mineralized nodules as compared with the control group cultured in a normal medium. The increased expression of osteopontin and NF-κB reflected the differentiation process of DPCs into bone cells. Snail mucus also induced the expression of some inflammatory genes in DPCs. The results demonstrated that snail mucus has the potential to be used in regenerating and repairing bone and teeth.


With the growth of service industry occupations, managing emotions at work has increased as a topic of interest among scholars and practitioners in organisational behaviour and human resource management(Grandey, 2000). Emotional dissonance occurs when there is discrepancy between organisational sanctioned emotions and actual emotions of employees(Zapf, Vogt, Seifert, Mertini, & Isic, 1999). This discrepancy can be associated with significant levels of psychological ill-health (Zapf, Seifert, Schmutte, Mertini, & Holz, 2001). Policing is consistently ranked among the top five stressful/high-risk occupations (e.g. Coman, Evans, Stanley, & Burrows, 1991). Police officers act as the front-line contact when dealing directly with community members; they are expected to be social workers, teachers, role models, and counsellors. Operational police officers are often required to suppress their actual emotions during their work, in order to perform their job to formally designated procedures and standards.


We introduce the concept of logical full abstraction, generalising the usual equational notion. We consider the language PCF and two extensions with \parallel" operations. The main result is that, for standard interpretations, logical full abstraction is equivalent to equa-tional full abstraction together with universality; the proof involves constructing enumeration operators. We also consider restrictions on logical complexity and on the level of types.


BACKGROUND
Determinants of cross-national differences in the prevalence of mental illness are poorly understood.

AIMS
To test whether national post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) rates can be explained by (a) rates of exposure to trauma and (b) countries' overall cultural and socioeconomic vulnerability to adversity.

METHOD
We collected general population studies on lifetime PTSD and trauma exposure, measured using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview (DSM-IV). PTSD prevalence was identified for 24 countries (86 687 respondents) and exposure for 16 countries (53 038 respondents). PTSD was predicted using exposure and vulnerability data.

RESULTS
PTSD is related positively to exposure but negatively to country vulnerability. Together, exposure, vulnerability and their interaction explain approximately 75% of variance in the national prevalence of PTSD.

CONCLUSIONS
Contrary to expectations based on individual risk factors, we identified a paradox whereby greater country vulnerability is associated with a decreased, rather than increased, risk of PTSD for its citizens.


Abstract South Africa's transition towards a district-based health system (DHS) aims to offer health promotion and prevention services at community level, through re-engineered primary health care (PHC) services. Along with pharmacy workforce shortages and service delivery challenges, health reform is a clarion call to strategically re-position the pharmacist's role in DHS strengthening. The pharmacist's involvement in the three DHS streams, namely the clinical specialist support teams, school health services and municipal ward-based PHC outreach teams, is pertinent. This paper contextualises pharmacists' current peripheral role in the health system, discusses a team-based approach and identifies opportunities to integrate pharmacy students into the re-vitalised PHC framework. Re-positioning of pharmacists within district clinical specialist support and school health teams could create opportunities for community-based and population-based services whereby a range of clinical and pharmaceutical services could materialise. Pharmacy training institutions could strengthen the DHS through established partnerships with the community and health services. Academic service learning programmes could integrate pharmacy students as part of the PHC outreach teams to promote community health. Interdependence between the health services, pharmacy schools and the community would create a platform to contextualise learning and dismantle existing silos between them. Multi-sectoral engagement could enable pharmacy schools to design strategies to optimise pharmaceutical service delivery and align their activities towards social accountability.


Within a time distribution of magnitude values, before any mainshock some earthquake triggering patterns with several features develop, under tectonic processes' influence, through which it is possible to early identify the preparation phase of big earthquakes. The purpose of this article was to identify and classify the warning patterns that develop before a big earthquake by considering space-time seismicity variations. The methodological approach adopted was of graphical type, based on procedures of technical analysis currently used to estimate the financial markets. In the initial phase of the study we have analyzed the seismic sequences types described in the bibliography (type 1: foreshocks-mainshock-aftershocks, type 2: mainshock-aftershock; type 3: swarm) and the main structure of the seismic cycle, within which maximum and minimum magnitude values characterize the pattern that it develops until the main event changes. Then, we assessed the position of foreshocks, mainshock and aftershocks within the seismic cycle in order to identify the warning pattern that characterized the exact time when the energy emission occurs. As to the evolution normally shown over time, we have grouped the warning patterns in 2 categories: 1) progressive earthquake pattern; 2) flash earthquake pattern. Finally, we have made a classification of the warning pattern related to the fluctuations of maximum and minimum magnitude values, compared its form with the mainshock's focal mechanism and suggested some graphic procedures in order to estimate the mainshock magnitude value associated with each warning pattern. The results we obtained unquestionably allow a better comprehension of preparation process of a large earthquake, improving the earthquakes forecasting probability in the next future.


On last years we have seen an increase on the use of GIS technologies as analysis tools on the field of historical research. The study of landscape, and how it has influenced the development of History is a focal point of research fields like archaeology and battlefield analysis, and we are seeing nowadays how its use is spreading. (...)


For some decades many villages in the Netherlands have been merging into new municipalities. These new entities need a new name. The central assumption in this contribution is that every participating village or town will try to get its name accepted as (part of) the new name. By means of several examples some factors will be demonstrated which can play a part in the process of establishing a new name, like differences in the size of the population of the participants, differences in age, or their place in alphabetical order. Attention will be paid to two types of new names that are chosen. The simplest solution is maintaining the name of one or more of the participants, but there is an important restriction: the new name should not be too long, and can do right only by few participants. An increasingly popular method is choosing a wholly new name, often referring to some shared geographic or historical feature, like a river, a castle or a hillcrest. This method has the advantage that none of the participants loses face.


Following a regional review of residential child care in 2007, the five health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland have introduced 'therapeutic approaches' in a number of children's homes, and in the regional secure units, with the aim of improving staff skills and outcomes for young people. This At a glance briefing summarises an evaluation of the approaches conducted between May 2010 and February 2012. The full details can be found in SCIE Report 58 (Macdonald et al, 2012).


The
aim of present study was to assess the effects of a eutectic mixture of topical
anesthetics (EMLA cream) on pain responses of preschoolers during venipuncture.
The pain responses were reported by children, nurses, and the children's mothers. The pre- and post-test-designed
study, which included a non-equivalent control group, was carried out in a
pediatric unit at E University Hospital in South Korea. Pain responses during
venipuncture were measured by the self-reporting of the children using the
Face Pain Rating Scale (FPRS), the Procedure Behavior Checklist by nurses
(PBCL), the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) by mothers, in addition to measurements
of the children's pulse rate and level of oxygen saturation. EMLA cream was
effective in decreasing the pain responses of the children as assessed by FPRS,
PBCL, and VAS scores. However, pulse rate and level of oxygen saturation of the
children during venipuncture were not significantly different between the two
groups. EMLA cream could be a useful option for reducing pain in preschool
children during invasive procedures.


Abstract:Material culture offers an important and challenging critical tool kit for Native American and early American studies. This essay focuses on a series of case studies from the Northeast, particularly Native and colonial contexts in central and eastern Massachusetts, to demonstrate how tangible objects can provide powerful complements to archival/documentary records and even help redress seeming silences or absences that arise from textually focused methodologies. Using a "convergence" approach, it argues for the necessity of working across library, archive, and museum collections to more holistically access the lives and experiences of past individuals and communities. Analyzing items such as stone projectile points, furniture, and carved gravestones associated with locations including the Kwinitekw (Connecticut) River Valley and Natick, and using a deliberately multivocal interpretive strategy, it develops a contextual and at times carefully speculative mode of analysis that helps bring to the fore complexities of Native encounters with New England settler colonialism. At the same time, it considers methodological constraints attendant to materiality and offers cautions about the nature and extent of interpretive work centered on objects and their afterlives.


The paper investigates the use of multiple pronunciations modeling for user-customized password speaker verification (UCP-SV). The main characteristic of UCP-SV is that the system does not have any a priori knowledge about the password used by the speaker. Our aim is to exploit the information about how the speaker pronounces a password in the decision process. This information is extracted automatically using a speaker-independent speech recognizer. We investigate and compare several techniques. Some of them are based on the combination of confidence scores estimated by different models. In this context, we propose a new confidence measure that uses acoustic information extracted during speaker enrollment and based on a log likelihood ratio measure. These techniques show significant improvement (15.7% relative improvement in terms of equal error rate) compared to a UCP-SV baseline system where the speaker is modeled by only one model (corresponding to one utterance).


Being a long bone and having an intramembranous ossification with earliest appearance of primary ossification (two) centres and having no medullary cavity it reflects that nature too supports its importance in gaining early strength so that it can support the developing upper limbs of the foetus earliest to provide them easy movements, our study is to determine the bilateral growth variations during the intra uterine life. 60 clavicles were obtained from 30 human foetuses ranging from 14 weeks to 33 weeks of IUL from Department of Anatomy, Jawaharlal Nehru, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. For the purpose of study, foetuses were divided into five groups on the basis of gestational age. Parameters selected to determine the bilateral variations were weight; length; circumference, AP and Vertical diameter at midshaft; AP and Vertical diameter at medial end; AP and Vertical diameter at lateral end of clavicles. All parameters were measured using vernier calliper and weight was taken by the single pan fractional weighing mechine. Students t test was used to determine the coefficient of significance, SPSS Software was used to do the calculations. Later linear graphs were prepared considering both right and left clavicles for the same parameter. It was found that bilateral variations were not significant in most of the parameters considered in our study, except thickness of its shaft at its midpoint which is more pronounced on the right side in early foetal life and on the left side in late foetal life. Thus we conclude that there is no significant bilateral variations in growth and development of clavicle during the intrauterine life. The variations that may be present in the adult clavicles are due to the factors that play their role after birth.


The vast amount of web data enables us to build knowledge bases with unprecedented quality and coverage. Named Entity Disambiguation (NED) is an important task that automatically resolves ambiguous mentions in free text to correct target entries in the knowledge base. Traditional machine learning based methods for NED were outperformed and made obsolete by the state-of-the-art deep learning based models. However, deep learning models are more complex, requiring large amount of training data and lengthy training and parameter tuning time. In this paper, we revisit traditional machine learning techniques and propose a light-weight, tuneable and time-efficient method without using deep learning or deep learning generated features. We propose novel adaptive features that focus on extracting discriminative features to better model similarities between candidate entities and the mention's context. We learn a local ranking model based on traditional and the new adaptive features based on the learning-to-rank framework. While arriving at linking decisions individually via the local model, our method also takes into consideration the correlation between decisions by running multiple recurrent global models, which can be deemed as a learned local search method. Our method attains performances comparable to the state-of-the-art deep learning-based methods on NED benchmark datasets while being significantly faster to train.


A thorough examination of the various theological interpretations of imago Dei shows that Homo sapiens are not the only species to be created in the image of God.  While maintaining their uniqueness in the eyes of the Lord, Homo sapiens also share this gift with another species, Homo neanderthalensis .  The archaeological record proves that Neanderthals qualify for imago Dei under each of the four main interpretations of the biblical term.   Based on their rationality and adaptive nature, their compassion through use of medicine, their social networking and their symbolic use of art, it can be concluded that Neanderthals were also created in God's image.


The Robot Operating System (ROS) brought together many different robotics research groups by providing a common software ecosystem. One important part of ROS is the publish-subscribe messaging infrastructure that facilitates building modular and reusable distributed robotics systems. However, the inherent complexity – flexibility, diversity and dynamics – of such a system opposes properties essential to robotics: reliability and safety. The paper details how to gain control of a ROS-based robotics system through the extension of ROS by advanced introspection capabilities. Once the introspection based on distributed gathering of metadata is in place, we are able to define a reference state for the whole ROS system. A monitoring node continuously compares the reference to the actual state. In case of a deviation the operator is alerted through a dashboard, in addition appropriate countermeasures can be initiated by the robotics system itself.


Flash Designers: push Flash to the next level with After Effects' robust toolset. CS5 delivers more complete integration of these two powerhouse applications-so you can expand your multimedia horizons. Flash + After Effects gives you a working understanding of the AE toolset and professional techniques that raise the design bar for web, HD broadcast, or CD/DVD delivery. The companion web site contains project media for hands-on practice of essential production skills, including: * Working with live video in Flash and the After Effects timeline* Using alpha channels for keying and enhancing interactivity* Integrating new CS5 features including the Roto Brush and Code Snippets* Exporting layered After Effects compositions for Flash* Building interactive 3D environments with video, cameras, and lights* Enhancing character animation using IK and Puppet Tools* Exporting video in HD and for the Web


Tree peony and related industries make up quite a large proportion in tourism income of Luoyang, China. Short flowering feature of most native tree peony cultivars is a key restrictive factor of economic benefits increasing. Hybridizing native superior cultivars with late-flowering introduced cultivars would be a fundamental way to overcome short flowering problem. In order to provide basis for parent selection for late-flowering breeding, twenty novel polymorphic EST-SSR markers were developed and used to evaluate diversity of forty-one tree peony cultivars (including twenty-one native cultivars, nineteen Japanese cultivars and one American cultivar). The observed number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 to 10, on average 4.3 alleles per locus and the effective number of alleles per locus ranged from 1.045 to 4.661, on average 2.466 alleles per locus. The expected (He) and observed (Ho) heterozygosity at each locus ranged from 0.044 to 0.795 and 0 to 0.857, respectively, on average 0.509 and 0.258 per locus. UPGMA analysis revealed that the forty-one tree peony cultivars could be grouped into seven clusters. Native cultivars formed two clusters (Ⅰand Ⅲ) except "Luoyanghong" which formed a separate cluster (Ⅶ). Japanese cultivars scattered into four clusters, most of which were grouped into cluster (Ⅱ), the remaining four cultivars, "Togawakan" and "Kanzakura Jishi" were grouped into clusterⅠ, "Okina Jishi" and"Shin Shichifukujin" formed two separate clusters respectively (Ⅳ and Ⅵ). The only American cultivar "High Noon" formed a separate cluster (Ⅴ).


Recent end-to-end task oriented dialog systems use memory architectures to incorporate external knowledge in their dialogs. Current work makes simplifying assumptions about the structure of the knowledge base, such as the use of triples to represent knowledge, and combines dialog utterances (context) as well as knowledge base (KB) results as part of the same memory. This causes an explosion in the memory size, and makes the reasoning over memory harder. In addition, such a memory design forces hierarchical properties of the data to be fit into a triple structure of memory. This requires the memory reader to infer relationships across otherwise connected attributes. In this paper we relax the strong assumptions made by existing architectures and separate memories used for modeling dialog context and KB results. Instead of using triples to store KB results, we introduce a novel multi-level memory architecture consisting of cells for each query and their corresponding results. The multi-level memory first addresses queries, followed by results and finally each key-value pair within a result. We conduct detailed experiments on three publicly available task oriented dialog data sets and we find that our method conclusively outperforms current state-ofthe-art models. We report a 15-25% increase in both entity F1 and BLEU scores.


For the past twenty years, problem solving has been touted as a primary focus for mathematics instruction at all grade levels (National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, 1978; National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1980, 1989, 2000; Mathematical Sciences Education Board, 1989). Despite this persistent call for problem-solving as an instructional approach, teachers across the United States struggle with helping children solve problems. National and international assessments consistently reveal that U.S. students do not perform well on problem-solving tasks that require more than one step (DosKey, 1993; Dossey, 1994; Kenney and Silver, 1997; Silver, 1998; Stigler and Hiebert, 1997). Furthermore, studies of mathematics teachers at all grade levels indicate that teachers have difficulty in planning and implementing lessons that build students' problem-solving skills. (Cooney, 1985; Silver, 1985; Thompson, 1989) Clearly, teachers need instructional strategies that help students become better problem solvers. The literature on the teaching of problem solving over the past twenty years promotes building students' metacognitive skills--planning, monitoring, and evaluating ones own thinking--as a means to improve their problem-solving skills (Costa, 1991; Perkins, 1992, 1995; Fogarty, 1994; Marzano et al, 1997; Swartz and Parks, 1994; Tishman, Perkins, and Jay, 1995). As adults, we see some evidence of children planning, monitoring, and evaluating. Parents listen as their children explain what candy they will select at the movie theatre. Teachers hear children stop what they are doing in a group and tell another child he is not doing the assignment correctly. A grandparent may hear a grandchild comment confidently about the quality of a drawing he insists be displayed on the refrigerator. When given a novel task in school, however, children are very likely to jump into the problem with one strategy, continue the strategy without "looking back," and finish without reexamining the solution. Often, the result can be a misunderstood problem, or an ineffective strategy, and/or a solution that does not work. According to Perkins (1995), metacognition, or reflective intelligence as he calls it, "particularly supports coping with novelty" (p. 112). Perkins also suggests that reflective intelligence "supports thinking contrary to certain natural trends" (p. 113), thus contributing to breaking mental sets and exploring new ideas. If students across the United States are to become proficient mathematical problem solvers, teachers at all grade levels must learn how to develop and assess metacognitive skills in their students. Teachers are searching for instructional strategies that will help students plan, monitor, and evaluate their own thinking during problem solving. This study seeks to determine the effectiveness of a set of year-long instructional strategies designed to improve metacognitive skills, thereby improving the problem-solving skills of eight- and nine-year old students. Theoretical Basis Metacognition emerged as an important mental activity for solving problems when researchers began to study children's intelligence and problem solving. Early analyses of problem-solving performance revealed that good or expert problem solvers tended to plan, monitor, and evaluate their thinking during problem solving more often and more efficiently than did poor or novice problem solvers (Flavell, 1976). More recent studies have confirmed this finding for students at middle school, high school, and college levels (Bookman, 1993; Cai, 1994; Lucangeli, Coi, and Bosco, 1997). Flavell (1976) defined metacognition broadly as "one's knowledge concerning one's own cognitive processes and products ... [and] the active monitoring and consequent regulation and orchestration of these processes" (p. 232). Based on this definition, Garofalo and Lester (1985) identified three types of metacognitive knowledge related to mathematical problem solving: person knowledge; task knowledge; and strategy knowledge. …


The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) REFER method provides a
mechanism where one party (the referrer) gives a second party (the
referee) an arbitrary URI to reference. If that URI is a SIP URI, the
referee will send a SIP request, often an INVITE, to that URI (the
refer target). This document extends the REFER method, allowing the
referrer to provide information about the REFER request to the refer
target using the referee as an intermediary. This information includes
the identity of the referrer and the URI to which the referrer
referred. The mechanism utilizes S/MIME to help protect this
information from a malicious intermediary. This protection is
optional, but a recipient may refuse to accept a request unless it is
present. [STANDARDS-TRACK]


At present, leave application procedures is being manually performed at Kolej Poly Tech MARA Bangi. Hence, such procedure has not only created a time-consuming
process in the approval of the leave application of the staff, but also human mistakes problems like a lost of the application form.Bearing in mimd the problem arise due to
such painstaking procedure, a proposed system of Online Leave System (OLS) is created
with the aim of building a communication platform between the departments and its staff
at Kolej Poly-Tech MARA Bangi. The main objective of this system is to help the
Human Resource department to handle staffs information specifically in providing leave
applications electronically. One special feature of the Online Leave System is the
administration interface that is designed for the System Administrator to manage the
database storing the staff information and details of leave applications. It makes the
Online Leave System flexible and compatible with any new arrangement of the company.
The system provides all staff with direct access, from their desktop and in a secure
environment, to current information on 1eave entitlements, 1eave applications, etc The
Online Leave System allows authorized staff at the departmental level to electronically
enter and maintain 1eave. In addition, units will b e able to develop and maintain very
detailed leave records. The new system users cm simply access the system via the
Internet with their unique login names and passwords. It requires no special hardware or
software installation, except the use of a web browser. To use the system, an employee
simply needs a Leave System account, which is usually created by the Human Resource
department when the employee is hired. Each month the appropriate number of accrued
leave is automatically added to the leaves balance and the employee can enter any leave,which is to be taken (annual, medical) into the system. The leave requests are then
automatically sent to the employee's supervisor for approval. Once the supervisor
approves the leave requests, the appropriate number of day is added to or subtracted from
the employee's leave balance so that a running total is kept.While this may sound
complicated, it's actually an easy, paperless way to track an employee's leave balance.
There are no paper forms involved and no mistakes to be made in adding or subtracting
leave time. Hence, the Leave System also provides a convenient way for each employee
to check his or her own current balance from his workstation and the reports the system
can generate m ake end-of-year 1eave close-outs quick and easy. The system is mainly
made up of Lotus Notes Domino R5 and Java' Script codes. All of the information is
stored in the database. As a result, all information is retrieved dynamically from the
database.


Multiple gene activities control complex biological processes such as cell fate specification during development and cellular reprogramming. Investigating the manifold gene functions in biological systems requires also simultaneous depletion of two or more gene activities. RNA interference-mediated knockdown (RNAi) is commonly used in C. elegans to assess essential genes, which otherwise lead to lethality or developmental arrest upon full knockout. RNAi application is straightforward by feeding worms with RNAi plasmid-containing bacteria. However, the general approach of mixing bacterial RNAi clones to deplete two genes simultaneously often yields poor results. To address this issue, we developed a bacterial conjugation-mediated double RNAi technique 'CONDOR'. It allows combining RNAi bacteria for robust double RNAi with high-throughput. To demonstrate the power of CONDOR for large scale double RNAi screens we conjugated RNAi against the histone chaperone gene lin-53 with more than 700 other chromatin factor genes. Thereby, we identified the Set1/MLL methyltransferase complex member RBBP-5 as a novel germ cell reprogramming barrier. Our findings demonstrate that CONDOR increases efficiency and versatility of RNAi screens to examine interconnected biological processes in C. elegans with high-throughput.


Bureaucratic quality in terms of the level of corruption varies widely across countries, and is in general slow to evolve relative to the speed with which many economic polices can be implemented such as the imposition of capital controls. In this paper, we study the possibility that quality of bureaucracy may be an important structural determinant of open-economy macro-policies, in particular, the imposition/removal of capital controls, and financial repression. We first derive a model that delivers such a result. Bureaucratic corruption translates into reduced ability by the government to collect tax revenue. Even if capital control/financial repression is otherwise inefficient, as long as the government needs the revenue for public goods provision, it would have to rely more on capital control/financial repression. For all countries for which we can obtain relevant data, we find that more corrupt countries are indeed more likely to impose capital controls, a pattern consistent with the model's prediction. The result of this paper suggests that a premature removal of capital controls mandated by outside institutions could reduce rather than enhance economic efficiency.


Wind turbine blade manufacturers employ the vacuum infusion technique to produce monolithic and sandwich cored components, recent innovations have seen companies such as Siemens develop products which incorporate an internal composite structure in a single process (Siemens 2008). This thesis explores the technique of resin infusion and develops a manufacturing process to allow a small wind turbine blade to be manufactured in a single process complete with its internal structure.

An innovative manufacturing method for creating three-dimensional internal structures within composite components is presented. A technique is developed for the production of polymer matrix composite products containing both external faces and internal structures in a single process. The main focus is on the production of small prototype wind turbine blades although the technique is transferrable to other hollow or foam cored composite products.

This work leads to the manufacture of prototype 2.5m fibreglass wind turbine blades and their internal structures in a single process. The technique developed forms the structural spar section as an integral part of the wind turbine blade. Methods of infusing resin within a closed mould environment are developed utilising custom resin channels to control the nature and rate of resin infusion through the structure.

Investigation of a range of core materials used in composites manufacture to improve stiffness, strength and fatigue was explored. A range of specific reinforcement materials and resin systems are tested to determine a suitable laminate structure for blades that complements the vacuum assisted method.

Methods for the manufacturing and fabrication of blade plugs and composite mould tooling are presented with features to facilitate the use of the vacuum assisted manufacturing technique. Equipment and execution of the process is given.

Findings are applied to produce a composite component with internal structure comparable to current manufacturing methods targeted around small wind turbine blade manufacture.

Results conclude that the development of a process to manufacture a complete wind turbine blade in a single process is achievable and feasible. Results and outcomes of the research are presented with recommendations and suggestions for future work.


At the end of the Latin American military dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, one realized a very curious phenomenon: the symbolical victory of the defeated. Victorious on the battlefield, the military lost the "psychological war" against the survivors of the so-called "dirty war." That outcome defies a well known proposition in history, namely history is always told by the winners. Based upon the hypothesis that that war was won through methods that debased the ones who employed them, this article identifies in those methods the very reason of the phenomenon mentioned above. That is a case worthy of the greatest concern for the social sciences, political science in particular, attached to a sort of "realism" unable to explain problems of such a nature.


This project is concerned with the musical and therapeutic processes involved in therapeutic improvisation.(1) Previous studies in music therapy have, in the main, focused their attention on avenues of outcome, attempting to validate through strict psychological designs and statistical data_ This thesis argues that the musical and therapeutic processes are integral yet independent aspects of the overall concept of therapeutic improvisation and the efficacy contained therein. In terms of valid enquiry it is proposed that the unity and division of both musical and therapeutic avenues will afford music therapists a greater clue to the understanding of the music therapy process itself. In terms of analytical and methodological framework, this project attempts to discover a formula for viewing the therapeutic improvisation at both macro and micro levels. Three clients, living with the virus HIV and AIDS were chosen and worked with collaboratively throughout the whole of the data collection_ The investigations were initiated through a four-stage analytical format ; from the complete therapeutic framework through to the indepth evaluations of two small sections of one complete improvisation. The four stages were subsequently evaluated in drawing possible connections between the macro and micro levels. Further to this data, the client and three outside validators added information with regard to the single improvisation, in validating the questions raised. The analysis and subsequent results highlight the merits and problems of such an analytical procedure. The conclusion and results of this thesis would seem to suggest that further process-orientated research in musictherapy needs to be undertaken to complement and contrast the issues of outcome research. 1. For the purposes of this project the term Therapeutic Improvisation has been chosen to identify the improvisational aspects of music therapy.


Context. From observations, the atmosphere of the Sun has been shown to be highly dynamic with perturbations of the magnetic field often lacking temporal or spatial symmetry. Despite this, studies of the spine-fan reconnection mode at 3D nulls have so far focused on the very idealised case with symmetric driving of a fixed spatial extent.
Aims. We investigate the spine-fan reconnection process for less idealised cases, focusing on asymmetric driving and drivers with different length scales. We look at the initial current sheet formation and whether the scalings developed in the idealised models are robust in more realistic situations.
Methods. The investigation was carried out by numerically solving the resistive compressible 3D magnetohydrodynamic equations in a Cartesian box containing a linear null point. The spine-fan collapse was driven at the null through tangential boundary driving of the spine foot points.
Results. We find significant differences in the initial current sheet formation with asymmetric driving. Notable is the displacement of the null point position as a function of driving velocity and resistivity (η). However, the scaling relations developed in the idealised case are found to be robust (albeit at reduced amplitudes) despite this extra complexity. Lastly, the spatial variation is also shown to play an important role in the initial current sheet formation through controlling the displacement of the spine foot points.
Conclusions. We conclude that during the early stages of spine-fan reconnection both the temporal and spatial nature of the driving play important roles, with the idealised symmetrically driven case giving a "best case" for the rate of current development and connectivity change. As the most interesting eruptive events occur in relatively short time frames this work clearly shows the need for high temporal and spatial knowledge of the flows for accurate interpretation of the reconnection scenario. Lastly, since the scalings developed in the idealised case remain robust with more complex driving we can be more confident of their use in interpreting reconnection in complex magnetic field structures.


More effective utilization of sugar beet pulp generated from beet sugar processing can improve the economic viability of U.S. beet sugar production. Dried pulp pellet and shreds provide a nutritious and valuable animal feed co-product from pulp for both local and export markets. However, the future of such markets may be threatened by increased availability of alternative feed materials from grain-based bioethanol production and customer concern for beet pulp derived from genetically modified plants that are being developed and pending commercial release. Beet pulp represents a largely untapped source of cell wall polysaccharides such as pectin that can be recovered and converted into higher-value biobased products. New biobased products are therefore sought from beet pulp to generate more revenue for growers and processors and to replace imported and/or petroleum-based products. Research on our CRIS (Official ARS/USDA Research) project is being conducted toward developing fundamental knowledge of the enzyme and polysaccharide components of the sugar beet cell wall; creating innovative new functional food, feed, and non-food biomedical and industrial bioproducts; and establishing efficient and sustainable conversion processes for their isolation and production. Our specific objectives, capabilities, and accomplishments are summarized in this report.


Abstract The coastal waters are important transition zones for terrestrial nutrient and pollutant runoff and the open Sea. During the last decades, eutrophication has negatively influenced macrophyte communities of the coastal ecosystems, making restoration activities inevitable. This study analysed recent macrophyte vegetation and the reproductive potential through the sediment diaspore reservoir along the German Baltic Sea coastline. Salinity was identified to be the responsible factor for shifts in the macrophyte community with most commonly found species like Stuckenia pectinata or Myriophyllum spicatum. In contrast, the oospores of small charophytes (e.g. Tolypella nidifica) clearly dominated the sediment diaspore bank. The germination rates differed in the recent vegetation composition and the diaspore bank composition with Zannichellia palustris as the dominant species. However, several species not visually detected at the respective sites were represented in the diaspore bank and germinated at a low rate (e.g. Chara contraria and Lamprothamnium papulosum). The maximal germination frequency corresponded to the sediment layer in which diaspore density was the highest (5–15 cm). In conclusion, the germinable diaspores were observed at all sites. Considering the differences between the diaspore composition, recent vegetation and germination success, we have illustrated the potential of the diaspore banks for the restoration of the macrophyte communities after at least mid-term periods of disturbance.


The thesis is a critical feminist analysis of ICTY wartime sexual violence jurisprudence, as it is currently constructed in feminist legal scholarship and the surrounding debate. Violence against women, in particular sexual violence has been a greatly topical issue within recent years in both scholarship and the popular imagination. There have been important legal developments within international law, which have provoked much academic, and in particular, legal commentary. On one level, the thesis contributes to this commentary. At the same time, it aims to contribute to a broader feminist theory, which engages with questions of human rights, identity, gender, armed conflict, culture and violence. It therefore explores how female identity, bodily injury, ethnic identity and culture have become intertwined in the debate surrounding wartime sexual violence. Specifically, it analyses the legal modalities through which wartime sexual violence has been inscribed into ICTY judgements and it asks whether these have further entrenched strongly essentialised portrayals of women in international law as victims, mothers or wives in times of armed conflict. Moreover, it asks what the visibility of wartime sexual violence and gender-based violence, more broadly, signifies for women in the current political and legal moment.1 The research question of this project is therefore threefold:
How do wartime identities currently materialise in sexual violence jurisprudence? What does the increasing juridicalisation of wartime sexual violence represent for women in the contemporary political and legal moment? Are current feminist investments with the law the way forward in advancing the twin normative aims of gender justice and equality?


Introduction In an emerging field of nanotechnologies, assessment of exposure is an integral component of occupational and environmental epidemiology, risk assessment and management, as well as regulatory actions. This review focuses occupational exposure to carbon nanotubes (CNT). Methods PubMed and Scopus databases were searched for period 2000–2017 using all keywords combinations based on the following structure: 'assessment' and 'exposure' and 'carbon nanotube'. The words 'assessment' and 'exposure' were alternatively replaced by 'measurement' and by 'human' and 'occupational', respectively. The word 'carbon nanotube' was alternatively replaced by 'single-walled carbon nanotube', 'double-walled carbon nanotube', 'multi-walled carbon nanotube', and their abbreviations. Only field-studies conducted in occupational settings were included. The quality of the exposure measurement protocol and results reporting were reviewed. The results were compared with the current NIOSH recommended exposure limit (REL) of 1 µg/m3 respirable elemental carbon (EC) mass-concentration as an 8 hour time-weighted average. Result Twenty-five studies conducted in R and D laboratories, small-scale pilot-production facilities, and, more rarely, large-scale primary or secondary manufacturer/user facilities in the USA (eleven), the Republic of Korea (four), Japan (four), Russia (one) and Europe (four) were reviewed. Open handling of CNT powder during the sieving, mechanical work-up, packaging, and clean-up work-tasks was classified at highest likelihood of exposure. Fourteen most recent studies measured EC concentration, although using different methods and aerosol fractions. All but one studies observed EC values exceeding the REL. The quantification of CNT agglomerates and/or CNT-contained particles lacks methodological standardisation and precluded any comparison of results. Discussion Currently available occupational-exposure data are limited, because production and use of CNT are relatively recent and workforce sizes remain small. Due to high variability of methods and instruments used for exposure sampling and analysis and of criteria used for interpreting their results, results are difficult to compare. Further effort of methodological standardisation is warranted.


Summer 2013 brought one of the most violent fighting seasons in Afghanistan since the US military and state-building effort began in 2001. On the cusp of the momentous 2014 presidential elections and a year before the majority of international coalition forces would depart from the country in the midst of transferring security functions to the coalition-supported Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), the Taliban is dug in and still ferocious. It is testing the Afghan security forces, which since June 2013 are supposed to be taking the lead in providing security throughout the country while international forces are increasingly disengaging from combat and departing Afghanistan. The military plans of the Obama administration (including the 2010 surge) assumed that by the time the coalition forces began scaling down their presence, they would be able to hand over to the Afghans large parts of the country's territory secured and cleared of the Taliban. Four and a half years later, some real progress had been achieved, such as in central Helmand and Kandahar--both of which used to be either intense battle zones or under the Taliban's sway. But the territory cleared of the Taliban is much smaller than had been projected. The US and NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) are handing the Afghans a stalemated war, attempting to increase the ANSF's capacity enough to beat back the Taliban insurgency while simultaneously constricting their own capacity to operate in Afghanistan. With every passing day, the Taliban adage "foreigners have watches while the Taliban has the time" is felt more strongly in the hot and dusty Afghan summer air. The 2014 Triple Earthquake Indeed, 2014 will bring a triple earthquake to Afghanistan--a security one, an economic one, and a political one. The Security Earthquake With the departure of the ISAF for Afghanistan, security will inevitably deteriorate. The Afghan forces have become much better than they were at any time during the past decade, but they are nowhere on par with the ISAF forces. They continue to suffer from deeply inadequate logistical, sustainment, and other support capabilities and are also deeply pervaded by corruption, nepotism, and ethnic and patronage fissures. Many questions surround the security transition: Will the Afghan security forces stay together after 2014 or will they break up along patronage lines and ethnic cleavages? Will their morale stay sufficiently strong to fight the Taliban and associated insurgent groups such as the Haqqani network, or will they give up the fight? Will the rising militias that reflect heightened ethnic tensions among and within Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, and other ethnic groups create local security dilemmas that will escalate? Will the Afghan Local Police, one of the militia forces sponsored by ISAF to provide security to remote communities abused by the Taliban and often neglected by the government, be an effective supplement to fight the Taliban or will they become vet another mechanism of abuse by predatory local Afghan powerbrokers? Questions regarding US military and other support for Afghanistan after 2014 remain unresolved. The international community has repeatedly committed itself not to abandon Afghanistan like it had in the early 1990s after supporting the mujahideen forces to fight the Soviet invasion. When international attention and support for Afghanistan ended in the early 1990s, Afghanistan exploded into a vicious civil war that ultimately gave rise to the Taliban. A part of this post-2014 support that the US has also embraced is to continue military support for counterterrorism operations and to continue training and mentoring the Afghan security forces. But this support is conditioned on the US and Afghanistan signing a bilateral security agreement permitting and defining the presence of US troops after 2014. So far the negotiations have been deeply troubled and stalled. …