There has been an interest in replanting generic wine grape varieties; however, the prices of these grapes have been in the range of $200-250 per ton in recent years, low by historical standards. There is a need to identify varieties which are useful and profitable to the winery, consistent in production, and which can be efficiently produced in New York vineyards so that the value of the grapes to the winery better matches the cost of grape production. Elvira may be one variety which meets these criteria. This research was undertaken to (1) evaluate the yields, costs, and practices associated with replanting and growing Elvira grapes using the soil and managerial resources of New York growers; and (2) to evaluate the profitability and financial feasibility for these growers to convert their existing vineyards to the Elvira variety. Mail questionnaires were sent to 50 of Elvira growers to assess the size of operation, land use, Elvira acreage and yields, training system, pruning practices, cash expenses and farm debt. Removal and replanting costs for site preparation, year of planting, and second and third year of development were estimated at $4,606 per acre. This results in an annual cost of capital recovery of $488 per year for the 22 years remaining life of the vineyard. Average debt per acre of grapes for the 23 farms who responded on the survey was $848 per acre. Five year average yields (1991-1995) for the respondents was 7.5 tons per acre for the Elvira acreage. At an average price of $202 per ton, returns to management were -$143 per acre. At an average yield of 7.5 tons per acre, a price of $221 per ton would be necessary to break even. Conversely, at an average price of $202 per ton, the break even yield was 8.4 tons per acre. Growers should consider the risk that is involved in replanting a vineyard. For example, prices may decline over time, or yields may not average those projected at the time of planting. Also, Elvira has limited marketing alternatives. Other varieties (e.g. Aurore, Cayuga White, or Melody) are also adaptable to high yielding, labor efficient technology, but have more potential alternative markets than Elvira.


Eastern and Southern Africa, in particular, have been burdened with chronic food insecurity, pervasive
rural poverty and natural resource degradation. In many countries, agricultural research and development
(R&D) has had limited success in improving agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of resource-poor
households. Impact assessment (IA) can measure and quantify the benefits and consequences of R&D
investments. Although IA of agricultural R&D gained momentum in the 1990s in Eastern and Southern
Africa, relatively few of the studies in Africa have been published. This chapter synthesizes the results of the IA studies included in this book and compares them with similar
studies in other regions of the world. The available evidence indicates that rate of return for many R&D
investments in Eastern and Southern African countries has been high for a wide range of programmes and
commodities. Several challenges remain. There has been little methodological and practical work in
assessing the economic impact of nonresearch outputs such as training, networking, advisory services, and
policy and institutional reforms. Many assessments of the environmental impacts of R&D programmes are
using qualitative methods because of the lack of data.
At present, IA results in Eastern and Southern Africa are mainly used to satisfy external accountability and
reporting. Few agricultural research managers use evaluation results to support their resource allocation
decisions. Fewer institutions have developed formal institutional evaluation systems to support decisionmaking
and institutional learning. IA remains relatively new and externally driven. Institutional and human
capacity is still lacking to assess impact regularly, incorporate results in a continuous process of planning
research, update research outcomes and revise research plans. National R&D systems need to pay greater
attention to internal learning, accountability and institutionalizing feedback mechanisms in developing IA
procedures.


Abortion is one of the ways to pressure the oldest birth and the largest used in the world,not only for the common society in rural village but also for citizen in the modern city. Abortion is also done by the teenagers who has free life, it is also in fluenced by the attitude of teenager in considering the abortion. The objection of the research is to know "the attitude of student 10Thclass TKJ-1 about abortion in SMK Canda Bhirawa Pare ".
 The design in this research is descriptive, the populations are all students of 10Th class TKJ- 1 SMK Canda Bhirawa Pare there are women with 34 sample 31 respondents, by using sampling technique non probability sampling (Purposive sampling). The variable of the research is the attitude of student 10Th class TKJ-1 SMK Canda Bhirawa Pare. The date collected using questioner, technics data analysis by using skor T, interpretasi data technicsly analysis precentage.  The result of research shown the respondents did accept the abortion, it happened because of the personal experiences cultural, interpretation anyone else, media massa, intitution or education religion and also individual emotion factor.
The result of research about the attitude of student 10th class TKJ-1 about abortion SMK Canda Bhirawa Pare.  Known that more than half of respondents have positive attitude about abortion is 16 respondents (51,61%) and almost half of the respondents have negative attitude about abortion is 15  respondents (48,38%) from 31 respondents.
           It can be concluded that most of the respondents have positive attitude, becaused of students attitude that's not understand yet now about abortion.  Suggested for the education institutions go on improving the students service in considering abortion by holding the seminar that concerns with the abortion,the health institution gives information about the reproduction health.


This paper sheds some light upon the major problem arising from the current normative infrastructure of the DNS and provides a possible solution to the current physical problem of the DNS. The paper's main focus is the single-entity control of the A Root. The paper uses as a starting point the Blueprint prepared by the Committee on ICANN Evolution and Reform and raises the question: Has this reform done anything to resolve the single-entity control of the A Root? The paper argues that the reform has done nothing to solve the problem because the international privatization of the DNS merely substitutes the administration of the DNS function without making changes to the normative infrastructure of the DNS. In light of the above, the paper argues that there is a need to declare independence from a one-entity controlled DNS. The suggested approach is to share authority over the root by acknowledging that countries that are accountable to their populations are the authorities for their own ccTLDs. Once technical and political independence has been achieved, the technical and, to some degree, political management of the DNS should be exercised through an international body. In order to initiate a discussion for a truly international body this paper offers nine principles that a new international ccTLD cooperation organization should observe when working on its own creation.


Agricultural technology is changing rapidly. Farm machinery, farm building and production facilities are constantly being improved. Agricultural applications suitable for photovoltaic (PV) solutions are numerous. These applications are a mix of individual installations and systems installed by utility companies when they have found that a PV solution is the best solution for remote agricultural need such as water pumping for crops or livestock. A solar powered water pumping system is made up of two basic components. These are PV panels and pumps. The smallest element of a PV panel is the solar cell. Each solar cell has two or more specially prepared layers of semiconductor material that produce direct current (DC) electricity when exposed to light. This DC current is collected by the wiring in the panel. It is then supplied either to a DC pump, which in turn pumps water whenever the sun shines ,or stored in batteries for later use by the pump. The aim of this article is to explain how solar powered water pumping system works and what the differences with the other energy sources are.


As the Communist Party of China's 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, Sally Warhaft catches up with China watcher and correspondent John Garnaut to examine the world's largest, and perhaps most complex and intriguing, political system — plus the country that envelopes it. What does the handover of power to a new president and prime minister mean for the Chinese people? How will the incumbent president, Xi Jinping, combine economic growth and political stability? Will the Chinese Communist Party clamp down on dissent or loosen control? And how does the changing of the guard affect Australia and the world?


This paper examines two episodes of international economic policy coordination: the efforts to modify the Bretton Woods international monetary system in the 1960s and early 1970s and to reform the system after the closing of the US official gold window on August 15, 1971. The paper examines the diagnoses of the problem in each episode, the treatments applied, and the results in the short run and longer run. In the short run, both episodes were failures. The international monetary system that emerged in the mid-1970s, while less systemic than some would like, has nevertheless stood the test of time, although proposals for its reform continue to be discussed.


This study investigates the initial transient hydrodynamic evolution of highly under-expanded slit and round jets. A closed-form analytic similarity solution is derived for the temporal evolution of temperature, pressure and density at the jet head for vanishing diffusive fluxes, generalizing a previous model of Chekmarev using Chernyi's boundary-layer method for hypersonic flows. Two-dimensional numerical simulations were also performed to investigate the flow field during the initial stages over distances of ~ 1000 orifice radii. The parameters used in the simulations correspond to the release of pressurized hydrogen gas into ambient air, with pressure ratios varying between approximately 100 and 1000. The simulations confirm the similarity laws derived theoretically and indicate that the head of the jet is laminar at early stages, while complex acoustic instabilities are established at the sides of the jet, involving shock interactions within the vortex rings, in good agreement with previous experimental findings. Very good agreement is found between the present model, the numerical simulations and previous experimental results obtained for both slit and round jets during the transient establishment of the jet. Criteria for Rayleigh–Taylor instability of the decelerating density gradients at the jet head are also derived, as well as the formulation of a model addressing the ignition of unsteady expanding diffusive layers formed during the sudden release of reactive gases.


Volatile odorants are generally thought to bind to G protein-coupled receptors and thereby activate a downstream signaling pathway, a paradigm challenged by data from Laughlin et al. In Drosophila, various odorant-binding proteins are secreted into the lymph around subsets of olfactory neurons (where odorants diffuse); the function of these pheromone- and odorant-binding proteins, however, has been unclear (see Stowers and Logan). Laughlin et al., from a research group that previously showed that the odorant-binding protein LUSH is required for sensitivity to the pheromone 11-cis vaccenyl acetate (cVA), combined structural and in vivo electrophysiological analysis to investigate its function. Comparison of the x-ray crystal structure of LUSH bound to cVA with the previously determined structure of uncomplexed LUSH revealed that binding by cVA (which was almost completely enclosed by LUSH) induced a conformational change in LUSH. A LUSH mutant bearing an amino acid substitution predicted to minimize this conformational change was less effective at conferring cVA sensitivity to T1 neurons (which mediate the response to this pheromone) in flies lacking endogenous LUSH than was wild-type LUSH. In contrast, a mutation predicted to enhance the conformational change produced a more effective form. Moreover, a mutation yielding an uncomplexed LUSH conformation that resembled that of the cVA-bound form stimulated T1 neurons even in the absence of cVA, an ability that depended on the expression in T1 neurons of Or67d and SNMP (which are required for sensitivity to cVA). Thus, the authors conclude that LUSH is an inactive ligand that is converted into an active form through cVA binding. J. D. Laughlin, T. S. Ha, D. N. M. Jones, D. P. Smith, Activation of pheromone-sensitive neurons is mediated by conformational activation of pheromone-binding protein. Cell 133, 1255-1265 (2008). [PubMed] L. Stowers, D. W. Logan, LUSH shapes up for a starring role in olfaction. Cell 133, 1137-1139 (2008). [PubMed]


Analytical models for parallel programs have been successful at providing simple qualitative insights and bounds on scalability, but have been less successful in practice for predicting detailed, quantitative information about program performance. We develop a conceptually simple model that provides detailed performance prediction for parallel programs with arbitrary task graphs, a wide variety of task scheduling policies, shared-memory communication, and signiicant resource contention. Unlike many previous models, our model assumes deterministic task execution times which permits detailed analysis of synchronization, task scheduling, the order of task execution, as well as mean values of communication costs. The assumption of deterministic task times is supported by a recent study of the innuence of non-deterministic delays in parallel programs. We show that the deterministic task graph model is accurate and eecient for ve shared-memory programs , including programs with large and/or complex task graphs, sophisticated task scheduling, highly non-uniform task times, and signiicant communication and resource contention. We also use three example programs to illustrate the predictive capabilities of the model. In two cases, broad insights and detailed metrics from the model are used to suggest improvements in load-balancing and the model quickly and accurately predicts the impact of these changes. In the third case, further novel metrics are used to obtain insight into the impact of program design changes that improve communication locality as well as load-balancing. Finally, we brieey present results of a comparison between our model and representative models based on stochastic task execution times.


Carriers of germline mutations in the BRCA1 gene have a significant increased lifetime risk for being diagnosed with breast cancer. The incomplete penetrance of BRCA1 suggests that environmental and/or genetic factors modify the risk and incidence among mutation carriers. Nutrition and particular micronutrients play a central role in modifying the phenotypic expression of a given genotype by regulating chromatin structure and gene expression. The active form of vitamin D, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, is a potent inhibitor of breast cancer growth. Here we report that two non-calcemic analogues of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, seocalcitol (EB1089) and QW-1624F2-2, collaborate with BRCA1 in mediating growth inhibition of breast cancer cells and breast cancer stem-like cells. EB1089 induces a G1/S phase growth arrest that coincides with induction of p21waf1 expression only in BRCA1-expressing cells. A complete knockdown of BRCA1 or p21waf1 renders the cells unresponsive to EB1089. Furthermore, we show that in the presence of ligand, BRCA1 associates with vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the complex co-occupies vitamin D responsive elements (VDRE) at the CDKN1A (p21waf1) promoter and enhances acetylation of histone H3 and H4 at these sites. Thus, BRCA1 expression is critical for mediating the biological impact of vitamin D3 in breast tumor cells.


For 18th century Mongols living under Qing rule, the imperial state was not the only source of law. Among the rules acknowledged to have binding character were Buddhist legal traditions, customary legal practices as well as rights and duties emanating from dependencies and prerogatives. Yet, the existence of these different legal practices and codes raises many questions about the specific way these different realms of law were interwoven, how Mongols used them and how they could be acting in different spheres
of law at the same time. On the basis of archival material, this paper discusses how in the 18th century people switched between different regulatory orders, but also demonstrates that since legal disputes often-maybe even regularly-occurred in more than one legal realm at the same time, it is not always possible to determine where the one sphere began and the other ended. To address complexity of this legal environment, this paper draws on theoretical approaches from legal anthropology, especially research on legal pluralism. I begin with some general remarks on the legal situation in Qing-dynasty Mongolia and the relationship between the law of the Qing state, Buddhist law and
local legal conditions. Then, I address two legal cases from the late 18th century that will illustrate how individual litigants and courts chose between different fields of legal reasoning. I argue that the wide spectrum of legal actors within this complex legal environment both enabled and compelled people to switch between different spheres of
law.


Web impact factors, the proposed web equivalent of impact factors for journals, can be calculated by using search engines. It has been found that the results are problematic because of the variable coverage of search engines as well as their ability to give significantly different results over short periods of time. The fundamental problem is that although some search engines provide a functionality that is capable of being used for impact calculations, this is not their primary task and therefore they do not give guarantees as to performance in this respect. In this paper, a bespoke web crawler designed specifically for the calculation of reliable WIFs is presented. This crawler was used to calculate WIFs for a number of UK universities, and the results of these calculations are discussed. The principal findings were that with certain restrictions, WIFs can be calculated reliably, but do not correlate with accepted research rankings owing to the variety of material hosted on university servers. Changes to the calculations to improve the fit of the results to research rankings are proposed, but there are still inherent problems undermining the reliability of the calculation. These problems still apply if the WIF scores are taken on their own as indicators of the general impact of any area of the Internet, but with care would not apply to online journals.


ABSTRACT Drawing on a combined framework of Appraisal System and Ideological Square Model, this paper conducts a corpus-based investigation of the ways in which the image of China is (re)shaped in the English translation of Chinese political discourse in terms of appraisal epithets. The results show that (1) shifts regularly occur in the English translation of the appraisal epithets in Chinese political discourse, though an equivalent translation strategy is a canonical option for the translators of Chinese political discourse; (2) translation patterns of the appraisal epithets vary within the three sub-categories of Appraisal System, with shifts found mostly in the translation of the negative appraisal epithets under 'engagement' and 'graduation' subcategories; (3) discursively, China is more negatively represented in the translated than in the source Chinese texts. A two-layered Ideological Square Model is proposed to account for the research findings in terms of ideological factors in the translation of Chinese political discourse.


Abstract For African Americans, the presentation of life as a multi-leveled reality has often taken form through musical expression. Music chronicles and critiques developments regarding the complexities of life within the Black community, with spirituals responding to the hardships of slavery and the blues addressing the paradoxical situation of African Americans in the post-Civil War era. Those familiar with the Civil Rights movement will note the importance of Gospel songs and other musical forms for the expression of the goals and objectives of the movement for freedom. For example, the singing of "we shall over come" held tremendous epistemological and existential significance for civil rights workers.(2) And most recently, rap music provides a discussion of contemporary Black life which actively engages issues relevant to the civil rights struggle and its socio-political as well as economic aftermath. Methodological Considerations Within this essay I will explore the nature and content of rap music's lyrically expressed vision of social transformation. Attention is given to the two major categories of rap music--`gangsta' rap and progressive rap.(3) As a methodological note, this exploration is in part guided by Albert Camus' notion of `Absurd'(4) and African American models of response to oppression such as the Jeremiad tradition present within African American religious thought.(5) Concerning the latter methodological consideration, attention to the Jeremiad tradition points to my recognition of a link between the cultural tools used by rap artists and those used by past generations, the former's approach entailing contemporary manipulations of the Black oral tradition -- the Jeremiad, toasting, signifying, etc., for the purpose of social transformation. Before moving into the major points of this essay, I would like to say a few words about absurdity as a way of denoting systemic oppression encountered by African Americans. Life for African Americans living in the United States is well captured by Camus' notion of absurdity. In the words of Camus: A world that can be explained even with bad reasons is a familiar world. But, on the other hand, in a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, humanity feels an alien, a stranger.... exile is without remedy since humanity is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. This divorce between humanity and its life, the actor and his/her setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity.(6) In the context of Black American life, this absurdity involves the manner in which the illusion of equality is contradicted by systemic oppression (e.g., racism/sexism as well as the by-product of a market-driven economy), and results in a triadic alienation from self, others, and nature. With regards to alienation from self, racism within the United States provides an understanding of `blackness' -- related to physical bodies -- as inferior, soiled, and dangerous. Consequently, many African Americans are taught to prize certain European physical traits and to hate themselves for straying from these `normative' features. This condition connotes alienation from self, and leads to a collapse of self-esteem. The mental colonization effected when `standardized' notions of beauty and value are used against a particular group results in poor self-image and a dwarfed sense of self-worth for that group. The effort is made to alter one's self in order to fit the illusive model of perfection -- what Cornel West calls the "normative gaze."(7) Failure to embody this `ideal type' produces self-hatred and contempt for those resembling the tortured self. It produces internalized racism. Those who have adopted this attitude find it difficult to maintain healthy relations with other African Americans because other African Americans remind them of what they dislike in themselves. The prevalence of Black-on-Black crime points to the sense of nihilism, uselessness, and hopelessness engendered by internalized racism and how it fosters alienation from others, especially others similarly oppressed. …


This article argues that the distressing situation in Somalia offers an opportunity to introduce new legal institutions with less colonial path-dependence and greater sensitivity to the security and development needs of Somalians. Peace and stability could be enhanced by allowing customary law and Islamic courts to operate within the framework of the Transitional Federal Charter (TFC). A civil law system with the judicial discretion and selection of a common law system would help to enhance economic development by attracting foreign direct investment. A single court system which unifies ordinary and Sharia courts would create a more enabling legal environment for law and order and economic development than the dual court system. Moreover, as international human rights law is mainly in the form of conventions and treaties in the style of civil law, promotion and protection of human rights may be better served predominantly through a civil law system in which a judge applies particular provisions of specific conventions and treaties. Such a system would also help to harmonise a legal system which is cobbled together from five different sources of law.


The spacing behaviour, habitat use, pair bonding, breeding biology and reproductive endocrinology of the North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli) are investigated. Twenty-six kiwi ( 1 0 males and 1 6 females) were fitted with radio transmitters and tracked for two and a half years in a forest remnant in Northland. S pacing behaviour: Home ranges overlapped extensively. One 1-ha grid square was used by at least 13 different kiwi. All range-estimate methods were sensitive to the number of fixes obtained. The average range size calculated by the field worker method was 30.7 ha. Males and females had similar home range sizes. Habitat use: Kiwi spent over 80% of days in burrows or natural eanh cavities when roosting with their mate over twice the proportion of days spent in these types of roosts when alone. Pairs roosted together on 22% of days. This increased to over 35% of days between April-July, up to four months before females started laying. Eighty-three percent of the kiwi made use of the numerous bush remnants scattered over farmland outside the reserve. All remnants isolated by less than 100 m of pasture were used by kiwi. The maximum distance kiwi ever walked between bush remnants was 330 m. Longer migrations of up to 1 .2 km from the reserve were made by kiwi using small bush remnants as "stepping stones" . Pair bonding: The kiwi were sequentially monogamous and had an extraordinarily high annual divorce rate of around 50%. Most divorces occurred between January and April the non-breeding season. No relationship was apparent between the breeding success of a pair and their likelihood of divorce. The forest contained an unbalanced sex ratio with females outnLlmbering males by 1.3-1.4 : l. Breeding: Eggs were laid over eight months of the year from July to February. Males were found incubating in all months except May and June. Pairs averaged 1 .5 eggs/pair/year and no females laid more than two eggs in a season. Clutches that failed were not immediately replaced. Eighteen of 20 nests were in burrows 451 25 cm long. Males did all the incubating and emerged every night to feed except one to two days before their chicks hatched. Incubating males spent an average of 3 .6 hours off their nest each night less than half the active time of non-incubating kiwi. In both sexes body weights tended to peak in winter at the start of breeding. Females lost about 9% of peak body weight for each egg they laid, while males that incubated full-term los t about 17% of peak body weight. Only six of 26 eggs laid over three seasons hatched. Five chicks fledged. At fledging three of these chicks w e r e k n o w n to be 1 5 2 0 days o ld . The avera ge produc tiv i ty w a s 0 . 3 chicks/pair/year. Vll Endocrinology: Plasma samples were collected from the radio-tagged kiwi and analysed by radioimmunoassay for testosterone (T), progesterone (P) and estradiol17P (E) . Male T concentrations increased sharply in Autumn, rising from near basal levels in April to peak at over 2.2 ng/ml in May. Male T levels remained high through winter and then declined to low levels (0.15-0.42 ng/ml) between October and the following April. Plasma T levels peaked ( 1 . 8-2 .8 ng/ml) in males 1 2-4 weeks before their mates laid, and dropped significantly (to 0.2 1 ng/ml) during the four weeks before egg laying. Females showed no significant monthly variation in T levels. Plasma T concentrations were highest (0.21 ng/ml) in females 4-2 weeks before l aying, but even during this period T levels in females did not significantly exceed minimum ( brooding) levels i n males . P lasma P levels did not v ary significantly between months or reproductive stages in either sex. P levels were almost always higher in males than in females. Males also obtained extraordin arily high p lasma E levels . B oth sexes showed an enormous increase in E in autumn, with plasma concentrations rising from near minimum detectable levels (6 pg/ml) in March to average over 1 .6 n g/ml in males and 2 .6 ng/ml in females in April. E levels were higher in incubating males (0.30 ng/ml) and males during the 12 w�eks before egg l aying (0 . 601 .40 n g/ ml) than in non-breeding males (27 pg/ml) , suggesting that E may facilitate the development of incubating behaviour in these birds. Breeding females had significantly higher E levels than non-breeding females from 1 6 weeks before egg laying until two weeks after egg laying. Males and females E levels did not differ significantly from each other during any reproductive stage prior to egg laying. These results indicate that sex-role reversal in the brown kiwi i s not accompanied by a reversal of the nOlmal male/female androgen levels, but that male kiwi have remarkably female-like estrogen cycles. Mana gement: Recommendations on the conservation and management of the North Island brown kiwi are presented. Kiwi reserves need to be large if they are to contain populations with long-term viability (5001000 individuals). Just how large may vary between 750-1500 ha in different regions. Smaller populations also are of conservation value and should not be neglected. B ush corridors and "stepping stones" can be used to reconnect separated islands of habitat. Regular predator monitoring and control programmes must be instigated in prime kiwi refuges. Acknowledgements Abstract List of figures List of tables Chapter


This article discusses if EU value added tax (VAT) can be imposed on unlawful digital supplies by evaluating applicable criteria developed by the Court of Justice (COJ). Unlawful digital supplies are delimited to cover trade with digital materials that are copyright protected and exchanged through peer-to-peer networks without the permission of the copyright holder. The criteria that are evaluated for imposing EU VAT on these unlawful supplies covers the scope of VAT, whether the supplies can be seen as consumption, identification of the taxable supplier and if the supplies can be considered as taxable. The main difficulties with deciding if EU VAT can be imposed on unlawful digital supplies is in the argumentation used by the COJ in primarily two cases. The difficulties are, first, based on the Hong Kong Trade case, where the COJ interprets the scope of economic activity as not covering services supplied free of charge. Second, in the Tolsma case, the COJ discusses the need of a direct link establishing if there is a taxable transaction. For imposing EU VAT on unlawful digital supplies, the market place connecting the users and the organization providing the market place can rather be considered as an indirect link than a direct link establishing a legal relationship.


Looking back on the history of same-sex marriage legislation, it is easy to see patterns of compromise and nuanced argumentation about the relationship between equal marriage recognition for same-sex couples and the rights of religious objectors. This story of deliberation and fine-tuned balancing was not naturally baked into the same-sex marriage movement. Early on in the same-sex marriage movement, some same-sex marriage advocates urged state lawmakers not to allow anyone, other than clergy members, to step aside from facilitating same-sex marriages. Other equal marriage proponents received religious exemptions with a collective shrug, believing them to be redundant or unnecessary. Same-sex marriage opponents made claims that marriage equality would run roughshod over religious liberty. Consequently, they argued, there was no choice but to oppose same-sex marriage on the merits. They labeled same-sex marriage a "nightmare for religious liberty," and maintained that same-sex marriage recognition and religious liberty are "fundamentally at odds." In this symposium article, we argue that same-sex marriage recognition and religious liberty need not be fundamentally at odds. We examine the value of religious liberty accommodations for both the LGBT community and religious objectors to same-sex marriage, and trace the iterations of same-sex marriage bills to highlight the importance of robust religious protections. Here, we illustrate that bills adopting an emerging core of standard accommodations tended to succeed where minimalistic bills failed. And while the Supreme Court has removed marriage equality from the legislative process in Obergefell v. Hodges, we predict these issues will continue to hold currency as more states contemplate enacting anti-discrimination protections for LGBT persons.


The Beaker People: Isotopes, Mobility and Diet in Prehistoric Britain presents the results of a major project that sought to address a century-old question about the people who were buried with Beakers a – the distinctive pottery of Continental origin that was current, predominantly in equally distinctive burials, in Britain from around 2450 BC. Who were these people? Were they immigrants and how far did they move around? What did they eat? What was their lifestyle? How do they compare with Britain's earlier inhabitants and with contemporaries who did not use Beaker pottery? An international team of leading archaeologists and scientists, led by Professor Mike Parker Pearson, was assembled to address these questions. Around 300 skeletons were subjected to isotope analysis to explore patterns of mobility and diet, and 150 new radiocarbon dates were obtained. Dental microwear was examined for 64 individuals to provide further information about the food they had eaten, and new information on the sex and age of 201 people obtained. A comparative study was undertaken of the shape and size of Beaker users' skulls and those of Neolithic people in the Peak District of England, to examine the long-held claim that there was a switch from long-headed to round-headed people with the appearance of Beakers. Tantalising evidence for head-binding among Neolithic people was found. The range of objects found in Beaker graves was reviewed. In addition, the Beaker People Project was able to incorporate the results of another project, focusing on Beaker users in north-east Scotland (The Beakers and Bodies Project) along with other recently obtained data, including ancient DNA results. Overall, new light has been shed on 369 people: 333 Beaker and non-Beaker users from the core 2500–1500 BC period, along with 17 from the Neolithic and 19 from after 1500 BC. While the genetic data provide convincing evidence for immigration by Continental Beaker users, the isotopic data indicate a more detailed picture of movements, mostly of fairly short distances within Britain, by the descendants of the first Beaker users. This lavishly illustrated book presents a body of data that will be vital to studies of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age Britain for decades to come.


LQMS is a knowledge-based system that identifies and explains anomalies in data acquired from multiple sensors. The knowledge base was built by a sequence of domain experts. Its prototype performed with a high level of accuracy and that performance has been incrementally and significantly improved during development and field testing. Several points are developed in this paper. (1) The combination of an intuitive model (sufficient for the task) and powerful, graphical development tools allowed the domain experts to build a large, high performance system. (2) The Observation. Situation-Relation representation illustrates an intermediate point on the simplicity-expressiveness spectrum, which is understandable to the domain experts, while being expressive enough for the diagnostic task. (3) The system was designed as a workbench for the domain experts. This enticed them to become more directly involved, and, resulted in a better system. (4) The use of an integrated knowledge base edit-tracking system was important to the project in several ways: it reassured computer-naive experts that they could not damage the overall system, which increased their productivity; and, it also allowed experts located in various places around the world to compare, contrast, and integrate changes in a structured way.


Brazil's Bolsa Família Programme (BFP) aims to combat poverty and social inequalities through monetary transfers to families. A much-discussed indirect effect of the programme was its correlation to the fertility of the beneficiary families. In this paper, we use a cohort fertility approach with parity progression ratios that differs from existing literature, which mainly used period fertility measures, to better understand the relationship between fertility and the BFP. This study analyses the relationship between the BFP and the reproduction of Brazilian women. We use data from the 2010 Brazilian micro-censuses, the only census after the start of the BFP in 2004, to reconstruct the childbirth history of women with incomplete reproductive cycles (women aged 25 to 29), and estimate parity progression ratios (PPRs) and cohort fertility rates (CFR). In addition, we estimate propensity score matching (PSM) models comparing fertility outcomes of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the programme. Our results show distinct differences in CFRs and PPRs. On average, BFP beneficiaries had more children than women not covered by the programme. This finding remained consistent even after controlling for educational gradients and other covariates. Our empirical findings show that women opt for a "rational" strategy, where they tend to have children in more rapid succession up until three children. These findings contradict the recent literature that has not found any correlation between BFP and fertility. The results also suggest that cohort analyses may fill certain gaps left by previous studies of period fertility. This paper is one of a few that have analysed the relationship between a conditional income transfer programme and cohort measures in Brazil.


Fiscal crises and sovereign default repeatedly threaten the stability and growth of economies around the world. This book provides a unified and tractable theoretical framework that elucidates the key economics behind sovereign debt markets, shedding light on the frictions and inefficiencies that prevent the smooth functioning of these markets, and proposing sensible approaches to sovereign debt management. The book looks at the core friction unique to sovereign debt—the lack of strong legal enforcement—and goes on to examine additional frictions such as deadweight costs of default, vulnerability to runs, the incentive to "dilute" existing creditors, and sovereign debt's distortion of investment and growth. It uses the tractable framework to isolate how each additional friction affects the equilibrium outcome, and illustrates its counterpart using state-of-the-art computational modeling. The novel approach presented here contrasts the outcome of a constrained efficient allocation—one chosen to maximize the joint surplus of creditors and government—with the competitive equilibrium outcome. This allows for a clear analysis of the extent to which equilibrium prices efficiently guide the government's debt and default decisions, and of what drives divergences with the efficient outcome. Providing an integrated approach to sovereign debt and default, the book is an ideal resource for researchers and graduate students interested in this important topic.


INTRODUCTION
The existing literature is conflicting regarding effects of female genital cutting (FGC) on sexual functions. Several studies from Africa over the past 20 years have challenged the negative effect of genital cutting on sexual function as defined by performance on the following domains: desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and sexual pain. Other studies however indicated that sexual function of genitally cut women is adversely altered.

AIM
The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of FGC on the female sexual function of Egyptian women.

METHODS
This is a cross-sectional study conducted between February and May 2011 at the outpatient clinic of Cairo University Hospitals. The study included 650 Egyptian females between 16 and 55 years of age (333 genitally cut women and 317 uncut women). Participants were requested to complete the Arabic Female Sexual Function Index (ArFSFI) and were then subjected to clinical examination where the cutting status was confirmed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The total score of the ArFSFI and its individual domains.

RESULTS
The mean age of cutting was 8.59 (±1.07) years. Of the cut participants, 84.98% showed signs of type I genital cutting, while 15.02% showed signs of type II genital cutting. After adjusting for age, residential area, and education level, uncut participants had significantly higher ArFSFI total score (23.99±2.21) compared with cut participants (26.81±2.26). The desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and satisfaction domains were significantly higher in the uncut participants (4.02±0.78, 4.86±0.72, 4.86±0.75, 4.86±0.68, 5.04±0.71, respectively) compared with those of the cut participants (3.37±0.89, 4.13±0.71, 4.16±0.84, 4.50±0.79, 4.69±0.92, respectively). No significant difference between the two groups was found regarding the sexual pain domain.

CONCLUSION
In Egyptian women, FGC is associated with reduced scores of ArFSFI on all domain scores except the sexual pain domain.


The National Bridge Inventory (NBl) in the United States is a comprehensive document that maintains inventory records on all bridges 20 ft (>6 m) or greater in length. Although its records are primarily used by individual states and the Federal government for assessing bridge condition and assigning funding to future projects, the NBI has much useful data that can be used for other purposes, such as developing historical trends in bridge construction, adequacy, and longevity. Recently, the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), in cooperation with the USDA Forest Service Timber Bridge lnformetion Resource Center, completed an analysis of the 1992 NBI to determine historical characteristics of concrete, steel, prestressed concrete, and timber bridges. Comparisons of bridge performance based on historical data were investigsted and are presented in is paper. Analysis on material usage, structural and functional adequacy, and longevity are included. The construction and performance trends revealed by the data will be useful to bridge designers and managers.


Teaching anthropology in higher education is faced today with the urgent issue of students' increasing disengagement with the discipline, in itself a consequence of the ongoing liberalisation and precarisation of academia. This presents us with the often neglected risk of losing our 'legs', as disinterested graduates are unlikely to carry with them any anthropological ideas or ethos to which they might have been exposed at university. This article argues that one important way to counter this scenario is focusing on teaching anthropology-as-praxis (Comaroff, 2010), in order to encourage an appreciation of the discipline as a pragmatic attitude towards the world that can be applied to a full range of everyday experiences unfolding outside the classroom and academia.


Knowledge is an essential condition for social development and well-being. It is a basic human right and
enables people to exercise other rights, allowing them to enhance their skills and improve their environment. Fortunately, due to the Internet, educational initiatives become more accessible and efficient for training. Nevertheless, it is important to distinguish between information and knowledge. As a result of technological improvements, we live in a world surrounded by information, which is the cornerstone of knowledge. To be able to access this knowledge also requires the use of more advanced aspects such as understanding and critical analysis. In this brief communication, we present our experience developing a course at the Technical University of Madrid published on OpenCourseWare (OCW) a novelty of which lies in the incorporation of Learning Guides for Students. These guidelines are at the beginning of each thematic unit and its purpose is to guide and accompany the students in their learning. They foster course engagement and also concepts and skills acquisition. The results provided by Google Analytics regarding the students use over several academic years confirm the benefits of this proposal.


Is the notion of the avant-garde in culture irrelevant and out of date? If this question is answered positively, then a further question: what are the possibilities for the avant-garde in literature in the present climate, also becomes irrelevant. Another question imposes itself: what were the reasons for the demise of the avant-garde? It seems indisputable that Surrealism was the most prominent movement of the avant-garde in the twentieth century. Its organization as a group, its strategy, its periodicals, its manifestoes provide the model for other avant-garde groups such as Lettrism, Situationism or the Fluxus group. Surrealism has become, however, an international phenomenon more present and effective in the seductions and games of mass market advertising than in the proposition of anti-systemic modes of thought or action. Its rupture has been projected outside its historical moment and has lost much of its force. The notion of the avant-garde as such is paradoxical. The implications of political radicality and subversion are undermined by the recognition of the status of the avant-garde as a movement, as a phenomenon identifiable outside the tactical present of its activity. The tactical subversions of the avant-garde are projected outside its historical moment and into or onto history. The avant-garde would have to be disengaged, then, would have to disengage itself, from Surrealism, in order not to suffer the same fate. Surrealism proposed a reorganization of mental life through the recognition of the continent of the unconscious and the imagination. This proposition was premised on an appeal to science, to theory, in particular to Freud's psychoanalysis. If a factor in the constitution and functioning of the avant-garde is an appeal to theory, what happens to the avant-garde when theory invades the territory of literary creation and fiction becomes theoretical? A re-evaluation of the relations between the Surrealist movement and what seemed to be its successor, Tel Quel, will throw some light upon these questions. The periodical, group and literary movement Tel Quel was the focus of much of the radical rethinking of textuality in the 1960s and 1970s.(1) The main thrust of its ideology might be represented by the Derridean statement, "Il n'y a pas de hors-texte."(2) The text or texture of language was proposed as exceeding all other areas, seen as restricted with relation to Its "infinite potential."(3) Tel Quel was associated with many of the most well known theorists of the time, such as Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan; Julia Kristeva was in fact a member of the editorial committee from 1970. The core of the editorial committee and direction of the review was however made up of creative writers, novelists and poets, and the review, as well as being at the forefront of theoretical innovation, also formed part of the avant-garde in literature. Principal figures in this context are Philippe Sollers; the novelist and ostensibly the director of the review, Marcelin Pleynet, the "secretaire de redaction," and Denis Roche, both poets, and less well known novelists such as Jean-Louis Baudry, Pierre Rottenberg, Guy Scarpetta, and Maurice Roche. It is not only the identification as an avant-garde that suggests comparisons between Tel Quel and the Surrealist movement. Both movements are based in the mobile site of the periodical which has a certain immediate efficacy in the context and a spontaneity in relation to events. Both movements are to an extent dominated by an individual, Breton for Surrealism and Sollers for Tel Quel, who becomes the focus of the affective energy of the group and who precipitates shifts in the trajectory of the movement according to a strategic interpretation of the context. …


Local vegetation trends in the Sahel of Mali and Senegal from Geoland Version 1 (GEOV1) (5 km) and the third generation Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS3g) (8 km) Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) time series are studied over 29 years. For validation and interpretation of observed greenness trends, two methods are applied: (1) a qualitative approach using in-depth knowledge of the study areas and (2) a quantitative approach by time series of biomass observations and rainfall data. Significant greening trends from 1982 to 2010 are consistently observed in both GEOV1 and GIMMS3g FAPAR datasets. Annual rainfall increased significantly during the observed time period, explaining large parts of FAPAR variations at a regional scale. Locally, GEOV1 data reveals a heterogeneous pattern of vegetation change, which is confirmed by long-term ground data and site visits. The spatial variability in the observed vegetation trends in the Sahel area are mainly caused by varying tree- and land-cover, which are controlled by human impact, soil and drought resilience. A large proportion of the positive trends are caused by the increment in leaf biomass of woody species that has almost doubled since the 1980s due to a tree cover regeneration after a dry-period. This confirms the re-greening of the Sahel, however, degradation is also present and sometimes obscured by greening. GEOV1 as compared to GIMMS3g made it possible to better characterize the spatial pattern of trends and identify the degraded areas in the study region.


Much controversy still surrounds accusations that American forces in the Far East during the Korean War used biological warfare against North Korea and China. An analysis of recently declassified documents reveals that, although the United States attempted to accelerate its development and acquisition of such weapons during that period, its efforts to create a viable biological warfare capability were unsuccessful. Plans to similarly expand chemical warfare stocks and capabilities were also frustrated. Technological difficulties, personnel shortages, bureaucratic battles between the armed services, and policy limitations combined to hold back advances in American chemical and biological warfare. In light of the recent fears of terrorist attacks with such weapons, this analysis highlights the great difficulties involved in developing, acquiring, and delivering such capabilities.


Molecular profiles of neurons influence information processing, but bridging the gap between genes, circuits and behavior has been very difficult. Furthermore, the behavioral state of an animal continuously changes across development and as a result of sensory experience. How behavioral state influences molecular cell state is poorly understood. Here we present a complete atlas of the Drosophila larval nervous system. We develop polyseq, a python analysis package, and use single molecule RNA-FISH to validate our scRNAseq findings. To investigate how internal state affects cell state, we altered internal state with high-throughput behaviour protocols designed to mimic wasp sting and over activation of the memory system. We found nervous system-wide gene expression changes related to cell state. This work advances our understanding of how genes, neurons, and circuits generate behavior. One Sentence Summary Single cell genomics and modulation of internal state reveal how genes, neurons, and circuits produce behavior.


In compliance to the national requirements of producing competent learners, the South African Nursing Council requires community service practitioners to have the necessary knowledge, skills, attitudes and values which will enable them to render efficient professional service. The purpose of the study was to compare the perceptions of professional nurses about the clinical competence of community service practitioners (CSPs) who graduated from a nursing degree programme and those who completed a nursing diploma programme in the Western Cape. A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional design was adopted to make comparisons of how professional nurses' rated the clinical competence of the CSPs. Five regional hospitals were purposively selected based on them being designated health establishments for community service. Non-probability convenient sampling was employed to select a total of 52 professional nurses who were directly involved in the supervision of CSPs who graduated from degree and diploma programmes. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data, which were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Bivariate analysis was done using contingency tables to compare the associations of clinical competence between the two groups of CSPs as rated by the professional nurses who supervised them. A confidence level of 95% with a 5% level of significance was set, and a p-value of less than 0.05 was interpreted as significant. The results show that professional nurses perceived the CSPs who had completed a diploma nursing programme to be more competent than the nurses with degrees. It is recommended that a longitudinal study be conducted tp see if the rating for clinincal competence between the two groups and the professional nurses' ratings of the two groups change at all. In conclusion this study suggests that there is no significant difference in clnical competence related to knowledge and skills between the two gropuips of CSPs.


Oligomeric o-phenylenes are an emerging class of helical molecules that exhibit complex conformational behaviour, which is determined by their terminal groups and the solvent environment. Using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM), we investigated the conformational behaviour of octameric o-phenylenes (OP8s) featuring Br or NO2 terminal groups (OP8Br and OP8NO2). These o-phenylene oligomers are known to adopt a well-defined helical conformation in the solid state, but undergo a rapid helical inversion in solution at ambient temperature. We show that STM microscopy allows the direct observation of perfectly and partially folded helical conformers of OP8Br and OP8NO2, both of which are simultaneously present in their respective molecular films on Au(111). Possible electronic interactions between the Au(111) surface and the exposed π-system of the OP8 derivatives might result in a thermodynamic bias able to stabilize the metastable, partially folded conformation. Recent studies have revealed that the helical inversion rate of OP8NO2 in solution decreases substantially upon oxidation to the corresponding radical cation (OP8NO2˙+). The OP8NO2 and OP8NO2˙+ film morphologies on Au(111) observed by STM differed substantially with respect to each other, most likely reflecting differences arising from the conformational states of OP8NO2 and OP8NO2˙+ at the molecular level, as well as improved charge-transport properties of the oxidized state.


We report the discovery of a group of apparently young CoRoT red-giant stars exhibiting enhanced [α/Fe] abundance ratios (as determined from APOGEE spectra) with respect to solar values. Their existence is not explained bystandard chemical evolution models of the Milky Way, and shows that the chemical-enrichment history of the Galactic disc is more complex. We find similar stars in previously published samples for which isochrone-ages could be reliably obtained, although in smaller relative numbers. This might explain why these stars have not previously received attention. The young [α/Fe]-rich stars are much more numerous in the CoRoT-APOGEE (CoRoGEE) inner-field sample than in any other high-resolution sample available at present because only CoRoGEE can explore the inner-disc regions and provide ages for its field stars. The kinematic properties of the young [α/Fe]-rich stars are not clearly thick-disc like, despite their rather large distances from the Galactic mid-plane. Our tentative interpretation of these and previous intriguing observations in the Milky Way is that these stars were formed close to the end of the Galactic bar, near corotation – a region where gas can be kept inert for longer times than in other regions that are more frequently shocked by the passage of spiral arms. Moreover, this is where the mass return from older inner-disc stellar generations is expected to be highest (according to an inside-out disc-formation scenario), which additionally dilutes the in-situ gas. Other possibilities to explain these observations (e.g., a recent gas-accretion event) are also discussed.


SAAIDS architecture is developed to overcome three issues on existing agent-based intrusion Detection System (IDS); single-point of failure, hierarchical structure on multilevel authorization problem and delay on information sending. Besides that, the architecture tend to provide secure agent communication and protection of the agent itself. In overcoming single-point failure the architecture is designed to enrol all components in an agent. P2P connection solved hierarchical structure on multilevel authorization problem and delay on information sending by its design which provides direct connection between agents. In avoiding single point of bottle-neck, the architecture was designed with agent communication protocol functions as queuing message sending by its forms and priority. The architecture components and processes discussed in this paper.


Knowledge transfer has been suggested as a useful approach for solving large Markov Decision Processes. The main idea is to compute a decision-making policy in one environment and use it in a different environment, provided the two are "close enough". In this paper, we use bisimulation-style metrics (Ferns et al., 2004) to guide knowledge transfer. We propose algorithms that decide what actions to transfer from the policy computed on a small MDP task to a large task, given the bisimulation distance between states in the two tasks. We demonstrate the inherent "pessimism" of bisimulation metrics and present variants of this metric aimed to overcome this pessimism, leading to improved action transfer. We also show that using this approach for transferring temporally extended actions (Sutton et al., 1999) is more successful than using it exclusively with primitive actions. We present theoretical guarantees on the quality of the transferred policy, as well as promising empirical results.


A Successive Approximation Algorithm to Solve Motion Planning Problems by Cheng-Ming Chang A successive approximation algorithm is presented to solve motion planning problems and optimal control problems. A motion planning problem is included in an optimal control problem and due to the heavily nonlinear and coulped differential equations describing the dynamics of the manipulator and several constraints imposed on the system, few efficient methods exist to solve this kind of problems. The successive approximation algorithm can decompose the global nonlinear problem into several nonlinear subproblems and each subproblem is solved by the nonlinear programming method with a highly convergent rate. Because the limited constraints and variables are included in each subproblem and only the trajectory and control sequence are needed to be stored in each iteration, the algorithm can be very easily implemented on the motion planning problems. The convergence and optimality of the algorithm are also discussed and the implementations on motion planning problems and optimal control problems are presented with excellent results. The computational results show its promise for future applications. A SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION ALGORITHM TO SOLVE MOTION PLANNING PROBLEMS


Iterative solvers are widely used to accurately simulate physical systems. These solvers require initial guesses to generate a sequence of improving approximate solutions. In this contribution, we introduce a novel method to accelerate iterative solvers for rod dynamics with graph networks (GNs) by predicting the initial guesses to reduce the number of iterations. Unlike existing methods that aim to learn physical systems in an end-to-end manner, our approach guarantees longterm stability and therefore leads to more accurate solutions. Furthermore, our method improves the run time performance of traditional iterative solvers for rod dynamics. To explore our method we make use of position-based dynamics (PBD) as a common solver for physical systems and evaluate it by simulating the dynamics of elastic rods. Our approach is able to generalize across different initial conditions, discretizations, and realistic material properties. We demonstrate that it also performs well when taking discontinuous effects into account such as collisions between individual rods. Finally, to illustrate the scalability of our approach, we simulate complex 3D tree models composed of over a thousand individual branch segments swaying in wind fields.


The IETF is standardizing an authenticated key establishment (AKE) protocol named EDHOC for constrained IoT devices. In contrast to more powerful devices like web cameras and cars, which receive a lot of media attention, such devices operate under severe energy consumption and message size restrictions. EDHOC was first formally analyzed in 2018 by Bruni et al. Since then, the protocol has been significantly extended and now has three new key establishment methods. In this paper, we formally analyze all methods of EDHOC in a symbolic Dolev-Yao model, using the Tamarin verification tool. We show that the different methods provide sensible, but also rather heterogeneous security properties, and discuss various consequences of this. Our work has also led to improvements in the design and the specification of EDHOC.


Introduction : Early defibrillation within minutes increases survival after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). However, early defibrillation is often not achieved even though automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are available. We aimed to investigate how AEDs were used and the barriers and facilitators for successful use. Methods : We conducted unannounced, full-scale in-situ simulations of IHCAs in hospital wards with an AED. A debriefing followed the simulations. The simulations and debriefings were video recorded, and the debriefings were transcribed for subsequent qualitative analysis about the AED use. Results : We conducted 36 unannounced in-situ simulations, and an AED was used in 98% of simulations. It was decided to collect an AED after a median of 62 (31; 123) seconds, the AED arrived after 99 (82; 146) seconds, were attached after 188 (150; 260) seconds, and the first shock were delivered after 221 (181; 301) seconds from time of cardiac arrest diagnosis. We identified three main domains related to barriers and facilitators of AED use: teamwork, knowledge, and transfer. Frequent reasons for successful use of an AED were recent resuscitation course, previous experience, and leadership. Reasons for unsuccessful use were doubt about responsibility, lack of knowledge, and lack of contextualized training. Conclusion : During unannounced simulated IHCAs, time to defibrillation was often > 3 minutes. Most of the delay occurred after the AED was collected. Non-technical skills and contextualized training were among the main perceived barriers to AED usage. Facilitators for successful use included recent training, previous experience, and successful leadership. review & editing, Supervision. Bo Løfgren: Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing, Supervision.


The high infrared quantum yield, continuous absorption spectrum, and band edge tunability of colloidal quantum dots (QD) has opened up new opportunities to use luminescent down shifting for multispectral imaging in the infrared. We demonstrate a QD sensitized short wavelength infrared (SWIR) camera which is capable of UV-SWIR multispectral imaging. The application of multispectral cameras for UV tagging applications is demonstrated and the extension of this technology to the mid infrared spectral region is discussed.


We present a method for computing the probability distribution of microlensed light-curve derivatives both in the case of a static lens with a transverse velocity, and in the case of microlensing that is produced through stellar proper motions. The distributions are closely related in form, and can be considered equivalent after appropriate scaling of the input transverse velocity. The comparison of the distributions in this manner provides a consistent way to consider the relative contribution to microlensing (both large and small fluctuations) of the two classes of motion, a problem that is otherwise an extremely expensive computational exercise. We find that the relative contribution of stellar proper motions to the microlensing rate is independent of the mass function assumed for the microlenses, but is a function of optical depth and shear. We find that stellar proper motions produce a higher overall microlensing rate than a transverse velocity of the same magnitude. This effect becomes more pronounced at higher optical depth. With the introduction of shear, the relative rates of microlensing become dependent on the direction of the transverse velocity. This may have important consequences in the case of quadruply lensed quasars such as Q223710305, where the alignment of the shear vector with the source trajectory varies


A novel immunogenic antigen, the 6-kDa early secretory antigenic target (ESAT-6), from short-term culture filtrates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was purified by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and anion-exchange chromatography by use of fast protein liquid chromatography. The antigen focused at two different pIs of 4.0 and 4.5 during isoelectric focusing, and each of these components separated into three spots ranging from 4 to 6 kDa during two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The apparent differences in molecular masses or pIs of these isoforms were not due to posttranslational glycosylation. The molecular weight of the purified native protein was determined by applying gel filtration and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and found to be 24 kDa. ESAT-6 is recognized by the murine monoclonal antibody HYB 76-8, which was used to screen a recombinant lambda gt11 M. tuberculosis DNA library. A phage expressing a gene product recognized by HYB 76-8 was isolated, and a 1.7-kbp fragment of the mycobacterial DNA insert was sequenced. The structural gene of ESAT-6 was identified as the sequence encoding a polypeptide of 95 amino acids. The N terminus of the deduced sequence could be aligned with the 10 amino-terminal amino acids derived from sequence analyses of the native protein. N-terminal sequence analysis showed that the purified antigen was essentially free from contaminants, and the amino acid analysis of the antigen was in good agreement with the DNA sequence-deduced amino acid composition. Thus, the heterogeneities observed in the pI and molecular weight of the purified antigen do not derive from contaminating proteins but are most likely due to heterogeneity of the antigen itself. Native and recombinant ESAT-6 are immunologically active in that both elicited a high release of gamma interferon from T cells isolated from memory-immune mice challenged with M. tuberculosis. Analyses of subcellular fractions of M. tuberculosis showed the presence of ESAT-6 in cytosol- and cell wall-containing fractions. Interspecies analyses showed the presence of ESAT-6 in filtrates from M. tuberculosis complex species. Among filtrates from mycobacteria not belonging to the M. tuberculosis complex, reactivity was observed in Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium szulgai, and Mycobacterium marinum.


The efficiency of a Lyot stop in reducing diffraction effects in a simple optical system is analyzed. The transformation rules of Fourier optics are used to follow the optical signal through the system. This analysis reduces the problem to the evaluation of a two-dimensional integral. An approximate analytic technique for evaluating this integral is presented. The final result is a simple formula for calculating the diffraction-reduction efficiency of the Lyot stop. A comparison of this work with other published work is also presented.


The decomposition of methyl parathion (an organothiophosphate pesticide) sorbed on partially hydrated kaolin and montmorillonite clays (in Ca2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Al3+ forms) at high concentration (typically 1-10 wt %) has been examined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), using solid-state 31P NMR (based on magic-angle spinning and cross polarization or direct polarization) and liquid-state 31P NMR of DMSO and acetone extracts. The results indicate that methyl parathion is initially physisorbed, appearing by solid-state 31P NMR to exhibit substantial molecular-level motion. The signals due to unreacted methyl parathion diminish and are replaced by new 31P NMR peaks resulting from hydrolysis, isomerization, and oxidation reactions over periods ranging from hours to years. 31P NMR characteristics indicate that these decomposition products are much more tightly bound to the clay than is methyl parathion. Methyl parathion decomposition is most effectively catalyzed by partially hydrated Cu(II)- and Al-montmorillonites (but with different product distributions); Ca-montmorillonite and kaolin were least effective.


Each issue contains either two or three sections delivering a diverse and comprehensive coverage of all the key issues, including pathophysiology of hypertension, circulation and hemodynamics, and clinical nephrology. Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension is an indispensable journal for the busy clinician, researcher or student with condensed reviews, supplemented with References and Recommended Reading and Current World Literature a thorough bibliography compiled from the top journals in the field.


Dermot Bolger was born in Finglas, Dublin, in 1959. He is one of Ireland's most prolific contemporary authors, having published some nine novels, ten plays, and six collections of poetry. In addition to being a writer he is also heavily involved in publishing; he set up the Raven Arts Press in 1977 before eventually closing it in 1992 in order to co-found New Island Books. He regularly contributes articles and reviews to national newspapers in Ireland and has edited many books, most notably The Picador Book of Contemporary Irish Fiction, the collaborative novel Finbar's Hotel and its sequel, Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel. Bolger's work may be read as a constantly evolving critique of Irish society that explores how the individual interacts with the wider community, how European and global culture impinges upon Ireland, and how the concepts of Ireland and Irishness have evolved and metamorphosed since the foundation of the state. This interview with Dermot Bolger was conducted on 24 January 2006 in All Hallows College, Drumcondra, Dublin.


This chapter presents a preliminary understanding of cross-cultural challenges and synergistic experiences of multicultural students engaged in Global Virtual Teams (GVTs).In this case study, we introduce the GVT structure as a novel learning platform which utilizes Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tools as part of its virtual-based learning.We administer the case study with 30 students (n=30) in the United of Emirates (UAE) who engage in GVTs across the globe—encompassing 26 universities and 22 countries.Qualitative data is collected in the form of documents—reflective reports of the students' experiential learning over a 10-week period.We content analyse the reports based on the thematic analysis with two distinctive categories—cultural challenges and cultural synergies based on the first seven weeks
of the experiential learning process.In this study, we find that students experienced challenges such as managing technical difficulty, language barriers, deteriorating motivations, geographical distance, time differences, and non-committed and unresponsive attitude.However, students also experience synergies from the GVTs such as strong relationships and continued friendships, formation of emergent leadership,
learned diverse managerial styles and competencies skills, varied use of varied CMC tools, and international exposure to diverse cultures without the need to travel abroad.


Machine learning is an application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that provides systems the ability to automatically learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. Machine learning focuses on the development of computer programs that can access data and use it learn for themselves. The process of learning begins with observations or data, such as examples, direct experience, or instruction, in order to look for patterns in data and make better decisions in the future based on the examples that we provide. The primary aim is to allow the computers to learn automatically without human intervention or assistance and adjust actions accordingly.


Software systems have grown larger and more complex in recent years. Generative software development strives to automate software development from a systems family by generating implementations using domain-specific languages. In current practice, specifying domain-specific languages is a manual task requiring expert analysis of multiple information sources. Furthermore, the concepts and relations represented in a language are grown through its usage. Keeping the language consistent with its usage is a timeconsuming process requiring manual comparison between the language instances and its language specification. Feature model mining addresses these issues by synthesizing a representative model bottom-up from a sample set of instances called configurations. This thesis presents a mining algorithm that reverse-engineers a probabilistic feature model from a set of individual configurations. A configuration consists of a list of features that are defined as system properties that a stakeholder is interested in. Probabilistic expressions are retrieved from the sample configurations through the use of conjunctive and disjunctive association rule mining. These expressions are used to construct a probabilistic feature model. The mined feature model consists of a hierarchy of features, a set of additional hard constraints and soft constraints. The hierarchy describes the dependencies and alternative relations exhibited among the features. The additional hard constraints are a set of propositional formulas which must be satisfied in a legal configuration. Soft constraints describe likely defaults or common patterns. Systems families are often realized using object-oriented frameworks that provide reusable designs for constructing a family of applications. The mining algorithm is evaluated on a set of applications to retrieve a metamodel of the Java Applet framework. The feature model is then applied to the development of framework-specific modeling languages (FSMLs). FSMLs are domain-specific languages that model the frameworkprovided concepts and their rules for development. The work presented in this thesis provides the foundation for further research in feature model mining. The strengths and weaknesses of the algorithm are analyzed and the thesis concludes with a discussion of possible extensions.


Conflict diamonds, those that are traded by rebel groups to fund wars against legitimate governments, have been a problem of grave concern in the international diamond industry since before 2000. Although procedural efforts such as the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme exist, fingerprinting of diamonds - i.e., the scientific discrimination of diamonds by source - has been suggested as a potential solution to halt the flow of conflict diamonds. Combined physical (morphological) and chemical studies on ten parcels of gem-quality diamonds from African alluvial and kimberlitic sources are presented here. Nitrogen contents and aggregation states were determined from Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy; Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry was utilized for selected trace element concentrations. It is evident that only a few elements are consistently enriched in significant quantities, and that it is possible that the elements that were not detected in the parcels may form more of a significant discriminatory tool. Although subtle differences between parcels (and areas of origin) are evident, the intrinsic heterogeneous nature of diamonds, particularly those that are gem-quality, creates difficulties with scientific fingerprinting as a mechanism to discriminate diamonds.


In recent years, a growing body of scholarship has developed in the United States that applies concepts in Jewish law to unsettled, controversial, and challenging areas of American legal thought. One area of Jewish legal thought that has found prominence in both American court opinions and American legal scholarship concerns the approach taken by Jewish law to capital punishment. In this Essay, Levine discusses the issue of the death penalty in Jewish law as it relates to the question of the death penalty in American law, a discussion that requires the rejection of simplistic conclusions and the confrontation of the complexities of the Jewish legal system. Levine also presents a general and balanced overview of Jewish law with respect to legal and historical attitudes towards the death penalty. More specifically, this Essay focuses on the conceptual underpinnings behind pertinent Jewish law, considering the potential relevance and effect of those conceptualizations on American legal thought. Part II of this Essay discusses the United States appellate court case of Hayes v. Lockhart which makes reference to the death penalty in Jewish law. This case reflects some of the methods employed by members of the legal community who seek to support their positions on the death penalty by referring to Jewish law. Part III takes a close look at the death penalty in the Written Torah, which is often cited by those favoring capital punishment. Part IV examines the complex position taken by the Oral Torah towards the death penalty as reflected in the Talmud and other rabbinic sources. Levine concludes that any meaningful application of Jewish law to the death penalty debate is impossible without an accurate and complete analysis and understanding of Jewish law in its proper context.


Land-use change in the coastal zone has led to worldwide degradation of marine coastal ecosystems and a loss of the goods and services they provide. Restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed and is critical for habitats where natural recovery is hindered. Uncertainties about restoration cost and feasibility can impede decisions on whether, what, how, where, and how much to restore. Here, we perform a synthesis of 235 studies with 954 observations from restoration or rehabilitation projects of coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves, salt-marshes, and oyster reefs worldwide, and evaluate cost, survival of restored organisms, project duration, area, and techniques applied. Findings showed that while the median and average reported costs for restoration of one hectare of marine coastal habitat were around US$80000 (2010) and US$1600000 (2010), respectively, the real total costs (median) are likely to be two to four times higher. Coral reefs and seagrass were among the most expensive ecosystems to restore. Mangrove restoration projects were typically the largest and the least expensive per hectare. Most marine coastal restoration projects were conducted in Australia, Europe, and USA, while total restoration costs were significantly (up to 30 times) cheaper in countries with developing economies. Community- or volunteer-based marine restoration projects usually have lower costs. Median survival of restored marine and coastal organisms, often assessed only within the first one to two years after restoration, was highest for saltmarshes (64.8%) and coral reefs (64.5%) and lowest for seagrass (38.0%). However, success rates reported in the scientific literature could be biased towards publishing successes rather than failures. The majority of restoration projects were short-lived and seldom reported monitoring costs. Restoration success depended primarily on the ecosystem, site selection, and techniques applied rather than on money spent. We need enhanced investment in both improving restoration practices and large-scale restoration.


Overlapping community detection allows placing one node to multiple communities. Up to now, many algorithms are proposed for this issue. However, their accuracy depends on the overlapping level of the structure. In this work, we aim at finding relatively small overlapping communities independently than their overlapping level. We define k-connected node groups as cohesive groups in which each pair of nodes has at least k different node disjoint paths from one to another. We propose the algorithm EMOC first finding k-connected groups from the perspective of each node and second merging them to detect overlapping communities. We evaluate the accuracy of EMOC on artificial networks by comparing its results with foremost algorithms. The results indicate that EMOC can find small overlapping communities at any overlapping level. Results on real-world network show that EMOC finds relatively small but consistent communities.


The excretion of sulphate by the isolated Malpighian tubules of Calliphora vomitoria has been investigated. Contrary to expectation, it was found that the isolated tubules are freely permeable to sulphate. The rate of sulphate secretion is comparable to the rates of secretion of both phosphate and chloride. The excretion of sulphate by the intact fly has also been verified.


Generating training examples for supervised tasks is a long sought after goal in AI. We study the problem of heart signal electrocardiogram (ECG) synthesis for improved heartbeat classification. ECG synthesis is challenging: the generation of training examples for such biological-physiological systems is not straightforward, due to their dynamic nature in which the various parts of the system interact in complex ways. However, an understanding of these dynamics has been developed for years in the form of mathematical process simulators. We study how to incorporate this knowledge into the generative process by leveraging a biological simulator for the task of ECG classification. Specifically, we use a system of ordinary differential equations representing heart dynamics, and incorporate this ODE system into the optimization process of a generative adversarial network to create biologically plausible ECG training examples. We perform empirical evaluation and show that heart simulation knowledge during the generation process improves ECG classification.


The integration of big data analytics and cognitive computing results in a new model that can provide the utilization of the most complicated advances in industry and its relevant decision-making processes as well as resolving failures faced during big data analytics. In E-projects portfolio selection (EPPS) problem, big data-driven decision-making has a great importance in web development environments. EPPS problem deals with choosing a set of the best investment projects on social media such that maximum return with minimum risk is achieved. To optimize the EPPS problem on social media, this study aims to develop a hybrid fuzzy multi-objective optimization algorithm, named as NSGA-III-MOIWO encompassing the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) and multi-objective invasive weed optimization (MOIWO) algorithms. The objectives are to simultaneously minimize variance, skewness and kurtosis as the risk measures and maximize the total expected return. To evaluate the performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm, the data derived from 125 active E-projects in an Iranian web development company are analyzed and employed over the period 2014-2018. Finally, the obtained experimental results provide the optimal policy based on the main limitations of the system and it is demonstrated that the NSGA-III-MOIWO outperforms the NSGA-III and MOIWO in finding efficient investment boundaries in EPPS problems. Finally, an efficient statistical-comparative analysis is performed to test the performance of NSGA-III-MOIWO against some well-known multi-objective algorithms.


Abstract Religion has become a prominent issue in times of pluralism and in relation to citizenship in school and in society. As religious education (RE) is assigned to be one of the main school subject where issues of what religion is are to be raised, RE teachers' conceptualizations of religion are of vital concern to investigate. In this article, RE teachers' descriptions of 'religion' are scrutinized and analysed in terms of implications for citizenship with special regard to the role of RE. Three vital conceptions of religion emerge in teachers' descriptions. First, religion is mainly individual or private, secondly, it denotes ethical guidance, and thirdly, it relates to sociocultural systems for thinking. Taken together, these conceptualizations share two characteristics about religion: religion as being individual-centred and private, and religion as being mind oriented. Out of this analysis, we discuss the role of religion and RE in contemporary liberal democratic life in society. The discussion is concluded by addressing two key things; the importance of the RE teacher as a curriculum maker, and the importance of religion and RE as active interventions in today's contemporary discussion about pluralism in liberal democratic societies.


Thurstone scaling is widely used in marketing and advertising research where various methods of applied psychology are utilized. This article considers several analytical tools useful for positioning a set of items on a Thurstone scale via regression modeling and Markov stochastic processing in the form of ChapmanKolmogorov equations. These approaches produce interval and ratio scales of preferences and enrich the possibilities of paired comparison estimation applied for solving practical problems of prioritization and probability of choice modeling.


Although much has been written about "socialization" and "emotion" in different cultures, these two topics have rarely been systematically combined and analyzed from the perspective of ontogenetic development. Drawing on approaches from developmental psychology and cultural anthropology, we examine how cultural models of emotion and their corresponding emotionally arousing child-rearing practices lead to culture-specific pathways of emotion development among the Bara (Madagascar) and the Tao (Taiwan). We focus especially on socializing emotions, which we define in terms of their function to orient individuals toward cultural norms and values and to inculcate social conformity. Based on empirical data gathered in long-term ethnographic field studies, we provide evidence that the Bara emphasize "fear" and the Tao "anxiety" as focal socializing emotions.


Body Area Networks (BANs) form a strongly growing research field, motivated by increasing need for remote and improved patient healthcare solutions and driven by the development of the IEEE 802.15.6 standard. While most research focuses on single hop star topologies, more studies point towards multi-hop topologies as more preferable. Related with this multi-hop topology however, comes the cost of supporting mobile nodes. Initial research shows the feasibility of adapting protocols to support mobility. This work analyzes two requirements to fulfill mobility support, more specifically location independence and increased clock drifting resiliency. Simulations show the need to fulfill both requirements and motivate that location independence should always be strived for, while clock drift resiliency is shown to be required in larger networks.


ABSTRACT Temperature-based development models have been used in pest management for many years to predict emergence and other life history events of insect pests. Blueberry gall midge, Dasineura oxycoccana (Johnson), is an early-season pest of rabbiteye blueberries, Vaccinium virgatum Aiton, in Florida. The ability to predict emergence of adults at the beginning of the season would improve monitoring and control activities. Blueberry gall midge larvae were collected from an organic blueberry farm in Gainesville, FL from Jan through Mar in 2008 and 2009. Late third instars were reared to adults in either 5-mL vials or 947-mL cups with soil substrate. The duration of the pupal stage was determined under 6 constant temperatures: 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35°C. More midges survived to adult emergence in the 5-mL vials than the large cups. The developmental threshold was estimated with linear and nonlinear regression models. Both models fit the data well, but the nonlinear model was limited due to the few data points at the extreme high and low temperatures. Based upon the linear model and data from the 5-mL vials, the developmental threshold for pupation was estimated as 9.8°C and the thermal constant as 134 degree-days. These experiments provide useful information on the biology of blueberry gall midge, but estimates of the thermal requirements for the other life stages will be needed before it will be possible to forecast blueberry gall midge infestations.


Transparent thin film electrodes made of vertically aligned nanocolumns of TiO2 with well-controlled oblique angles were grown by physical vapor deposition at glancing incidence (PVD-GLAD). For an electrode thickness of 500 nm, we report a 40% variation on solar cell efficiency (from 0.6% to 1.04%) when the deposition angle was modified between 60° and 85°. Transparent thicker films with higher surface area deposited at the optimal angle of 70° were grown with a zigzag morphology which confers high mechanical strength to the thin films. Using this topology, the application of an electrode thickness of 3 µm in a DSC resulted in a power conversion efficiency of 2.78% maintaining electrode transparency.


Given the increased interest in animal emotional reactions for assessing welfare, indicators for such reactions are sought. Ear postures and movements have been found to be promising indicators of emotional states in sheep and other animals. The manual recording of ear postures, however, is very time consuming and possibly prone to a degree of inaccuracy due to the subtle and fast nature of ear movements that have to be identified. Therefore, a number of previous studies have analysed the frequency of certain ear postures relative to all ear posture changes rather than measuring the relative duration spent with different ear postures. Here, we present an automated, continuous tracking system that keeps track of small and lightweight marker balls attached to the head and ears of sheep. We measured ear postures and movements when the animals were confronted with three physical stimuli thought to differ in valence (from negative to intermediate to positive). We then compared new ear-posture definitions reflecting the real time spent with certain ear postures during stimulation with previous definitions used for video-based analyses that assessed ear-posture changes in relation to the total number of observed ear postures. In the analysis, we correlated new and previous measures both between and within experimental stimuli using residuals from mixed-effects models. We found that the new and previous definitions of ear postures and movements correlated highly. Given these high correlations and the discussed theoretical and practical advantages of the automated tracking, the new recording system can be recommended highly for assessing reactions in animals that may indicate emotional states.


High Medicaid nursing homes (85% and higher of Medicaid residents) operate in resource-constrained environments. High Medicaid nursing homes (on average) have lower quality and poorer financial performance. However, there is significant variation in performance among high Medicaid nursing homes. The purpose of this study is to examine the organizational and market factors that may be associated with better financial performance among high Medicaid nursing homes. Data sources included Long-Term Care Focus (LTCFocus), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Medicare Cost Reports, CMS Nursing Home Compare, and the Area Health Resource File (AHRF) for 2009-2015. There were approximately 1108 facilities with high Medicaid per year. The dependent variables are nursing homes operating and total margin. The independent variables included size, chain affiliation, occupancy rate, percent Medicare, market competition, and county socioeconomic status. Control variables included staffing variables, resident quality, for-profit status, acuity index, percent minorities in the facility, percent Medicaid residents, metropolitan area, and Medicare Advantage penetration. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations with state and year fixed effects. Results suggest that organizational and market slack resources are associated with performance differentials among high Medicaid nursing homes. Higher financial performing facilities are characterized as having nurse practitioners/physician assistants, more beds, higher occupancy rate, higher Medicare and Medicaid census, and being for-profit and located in less competitive markets. Higher levels of Registered Nurse (RN) skill mix result in lower financial performance in high Medicaid nursing homes. Policy and managerial implications of the study are discussed.


Scleroderma is a rare, painful and complex autoimmune connective tissue disease that can lead to death. The physiology of symptom onset and progression and the psychological aspects of living with this chronic disease have been studied fairly extensively. However, there is limited knowledge about scleroderma and negative physiological arousal (hyper-arousal: linked to immune dysfunction resulting in autoimmunity in the face of stressful events) and how levels of hyper-arousal are related to stress experienced at an early age; to emotion regulation coping strategies such as self-compassion; and to when scleroderma is experienced (earlier or later onset). Knowledge about these relationships may be important information for the treatment of scleroderma and related illnesses. This study addressed these relationships for scleroderma by examining how hyper-arousal was linked to these psychosocial experiences of stress, to coping strategies, and to age of disease onset.A within group design was utilized. A total of 122 participants were recruited from Australia (39) the United Kingdom (81) and country not specified (2) and invited to complete an online or a hard copy survey. Lower positive early life experiences, lower levels of self-compassion and an earlier onset of disease were all related to elevated levels of hyper-arousal in individuals diagnosed with scleroderma. A regression equation showed all three contributed significantly to the experienced hyper-arousal. The findings suggest that greater self-compassion may be a determining factor in how earlier emotional experiences are managed and in predicting lower hyper-arousal in terms of this disease.


We constantly hear warnings about super-powerful super-intelligences whose interests, or even indifference, might exterminate humanity. The current reality, however, is that humanity is actually now dominated and whipsawed by unintelligent (and unfeeling) governance and social structures and mechanisms initially developed to order to better our lives. There are far too many complex yet ultimately too simplistic algorithmic systems in society where "the incentives for this system are a pretty good approximation of what we actually want, so the system produces good results until it gets powerful, at which point it gets terrible results." We now live in a world where constant short-sighted and selfish local "optimizations" without overriding "moral" or compassionate guidance have turned too many of our systems from liberators to oppressors. Thus, it seems likely that a collaborative process of iteratively defining and developing conscious and compassionate artificial entities with human-level general intelligence that self-identify as social and moral entities is our last, best chance of clarifying our path to saving ourselves.