Automatic speech recognition (ASR) is a well-researched field of study aimed at augmenting the man-machine interface through interpretation of the spoken word. From in-car voice recognition systems to automated telephone directories, automatic speech recognition technology is becoming increasingly abundant in today's technological world. Nonetheless, traditional audio-only ASR system performance degrades when employed in noisy environments such as moving vehicles. To improve system performance under these conditions, visual speech information can be incorporated into the ASR system, yielding what is known as audio-video speech recognition (AVASR). A majority of AVASR research focuses on lip parameters extraction within controlled environments, but these scenarios fail to meet the demanding requirements of most real-world applications. Within the visual unconstrained environment, AVASR systems must compete with constantly changing lighting conditions and background clutter as well as subject movement in three dimensions. This work proposes a robust still image lip localization algorithm capable of operating in an unconstrained visual environment, serving as a visual front end to AVASR systems. A novel Bhattacharyya-based face detection algorithm is used to compare candidate regions of interest with a unique illumination-dependent face model probability distribution function approximation. Following face detection, a lip-specific v Gabor filter-based feature space is utilized to extract facial features and localize lips within the frame. Results indicate a 75% lip localization overall success rate despite the demands of the visually noisy environment.


Political polarization in the US is on the rise. This polarization negatively affects the public sphere by contributing to the creation of ideological echo chambers. In this paper, we focus on addressing one of the factors that contributes to this polarity, polarized media. We introduce a framework for depolarizing news articles. Given an article on a certain topic with a particular ideological slant (eg., liberal or conservative), the framework first detects polar language in the article and then generates a new article with the polar language replaced with neutral expressions. To detect polar words, we train a multi-attribute-aware word embedding model that is aware of ideology and topics on 360k full-length media articles. Then, for text generation, we propose a new algorithm called Text Annealing Depolarization Algorithm (TADA). TADA retrieves neutral expressions from the word embedding model that not only decrease ideological polarity but also preserve the original argument of the text while maintaining grammatical correctness. We evaluate our framework by comparing the depolarized output of our model in two modes, fully-automatic and semi-automatic, on 99 stories spanning 11 topics. Based on feedback from 161 human testers, our framework successfully depolarized 90.1% of paragraphs in semi-automatic mode and 78.3% of paragraphs in fully-automatic mode. Furthermore, 81.2% of the testers agree that the non-polar content information is well-preserved and 79% agree that depolarization does not harm semantic correctness when they compare the original text and the depolarized text. Our work shows that data-driven methods can help to locate political polarity and aid in the depolarization of articles.


INTRODUCTION Dwarf planet Ceres' low average-density (2162 ± 3 kg m−3) indicates that it must contain considerable water. Water is likely a key component in the chemical evolution and internal activity of Ceres, possibly resulting in a layer of ice-rich material and perhaps liquid in the mantle. Mineral hydroxides (OH-bearing) and hydrates (H2O-bearing), such as clays, carbonates, and various salts, would be created. These hypotheses were supported by the detection of hydroxyl (OH)–rich materials, OH-bearing molecule releases, H2O vapor molecules, and haze. However, the presence of H2O on the surface has not previously been confirmed. The detection and mapping of H2O on Ceres is one objective of the Dawn spacecraft, in orbit around Ceres since March 2015. RATIONALE The purpose of the Dawn space mission at Ceres is to study the geology, geophysics, and composition remotely by means of high-resolution imagery and spectrometry. Dawn's Visible and InfraRed Mapping Spectrometer (VIR) measures the sunlight scattered by the surface of Ceres in a range of wavelengths between 0.25 and 5.1 μm. The position and shape of absorption features in VIR reflectance spectra are sensitive to the surface mineral and molecular composition. In spectroscopy, absorption bands at 2.0, 1.65, and 1.28 μm are characteristic of vibration overtones in the H2O molecule. RESULTS Dawn has detected water-rich surface materials in a 10-km-diameter crater named Oxo, which exhibit all absorption bands that are diagnostic of the H2O molecule (see the figure). These spectra are most similar to those of H2O ice, but they could also be attributable to hydrated minerals. Oxo crater appears to be geologically very young (~1 million to 10 million years); it has sharp rims and its floor is almost devoid of impacts, suggesting a recent exposure of surface H2O. The high latitude and morphology of the Oxo crater protects much of the surface area from direct solar illumination for most of the cerean day, presenting favorable conditions for the stability of water ice or heavily hydrated salts. CONCLUSION Four ways to create or transport H2O on Ceres are considered: (i) Exposure of near-surface H2O-rich materials by a recent impact or an active landslide seems most consistent with the presence of both mineral hydrates and water ice. (ii) Release of subsurface H2O may occur on Ceres, similar to release on comet nuclei, but may never recondense on the surface. (iii) Infall of ice-bearing objects is not likely to deposit water on Ceres, because the H2O molecule likely would dissociate upon impact. (iv) Implantation of protons from the solar wind on the surface is not a probable origin of OH on Ceres because of the low flux of solar wind charged particles. We therefore conclude that surface H2O or hydrated minerals are the most plausible explanation. Dawn VIR infrared observations of Oxo crater on Ceres demonstrate the detection of H2O at the surface. (A) Reflectance spectrum collected where absorption bands of H2O at 1.28, 1.65, and 2 μm are the strongest (in blue) compared with a laboratory spectrum of H2O ice (black). The lab spectrum is scaled and vertically shifted for clarity. (B) Perspective view of Oxo crater observed by the Dawn Framing Camera (FC), where the two high-albedo areas right next to the scarps contain H2O-rich materials. The surface of dwarf planet Ceres contains hydroxyl-rich materials. Theories predict a water ice-rich mantle, and water vapor emissions have been observed, yet no water (H2O) has been previously identified. The Visible and InfraRed (VIR) mapping spectrometer onboard the Dawn spacecraft has now detected water absorption features within a low-illumination, highly reflective zone in Oxo, a 10-kilometer, geologically fresh crater, on five occasions over a period of 1 month. Candidate materials are H2O ice and mineral hydrates. Exposed H2O ice would become optically undetectable within tens of years under current Ceres temperatures; consequently, only a relatively recent exposure or formation of H2O would explain Dawn's findings. Some mineral hydrates are stable on geological time scales, but their formation would imply extended contact with ice or liquid H2O.


It began with Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. It accelerated with Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Lady Bird and Lyndon Johnson became partners in office and Nancy and Ronnie seemed joined at the hip. Without question, the presidential couple has arrived as a force in politics. Yet surprisingly, the electorate is not happy about it. The emergence of the presidential couple is one of the most important and contentious developments in America's postwar political history. Its citizens' reaction to the First Couple reflects the country's changing morality, its uncertain attitude toward feminism, and the increasing power of the media. Gil Troy traces these shifts through ten presidential marriages, from the homesick tensions between Harry and Bess Truman to the very public scandals endured by Bill and Hillary Clinton. Along the way, readers learn of Mamie Eisenhower's perseverance on her husband's campaign trail, Gerald Ford's embarrassment over Betty's outspoken honesty, and the amazing political success of Nancy and Ronald Reagan's partnership in office. With a new chapter devoted to Hillary and Bill Clinton's tainted partnership in office and to our present First Lady's senatorial ambitions, this edition of Gil Troy's Mr. and Mrs. President offers fresh insights into America's paradoxical expectations for its presidential wives and husbands. "Troy argues that the rise of the First Couple is not simply a function of the women's movement, but reflects a mixture of factors, including the weakening of parties, the rise of personality politics, the increasing power of the Presidency and the Federal Government and perhaps, most important of all, the 'rise of the mass media and the new political culture it spawned.'" "New York Times Book Review.""


The economic security of Russia's regions has been the focus of numerous studies. Significant contributions have been made to relevant methodological approaches and measurement tools. However, economic security has been little studied in the context of border regions. In this article, we address the methodological problems of employing existing methods and models for measuring the economic security of border regions. We pay special attention to the development of an evaluation algorithm incorporating the border regions' characteristics, the identification of groups (classes), a set of universal, specific, and special indicators as well as the impact of protective measures on economic security. To justify our proposals, we analyse the economic security of the Kaliningrad region; it is a study based on an evaluation of protective measures in the regional agricultural industry and of the effect of different factors on the generation of value added in the sector. We emphasise the need to take into account regional conditions when assessing economic security and to introduce economic and mathematical calculations into the relevant measurement algorithm at its different stages. We use our findings in providing a rationale for the central principles and procedures for creating a comprehensive model of the economic security of Russia's western border regions.


Background: Residency programs must prepare physicians to practice in the current health care environment. This mandate is reflected in 3 of the 6 competency domains now required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education: systems-based practice, interpersonal skills and communication, and practice-based learning and improvement. Summary: An invitational conference was convened, with experts in clinical practice, managed care administration, and education to identify and recommend optimal and promising assessment methods for 4 target areas: physician-patient communication, ethics, teamwork and collaboration, and practice management. Working in small groups, participants considered a range of resident assessment methods and identified current or future methods for each area, based on reliability, validity, use of behaviorally oriented outcomes, feasibility, and cost. Preferred methods of assessment varied by domain and include written examinations, computer-based patient management problems, standardized patients, objective structured clinical examinations, portfolios, 360-degree evaluations, and patient satisfaction surveys. Conclusions: The use of several practical, scientifically sound, and specific methods for assessing residents' competency in care management are recommended. Assessment instruments will need to be flexible enough to adapt to the rapid changes in the health care delivery system and terminology.


This work, carried out by members of the University of Parma's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture, analyzes the stability of the ancient underground quarries at Viggiu (Varese,Italy). The objective of the study was to verify the actual structural predisposition to instability phenomena in the ancient ornamental stone quarries for a historical and cultural valorization as well as the recovery of the Danzi and Beltrami quarries. Although completely abandoned, these sites could be used as a tourist attraction and/or as a teaching environment. They are a wonderful example of industrial architecture, presenting audacious compositions of filled-in trenches and room and pillar techniques (Hedley and Grant, 1972). With such objectives in mind, a monitoring system that aims to control the most significant joints and discontinuities of the site has been realized. A numerical model of the entire rock mass has been developed in order to analyze the stability of the underground openings. A route for visitors has also been identified.


Defending offspring provides fitness benefits to parents, but is costly. To moderate costs, parents should adjust aggressive responses to the threat posed by different species entering their territory. However, few studies have experimentally tested behavioral adjustments in response to the threat posed by different types of intruders, particularly in the field, and in environments with an array of heterospecific intruders. Here, using a biparental cichlid, the poor man's tropheus (Hypsophrys nematopus), we investigated whether males and females in the wild invest equally into offspring defense and what impact the absence of a partner might have on the quality of offspring defense provided by a solitary parent. In a separate experiment, we assessed responses of breeding pairs to 3 common heterospecific intruders that pose different levels of threat to the breeding pair and their brood. We found that both paired and unpaired females invested significantly more into territorial aggression than males. However, unpaired females were unable to fully compensate for the absence of their partner, with intruders left to venture closer to their offspring. Furthermore, we show that breeding pairs can readily discriminate between heterospecific intruders, with pairs responding quicker and more aggressively towards species that posed a greater potential threat. Our results demonstrate that biparental species can have extensive behavioral flexibility in their aggressive responses towards intruders, even in environments with a high frequency of territory incursion. The quality of territorial defense can nevertheless be compromised if one parent is left to defend the brood alone.


We present a novel procedure to apply deep learning techniques to medical image classification. With increasing popularity of computed tomography (CT) lung screening, fully manual diagnosis of lung cancer puts a burden on the radiologists who need to spend hours reading through CT scanned images to identify Region of Interests (ROIs) to schedule follow-ups. Accurate computer-aided diagnosis of lung cancer can effectively reduce their workload and help training new radiologists. However, lung cancer detection is challenging because of the varying size, location, shape, and density of nodules. Many studies have approached this problem using image-processing techniques with the intention of developing an optimal set of features. Convolutional neural network has demonstrated to learn discriminative visual features automatically and has beat many state-of-art algorithms in image-processing tasks, such as pattern recognition, object detection, segmentation, etc. In this report, we evaluate the feasibility of implementing deep learning algorithms for lung cancer diagnosis with the Lung Image Database Consortium (LIDC) database. We compare the performance of two 2.5D convolutional neural network models, two 3D convolutional neural network models, and one 3D convolutional neural networks with a 3D spatial transformer network module on the task of detecting lung nodules. The performance of our best model is comparable with the state-of-art results in the lung nodule detection task.


Abstract. The aragonite shell-bearing thecosome pteropods are an important component of the oceanic plankton. However, with increasing pCO2 and the associated reduction in oceanic pH (ocean acidification), thecosome pteropods are thought to be particularly vulnerable to shell dissolution. The distribution and preservation of pteropods over the last 250 000 years have been investigated in marine sediment cores from the Caribbean Sea close to the island of Montserrat. Using the Limacina Dissolution Index (LDX), fluctuations in pteropod calcification through the most recent glacial/interglacial cycles are documented. By comparison to the oxygen isotope record (global ice volume), we show that pteropod calcification is closely linked to global changes in pCO2 and pH and is, therefore, a global signal. These data are in agreement with the findings of experiments upon living pteropods, which show that variations in pH can greatly affect aragonitic shells. The results of this study provide information which may be useful in the prediction of future changes to the pteropod assemblage caused by ocean acidification.


Phnom Penh was subject to westernisation during colonisation. Constructions of European styles and great public works sequentially proceeded to transform the city. Ancient canal dating to 1413 was restored enclosing French city for flood prevention and leaving locals outside. Not until 1899 did then urbanism orient to localisation and the canal was developed for a green-space. Semantically, this paper showed a long vista of the green terrace likely featured a main gate into Phnom Penh, through which its characters could be recognised as a commercial, peaceful and modern city. Spatial structure persists, but socio-economic changes gradually transform its face as a centre of infrastructure for commerce to be a tourist spot, where urban memories from the events are layered. No sooner have restrictions been imposed than the developments. The area is now a site of Cambodia's first skyscrapers, so the study suggested historic district preservation system into the current practices to protect desired image of this small historic site.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an approach for productivity measurement that considers both construction growth and carbon reduction.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach applied is a sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity analysis based on a directional distance function and sequential benchmark technology using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique. The sequential Malmquist-Luenberger productivity change index is decomposed into pure technical efficiency, scale efficiency, and technological change indices, in order to investigate the driving forces for productivity change.

Findings

The construction industries of the Australian states and territories were selected implement the new approach. The results indicate that construction growth and carbon reduction can be achieved simultaneously through the learning of techniques from benchmarks.

Practical implications

Current research on total factor productivity (TFP) in construction generally neglects carbon emissions. This does not accurately depict the nature of construction and therefore yields biased estimation results. TFP measurement should consider carbon reduction, which is beneficial for policymakers to promote sustainable productivity development in the construction industry.

Originality/value

The approach developed here is generic and enhances productivity and DEA research levels in construction. This research can be used to formulate policies for evaluating performance in worldwide construction projects, organizations and industries by considering undesirable outputs and desirable outputs simultaneously, and for promoting sustainable development in construction by identifying competitiveness factors.


In the modern Supply Chain Finance landscape, Reverse Factoring is one of the most consolidated business model for working capital financing. However, accounting treatment of Reverse Factoring might affect the balance sheet of large corporate, with disruptive consequences for the programme as a whole.

From an accountancy point of view, the issue is whether trade payables should be reclassified as short-term debt within a Reverse Factoring program. International accounting framework do not provide clear guidelines on this matter. Therefore, this volume aims at identify and highlight the factors that are likely to affect reclassification of trade payables within Reverse Factoring, in order to support corporates and service providers towards taking more aware decisions on these matters.


The Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area (GBRWHA) covers an area of approximately 348,000km2 making it the world's largest World Heritage Area / marine protected area complex. Dugongs (Dugong dugon) inhabit the shallow protected waters of the GBRWHA, and were an explicit reason for the region's World Heritage listing. To manage dugongs effectively in the GBRWHA, it is critical to understand their spatial relationship with their environment and the human activities that threaten them. We demonstrate how a spatially explicit dugong population model can be used to prioritise conservation initiatives for dugongs in the GBRWHA. We used information collected from dugong aerial surveys in conjunction with geostatistical techniques, including universal kriging, to develop a model of dugong distribution and abundance. After completing the model, we conducted frequency analyses to categorise relative dugong density and distribution to identify areas of low, medium or high conservation value. As dugongs extend over a wide distributional range, prioritising areas of conservation value has the potential to be an important basis for administering management resources. We conclude that spatially explicit population models are an effective component of species conservation management, particularly for species that range over large, complex and dynamic regions.


Permeable Synthetic Collectors (PSCs) are bodies of some millimetres consisting of a highly porous arrangement of fixed fibres or open-porous plastic foam. The advantages of the application of this media in deep bed filtration were studied. The theoretical analysis of the particle transport efficiency was based on the numerical solution of the flow field and on trajectory calculations for non-Brownian particles. Investigations with an endoscope allowed the consideration of the particle adhesion on the surface of the inner fibres. The resulting filter coefficients are compared with experimental data. The application of PSC filtration in a pilot scale unit for wastewater treatment performs much better in contrast to conventional filter grains (sand, anthracite etc.), especially under high rate conditions. In the future, the deep filtration can be applied to new fields of the topic of solid liquid separation with smaller units, lower pressure drop and higher filtration rates.


This work analyzes the influence of the pH on the physical-chemical properties of calcium- deficient hydroxyapatite synthesized by the sol-gel method. The pH evolution in the course of the synthesis was followed during the drop-by-drop adding of the calcium source to the phosphorus source, for different drip rates. The structural, morphological, and textural characterizations demonstrate that increasing the drip rate up to values of 10 μ l ∙ s (cid:1) 1 increases the crystallite size and the specific surface area, while the chemical and optical characteriza- tions show that higher drip rates also increase the calcium and oxygen vacancies, related to an increase in the energy of the optical band gap. However, for the sample synthesized at a drip rate of 17 μ l ∙ s (cid:1) 1 , the conjunction of higher calcium and oxygen vacancies has an opposite effect in the optical properties, in comparison to the observations in the synthesized samples at lower drip rates. Finally, the thermal characterization shows that, for all cases, the thermal diffusivity values agree with the reported values elsewhere.


High-resolution palaeoecological proxies of pollen, macrofossils and diatoms from an isolation lake provide a long-term record of the Holocene landscape history and shoreline displacement on the Biskopsmala Peninsula in central Blekinge, SE Sweden. During the Preboreal/Boreal transition, the peninsula was sparsely vegetated by woodlands, along with lateglacial dwarf shrub/steppe communities. The lake basin was isolated from the shallow Yoldia Sea during this time. The regional climate improved from 10 700 cal. BP, evident as progressive expansion of Pinus -dominated mixed forest with deciduous trees. The lake basin was probably connected with the Ancylus Lake during the period 10 700-10 100 cal. BP. Subsequently the basin became isolated again, corresponding to the Early Littorina Sea phase. Replacement of freshwater diatoms by those with brackish-water affinity at 8100 cal. BP indicates the initial transgression of the Littorina Sea in this basin. But not until 7500 cal. BP were brackish conditions fully established. Peaks of brackish-marine diatoms and dinoflagellates during 7500-7000 cal. BP indicate increased saltwater inflow to the Baltic Sea in response to global meltwater pulse 3. However, interactive changes in seagrass and stonewort macrofossil concentrations suggest that three minor transgressions during 5900-5300, 5000-4700 and 4400-4000 cal. BP occurred locally, associated with centennial-scale variations in regional wind pattern or coastal storminess. By 3000 cal. BP, the lake basin was finally isolated from the Baltic, and thereafter the landscape on the peninsula became gradually more influenced by human activities.


While a great deal of social science literature has examined the explosion of pentecostal and charismatic Christianity in the Global South as well as conservative and anti-modern forms of resurgent Christianity in the United States, little work has been done to investigate the causal effects of the former on the latter. Drawing from existing literature, interviews, and archives, this article contributes to filling that gap by arguing that in the mid-twentieth century, evangelical missionary concerns about competition from global Pentecostalism led to an intellectual crisis at the Fuller School of World Missions; this crisis in turn influenced important Third Wave figures such as John Wimber and C. Peter Wagner and is linked to key moments and developments in their thought and pedagogy.


They are the images that we have from our memory of what the future used to look like.--Angela Grauerholz I'm standing, looking at a cluster of travellers boarding an airplane. The plane is not large, and there cannot be more than a dozen figures assembled on the wet tarmac. It's been raining, though it has stopped now, and despite the brightness in the sky's horizon, everything near is dark, smudged in the gloom of a rain-soaked pause. Within this ambiguity, a white line painted luminously on the surface of the runway intersects with me at the centre of my vision. My viewpoint seems picked out, as in a perspective study, and the scene before me, despite its indeterminacy, becomes an exercise in the appropriateness of things in the world. I'm standing in the Olga Korper Gallery, looking at Travellers by Angela Grauerholz, and the indeterminate nature of the photograph is oddly replicated here. The sun at the moment is from the west, and its light passes through the clerestory onto the gallery walls and floor in ever-shifting intensities.


Social problems is a condition in society that is considered harmful or undesirable by society as a whole, based on existing social values and in respect of which it is believed that amelioration is possible.

In this case, the researcher interested in analyzing one of popular novels, i.e. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, one of the great English novelists of the Victorian era. The researcher is analysis on social problems. She chooses this because it can increases her knowledge and experience about human problems. David Copperfield is partly autobiographical of the life of the writer himself and this novel is often considered to be Dickens' great novel. Furthermore, there are many kinds of social problems happen in this story.

Then, this research is aimed at finding the kind of social problems happened in David Copperfield. The researcher limits her study only on the social problems occurred in English society in the nineteenth century as shown in the novel. They are gap between social class, poverty, discrimination in education, and unfair treatment in working class.

To give clear description of how this study is conducted the researcher uses literary criticism as her research design in the novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. She uses structural approach. Structural approach is an approach that is used to analyze a literary work by interpreting and focusing on the text alone, apart from the author and reader.

Furthermore, in this novel the researcher finds some social problems such as gap between social class, poverty, discrimination in education, and unfair treatment in working class.

Social class is divided into rich and poor. Social class in Victorian period as it described in the novel is still much more strictly divided into rich and poor, we can see the differences of this society or gap between social class by observing their house and position. The rich people in David Copperfield is represented by the Steerforths with their luxurious house and good position in society, so that they can do anything what they like. As a rich woman Mrs. Steerforth is very proud. She never allows Emily to become her daughter-in-law because of their position is different in society. Emily just poor woman and it is impossible if Emily marriage with her sons. Mrs. Steerforth thinks that if Emily marriage with Steerforth it could irretrievably blights her son's career and ruins his prospects. On the contrary, the Micawbers as representative of poor people live in poverty. They stay in a house which is very scantily furnished. Mr. Micawber never has any money to buy food or furniture for his house.

Then, poverty problems in David Copperfield represented by the life of Martha Endell, David Copperfield, and Mr. Micawber. We can know it by observing their dwellings and food. Martha lives in a slum area of London, among the rubbish of the riverside. Her poverty has caused physical and psychological effects for her. David's dwelling in Murdstone and Grinby's warehouse, when he is forced to work there by his stepfather, is very bad. The house is dirty and overrun with rats. As a working class boy David is paid very low. Because of this low wage, he eats insufficiently and unsatisfactorily food. Then we can see poverty from Mr. Micawber, who is poor people, but he is very improvident. Poverty makes him always loan money from other peoples, but he never can to pay his debt. One morning, Mr. Micawbers faces to difficulties crisis again because of he cannot pay his debt. He carried over to the King's Bench Prison in the Borrough.

In this novel the discrimination in education still happen at Salem House School. From Steerforth and Traddles we can see. They are come from different class. James Steerforth, one of student in Salem House who is come from rich family always gets a good treatment and good position in that school. He always gets different service rather than other student who comes
from poor family. He never gets punishment from his wrong. On the contrary, Tommy Traddles who is unlucky boy and come from poor family always get punishment from his headmaster. He always gets bad treatment from him.

Working class consists of adults and children, men and boys. David Copperfield experiences the unpleasant situation, when he is forced to work at warehouse for long hours; it is about twelve hours with low wage, only six shilling a week. These long hours of work and low salary are the most general problems of early industrial working class.


Industrial logging and agricultural expansion are driving rapid transformations of tropical ecosystems, modifying patterns in above-ground plant and below-ground microbial communities. However, the extent to which these changes in biodiversity drive modifications of ecosystem process rates such as leaf litter decomposition is poorly understood. To determine the relative effects of changes to the chemical quality of litter and shifts in microbial decomposers on leaf litter decomposition rates, we performed a controlled, reciprocal transplant, litter decomposition experiment across a tropical land-use disturbance gradient. Litter mixtures and soils were collected from old growth forest, moderately logged forest, heavily logged forest, and oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia, and combined in a fully crossed, factorial microcosm experiment maintained under controlled environmental conditions. We found that whilst litter quality was the most important predictor of litter mass loss, soil origin was also significant, explaining between 5.17 and 15.43% of total variation. Microbial decomposer communities from old growth forest had greater functional breadth relative to those from logged forests and oil palm plantation as all litter types decomposed faster when combined with old growth soil. The most chemically recalcitrant litter (lowest N, highest lignin, lignin:N, and C:N ratio) from moderate logged forest decomposed faster when combined with its "home" soil (Home-Field Advantage) whilst the most labile litter from oil palm decomposed slowest when combined with its "home" soil. This was correlated with lower total soil microbial biomass. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that whilst litter quality regulated rates of litter decomposition across the disturbance gradient, soil microbial decomposer communities were functionally dissimilar between land uses and explained a significant proportion of variation. The impact of disturbance on soil, including microbial community structure, should be considered alongside changes to plant communities when assessing effects on crucial ecosystem processes such as decomposition.


Advances in power electronics, controls, and computer networking are the fundamental building blocks for the next generation of shipboard power system. Due to increasing power requirements, medium voltage ac and dc systems are envisioned to provide the abilities required by the next generation platforms. Before possible benefits of new technologies can be evaluated in a system-relevant context, baseline information on current technologies and operating concepts is required. This paper summarizes efforts in creating such baselines of notional shipboard power systems that allow benchmarking performance and comparing outcomes. With respect to the efforts herein, of most interest are the possible benefits to be gained through alternate electric distribution system design choices, operational procedures, and advanced controls.


Background : During the past decades the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) has declined and its prognosis has changed dramatically due to chemotherapy; however, cases of tuberculous pericarditis are still reported worldwide. Materials and methods : The study population included 19 men and 11women aged 12-76 years admitted to the hospital for acute pericardial disease. The diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis was verified based on the adenosin deaminase activity (ADA), culture on Lowenstein-Jensen media, Ziehl Neelsen staining, biopsy of pericardial tissue and evaluation of tuberculin test. Results : Of 30 patients, 13 (43.3%) had tuberculous pericarditis. All of whom had clinical TB manifestations. The culture of pericardial fluid in 6 patients (46%), staining in 3 (23%), and the culture of pericardial tissue in 6 patients (46%) were positive. The caseating granuloma w identified in 46% of cases. Ten case (77%) had positive PPD reaction. All tuberculous pericarditis patients had ADA level of >45U/l. Conclusion : Results have revealed that measurement of ADA level may prove a good screening test for early diagnosis of tuberculous pericarditis. Keywords : Pericarditis, Tuberculosis, Adenosine deaminase activity


There is no doubt that access to constitutional justice in Australia is limited. A combination of relatively restrictive standing rules and financial constraints means many people who have an interest (but perhaps not a 'special interest') in ensuring compliance with the Constitution are precluded from bringing legal proceedings to do so. Expanding the ability of persons or groups to participate in constitutional litigation as amici (as opposed to broadening standing rules) is one way to expand access to constitutional justice. But we need to bear in mind that an amicus cannot institute litigation – an amicus can only seek to join existing litigation. Nonetheless, allowing more participation in existing constitutional matters would go some way to redressing the problem of access to justice. Certainly there are interested persons and groups who are shut out of existing constitutional litigation because they are not a party and do not have standing (or the financial ability) to intervene.


Background Partner notification (PN) is crucial for STI control. We developed SuggestATest.nl (SAT), an internet-based notification system for verified diagnoses of STI/HIV, that uses an index-chosen method per partner (email, text messaging, postal letter or a gay dating site; anonymous or non-anonymous). SAT was piloted at the Public Health STI clinics in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was offered additional to counselling by the nurse. Method We evaluated SAT use and effectiveness from March-July 2012. Numbers/method of sent SAT notifications were extracted from the SAT database, and epidemiological data from electronic patient records. Determinants for SAT use (age, sex, ethnicity, partners, STI) were assessed using logistic regression analysis. Results Of 1184 index-clients receiving a SAT code, 160 (14%) notified through SAT. They sent 588 notifications (median 2), 82% by text messaging and 16% by email; 86% was non-anonymous. Univariate analysis of SAT use in heterosexuals showed that people with only 1 partner used SAT less often than others; this was the only significant predictor. In MSM, the STI diagnosed was the only significant univariate factor, with MSM with syphilis using SAT more often than MSM having other STI. Among all 67 SAT users in Rotterdam, 56% (225/402) of their eligible partners were notifiable, and 95% (213/225) of those were notified using SAT. In 17 MSM, 36% (87/239) of eligible partners were notifiable, and 97 (111% of 87) were notified in SAT. Of all notified partners, 56% entered SAT to see the STI they were notified for, and 20% visited the STI clinic in Amsterdam/Rotterdam. STI positivity in partners was lower in those notified by SAT (28%, n = 116) than in those with contact cards (45%, n = 152; p < 0.001). Conclusion SAT is a valuable addition for supporting partner notification and management, although challenges as non-notifiable partners are not solved by SAT.


This paper examines the effect of the decoupling of farm direct payments upon the off-farm labour supply decisions of farmers in both Ireland and Italy, using panel data from the Farm Business Survey (REA) and FADN database covering the period from 2002 to 2009 to model these decisions. Drawing from the conceptual agricultural household model, the authors hypothesise that the decoupling of direct payments led to an increase in off-farm labour activity despite some competing factors. This hypothesis rests largely upon the argument that the effects of changes in relative wages have dominated other factors. At a micro level, the decoupling-induced decline in the farm wage relative to the non-farm wage ought to have provoked a greater incentive for off-farm labour supply. The main known competing argument is that decoupling introduced a new source of non-labour income i.e. a wealth effect. This may in turn have suppressed or eliminated the likelihood of increased off-farm labour supply for some farmers. For the purposes of comparative analysis, the Italian model utilises the data from the REA database instead of the FADN as the latter has a less than satisfactory coverage of labour issues. Both models are developed at a national level. The paper draws from the literature on female labour supply and uses a sample selection corrected ordinary least squares model to examine both the decisions of off-farm work participation and the decisions regarding the amount of time spent working off-farm. The preliminary results indicate that decoupling has not had a significant impact on off-farm labour supply in the case of Ireland but there appears to be a significantly negative relationship in the Italian case. It still remains the case in both countries that the wealth of the farmer is negatively correlated with the likelihood of off-farm employment.


Reemployment bonus experiments offer large lump sum payments to unemployment insurance (UI) recipients who find a job quickly. Such experiments are underway or have been recently completed in four states. This paper analyzes the results from Illinois and discusses the implications of the experiments for theories of unemployment and policy design. I examine the hazard rate of exit from unemployment and find that it is significantly higher for the experimental groups, but only during the period of bonus eligibility. Both labor supply and search theories of unemployment are shown to suggest a rise in the reemployment hazard just before the end of bonus eligibility and to suggest larger effects of the fixed amount bonus for lower income groups. Only weak support is found for these hypotheses, which suggests limitations of the models of unemployment. Some modifications of the models are suggested. The experiments demonstrate the effects of economic incentives on job finding behavior but they do not show the desirability of a permanent reemployment bonus program. Evidence from another sample suggests that as many as half of those who received a reemployment bonus returned to their previous employer, so that a bonus program that pays people returning to their last employer would provide a strong encouragement to temporary layoffs. A discussion of UI claim filing behavior suggests that a permanent program could well increase the frequency or promptness of filing, thus reducing any financial advantages of a bonus program


Topological Persistence has proven to be a promising framework for dealing with problems concerning shape analysis and comparison. In this contexts, it was originally introduced by taking into account 1-dimensional properties of shapes, modeled by real-valued functions. More recently, Topological Persistence has been generalized to consider multidimensional properties of shapes, coded by vector-valued functions. This extension has led to introduce suitable shape descriptors, named the multidimensional persistence Betti numbers functions, and a distance to compare them, the so-called multidimensional matching distance. In this paper we propose a new computational framework to deal with the multidimensional matching distance. We start by proving some new theoretical results, and then we use them to formulate an algorithm for computing such a distance up to an arbitrary threshold error.


Ideas about the importance of knowledge and innovation in the global economy have implications for the changing role of universities – but so too do ideas about the role of place-based knowledge in generating competitive advantage and innovation at the regional scale. As the concern to structure effective innovation systems intersects with the growing interest in distinctive, place-based knowledge, an opportunity emerges to reconsider the role of universities in regions. As institutions specialized in knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, regional university campuses are in a key position to catalyze regional development outcomes by bringing together different forms of knowledge, including place-based knowledge, in new ways. In line with current thinking about open and user-generated innovation, it is arguable that this kind of approach to co-creating knowledge in place can catalyze regional development outcomes. Yet for university campuses to take on this catalyst role, they must move beyond the limitations of their current "engagement" approaches. This paper explores some of the limitations and conflicts in current regional engagement approaches, then considers how the meeting-point between universities and complex regions may be operationalized in practice.


Variations in earlywood width (EWW) of Chinese pine in the Nanwutai Mountain were used to develop high-resolution climate proxy data to extend existing climate records in Guanzhong Plain, Shaanxi Province, China. Growth–climate response analyses showed the EWW series in Nanwutai Mountain are mainly influenced by spring and early summer precipitation. Based on the EWW series derived from the Nanwutai Mountain, we developed an April–June precipitation reconstruction for Xi9an for the period 1800–2009. The climate/tree-growth model accounts for 36.4% of the instrumental precipitation variance during the period 1951–2009. Spatial climate correlation analyses with the gridded precipitation data revealed that our precipitation reconstruction contains a strong regional precipitation signal for the Guanzhong Plain. Our reconstruction successfully captured recent climatic changes and agreed, in general, with other tree-ring-based precipitation reconstructions from nearby regions on a decadal timescale. The rainfall/drought series in northern China also showed highly synchronous decreasing trends since the 1970s, suggesting that precipitation related to the East Asian summer monsoon has decreased by large spatial and temporal (decadal) scales. In addition, wavelet analysis revealed the existence of some decadal (13.3-year) and interannual (9.1-, 5.4-, 3.1-, and 2.1-year) cycles, which may potentially be the fingerprints of some proposed climate change forcings, such as El Nino-Southern Oscillation and solar activities.


Aims: Many organizations adopt the Lean management approach to create a culture of continuous improvement (CI), but often fail to accomplish such a change. Previous studies have explained this high failure rate in terms of poor leadership and management, including the role of middle managers. However, the body of knowledge about the role and influence of middle management in Lean CI is underdeveloped and highly dispersed. Some earlier work suggests that middle managers can both enable and hinder CI initiatives, but a systematic overview is missing. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature to develop a mechanism-based framework that explains the success and failure of CI initiatives in which middle managers are key agents. This study therefore aims to develop an evidence-based framework of key aspects of middle management roles in CI practices drawing on Lean. Methodology: We conducted a mechanism-based systematic review of the literature. In total, 203 publications were selected and then reviewed in detail. This review focuses on how middle managers influence the implementation and success/failure of Lean CI initiatives. Results: The review of the literature on CI/Lean and middle management results in two frameworks. Each of these frameworks assumes that top management consistently seeks to implement a particular (archetypical) philosophy of CI/Lean: the first framework assumes an integral management approach and the second one starts from the assumption that a cost-cutting strategy is adopted. Each of these two frameworks in itself reflects some of the key tensions and challenges arising from any CI/Lean change effort, especially for middle managers. In practice, the two conditions may overlap, which creates an additional level of complexity. Overall, our review provides an understanding of the (non)conditions in which continuous improvement initiatives are likely to succeed or fail, and as such also provides a starting point for future research as well as practical work in this area.


We studied the individual variability of asymmetric metameric colour matching between computer displays and object colour stimuli in conditions typical for the surface colour industries. Using two different computational techniques, we assessed the contribution of observer metamerism to this variability. In the studied conditions of spatially separated computer display and surface colour stimuli, this contribution was found to be insignificant for all colours but neutrals. In the chromaticness plane, the range of matches made by different observers practically coincides with the range of matches made by an individual observer. Consequently, we conclude that in the task of matching spatially separated display and surface colours, the range of matches made by a group of observers cannot be determined from variations in their colour-matching functions, and thus the paradigm of the Standard Deviate Observer is shown to be inapplicable to the studied conditions. We suggest that individual variability in these conditions is governed by mechanisms of chromatic discrimination, and can be modeled by advanced colour difference formulae with suitably adjusted parametric coefficients. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 33, 346–359, 2008


Background/Context Collaboration is increasingly part of teachers' professional learning and continuous improvement of teaching practice. However, there is little exploration of how teachers' racial, gender, and social class identities influence their collaboration with colleagues and, in turn, their teaching and professional learning. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study examines shared meanings that are constructed through storytelling by middle-class White women teachers who work in a racially and socioeconomically diverse elementary school I call Fields Elementary. I ask: What narrative tropes do middle-class White women teachers draw upon to create common understanding about what it means to teach at their school? In what ways does a normative middle-class White culture, specifically related to White womanhood, achieve ideological projects through teachers' participation in collective storytelling in professional communities? The article proposes conceptual connections across whiteness, intersectionality, professional learning, and collective storytelling, and provides an empirical example of how the integration of perspectives illuminates this type of complex interaction. Research Design Utilizing ethnographic methods of data collection, I spent 5 months at Fields Elementary, dividing my time between two focal teachers, both middle-class White women. I followed these teachers across settings and responsibilities. The data in this critical discourse analysis are drawn from this larger study and come from a conversation in one teacher community (the second-grade team). On completion of preliminary data analysis, focal teachers reflected on findings to enrich interpretations. Findings/Results Findings indicate that this teacher community co-constructed narratives reproducing social locations as middle-class White women. Their professional knowledge reflected ambiguity in their efficacy to teach for equitable outcomes. In addition, their professional knowledge was tied to their identities as mothers; narratives reflected middle-class White social distance from students and families, which included asserting teachers' moral superiority in parenting. Conclusions/Recommendations This study provides a model for conceptualizing collective storytelling and professional learning among teachers from an intersectionality perspective on whiteness. Empirical findings suggest that institutional constraints of teaching may require interventions at multiple levels: teachers' and leaders' learning how to facilitate professional conversations; home visits intended for "funds of knowledge" professional learning opportunities; hiring and placement of diverse faculty and school leaders to extend construction of professional knowledge; and policy changes. These considerations have implications for teachers' professionalization and for schooling experiences that dehumanize students of color and students living in poverty.


The Phillips & Rix Ultimate Guide to Roses is the long-awaited, indispensable selection from the experts of gardening reference. All the finest roses are included in this stunning work, from the original wild species to the most modern trends. This exquisitely-designed, authoritative guide is the ultimate collection of the most beautiful of flowers. Offering detailed descriptions of each rose's origin, appearance, characteristics and growing conditions, with a history of each group, the very best roses have been specially chosen for their superb flowering or superlative scent. Illustrated with outstanding colour photography, with both outdoor and studio shots, this is a book every rose lover will want to own. 'Phillips and Rix ...[index] the plants that gardeners want to grow' New York Times 'The combination of Roger Phillips's accurate colour photography and design flair, with the botanical expertise of Martyn Rix is a winning one.' Daily Telegraph 'The distinctive mix of clean, no-gimmicks photography and accurate plant descriptions have made their works the staples of ...gardeners' bookshelves.' Irish Times


Inter-disciplinary researchers from Law & Psychology convened a local 'I Heart Consent' week of action to raise awareness. 171 students participated in a survey which focused on their understanding of consent-related issues, reporting preferences, knowledge of support services, & attitudes around sexual activity when alcohol is involved.
Sexual violence is prevalent within HE, but many do not know where to seek advice, with many more likely to approach a trusted tutor, than friends, parents or external support services. Students witnessed these incidences occurring, but often did not report them. Reasons included stigmatisation, safety concerns, not being believed & because sexual violence is seen as a normal part of student life. Participants had strongest attitudes about statements related to sexual assault & alcohol, but were less clear about the legality of intoxication & rape.


As a tendency to use new technologies, gadgets such as laptop computers are becoming more popular among students, teachers, businessmen and office workers. Today laptops are a great tool for education and learning, work and personal multimedia. Millions of men, especially those in the reproductive age, are frequently using their laptop computers on the lap (thigh). Over the past several years, our lab has focused on the health effects of exposure to different sources of electromagnetic fields such as cellular phones, mobile base stations, mobile phone jammers, laptop computers, radars, dentistry cavitrons and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Our own studies as well as the studies performed by other researchers indicate that using laptop computers on the lap adversely affects the male reproductive health. When it is placed on the lap, not only the heat from a laptop computer can warm men's scrotums, the electromagnetic fields generated by laptop's internal electronic circuits as well as the Wi-Fi Radiofrequency radiation hazards (in a Wi-Fi connected laptop) may decrease sperm quality. Furthermore, due to poor working posture, laptops should not be used on the lap for long hours.


Objective To assess trends in 1) tuberculosis (TB) case notification by year and 2) cumulative treatment outcomes (stratified by type of TB) in relation to the proportion of indigenous population in municipalities in a countrywide study in Mexico for the period 2009-2013. Methods This ecological operational research study used municipality data for the five-year study period. As no single identifier variable existed for indigenous persons, municipalities were categorized into one of three groups based on the proportion of their indigenous population (< 25% ("low"), ≥ 25% to < 50% ("medium"), and ≥ 50% ("high")). TB case notification rates (CNRs) were standardized to a 100 000 population. Result For the first four years of the study period (2009 through 2012), for all new TB cases reported nationally, the municipalities with a high proportion of indigenous people (≥ 50%) had the highest CNRs (ranging from 20.8 to 17.7 over that period). In 2013, however, the CNR in the high proportion municipalities dropped to 16.7, lower than the CNR for that year in the municipalities with a medium proportion of indigenous people (P < 0.001). In the municipalities with low and medium proportions of indigenous people, the CNR hovered between 15.1 and 17.3 over the study period. For the 96 195 new TB cases reported over the study period, the treatment success rate ranged between 81% and 84% for all three municipality groups. For previously treated TB cases, CNRs ranged between 1.0 and 1.7 for all three groups over the study period. The average proportion of previously treated TB cases (of all TB cases) was 9% for the three groups in 2009 but dropped to 8% by 2013. The cumulative treatment success rate for all previously treated cases (a total of 8 763 for the study period) was 64% in municipalities with a low proportion of indigenous people, 61% in those with a medium proportion, and 69% in those with a high proportion. Conclusions Despite the slightly higher CNR in municipalities with predominantly indigenous populations, there were no stark differences in TB burden across the three municipality groups. The authors were unable to confirm if the relatively low CNRs found in this study were a reflection of good TB program performance or if TB cases were being missed. A survey of TB prevalence in indigenous people, with individualized data, is needed to inform targeted TB control strategies for this group in Mexico.


Memory is not a single faculty but is a combination of multiple distinct abilities (Schacter, 1987). The declarative-procedural distinction is used both with regard to knowledge and memory that stores this knowledge. Ellis (2008) used the terms explicit/implicit, and declarative/procedural interchangeably. In this article the researcher aims at identifying the different aspects of declarative/procedural memory, interaction between these two types of memory, and the role they may play in second language acquisition.


This paper presents a biologically-inspired real-time balance recovery control strategy that is applied to a lower body exoskeleton with variable physical stiffness actuators at its ankle joints. For this purpose, a torsional spring-loaded flywheel model is presented to encapsulate both approximated angular momentum and variable physical stiffness, which are crucial parameters in describing the postural balance. In particular, the incorporation of physical compliance enables us to provide three main contributions: i) A mathematical formulation is developed to express the relation between the dynamic balance criterion ZMP and the physical ankle joint stiffness. Therefore, balancing control can be interpreted in terms of ankle joint stiffness regulation. ii) `Variable physical' stiffness is utilized in the bipedal robot balance control task for the first time in the literature, to the authors' knowledge. iii) The variable physical stiffness strategy is compared with the optimal constant stiffness strategy by conducting experiments on our exoskeleton robot. The results indicate that the proposed method provides a favorable balancing control performance to cope with unperceived perturbations, in terms of center of mass position regulation, ZMP error and mechanical power.


The impact of changing diet and resultant nutrition on living standards over the industrial revolution has been much debated, yet existing data have enabled only general trends to be identified. We use data from Eden's survey of parishes in 1795 and the Rural Queries of 1834 to go beyond average calorie intake, instead focusing on micronutrients and quality of diet. From this we discern regional differences in diet. In 1795 these differences were related to the availability of common land and the nature of women's work. Diet in both periods also maps onto stature. Using five datasets on height, we observe a positive impact of diet in 1795 on men's, women's, and boy's heights. By 1834 the impact is less evident; for men it remained, for women and boys it either no longer existed or became negative. This may indicate the superseding of nutritional factors by environmental ones, but it also hints at the emergence of a different relationship between height and nutrition for women and children compared with men. We speculate that this points to a shift in the intra-household allocation of resources, but challenge the notion that the emergence of male breadwinning automatically led to universal female disadvantage.


Loss of function of the NF1 tumor suppressor protein causes tumor formation in humans with neurofibromatosis type 1. The NF1 protein is a guanosine triphosphatase-activating protein (GAP) for Ras, which negatively regulates Ras signaling. However, the critical downstream targets of Ras that account for the disease phenotype have not been defined. One target of Ras signaling is phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K). PI3K is a key regulator of signaling through the serine-threonine kinase TOR (target of rapamycin), which controls cell growth and proliferation. Johannessen et al. report that mouse embryo fibroblasts lacking NF1 show increased signaling through TOR. This activation of TOR appeared to require Ras because expression of the catalytic GAP-related domain decreased TOR signaling. In wild-type cells, Ras was necessary for activation of TOR in response to L-α-lysophosphatidic acid (a major growth factor in serum) or insulin but not for activation in response to platelet-derived growth factor. Blockade of TOR activity with its inhibitor rapamycin suppressed proliferation of human tumor cells from patients with neurofibromatosis. Thus rapamycin, already a proposed therapeutic for other forms of cancer, may be particularly effective in the treatment of neurofibromatosis type 1. C. M. Johannessen, E. E. Reczek, M. F. James, H. Brems, E. Legius, K. Cichowski, The NF1 tumor suppressor critically regulates TSC2 and mTOR. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 8573-8578 (2005). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Standard ML employs an opaque (or generative) semantics of datatypes, in which every datatype declaration produces a new type that is different from any other type, including other identically defined datatypes. A natural way of accounting for this is to consider datatypes to be abstract. When this interpretation is applied to type-preserving compilation, however, it has the unfortunate consequence that datatype constructors cannot be inlined, substantially increasing the run-time cost of constructor invocation compared to a traditional compiler. In this paper we examine two approaches to eliminating function call overhead from datatype constructors. First, we consider a transparent interpretation of datatypes that does away with generativity, altering the semantics of SML; and second, we propose an interpretation of datatype constructors as coercions, which have no run-time effect or cost and faithfully implement SML semantics.


Many elements contribute to the relative difficulty in acquiring specific aspects of English as a foreign language (Goldschneider & DeKeyser, 2001). Modal auxiliary verbs (e.g. could, might), are examples of a structure that is difficult for many learners. Not only are they particularly complex semantically, but especially in the Malaysian context reported on in this paper, there is no direct equivalent in the students' L1. In other words, they are a good example of a structure for which successful acquisition depends very much on the quality of the input and instruction students receive. This paper reports on analysis of a 230,000 word corpus of Malaysian English textbooks, in which it was found that the relative frequency of the modals did not match that found in native speaker corpora such as the BNC. We compared the textbook corpus with a learner corpus of Malaysian form 4 learners and found no direct relationship between frequency of presentation of target forms in the textbooks and their use by students in their writing. We also found a very large percentage of errors in students' writing. We suggest a number of possible reasons for these findings and discuss the implications for materials developers and teachers.


Communication among children as a social skill is a basic goal in preschool education and creative dance, as an expressive, aesthetic, non-verbal language, can be one of the tools to achieve that. The aim of this study was to investigate the suitability of a creative dance program, focusing on the development of communicative relations among children and their movement expressivity. An interventional program of creative dance was designed and implemented in an average kindergarten for eight weeks, aiming a) at the development of communicative relations, represented as cooperation, responsibility, initiative and activity for common entertainment and b) at movement expressivity, represented as body expression, expressive use of materials and expressing a concept. An observation protocol and a rubric were designed to evaluate children's performance at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Forty-nine preschoolers participated, divided into two groups: experimental (n=25) and control (n=24). One-way repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to compare separately communication relations and expressivity before and after the intervention (Time1, Time 2) and between groups. Concerning both communication relations and expressivity, there was a significant interaction effect between time and group (p<.001), which is evidence for the effectiveness of the program. Nevertheless, further research on a larger sample is needed.


In the Solidarity game lucky winners of a lottery can transfer part of their income to unlucky losers. Will losers get smaller transfers if they can be assumed to be responsible for their zero income because they have chosen riskier lotteries? Or will risk-lovers and risk-averters favor those who made the same risk-choice, leading to larger transfers within rather than between the risk-groups? While there is support for both motives in the literature, in an experiment we find that the effect of holding people responsible for their actions is overcome by behavior guided by in-group favoritism based on different levels of risk-taking. This behavior is successfully described by a variant of the social utility function suggested by Cappelen et al. (2013).


Cooperative management of data is a difficult challenge. In the absence of a central authority, there is often no single data format, and users may not even agree on what is true and what is not. The data is typically not static and will evolve over time, leading to issues of staleness and conflicting changes. Dedicated machines to run a management system may not be available, and furthermore the machines supplied by the users to run the system may be unreliable or only transiently available. A reliable system must be built over these machines, and should be self-configuring and self-tuning, to avoid placing an undue burden on end users that are unwilling or unable to manage it themselves.
The Orchestra collaborative data sharing system responds to these challenges by providing a general approach for propagating updates between a heterogeneous collection of peer databases, which are connected by high-level rules that specify the correspondences between them. The system maintains these correspondences while enforcing trust conditions to filter the data from other databases, maintaining transactional atomicity, and respecting database integrity constraints. In this thesis, I detail my work on the semantics of transactional atomicity and dependency in this context, which lead to a general reconciliation algorithm; I also describe the prototype centralized and peer-to-peer implementations of Orchestra. I then develop a specialized reliable peer-to-peer storage and query processor that will enable the logging and computation needed to maintain an Orchestra instance to be distributed. I show ways to extend this system to recover from node failure, to perform load balancing to ensure even distribution of work, and to compensate for node heterogeneity and data skew.


Hoechst dye 33342 (Ho33342), like many other DNA minor groove binding ligands and its parent compound Hoechst dye 33258 (Ho33258), nonspecifically inhibits the catalytic activities of many DNA enzymes. However, both Ho33258 and Ho33342 also specifically interrupt the breakage/reunion reaction of mammalian DNA topoisomerase I by trapping reversible topoisomerase I cleavable complexes. The enhanced membrane permeability of Ho33342 over its parent compound Ho33258 has allowed studies of the cellular action of Ho33342. Our results suggest that Ho33342 also traps topoisomerase I but not topoisomerase II into reversible cleavable complexes in human KB cells. Although Ho33342 shares a similar mechanism of action with camptothecin, a prototypic topoisomerase I poison, in trapping topoisomerase I cleavable complexes, Ho33342 differs from camptothecin in its effect on drug-resistant cells. Different from camptothecin, Ho33342 was shown to be about 200-fold less cytotoxic in MDR1-overexpressing human KB V1 cells relative to parental human KB 3-1 cells. Ho33342 is only 5-fold less cytotoxic for camptothecin-resistant CPT-K5 cells, which expresses a highly camptothecin-resistant from of topoisomerase I, than for the wild type human lymphoblast RPMI 8402 cells. Our studies suggest a potential use of Hoechst 33342 as a new topoisomerase I poison in antitumor chemotherapy.


The corolla of E. curtisii Blakely & White clearly consists of free, imbricate parts that closely adhere by their cuticles. Ontogenetic investigation of the corolline parts did not reveal any suggestion of morphological duality that characteristically leads to the complex 'petals' in Angophora and other eucalypts. The stamen primordia are initiated on the inner flank of the invaginated floral apex, and at anthesis are inserted on the rim of the hypanthium. There is no evidence of a stemonophore distinctive of the informal subgenera Eudesmia, Symphyomyrtus and Monocalyptus. The possession of the plesiomorphic condition for both these characters is suggestive of a 'primitive' position for E. curtisii close to the root of the eucalypt phylogenetic tree. This is supported by the possession of several other characters that are apparently plesiomorphic for Eucalyptus sens. lat.


Why do engineers "report" while philosophers "argue" and biologists "describe"? In the Michigan Classics Edition of "Disciplinary Discourses: Social Interactions in Academic" "Writing," Ken Hyland examines the relationships between the cultures of academic communities and their unique discourses. Drawing on discourse analysis, corpus linguistics, and the voices of professional insiders, Ken Hyland explores how academics use language to organize their professional lives, carry out intellectual tasks, and reach agreement on what will count as knowledge. In addition, "Disciplinary Discourses" presents a useful framework for understanding the interactions between writers and their readers in published academic writing. From this framework, Hyland provides practical teaching suggestions and points out opportunities for further research within the subject area. As issues of linguistic and rhetorical expression of disciplinary conventions are becoming more central to teachers, students, and researchers, the careful analysis and straightforward style of "Disciplinary Discourses" make it a remarkable asset. The Michigan Classics Edition features a new preface by the author and a new foreword by John M. Swales.


ABSTRACT Youths living in crowded impoverished urban areas face higher risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2. This article presents lessons learned from a preventive intervention project intersected by the COVID-19 crisis that moved from a mix-methods study design to online ethnography. The 'home-officed' research team e-witnessed high-school students' daily lives and collaborated in youths' and community-based organisations' responses in the territories where they study and live. Psychosocial distress increased, also driven by the disastrous governmental response to the health and economic crises. There was growing anxiety about meeting friends and dating, with structural limits for sustaining the recommended social distancing, which added to gender/sexuality-based violence. Simultaneously, we observed students becoming relevant actors through co-producing preventive practices, surpassing risk-group notions and combining SARS-CoV-2 prevention with sexuality, gender, racism and mental-health issues. They managed internet-mediated applications to promote critical thinking and collective actions aimed at health promotion among their peers, from their homes. Freire's concept of 'untested-feasibility' fostered researchers', students' and community leaders' imaginations in the face of this unprecedented crisis, thereby enhancing social responses to the epidemic to become rights-based comprehensive dialogical preventive activities. This ongoing intervention-research stresses how prevention sciences can go beyond reduction of this pandemic to a viral event.


— Green tourism principles, actually, in Romania, have many effects on every single aspect of the hospitality industry. They don't just relate to the environment however important that may be; they also relate from the way business and marketing is done to interactions with society and culture and to economic stability. Now, the conservation is becoming part of tourist markets, by promoting ecotourism as an element of the so-called green economy, which was proposed as a solution to the on-going crisis at the Rio+20 Summit? Additionally, the complex relationship between tourism and the environment is based on the demand for energy, water, land and materials. The Green tourism and green destinations intensifies the use of natural resources, but how does it contribute to deepening systemic environmental contradictions? .Hospitality, travel and ecotourism comprise a multitude of activities which together form one of the world's fastest growing and mutually dependent international sectors. In recent years, tourism has become one of Romanian's most important economic sectors and has significant potential to play a further role in Romania's economic renewal. Hospitality, travel and ecotourism research is fundamental to ensuring that the industry has a positive influence on economies, cultures and societies. In the remainder of the paper, a theoretical background is presented and the research hypotheses are developed. The sections describing the methodology, empirical results, and discussion follow. The paper ends with a summary of theoretical contribution, managerial implications, limitations and future research. This paper has four major objectives: to develop a model of destination competitiveness that identifies key success factors in determining destination competitiveness, to develop an appropriate set of indicators of destination competitiveness; to highlight the advantages and limitations of the model; and to identify areas for further research.


Interpretive theory about the nature of law is the view that 'legal rights and duties are determined by the scheme of principle that provides the best justification of certain political practices of a community: a scheme identifiable through an interpretation of the practices that is sensitive both to the facts of the practices and to the values or principles that the practices serve'. Interpretivism was first postulated by Dworkin as a criticism of the positivist school of judicial reasoning which focuses on rules in interpretation, and is most closely asociated with the work of Austin and Hart. Dworkin rejects the positivist conceptions of law and interpretation, instead theorizing that rights are premised upon a comprehensive set of moral precepts that make individual rights valuable, and act as 'trumps'. Interpretivism as developed by Dworkin includes the claim that interpretation is sensitive to values, and therefore fundamental to interpretivism is natural law. This paper examines modern judicial interpretivism, assessing the theories of Dworkin, Sunstein and Ely, by comparative analysis, including their advantages and disadvantages. By applying these theories to a recent judicial decision, it is possible to assess contemporary judicial interpretive theory in Australia.


Genre analysis has been applied to a sizable body of linguistic studies on various text types. However, little attention has been paid to advertorials as an emerging hybridized genre. To identify the generic and linguistic characteristics of advertorials, and therefore to classify advertorials into an appropriate genre, this study carries out a comprehensive genre analysis of advertorials based on Bhatia's (1993) seven-step genre analysis methodology. A corpus of 55 advertorials was collected from four English-language magazines and two English-language newspapers, from which a sub-corpus of 12 samples was further selected for a thorough examination of linguistic characteristics. Attempting to gain a comprehensive view of generic features of advertorials, this study makes a critical comparison of advertorials with three inextricably related genres: advertisements, news stories and editorials. Linguistic evidence sufficiently demonstrates that advertorials share fundamental generic and linguistic natures with advertisements and proposes classifying advertorials as a sub-genre of advertisements.


This paper introduces two new tape archival policies that can improve tape archive performance in certain regimes, compared to the classical RAIT (Redundant Array of Independent Tapes) policy. The first policy, PARALLEL, still requires as many parallel tape drives as RAIT but pre-computes large data stripes that are written contiguously on tapes to increase write/read performance. The second policy, VERTICAL, writes contiguous data into a single tape, while updating error correcting information on the fly and delaying its archival until enough data has been archived. This second approach reduces the number of tape drives used for every user request to one. The performance of the three RAIT, PARALLEL and VE RTICAL policies is assessed through extensive simulations, using a hardware configuration and a distribution of I/O requests similar to these expected on the Blue Waters system. These simulations show that VERTICAL is the most suitable policy for small files, whereas PARALLEL must be used for files larger than 1 GB. We also demonstrate that RAIT never outperforms both proposed policies, and that a heterogeneous policies mixing VERTICAL and PARALLEL performs 10 times better than any other policy.


Gerald of Wales was among the most dynamic and fascinating churchmen of the twelfth century. A member of one of the leading Norman families involved in the invasion of Ireland, he first visited there in 1183 and later returned in the entourage of Henry II. The resulting "Topographia Hiberniae" is an extraordinary account of his travels. Here he describes landscapes, fish, birds and animals; recounts the history of Ireland's rulers; and tells fantastical stories of magic wells and deadly whirlpools, strange creatures and evil spirits. Written from the point of view of an invader and reformer, this work has been rightly criticized for its portrait of a primitive land, yet it is also one of the most important sources for what is known of Ireland during the Middle Ages.


A tight-knit group closely linked by intermarriage as well as class and old school ties, the "Arabists" were men and women who spent much of their lives living and working in the Arab world as diplomats, military attaches, intelligence agents, scholar-adventurers, and teachers. As such, the Arabists exerted considerable influence both as career diplomats and as bureaucrats within the State Department from the early 19th century to the present. But over time, as this work shows, the group increasingly lost touch with a rapidly changing American society, growing both more insular and headstrong and showing a marked tendency to assert the Arab point of view. Drawing on interviews, memoirs, and other official and private sources, Kaplan reconstructs the 100-year history of the Arabist elite, demonstrating their profound influence on American attitudes toward the Middle East, and tracing their decline as an influx of ethnic and regional specialists has transformed the State Department and challenged the power of the old elite.


OBJECTIVE
We previously demonstrated that dexamethasone treatment before cardiopulmonary bypass in children reduces the postoperative systemic inflammatory response. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that dexamethasone administration before cardiopulmonary bypass in children correlates with a lesser degree of myocardial injury as measured by a decrease in cardiac troponin I release.

DESIGN
A prospective, randomized, double-blind study.

SETTING
The cardiac surgery operating room and intensive care unit of a pediatric referral hospital.

SUBJECTS
Twenty-eight patients who underwent open-heart surgery for congenital heart defects.

INTERVENTIONS
Patients received either placebo (group I, n = 13) or dexamethasone, 1 mg/kg iv (group II, n = 15), 1 hr before initiation of cardiopulmonary bypass. Plasma cardiac troponin I samples were obtained at three time points: immediately before study agent (sample 1), 10 mins after protamine sulfate administration after cardiopulmonary bypass (sample 2), and 24 hrs postoperatively (sample 3).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Mean cardiac troponin I levels (+/-sd) were significantly lower at sample time 3 in group II (dexamethasone; 33.4 +/- 20.0 ng/mL) vs. group I (control; 86.9 +/- 81.1) (p =.04).

CONCLUSION
Dexamethasone administration before cardiopulmonary bypass in children resulted in a significant decrease in cardiac troponin I levels at 24 hrs postoperatively. We postulate that this may represent a decrease in myocardial injury, and, thus, a possible cardioprotective effect produced by dexamethasone.


The potentially groundbreaking negotiations currently underway on the international response to climate change and national implementation of commitments under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) include a number of hotly contested issues: (1) what degree of climate change is acceptable as a basis for emissions targets, (2) to what extent and in what ways climate change mitigation should incorporate emissions reductions or increased sinks for developing countries, (3) whether the legal regime governing mitigation can take advantage of the huge mitigation potential of changed practices in the land use and agricultural sectors, (4) how adaptation should be financed and at what level, and (5) what should be the priorities for adaptation funding. Health concerns should play a crucial role in resolving all of these questions, but it is by no means certain that they will. In addition to providing a more compelling justification for climate change mitigation and a means for evaluating what degree of climate change is acceptable, health concerns might shape the contours of an emissions trading mechanism by weighing in favor of including mitigation actions in developing countries as well as land use and agricultural sources of emissions and sinks. Such efforts represent low-cost reduction opportunities and have direct co-benefits for health. In addition to arguing for a secure financing mechanism with potential to generate massive funding for adaptation as a global health promotion priority, health policymakers should play a role in determining priorities for the use of adaptation funds. Emphasis on climate change as a fundamental transformation of our environment that will have important consequences for human health has the potential to motivate the additional political will needed to improve our global health infrastructure in ways that will better position us to provide routine services as everyday needs for those services intensify. Many potential climate change adaptation projects, such as the development of better disease surveillance and response capacity, improvements in sanitation, protection of food and water security, and the strengthening of natural disaster preparedness and response capabilities, look a lot like traditional international health initiatives. Because international cooperation for climate change adaptation is driven by the transboundary causes of climate change rather than the transboundary nature of the health threats at issue, the adaptation regime has the potential to prioritize some previously neglected health concerns that contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, even where those concerns do not pose a threat to the industrialized world. Given the importance of health impacts in advocating for and developing the mechanisms that will govern climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as the risk of diversion of funds away from global health initiatives toward climate change initiatives in a time when financial resources are being stretched thin due to a global economic crisis, global health policymakers must fight for their rightful place at the table in climate change negotiations and governance at the national and international level.


My chapter for The Photograph and The Collection is a critical essay reflecting on the role of the birthday cake within the family photo album.The photograph of the cake served at a family party has an important role in securing some of the myths of the Western family album. But what sets the photo of the cake apart from any other photo in the family album? The answer is this: Cake photographs look like classic crime scene photographs, like evidence. Consider - cake photographs tend to employ a hallmark use of harsh flash due to the proximity to the subject. Cakes are generally photographed unemotionally, matter-of-factly. And, like a photograph of a bullet, wound or bruise, the cake photograph does not speak to the scene at large but rather to a detail, an isolated but meaningful titbit. In the photograph of the birthday cake we find the smoking gun of family love. If we are interested in promoting an image of our happy family it makes perfect sense that we photograph our cakes and present them as evidence within our family albums. This frosting-covered icon, for better or worse, denotes the fact that we love and are loved. (My submission will be both visual and textual. The final piece will make use photographs from my own family's albums.)


Ever-increasing interest in millimeter-wave and terahertz spectrum has prompted research and development of novel passive components working at these frequencies. Compared with the conventional planar components, non-planar dielectric devices become more attractive as frequencies increase due to their higher quality factors and dimensional tolerances. In this thesis, we present fast methods to analyze the millimeter-wave dielectric resonator and rod antenna. First, an analytical method has been developed to evaluate resonant frequencies, quality factors of the Whispering Gallery Mode (WGM) disk resonators and also the resonator-waveguide coupling. A numerical solver based on full-wave finite element method is implemented to verify the analytical result. This analytical model provides a solution for fast design and optimization of WGM resonators in filter and sensor applications. Secondly, a fast analytical approach based on local mode theory is introduced to calculate the radiation from tapered dielectric rod antenna. This efficient approximate model consumes much less computing resources and time, and demonstrates good agreements with full-wave numerical results. It supplies a quantitative way to understand the radiation mechanism and interaction between different parts of the antenna. Based on this, design criteria for the taper profile of rod antennas are given.


Once artificial agents are able to support human beings and their activities we will see a shift from these days cooperative activities to more elaborated teamwork settings. There, agents are not only assistants but indeed become team members. Yet, such integration causes significant challenges. One of these challenges is to make the behaviour of all team members predictable in order to account for an effective collaboration. Interestingly, this challenge is not well-defined and different involved research areas refer to it using different terms. This paper explains what is meant by predictability eventually proposing a definition for the challenge. In doing so, we discuss predictability referring to joint human-agent activities, the involved learning problem, and the inherent planning part, which was named human-aware planning recently.


The purpose of this study was to determine the leadership practices needed to improve academic achievement and generate positive change in school organizations. The study was also conducted to provide insight to principal preparation programs and school districts about effective transformational leadership practices. A quantitative research method was used to achieve the survey study. Ninety-two teachers completed the Leadership Practices Inventory developed by Kouzes and Posner. Data was analyzed with the use of descriptive statistics and ttests. The findings of the study indicate that (a) principals in high performing schools employ all leadership practices more frequently than principals in lower performing schools and (b) inspiring a shared vision and challenging the process are the two practices that have the biggest impact on student achievement. It is recommended that principal preparation programs incorporate Kouzes and Posner's transformational leadership model into their curriculum in order to develop highly qualified school leaders.


The objective of this study was to explore and describe South African, African female adolescents' experience of parent-adolescent relationships and their perceptions of the influence of the parent-adolescent relationship on aspects of their sense of well-being. Sixty-two African female adolescents were participants. Data on experiences of parenting and their sense of well-being were collected using graphic family sculpting techniques (with 30 adolescents) and focus group interviews (with 32 adolescents). Data were analyzed thematically. The findings suggest that the majority of the participants experience a more positive relationship with their mother than with their father. Relationship qualities that seem to be important to the teenagers' experiences of parenting and their sense of well-being include communication, loving, caring and supportive parenting, honesty and trust, quality time together, and discipline. Communication is of particular importance for the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship.


This paper examines arguments for and against the candidature of Nigerian Pidgin as an official language. Potent buttressing arguments include its widespread use at the grassroots level; its apparent cultural neutrality; and the ease in acquiring it. Arguments against its candidature include its stigmatization; its lack of a cultural base; queries over its bona fide indigenous status; its being a threat to the mastery and use of "standard" English, especially in the educational domanin, and its low language development status. The fact that attitudes towards Nigerian Pidgin are completely negative is pinpointed as the most powerful argument against its candidacy as national language. The paper concludes with the observation that on purely linguistic grounds, there is no reason why Nigerian Pidgin cannot function as a national language. However, on social grounds, it may, at the moment, not be able to effectively fulfil this role. A language that has no esteem within its major constituency is most unlikely to be awarded such esteem simply because it has been pronounced a national language. It is therefore suggested that serious corpus and status planning efforts are prerequisites for the acceptance of Nigerian Pidgin as a national language and the changing of attitudes towards it; these tasks, it is pointed out, are gargantuan and bedevilling hurdles


A method is presented that significantly reduces the character error rates for OCR text obtained from OCRopus models trained on early printed books when only small amounts of diplomatic transcriptions are available. This is achieved by building from already existing models during training instead of starting from scratch. To overcome the discrepancies between the set of characters of the pretrained model and the additional ground truth the OCRopus code is adapted to allow for alphabet expansion or reduction. The character set is now capable of flexibly adding and deleting characters from the pretrained alphabet when an existing model is loaded. For our experiments we use a self-trained mixed model on early Latin prints and the two standard OCRopus models on modern English and German Fraktur texts. The evaluation on seven early printed books showed that training from the Latin mixed model reduces the average amount of errors by 43% and 26%, respectively compared to training from scratch with 60 and 150 lines of ground truth, respectively. Furthermore, it is shown that even building from mixed models trained on data unrelated to the newly added training and test data can lead to significantly improved recognition results.


To test whether predation is an opportunistic size-based process within a tuna community, analyses were carried out on the size composition of stomach contents of bigeye tuna Thunnus obesus (Lowe, 1839) and yellowfin tuna T. albacares (Bonnaterre, 1788) caught in 1995 to 1997 during longline scientific surveys in the French Polynesian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Prey size distributions were compared with the size distribution of organisms collected by pelagic trawls carried out during the same programme. Relationships between prey size and predator size were studied using quantile regressions, and were related to tuna mouth-gape measurements. The results showed that mean and maximum sizes of prey increased with increasing predator size, and that maximum prey sizes (versus tuna size) were below those predicted by tuna mouth-gape size. Minimum prey size varied little with tuna size, and the size distributions of prey in tuna stomachs were very asymmetrical (lognormal type), confirming that during growth, tunas continue to feed on small prey. Comparison with previous studies on other piscivorous species from different ecosystems underlined that tunas feed on very small prey in relation to their own size. However, comparison of size distributions of prey in stomach contents and prey in pelagic trawls revealed that bigeye tuna select larger prey than yellowfin tuna when such prey are available.


Background: Previous studies have indicated an unspecific correlation between noise exposure and blood pressure disturbances. Blood pressure disturbances could be caused by the environmental hazards such as noise exposure. The aim of this study is to analyze whether there is a relationship between noise exposure and hypertension. Methods: Atotal sample of 218 workers working in a small workshop aged between 27 and 49 yrs answered the questionnaire in this survey. Blood pressure was measured in the sitting position after 5 minutes rest. Level of sound intensity in the workplace was measured by sound level meter (SKC Model CEL-480-440) and human noise exposure level was measured by audiometric device (MEVOX). The correlation between industrial noise and blood pressure was extracted. The t-test and Fisher's exact test was used to compare the qualitative variables and quantitative variables with normal distribution as being applied in parametric tests. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was used to compare the magnitude of risk variables. Results: Sub-populations in this study consisted of 109 workers with noise exposure more than 85 dB (Case group) and the rest (i.e. 109 workers) with noise exposure less than 85 dB (Control group). High level systolic and diastolic blood pressure was more prevalent in the case group. Total hearing loss more than 25dB was significantly more prevalent in the case group (45% of case group have hearing loss). Adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) for the effect of age, food type and BMI on blood pressure was 3.56 (95% CI: 6.6 – 1.9). Conclusion: This study showed that high blood pressure (> _140/90 mmHg) was more prevalent in the case group. This finding persisted after adjustment was made for age, food type, and BMI. (Odds Ratio 3.56 (95% CI: 6.6 – 1.9)).