Normal 0 14 false false false IT X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The new Australian alien seaweed Caulerpa taxifolia var. distichophylla , after being established along the Turkish Mediterranean coast in 2006, was recorded in Southern Sicily in 2007. Since then local fishermen claimed support to counteract the effects of entanglement of large amounts of the alien strain wrack in their trammel nets, causing the gear to become ineffective. The further northward and westward spread of the new alien strain is supposed to be limited by winter temperature. We present novel data confirming that the new alien strain is fully naturalized in Central Mediterranean and is expanding its range beyond such limit (i.e. the 15°C February isotherm), thus becoming potentially able to colonize the western basin. By means of a preliminary estimation of effects on native polychaete assemblages, and considering some peculiarities of Sicily (mostly linked to its geographical position in the Mediterranean Sea), the risk linked to the increasing range of distribution of the invasive algae is highlighted.


A key aim of this special issue is to demonstrate the enduring insights of public policy studies during periods of political crisis and significant policy change. This article establishes our ability to accumulate knowledge in a field often characterised by changing empirical circumstances and changing theories. Theoretical and conceptual advance may be necessary to capture new developments, but must also be balanced with the need to build on what we already know. Periods of crisis may encourage us to upset that balance. They often encourage the idea that political change and behaviour is unprecedented; that new policy making circumstances are unique, or at least so different from the past that it is difficult to learn lessons from history and current theories. In short, the usual rules do not apply and, by extension, we need new theories that account for new practices. However, new tools need to be judged against our existing collection.


Robotics Technology is a fast growing field of research. Robotics is the branch of science that includes mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and others. Robotics deals with the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. This paper assess the volume of research carried out by the scientists in world wide on robotic technology, their share of research to world literature in robotics, forms and language that they publish their results, quantum of their publications in terms of institutions involved in research in robotic technology, extent of international collaboration, etc. Data for this study was culled from the Web of Science. The period of study is from 1990 to 2016. Totally 3703 institutions resulted out the output of 5316 among them top 30 institutions' output is noteworthy. The developing countries like USA, UK and Germany concentrate in the field of robotic technology. Yet Major portion of contribution (36.30%) is from USA. The journal articles are the key factors in sharing the research values among the researchers in the forms of articles which is amounted to be top (67.40%). The language preferred in exchanging research results is English (87.70%) followed by German. The prolific authors in the field of robotic technology are highly found from USA among them the contribution by Bloss R is appreciable. The citation counts seems to be high in the year 2015 which has recorded 11,000 citations.


This paper provides a new theory for two-sided payment card markets. Adopting payment cards requires consumers and merchants to pay a fixed cost, but yields a lower marginal cost of making payments. Analyzing adoption and usage externalities among heterogeneous consumers and merchants, our theory derives the equilibrium card adoption and usage pattern consistent with empirical evidence. Our analysis also helps explain the card pricing puzzles, particularly the high and rising merchant (interchange) fees. Based on the theoretical framework, we discuss socially desirable payment card fees as well as the interchange fee cap regulation.


The New Labour government identified the further education (FE) sector as a vehicle to deliver its central policies on social justice and economic competitiveness in England, which has led to a torrent of initiatives that have increased central scrutiny and control over FE. Although the connections between social justice, economic competitiveness and education are hegemonic in mainstream British politics, they are unfounded. Therefore, FE can only fail to deliver fully the government's central programme. Thus, a gap exists between policy initiatives and practice in colleges even, paradoxically, where reforms are ostensibly successful. In order to illustrate this gap and how it is maintained this paper considers one specific reform: the statutory obligation for teachers in English FE colleges to undertake 30 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) annually. Evidence from small‐scale exploratory research suggests that this initiative has had little impact on patterns of CPD, though the government's quantifiable targets are being systematically met. This paper argues that a symbiosis of performativity has evolved where the government produces targets and colleges produce mechanisms to 'evidence' their achievement, separate to any change in practice and thus maintaining the gap between policy and practice.


Structural pounding may be defined as the collisions occurring between adjacent dynamically excited structures which lack a sufficient separation gap between them. Extensive theoretical and experimental studies have been conducted to investigate this phenomenon. However, the majority, if not all, of these studies fail to consider the flexibility of the soil upon which these structures are constructed. This study aims to investigate the degree of approximation inherent in previous pounding studies which neglected this important feature. In this study, two aspects of soil flexibility effects on dynamic structural response were investigated: the influence of the supporting soil properties on the individual structures (soil-structure interaction) and the through-soil interaction between the foundations of the adjacent structures. Two structural configurations of reinforced concrete moment-resistant frames were considered: the case of two adjacent twelve-storey frames and the pounding of a twelveand six-storey frames. Four cases of external excitation were investigated: two actual earthquake records applied from two directions ea9h. .A. nonlinear inelastic dynamic analysis software package developed at the University of Canterbury has been utilized in this study. Suitable numerical models were developed for the through-soil interaction phenomenon and for the structures, which were designed in accordance to the relevant New Zealand design codes. Soilstructure interaction was represented by means of existing models available in the literature. Various separation gaps were provided and the results were compared with the no pounding case. Storey-level impacts only were considered. The pounding response in which soil flexibility was accounted for was compared to the fixed base response for each of the separation gaps incorporated in this study. A high variation in the results was witnessed, indicating the significance of consideration of soil flexibility effects. In addition, the importance of excitation direction was highlighted in this study. The relative storey accelerations were more dependent on the characteristics of the excitation rather than on the magnitudes of the impact forces. Recommendations were proposed which aim towards the generalization of the results of this study.


This thesis is an analysis of the responses in the early modern period of civic and
church authorities to local and visiting groups of players in Gloucester, Tewkesbury
and Bristol. It is also an examination of the venues in which these groups performed.
Reactions to these groups varied, and this study explores how these, both positive and
negative, were affected by economic, legal and cultural factors. The thesis proceeds
chronologically, and is thus divided into twenty-year intervals in order to draw the most
effective comparisons between the three urban centres over a number of decades. The
first period under examination, the 1560s, records the early reaction of the three
settlements to the phenomenon of the Elizabethan travelling company. The relationship
between the regional authorities and the patrons comes to the fore in the second period,
the 1580s, as the dominance of the ambitious Earl of Leicester grew in the region.
Legislation decreeing the withdrawal of mayoral control over itinerant troupes at the
close of the sixteenth century, the third period, released civic officials from previous
obligations and this influenced the level and character of their hospitality towards the
'noble' companies. Although evidence is scarce, the records of Gloucester, Tewkesbury
and Bristol contain clues to an attitude towards these entertainers during the reign of
James I, the final period under scrutiny. The study is based on the extant economic
records for the region, as these contain much fruitful information. This thesis
consciously places itself in dialogue with the internationally acclaimed REED Project,
and draws on the information collated by the editors of the volumes for Bristol and
Gloucestershire. A parallel examination of the entries into municipal records of the
three towns, and the areas around them, in conjunction with genealogical and
topographical evidence, has allowed for an interpretation of the data in a wide regional
context, revealing that although each town tolerated players in their municipal spaces,
with the officials personally entertaining the companies on some occasions, the
reception of the companies varied significantly from town to town and across the
historic period.


This study explores gender earning differentials in human capital competences for young European higher education graduates. The analysis utilizes a classic regression model to explore the relationship between key competences and earnings, together with an Oaxaca decomposition which parses out the extent to which earning differentials can be attributed to differences in human capital competences or to discrimination. The analysis reveals that most of the female/male earning differential is explained not by differences in human capital competences, but by differences in the female/male earning structure. In other words, by labour market discrimination.


Predictions of the effects of global change on ecological communities are largely based on single habitats. Yet in nature, habitats are interconnected through the exchange of energy and organisms, and the responses of local communities may not extend to emerging community networks (i.e., metacommunities). Using large mesocosms and meiofauna communities as a model system, we investigated the interactive effects of ocean warming and acidification on the structure of marine metacommunities from three shallow‐water habitats: sandy soft‐bottoms, marine vegetation, and rocky reef substrates. Primary producers and detritus—key food sources for meiofauna—increased in biomass under the combined effect of temperature and acidification. The enhanced bottom‐up forcing boosted nematode densities but impoverished the functional and trophic diversity of nematode metacommunities. The combined climate stressors further homogenized meiofauna communities across habitats. Under present‐day conditions metacommunities were structured by habitat type, but under future conditions they showed an unstructured random pattern with fast‐growing generalist species dominating the communities of all habitats. Homogenization was likely driven by local species extinctions, reducing interspecific competition that otherwise could have prevented single species from dominating multiple niches. Our findings reveal that climate change may simplify metacommunity structure and prompt biodiversity loss, which may affect the biological organization and resilience of marine communities.


Written as a constructed montage in dialogic form, The Force of Listening draws from conversations with artists, activists, and political thinkers which took place during 2013-2014, in the aftermath of the wave of protests and occupations against austerity. Members of Ultra-red, Precarious Workers Brigade and feminist consciousness-raising groups, artists Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, media theorist Nick Couldry and philosopher Adriana Cavarero meet on the page to discuss questions of listening. Conversations cover themes such as collectivity, solidarity and resonance, the politics of voice, the challenges of institutional frameworks and reflections on the Occupy movement. In particular, The Force of Listening traces a legacy from feminist theory and consciousness-raising practices through the narration of first-hand experience (from Pat Caplan and Anna Sherbany) and discussions on ethics and politics of listening. In so doing, it inserts a vital component that often gets missed in debates on the sonic and explores how attention and interconnection might exist in the face of current structures of neoliberal governance and the instrumentalized modes of being it fosters.


In this title, renowned Mozart scholar Daniel Heartz brings his deep knowledge of social history, theater, and art to a study of the last and great decade of Mozart's operas. Mozart specialists will recognize some of Heartz's best-known essays here; but six pieces are new for the collection, and others have been revised and updated with little-known documents on the librettist's, composer's, and stage director's craft. All lovers of opera will value the elegance and wit of Professor Heartz's writing, enhanced by thirty-seven illustrations, many from his private collection. The volume includes Heartz's classic essay on "Idomeneo" (1781), the work that continued to inspire and sustain Mozart through his next, and final, six operas. Thomas Bauman brings his special expertise to a discussion of "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" (1782). The ten central chapters are devoted to the three great operas composed to librettos by Lorenzo da Ponte - "Le nozze di Figaro" (l786), "Don Giovanni" (l787), and "Cosi fan tutte" (l790). The reader is treated to fresh insights on da Ponte's role as Mozart's astute and stage-wise collaborator, on the singers whose gifts helped shape each opera, and on the musical connections among the three works. Parallels are drawn with some of the greatest creative artists in other fields, such as Moliere, Watteau, and Fragonard. The world of the dance, one of Heartz's specialties, lends an illuminating perspective as well. Finally, the essays discuss the deep spirituality of Mozart's last two operas, "Die Zauberflote" and "La Clemenza di Tito" (both l79l). They also address the pertinence of opera outside Vienna at the end of the century, the fortunes and aspirations of Freemasonry in Austria, and the relation of Mozart's overtures to the dramaturgy of the operas.


The current marketing of agricultural products in general, and of bananas in particular, poses special problems for Eritrean farmers. Poor climatic conditions coupled with crude and inefficient agricultural technologies render agricultural output sub-optimal. The major production problems include shortage of capital and scarcity of land; shortage of farming materials; spoilage of bananas during harvesting due to inappropriate harvesting techniques and facilities and lack of technical know how. In addition, the main marketing problems comprise transport problems to stores; general storage problems; lack of information and spoilage during transport. Taking the above into account it should be noted that current trends towards the increased globalization of markets, trade liberalization, advances in information technology, consumer preferences and improved logistics means that the competitiveness of fruit industries in various regions and countries, as affected by the performance of their supply chains, is becoming increasingly important and will be even more important in the future. Cognisance should also be taken of the fact that much confusion exists regarding the exact meaning of the term competitiveness. Comparative advantage and competitiveness are related, but are often mistakenly exchanged for one another. Comparative advantage explains how trade benefits nations through more efficient use of their resource base when trade is totally unrestricted. Competitive advantage defines trade patterns as they exist in the real world, including all the barriers to free trade ignored by comparative advantage (Worley, 1996). Vitally important is to take cognizance of the fact that the establishment of a competitive supply chain is a prerequisite for an industry's competitiveness and success. Based on this analysis, this study proposes what should be done to achieve a workable SCM for the banana industry in Eritrea. In its broader sense, the proposed structure of the SCM involves the introduction of horizontal strategic alliances between existing banana producers and the marketing group and a vertical relationship along the supply chain. Given that bananas comprise a considerable portion of the international trade makes it significant to this study. Bananas are also symbolic of the wide range of injustices present in international trade today. The Lome Convention, which placed certain Latin American banana exporting countries at a disadvantage, was the root cause of trade disputes, and the eventual replacement of this Convention will have an impact on the future banana export prospects of ACP countries. Eritrean producers, like those of other ACP countries, therefore have little time to adjust and become competitive against "dollar" bananas on the European market, which at this point enjoy a production cost and quality advantage.


Lipschitz continuity is a central requirement for achieving the optimal O(1/T) rate of convergence in monotone, deterministic variational inequalities (a setting that includes convex minimization, convex-concave optimization, nonatomic games, and many other problems). However, in many cases of practical interest, the operator defining the variational inequality may become singular at the boundary of the feasible region, precluding in this way the use of fast gradient methods that attain this rate (such as Nemirovski's mirror-prox algorithm and its variants). To address this issue, we propose a novel smoothness condition which we call Bregman smoothness, and which relates the variation of the operator to that of a suitably chosen Bregman function. Leveraging this condition, we derive an adaptive mirror prox algorithm which attains an O(1/T) rate of convergence in problems with possibly singular operators, without any prior knowledge of the problem's Bregman constant (the Bregman analogue of the Lipschitz constant). We also present an extension of our algorithm to stochastic variational inequalities where the algorithm achieves a $O(1/\sqrt{T})$ convergence rate.


This collection of seventeen essays breaks new ground in dealing comprehensively with philological, historical and bibliographical aspects of Spinoza's texts. It covers subjects such as the philosopher's Latinity and style, and the transmission and editing of his works.


The process of modulational instability of nonlinear plane waves is investigated in media with periodically and randomly varying nonlinearity. The wave behavior is analyzed in the parametric instability region under the joint action of periodic modulation and the self-steepening effect, and a recurrence phenomena is observed for the nonlinear wave in the parametric resonance region. Stochastic parametric resonance is predicted in the case of a random media. The increment value of stochastic parametric resonance obtained numerically is in good agreement with the theoretical estimate.


Speech-based interfaces have great potential but are hampered by problems related to spoken language such as variability, noise and ambiguity. Speech Graffiti was designed to address these issues via a structured, universal interface protocol for interacting with simple machines. Since Speech Graffiti requires that users speak to the system in a certain way, we were interested in how users might respond to such a system when compared with a natural language system. We conducted a user study and found that 74% of users preferred the Speech Graffiti system to a natural language interface in the same domain. User satisfaction scores were higher for Speech Graffiti and task completion rates were roughly equal.


Abstract.
 Priacanthids are a small family of percomorph fishes comprising fewer than 20 extant species currently assigned to four genera. One of these, Pristigenys, was established by Louis Agassiz (1835) to include the Eocene species Pristigenys substriata from Monte Bolca, and is usually regarded as a subjective senior synonym of Pseudopriacanthus. Consequently, Pristigenys currently comprises five extant species plus the fossil Pristigenys substriata. The osteology of the type species of this genus, however, is poorly known, and this makes it difficult to provide an adequate comprehensive definition of the taxonomy of the whole family. Pristigenys substriata is redescribed in detail based on five well-preserved articulated skeletons. Pristigenys substriata can be easily distinguished from other priacanthids based on its unique combination of characters. Morphological analysis of the fossil specimens reveals that there is substantial evidence to justify recognition of both Pristigenys and Pseudopriacanthus as valid genera, with extant species previously assigned to Pristigenys now referred to Pseudopriacanthus. Within the Priacanthidae, Pristigenys and Pseudopriacanthus form sister taxa and this pair can be considered as the sister-group to all remaining extant priacanthid genera (Cookeolus + [Heteropriacanthus + Priacanthus]).


This research was carried out to determine the effects of potassium (0, 40, 80, 120 kg K2O ha-1; as potassium sulfate; 50% K2O) and magnesium (0, 20, 40, 60 kg MgO ha-1; as magnesium sulfate; 16% MgO) applied to the soil, either separately or in various combinations, on some nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn) in maize leaves grown under field conditions in semi-arid Central Anatolia in Turkey in 2009 and 2010. The study was designed as a factorial arrangement in randomized block design with four replications. After soil analysis of the study areas, K and Mg-fertilizers were applied at sowing. The results showed that the K applications alone could increase the nutrient concentrations of the leaves, and synergic relations were found between K and P, Fe, or Zn. Synergic relations were also found between Mg and P or Fe. Generally, combined applications of K and Mg resulted in higher nutrient concentrations in the leaves by ameliorating the antagonistic effect of poor soil K-Ca-Mg ionic balances. The leaf nutrient concentrations were generally higher in the first year (2009) than that of the experiment than in the second year (2010).


A reform-school runaway at thirteen, a performer in the legendary New York City Playhouse of the Ridiculous at seventeen, and an escapee from Andy Warhol's Factory scene at nineteen, Penny Arcade (born Susanna Ventura) emerged in the 1980s as a primal force on the New York art scene and an originator of what came to be called performance art. Arcade's brand of high camp and street-smart, punk-rock cabaret showmanship has been winning over international audiences ever since. This autobiographical trilogy of plays represents her at her best.Bitch!Dyke!Faghag!Whore!, is Penny Arcade's raucous, cutting-edge sex and censorship show, (which continues to be a commercial hit around the world), featuring the daily life of a receptionist in a brothel, the upbringing and rearing of a "faghag," the evolution of the New York gay scene in the 1990s, and a participatory "audience dance break." The funny and heart-rending title work, Bad Reputation, portrays a young teen runaway's coming of age in a Catholic reform school (run by nuns who are former fashion models) and her subsequent life on the streets of 1960s New York. La Miseria, a rare depiction of working-class Italian-Americans from a woman's point of view that portrays the clash between working-class morals and compassion during the 1980s AIDS epidemic, rounds out the trilogy.Bad Reputation is the first book by and on Penny Arcade. The complete scripts are accompanied by a new interview with Penny Arcade by Chris Kraus, a range of archival photographs of the East Village scene and Arcade's performances, an introduction by playwright Ken Bernard, and contributions by Sarah Schulman, Steve Zehentner, and Stephen Bottoms.


The central claim of this paper is that, besides phonological optimization, a major function of shortening words by different techniques such as clipping or acronymy is a controlled reduction of morphosemantic transparency in lexical domains, where partly or entirely opaque words are preferred to completely transparent ones. E.g., the functions of uniquely identifying and individualizing a referent by a proper name are better fulfilled by opaque labeling than by a transparent descriptive nomination. In fact, a study of shortening techniques used for official and commercial proper names contrasted with non-onymic words from the general lexicon and certain jargons in German, Farsi and Standard Chinese, three languages extremely different with respect to linguistic type and writing system, reveals a clear contrast between highly transparent shortenings preferred in the non-onymic lexicon versus less transparent or even opaque ones in the proper names, although the preferred shortening techniques themselves vary from language to language.


Deformation survey is an important activity in engineering surveys in order to determine the safety of the structure. Therefore, the deformation detection in the analysis of deformation is a crucial part that needs to be taken care of in deformation survey. Iterative Weighted Similarity Transformation (IWST) is the robust estimation method in deformation analysis. While the deformation modelling is a method to determine the pattern of deformation occurs on monitoring network. In this study, the process begins by using existing program network adjustment and deformation detection acquired from previous study and a new program based on deformation modelling is developed using MATLAB software throughout this study. The reliability of the program was evaluated using two sets of data which are the data from previous studies and observed data that collected during this study was conducted. The data consists of the geodetic monitoring network information, including coordinate, distance, angle and azimuth in two epochs for both data sets. Each set of data verified statistically through the program. The outcomes from this study are the results produced by the program used consist of adjustment result, deformation detection result and deformation modelling result tabulate in respect of each data sets. The results of deformation modelling consist of the model tested, the global test status which either passed or failed and deformation parameter. The determination of the best model will be based on passing the global test and the least parameter if there is more than one model passing the test. Based on previous data, the result of deformation modelling successfully determine the same model used in previous study as the best model. Meanwhile the observed data used in this study happened to occur two model passing the test and allowing the consideration of the second condition. The result of the program verified the reliability of developed program and ensure the program is succeeding in performing deformation analysis.


Eco-friendly Pump and Electricity Generator is an off grid project that aims at pumping water from flowing water bodies like rivers or canals to the nearby areas. Moreover this device can also generate small amount of electricity. Basically this device pumps water without the use of electricity for its operation, instead it works on the energy of flowing water. The flowing water rotates the cylindrical wheel shaped assembly which drives the pump. Thus water is pumped out of the flow and along with pumping this device also generates some amount of electricity with the help of a generator which is mounted on the opposite side of the outlet of water.


This book is a report of a short-term research project. The project aimed to test an approach for estimating local values for landscape units and relate these to formal biodiversity conservation values in Gorongosa National Park (GNP), Sofala Province, Mozambique. First section describes the research site selection and gives short descriptions of the chosen sites: Muaredzi and Nhanchururu. Second section is about the community landscape valuations, includes also the methods and results concerning conceptual models, spatial data sets, and participatory community assessments. Vegetations inventory and generation of biodiversity conservation values are explained in third section. Section four explains the community and biodiversity conservation valuations. The last chapter synthesizes the various results together and describes the findings in terms of the land use planning process in terms of community and biodiversity evaluations.


The objective the present research is try to find some control design strategies, which must be effective and closed to the real operation conditions. As a novel contribution to structural control strategies, the theories of Interval Modal Arithmetic, Backstepping Control and QFT (Qualitative Feedback Theory) will be studied. The steps to follow are to develop first new controllers based on the above theories and then to implement the proposed control strategies to different kind of structures. The report is organized as follows. The Chapter 2 presents the state-of-the-art on structural control systems. The chapter 3 presents the most important open problems found in field of structural control. The exploratory work made by the author, research proposal and working plan are given in the Chapter 4


This paper presents the preliminary results of a broader research on performance and selfperception in reading and writing of university students. In particular, it focuses on verbal comprehension given its connection with reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is crucial, especially while constructing a situational model—achieved by integrating the information provided in the text with relevant prior knowledge. A random pilot sample of 60 students from third year, male and female, of an average age of 23 was selected. The Vocabulary, Information and Analogies tests from WAIS III were administered. The Verbal Comprehension findings show central tendency scores similar to those of the standardization sample with minor dispersion, with specific cases of scores in the lower average limit. Several comments are given on the performance of university students and other observations regarding the type of mistakes made in the answers provided which deserve further considerations. Preliminary conclusions point to a lack of and/or insufficient information, conceptual confusion with some terms of relatively high frequency and difficulties in the conceptualization process. These preliminary findings deserve further attention due to their impact in successful learning from texts.


Academic Success for the 21 Century Learner: Intrapersonal Intelligence and Resilience by Juanita L. Parker MS, Abilene Christian University, 2009 BS, West Texas A & M University, 2008 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy General Educational Psychology Walden University February 2016 Abstract Internal and personal strengths are associated with positive academic outcomes in the higher educational setting and are particularly relevant to the 21 century learner in the modern complex and global society. There is limited research addressing the connection between intrapersonal intelligence, resilience, and academic success. This information is important to better assist students in developing qualities that foster academic success and sustainability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between intrapersonal intelligence, as measured by the Multiple Intelligences Development Assessment Scales (MIDAS); resilience, as measured by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC); and academic success, as measured by the Scale of Implicit Theory of Intelligence (SITI), grade point average (GPA), and grade level. Ninety-one undergraduate students recruited through an online research pool and flyers distributed on campus participated in the study. Participants were asked to complete 3 surveys and a demographic questionnaire. Constructivist and transformative learning theories were used to frame the study and address self-development in the learning process. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between intrapersonal intelligence and GPA (a component of academic success). This research study promotes positive social change by emphasizing the intrinsic strengthening and transformation of the learner for a sustainable education. To enhance academic outcomes, academic leaders could focus on developing curricula with objectives that support the increase of intrapersonal intelligence. Building awareness of the significance of intrapersonal intelligence and resilience is important for the development of a sustainable education and to equip students for the problem solving challenges of the 21st century.Internal and personal strengths are associated with positive academic outcomes in the higher educational setting and are particularly relevant to the 21 century learner in the modern complex and global society. There is limited research addressing the connection between intrapersonal intelligence, resilience, and academic success. This information is important to better assist students in developing qualities that foster academic success and sustainability. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between intrapersonal intelligence, as measured by the Multiple Intelligences Development Assessment Scales (MIDAS); resilience, as measured by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC); and academic success, as measured by the Scale of Implicit Theory of Intelligence (SITI), grade point average (GPA), and grade level. Ninety-one undergraduate students recruited through an online research pool and flyers distributed on campus participated in the study. Participants were asked to complete 3 surveys and a demographic questionnaire. Constructivist and transformative learning theories were used to frame the study and address self-development in the learning process. Results of a multiple regression analysis revealed a significant correlation between intrapersonal intelligence and GPA (a component of academic success). This research study promotes positive social change by emphasizing the intrinsic strengthening and transformation of the learner for a sustainable education. To enhance academic outcomes, academic leaders could focus on developing curricula with objectives that support the increase of intrapersonal intelligence. Building awareness of the significance of intrapersonal intelligence and resilience is important for the development of a sustainable education and to equip students for the problem solving challenges of the 21st century. Academic Success for the 21 Century Learner: Intrapersonal Intelligence and Resilience by Juanita L. Parker MS, Abilene Christian University, 2009 BS, West Texas A & M University, 2008 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy General Educational Psychology


This book is an easy introduction to OpenVPN. While providing only necessary theoretical background, it takes a practical approach, presenting plenty of examples. It is written in a friendly style making this complex topic easy and a joy to read. It first covers basic VPN concepts, then moves to introduce basic OpenVPN configurations, before covering advanced uses of OpenVPN. This book is for both experienced and new OpenVPN users. If you are interested in security and privacy in the internet, or want to have your notebook or mobile phone connected safely to the internet, the server in your company, or at home, you will find this book useful. It presumes basic knowledge of Linux, but no knowledge of VPNs is required.


Most writing is done under pressure. An executive has to produce a three-page position paper by tomorrow at nine. A department head suddenly has to write a one-page action memo by noon. A graduate student has a twenty-page research paper due in a week. Yet, while most students and professionals write under pressure-with limited time, limited space, and a supervisor or instructor to please-few approach the task systematically. In Writing Under Pressure, Sanford Kaye, a renowned expert on the subject, presents a system he calls the Quick Writing Process (QWP) that focuses on real-world writing tasks and demonstrates how to produce the clearest, most honest, most powerful work possible under the constraints of time and space. A writing instructor with twenty-five years' experience teaching students and professionals in business and government, Kaye tells writers how to budget their time and how to use this time efficiently. Exploring particular writing situations in which QWP can be applied to make the most of what the writer knows, Kaye discusses the process of taking exams, focusing on how instructors select questions and evaluate essays. He also considers writing in business and government, featuring an insightful analysis of a memo written by Colonel Oliver North. This memo highlights one of the most important issues writers in business and government face: whether to write the truth as they see it or simply what their bosses want to hear. Presenting a wealth of such examples, Kaye reveals how to break through stifling organizational codes in order to write memos and position papers that count. While most guides to writing ignore the constraints of time and space, Writing Under Pressure tackles these problems head on, making it an essential reference for students, business professionals, government officials, or anyone else faced with a difficult writing assignment that has to be done now.


Credit shortages are widely thought to explain the output contraction in former Soviet Union (FSU) countries during the 1990s. It is argued here that these shortages were the result of an ahistorical approach to policymaking which ignored the time needed for the establishment and further development of money, banking, and nonbanking financial institutions. Starting from Chick's stages-of-banking-development framework, we examine the experience of the FSU economies in transition from central planning. We then develop a fivephase framework to characterize the process of banking development required for them to reach stage two of Chick's framework, where bank liabilities are accepted as money.


The aim of this paper is to give an interpretation of the linear or nonlinear filtration problem as a quantization problem. Based on this, we extend the optimal filtering equation known from the Stratonovich filtering theory on the quantum process case. In contrast to the Kalman filter often used in such problems, the Stratonovich equation provides the optimal solution for nonlinear observation models. The observation model is based on an indirect measurement method, where the measurement is performed on an ancilla system that is interacted with an unknown one. The latter model is interpreted in case of a single-qudit system. Since the measured random variables and experiment are fundamentally different from each other, the obtained single-qudit observation model has a substantially different physical nature from the two-qubit one. However, in both problems, the Stratonovich optimal filter equation is equally applicable.


Is income inequality more of a blemish or a failing organ in our economy? Both metaphors capture something about wealth disparities, but only failing organ seems to emphasize the fact that our economy is a complex system, where activity in one region may lead to a cascade of problems in other parts of the system. In the present study, we introduce a novel method for classifying such 'systemic' metaphors, which reveals that people can reliably identify the extent to which a metaphor highlights the complex causal structure of a target domain. In a second experiment, we asked whether exposing people to more systemic metaphors would induce a systems-thinking mindset and influence reasoning on a seemingly unrelated task that measured the degree to which people reasoned about a domain in terms of complex causal relations. We found that participants who were primed with systemic metaphors scored higher on subsequent tasks that measured relational and holistic thinking, supporting the view that these metaphors can promote systems thinking. Our discussion highlights the potential role of systemic metaphors in facilitating reasoning and decision-making in complex domains.


The absolute plate motions for early Tertiary time are reconsidered. The no-net-torque determination of Solomon and others indicated absolute plate motions at 55 m.y. ago that were considerably different from the present motions. To test whether these motions are truly characteristic of early Tertiary time or merely a consequence of uncertainties, an alternative model for the relative motions is considered. A single major change is made in the relative motions scheme: Antarctica is treated as two plates. The role of Antarctica is particularly important in the relative motion scheme because it is the sole link between the large Pacific Ocean plates and the other, largely continental plates. Although this relative plate motion model for early Tertiary time does not yield absolute motions that are compatible with those of the present, there are considerable differences from Solomon and others' determination. Thus, past relative plate motions must be further constrained to give absolute motions that can confidently be compared to the present set and used in testing hypotheses about driving forces.


PURPOSE
To investigate the association between metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the predictors of the progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and the corresponding frequency and severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 530 men with moderate to severe International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) > 7 were recruited in the present study. The predictors for clinical BPH progression were defined as the total prostate volume (TPV) ≥ 31 cm3, prostate-specific antigen level (PSA) ≥ 1.6 ng/mL, maximal flow rate (Qmax) < 10.6 mL/s, postvoid residual urine volume (PVR) of ≥ 39 mL, and age 62 years or older. LUTS were defined according to the IPSS and MetS with the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III guidelines. The Mantel-Haenszel extension test and the multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to statistically examine their relationships.

RESULTS
The percentage of subjects with ≥ 1 predictors for clinical BPH progression, the percentage of subjects with a TPV ≥ 31 cm3, the percentage of subjects with a PVR ≥ 39 mL, and the percentage of subjects with a Qmax < 10.6 mL/s increased significantly with the increasing in the number of MetS components (all P < .05). After adjusting for age and serum testosterone level, the MetS were independently associated with the presence of TPV ≥ 31 cm3 (OR = 17.030, 95% CI: 7.495-38.692). Moreover, MetS was positively associated with the severity of LUTS (P < .001) and voiding scores (P < .001), and each individual MetS component appeared as an independent risk factor for severe LUTS (IPSS > 19, all P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Our data have shown that the MetS significantly associated with the predictors for clinical BPH progression and the frequency and severity of LUTS, especially the voiding symptoms. The prevention of such modifiable factors by promotion of dietary changes and regular physical activity practice may be of great importance for public health. .


This article seeks to add students' voices to the current discourse on the usefulness of narrowly focusing national assessment results on the establishment of merit as the basis for secondary school selection, and the impact that this practice has on students' image of schooling. This is in view of the fact that this practice remains a policy in many countries, including countries of the Anglophone Caribbean. Using a qualitative case study design and a framework that integrates motivation, identity, metaphor, and world view theories, this study solicited and analysed the views of 40 primary school students from Belize on their Eleven Plaus examination experience. The study revealed that the students did not feel that the examination had the type of negative psychological effects on them that some parents and educators claim, partly because they did not perceive the national assessment as a high-stakes test. Instead, students used some entailments of the metaphor of the examination as a race - with the pain of training for, the anxieties of starting, and the joys of finishing the race - to make sense of their experiences in preparing for, writing, and receiving the results of the examination. The study also found that the Eleven Plus experience does, however, play a key role in motivating students to stay in school longer, and in the formation of a type of student identity that facilitates the integration of the students' view of self with such content universals as fear of failure and learned helplessness, as well as the Protestant temporal ethnic of future orientation. There was no evidence, however, to suggest that the experience helped students to have a better sense of place or of what it means to be a postcolonial citizen i an independent Belize. It is recommended that more must be done to ensure that policy makers and parents listen to what students are saying and "take more serious notice."


Lipase from Candida rugosa was covalently immobilized on Sepabeads EC-EP for application for amyl caprylate synthesis in an organic solvent system. Several solvents were tested in terms of biocatalyst stability and the best result was obtained with isooctane. The lipase-catalyzed esterification in the selected system was performed in batch and fluidized bed reactor systems. The influence of several important reaction parameters including temperature, initial water content, enzyme loading, acid/alcohol molar ratio, and time of addition of molecular sieves is carefully analyzed by means of an experimental design. Almost complete conversion (> 99%) of the substrate to ester could be performed in a batch reactor system, using lipase loading as low as 37 mg g -1 dry support and in a relatively short time (24 hrs) at 37oC, when high initial substrate molar ratio of 2.2 is used. Kinetics in a fluidized bed reactor system seems to still have a slightly better profile than in the batch system (90.2% yields after 14 hrs). The fluidized bed reactor operated for up 70 hrs almost with no loss in productivity, implying that the proposed process and the immobilized system could provide a promising approach for the amyl caprylate synthesis at the industrial scale.


OBJECTIVE
Spinal cord injury (SCI), as one of the common serious spine disorders, often leads to severe neurological dysfunction and even permanent disability, which will cause heavy economical burden for family and society. Currently, selenium-enriched products have an obvious role in the protection and recovery of SCI; however, its protective mechanism is still unclear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In order to explore the protective effect of selenium-enriched supplement (SES) on SCI, the adult rats were randomly divided into sham operation control (SC) group, ischemia-reperfusion model (IM) group and SES pretreatment (ST) group to investigate the change of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and its receptor-alpha (CNTF-Ralpha) during SCI in the presence of SES. The rats in IM and ST groups were subjected to the blockage of their abdominal aorta to establish the model of SCI; but the rats in SC group were subjected to sham operation without the blockage of abdominal aorta. The rats in ST group were fed with foods containing SES at the dose of equivalent 5 mg/L selenium in water before blocking their abdominal aorta. After 7 days, the rats were sacrificed to observe the structure of nerve cells through HE staining and the expression of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha by Western blot, immunohistochemical, and RT-PCR methods, respectively.

RESULTS
Both protein and mRNA of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha were positively expressed in rats from SC group. The mRNA expression levels of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha in ST group were much higher than SCI model group.

CONCLUSIONS
SES can execute a protective role in SCI through up-regulating the expression of CNTF and CNTF-Ralpha.


Large-scale surveys such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) use advanced statistical models to estimate scores of latent traits from multiple observed responses. The comparison of such estimated scores across different groups of respondents is valid to the extent that the same set of estimated parameters holds in each group surveyed. This issue of invariance of parameter estimates is addressed in model fit indices which gauge the likelihood that one set of parameters can be used across all groups. Therefore, the problem of scale invariance across groups of respondents can typically be framed as the question of how well a single model fits the responses of all groups. However, the procedures used to evaluate the fit of these models pose a series of theoretical and practical problems. The most commonly applied procedures to establish invariance of cognitive and non-cognitive scales across countries in large-scale surveys are developed within the framework of confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory. The criteria that are commonly applied to evaluate the fit of such models, such as the decrement of the Comparative Fit Index in confirmatory factor analysis, work normally well in the comparison of a small number of countries or groups, but can perform poorly in large-scale surveys featuring a large number of countries. More specifically, the common criteria often result in the non-rejection of metric invariance; however, the step from metric invariance (i.e. identical factor loadings across countries) to scalar invariance (i.e. identical intercepts, in addition to identical factor loadings) appears to set overly restrictive standards for scalar invariance (i.e. identical intercepts). This report sets out to identify and apply novel procedures to evaluate model fit across a large number of groups, or novel scaling models that are more likely to pass common model fit criteria.


Absolute pitch is reported to occur in 1 out of 10,000 persons, usually those trained in music before age 6. We demonstrate that the five individuals we tested, who have Williams syndrome, a condition caused
 by a microdeletion of about 20 genes in the q11.23 region of one of their two chromosomes number seven, possess near ceiling levels of absolute pitch despite their limited cognitive abilities. With these
 individuals, we also describe our preliminary findings on relative pitch, transposition, and retention. We discuss the possibilities that (1) the incidence of absolute pitch among individuals with Williams
 syndrome is higher than that found in the general population and (2) the normal early childhood critical period of absolute pitch acquisition may be extended in individuals with Williams syndrome.


This paper critically examines the intersection of privacy concerns in children's apps and the support required by developers to effectively address these concerns. Third-party libraries and software development kits (SDKs) are widely used in mobile app development, however, these libraries are commonly known for posing significant data privacy risks to users. Recent research has shown that app developers for children are particularly struggling with the lack of support in navigating the complex market of third-party SDKs. The support needed for developers to build privacy-friendly apps is largely understudied. Motivated by the needs of developers and an empirical analysis of 137 'expert-approved' children's apps, we designed DataAvalanche.io, a web-based tool to support app developers in navigating the privacy and legal implications associated with common third-party SDKs on the market. Through semi-structured interviews with 12 app developers for children, we demonstrate that app developers largely perceive the transparency supported by our tool positively. However, they raised several barriers, including the challenges of adopting privacy-friendly alternatives and the struggle to safeguard their own legal interests when facing the imbalance of power in the app market. We contribute to our understanding of the open challenges and barriers faced by app developers in creating privacy-friendly apps for children and provide critical future design and policy directions.


In the past people have used very different forms of directions depending on how those directions were acquired. If a person is giving another person directions in a familiar area, he will frequently use landmarks to describe the route [10]. If the person gets the route from a personal navigation system though, it will be displayed on a map and make use of street names for the directions.
 In this paper we present a system to automatically give landmark based navigation to pedestrians by using panoramic imagery to both find salient landmarks along a route automatically, and to present those landmarks to a pedestrian navigator in an immersive and intuitive manner. Our system primarily uses automatically detected business signs as landmarks, and currently works in a half dozen cities around the world. We have also evaluated our system and found that people can effectively navigate solely using landmark enhanced panoramas of decision points along the route.


Objective
The primary aim of this thesis was to test whether gestational exposure to environmental factors may induce islet autoimmunity. The second aim was to determine to what extent the exposure to viruses or other environmental factors is a risk factor for type 1 diabetes in the offspring. As children with type 1 diabetes have a higher risk of developing celiac disease (CD), an additional aim was to determine whether markers of possible infections during early pregnancy was associated with development of tissue transglutaminase (tTG) autoantibodies or CD in the offspring. These aims have been summarized in four independent studies.
Study population and Methods
The Diabetes Prediction in Skane (DiPiS) is a population based study where blood samples were obtained at the time of delivery between September 2000 and August 2004 from all mothers in this region (Skane). The blood samples were analyzed for HLA-DQ alleles and islet autoantibodies.
The prospective cohort study Celiac Disease Prediction in Skane (CiPiS) is part of the DiPiS study, which aims to determine the etiology indicators of celiac disease (CD) in newborn children. Children with HLA-risk alleles associated with CD were screened for tissue transglutaminase autoantibodies (tTGA). CD was established by intestinal biopsy in children with confirmed tTGA.
Early pregnancy serum samples (gestational week 10-16) were collected from the Southern Sweden Microbiological biobank (SSM-Biobank). This biobank contains more than 120,000 stored plasma samples that have been obtained between 1986 and 2009 from all pregnant mothers at their first visit to the Maternity Care Center.
By combining the SSM-Biobank with DiPiS and CiPiS, a total of 24,000 mothers were identified. All mothers included in this thesis (n=1,748) were analyzed for HLA genotype, islet autoantibodies (GADA, IA-2A and IAA in both early pregnancy samples and at delivery), nine different cytokines, one chemokine (early pregnancy samples), IgM class enterovirus (EV) antibodies and EV-RNA (early pregnancy samples).

Study I-IV
Study I: The objective of our first study was to determine seroconversion to islet autoantibodies in non-diabetic mothers during pregnancy. This was achieved by analyzing end point titers of GADA, IA-2A and IAA in both early pregnancy samples and samples at delivery. Mother's positive for GADA (92%), IA-2A (84%) or IAA (65%) at delivery had increased titers already in early pregnancy. Titers declined for GADA (p<0.0001), IA-2A (p<0.0001) and IAA (p<0.0001). Seroconversion during pregnancy was observed for GADA in 10 (8%), IA-2A in 3 (16%) and IAA in 37 (35%) mothers.
Study II: In this study, we collected early pregnancy serum samples from mothers who later gave birth to children who developed high titers of tTGA or confirmed CD. We then measured an array of Th1/Th2 cytokines (nine cytokines and one chemokine) with the aim of investigating whether CD is triggered already in utero as denoted by quantitative changes in the mother's cytokine profile. We observed that levels of seven out of ten cytokines were significantly increased in mothers who gave birth to children with CD when compared to controls.
Study III: As studies have shown that unbalanced gestational cytokine profiles have been associated with maternal autoimmune disease, preeclampsia, and recurrent spontaneous abortions we analyzed in the present study cytokines in serum samples collected during early pregnancy from mothers who gave birth to children developing multiple, persistent islet autoantibodies, type 1 diabetes, or both, before seven years of age. We found that IFN-γ (p=0.02) and IL-1β (p=0.04) were elevated in the index mothers. All cytokines except IL-4 were highly correlated (p<0.0001).
Study IV: Gestational EV infections have been associated with risk HLA-DR as well as with type 1 diabetes in the child. We analyzed enterovirus RNA (EV-RNA) and IgM (EV-IgM) in relation to type 1 diabetes HLA-DQ risk genotypes and to islet autoantibodies in non-diabetic mothers studied both in early pregnancy and at delivery. EV-IgM, but not EV-RNA was detected during early pregnancy in 12% (44/365) islet autoantibody positive mothers compared to 11% (156/1457) of the controls (p=n.s.). In early pregnancy, mothers with HLA-DQ 2/2 or 2/X genotypes showed, in adjusted logistic regression, an increased risk for islet autoantibodies (OR 1.85, 95% CI 1.34-2.54; p=0.001). EV-IgM was not associated with HLA-DQ in early pregnancy. However, after adjusting for parity, maternal age, year of birth and season of early pregnancy, early pregnancy EV-IgM combined with DQ2/2 or 2/X increased the risk for the mother to be positive for islet autoantibodies at delivery (OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.35-7.15; p=0.008).
Conclusion
From these studies we conclude that pregnant non-diabetic mothers with islet autoantibodies at delivery had significantly higher titers of autoantibodies during early pregnancy than at delivery. As the statistical power in the seroconverting mothers was insufficient, further studies are needed to determine if the risk for type 1 diabetes in the offspring differs between mothers who already had increased titers of islet autoantibodies during early pregnancy or acquired them during pregnancy. Moreover, we conclude that a shift in the Th1/Th2 mediated cytokine pattern during early pregnancy, possibly caused by viral infection may be associated with CD in the offspring. Furthermore, the results from study III suggest that increased levels of IFN-γ and possibly IL-2 during early pregnancy was associated with an increased risk for multiple, persistent islet autoantibodies, type 1 diabetes, or both, before seven years of age in the offspring. Our final study concludes that EV-IgM in early pregnancy increased the risk for islet autoantibodies at delivery in non-diabetic mothers who carry HLA-DQ 2/2 or 2/X type 1 diabetes risk genotypes.


Resonant response of the Great Pyramid interacting with external electromagnetic waves of the radio frequency range (the wavelength range is 200–600 m) is theoretically investigated. With the help of numerical simulations and multipole decomposition, it is found that spectra of the extinction and scattering cross sections include resonant features associated with excitation of the Pyramid's electromagnetic dipole and quadrupole moments. Electromagnetic field distributions inside the Pyramid at the resonant conditions are demonstrated and discussed for two cases, when the Pyramid is located in a homogeneous space or on a substrate. It is revealed that the Pyramid's chambers can collect and concentrate electromagnetic energy for the both surrounding conditions. In the case of the Pyramid on the substrate, at the shorter wavelengths, the electromagnetic energy accumulates in the chambers providing local spectral maxima for electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that basically the Pyramid scatters the electromagnetic waves and focuses them into the substrate region. The spectral dependence of the focusing effect is discussed.Resonant response of the Great Pyramid interacting with external electromagnetic waves of the radio frequency range (the wavelength range is 200–600 m) is theoretically investigated. With the help of numerical simulations and multipole decomposition, it is found that spectra of the extinction and scattering cross sections include resonant features associated with excitation of the Pyramid's electromagnetic dipole and quadrupole moments. Electromagnetic field distributions inside the Pyramid at the resonant conditions are demonstrated and discussed for two cases, when the Pyramid is located in a homogeneous space or on a substrate. It is revealed that the Pyramid's chambers can collect and concentrate electromagnetic energy for the both surrounding conditions. In the case of the Pyramid on the substrate, at the shorter wavelengths, the electromagnetic energy accumulates in the chambers providing local spectral maxima for electric and magnetic fields. It is shown that basically the Pyramid scatters the elec...


A stochastic model is designed to assess the delivery performance of event-driven safety messages in IEEE 802.11p/1609.4 vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs). The study focuses on the case of a vehicle detecting an unpredictable hazard and broadcasting the alert in the one-hop neighborhood. The model aims at providing quick insights into the impact of the latest WAVE specifications (i.e., traffic differentiation, channel switching) on the delivery of such short-lived alert messages. Results prove that it is accurate in capturing the effect of relevant parameters and show that repeating the alert transmission on the control channel helps to achieve reliable delivery.


Let Cay Horstmann teach you to think like a programmer! If you really want to master Java, it's not enough to know the code. You must begin to think like a programmer, and in this newest edition of his bestselling guide, Java Concepts, programming guru Cay Horstmann shows you how. Updated to integrate Java 6, Java Concepts, Fifth Edition introduces you to fundamental programming techniques and design skills that are crucial to learning how to program. Drawing on his many years of experience as an expert programmer and teacher, Horstmann brings out the most important elements of computing, problem solving, and program design. Thanks to Horstmann's proven formula, you'll complete this book with a thorough grounding in programming concepts and problem-solving and get quickly up to speed writing efficient and successful programs. Features of the new Fifth Edition: * The 'Objects Gradual' approach leads you into object-oriented thinking step-by-step, from using classes, implementing simple methods, all the way to designing your own object-oriented programs. * A strong emphasis on test-driven development encourages you to consider outcomes as you write programming code so you design better, more usable programs * Unique approach goes beyond language syntax to focus on computer science concepts and problem solving, encouraging you to think as a problem solver * New teaching and learning tools in WileyPLUS--including a unique assignment checker that enables you to test your programming problems online before you submit them for a grade * Helpful "Testing Track" introduces techniques and tools step by step, ensuring that you master one before moving on to the next * Graphics topics are developed gradually throughout the text, conveniently highlighted in separate color-coded sections * Updated coverage is fully compatible with Java 5 and includes a discussion of the latest Java 6 features


In a study of the Senarmont compensator method of flow birefringence measurement, the effects of polychromatism and of error in the quarter-wave plate are investigated by a theoretical treatment of the behavior of the cross of isocline. It is found that with monochromatic light an error in the quarter-wave plate introduces asymmetry into the scissors-type motion of the cross of isocline. The arms of the cross do not close completely. Rather, one arm disappears while the other continues its motion toward the 45° position in the annulus. It is shown by example that, with the proper quarter-wave plate, polychromatic light from a filter can give a result which is almost the same as that given by monochromatic light and a quarter-wave plate without error. A mismatch of the quarter-wave plate and polychromatic light gives essentially the same error in the measurement of birefringence as the error caused by a comparable mismatch between the quarter-wave plate and monochromatic light.


Existing shape models with spherical topology are typically designed either in the discrete domain using interpolating polygon meshes or in the continuous domain using smooth but non-interpolating schemes such as NURBS. Polygon models and subdivision methods require a large number of parameters to model smooth surfaces. NURBS need fewer parameters but have a complicated rational expression and non-uniform shifts in their formulation. We present a new method to construct deformable closed surfaces, which includes the exact sphere, by combining the best of two worlds: a smooth and interpolating model with a continuously varying tangent plane and well-defined curvature at every point on the surface. Our formulation is simpler than NURBS while it requires fewer parameters than polygon meshes. We demonstrate the generality of our method with applications ranging from intuitive user-interactive shape modeling, continuous surface deformation, reconstruction of shapes from parameterized point clouds, to fast iterative shape optimization for image segmentation.


This paper explores ethical issues relating to the management of patients who are terminally ill and unable to maintain their own nutrition and hydration. A policy of sedation without hydration or nutrition is used in palliative medicine under certain circumstances. The author argues that this policy is dangerous, medically, ethically and legally, and can be disturbing for relatives. The role of the family in management is discussed. This issue requires wide debate by the public and the profession.


This paper provides a critique of the Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) paradigm by discussing its congruence with an established sustainable design principle called 'whole system design'. It was found that WSUD is congruent with the whole system design approach as a philosophy, but not in practice. Future improvement of WSUD practice may depend on the adoption of a front-loaded, teamwork-based design and planning process that is embedded in the principle of whole system design.


Background A community's readiness for change is a precursor to the effective application of evidence-based practices for health promotion. Research is lacking regarding potential strategies to improve readiness to address obesity-related health issues in underserved communities. Community Context This case study describes SaludABLEOmaha, an initiative to increase readiness of residents in a Midwestern Latino community to address obesity and adopt healthy lifestyles. Methods SaludABLEOmaha emphasized 2 core approaches, youth activism and collaboration among public and private institutions, which we applied to planning and implementing tactics in support of 3 interconnected strategies: 1) social marketing and social media, 2) service learning in schools (ie, curricula that integrate hands-on community service with instruction and reflection), and 3) community and business engagement. Following the Community Readiness Model protocol (http://triethniccenter.colostate.edu/communityReadiness.htm), structured interviews were conducted with community leaders and analyzed before and 2.5 years after launch of the program. Outcome The community increased in readiness from stage 3 of the Community Readiness Model, "vague awareness," at baseline to stage 5, "preparation," at follow-up. Interpretation SaludABLEOmaha improved community readiness (eg, community knowledge, community climate), which probably contributed to the observed increase in readiness to address obesity through healthy lifestyle. Community mobilization approaches such as youth activism integrated with social marketing and social media tactics can improve community responsiveness to obesity prevention and diminish health disparities.


Blended learning is being used more and more in higher education. However, for humanities and other loosely content structured areas, blended learning can be challenging. It has generally been reserved for subject areas such as computer programing, mathematics, business, science, and statistics--courses where competence is commonly assessed by administering work on which performance is either right or wrong. Furthermore, agreement has not yet been reached on how to best incorporate the face-to-face and online teaching resources. This study examines one approach of implementing web-based instruction to improve undergraduate Introduction to Literature courses at a midsized Midwestern university. This study was designed to accomplish three goals. The first was to discover whether an undergraduate Introduction to Literature course based upon the recommendations of Rosenblatt (1994) and Perkins and Unger (1999) can meet the needs of students in a BL environment. The second goal of this study was to measure the students' perceptions of the blended Introduction to Literature environment with respect to its productiveness in terms of their attitudes and achievements. The third and final goal was to discover how students experience the teacher's practice and behavior and the extent to which these factors affect student perceptions of the course and BL environment in general. These goals were examined through the CABLS lens designed by Wang, Han, and Yang (2015). The mixed methods study gathered the data through multiple data points. These included student surveys, student interviews, students' pre-and post-tests, student assignments, the university's student evaluation of teaching, classroom observations, videos, and the researcher's action research of the experience. Overall, the approach used for the blended Introduction to Literature course met with positive outcomes in terms of both student perceptions and achievement. Conclusions and implications of using the blended learning format for an effective introductory literature course including realizing blended learning is a complex adaptive system, may help learners gain new positive learner identities, may supply a more accurate assessment of student learning, may not be for everyone, requires teachers to take on multiple identities, is challenging, requires plenty of supports, and may not be cost saving. USING BLENDED LEARNING TO IMPROVE UNDERGRADUATE INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE COURSES: A MIXED METHODS APPROACH


In the central highland Maya communities of Guatemala, the demands ofthe global economy have become a way of life. This book explores how ruralpeoples experience economic and cultural change as their country joins theglobal market, focusing on their thoughts about work and sustenance as a way oflearning about Guatemala's changing economy. For more than a decade, Liliana Goldin observed in highland towns boththe intensification of various forms of production and their growing links towider markets. In this first book to compare economic ideology across a rangeof production systems, she examines how people make a living and how theythink about their options, practices, and constraints. Drawing on interviews andsurveyseven retellings of traditional narratives'she reveals how contemporaryMaya respond to the increasingly globalized yet locally circumscribed conditionsin which they work. Goldin presents four case studies: cottage industries devoted to garmentproduction, vegetable growing for internal and border markets reached throughdirect commerce, crops grown for export, and wage labor in garment assemblyfactories. By comparing generational and gendered differences among workers,she reveals not only complexities of change but also how these complexities arereflected in changing attitudes, understandings, and aspirations that characterizepeople's economic ideology. Further, she shows that as rural people take ondiverse economic activities, they also reinterpret their views on such mattersas accumulation, cooperation, competition, division of labor, and communitysolidarity. Global Maya explores global processes in local terms, revealing the interplayof traditional values, household economics, and the inescapable conditions ofdemographic growth, a shrinking land base, and a global economy always lookingfor cheap labor. It offers a wealth of new insights not only for Maya scholarsbut also for anyone concerned with the effects of globalization on the Third World.


Provides a broad and easily assimilated introduction to fiber communications, requiring no more mathematical knowledge than needed for a bachelor's degree in physics, chemistry, or engineering. Reviews necessary mathematics, introducing electromagnetic theory and dielectric waveguides; presents underlying theories of propagation in multimode step index and graded index fibers, emphasizing physical models in practical situations. Covers mode coupling, the performance of joint sections, and mode and material dispersion. Includes detailed discussions of techniques for the preparation of optical fibers, factors, controlling their loss and bandwidth, and techniques for measuring, jointing, and splicing. Also includes optical fiber cables, their design, materials used in their construction, and special strength properties. Closes by examining the optical receiver and the special properties that it shows as a result of the photon or shot noise associated with the optical signal, followed by some simple modelling to see how fibers interact and can be optimized within an optical fiber system.


Quantitative assessment of underground drinking water pollution of water of India Mark II (IM2) hand pumps at Moradabad for seven different sites, which are also deprived of other source of drinking water, has been carried out on the basis of calculated values of water quality indices (WQI). Water quality index for all the sites has been calculated with the help of estimated values of thirteen different physio-chemical parameters and drinking water standards prescribed by W.H.O. Underground drinking water was found to be severely polluted invariably at all the sites of study. People dependent on the water of source of study are prone to health hazards of polluted drinking water and water quality management is needed in the catchment area of study. Estimated higher values of different water quality parameters also verify the extent of drinking water pollution. Hence, assessment of water quality on the basis of calculated values of WQI is once again proved to be an effective tool.


The term "White Box" is often used to describe products without a brand name. Such products are assembled from standardized parts, and they became a very popular category of desktop PCs. Hsinchu, Taiwan based MediaTek is a fabless semiconductor company that unleashed a white box market in mobile phone handsets by offering an innovative "complete solution" for 2.5G and 2.7G handset manufacturers, dramatically lowering the barriers to entry into the business. Besides enabling many Chinese branded manufacturers to enter the business, the grey market in components unleashed a complementary market of "Shanzhai" makers. Together these firms captured a significant fraction of the China market, as well as exports (both legal and grey) to 102 countries. CEO Ming-Kai Tsai is faced with the question of the best growth path. While multiple tier one handset makers are dismissive of MediaTek, perhaps because of its role in enabling the Shanzhai, the company's offerings have enabled an "army of ants" to challenge the leaders. Can MediaTek move up-market to sell its chipsets to the likes of Nokia? Under what terms?Learning Objective:Ask students to use the lenses of disruptive innovations, modularity, and jobs-based segmentation to understanding the opportunities and challenges in emerging markets like China.


The aim of this study is to describe the changes in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) levels among the Estonian adult population in the years 2013–2015 in order to examine the relationships between LTPA level and socioeconomic status (SES) and health indicators, and also to explore perceived barriers to LTPA. Data from the National Physical Activity Survey were used. The sample consisted of 1009 participants aged 15–69 in 2013 and 1004 respondents in 2015. The proportion of Estonian adults exercising regularly at least four times per week increased from 39% in 2013 to 45% in 2015. Being in the older age groups increased the odds for physical inactivity 2.07–4.74 times compared to the youngest age group (15–24) (p<0.01). Having primary, basic, or secondary education increased the odds of being inactive 2.33–3.14 times compared to respondents with higher education (p < 0.01). The most prevalent barriers to physical activity reported by inactive adults were: 1) the absence of interest or unwillingness to make an effort, 2) tiredness at work, and 3) lack of time. In conclusion, despite a slight positive trend, LTPA levels are low. As the perceived barriers depend on age, public health strategies should involve age-specific solutions, especially for older adults.


This paper investigates the legitimacy of international criminal trials and defends them against objections grounded in the principle of legality. The argument begins with the observation that the center of gravity in international criminal tribunals lies in the trials themselves more than the punishments inflicted. Such often-discussed aims as giving victims a voice or creating a historical record of mass atrocities are goals of the trial process, not the punishment. Often, it is the spectacle of a former leader brought before a court for politically-motivated atrocities that captures the public imagination; the trial itself has a theatrical or didactic component. That is not an objection to the trials, if they are conducted fairly. But the use of the trial as political theater puts pressure on its fairness. This paper argues that the aim of the trials is norm projection: trials are expressive acts broadcasting the news that mass atrocities are, in fact, heinous crimes and not merely politics by other means. The trials are meant to project the message that atrocities are crimes, not political deeds that exist "beyond good and evil," a vision that underlies traditional amoralist concepts of raison d'tat or Kriegsraison. The second principal thesis of the paper is that the legitimacy of the tribunals comes from the fairness of their procedures and punishments, not their political pedigree. The legal and political arguments for the jurisdictional authority of international bodies to establish tribunals are only partly satisfactory, and insufficient on their own to legitimize the tribunals. Tribunals bootstrap themselves into legitimacy by the quality of justice they deliver; their rightness depends on their fairness. The clearest example is the Nuremberg Tribunal. Established by victorious allies with jurisdiction only over the Axis powers, it had to prove that it was no show trial, and the clearest evidence was the acquittals it produced. The final sections of the paper address the concern that international tribunals characteristically violate the principle of legality, in two ways: they are generally established only after the crimes they try are committed, and they sometimes read the law broadly, from a victim-centered point of view, rather than narrowly, as the legality-based rule of lenity in criminal law would require. The paper argues that the two motivating arguments behind the principle of legality - concern about fair notice, and concern about despotic abuse of the power to punish - are less compelling in international criminal law than they are in domestic law. As for the fair-notice rationale: the more horrendous the deeds, the less fairness requires formal notice of potential criminal liability. As for the government abuse rationale: : there is simply much less danger of government abuse in international criminal law than in domestic legal systems, because ICL arises from weak, decentralized institutions rather than strong, concentrated ones. Skeptics point to the free-floating, cosmopolitan character of the tribunals in order to attack their legitimacy. But exactly the same facts demonstrate that the worry about abuses of the legal process by holders of state power is not a powerful one.


The global financial crisis towards the end of the last decade saw an increased interest in the role of risk management in the main stream financial investment market. Among other things, the measurement and management of market risk, credit risk and operational risk have become more pronounced than ever before. Value-at-risk (VaR), a tool which assesses the maximum possible loss of an investment, assuming a given confidence level, is widely used in the investment world to measure market and credit risk. This measure has however come under constant criticism as it only considers the maximum loss for a specific confidence level and ignores any losses beyond that threshold, which could arise from extreme events. Secondly, VaR assumes normal distribution of returns and yet this is not the case with most financial returns, which have the added complexity of being susceptible to the phenomenon of 'fat tails'. (It should be noted however, that it is only the basic version of VaR that has the normality issue and this can be addressed through the use of Monte Carlo.) Thus, the credibility of VaR seems to be losing ground. Though derived from the principles of VaR, the expected shortfall (ES) is being forwarded as an alternative proposition due to its ability to overcome some of the shortcoming of VaR, particularly when it comes to dealing with tail risk. To this effect, the ES is being mooted as a tool for market risk regulation, replacing VaR in the banking sector as proposed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. This said, the ES has its own challenges especially because it cannot be subjected to back-testing due to its non-listable attribute. Furthermore ES is also said to be quite sensitive to extreme values. In the real estate market, very limited research has been conducted on modelling market risk. This study therefore aims to investigate market risk modelling for real estate and assess whether, and / or the extent to which, the expected shortfall model offers a better alternative to VaR in terms of measuring market risk. Public real estate has been chosen as the focus of the study as it is more amenable to the application of VaR compared to private real estate.


Purpose – Prior research has reported the indirect implications of firm's dynamic capabilities on their competitive firm performance. Our attention now turns to open innovation since it has been confirmed to be an influential factor contributing to the superior performance of technological firms. So far there has been little research on assessing the relationship between a firm's dynamic capabilities as an antecedent of the competitive performance of the firm or investigations into the mediating role of open innovation in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on the theory of dynamic capabilities, we developed a framework as a way to better understand the role of open innovation, which could then help to better explain the relationship between firms' dynamics capabilities and their competitive firm performance. Based on the empirical data of 465 firms operating in innovative and non-innovative industries, we employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to examine the research hypotheses and the path relationships in the proposed model. Findings – The SEM analysis revealed that a firm's dynamic capabilities significantly impact its open innovation performance and that open innovation, consequently, impacts the competitive performance of the firm. Moreover, the results show that the path between dynamic capabilities and competitive firm performance is partially mediated through open innovation. Practical implications – The findings provide practical implications and draw managerial attention to the importance of: (1) investing in innovation, (2) engaging customers in the innovation process and (3) maintaining innovation management excellence as significant antecedent factors in increasing competitive firm performance. Originality/value – Considering the lack of empirical research in the literature on the links between dynamic capabilities and open innovation, this paper contributes to the dynamic capabilities and open innovation literature by confirming that open innovation not onlymediates the relationship between these two aspects but also strengthens the effect the dynamic capabilities have on competitive firm performance. Besides, due to the EJIM 25,6


The dissertation is an essay in curriculum criticism. Its method is interdisciplinary. It is modeled on curriculum theorizing and literary criticism; it uses typologies taken from ethics and theology; and it is patterned after a hermeneutical method taken from philosophy. In this interdisciplinary venture curriculum criticism becomes a method of inquiry and a means of self-understanding. It is used to construct three curriculum models from the literature in Special Education, to investigate curriculum at a diagnostic center, and to put an alternate type of curriculum into practice at the center. The essay concludes reflectively with a dialogue that explores the implications of myths, morals, and models for curriculum.


The production of hydrogen by the catalytic cracking of methane was investigated. An extensive study was undertaken on two categories of materials, namely iron-containing wastes and prepared catalysts, which include palladium-based catalysts, nickel-based catalysts and a copper-based catalyst. Three types of iron-containing waste materials were examined as pre-catalysts. The iron waste samples comprised a biogenic sample from a local Landfill site; waste residue sample from an old local nail works site and Red Mud. The resulting waste iron catalysts are environmentally benign and may be "thrown away" following use. The biogenic sample presented an unusual tubular morphology resulting from its biogenesis. All these materials possessed significant peak activity for hydrogen production at 800 °C. Significant carbon deposition occurred on these samples. Calcination of biogenic and waste residue samples at 900 °C enhanced performance. Carbon was deposited in the form of carbon filaments on the waste residue sample. The addition of Pd promoted the biogenic sample's activity but poisoned the waste residue sample. Cracking of methane over palladium-containing zeolite catalysts has also been studied. Pd/H-ZSM-5 exhibited the highest peak hydrogen formation rate at 750 °C and the highest amount of carbon was produced at 900 °C. The addition of Ni, Co, Cu and Fe dopants did not improve performance. The effect of support type (H-ZSM-5, -Al2O3 and SiO2) on the Pd catalyst performance was also investigated, with -Al2O3 producing the best activity. All post-reaction Pd catalysts showed the formation of carbon filaments. On comparing the catalytic activity of Pd/H-ZSM-5, Ni/H-ZSM-5 and Cu/H-ZSM-5, it was found that Pd/H-ZSM-5 catalyst possessed the highest activity, while Ni/H-ZSM-5 and Cu/H-ZSM-5 catalysts showed lower activity and similarity to each other in behaviour. Carbon filaments were formed over Pd/H-ZSM-5 and Cu/H-ZSM-5 but did not form over Ni/H-ZSM-5. It was observed that the carbon filaments only grow at higher Ni-loading on the zeolite. The catalytic activities of Ni on different supports were evaluated and SiO2 was found to be the most effective support.


What might braiding social justice orientations to teaching, learning, and educational change with collaborative inquiry-based professional development afford teachers, their students, and our communities? This article unpacks two professional development initiatives to articulate how inquiry co-constructed by and with teachers can take up diversity as generative. The Aboriginal Early Literacy and Curriculum for All projects involved iterative and critical examinations of practice and opportunities for educators to collaboratively consider and create practices that address contextual and social factors. Educators worked together to situate emerging knowledge and beliefs while also challenging the sources and consequences of assumptions.


Allan K. Burgess, Living the Book oj Mormon: A Guide to Understanding and Applying Its Principles in Today's World. Salt Lake City, UT: Bookcraft, 1991. 182 pp. $11.95. Reviewed by Edward Snow Allan K. Burgess, principal of the Tooele Seminary, appropriately dedicated his latest book to his 1990-91 seminary students. Each of the 61 chapters in this 182-page book contains gospel themes that are tailor-made for a 30A5 minute seminary or Sunday School class. The simplicity of the writing and the obvious restating of gospel principles make Burgess's book an excellent gift for teenagers and young adults and a valuable tool for Sunday School teachers. In each chapter, Burgess analyzes a gospel principle set forth in the Book of Mormon, then usually quotes a latter-day prophet or General Authority to bolster his analysis. Many chapters contain modem faith-promoting vigneues (usually with casts of young actors) that nicely illustrate the gospel principle under discussion. Chapter themes range from "A Ball of Curious Workmanship" to "He Numbereth His Sheep." Even though Living the Book of Mormon is not a volume you would curl up with on a cold winter's evening, it provides a fine resource for young and old alike who wish to study the gospel and prepare for church lessons and talks.


Neurotransmitter release from presynaptic terminals is under the tight control of various metabotropic receptors. We report here that in addition to the regulation of Ca2+ channel activity, metabotropic GABAB receptors (GABABRs) at murine hippocampal glutamatergic synapses utilize an inhibitory pathway that directly targets the synaptic vesicle release machinery. Acute application of the GABABR agonist baclofen rapidly and reversibly inhibits vesicle fusion, which occurs independently of the SNAP-25 C-terminus. Using applications of hypertonic sucrose solutions, we find that the size of the readily releasable pool remains unchanged by GABABR activation, but the sensitivity of primed vesicles to hypertonic stimuli appears lowered as the response amplitudes at intermediate sucrose concentrations are smaller and release kinetics are slowed. These data show that presynaptic GABABRs can inhibit neurotransmitter release directly by increasing the energy barrier for vesicle fusion.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Increased life expectancy makes increasingly older patients to be submitted to cardiac surgeries. This study aimed at evaluating the incidence of octogenarian patients submitted to cardiac surgeries in the Heart Institute, Hospital das Clínicas, FMUSP, in the last 16 years.

METHODS
The number of myocardial revascularization (MR) and valvar surgeries (VS) was analyzed for the period 1986 to 2001 and, within each group, the number of surgeries in octogenarian patients. Data were descriptively analyzed.

RESULTS
Data have shown a progressive increase in the number of octogenarian patients submitted to cardiac surgeries. Myocardial revascularization surgeries have increased from 0.13% in 1986 to 3.5% in 2001. Valvar surgeries have increased from 0% in 1986 to 1.44% in 2001, with the highest rate of 3.02% in 1999.

CONCLUSIONS
The understanding of pathophysiology and senility, and the advances in surgical trauma handling are allowing cardiac surgery resources to be expanded to elderly patients. Anesthetic technique should be carefully chosen, as well as hydration, ventilatory assistance and postoperative analgesia, to provide decreased morbidity and mortality in this higher surgical risk group.


Multi-core chips from Intel and AMD offer a dramatic boost in speed and responsiveness, and plenty of opportunities for multiprocessing on ordinary desktop computers. But they also present a challenge: More than ever, multithreading is a requirement for good performance. This guide explains how to maximize the benefits of these processors through a portable C++ library that works on Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and Unix systems. With it, you'll learn how to use Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB) effectively for parallel programming -- without having to be a threading expert. Written by James Reinders, Chief Evangelist of Intel Software Products, and based on the experience of Intel's developers and customers, this book explains the key tasks in multithreading and how to accomplish them with TBB in a portable and robust manner. With plenty of examples and full reference material, the book lays out common patterns of uses, reveals the gotchas in TBB, and gives important guidelines for choosing among alternatives in order to get the best performance. You'll learn how Intel Threading Building Blocks: * Enables you to specify tasks instead of threads for better portability, easier programming, more understandable source code, and better performance and scalability in general * Focuses on the goal of parallelizing computationally intensive work to deliver high-level solutions * Is compatible with other threading packages, and doesn't force you to pick one package for your entire program * Emphasizes scalable, data-parallel programming, which allows program performance to increase as you add processors * Relies on generic programming, which enables you to write the best possible algorithms with the fewest constraints Any C++ programmer who wants to write an application to run on a multi-core system will benefit from this book. TBB is also very approachable for a C programmer or a C++ programmer without much experience with templates. Best of all, you don't need experience with parallel programming or multi-core processors to use this book.


Commercial aviation is becoming more and more important these days. From year to year there is an accelerated increase in the density of air traffic. The resulting fast growth in the flow of data between controllers and the technical systems they use, as well as that between controller and pilot, calls for new means of communication and visualization of information and interaction with it. Revised concepts for air traffic control must be applied, to deal safely with the increasing volume of traffic in the future. The main focus must be on designing an appropriate interface to support the interaction between ground and cockpit, making the communication as efficient, convenient and secure as possible. This undoubtedly goes further than just making information accessible in a digital format.Despite the importance and complexity of the subject, interdisciplinary projects to achieve this were launched only recently. However, as time goes on, more ergonomics specialists, psychologists and designers are working in this field dominated by engineers and programmers. So far, only a few cooperative projects have been undertaken between information designers, interaction designers and air traffic control specialists to create new interface solutions. This is all the more surprising since the structuring and visualization of this immense flow of data, the mapping of dynamic processes and the search for new means of communication constitute a highly interesting field. There is a strong belief that only such cooperation can lead to a coherent product, if interfaces are to be developed which can unfold the potential of the new Datalink-technology. The project described in this article was undertaken at the Design Department of the University of Applied Sciences Cologne, in cooperation with engineers from the Berlin University of Technology/ Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics/ Section Flight Guidance and Transportation and IT-specialists and air traffic controllers from Skyguide (Zurich and Geneva). After a brief summary of the general situation in air traffic control and the work that controllers do, my aim in this article is to present a feasible interface solution for the arrival/departure sector, one of the most crucial areas of air traffic control.