A record in stone: the study of Australia's flaked stone artefacts. By Simon Holdaway and Nicola Stern Museum Victoria and Aboriginal Studies Press, 2004. ISBN 0 85575 460 5 Pp. xxiii + 376, plus CD-ROM. RRP $49.95. Note: unless otherwise indicated, references to figures are those occurring in the book. There has been a crying need for decades for a book on Australian stone tool technology to update the only signifi-cant volume on the subject, F. D. McCarthy's Australian Aboriginal stone implements, including bone, shell and teeth implements (1976). It was anticipated that A record in stone would meet this need, and to a degree it has. McCarthy's work was low on technology and high on typology. In contrast Holdaway and Stern have produced a volume in which the reverse can be said to be true. Aimed primarily at university students, it will be of value to all archaeologists whose work brings them into contact with flaked stone technologies. In essence some 260 pages of text deal with historical and technical aspects of flaked stone tool studies while a scant 65 pages are dedicated to the examination of a number of types of Australian flaked stone tools. As the authors note in their acknowledgements (xiv) the project 'to update McCarthy's typology of Australian stone tools began with the Lithics Workshop held in February 1995 at the Australian Museum, Sydney'. At that workshop I (and a number of other participants) were under the impression that the development of the project was to involve greater input from the group than subsequently occurred. I feel that the potential of the project as initially raised at the Workshop has not been met in this volume and consequently I will still be hanging on to my copy of McCarthy. Australia is perhaps fortunate that it does not possess the great variety of pressure-flaked tool forms, points etc. found in the northern hemisphere. These tend to distort the focus of books about flaked stone artefacts produced in North America--e.g. Whittaker (1994). Australian archaeologists are also fortunate that stone points play such a small part in the socio-economic and technological aspects of much of the Australian archaeological record. We are free to a degree to examine other aspects of the lithic technology of the continent, secure in the knowledge that over the millennia Aboriginal people and their ancestors successfully developed rich and meaningful cultural systems generally using the simplest strategies to create a range of stone implements to assist their endeavours. In the Introduction Holdaway and Stern firmly and succinctly set the tenor of the work, explaining the rationale behind its production, the structure, the illustrations and the use of the CD-ROM. A page within the volume on the set up of the CD-Rom would have expedited its use while the inclusion of a glossary at the end of a book would also have been useful. Chapter 1 leads the reader through the value of stone artefact studies, the mechanics and techniques of flaking, the properties of flakeable stone, methods of distinguishing artefactual from naturally flaked lithic material and finally the products of flaking. Each section is provided with a summary that succinctly rounds it off. While the text is elegant, I found problems understanding many statements, particularly in reference to a number of the images. First is the (to me) ambiguous use of the term conchoidal initiation to describe flakes initiated by a Hertzian fracture. Geologically the term conchoidal is applied to the manner in which some minerals fracture, creating forms with curved concentrically ribbed surfaces such as those found on some molluscs. These are the ripples seen best on flakes of finer isotropic minerals such as obsidian, flint etc.; they may be seen on flakes initiated by either Hertzian or bending fractures. In relation to the figures I do not understand why the authors chose the image they did, to illustrate the dorsal surface of a flake produced through conchoidal fracture (Fig. …


Theta burst stimulation – a possible therapy for neglectpatients? Hemispatial neglect is a frequent neurological disorder after right hemispheric stroke and has a strong negative influence on rehabilitation outcome. The precise mechanisms of action, the duration of the effects, and the relevance for the activities of daily living of current therapeutic approaches are still uncertain. Interhemispheric balance has been shown to play a central role in the occurrence and persistence of hemispatial neglect. According to the model, after a right hemispheric lesion, the contralesional, intact hemisphere undergoes a pathological hyperactivity, biasing attention towards the ipsilesional space. The reduction of this pathological hyperactivity by means of conventional inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols is known to have only short-term positive effects on neglect symptoms. Newly developed stimulation protocols such as theta burst stimulation, characterised by short stimulation times, have been shown to induce long-lasting behavioural effects, which can be disproportionately prolonged by means of repeated applications. Therefore, theta burst stimulation seems to be a viable and effective complementary approach in the therapy of patients suffering from hemispatial neglect.


Billions of dollars have been spent on participatory development programs in the developing world. These programs give community members an active decision-making role. Given the emphasis on community involvement, one might expect that the effectiveness of this approach would depend on communities' pre-existing social capital stocks. Using data from a large randomised field experiment of Community-Led Total Sanitation in Indonesia, we find that villages with high initial social capital built toilets and reduced open defecation, resulting in substantial health benefits. In villages with low initial stocks of social capital, the approach was counterproductive – fewer toilets were built than in control communities and social capital suffered.


Nuclear power in the United States has had an uneven history and faces an uncertain future. Promising in the 1950s electricity "too cheap to meter," nuclear power has failed to come close to that goal, although it has carved out approximately a 20 percent share of American electrical output. Two decades after World War II, General Electric and Westinghouse offered electric utilities completed "turnkey" plants at a fixed cost, hoping these "loss leaders" would create a demand for further projects. During the 1970s the industry boomed, but it also brought forth a large-scale protest movement. Since then, partly because of that movement and because of the drama of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, nuclear power has plateaued, with only one reactor completed since 1995.
 Several factors account for the failed promise of nuclear energy. Civilian power has never fully shaken its military ancestry or its connotations of weaponry and warfare. American reactor designs borrowed from nuclear submarines. Concerns about weapons proliferation stymied industry hopes for breeder reactors that would produce plutonium as a byproduct. Federal regulatory agencies dealing with civilian nuclear energy also have military roles. Those connections have provided some advantages to the industry, but they have also generated fears. Not surprisingly, the "anti-nukes" movement of the 1970s and 1980s was closely bound to movements for peace and disarmament.
 The industry's disappointments must also be understood in a wider energy context. Nuclear grew rapidly in the late 1960s and 1970s as domestic petroleum output shrank and environmental objections to coal came to the fore. At the same time, however, slowing economic growth and an emphasis on energy efficiency reduced demand for new power output. In the 21st century, new reactor designs and the perils of fossil-fuel-caused global warming have once again raised hopes for nuclear, but natural gas and renewables now compete favorably against new nuclear projects.
 Economic factors have been the main reason that nuclear has stalled in the last forty years. Highly capital intensive, nuclear projects have all too often taken too long to build and cost far more than initially forecast. The lack of standard plant designs, the need for expensive safety and security measures, and the inherent complexity of nuclear technology have all contributed to nuclear power's inability to make its case on cost persuasively. Nevertheless, nuclear power may survive and even thrive if the nation commits to curtailing fossil fuel use or if, as the Trump administration proposes, it opts for subsidies to keep reactors operating.


The present paper compares the effect of different waypoint parameters on the flight performance of a special autonomous indoor UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) fusing ultrasonic, inertial, pressure and optical sensors for 3D positioning and controlling. The investigated parameters are the acceptance threshold for reaching a waypoint as well as the maximal waypoint step size or block size. The effect of these parameters on the flight time and accuracy of the flight path is investigated. Therefore the paper addresses how the acceptance threshold and step size influence the speed and accuracy of the autonomous flight and thus influence the performance of the presented autonomous quadrocopter under real indoor navigation circumstances. Furthermore the paper demonstrates a drawback of the standard potential field method for navigation of such autonomous quadrocopters and points to an improvement.


A subject is a being who has a life to lead. In this paper, I explore the array of resources that are available to us (i.e., Westerners at the turn of the millennium) to articulate and assess our lives. Specifically, I shall reflect on the impact that such matters may have on our naturalist conviction that the world ultimately consists of a causal network where notions such as sense and value have no direct bearing. Some tend to assume that an implication of our naturalist world-view is that the notions of sense and value are inevitably relative to the subject's desires and inclinations. This is, however; a line of reasoning that I would like to resist. For I am convinced that this approach unnecessarily restricts the number of resources to which we can legitimately appeal in order to lead our lives. This restriction will turn out to be quite serious because, as we shall see, it dramatically distorts our perception of the relevance that social ties may have in the life of a subject, as well as the conditions under which a human life may escape the absurd.


The fuel market has been widely studied at several perspectives, from the issue of asymmetry and transmission prices, cartels, dynamics linked to price fluctuations in the international economy, demand systems, among others. Thus, this paper aims to estimate a demand system for regular gasoline, hydrous ethanol and diesel via (LA-AIDS) Linear Approximation Almost Ideal Demand System with quarterly time series data for the period 2001-2015 in Pernambuco State (Brazil). The estimates were made using (SUR) Seemingly Unrelated Regressions. The results are similar to those observed in the literature, pointing to the inelasticity-price of demand for gasoline and diesel, which is expected given the essentiality of the assets. It was also observed that the demand for ethanol is elastic because of Marshallian price elasticity greater than one in absolute value, leading to the results already found in other studies.


The paper analyzes the response of buildings and industrially structures on seismic waves (low frequency mechanical vibration) generated by blasting operations. The principles of seismic analysis can be applied for different kinds of excitation such as: earthquakes, wind, explosions, random excitation from local transportation, periodic excitation from large rotating and/or machines with reciprocating motion, metal forming processes such as forging, shearing and stamping, chemical reactions, construction and earth moving work, and other strong deterministic and random energy sources caused by human activities. The article deals with the response of seismic, low frequency, mechanical vibrations generated by nearby blasting operations on a residential home. The goal was to determine the fundamental natural frequencies of the measured structure; therefore it is important to determine the resonant frequencies to design a suitable modal damping. The article also analyzes the package of seismic waves generated by blasting (Primary waves – P-waves and Secondary waves S-waves) and investigated the transfer regions. For the detection of seismic waves resulting from an explosion, the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and modal analysis, in the frequency domain, is used and the signal was acquired and analyzed also in the time domain. In the conclusions the measured results of seismic waves caused by blasting in a nearby quarry and its effect on a nearby structure (house) is analyzed. The response on the house, including the fundamental natural frequency and possible fatigue damage is also assessed. Keywords—Building structure, seismic waves, spectral analysis, structural response.


Many structures established such as embankment, the regulator, dams and hydroelectricpower plants in order to supply the increasing demands on aquatic systems nowadays. These structures especially affect the natural migration of aquatic organism to upstream and downstream adversely and constitutes a danger for many organism. Hydraulic structures should be established on or around the natural or man-made barriers such as regulators,dams,hydroelectric power plants on the aquatic systems that will help natural migrations of diadrom fish. The purpose of this review that give general information about what these hydraulic structures called fish passages review prior studies on this subject and emphasize the importance of them.


AIM
We used secondary data from a prospective randomized mammography recruitment trial to examine whether attitudinal and facilitating characteristics mediate the observed relationship between annual household income and mammogram receipt among women in an integrated health plan.

METHODS
We compared 1419 women due for a screening mammogram based on the 1995 annual household income poverty definition for a family of four (<$15,000 vs. >$15,000). A telephone survey was used to collect information on household income, demographics, health behavior, attitudinal and facilitating variables. Administrative databases were used to document mammography receipt. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate the hazards ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of subsequent mammography use separately for women with and without a prior mammogram.

RESULTS
Several variables, including employment, living alone, believing that mammograms are unnecessary, having friends supportive of mammography, and ease of arranging transportation, completely mediated the effect of income on mammography use. In multivariable models, the direct predictive effect of income on mammography was reduced to nonsignificance (HR 1.13, 95% CI 0.82-1.54 in women with previous mammogram and HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.41-2.00 in women without previous mammogram).

CONCLUSIONS
Providing insurance does not ensure low-income populations will seek screening mammography. Efficacious interventions that address attitudes and facilitating conditions may motivate mammography use among low-income women with insurance.


Mounting evidence supports the influence of the gut microbiome on the local enteric nervous system and its effects on brain chemistry and relevant behavior. Vagal afferents are involved in some of these effects. We previously showed that ingestion of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) caused extensive neurochemical changes in the brain and behavior that were abrogated by prior vagotomy. Because information can be transmitted to the brain via primary afferents encoded as neuronal spike trains, our goal was to record those induced by JB-1 in vagal afferents in the mesenteric nerve bundle and thus determine the nature of the signals sent to the brain. Male Swiss Webster mice jejunal segments were cannulated ex vivo, and serosal and luminal compartments were perfused separately. Bacteria were added intraluminally. We found no evidence for translocation of labeled bacteria across the epithelium during the experiment. We recorded extracellular multi- and single-unit neuronal activity with glass suction pipettes. Within minutes of application, JB-1 increased the constitutive single- and multiunit firing rate of the mesenteric nerve bundle, but Lactobacillus salivarius (a negative control) or media alone were ineffective. JB-1 significantly augmented multiunit discharge responses to an intraluminal distension pressure of 31 hPa. Prior subdiaphragmatic vagotomy abolished all of the JB-1-evoked effects. This detailed exploration of the neuronal spike firing that encodes behavioral signaling to the brain may be useful to identify effective psychoactive bacteria and thereby offer an alternative new perspective in the field of psychiatry and comorbid conditions.


This major work covers almost all that has been learned about the acoustics of stringed instruments from Helmholtz's 19th-century theoretical elaborations to recent electroacoustic and holographic measurements.Many of the results presented here were uncovered by the author himself (and by his associates and students) over a 20-year period of research on the physics of instruments in the violin family. Lothar Cremer is one of the world's most respected authorities on architectural acoustics and, not incidentally, an avid avocational violinist and violist.The book - which was published in German in 1981 - first of all meets the rigorous technical standards of specialists in musical acoustics. But it also serves the needs and interests of two broader groups: makers and players of stringed instruments are expressly addressed, since the implications of the mathematical formulations are fully outlined and explained; and acousticians in general will find that the work represents a textbook illustration of the application of fundamental principles and up-to-date techniques to a specific problem.The first - and longest - of the book's three parts investigates the oscillatory responses of bowed (and plucked) strings. The natural nonlinearities that derive from considerations of string torsion and bending stiffness are deftly handled and concisely modeled.The second part deals with the body of the instrument. Special attention is given to the bridge, which transmits the oscillations of the strings to the wooden body and its air cavity. In this case, linear modeling proves serviceable for the most part - a simplification that would not be possible with lute - like instruments such as the guitar.The radiation of sound from the body into the listener's space, which is treated as an extension of the instrument itself, is the subject of the book's final part.Lothar Cremer is Professor Emeritus at the Technical University of Berlin, where he served as director of the Institute for Acoustical Engineering.


The advent of the Web as a social technology has created opportunities for the creation of informal learning environments, which have potential for innovative methodologies in learning, teaching and assessment. However, as Wolfe (2001) admonishes, "contrary to the rhetoric of cheerleaders, the Web places greater demands on students than traditional modes of instruction" (pp. 2 – 3). The pedagogical potential of these high tech, e-skilling, multimedia digital technologies to revolutionize teaching, learning and assessment will only be realized if the underlying theoretical foundations are well articulated and supporting evidence is provided through well-designed empirical research studies. This paper contributes to these two prospects in two ways. First, it articulates the theoretical framework drawn from the work of luminaries in pedagogy that posits cooperative, social learning strategies, as potential methodologies for effective pedagogy. Second, it describes the results of a convenience sampling case study, which investigated the use of cutting-edge social media technologies, namely Google + Discussion Circles, (GDCs), to shed some light on how the use of these social media technologies supported teaching, learning and assessment activities for 2 nd year Bachelor of Education students at a university in Australia. The research found, inter alia, that when students were given the opportunity to learn using GDCs, the majority took advantage of the academic, social and structural dynamics created by these technologies in many ways that supported their learning, assessment activities and overall academic outcomes. The research-based evidence shows that the benefits included high participation rates, great levels of interpersonal interactions among participants, pedagogically rich posts in the GDC streams, metacognitive processing, peer mentoring, ambiguity tolerance, anxiety and motivation. There was also considerable student engagement, exploration of issues, elaboration of what was being discussed in the GDCs, evaluation and explanation, consistent with Bybee et al. (2006) 5E Instructional model for supporting and maximizing students' learning. The evidence leads to the recommendation that pedagogues at universities and other institutions of higher education should explore opportunities for utilizing selected social media technologies in their pedagogical practices, because, if properly planned and implemented, these technologies appear to have potential so support effective learning, teaching and assessment in the 21 st century. Further research on this topic could also be very beneficial.


Previous work on the link between macroeconomic conditions and disability has focused almost exclusively on changes in applications for disability benefit programs, not changes in individuals' self-perceived disability status. This article demonstrates that macroeconomic conditions may influence disability through a direct disabling pathway that is distinct from the reservation wage pathway highlighted in previous analyses of disability assistance. State-level analyses using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) from 1982–2006 reveal a robust inverse relationship between state GDP per capita and disability among the working-age population. Analyses using individual-level data from the 2008 American Community Survey (ACS) find that currently employed persons are more likely to report a disability if they reside in a local area with higher unemployment rates and that this association exists across levels of education; and finally, a lagged regression model analyzing change in local unemployment from 2008 to 2009, the first year of the "Great Recession," finds that an increase in local area unemployment in one year is associated with an increased self-reported disability rate among currently employed workers in the next year. Findings have implications for understanding how macroeconomic downturns influence perceptions of disability and how structural conditions shape individual identity more broadly.


ABSTRACT Lactation studies are necessary evaluations of medications for reproductive-age women. We evaluated pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics, safety, and adherence profiles associated with 7 days of 1% tenofovir (TFV) vaginal gel use during lactation. Tenofovir levels (maternal/infant serum, milk) and anti-HIV activity (milk), adverse events (AEs), and adherence were measured for 17 HIV-1-seronegative breast-feeding mother-infant pairs. Tenofovir use was well-tolerated and detected at low levels in maternal serum, milk, and infant serum but demonstrated no anti-HIV activity in milk.


The effects of stretches and releases on the contractile performance of isolated single frog atrial cells (Rana catesbeiana) were investigated. A stretch or release was imposed on the cell-either during a contraction (test) or before the onset of contraction (control)-and the contractile performance (length, velocity and force) of the test contraction was compared with that of the control contraction to determine whether the stretch or release imposed on the contracting cell altered the contractility of the cell. We found that the velocity of cell (and sarcomere) shortening for the remainder of the test contraction following either a stretch or release was markedly less than that occurring at the same time in the control contraction. This decreased velocity occurred even though the force in the test contraction was less than that in the control contraction and the sarcomere length was longer in the test contraction than in the control contraction. These results indicate that after a stretch or release imposed on the contracting cell, the force-velocity relationship at any given length and time is depressed than had the stretch or release not been imposed on the contracting cell. Thus, stretches and releases applied to the contracting single cardiac cell either produce a long-term depression in the contractility of the cell, or that the contractility at any given time and sarcomere length depends markedly on the history of the contraction.


Worker centers empower communities of workers that are challenging for labor unions to organize. This includes immigrant workers and other vulnerable workers in high turnover jobs. These centers often organize workers that fall within the definition of "employee" under the Depression-era laws designed to protect some forms of collective worker activity from employer retaliation. Although employees associated with these centers can benefit from labor law's carrot, worker centers are not "labor organizations" subject to labor law's vast reporting requirements and restrictions on associational behavior (labor law's stick). We use an original study of worker centers' filings to the Internal Revenue Service to reveal that worker centers are more similar to nonprofits, than labor organizations. Both First Amendment and labor law principles affirm the characterization of worker centers as organizations that are not subject to labor law's stick. Providing worker centers access to labor law's carrot, but not its stick, is particularly compelling given that they are operating at a historical moment when income inequality parallels New Deal levels and hostility to worker organizations and workers' rights is pervasive. Our carrot-but-not-a-stick approach has implications for the vitality of American labor policy. It opens up space for emerging worker centers to expand their efforts to amplify employee voice and improve the working lives of the growing low-wage workforce.


The influence of vocabulary breadth (number of words known) and vocabulary depth (what is known about those words) on different aspects of text comprehension was examined in 83 10- to 11-year-olds. Vocabulary was not an important predictor of comprehension for details explicitly stated in the text. In contrast, vocabulary was related to inference making and, in particular, measures of vocabulary that assessed what was known about individual words predicted unique variance in global coherence inferences. The pattern of findings supports previous research reporting that measures of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are important predictors of both reading comprehension and comprehension-related skills, and critically identifies that some aspects of vocabulary knowledge may be more important for higher-level comprehension skills than others.


ABSTRACT A compilation of average porosity and permeability data for Cretaceous petroleum reservoirs of the Middle East reveals important differences between the two main tectonic provinces. The Arabian Platform is characterized by inverse correlation of average porosity with burial depth in both carbonates and sandstones, whereas the Zagros Fold Belt (almost exclusively carbonates) has distinctly lower porosity and no depth correlation. These contrasts are suggested to reflect the fact that Arabian Platform strata are mostly near their maximum burial depth, whereas Zagros strata have experienced varying uplift and erosion following maximum burial in mid-Tertiary time. The carbonate reservoirs show no correlation between average porosity and average permeability, probably because of wide differences in the dominant pore types present, and permeabilities tend to be much higher for sandstones than for carbonates. Existence of the Arabian Platform porosity–depth correlation, despite an apparently wide diversity of depositional settings and early diagenetic porosity modifications among the individual reservoirs, illustrates and confirms some fundamental generalities about how burial diagenesis controls the overall porosity evolution of reservoir rock bodies. Although porosity commonly shows enormous small-scale heterogeneity in both carbonates and sandstones, the average pre-burial porosity of larger stratigraphic intervals tends to be very high. Burial diagenesis progressively destroys this porosity by chemical compaction and associated (stylolite-sourced) cementation. Thus, all portions of the affected rock body move toward the zero limit as depth increases, although the rates of porosity occlusion vary greatly, depending on rock fabric and early diagenesis. Average reservoir porosity therefore tends to correlate inversely with maximum burial depth, regardless of initial lithological heterogeneity.


A coloring of the vertices of a graph $G$ is said to be distinguishing provided that no nontrivial automorphism of $G$ preserves all of the vertex colors. The distinguishing number of $G$, denoted $D(G)$, is the minimum number of colors in a distinguishing coloring of $G$. The distinguishing number, first introduced by Albertson and Collins in 1996, has been widely studied and a number of interesting results exist throughout the literature. In this paper, the notion of distinguishing colorings is extended to that of list-distinguishing colorings. Given a family $L=\{L(v)\}_{v\in V(G)}$ of lists assigning available colors to the vertices of $G$, we say that $G$ is $L$-distinguishable if there is a distinguishing coloring $f$ of $G$ such that $f(v)\in L(v)$ for all $v$. The list-distinguishing number of $G$, $D_{\ell}(G)$, is the minimum integer $k$ such that $G$ is $L$-distinguishable for any assignment $L$ of lists with $|L(v)|=k$ for all $v$. Here, we determine the list-distinguishing number for several families of graphs and highlight a number of distinctions between the problems of distinguishing and list-distinguishing a graph.


The mixed polycrystalline ferrites 〖Li〗_0.5(1-x) 〖Zn〗_x 〖Fe〗_(2.5-0.5x) O_4 were prepared by the conventional solid state method using high purity metal oxides ZnO,〖Fe〗_2 O_3 and LiCO_3for different concentration of Zn2+ions. Double probe electrode method was used to study the AC properties: the AC electrical conductivity (σ), the dielectric constant: real(e'), imaginary (e'') and complex (e*), and the dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) over therange of the appliedfrequency (f=1 KHz-5 MHz)at room temperature. σincreased exponentially with the increasing f where the maximum value was for the sample 〖Li〗_0.3 〖Zn〗_0.4 〖Fe〗_2.3 O_4. The obtained results of the dielectric parameter (e', e'', e* andtan δ), also, decreased exponentially with increasing f, which confirmsthe normal spinel ferrite behavior. The behavior of AC propertiescan be elucidated on the basis of the exchanged electrons between . The obtained results reveal that the AC properties change by substitution of the Zn2+ionsin Li-spinel ferrite matrix.


This paper presents the Stanza Logo-Motoria, a technologically augmented environment for learning and communication, which since last year we have been experimenting in a primary school; this system offers an alternative and/or additional tool to traditional ways of teaching that often do not adapt to the individual learning ability. The didactic use of interactive multimodal systems, such as the Stanza Logo-Motoria, does not replace the teacher; on the contrary this kind of technology is a resource which offers greater access to knowledge and interaction with others and the environment. This is possible by invent-ing systems and activities, which bring out inherent val-ues in using technology and in its integration in learning processes. The aim of this paper is to document activities carried out by Resonant Memory, the first application of the Stanza Logo-Motoria, and the relative experimental protocol that we are implementing. In addition, we are go-ing to introduce a new application of the system, the Fiaba Magica, for strengthening gesture intentionality in children with motor-cognitive impairments.


The recent progress on image recognition and language modeling is making automatic description of image content a reality. However, stylized, non-factual aspects of the written description are missing from the current systems. One such style is descriptions with emotions, which is commonplace in everyday communication, and influences decision-making and interpersonal relationships. We design a system to describe an image with emotions, and present a model that automatically generates captions with positive or negative sentiments. We propose a novel switching recurrent neural network with word-level regularization, which is able to produce emotional image captions using only 2000+ training sentences containing sentiments. We evaluate the captions with different automatic and crowd-sourcing metrics. Our model compares favourably in common quality metrics for image captioning. In 84.6% of cases the generated positive captions were judged as being at least as descriptive as the factual captions. Of these positive captions 88% were confirmed by the crowd-sourced workers as having the appropriate sentiment.


The explosion in the volume of data about urban environments has opened up opportunities to inform both policy and administration and thereby help governments improve the lives of their citizens, increase the efficiency of public services, and reduce the environmental harms of development. However, cities are complex systems and exploring the data they generate is challenging. The interaction between the various components in a city creates complex dynamics where interesting facts occur at multiple scales, requiring users to inspect a large number of data slices over time and space. Manual exploration of these slices is ineffective, time consuming, and in many cases impractical. In this paper, we propose a technique that supports event-guided exploration of large, spatio-temporal urban data. We model the data as time-varying scalar functions and use computational topology to automatically identify events in different data slices. To handle a potentially large number of events, we develop an algorithm to group and index them, thus allowing users to interactively explore and query event patterns on the fly. A visual exploration interface helps guide users towards data slices that display interesting events and trends. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our technique on two different data sets from New York City (NYC): data about taxi trips and subway service. We also report on the feedback we received from analysts at different NYC agencies.


A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunosensor was developed for the determination of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) by using N-(aminobutyl)-N-(ethylisoluminol) (ABEI)-functionalized gold nanodots/chitosan/multiwalled carbon nanotubes (ABEI/GNDs/chitosan/COOH-MWCNTs) hybrid as nanointerface. First, ABEI/GNDs/chitosan/COOH-MWCNTs hybrid nanomaterials were grafted onto the surface of ITO electrode via the film-forming property of hybrid nanomaterials. The anti-NT-proBNP antibody was connected to the surface of modified electrode by virtue of amide reaction via glutaraldehyde. The obtained sensing platform showed strong and stable ECL signal. When NT-proBNP was captured by its antibody immobilized on the sensing platform via immunoreaction, the ECL intensity decreased. Direct ECL signal changes were used for the determination of NT-proBNP. The present ECL immunosensor demonstrated a quite wide linear range of 0.01-100 pg/mL. The achieved low detection limit of 3.86 fg/mL was about 3 orders of magnitude lower than that obtained with electrochemistry method reported previously. Because of the simple and fast analysis, high sensitivity and selectivity, and stable and reliable response, the present immunosensor has been successfully applied to quantify NT-proBNP in practical plasma samples. The success of the sensor in this work also confirms that ABEI/GNDs/chitosan/COOH-MWCNTs hybrid is an ideal nanointerface to fabricate a sensing platform. Furthermore, the proposed strategy could be applied in the detection of other clinically important biomarkers.


A relatively recent tax on executives in the charitable sector is getting attention due to vigorous IRS enforcement and extensive new Treasury regulations issued in January 2001. This tax, sometimes referred to as an intermediate sanction (the ultimate being revocation of the NPO's exempt status), is imposed on executives whose compensation the IRS considers excessive. CPAs--and the NPO executives they advise--must plan carefully to avoid the tax. The law targets not only top executives but also their family members and family-controlled entities if any receive excess benefits. Congress had passed IRC section 4958 as part of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2 and made it retroactive for transactions on or after September 14, 1995. The rules gave the IRS a tool to regulate the activities of exempt organizations--with or without revoking the organization's exempt status. CPAs should understand section 4958 and the new regulations to help guard against unexpected tax liability for NPO executives--the targeted taxpayers. (While NPOs themselves have no liability under section 4958, they are subject to other penalties.) STATUTORY DEFINITIONS Section 4958 imposes an excise tax on excess benefits received by a "disqualified person"--anyone in a position to exercise substantial influence over a qualifying organization's affairs. IRC section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) entities are considered "qualifying organizations." Section 4958 does not apply to individuals employed by private foundations; executives of such organizations are already subject to similar IRC section 4941 self-dealing penalties. There is a five-year look-back period starting with the transaction date. This means the IRS can look back five years from the date the executive received the excess benefit and impose the tax if he or she was a disqualified person at any time during this period. The term disqualified person can apply to that person's immediate family as well as to family-controlled entities. (The law defines control as 35% of the total combined voting power.) Congress clearly did not want executives to divert benefits to family members by way of family-controlled businesses or trusts. Independent contractors, including advisers, do not fall within these rules since they presumably do not hold positions of influence in the organization. A parallel five-year look-back rule applies in determining qualifying organizations. If an entity was a section 501(c)(3) or (c)(4) organization at any time within the five years before the transaction date, section 4958(e) considers it a qualifying organization. An excess benefit is one a disqualified person receives that exceeds the value of the benefit the organization gets in return, including the value of services he or she performs. For example, the IRS would consider an executive with a salary and benefits greater than those of comparable executives performing comparable work at similar organizations to be in receipt of an excess benefit subject to the section 4958 excise tax. The legislative history shows that when valuing compensation, NPOs and their executives can use either for-profit or nonprofit comparables. In a footnote to the committee report accompanying the 1996 legislation, the House of Representatives said that "an individual need not necessarily accept reduced compensation merely because he or she renders services to a tax-exempt, as opposed to a taxable, organization." The 2001 regulations also specify executives can use for-profit comparables. THE BINDING CONTRACT EXCEPTION A transitional rule in the 1996 legislation allows an executive to continue receiving excess benefits when there is a long-standing affiliation between a disqualified person and the organization. Congress included this exception for written contracts that were binding on September 13, 1995, and, at all times thereafter, up to and including the transaction date. …


Nancy's breaking the story... and it's sure to break some hearts. Life at Wilder University is proving to be full of surprises and scandals. Bess is beginning to think that Brian Daglian is different from all the guys she's gone out with before... and she's about to find out why. And George has been asked out by the most popular guy around-- quarterback Scooter Berenson-- only to end up the most hated person on campus! Nancy, meanwhile, has signed on with "Wilder Times", the university paper, and she may soon break a story about Scooter that could leave him in disgrace or even in danger. But first she must deal with Ned, who's coming up for the weekend. And the way she's feeling about her new life, his visit could mark the biggest break of all.


In usable security (e.g., smartphone authentication), a lot of emphasis is put on low-effort authentication and access concepts. Yet, only very few approaches exist where such concepts are applied beyond digital devices. We investigate and explore seamless authentication systems at doors, where most currently used systems for seamless access rely on the use of tokens. In a Wizard-of-Oz study, we investigate three different authentication schemes, namely (1) key, (2) palm vein scanner and (3) gait-based authentication (compare Fig. 1). Most participants in our study (N=15) preferred the palm vein scanner, while ranking unlocking with a key and gait-based recognition second and third. Our results propose that recovery costs for a failed authentication attempt have an impact on user perception. Furthermore, while the participants appreciated seamless authentication via biometrics, they also valued the control they gain from the possession of a physical token.


Regions of tissue which are well oxygenated respond better to radiotherapy than hypoxic regions by up to a factor of three. If these volumes could be accurately estimated, then it might be possible to selectively boost dose to radio-resistant regions, a concept known as dose-painting. While imaging modalities such as 18F-fluoromisonidazole positron emission tomography (PET) allow identification of hypoxic regions, they are intrinsically limited by the physics of such systems to the millimetre domain, whereas tumour oxygenation is known to vary over a micrometre scale. Mathematical modelling of microscopic tumour oxygen distribution therefore has the potential to complement and enhance macroscopic information derived from PET. In this work, we develop a general method of estimating oxygen distribution in three dimensions from a source vessel map. The method is applied analytically to line sources and quasi-linear idealized line source maps, and also applied to full three-dimensional vessel distributions through a kernel method and compared with oxygen distribution in tumour sections. The model outlined is flexible and stable, and can readily be applied to estimating likely microscopic oxygen distribution from any source geometry. We also investigate the problem of reconstructing three-dimensional oxygen maps from histological and confocal two-dimensional sections, concluding that two-dimensional histological sections are generally inadequate representations of the three-dimensional oxygen distribution.


The negatively-charged nitrogen vacancy center (NV) in diamond has generated significant interest as a platform for quantum information processing and sensing in the solid state. For most applications, high quality optical cavities are required to enhance the NV zero-phonon line (ZPL) emission. An outstanding challenge in maximizing the degree of NV-cavity coupling is the deterministic placement of NVs within the cavity. Here, we report photonic crystal nanobeam cavities coupled to NVs incorporated by a delta-doping technique that allows nanometer-scale vertical positioning of the emitters. We demonstrate cavities with Q up to ~24,000 and mode volume V ~ $0.47({\lambda}/n)^{3}$ as well as resonant enhancement of the ZPL of an NV ensemble with Purcell factor of ~20. Our fabrication technique provides a first step towards deterministic NV-cavity coupling using spatial control of the emitters.


Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms, principally fish, molluscs, crustaceans and marine algae. It has seen phenomenal worldwide growth in the past fifty years and many people view it as the best solution for the provision of high quality protein to feed the world's growing population, particularly with the rapid decline in wild marine fish populations. Aquaculture now contributes approximately one third of the world's fish production, and has increased by about eight per cent annually over the last thirty years, while wild capture fishery production has remained static.

Focused on developing more sustainable aquaculture practices, this book provides an ideal advanced-level textbook. It is based on extensive evidence and knowledge of best practices, with guidance on appropriate adaptation and uptake in a variety of environmental, geographic, socio-economic and political settings. The author concentrates on low-impact aquaculture systems and approaches, which have minimal adverse effects on the environment. He also emphasizes socially responsible and equitable aquaculture development; to enhance the natural resource base and livelihoods.

Drawing on a range of case-studies from around the world, the objective is to show where progress in terms of developing ecologically sound and socially responsible forms of aquaculture has been made. A tool-box of approaches to support widespread adoption and appropriate adaptation of regenerating aquaculture strategies is provided, ensuring the book will have practical relevance for both students and professionals.


Global navigation satellite system (GNSS) reflectometry has emerged recently as a promising remote sensing tool to retrieve various geophysical parameters of the Earth's surface. GNSS-reflected signals, after being received and processed by the airborne or spaceborne receiver, are available as delay correlation waveforms or as delay-Doppler maps (DDMs). In the case of a rough ocean surface, those characteristics can be related to the rms of the L-band limited slopes of the surface waves and, from there, to the surface wind speed. The raw GNSS-reflected signal can be either processed in real time by the receiver or recorded and stored on board and postprocessed in a laboratory. The latter approach leveraging a software receiver allows more flexibility while processing the raw data. This work analyzes DDMs obtained as a result of processing of the data collected by the Global Positioning System (GPS) data logger/software receiver on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Gulfstream-IV jet aircraft. Thereafter, the DDMs were used to retrieve surface wind speed employing several different metrics that characterize the DDM extent in the Doppler frequency-delay domain. In contrast to previous works in which winds have been retrieved by fitting the theoretically modeled curves into measured correlation waveforms, here, we do not rely on any model for the determination. Instead, the approach is based on a linear regression between DDM observables and the wind speeds obtained in simultaneous GPS dropsonde measurements.


Abstract Weedy red rice is a highly troublesome weed of rice in the United States and throughout the world. Effective management of this weed has remained challenging to U.S. farmers, partly because of the biological diversity among red rice populations, resistance to or avoidance of control measures, and genetic similarities with crop rice that allow crossing between the two plant types. The aim of this research was to identify simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker loci that will unambiguously differentiate between U.S. weedy red rice, commercial rice cultivars, and their hybrids, to characterize the genetic diversity and structure of U.S. weedy red rice accessions in relation to Oryza collections from international sources, and to relate genetic and geographic variability within U.S. weedy red rice. Thirty-one SSR markers were used to analyze 180 worldwide Oryza entries and 80 U.S. weedy red rice and U.S. rice cultivars. Twenty-six of the 31 SSR marker loci were highly informative with respect to genetic distinctions between U.S. weedy red rice and U.S. rice cultivars. U.S. red rice are accessions clustered into two main SSR-based collections, awnless strawhull (SA−) and awned blackhull (BA+), according to genetic distance analysis and principal coordinate analysis. Genetic structure analysis clearly identified SA− and BA+ red rice, rice–red rice hybrids, commercial japonica rice cultivars, indica rice, and a number of international and wild Oryza spp. standards (e.g., Oryza nivara, Oryza rufipogon, and Oryza glaberrima) as genetically distinct groups. U.S. SA− red rice exhibited greater spatial structure than did BA+ in that the genetic makeup of SA− accessions changed nearly twice as much with geographic distance as compared to BA+. However, the overall genetic variability within SA− red rice accessions was less than for BA+ accessions, suggesting that the SA− types may be genetically less compatible than BA+ types with other Oryza plants such as rice or other red rice types present in U.S. rice fields. Several of the awned red rice entries exhibited evidence of natural hybridization with different red rice types. Our results suggest that the SA− and BA+ red rice collections have different genetic backgrounds. SA− accessions generally associated most closely with indica-like red- or white-bran Oryza sativa cultivar standards, while BA+ accessions generally associated more closely with O. nivara or O. nivara–like O. sativa entries. Although the U.S. red rice accessions appear not to have descended directly from introductions of the worldwide Oryza standards analyzed, an Oryza red-pericarp entry from Niger (UA 1012; PI 490783) was genetically very similar to some U.S. BA+ accessions. Nomenclature: Oryza nivara Sharma and Shastry; Oryza rufipogon Griff.; red rice, O. sativa L.; O. glaberrima Steud.; rice, O. sativa L. ORSAT.


Objective: Following the isolation of a Marseillevirus from the stool of a healthy young Senegalese and a Mimivirus from a Tunisian patient with pneumonia, we attempted to isolate other giant viruses of amoebae from a large human stool collection. Methods: During the period 2010-2011, a total of 1,605 stool samples, including 115 from Tunisian patients with pneumonia, were cultured on amoebae. We used a recently developed high-throughput isolation system to detect amoebae plaque lysis on agar plates; this method allows for the testing of 100 samples per plate per week. The giant virus was identified by sequencing of genes conserved in Megavirales. Results: A single giant virus, called Shan, was isolated from the stool of a Tunisian patient with pneumonia who responded poorly to antibiotics. This virus has an icosahedral shape typical of members of the family Mimiviridae and a size of 640 ± 10 nm. Phylogenetic analyses showed that Shan virus was classified as a member of Mimivirus lineage C that infects amoebae. Conclusion: Only one isolate was obtained in this study, suggesting that giant viruses of amoebae are rare in human stool. The isolation of Shan virus from a patient with pneumonia brings into question the etiological role of this virus and its subsequent release in stool.


Understanding the physicochemical factors that influence protein adsorption onto solid supports holds wide relevance for fundamental insights into protein structure and function as well as for applications such as surface passivation. Ionic strength is a key parameter that influences protein adsorption, although how its modulation might be utilized to prepare well-coated protein adlayers remains to be explored. Herein, we investigated how ionic strength can be utilized to control the adsorption and passivation properties of bovine serum albumin (BSA) on silica surfaces. As protein stability in solution can influence adsorption kinetics, the size distribution and secondary structure of proteins in solution were first characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy. A non-monotonic correlation between ionic strength and protein aggregation was observed and attributed to colloidal agglomeration, while the primarily α-helical character of the protein in solution was maintained in all cases. Quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation (QCM-D) experiments were then conducted in order to track protein adsorption onto silica surfaces as a function of ionic strength, and the measurement responses indicated that total protein uptake at saturation coverage is lower with increasing ionic strength. In turn, the QCM-D data and the corresponding Voigt-Voinova model analysis support that the surface area per bound protein molecule is greater with increasing ionic strength. While higher protein uptake under lower ionic strengths by itself did not result in greater surface passivation under subsequent physiologically relevant conditions, the treatment of adsorbed protein layers with a gluteraldehyde cross-linking agent stabilized the bound protein in this case and significantly improved surface passivation. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that ionic strength modulation influences BSA adsorption uptake on account of protein spreading and can be utilized in conjunction with covalent cross-linking strategies to prepare well-coated protein adlayers for improved surface passivation.


One of the main issues in the production of polymer nanocomposites is the dispersion state of filler as multilayered graphene (MLG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) tend to agglomerate due to van der Waals forces. The agglomeration can be avoided by using organic solvents, selecting suitable dispersion and production methods, and functionalizing the fillers. Another proposed method is the use of hybrid fillers as synergistic effects can cause an improvement in the dispersion state of the fillers. In this review article, various aspects of each process that can help avoid filler agglomeration and improve dispersion state are discussed in detail. This review article would be helpful for both current and prospective researchers in the field of MLG- and CNT-based polymer nanocomposites to achieve maximum enhancement in mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of produced polymer nanocomposites.


In the compelling popular science tradition of Sapiens and Guns, Germs, and Steel, a groundbreaking and eye-opening exploration that applies evolutionary science to provide a new perspective on human psychology, revealing how major challenges from our past have shaped some of the most fundamental aspects of our being.

The most fundamental aspects of our lives—from leadership and innovation to aggression and happiness—were permanently altered by the "social leap" our ancestors made from the rainforest to the savannah. Their struggle to survive on the open grasslands required a shift from individualism to a new form of collectivism, which forever altered the way our mind works. It changed the way we fight and our proclivity to make peace, it changed the way we lead and the way we follow, it made us innovative but not inventive, it created a new kind of social intelligence, and it led to new sources of life satisfaction.

In The Social Leap, William von Hippel lays out this revolutionary hypothesis, tracing human development through three critical evolutionary inflection points to explain how events in our distant past shape our lives today. From the mundane, such as why we exaggerate, to the surprising, such as why we believe our own lies and why fame and fortune are as likely to bring misery as happiness, the implications are far reaching and extraordinary.

Blending anthropology, biology, history, and psychology with evolutionary science, The Social Leap is a fresh and provocative look at our species that provides new clues about who we are, what makes us happy, and how to use this knowledge to improve our lives.


The article is devoted to the problems of automation of businesses processes of insurance companies which are engaged in insurance of life. Basic approaches and instruments of business processes are designed. Recommendations as for suitability and timeliness of implementation of automation business processes of insurance company are given. The organizational model of business process of sale of insurance products is developed.


We discuss developments in sample survey theory and methods covering the past 100 years. Neyman's 1934 landmark paper laid the theoretical foundations for the probability sampling approach to inference from survey samples. Classical sampling books by Cochran, Deming, Hansen, Hurwitz and Madow, Sukhatme, and Yates, which appeared in the early 1950s, expanded and elaborated the theory of probability sampling, emphasizing unbiasedness, model free features, and designs that minimize variance for a fixed cost. During the period 1960-1970, theoretical foundations of inference from survey data received attention, with the model-dependent approach generating considerable discussion. Introduction of general purpose statistical software led to the use of such software with survey data, which led to the design of methods specifically for complex survey data. At the same time, weighting methods, such as regression estimation and calibration, became practical and design consistency replaced unbiasedness as the requirement for standard estimators. A bit later, computer-intensive resampling methods also became practical for large scale survey samples. Improved computer power led to more sophisticated imputation for missing data, use of more auxiliary data, some treatment of measurement errors in estimation, and more complex estimation procedures. A notable use of models was in the expanded use of small area estimation. Future directions in research and methods will be influenced by budgets, response rates, timeliness, improved data collection devices, and availability of auxiliary data, some of which will come from "Big Data". Survey taking will be impacted by changing cultural behavior and by a changing physical-technical environment.


We present results of speech rhythm analysis for automatic speaker identification. We expand previous experiments using similar methods for language identification. Features describing the rhythmic properties of salient changes in signal components are extracted and used in an speaker identification task to determine to which extent they are descriptive of speaker variability. We also test the performance of state-of-the-art but simple-to-extract frame-based features. The paper focus is the evaluation on one corpus (swiss german, TEVOID) using support vector machines. Results suggest that the general spectral features can provide very good performance on this dataset, whereas the rhythm features are not as successful in the task, indicating either the lack of suitability for this task or the dataset specificity.


This article focuses on the NRMP system and argues that the process is neither efficient nor pro-competitive. This article argues that Congress erred in bestowing an antitrust exemption on the NRMP and the participating institutions.This article suggests that although the system may have been necessary to check the problem of early recruiting that was pervasive in the 1950s (similar to the one that plagued the federal judiciary until just two years ago), the system has outlived its usefulness. Part II will explain the Match's history and function and will discuss how the system makes participation in the Match inevitable and required. Part III will focus on the economic analysis of the system. It will argue that the Match abolishes the students' ability to bargain by preventing students from receiving several offers of employment. This section will explain that although the student participating in the Match may receive his most preferred choice, his lack of ability to negotiate salary and benefits precludes him from making a proper judgment as to which choice he truly most prefers. Part III will also analyze the procompetitive justifications put forth by the Match proponents and will conclude that these stated benefits are ephemeral.Part IV will focus on the analysis of relevant case law. The caselaw is useful to this analysis, even though it is moot in light of the Pension Funding Equity Act of 2004, as it suggests that the NRMP's conduct has been viewed as anticompetitive for quite some time, notwithstanding congressional findings. In the next part, the article examines several alternatives to the NRMP and concludes that a free market system, limited only by defined dates of entry and exit from the market, is the appropriate mechanism by which medical students should select their residencies. This part argues that other systems, such as allowing students to match into multiple places only alleviate, but do not solve, the problem raised by Part III. Further, Part V argues that any system other than the free market will wreak havoc on the residency programs by potentially causing them to over-or under-enroll residents. The article's conclusion is in Part VI.


Constraint diagrams complement the Unified Modeling Language that is used in the development of software systems. They generalize Venn and Euler diagrams, and include facilities for quantification and navigation of relations. Difficulties such as ordering quantifiers cause constraint diagrams to have more than one possible meaning. Fish et al. have extended the constraint diagram notation, augmenting it with a reading tree which provides a unique semantics. However, this involves extracting extra information about the reading order from the diagram creator. Progress has been made towards a default reading, which extracts this information implicitly from the diagram. In this paper, we investigate how humans read ambiguous constraint diagrams intuitively, without any instructions on the reading order. We test several principles which could be used in a default reading. We conclude that although some of these principles have significant effects, they also may conflict. Either an explicit reading tree or a taught method of reading a diagram which may conflict with some people's intuition is necessary.


Human capital (HC) represents the tacit knowledge that is embedded in the minds of people in organisations. HC is important to organisations because it serves as a source of innovation and strategic renewal. Individuals carry HC when they join an organisation, though their level of HC theoretically increases with time in the organisation. Individuals also take their talent, skills and tacit knowledge with them when they leave an organisation. Thus HC is volatile in nature. It is therefore in the interests of human resource managers to recruit and develop the best and brightest employees as a means of achieving competitive advantage. One way of developing HC is through neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). NLP emerged in the 1970s from the University of California, USA. NLP suggests that subjective experience is encoded in terms of three main representation systems: visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic (VAK). NLP practitioners claim that people tend to have one preferred representation system over another in a given context. Relatively less research is conducted using the approach in developing HC in organisations. This paper critically reviews the literature and theoretically argues that since NLP primarily focuses on individual internal learning, it may be used as a practical approach to develop HC in organisations. Examples will be used in the paper to illustrate the benefits of utilising NLP in developing knowledge in organisations. Future research direction and limitations will also be discussed.


While international law has typically waxed and waned in feminist favours, contemporary feminist engagements reveal a strongly critical, reflective thrust about the costs of engaging international law and the quality of ostensible gains. To inform this reflection, the article draws on feminist scholarship in international law – and a specific feminist campaign for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security in Northern Ireland – to distill three distinct feminist understandings of international law that underpin both theory and advocacy. Firstly, international law is understood as a system of rules to which states are bound; secondly, as an avenue for the articulation of shared feminist values; and thirdly, as a political tool to advance feminist demands. The study finds that feminist doctrinalists, and those working within the institutions of international law, share concerns about the resolution's legal deficiencies and the broader place of the Security Council within international lawmaking. These concerns are, however, largely remote for local feminist activists, who recognized in the resolution important political resources to support their mobilization, their alliances with others and ultimately, it is hoped, their engagement with state actors. The article concludes that critical reflection on feminist strategy in international law is usefully informed by more deliberate consideration of its legal, political and normative dimensions, as well as an awareness that these dimensions will be differently weighted by differently situated feminist actors.


This article outlines the relationship between irregular immigration, increased border control, and the number of casualties at Europe's maritime borders. The conclusion is that the number of fatalities is increasing as a result of increased border control. The author argues that States have a positive obligation under international law to address this issue, and formulates concrete proposals to monitor the number of border deaths.


Tidal effect has a significant impact on flood routing in tidal rivers, conceptually taking on a resistant effect during flood tide and a dynamic effect during ebb tide. Two expressions were developed to reflect the tidal effect in this study, which consisted of the tidal wave velocity, the change rate of tidal level and the change in channel width. By incorporating the expressions into the momentum equation of the one-dimensional (1D) Saint-Venant equations, we propose that there are two types of momentum equations accounting for tidal effect. Based on the continuity equation and proposed momentum equations, two types of 1D hydrodynamic model for tidal rivers (namely the SVN-1 and -2 models) were constructed. In the case study, these models were applied to the tidal reach of the Qiantang River in China. The simulation results show that the SVN-1 and -2 models can obtain better accuracy than the SVN model based on the standard Saint-Venant equations, and that the SVN-1 model performs better than the SVN-2 model. Furthermore, the SVN-1 model can effectively capture water-level fluctuation, indicating that the expression employed is capable of accounting for tidal effect.


1. Investigations that assess cardiac autonomic function include non-linear techniques such as fractal dimension and approximate entropy in addition to the common time and frequency domain measures of both heart period and heart rate. This article evaluates the differences in using heart rate versus heart period to estimate fractal dimensions and approximate entropies of these time series.2. Twenty-four-hour ECG was recorded in 23 normal subjects using Holter records. Time series of heart rate and heart period were analysed using fractal dimensions, approximate entropies and spectral analysis for the quantification of absolute and relative heart period variability in bands of ultra low (<0.0033 Hz), very low (0. 0033-0.04 Hz), low (0.04-0.15 Hz) and high (0.15-0.5 Hz) frequency.3. Linear detrending of the time series did not significantly change the fractal dimension or approximate entropy values. We found significant differences in the analyses using heart rate versus heart period between waking up and sleep conditions for fractal dimensions, approximate entropies and absolute spectral powers, especially for the power in the band of 0.0033-0.5 Hz. Log transformation of the data revealed identical fractal dimension values for both heart rate and heart period. Mean heart period correlated significantly better with fractal dimensions and approximate entropies of heart period than did corresponding heart rate measures.4. Studies using heart period measures should take the effect of mean heart period into account even for the analyses of fractal dimension and approximate entropy. As the sleep-awake differences in fractal dimensions and approximate entropies are different between heart rate and heart period, the results should be interpreted accordingly.


This practice-based PHD project tests cross/trans disciplinary approaches to historical artifacts, set in the field of contemporary fine art research. It is predicated specifically upon my discovery in 2013 of a forgotten deck of fortune-telling cards, hand painted 1906 by the English artist and mystic Austin Osman Spare. Spare's cards had lain unnoticed for almost seventy years within the collection of London's secretive Magic Circle, following their accession to the magic club's museum in 1944; before that date, no record of the deck exists.

I respond to this historical find in the form of two interdependent "readings" of the artist's deck of cards. 'Reading One' provides the first in-depth descriptive survey of the deck, as well as establishing its provenance, its place in the artist's oeuvre and within the wider histories of cartomancy. 'Reading Two' adopts complementary approaches that are contingent upon, and shaped by, specific findings within 'Reading One'. These include an elaboration of the deck's release from captivity at The Magic Circle ('Facsimilate and proliferate'), an evaluation of its internal connective logic ('Combinatoric consciousness'), its introduction to the moving image ('Cartomantic cinema') and to historical time ('Making it up for lost time'), and the articulation of a card that is missing from the deck ('Casting for the voice of Strength').

The relationship between these two constituent readings is explored as a continuity which follows a cyclical, rather than linear, progression - second readings are contingent upon first but often lead to renewed first readings, leading to renewed second readings and so on. Within this reanimating process, the object can be seen directing its researcher, sometimes casting her/him in particular roles that meet its needs. In the realm of art production, this orientation towards the object implies that the appropriation of historical material by artists be appropriate, with all the psychological, ethical, and political consequences that such encounters entail. While applied here to a single object - Austin Spare's cartomancy deck - the project's model of contingent and continuous knowledge production encourages other researchers to respond innovatively to the directives, even demands of their chosen objects of research.


Summary Objectives: Benchmarking statements provide a mechanism for making academic standards explicit within a subject area. They allow comparisons between courses to be based on learning outcomes rather than by defining a curriculum. No such statement has been produced for informatics. In the absence of any established benchmarking statements for informatics a new biomedical informatics course at St. George's has developed a first benchmarking statement — which defines the skills knowledge and understanding a biomedical informatics student should acquire by the time they completethe course. Methods: Review of national biomedical science and computing subject benchmarking statements and academic educational objectives and national occupational competencies in informatics. Results: We have developed a twenty-item benchmarking statement and this is available on-line at: http://www.gpinformatics.org/benchmark2006/. This benchmarking statement includes a definition and justification for all twenty statements. We found international educational objectives and national informatics competencies useful and these are mapped to each one. National subject benchmarks for computing and biomedical science were less useful and have not been systematically mapped. Conclusions: Benchmarking the skills, knowledge and understanding that a student should acquire during their course of study may be more useful than setting a standard curriculum. This benchmarking statement is a first step towards defining the learning outcomes and competencies a student of this discipline should acquire. The international informatics community should consider moving from a standard curriculum to an agreed subject benchmarking statement for medical, health and biomedical informatics.


Many laboratory studies have shown the beneficial effects of weld improvement methods on the fatigue strength of welded details. However, no structural codes systematically include weld improvement methods in detail classification. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the possibilities of using these methods in practice on either new or existing structures. This paper provides the reader with practical rules for designing and computing the fatigue strength of improved welded joints. A computation method based on the concept of effective stress range is introduced to model the effects of peening improvement methods on fatigue strength. For the most popular improvement methods, the fatigue strength of improved details can be deduced from the extensive existing database of full-scale test results. However, for nonclassified details, or when fabrication and improvement processes require validation, testing of the improved details is the only method available to guarantee the fatigue strength of a particular detail. In this paper a recent application of validation through testing in the case of longitudinal attachments is described.


In may 1981 the law which justified feminicide, sexual violence (and infanticide) as 'honoris causa' and established irrelevant penalties or acquittal in case of 'shotgun wedding', was abrogated in Italy. In April 1981 the fourth volume of Fagioli's theoretical work, Child woman and man's transformation, had already been published in its first edition. This article discusses the stages leading to the parliament's decision following a legislative procedure which lasted for 26 years. The primum movens considered is Franca Viola's story and the tumultuous events of the 70s.The authors particularly draw the attention on the development of a new movement represented in that time by Fagioli's Human Birth theory. This absolute novelty has allowed to comprehend how the historically considered 'outsiders' – women, children and foreigners – have always been considered as humans to a lesser extent until recently.


Prescribed burning may be conducted at times of the year when fires were infrequent historically, leading to concerns about potential adverse effects on vegetation and wildlife. Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental United States were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears, for many ecological variables, to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption differs little among burning seasons, the effect of phenology or growth stage of organisms is often more apparent, presumably because it is not overwhelmed by fire-intensity differences. Most species in ecosystems that evolved with fire appear to be resilient to one or few out-of-season prescribed burn(s). However, a variable fire regime including prescribed burns at different times of the year may alleviate the potential for undesired changes and maximize biodiversity.


The mechanistic understanding of the intrinsic molecular self-assembly of conjugated polymers is of immense importance to control the microstructure development in organic semiconducting thin films, with a meaningful impact on charge transport and optoelectronic properties. Yet, to date the vast majority of studies have focused on the fast solution process itself, with studies of slower intrinsic molecular self-assembly in formulations lagging behind. Here we have investigated molecular self-assembly during spontaneous organization and uncovered how changes in formulation influence the microstructure, morphology and transport properties of conjugated polymer thin films. Our results suggest that the polymer–solvent interaction is the key factor for the molecular self-assembly and changes in macroscopic charge transport, which is in contrast with most solution processes, such as spin-coating and blade coating, where solvent drying kinetics dominates the aggregation and crystallization processes. Energetically favourable interactions between the polymer and its solvent are shown to cause chain expansion, resulting in a large hydrodynamic volume and few chain entanglements in solution. This provides molecular freedom for self-assembly and is shown to greatly enhance the local and long range order of the polymer, intra-chain backbone planarity and crystallite size. These improvements, in turn, are shown to endow the conjugated polymer with high carrier transport, as demonstrated by organic thin film transistors.


The delay performance of slow light optical pulses inside photonic crystal slab waveguides is considered in the linear and nonlinear propagation regime from both a theoretical and an application point of view. The numerical model used relies on a nonlinear envelope propagation equation that includes the effects of second- and third-order dispersion, optical losses, and self-phase modulation. It is numerically shown that for rates of 40  Gb/s and 100  Gb/s, nonlinear solitary pulses experience less broadening than the linear case and can therefore be used to obtain larger delays. The influence of propagation losses on the soliton broadening factor is also incorporated and discussed. The results demonstrate the potential of implementing a variety of linear and nonlinear signal processing applications in photonic crystal waveguides including optical buffering.


The effect of the microbial hyaluronic acid splitting enzyme hyaluronate lyase produced by Streptococcus agalactiae was investigated in vitro in human atherosclerotic plaque specimens and in vivo on Watanabe heritable hyperlipidaemic rabbits (WHHL) as an animal model for familiar hypercholesteraemia. The in vitro presence of the enzyme caused a partial destruction of the atherosclerotic plaque surfaces as well as releasing of glucuronic acid and solid calcium-containing materials from pieces of atherosclerotic plaques in human arteries. Accordingly hyaluronic acid seems to be the main component for anchoring of calcium deposits on the plaque surfaces. Repeated intravenous injections of hyaluronate lyase in WHHL rabbits resulted in a tendency of decreased formation of atherosclerotic plaques. The observed effects are discussed to be primary the result of the splitting of hyaluronic acid in the vessels.


The composition and functional properties of cow's milk are of considerable importance to the dairy farmer, manufacturer, and consumer. Broadly, there are 3 options for altering the composition and/or functional properties of milk: cow nutrition and management, cow genetics, and dairy manufacturing technologies. This review considers the effects of nutrition and management on the composition and production of milk fat and protein, and the relevance of these effects to the feeding systems used in the Australian dairy industry. Dairy cows on herbage-based diets derive fatty acids for milk fat synthesis from the diet/rumen microorganisms (400–450 g/kg), from adipose tissues (<100 g/kg), and from de novo synthesis in the mammary gland (about 500 g/kg). However, the relative contributions of these sources of fatty acids to milk fat production are highly dependent upon feed intake, diet composition, and stage of lactation. Feed intake, the amount of starch relative to fibre, the amount and composition of long chain fatty acids in the diet, and energy balance are particularly important. Significant differences in these factors exist between pasture-based dairy production systems and those based on total mixed ration, leading to differences in milk fat composition between the two. High intakes of starch are associated with higher levels of de novo synthesis of fat in the mammary gland, resulting in milk fat with a higher concentration of saturated fatty acids. In contrast, higher intakes of polyunsaturated fatty acids from pasture and/or lipid supplements result in higher concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids, particularly oleate, trans-vaccenate, and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in milk fat. A decline in milk fat concentration associated with increased feeding with starch-based concentrates can be attributed to changes in the ratios of lipogenic to glucogenic volatile fatty acids produced in the rumen. Milk fat depression, however, is likely the result of increased rates of production of long chain fatty acids containing a trans-10 double bond in the rumen, in particular trans-10 18 : 1 and trans-10-cis-12 18 : 2 in response to diets that contain a high concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids and/or starch. Low rumen fluid pH can also be a factor. The concentration and composition of protein in milk are largely unresponsive to variation in nutrition and management. Exceptions to this are the effects of very low intakes of metabolisable energy (ME) and/or metabolisable protein (MP) on the concentration of total protein in milk, and the effects of feeding with supplements that contain organic Se on the concentration of Se, as selenoprotein, in milk. In general, the first limitation for the synthesis of milk protein in Australian dairy production systems is availability of ME since pasture usually provides an excess of MP. However, low concentrations of protein in milk produced in Queensland and Western Australia, associated with seasonal variations in the nutritional value of herbage, may be a response to low intakes of both ME and MP. Stage of lactation is important in determining milk protein concentration, but has little influence on protein composition. The exception to this is in very late lactation where stage of lactation and low ME intake can interact to reduce the casein fraction and increase the whey fraction in milk and, consequently, reduce the yield of cheese per unit of milk. Milk and dairy products could also provide significant amounts of Se, as selenoproteins, in human diets. Feeding organic Se supplements to dairy cows grazing pastures that are low in Se may also benefit cow health. Research into targetted feeding strategies that make use of feed supplements including oil seeds, vegetable and fish oils, and organic Se supplements would increase the management options available to dairy farmers for the production of milks that differ in their composition. Given appropriate market signals, milk could be produced with lower concentrations of fat or higher levels of unsaturated fats, including CLA, and/or high concentrations of selenoproteins. This has the potential to allow the farmer to find a higher value market for milk and improve the competitiveness of the dairy manufacturer by enabling better matching of the supply of dairy products to the demands of the market.


To study Moroccan saffron germplasm variability relating to different agro-morphological and phenological traits, 969 saffron corms (accessions) were collected from thirteen different sites located in traditional saffron area of Taliouine-Taznakht. The study confirmed a wide range of phenotypic variability within and between populations. The variance analysis revealed that the mother corm weight (MCW), taken as covariant, has significant effect on all studied traits. The difference within and between origins (Provenances) was highly significant for all traits, which showed highly significant correlation. The flowers number (NF) as well as the number of daughter corms weighing above 7 g per plant (NDC≥7) turned out to be the most determinant parameters of saffron yield. The produced FN per corm varied from 1 to 9 with an average of 2.2 flowers. P1 population recorded a flowering rate of 65.5% with a maximum average of NF (2). Stigmat length (SL), which is an important yield trait, showed wide variation between origins from 32 to 38 mm. The mean stigma dry weight (DSW) varied from 4.2 to 6.2 mg with a maximum of 7.1 mg per flower recorded in P1. The PCA revealed 5 homogeneous main groups inside the studied populations. The first one was monoorganogenic and consisted of P1 population only, a group characterized by high values of MCW, NF, NDC≥7 and DSW. This study confirms as well a noticeable influence of corm origin on saffron yield, explained by the genotypic profile and/or the epigenetic effects of the different origins. These results proved a variability which should be useful to the selection program aiming the improvement of saffron productivity in Morocco.

 Key words: Variability, agro-morphological traits, phenological traits, saffron corms, Morocco.


R ecent comments from Harvard President Lawrence Summers have sparked heated discussion in the United States and abroad about possible inherent (that is, genetic) differences between women and men. The debate concerns whether these differences might explain the paucity of women in elite science, engineering, and technology (SET) careers. The issue really amounts to possible differences at the high extremes of ability distributions, but the available evidence is that any inherent differences are swamped by social and cultural factors. It is the failure to encourage more women to pursue SET careers, and to maintain their presence in these positions, that requires serious attention. As John Brock, the chief operating officer of Cadbury Schweppes, points out "A diverse workforce … is the best way to expand into new markets and stimulate new business ideas … that's a significant competitive advantage."

In the United Kingdom, we have a pressing need to encourage more women to enter SET careers. The UK government's agenda for economic growth includes a commitment to increase the proportion of gross domestic product spent by both government and industry on R&D. Yet the Institute of Employment Studies predicts that by 2011, only 20% of the workforce will be white, male, able-bodied, and under 45. Eighty percent of future employment growth will be attributable to women.

![Figure][1]

CREDIT: MARK HARMEL/GETTY IMAGES

Industry has recognized the value of an experienced female staff. In 2002, Lord Browne, chief executive of British Petroleum (BP), remarked that "because the management of the industry has been predominantly white and male and Anglo-Saxon, those people have recruited and promoted in their own image." Among other initiatives, BP has appointed a Vice President for Diversity, and Shell Oil holds recruiting events for female engineers at UK universities. Support for female employees during career breaks is becoming more common in UK-based companies, as industry recognizes that diversity is a strategic business issue. Industry has also responded to research showing that diverse teams are harder to manage than homogeneous groups: Absenteeism and staff turnover are higher; communication and social integration take more effort; common values and rules must be established; and the different needs, behaviors, and characteristics of team members must be supported. Team leaders must learn to manage differences of opinion—the very source of the diversity advantage. But the results are worth having: Diverse teams outperform on innovation, problem-solving, flexibility, and decision-making.

The UK's Athena program was established in 1999 to address the shortage of women in SET academic careers and to deliver a significant increase in the number of women recruited to top academic jobs. The Athena Survey of SET (ASSET) report (just released) compares career pathways of more than 6500 men and women in academia and research institutes in the United Kingdom.[*][2] The survey reveals that differences between women's and men's experiences are more marked in academia than in other kinds of research organizations. Men in academic positions are more likely to report that they were encouraged to apply for promotion, as compared with their female colleagues. In academia, women rank annual performance reviews and personal development more highly than men in supporting career progression; in research institutes, the ranking by both sexes is almost identical. Nearly 50% of women in universities feel disadvantaged in terms of salary and promotion, whereas only 15% of male staff recognize this as a problem for their female colleagues.

This is not to say that things haven't improved. When I went up to Cambridge University in the 1970s as an undergraduate, only 16% of all undergraduates were female, with a mere 2% studying physical sciences, and there were no female academic staff in the departments of physics, chemistry, materials science, engineering, or mathematics. Now, Cambridge University has about 49% women undergraduates, of which 10 to 25% study the physical sciences, and 24% of the academic staff in the materials science department are women. At Imperial College (London), our fastest growing engineering course is bioengineering, with an undergraduate intake of 50% women.

Academic research and initiatives such as Athena have been effective in highlighting the benefits of diversity and the management challenges of maintaining a diverse workforce. Industry sees the competitive and financial advantages and has responded. Despite showing the way, academia is being left behind. We must embed in our universities the best practices that we preach.

 [1]: pending:yes
 [2]: #fn-1


Some trees uproot in storms apparently due to root deflections that occur during nursery production. Root deflection in a nursery container may lead to poor anchorage because of insufficient root growth into the landscape soil, and container volume/tree size at planting may influence root deflection. This study was designed to evaluate establishment, root growth, and anchorage six years after planting Acer rubrum L. trees of four different sizes from four corresponding container volumes and maintaining them with two irrigation regimes. Impact of mulch on establishment and root growth was also evaluated. Trees from the largest containers grew slowest in the first three years due primarily to water stress. Trunk tilt during winching tests increased due to greater root deflection, less mass of the root-soil plate, and reduced root growth into the landscape soil with increasing container volume and tree size. In contrast to the poorly anchored larger trees that had most of their large roots retained in the original planted root ball volume, the largest roots on trees from smaller containers grew freely into landscape soil. This resulted in stable trees with many stiff, straight roots pushing down against mineral landscape soil outside the root ball during winching. Trees planted from smaller containers appear to anchor sooner than trees from larger containers and would be more stable in a storm.


In this study, I evaluate the health and economic consequences of a broad-based flu vaccination program. The Ontario Influenza Immunization Campaign was introduced in 2001 and delivers free flu shots to healthy children and adults. This program was novel; historically the flu shot had been recommended only for the elderly or infirm and policy expansion outside these groups continues to be controversial. The Ontario campaign offers a useful policy experiment to address this controversy by evaluating the impact of vaccinating children and younger adults against flu. Given that a simple before and after comparison of Ontario and other provinces may incorrectly attribute all changes in outcomes to the flu shot campaign, I instead develop a triple difference identification strategy that exploits variation in the match of the flu shot to the flu. I find that when the flu shot was a good match against circulating strains of flu, Ontario had substantially greater decreases in illness and lost work-time than other provinces after the introduction of the flu shot campaign. Further, based on the results for hospitalizations alone, an ounce of prevention saves a pound of cure; the program expansion costs approximately $33 million per year while, in an average match season, the program saves $102 million in respiratory hospitalization costs and $64 million in work absence costs. While the results are strongest for children and younger adults, hospitalization rates for those older than 65 fell significantly even though this group experienced no relative change in vaccination. This suggests that increased vaccination of the young has positive externality effects for the elderly.


INTRODUCTION
The objective of this study was to re-classify published germline CDH1 variants identified in gastric cancer (GC) in accordance with the latest ClinVar definition and to correlate their pathogenicity with the established international clinical criteria for genetic testing.

METHODS
The relevant literature dating from 1998 to 2019 was systematically searched for data on CDH1 germline mutations in accord with PRISMA guidelines. The collected variants were classified according to the latest ClinVar definition into the following classes: benign (B), likely benign (LB), pathogenic (P), likely pathogenic (LP), and variant of unknown significance (VUS). The Mc-Nemar test was used to compare the adequacy of current versus previous International GC Linkage Consortium (IGCLC) criteria.

RESULTS
We re-classified a total of 247 CDH1 variants, and we identified that about 70% of B/LB variant carriers were not fulfilling the defined clinical criteria. Instead, all P/LP variants (100%) were associated with the hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC) phenotype fulfilling the 2020 ILGCC criteria, with a significant improvement (p=0.025) compared to previous version.

CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that germline CDH1 genetic testing is indicated only in families meeting the clinical criteria for the HDGC syndrome. This observation suggests that clinical phenotypes that do not clearly fulfill these criteria should not be considered for CDH1 genetic testing.


The Founders sought to protect federal judges' impartiality primarily because those judges would review the political branches' actions. To that end, Article III judges retain their offices during "good behaviour," and Congress cannot reduce their compensation while they are in office. But Article III has taken a curious turn. Article III generally does not prohibit Article I courts or agencies from deciding "public rights" cases, i.e., when the government is a party and seeking to vindicate its own actions and interpretations under federal law against a private party. In contrast, Article III courts generally must resolve cases that concern "private rights," i.e., disputes under state or common law between private parties. In other words, despite Article III's raison d'etre, Article III is less likely to apply when the government is a party seeking to advance interests under federal law, and more likely to apply when the government has little to no interest in the controversy.

This essay for the George Mason Law Review's "Agency Adjudication and the Rule of Law" symposium argues that the ever-expanding, shape-shifting public-rights exception to Article III—as it has developed from abstruse passages in Murray's Lessee v. Hoboken Land & Improvement Co., 59 U.S. (18 How.) 272 (1856)—was neither inevitable nor consonant with Article III purposes or separation-of-powers underpinnings of Due Process. The public-rights exception is best justified, in general, as extending only to those matters that due process does not implicate (and thus those that Congress could have decided on its own). Accordingly, the public-rights exception's domain should have an inverse relationship with Due Process's domain. The essay concludes by considering whether Article III should track traditional notions of due process or modern ones.