Nowadays, the increasing number of end users accessing the Internet and taking advantage of today's data transport capabilities has ignited an explosive demand for bandwidth. One of the next generation access systems that helps to improve this situation by pushing optical fibre closer to the home is called fibre-to-the-home (FTTH). FTTH offers virtually unlimited bandwidth to the subscriber with high splitting ratio, longer fibre span and provide the residential customers with bundled of high speed voice, data and video services.

Generally, the study of FTTH access network by implementing Optical Spectrum Code Division Multiple Access (OSCDMA) technique was presented. This technique is one of the multiplexing schemes that recently have become popular among researchers because of its flexibility in allocating channels, ability to operate asynchronously, enhanced privacy and increased capacity in bursty nature networks. One of the considerations in designing OSCDMA systems is coding. So in this study, we proposed a new code namely Double Weight Code (DWC) with basic fixed weight of 2 that exists for every natural number. The DW codes possess ideal cross correlation properties, that are important characteristics in spectral encoding OCDMA system since these can eliminate multiple user interference and reduce noise. The performance of DW code against Hadamard code is compared through simulation by using OptiSystem version 2.2.

There are two types of FTTH networks; point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multipoint (P2MP) that have been designed for downstream application and both codes are being implemented inside the networks and the performance are characterized through Bit Error Rate (BER), eye opening and Q factor. It is found that DW code is better than Hadamard code for all simulation results at bit rates of 622 Mbps, 1.25 Gbps and 2.5 Gbps. The optimization configuration for P2P network with 16 users, with BER as good as 10-9 value is achieved at 38 km distance for 2.5 Gbps with transmission power set at 0 dBm. While for P2MP network, the other configurations value is still the same like P2P network but the changes only happen at the transmission side. A single light emitting diode (LED) has been used with total transmission power set to 16.4 dBm. The bit rate can only reach up to 1.25 Gbps with distance up to 20 km to get the minimal value of BER. However the results on P2MP network shows enhancements offered by erbium doped fibre amplifier (EDFA) provides longer fibre span, larger distribution to the end user and it is suitable to support high speed gigabit network.


Resisting Our Culture of Conformity: In the Hills of Southern Ohio and in the Groves of Academe Wayne Burns Blue Daylight Books, P.O. Box 805, Alpine, CA 91903. 2006. ISBN 0-9718849-2-7 xxi + 305 pp. US$14.95 It seems safe to say that Wayne Burns is unknown in Britain and that his name is scarcely more familiar, certainly nowadays, in his native USA. Yet he was a Professor of English at the University of Washington in Seattle for over thirty years and during the 1950s and 1960s so enthused his students that many proceeded to disseminate his ideas on politics and literature in their later careers. There were, for example, north of the border, the late John Doheny at the University of British Columbia and Jerry Zaslove at Simon Fraser University, while Art Efron at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Gerald Butler at San Diego State University produced long-running periodicals, Paunch and Recovering Literature respectively, discussing and advancing parasitic anarchism and the Panzaic principle. Parasitic anarchism can be easily explained. Burns believes it no longer possible (and clearly doubts that it ever was) to either overthrow or significantly modify the capitalist system, which controls not only the minds of its citizens but also the choices open to their minds. All that those who somehow manage to avoid this enveloping control can do is to be 'parasites on the body social and the body politic', linking up with other 'parasitic anarchists' and attempting to enjoy life to the full, while shunning all positions of power and even work that contributes to the maintenance and legitimation of the system. Burns's political theory is then a typically gloomy variant of individualist anarchism. It is however directly related to a theory of the novel that is arresting, highly original and demanding of the attention of any dedicated reader of fiction. At the heart of the literature Burns most admires are parasitic anarchists, admittedly not self-aware but nonetheless parasitic and anarchistic: Moll Flanders; Arabella, Jude Fawley's wife, in Jude the Obscure; the Good Soldier Svejk; Ferdinand in Louis-Ferdinand Celine's Death on the Instalment Plan; Zorba the Greek; naturally Shakespeare's Falstaff; and also Sancho Panza, who gives his name to the Panzaic principle. Sancho Panza perpetually refutes, with his bodily needs, materialism and realism, the delusions and idealism of his master, Don Quixote. In a key passage of 'The Panzaic Principle' (1965), Burns's major statement of his literary aesthetic, he contends (and it will now be seen why Efron's journal was called Paunch) that Sancho's belly has not only burst the seams of Venus's girdle, it has given the lie to Dulcinea and in fact all of Don Quixote's ideals - much as Lady Chatterley's guts give the lie to Clifford and his ideals in Lady Chatterley 's Lover. 'My dear, you speak as if you were ushering it all in! [i.e., 'the life of the human body'] ... Believe me, whatever God there is is slowly eliminating the guts and alimentary system from the human being, to evolve a higher, more spiritual being'. 'Why should I believe you, Clifford, when I feel that whatever God there is has at last wakened up in my guts, as you call them, and is rippling so happily there, like Dawn? Why should I believe you, when I feel so very much the contrary?' Burns comments that 'in life the tightness of the guts (as against the mind) will depend on one's point of view'; but he believes that 'in Lawrence's as in all other novels, however, the guts are always right...' He had started out in 1951 by arguing that any 'serious' novelist was a revolutionary, 'never at one with his society and its values': 'he has to be free to function as a 'licensed madman and revolutionary' - the way all great novelists have, in fact, been obliged to function'. In 'The Panzaic Principle' he went further, maintaining that it is an axiom or principle of the novel that [the guts] are always right, that the senses of even a fool can give the lie to even the most profound abstractions of the noblest thinker. …


Oxidized and/or glycated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) may mediate capillary injury in diabetic retinopathy. The mechanisms may involve pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant effects on retinal capillary pericytes. In this study, these effects, and the protective effects of pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF), were defined in a primary human pericyte model. Human retinal pericytes were exposed to 100 microg/ml native LDL (N-LDL) or heavily oxidized glycated LDL (HOG-LDL) with or without PEDF at 10-160 nM for 24 h. To assess pro-inflammatory effects, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) secretion was measured by ELISA, and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation was detected by immunocytochemistry. Oxidative stress was determined by measuring intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), peroxynitrite (ONOO(-)) formation, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression, and nitric oxide (NO) production. The results showed that MCP-1 was significantly increased by HOG-LDL, and the effect was attenuated by PEDF in a dose-dependent manner. PEDF also attenuated the HOG-LDL-induced NF-kappaB activation, suggesting that the inhibitory effect of PEDF on MCP-1 was at least partially through the blockade of NF-kappaB activation. Further studies demonstrated that HOG-LDL, but not N-LDL, significantly increased ONOO(-) formation, NO production, and iNOS expression. These changes were also alleviated by PEDF. Moreover, PEDF significantly ameliorated HOG-LDL-induced ROS generation through up-regulation of superoxide dismutase 1 expression. Taken together, these results demonstrate pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant effects of HOG-LDL on retinal pericytes, which were effectively ameliorated by PEDF. Suppressing MCP-1 production and thus inhibiting macrophage recruitment may represent a new mechanism for the salutary effect of PEDF in diabetic retinopathy and warrants more studies in future.


Using Italian data on standardized test scores, we show that the substantial heterogeneity in how performance changes with the position of questions can alter the rank of individuals and classes as the length of the test increases. We examine whether decomposing test scores into initial performance and performance decline allows to separate the influence of cognitive and non-cognitive skills and find that our measure of cognitive skills – the math grade before the test – not only has a dominant influence on initial performance but also affects substantially performance decline.


As with all great and complex machines, the Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA) committee needs regular care to run smoothly so that it can successfully complete the job it was designed to perform. Like any machine, it stutters and coughs when a screw comes loose or a wrench falls in the engine. Keen attention to its operations and the quality of its output is required, as is a strong commitment to updating and upgrading the machine to keep it in top working order. The BBYA committee faces challenges as a committee, as a group of people with different life ways, outlooks, ideas, and practices who are brought together to meet a broad charge and achieve a demanding goal. Through a series of interviews with former BBYA members, publishers, and authors, this article will examine both the hardships that go into creating the BBYA lists as well as the list's achievement. Common challenges for the BBYA committee include interpersonal challenges, such as poorly performing members or a demographic makeup that's somewhat homogenous, but the single greatest challenge BBYA members face is the volume of books and the time required to read them. "The number of books to consider just grows and grows," Mary Arnold said in an interview. Arnold, the regional teen manager at Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Public Library, noted that this is "a happy problem, but a challenge for the committee to truly read and consider everything available." Donna McMillen, senior library manager in the King County (Wash.) Library System, said in an interview that she can't imagine how she handled the "tremendous" amount of books. "Looking back, I wonder at how I was able to do it. You end up taking time out from many of your interests for several years." Indeed, former chair Erin Pierce, teen coordinator at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, admits during an interview to being overwhelmed. "I literally did nothing outside my full-time job but read for a year of my life, and I still felt like I didn't do justice to creating nominations." There is no doubt the BBYA committee has hills to climb and obstacles to overcome. Is it worth it? Although many might like to see changes to the process and to the lists, no one seems willing to imagine a world without each year's BBYA list in it. The lists are highly appreciated and utilized, as are the library professionals who create them. In the words of Canadian publisher Colleen MacMillan: "A group of dedicated and knowledgeable librarians who have committed their time and energy to reading, evaluating, and creating annual lists of great books for teens and the teen-serving community? Is this real? Pinch me." Among what is likely a lengthy list of benefits of the BBYA committee's work is a selection of commonly expressed themes. First and foremost, the work of the BBYA committee fosters an awareness of the variety and quality of teen literature published for teens and adults. In the opinions of some librarians, this awareness sets the stage for the Printz Award. Beyond this, the BBYA committee and its lists both set and raise professional standards, promote professional recognition, enhance professional development, provide local and national connections for teens, provide readers' advisory and collection development assistance so that outstanding reading connections with teens can be made, and encourage links with authors and publishers. Professional Standards, Recognition, and Development In addition to giving credibility to literature for teens, the BBYA committee sets an example for how professionals and readers at large might evaluate this teen literature to identify, promote, and even encourage works that not only attract and resonate with teen readers, but that are exceptionally well-crafted. The committee's demonstrated commitment to teens, to literary tools for teens, and to feedback from teens regarding the world of teen literature also sets a standard. …


Abstract. The general objective of this study is to estimate the performance of the Horizontal Roughing Filter (HRF) by using Weglin's design criteria based on 1/3–2/3 filter theory. The main objective of the present study is to validate HRF developed in the laboratory with Slow Sand Filter (SSF) as a pretreatment unit with the help of Weglin's design criteria for HRF with respect to raw water condition and neuro-genetic model developed based on the filter dataset. The results achieved from the three different models were compared to find whether the performance of the experimental HRF with SSF output conforms to the other two models which will verify the validity of the former. According to the results, the experimental setup was coherent with the neural model but incoherent with the results from Weglin's formula as lowest mean square error was observed in case of the neuro-genetic model while comparing with the values found from the experimental SSF-HRF unit. As neural models are known to learn a problem with utmost efficiency, the model verification result was taken as positive.


Current understanding of the extent, causes for, and consequences of variation in nutrient composition in plants is limited. Important questions to be addressed include to what extent nutrients covary, how flexible nutrient ratios are within a population or species, how reproduction influences nutrient ratios, and how much the ratios of nutrients to mass and nutrients to each other change through ontogeny. This information is needed to assess the physiological and ecological consequences of plant nutrient composition and to what extent plants function as balanced systems in acquisition and allocation of resources. We studied the variation in nutrient stoichiometry (i.e., the ratio between contents of different nutrients within a plant) in relation to three factors: (1) environmental availability of nitrogen, (2) plant size, and (3) reproductive status. We investigated these questions in 11 populations of the carnivorous plant Pinguicula vulgaris in northern Scandinavia. Dry mass and N and P content were measured for reproductive and vegetative portions of flowering individuals and for winter buds corresponding to four reproductive states: control reproductive individuals, experimentally vegetative individuals (from which flower buds were removed), adult vegetative individuals, and individuals below the threshold size for reproduction. (N), (P), and to a lesser extent, N and P content were positively related to soil N, but not to prey capture. Nutrient stoichiometry was also size dependent; in general, small plants were relatively enriched in N and relatively depleted in P compared to larger plants. Re- productive status affected not only size, but also nutrient stoichiometry of the resulting winter bud. Winter buds derived from reproductive individuals had a higher (N) and lower (P) than those of the different types of nonreproductive individuals. Our findings indicate that studies of nutrient stoichiometry in plants must go beyond links between environmental and plant nutrient concentrations to consider internal processes such as growth and repro- duction.


No American writer of the 19th century was more universally enjoyed and admired than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. His works were extraordinary bestsellers for their era, achieving fame both here and abroad. Now, for the first time in over 25 years. Poems and Other Writings offers a full-scale literary portrait of America's greatest popular poet. Here are the poems that created an American mythology: Evangeline in the forest primeval, Hiawatha by the shores of Gitchee Gumee, the midnight ride of Paul Revere, the wreck of the Hesperus, the village blacksmith under the spreading chestnut tree, the strange courtship of Miles Standish, the maiden Priscilla and the hesitant John Alden; verses, like "A Psalm of Life" and the "The Children's Hour", whose phrases and characters have become part of the culture. Erudite and fluent in many languages, Longfellow was endlessly fascinated with the byways of history and the curiosities of legend. His many poems on literary themes, such as his moving homages to Dante and Chaucer, his verse translations from Lope de Vega, Heinrich Heine, and Michelangelo, and his ambitious verse dramas, notably The New England Tragedies (also complete), are remarkable in their range and ambition. As a special feature, this volume restores to print Longfellow's novel Kavanagh, a study of small-town life and literary ambition that was praised by Emerson as an important contribution to the development of American fiction. A selection of essays rounds out of the volume and provides testimony to Longfellow's concern with creating an American national literature.


Anarchist, journalist, drama critic, advocate of birth control and free love, Emma Goldman was the most famous - and notorious - woman in the early twentieth century. This abridged version of her two-volume autobiography takes her from her birthplace in czarist Russia to the socialist enclaves of Manhattan's Lower East Side. Against a dramatic backdrop of political argument, show trials, imprisonment, and tempestuous romances, Goldman chronicles the epoch that she helped shape: the reform movements of the Progressive Era, the early years of and later disillusionment with Lenin's Bolshevik experiment, and more. Sounding a call still heard today, "Living My Life" is a riveting account of political ferment and ideological turbulence.


Hyperthermic responses are commonly reported in cases of human medical emergency following recreational use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy"), but a precise determination of contributing environmental factors has been elusive given the relative scarcity of threatening and fatal reactions in humans. This study was conducted to determine if elevated physical activity contributes to hyperthermic responses to MDMA in a well controlled animal model. Unrestrained male Wistar rats were monitored with minimally-invasive radiotelemetry techniques following challenge with MDMA (1.0, 5.6 and 10.0 mg/kg, s.c.). Studies were conducted in low (23-25°C) and high (27°C) ambient temperature (TA), with and without access to an activity wheel. The study confirmed dose dependent effects on body temperature, chamber activity and wheel activity which were modified by different TA conditions. Increases in wheel and home chamber activity produced by 10 mg/kg MDMA increased the magnitude of hyperthermia under 27°C TA. Furthermore, greater subject mortality was observed in the wheel-access condition compared with the no-wheel condition. These data provide direct evidence that sustained physical activity increases the hyperthermic response to MDMA and that this is associated with increased lethality. This is the first direct experimental confirmation that increased physical activity may be a risk factor for adverse reactions to MDMA in human user populations.


Abstract. This study validates trace gas and thermodynamic retrievals from nadir infrared spectroscopic measurements recorded by the UK Met Office Airborne Research Interferometer Evaluation System (ARIES) – a thermal infrared, Fourier transform spectrometer (TIR-FTS) on the UK Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 aircraft. Trace-gas-concentration and thermodynamic profiles have been retrieved and validated for this study throughout the troposphere and planetary boundary layer (PBL) over a range of environmental variability using data from aircraft campaigns over and around London, the US Gulf Coast, and the Arctic Circle during the Clear air for London (ClearfLo), Joint Airborne IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) Validation Experiment (JAIVEx), and Measurements, process studies, and Modelling (MAMM) aircraft campaigns, respectively. Vertically resolved retrievals of temperature and water vapour (H2O), and partial-column retrievals of methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3) (over both land and sea) were compared to corresponding measurements from high-precision in situ analysers and dropsondes operated on the FAAM aircraft. Average degrees of freedom for signal (DOFS) over a 0–9 km column range were found to be 4.97, 3.11, 0.91, 1.10, and 1.62 for temperature, H2O, CH4, CO, and O3, respectively, when retrieved on 10 vertical levels. Partial-column mean biases (and bias standard error) between the surface and ~ 9 km, when averaged across all flight campaigns, were found to be −0.7(±0.3) K, −479(±56) ppm, −11(±2) ppb, −3.3(±1.0) ppb, and +3.5(±1.0) ppb, respectively, whilst the typical a posteriori (total) uncertainties for individually retrieved profiles were 0.4, 9.5, 5.0, 21.2, and 15.0 %, respectively. Averaging kernels (AKs) derived for progressively lower altitudes show improving sensitivity to lower atmospheric layers when flying at lower altitudes. Temperature and H2O display significant vertically resolved sensitivity throughout the column, whilst trace gases are usefully retrieved only as partial-column quantities, with maximal sensitivity for trace gases other than H2O within a layer 1 and 2 km below the aircraft. This study demonstrates the valuable atmospheric composition information content that can be obtained by ARIES nadir TIR remote sensing for atmospheric process studies.


"A vivid portrait of a complex man in the volatile world of Oklahoma Indian life from 1873 to 1908 . . . The book combines excellent historical scholarship with penetrating insight into a complicated personality and the turbulent politics of Indian Territory".-Choice. "[A] splendid portrayal of Posey as a pacesetter in Indian literature and a cogent political force in expressing Creek public opinion about allotment, tribal termination, and the many Congressional restrictions placed on land ownership".-Tulsa World. "A well-researched biography, Alex Posey also provides fresh insight into the Creek nation and its society during the turmoil of the late 1800s and the turn of this century. . . . A model for understanding other tribes".-Journal of American History. Most of Alexander Posey's short and remarkable life was devoted to literary pursuits. Through a widely circulated satirical column published under the pseudonym Fus Fixico, he did much to document and draw attention to conditions in Indian Territory. He rose to prominence among the Creeks and played a leading role as spokesman on a number of serious political issues. Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. has written the first full biography of Alexander Posey, a pioneer of American Indian literature and a shaper of public opinion. Daniel F. Littlefield Jr. is a professor of English at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and director of the American Native Press Archives. He is the editor, with Carol A. Petty Hunter, of Alexander Posey's Fus Fixico Letters (Nebraska 1993).


We investigate inattention on the part of pension plan participants using a dataset covering savings in Sweden's Premium Pension System. These data permit direct comparison of the investment behaviours of pension and retail mutual fund investors. Unlike retail mutual fund investors, pension investors do not seem to react to past fund performance. This behaviour means that pension investors face a greater risk of being caught in poorly performing funds. Our evidence suggests that inertia and inattention to past performance may translate into poorer investment results for pension investors. We discuss a potential change in the design of defined contribution pension schemes that may mitigate costs for inattentive investors while maintaining flexibility for attentive investors.


Once every generation or so, entire fields of law require a full reset. We need to rethink basic premises, ask new questions, and even recast the role of law itself. This moment has come for the law governing migration. Seasoned observers of immigration and refugee law have developed answers to core questions that emerged a generation ago. But their answers often fail to engage coherently with the daunting challenges posed by migration in this anxious age. To try to do better, I undertake four inquiries. In isolation they may seem familiar, but I combine them here in new ways to find a path forward.

Part I starts by analyzing how U.S. immigration law and immigrants' rights have come to be argued in civil rights terms. This trend reflects a nation-centered perspective on migration and justice that has tried—though often failed—to expand legal protections for noncitizens, including noncitizens without lawful status. But viewing immigration law through a civil rights lens has limits and costs, not only for migrants and noncitizen residents, but also for longtime U.S. citizens.

Part II examines "forced migrants"—people fleeing dire situations under duress. A civil rights framework misses much of what makes their claims so compelling. Refugee law emerged in the mid-twentieth century to address their plight, but only as a narrow exception that did not challenge the basic ideas of national sovereignty and borders. Refugee law is too narrow legally and too fragile politically to deal coherently with the many forced migrants who do not fit the formal definition of "refugee."

Part III responds by sketching a broader role for migration law. I start by asking: what is the relationship between temporary and permanent admissions, and what is the relationship between migration and citizenship? The answers depend on both why people migrate and why they want to stay in destination countries or instead return. What matters are conditions in countries of origin, especially security, governance, human rights, and economic development. Migration law has too often left these topics to ad hoc arrangements that can do as much harm as good. Here the new migration law can play a constructive role that is as yet untapped.

Just as Part III asks what causes migration, Part IV considers what migration causes. In destination countries, politics often reflect anxieties about immigration—much of it expressed in economic terms, but often fundamentally cultural, racial, or religious anxieties. Addressing economic anxieties is essential for exposing cultural, racial, or religious anxiety for what it is. This effort requires correcting a serious shortcoming of a civil rights approach to migration: its tendency to neglect economic justice inside destination countries.

These four inquiries combine to draw a roadmap for the new migration law.


The abuse of flunitrazepam (FZ) compounds is worldwide, and several studies have reflected on the consequences with regard to violence, aggression and criminal lifestyle of FZ users. Criminals take high doses of FZ or some other benzodiazepines to "calm down" before the planned crime. There is support from earlier studies that most likely, all benzodiazepines may increase aggression in vulnerable males. Chronic intake of high doses of FZ increases aggression in male rats. Because psychopathy involves aggression, we have examined whether psychopathy as well as any of the four facets of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle and Antisocial) are related to different substance use disorders, with the focus on FZ. We have also examined the relationship between each PCL-R item and FZ use. Participants were 114 male offenders aged 14–35 years, all of whom were convicted for severe, predominantly violent, offences. Substance use, including FZ, was not more common in those who scored high in psychopathy. Use of FZ was more common in offenders who scored high in Facet 4 (Antisocial) of the PCL-R (odds ratio = 4.30, 95% CI 1.86–9.94). Only one of the PCL-R items, "Criminal versatility", was significantly associated with FZ use (odds ratio = 3.7). It may be concluded that intake of FZ has a specific relationship to only one of the facets and not to psychopathy per se. The findings have also important theoretical implications because Facet 4 is not a key factor of the construct of psychopathy. Clinical implications of the article: We have used the new two-factor and four-facet theoretical model of psychopathy in the young offender population, many of them with one or more substance use disorders. The present results suggest that antisocial behavior defined by Facet 4 (poor behavioral control, early behavior problems, juvenile delinquency, revocation of conditional release and criminal versatility) in the studied subjects is more typical for FZ users than it is for non-FZ users. This may have implications for assessment and treatment. Clinicians should be aware that criminals with high scores on Facet 4 have a more than fourfold odds of being a FZ user. This conclusion has an important clinical implication because FZ abuse is very common and is not always the focus of a forensic psychiatric assessment.


Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is fairly a recent technique that uses a non-consumable rotating welding tool to generate frictional heat and plastic deformation at the welding location while the material is in solid state. The principal advantages are low distortion, absence of melt related defects and high joint strength. Tool design and material plays a vital role in addition to the important parameters like tool rotational speed, welding speed and axial force. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process to join materials by generating frictional heat between a rotating tool and materials being welded. It was invented at The Welding Institute (TWI), Cambridge (U.K.) in 1991. Since then FSW has become a major joining process in the aerospace, railway and ship building industries especially in the fabrication of aluminium alloys. It is difficult to weld the aluminium alloys, using arc welding, gas welding and other welding processes. Friction Stir Welding on the other hand, can be used to join most Al alloys and better surface finish is achieved. Although the work piece does heat up during friction stir weld, the temperature does not reach the melting point. In this research work, rotational speed and traversing speed was considered for friction stir welding butt joint of Al alloy 2014 T4 & 6061 T6 alloys and further mechanical properties such as tensile strength, Vickers hardness and micro structure was studied.


Theory development and theory testing are two primary processes in social science research. Statistical methods and tools are used in various stages of these processes. Information systems researchers have employed many statistical methods and tools for theory testing. However, very few statistical approaches are known to help researchers with theory development. In this paper, we introduce TETRAD as a powerful approach to aid researchers in developing and discovering new theoretical relationships. We illustrate the TETRAD approach by re-analyzing data from two articles published in premier information systems journals. The results from the previous examples demonstrate that TETRAD is a useful tool for uncovering potential theoretical relationships, especially when prior knowledge of underlying theory bases is lacking. We demonstrate that TETRAD is an effective and powerful statistical tool that can assist researchers in the iterative process of theory development.


Trust funds – broadly defined as financial vehicles to channel development funding earmarked for specific purposes through international development organizations – have grown substantially over the past two decades. Reflecting the variety of trust fund purposes and related governance arrangements, an emergent literature emphasizes a diversity of reasons underlying this growth. This paper proposes a simple – yet encompassing – explanation applicable to all kinds of funds: donors use trust funds to wield 'influence' – leveraging financial resources to alter the policies of multilateral organizations. Based on interviews at the World Bank, the study shows that influence is a dominant motive behind trust funds, though the capacity and willingness to wield influence varies across donors. Influence is a salient motive especially for medium-sized donors and emerging donors but surprisingly less so for large donors. In addition, attempts of influence are most effective when donors promote new thematic issues that did not previously feature Bank assistance and outside established programs. Concerns among stakeholders about undue donor influence are highest with respect to the global knowledge work of the World Bank but are virtually absent when involving donors in the operational activities at the country level.


Precision luminosity calibration is critical to determine fundamental parameters of the standard model and to constrain or to discover beyond-the-standard-model phenomena at LHC. The luminosity determination at the LHC interaction point 5 with the CMS detector, using proton-proton collisions at 13 and 5.02 TeV during Run 2 of the LHC (2015–2018), is reported. The absolute luminosity scale is obtained using beam-separation ("van der Meer") scans. The dominant sources of systematic uncertainty are related to the knowledge of the scale of the beam separation pro-vided by LHC magnets and the factorisability between the spatial components of the proton bunch density distributions in the transverse direction. When applying the van der Meer calibration to the entire data-taking period, a substantial contribution to the total uncertainty in the integrated luminosity originates from the measurement of the detector linearity and stability.


This study explores how mechanistic learning affects participants' knowledge and opinions of GMOs, as well as retention of knowledge and opinions. Two surveys were distributed to UNT, undergraduates before and after they read an informational passage on the process of genetic modification and recent research on GMO safety. Responses to multiple choice and free response questions allowed insight into their knowledge and opinions of GMOs. This study was predicated upon a study at University of California-Berkeley that used mechanistic knowledge to educate participants about the issue of climate change. Like the climate-change study, participants' knowledge increased after reading the informational passage, and they were more accepting of GMOs even several days after reading the passage. Together, these studies indicate that mechanistic knowledge is a useful tool for educating the public on controversial, scientific issues.


Do you wish you could think faster, remember more, comprehend new information quickly? Now you can! By applying breakthrough scientific discoveries and logical insights into your mind, you can discover incredible mental powers that lie untapped in your brain. Within the pages of this book is a proven step-by-step program - based upon easy-to-use, scientifically-based tools and techniques - that is guaranteed to double your brain power. These simple short-cuts to power thinking help unlock the hidden abilites of your mind and make your mental powers soar. You'll discover, for example, how these remarkable methods can help you... Instantly identify hidden meanings in people's conversation Absorb facts like a sponge - and repeat them almost word for word years later Solve math, business, and financial problems in half the time it takes you today Zip through complicated reports with ease Evaluate information and put it to practical use immediately Read and comprehend a book in as little as 30 minutes Burn facts, figures, and even whole books, into your memory And using twice as much of your brain doesn't have to take twice as much effort. You simply learn how to use your brain more efficiently - producing double the results without using any more mental energy than before. With "Double Your Brain Power," you'll see how to pass any mental challenge that's thrown your way...how to have every fact you've learned right at your fingertips...and how to leap light years beyond others in your ability to comprehend and respond to every mental challenge.


Abstract. Primer transportation is one of the most costly and time consuming forestry activities in extraction of timber from forest lands. Transportation methods are essentially determined based on terrain characteristics, especially ground slope. Besides, unsuitable machine selection and unplanned operations may cause ecological damages such as soil disturbance. Soil damage can lead to long term impacts on forest ecosystem. Thus, the optimum transportation methods should be determined by considering not only economic factors but also topographical factors and soil conditions. In recent decades, some of the advanced features of Geographical Information System (GIS) assist decision makers to solve such complex transportation problems with various constraints. In this study, it was aimed to plan forest transportation operation by using GIS integrated Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, considering ground slope, soil type, and available transportation equipment in the region. This method was implemented within the border of Inegol Forest Enterprise Chief in the city of Bursa in Turkey. Alternative transportation method included cable system, chute system, skidder, and farm tractor. GIS-based method integrated with AHP found that skidder was the optimal transportation method for about 60% of the study area, while farm tractor was the second most suitable method with 25% ground cover. The results indicated that GIS-based decision support systems can be effectively used as rational, quick, and economic tool for forest transportation planning.


Modern triathlon originated in San Diego in 1974. It transitioned from multisport novelty to global sporting movement after an event colloquially known as the Hawaiian Ironman gained worldwide attention in the early 1980s. The ultradistance triathlon consolidated into a commercial entity, while another arm of the sport embraced Olympism. Both the Ironman and Olympic arms of the sport promoted a collective memory of triathlon that suited their respective claims to authenticity. In the process, they rendered the individual and collective memory of early everyday proponents of the sport irrelevant. When I set out to write an inclusive history of triathlon in Australia, I discovered a deeper and more complex triathlon memory in the form of oral traditions and dispersed historical records held by what one nostalgic Facebook group referred to as "The Old Hands." In this paper, I reflect on the critical triathlon memory presented by the "Old Hands" and look for ways to escape acts of memory that center on these competing claims to authenticity. As part of my search for a suitable model for an inclusive digital triathlon archive that might facilitate the emergence of alternate narratives, I examine the notion of the fragment, as it relates to individual memory, historical records, and digital content, and the potential that participatory digital mechanisms hold for inducing diverse acts of social memory; and explore the possibility that a geospatial mechanism may provide an effective visual and organizational tool.


Given an i.i.d. sample drawn from a density f, we propose to test that f equals some prescribed density f 0 or that f belongs to some translation/scale family. We introduce a multiple testing procedure based on an estimation of the L 2 -distance between f and f 0 or between f and the parametric family that we consider. For each sample size n, our test has level of significance a. In the case of simple hypotheses, we prove that our test is adaptive: it achieves the optimal rates of testing established by Ingster [J. Math. Sci. 99 (2000) 1110-1119] over various classes of smooth functions simultaneously. As for composite hypotheses, we obtain similar results up to a logarithmic factor. We carry out a simulation study to compare our procedures with the Kolmogorov-Smimov tests, or with goodness-of-fit tests proposed by Bickel and Ritov [in Nonparametric Statistics and Related Topics (1992) 51-57] and by Kallenberg and Ledwina [Ann. Statist. 23 (1995) 1594-1608].


Commentators from Bill Crosby to Barack Obama have observed the phenomenon of black schoolchildren accusing studious classmates of "acting white". How did this contentious phrase, with roots in Jim Crow-era racial discord, become a part of the schoolyard lexicon, and what does it say about the state of racial identity in the American system of education? The answer, writes Stuart Buck in this frank and thoroughly researched book, lies in the complex history of desegregation. Although it arose from noble impulses and was to the overall benefit of the nation, racial desegregation was often implemented in a way that was devastating to black communities. It frequently destroyed black schools, reduced the numbers of black principals who could serve as role models, and made school a strange and uncomfortable environment for black children, a place many viewed as quintessentially "white'. Drawing on research in education, history, and sociology as well as articles, interviews, and personal testimony, Buck reveals the unexpected result of desegregation and suggests practical solutions for making racial identification a positive force in the classroom.


An ultralow equivalent magnetic noise of 6.2 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz was obtained in a bimorph heterostructure sensor unit consisting of longitudinal-magnetized Metglas layers and a transverse-poled 1 mol. % Mn-doped Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-29PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) single crystal. Furthermore, the equivalent magnetic noise was ≤1 pT/√Hz at 10 Hz. Compared with previously reported multi-push-pull configuration Metglas/PMN-PT sensor units, the current heterostructure exhibits a higher magnetoelectric coefficient of 61.5 V/(cm × Oe), a similar equivalent magnetic noise at 1 Hz and a lower noise floor at several hertz range. The ultralow equivalent magnetic noise in this sensor unit is due to the low tangent loss and ultrahigh piezoelectric properties of Mn-doped PMN-PT single crystals.


In recent years, due to the intensive use of information technology, the information security has become a crucial and strategic issue in organizational management. Various standards and guidelines for security information as ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27002, and COBIT have been developed; however, organizations still face difficulties in their implementation. This paper presents the current situation of the ISO/IEC 27001 implementation process in Peruvian public organizations. As a result of literature review, the critical success factors for successful implementation of ISO/IEC 7001 were identified. Furthermore, it was conducted a review of the ISO/IEC 27001 implementation in five organizations, taking into consideration the critical success factors identified. From the results obtained, it is concluded that there is the need for considering not only technical, legal, and organizational issues but also factors related to people such as training, knowledge and awareness raising in order to get success of information security management.


In this article I present behavioural analyses of particular constructions of democracy and the ethic of care, in order to determine whether care is a democratic virtue. I analyse Carol Gilligan's concept of care as a complex of six virtues or behavioural dispositions: acquaintance, mindfulness, moral imagining, solidarity, tolerance and self-care. I then describe democracy in terms of two divergent but compatible sets of practices: social non-interference and social co-operation. These behavioural analyses lead me to conclude that certain behavioural habits that partially constitute a person's or a community's caring also partially constitute that person's or community's democracy. Specifically, the caring virtues of acquaintance, mindfulness, moral imagining and self-care also belong to the virtue of democratic co-operation, and the caring virtue of tolerance constitutes the democratic ideal of non-interference. However, solidarity of conscience and private purposes is not itself a democratic ideal, and to try to make it so would violate the democratic ideal of non-interference. Since most of the virtues of care I identified are also virtues of democracy, they are appropriate aims of public education. The enculturation of caring and democratic virtues requires that children practise the kind of inquiry in which these ideals are constructed.


Whereas the theoretical approaches to the problem of space in social sciences have been problematised in the wake of "spacial turn" and discussed broadly in the recent years, there is still a need for empirical research relating spacing practices with religion. As it's going to be discussed in the first part of this article, space has been the central category for religious studies since the very beginning. However, the empirical studies of religious space as a product and as a mean of communicative actions are still lacking. Taking the overview of the state of research on space and religion as a point of departure, the second part of this article is being dedicated to empirical analysis of spacing practices. There is not the analysis of the very different constitutions of space within the belief systems of different religions but rather a hermeneutic reconstruction of spacing practices on the example of silent meditation ritual (also known as mindfulness meditation) based on a videographical material recorded during a silent meditation retreat in Buddhist meditation centre in Germany. Drawing on spacing as a concept that relates materiality and sociality of space into account [Löw 2001] and bringing space in close relationship with communication and body [Knoblauch 2017], the empirical analysis focuses 1) on material objectivation of the religious as a product of communicative actions of the social actors involved in the design, construction and utilisation of religious spaces, 2) on the question in what way and through what means the organisation of ritual spaces influences the structure of religious rituals and vice versa. Since the paper understands rituals as forms of communicative, or more precisely symbolic action [Soeffner 2004; 2010], the main concern of this paper is not only how ritual spaces are shaped in their materiality through translocal, polycontextual and mediatised communicative actions, but much more how ritual spaces are being constructed through the relational arrangement of social actors, objects and technologies insofar that we are able to speak about the ritualisation of the space and ritualisation of religious practices at the interface between the materiality and sociality of the religious.


OBJECTIVES
The most common vestibular disorders seen in the emergency department (ED) are benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and acute peripheral vestibulopathy (APV; i.e., vestibular neuritis or labyrinthitis). BPPV and APV are two very distinct disorders that have different clinical presentations that require different diagnostic and treatment strategies. BPPV can be diagnosed without imaging and is treated with canalith-repositioning maneuvers. APV sometimes requires neuroimaging by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to exclude posterior fossa stroke mimics and should be treated with vestibular sedatives and corticosteroids. We sought to determine if emergency physicians (EPs) apply best practices to diagnose and treat these common vestibular disorders.

METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of ED visits from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS). A weighted sample of U.S. ED visits (1993-2005) was used. Patients at least 16 years of age who were given a final ED diagnosis of BPPV (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision [ICD-9], 386.11) or APV (ICD-9 386.12 or 386.3x) comprised the study population. The frequency of imaging and drug therapy in those diagnosed as BPPV or APV versus controls was the main outcome measure.

RESULTS
A total of 9,472 dizzy patient visits were sampled over 13 years (weighted estimate 33.6 million U.S. ED visits over that period). A weighted estimate of 2.5 million patients (7.4%) were given a vestibular diagnosis, mostly BPPV (weighted 0.2 million) or APV (weighted 1.9 million). Patients given BPPV (19%) and APV (19%) diagnoses were more likely to undergo imaging (all by computed tomography [CT]) than controls (7%; p < 0.001). Patients given BPPV (58%) and APV (70%) diagnoses were more likely to receive meclizine than controls (0.1%; p < 0.001). Corticosteroid administration was rarely documented (2% BPPV, 1% APV).

CONCLUSIONS
Patients given a vestibular diagnosis in the ED may not be managed optimally. Patients given BPPV and APV diagnoses undergo imaging (predominantly CT) with equal frequency, suggesting overuse of CT (BPPV) and probably underuse of MRI (APV). Most patients diagnosed with BPPV are given meclizine, which is not indicated. Specific therapy for APV (corticosteroids) is probably underutilized. Educational initiatives and clinical guidelines merit consideration.


The article analyzes the impact of the economic and financial crisis on foreign direct investments flows by trying to explain in the beginning the causes of the current sub-prime crisis that started in the US through a chronological presentation of the events that took place on the international arena. Afterwards, the focus of the analysis restrains to the case of Romania: main investors in Romania, economic sectors that received most of the foreign direct investments, industries where new jobs were created, companies with foreign shareholders established. On the short run, it is considered that the negative impact of the global economic and financial crisis on the global flow of foreign direct investments will remain dominant, contributing thus to its continuous decrease in 2009, with the mention that decreases will be recorded at all levels. Still, some factors like investment opportunities given by the reduced asset prices and industrial restructuring, the existence of financial resources in emergent economies and petrol exporting countries, the rapid expansion of new activities such as unconventional energy resources could contribute to the revitalization of the international investments flows.


Background. Objective measurement of plastic brain changes induced by a novel rehabilitative approach is a key requirement for validating its biological rationale linking the potential therapeutic gains to the changes in brain physiology. Objective. Based on an emerging notion linking cortical plastic changes to EEG sleep slow-wave activity (SWA) regulation, we aimed to assess the acute plastic changes induced by an imitation-based speech therapy in individuals with aphasia by comparing sleep SWA changes before and after therapy. Methods. A total of 13 left-hemispheric stroke patients underwent language assessment with the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) before and after 2 consecutive high-density (hd) EEG sleep recordings interleaved by a daytime session of imitation-based speech therapy (Intensive Mouth Imitation and Talking for Aphasia Therapeutic Effects [IMITATE]). This protocol is thought to stimulate bilateral connections between the inferior parietal lobule and the ventral premotor areas. Results. A single exposure to IMITATE resulted in increases in local EEG SWA during subsequent sleep over the same regions predicted by the therapeutic rationale, particularly over the right hemisphere (unaffected by the lesion). Furthermore, changes in SWA over the left-precentral areas predicted changes in WAB repetition scores in our group, supporting the role of perilesional areas in predicting positive functional responses. Conclusions. Our results suggest that SWA changes occurring in brain areas activated during imitation-based aphasia therapy may reflect the acute plastic changes induced by this intervention. Further testing will be needed to evaluate SWA as a non-invasive assessment of changes induced by the therapy and as a predictor of positive long-term clinical outcome.


Introduction: The abdomen is an important aesthetic functional segment in the characterization of the body contour. In abdominoplasty, the placement and shape of the umbilical scar are important for a satisfactory result. This study aimed to describe the technique of vertical omphaloplasty and to present the results obtained. Methods: Retrospective longitudinal descriptive study composed of patients who underwent vertical omphaloplasty during classic abdominoplasty between 2014 and 2017. The technique consists of a vertical transcutaneous incision without removal of the skin spindle and with minimal degreasing of the wall around the umbilicus, followed by the transfixing a point in the lateral portion of the umbilical pedicle, allowing its invagination and fixation close to the aponeurosis of the rectus abdominis. Results: In the 128 patients evaluated, the patients' age ranged from 25 to 62 years, with a mean of 32 years. The mean time of surgery was 2 h and 33 min. No surgical complications occurred, such as hematoma or abdominal flap necrosis. Two cases of dehiscence, four cases of hypertrophic scar, two cases of stenosis, and one case of umbilical necrosis were observed. In outpatient follow-up, 92.2% of the patients were very satisfied with the final result. The technical analysis presented an 88% degree of satisfaction. Conclusion: The technique described presents satisfactory results, reduces the possibility of the appearance of a cicatricial ring, and allows minimizing one of the stigmas of abdominoplasty, which is a very visible umbilical scar. ■ ABSTRACT


Extending the theories of employee incentives and inalienability of human capital, we investigate the link between a firm's engagement in employee issues and the returns to shareholders around mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and analyze an international sample of 4,565 M&A deals from 48 countries. We find that stronger employee-engagement—especially in terms of monetary benefits—by the acquiring firm is positively related to shareholder returns in domestic deals, but this positive effect is attenuated in cross-border deals, whereas workforce diversity, training and development, or health and safety do not affect shareholder value. The attenuating effect of cross-border deals is stronger when uncertainty about post-merger labor integration is higher and when economic nationalism in the target's country is stronger, consistent with an explanation based on the inalienability of human capital and employment policies. Moreover, we find that most effects of employee-engagement on shareholder returns are driven by the acquirer rather than the target, and that they persist in the long run post-merger.


The world of intelligence has been completely transformed by the end of the Cold War and the onset of an age of information. Prior to the 1990s, US government intelligence had one principal target, the Soviet Union; a narrow set of 'customers', the political and military officials of the US government; and a limited set of information from the sources they owned, spy satellites and spies. Today, world intelligence has many targets, numerous consumers - not all of whom are American or in the government - and too much information, most of which is not owned by the U.S. government and is of widely varying reliability. In this bold and penetrating study, Gregory Treverton, former Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council and Senate investigator, offers his insider's views on how intelligence gathering and analysis must change. He suggests why intelligence needs to be both contrarian, leaning against the conventional wisdom, and attentive to the longer term, leaning against the growing shorter time horizons of Washington policy makers. He urges that the solving of intelligence puzzles tap expertise outside government - in the academy, think tanks, and Wall Street - to make these parties colleagues and co-consumers of intelligence, befitting the changed role of government from doer to convener, mediator, and coalition-builder.


The Guide is designed to help students find academic resources relevant to the course such as historical and contemporary theoretical perspectives advanced by sociologist and criminologists.


Eight new genera and 10 new species of fossil beaked whales (Cetacea, Odontoceti, Ziphiidae) are described on the basis of cranial material recovered by trawling from the sea floor off South Africa. Although no exact stratigraphic information is known for these fossils, most are strongly phosphoritised (some even have phosphorite concretions attached), indicating that their fossilization could be related to one or more of the phosphogenic episodes that occurred in the South African coastal waters since the latest Oligocene. Considering the main phosphogenic epochs and the evolutionary level of the majority of the ziphiids here described, a middle-late Miocene age may be suggested for most, but not all, of these fossils. The new genera named here more than double the known diversity of the fossil beaked whales and represent more than one third of the total diversity of this family (fossil and extant). A parsimony analysis within the family including the Recent taxa reveals that some of the new fossil taxa belong to three extant subfamilies redefined here, while the others are outside these subfamilies; this indicates the presence in the past of some ziphiid lineages now extinct. In detail, Microberardius africanus n. gen., n. sp. is placed in the subfamily Berardiinae together with the Recent Berardius; Izikoziphius rossi n. gen., n. sp. and I. angustus n. gen., n. sp. are related to the Recent Ziphius inside the subfamily Ziphiinae and Khoikhoicetus agulhasis n. gen., n. sp., Ihlengesi saldanhae n. gen., n. sp., and Africanacetus ceratopsis n. gen., n. sp. belong to the Hyperoodontinae together with the Recent Hyperoodon, Mesoplodon, and Indopacetus. However, Nenga meganasalis n. gen., n. sp., Pterocetus benguelae n. gen., n. sp., and Xhosacetus hendeysi n. gen., n. sp., together with the Recent Tasmacetus, do not fit in any of the three subfamilies mentioned above. Taking into account the high number of unnamed fragmentary specimens, the fossil taxa listed above, together with Mesoplodon slangkopi n. sp. and Ziphius sp., probably represent only a part of the South African fossil ziphiid fauna(s), revealing an unexpected high diversity for the previously poorly known southern hemisphere fossil beaked whales. Such a high ziphiid diversity might be locally related to the upwelling system and resulting high productivity linked to the northward running cool oceanic Benguela Current entering the shallower waters along the south-west coast of South Africa and Namibia since the middle Miocene.


This book relates the history of asteroid discoveries and christenings, from those of the early pioneering giants of Hersehel and Piazzi to modern-day amateurs. Moving from history and anecdotal information to science, the book's structure is provided by the names of the asteroids, including one named after the author. Free from a need to conform to scientific naming conventions, the names evidence hero-worship, sycophancy, avarice, vanity, whimsy, erudition and wit, revealing the human side of astronomers, especially where controversy has followed the christening. Murdin draws from extensive historical records to explore the debate over these names. Each age reveals its own biases and preferences in the naming process. < Originally regarded as vermin of the skies, asteroids are minor planets, rocky scraps left over from the formation of the larger planets, or broken fragments of worlds that have collided. Their scientific classification as minor planets makes them seem unimportant, but over the past decades asteroids have been acknowledged to be key players in the Solar System. This view of their starring role even alters the trajectories of spacecraft: NASA s policy for new space missions en route to the outer planets is that they must divert to study passing asteroids whenever possible. This book provides for readers a complete tour of the fascinating world of asteroids


This article examines the international community's commitment, since the December 2001 Bonn Agreement, to build democratic institutions and practices at national and local levels in Afghanistan. The tensions between democracy promotion activities and the statebuilding exigencies of political stabilization are identified through an examination of the 2005 elections and creation of the National Assembly, Provincial Councils, and Community Development Councils. The analysis demonstrates the existence of multiple, competing agendas in Afghanistan, embodied in contradictory elements found in those institutions. Policy recommendations are advanced for forging a coherent statebuilding agenda that can garner the legitimacy needed to complete the important transition signalled by the Interim-Afghanistan National Development Strategy and the Afghanistan Compact, concluded in January 2006 in London.


In this study, the antioxidant activities of methanol and acetone extracts of Cirsium bulgaricum DC. (Asteraceae) were evaluated by five antioxidant assays, including phosphomolybdate method, cupric ion reducing capacity (CUPRAC), 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6- sulfonicacid)/persulfate) ABTS/Persulfate, N, N-dimethyl-pphenylenediamine (DMPD) and a Ce(IV)-based reducing capacity (CERAC) methods. The 80% methanol and acetone extracts showed 0.005-6.16±0.03 mmol/g and 0.004- 5.02±0.02 [(trolox (TR), catechin (CT), epicatechin (EC), rutin (RT), quercetin (QR), naringin (NG) in CUPRAC and ABTS/Persulfate methods, respectively]. According to DMPD methods, inhibition effect were showed 2.3%±0.02 for 80% methanol and 4.6%±0.07 for acetone. Ascorbic acid equivalent mmol (AA)/g extract in CERAC method was found to be 0.0834±0.09 for 80% methanol and 0.5622±0.05 for acetone. Ascorbic acid equivalent μg ascorbic acid (AA) /mL extract were found 807.6±0.07 for 80% methanol and 292.4±0.01 for acetone in phpsphomolybdate method. In the addition to the antioxidant activity of the extract, the total flavonoid content was measured. Total flavonoid content of 80% methanol and acetone extracts was found to be 105.5-645±0.04 μg/ml quercetin and rutin equivalent. For the determination of antibacterial activities Escherichia coli (E.coli) ATCC 25922, Escherichia coli(E.coli) O157:H7 ATCC 33150, Salmonella E n t e r i t i d i s(S.E n t e r i t i d i s ) AT C C 1 3 0 7 6 , Listeria monocytogenes(L.monocytogenes) AT C C 7 6 4 4 , Staphylococcus aureus(S.aureus) ATCC 25923 bacteria were used as test bacteria. Acetone extracts showed antibacterial activity against all of the tested bacteria ranged between 17.00±1.72- 19.88±1.75 mm and 80% methanol extracts showed antibacterial activity against all of the tested bacteria ranged between 11.35±1.43-14.43±1.32 mm. Keywords: Antioxidant Activity, Antimicrobial Activity, Total Flavonoid Contents, Cirsium bulgaricum


The absence of an appropriate theoretical framework for understanding and assessing influences on the development of education for library, archive and information work is reflected in a literature that is largely experiential rather than soundly grounded in empirical studies. Any development involves the introduction of innovations, and requires effective management. Drawing on theories on the management of change, the communication of ideas and the transfer of innovations, and incorporating the contextual evidence base suggested by comparative methodologies, this paper presents an analysis of the wide range of factors that need to be considered. A model developed from Porter's 'Value Chain' theory provides a framework within which these factors could be considered not only in evaluating past developments in the field, but also in planning future innovations; a model that is arguably as relevant in professional practice in library, archive, and information work as in LIS education.


The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of exogenous peroxynitrite (ONOO) on the cardiac isoform of the sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase (SERCA2a) and to determine if overexpression of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) could protect SERCA2a function. To characterize the interaction between SERCA2a and Hsp70, cDNAs encoding each protein were co-transfected in human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293) using the calcium-phosphate technique. Western blotting confirmed the expression of SERCA2a and a ~1.9-fold overexpression of Hsp70 in HEK-293 cells. ONOO was added chronically (250 μM bolus each minute for 10 minutes) to co-transfected HEK-293 cells in culture. Maximal Ca-ATPase activity (Vmax) was assessed on microsomal fractions isolated following exposure to ONOO. Vmax was reduced by ~20% in HEK-293 cells transfected with SERCA2a alone (S2a-pMT2). When Hsp70 was co-transfected with SERCA2a (S2aHsp70), Vmax was fully protected following incubation with ONOO. Western blot analysis showed that there were no changes in FITC binding capacity and 3-nitrotyrosine content in any of the groups. However, overexpression of Hsp70 prevented oxidation of SERCA2a, as assessed by reactive carbonyl content, following exposure to ONOO when compared to S2apMT2. In addition, SERCA2a aggregation was lower compared to S2a-pMT2 groups under both control and ONOO conditions. Co-immunoprecipitation of SERCA2a and Hsp70 confirmed that Hsp70 physically interacts with SERCA2a under all conditions. These results suggest that Hsp70 physically binds to SERCA2a and prevents oxidation and aggregation of SERCA2a, thus preserving enzyme activity.


Purpose - Kato & Long state that executive compensation has attracted much attention from economists in the past two decades yet most academic work on executive compensation has been concentrated on a few developed countries such as the USA and the UK, mainly due to data availability. In light of the mounting interest in the vital role that corporate governance may play in economic development, however, it is of considerable importance to study how firms in developing countries compensate their top executives. In particular, for transition economies struggling to transform their state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into profitable modern firms through various reform measures, the provision of efficient managerial incentives is a crucial ingredient of the successful transition of the economy. Since executive pay-performance link represents the bulk of managerial incentives for top management, a closer look at the nature of pay-performance link for top management in transitional economies will provide much needed information for the evaluation of the current reform effort and the designing of future reform measures. This paper seeks to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach - A review of available literature for this topic was sourced, collated and summarised. Findings - The significant pay-performance link for top management in China's listed firms is overall encouraging news for current policy makers in China, who consider public listing in the stock market as a key mechanism of achieving such a goal for large SOEs. However, not all news is good. Perhaps most importantly, they have found that government ownership of China's listed firms is weakening pay-performance link for top managers and thus possibly making China's listed firms less effective in solving the agency problem. Originality/value - Taken in context with other literature and research, this paper provides an insight into the link between Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and other publicly listed firms and executive remuneration.


Numerous studies have found that proportional electoral rules significantly increase women's representation in national parliaments relative to majoritarian and mixed rules. These studies, however, suffer from serious methodological problems including the endogeneity of electoral laws, poor measures of cultural variables, and neglect of time trends. This paper attempts to produce more accurate estimates of the effect of electoral rules on women's representation by using within-country comparisons of electoral rule changes and bicameral systems as well as matching methods. The main finding is that the effect of electoral laws is not as strong as in previous studies and varies across cases. Changes in electoral laws are unlikely to provide a quick and consistent fix to the problem of low women's representation.


Interneurons located near the border of the dentate granule cell layer and the hilus were studied in hippocampal slices using whole-cell current clamp and biocytin staining. Because these interneurons exhibit both morphological and electrophysiological diversity, we asked whether passive electrotonic parameters or repetitive firing behavior correlated with axonal distribution. Each interneuron was distinguished by a preferred axonal distribution in the molecular layer or granule cell layer, and four groups could be discerned, the axons of which arborized in (1) the granule cell layer, (2) the inner molecular layer, (3) the outer molecular layer, and (4) diffusely in the molecular layer. In our sample, interneurons with axons arborizing diffusely in the molecular layer were most frequent, and those with axons restricted to the granule cell layer were least frequent. Resting potential, input resistance, time constant, electrotonic length, and spike frequency adaptation (SFA) were not significantly different among the four groups, and the variability in SFA between cells with similar axonal distributions was striking. Clear differences in action potential morphology and afterhyperpolarizations, however, emerged when nonadapting interneurons were compared with those exhibiting SFA. Interneurons exhibiting SFA had characteristically broader spikes, progressive slowing of action potential repolarization during repetitive firing, and slow afterhyperpolarizations that distinguished them from nonadapting interneurons. We propose that the variability in repetitive firing behavior and morphology exhibited by each of these interneurons makes each interneuron unique and may provide a high level of fine tuning of inhibitory control critical to information processing in the dentate.


Vibrio anguillarum exhibits species-specific antigens on the protein core of the polar flagellum (H) and H-determinants which are expressed by heterologous Vibrio species. Monoclonal antibody (MAb) which reacted with flagella core protein by ELISA were affinity purified from protein A-sepharose. Staphylococcus aureus Cowan 1 cells armed with anti-H MAb coagglutinated each of the 10 V. anguillarum O-antigen serovars within 1 to 2 minutes, as well as V. ordalii isolates. These findings suggest these two vibrios express similar if not identical speciesspecific H-determinants. The anti-H reagent did not coagglutinate 10 heterologous Vibrio species. MAb generated against LPS, extracted from V. anguillarum serovar 01, 02 and 03, were tested for serovar-specificity by ELISA and direct slide agglutination. Anti-02 serovar-specific MAb fixed to S. aureus cells detect the 02 serovar in enrichment culture fluid 6 hours after the broth was seeded with kidney, liver, spleen and blood from diseased fish. Utilization of the anti-0 serovar specific MAb coagglutination assay is rapid and applicable to the identification of V. anguillarum from diseased fish. AntiH can be used to detect potential environmental pathogenic strains which are nontypable with available anti-0 sera.


Background College affirmative action programs seek to expand socioeconomic opportunities for underrepresented minorities. Between 1996 and 2013, 9 US states—including California, Texas, and Michigan—banned race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Because economic opportunity is known to motivate health behavior, banning affirmative action policies may have important adverse spillover effects on health risk behaviors. We used a quasi-experimental research design to evaluate the association between college affirmative action bans and health risk behaviors among underrepresented minority (Black, Hispanic, and Native American) adolescents. Methods and findings We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis using data from the 1991–2015 US national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). We compared changes in self-reported cigarette smoking and alcohol use in the 30 days prior to survey among underrepresented minority 11th and 12th graders in states implementing college affirmative action bans (Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington) versus outcomes among those residing in states not implementing bans (n = 35 control states). We also assessed whether underrepresented minority adults surveyed in the 1992–2015 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) who were exposed to affirmative action bans during their late high school years continued to smoke cigarettes between the ages of 19 and 30 years. Models adjusted for individual demographic characteristics, state and year fixed effects, and state-specific secular trends. In the YRBS (n = 34,988 to 36,268, depending on the outcome), cigarette smoking in the past 30 days among underrepresented minority 11th–12th graders increased by 3.8 percentage points after exposure to an affirmative action ban (95% CI: 2.0, 5.7; p < 0.001). In addition, there were also apparent increases in past-30-day alcohol use, by 5.9 percentage points (95% CI: 0.3, 12.2; p = 0.041), and past-30-day binge drinking, by 3.5 percentage points (95% CI: −0.1, 7.2, p = 0.058), among underrepresented minority 11th–12th graders, though in both cases adjustment for multiple comparisons resulted in failure to reject the null hypothesis (adjusted p = 0.083 for both outcomes). Underrepresented minority adults in the TUS-CPS (n = 71,575) exposed to bans during their late high school years were also 1.8 percentage points more likely to report current smoking (95% CI: 0.1, 3.6; p = 0.037). Event study analyses revealed a discrete break for all health behaviors timed with policy discussion and implementation. No substantive or statistically significant effects were found for non-Hispanic White adolescents, and the findings were robust to a number of additional specification checks. The limitations of the study include the continued potential for residual confounding from unmeasured time-varying factors and the potential for recall bias due to the self-reported nature of the health risk behavior outcomes. Conclusions In this study, we found evidence that some health risk behaviors increased among underrepresented minority adolescents after exposure to state-level college affirmative action bans. These findings suggest that social policies that shift socioeconomic opportunities could have meaningful population health consequences.


Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy has great advantages as a spectroscopic analytical tool due to the large enhancement of the weak Raman signal and thereby facilitates suitable identification of chemical and biological systems. SERS can be utilized as a powerful tool to identify pathogens like bacteria. However, it is difficult to fabricate a homogeneous SERS active substrate in biosensing applications to obtain a uniform, stable and highly reproducible SERS signal. In this paper, we have used biosynthesized silver nanoparticles as the SERS active substrate to identify bacteria with different cell wall compositions. The silver nanoparticles were synthesized using the leaf extract of Neolamarckia cadamba as the source of reducing and stabilizing agents. The pathogen detection by using the SERS technique using biosynthesized silver nanoparticles represents a novel approach for rapid microbial diagnostics, where SERS can be directly applied to clinical samples rather than pure cultured bacteria.


The electricity network balancing problem consists of ensuring that the electricity demands of the consumers are met by the committed supply. Constraints are imposed on the different elements of the network, so that damage to the equipment is prevented when transformers are stepped up or down, or generation is increased. We consider this problem within zones, which are sub-networks constructed using carefully chosen decomposition principles. The automation of decision making in electricity networks is a step forward in their management which is necessary for coping with the increase in power system complexity that we expect in the near term. In this paper we explore the deployment of planning techniques to solve the zone-balancing problem. Embedding electricity networks in a domain description presents new challenges for planning. The key point is that the propagation of information requires complex updates to the state when an action is applied. We have developed a method in which the computation of the critical numeric quantities is performed calling an external power flow equation solver, demonstrating a clean interface between the planner and this domain-specific computation. This solver allows us to move the power flow computations outside of the planning process and update the values efficiently. We also examine a second important feature of this problem, which is the interaction between exogenous events and constraints over the entire plan trajectory within a zone.


This research examines how drivers conduct themselves at stop signs by looking at the effect of different compositional variables (socio-demographic attributes) and ecological variables (physical attributes that affect people's behavior) on drivers' decisions to make a complete stop, as required by law. Observational study was designed to collect data at different parts of an urban area, and the binary logit model is used for the analysis. The modeling results show that five variables (age of the driver, number of passengers in the vehicle, presence of law enforcement officers within a block radius, using headlights, and time of the day the trip took place) are statistically significant in explaining relationships between those variables and the stopping behavior of drivers.


Scholarship on US foreign policy regularly claims that US democracy promotion policy is informed by a coherent and harmonious set of basic premises. In this article, I first examine the validity of this claim for US post–Cold War administrations. I find operational in US foreign policy rhetoric three stable premises: that democracy is a universal(ly aspired to) principle, that external democracy promoters are legitimately involving themselves in another country's political affairs, and that this policy endeavor is in the best interest of all involved stakeholders. Following theoretical expectations that culture and cultural aspects are relatively stable and adaptable entities and promote stability in behavior, I then pursue the question of how these premises have fared in an environment particularly challenging to their validity, namely in the case of US democracy promotion in Egypt. I show how, even in light of contradictory evidence, the basic premises remain resilient and function as a discursive structure that enables and constrains policy options.


Apoptotic cells release ATP and UTP through pannexin 1 to recruit phagocytes that clear them. Apoptotic cells release the nucleotides ATP and UTP to attract phagocytic cells, which in turn clear the apoptotic cells. Chekeni et al. found that carbenoxolone (CBX), which inhibits connexins (which form gap junctions) and pannexins (which form plasma membrane channels), and probenicid, which is thought to be more specific for pannexins, reduced ATP release from apoptotic Jurkat cells to a similar extent as the caspase inhibitor zVAD (which blocks the release of ATP from apoptotic cells). Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) directed against pannexin 1 (PANX1) decreased the release of ATP and UTP from apoptotic Jurkat cells but did not prevent apoptosis. Supernatant from PANX1 siRNA-transfected apoptotic cells recruited fewer monocytes in an in vitro assay of cell migration and when placed in a subcutaneous air pouch in mice. In contrast, Jurkat cells stably overexpressing PANX1 released more ATP and UTP, and supernatants from these cells (after apoptosis had been induced) recruited more monocytes in vitro. Apoptotic cells take up dyes such as YO-PRO-1, a process the authors showed required PANX1 in Jurkat cells and was blocked by CBX in thymocytes. PANX1 currents were detected only in cells that showed morphological signs of undergoing apoptosis and were reduced by CBX. Immunoprecipitated PANX1 was cleaved at two different sites (called sites A and B by the authors) by caspase-3 and caspase-7 in vitro. Cells expressing a PANX1 mutant that could not be cleaved at site B took up less YO-PRO-1 than those expressing wild-type PANX1 or a mutant that could not be cleaved at site A. In addition, apoptotic cells expressing the PANX1 site B mutant had smaller PANX1 currents, released less ATP, and took up less TO-PRO-3. In contrast, cells expressing a PANX1 mutant that mimicked cleavage at site B took up more YO-PRO-1 and had larger PANX1 currents. Thus, PANX1 is cleaved by caspases during apoptosis, thereby activating this channel to release ATP and UTP to attract phagocytic cells. F. B. Chekeni, M. R. Elliott, J. K. Sandilos, S. F. Walk, J. M. Kinchen, E. R. Lazarowski, A. J. Armstrong, S. Penuela, D. W. Laird, G. S. Salvesen, B. E. Isakson, D. A. Bayliss, K. S. Ravichandran, Pannexin 1 channels mediate 'find-me' signal release and membrane permeability during apoptosis. Nature 467, 863–867 (2010). [PubMed]


Gaussian processes (GP) provide an attractive machine learning model due to their nonparametric form, their flexibility to capture many types of observation data, and their generic inference procedures. Sparse GP inference algorithms address the cubic complexity of GPs by focusing on a small set of pseudo-samples. To date, such approaches have focused on the simple case of Gaussian observation likelihoods. This paper develops a variational sparse solution for GPs under general likelihoods by providing a new characterization of the gradients required for inference in terms of individual observation likelihood terms. In addition, we propose a simple new approach for optimizing the sparse variational approximation using a fixed point computation. We demonstrate experimentally that the fixed point operator acts as a contraction in many cases and therefore leads to fast convergence. An experimental evaluation for count regression, classification, and ordinal regression illustrates the generality and advantages of the new approach.


An increasingly common approach to governing religion and state relations in non-secular settings is a mixed system of religious law and general legal principles. Despite their many past and present variations, such hybrid legal regimes defy the Franco-American ideal of separating religion and state along private/public lines. At least one billion people now-live under a legal order that enshrines religion and its interlocutors as "a" or "the" source of legislation (meaning that legislation must comply with principles of that religion), granting religious tribunals jurisdiction over important aspects of life, public and private, in addition to the tremendous symbolic weight religious edicts often carry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At the same time, religious institutions and interpretive hierarchy are expected to comply with overarching constitutional norms and are subject to review by constitutional courts and judges. A unique hybrid of apparently conflicting commitments, worldviews, and sources of authority, these constitutional theocracies thus offer an ideal setting--a "living laboratory"--for studying the formation of these legal amalgams and the challenges they pose. Regimes throughout the non-secularist world struggle with questions of a profoundly foundational nature and have been forced to navigate between cosmopolitanism and parochialism, modern and traditional meta-narratives, constitutional principles and religious injunctions, contemporary governance and ancient texts, and judicial and pious interpretation. More often than not, the clash between these conflicting visions results in fierce struggles over the nature of the body politic and its organizing principles. These tensions are evident in virtually every aspect of public life, from court hearings to university lectures, and from crowded soccer stadiums to secluded board meetings. Consequently, throughout the world of constitutional theocracies--be they soft or rigid, formal or informal--we find fascinating, largely unexplored jurisprudential landscapes. These reflect uneasy amalgams of universal aspirations and domestic realities. Despite the general agreement that the world has witnessed a convergence in principles of constitutional supremacy and international human rights alongside an increasingly popular support for principles of theocratic governance, we still know precious little about constitutional law and practices in countries facing the dilemma of constitutional theocracy. Akin to early maps of the globe where tracts of emptiness cover much of the non-Western world, the jurisprudential landscape of constitutional theocracies remains almost completely uncharted, let alone theorized. This task is undertaken elsewhere. Here, a few illustrative examples of mixed constitutional commitments are discussed. They highlight cases of jurisprudential innovation that often follows in an attempt to respond to competing and at times conflicting sources of law, morality, and identity. Mixed Constitutional Commitments From 1994 to 2001 Afghanistan was ruled by the radical Islamist Taliban, but the US-led military campaign removed the Taliban from power and installed a more moderate regime representing an array of groups hitherto in opposition: moderate religious leaders and the country's elites and intellectuals in exile. The new Constitution of Afghanistan came into effect in January 2004. It states that Afghanistan is an Islamic republic (Article 1); that the "sacred religion of Islam is the religion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" (Article 2); and that "[n]o law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan" (Article 3). Courts are allowed to use Hanafi jurisprudence in situations of constitutional lacunae (Article 130). At the same time, the constitution also enshrines the right to private property (Article 40) and resurrects a woman's right to vote, as well as to run for and serve in office (Article 22). …


Free fatty acids are considered to be the major energy source for the myocardium. To investigate the metabolic fate of this substrate in humans, 24 subjects underwent coronary sinus and arterial catheterization. 13 subjects were healthy volunteers and 11 subjects had symptoms of ischemic heart disease. [1-14C]oleate or [1-14C]palmitate bound to albumin was infused at a constant rate of 25 microCi/h. Oxidation was determined by measuring the 14CO2 production. The data demonstrated that a high percentage (84 +/- 17%) of the palmitate and oleate extracted by the myocardium underwent rapid oxidation. A highly significant correlation was present between the arterial level and the amount oxidized (r = 0.82, P less than 0.001 for palmitate; r = 0.77, P less than 0.001 for oleate). The isotope extraction ratio was greater than the chemical extraction ratio. This difference of 6 +/- 2 nmol/ml of blood in the young normal subjects was significantly less than the 12 +/- 4 nmol/ml observed in the ischemic heart disease patients (P less than 0.001).


Metabolic syndrome is defined by a cluster of different metabolic risk factors that include overall and central obesity, elevated fasting glucose levels, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and intimal atherogenesis. Metabolic syndrome leads to increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (e.g., heart disease and stroke). The exacerbated progression of metabolic syndrome to cardiovascular disease has lead to intense study of the physiological ramifications of metabolic syndrome on the blood vasculature. These studies have particularly focused on the signaling and architectural alterations that manifest in hypertension and atherosclerosis. However, despite the overlap of metabolic syndrome pathology with lymphatic function, tangent effects on the lymphatic system have not been extensively documented. In this review, we discuss the current status of metabolic syndrome and provide evidence for, and the remaining challenges in studying, the connections among the lymphatic system, lipid transport, obesity, insulin resistance, and general inflammation.


This note updates the IPv6 Specification (RFC 2460), specifically
commenting on the Hop-by-Hop Options Header (section 4.3) and option
format and handling (section 4.2). It also updates RFC 7045, which
noted that RFC 2460 is widely violated in this respect, but merely
legitimized this situation with a SHOULD. The present document tries
to address the issue more fundamentally.


The article discusses how the non-understanding that arises during human-robot interaction is managed. The focus is on the ways humans respond to the open expression of non-understanding by robots, as well as of non-understanding that the robot itself does not "realize." The methodological framework of the research is an ethnomethodological conversation analysis that presupposes the identification of the ways of producing local social order in the sequences of actions. By analyzing the conversations between callers and robot (it is actually a chatbot, but official term for it is "robot") in a Russian telephone information service, I show that, instead of non-understanding being a negative phenomenon consisting in lack of understanding, non-understanding is a situational and coordinated achievement of the participants in the interaction. The article identifies two types of conditions of non-understanding between human and robot: institutional (related to the specific organizational context in which the interaction takes place and which is produced in it) and interactional (related to the organization of interaction).Based on a detailed analysis of transcripts of human-robot telephone conversations, five ways of responding to non-understandings are distinguished: changes in the acoustic characteristics of utterances (raising the voice level, slowing down, expanding pauses, etc.); expanding the initial statement (for example, by introducing explanatory words); reducing utterances to "key" words; ignoring non-understanding; and adding explanations. At the same time, people not only react to the non-understanding by the robot after its occurrence but also actively anticipate it, building their turns in a way understandable to the robot. The identified features of human-robot interaction provide a more accurate description of human interaction with technical interactional agents, which are becoming increasingly common in everyday life, and also show that non-understanding is not a failure in understanding but a social achievement of the participants in interaction, whether humans or robots. Because non-understanding should be demonstrated and recognized in details and sequences of actions, it is necessary to consider it as an independent interactive phenomenon.
Article in Russian
DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2018-10-3-57-78


TU WEIMING is Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy at Harvard University. This article is based on an expanded version of Professor Tu's "Epilogue" in Confucianism and Human Rights, edited by William T. de Bary and Tu Weiming (Columbia University Press, 1998). Human rights are inseparable from human responsibilities. Although in the Confucian tradition, duty-consciousness is more pronounced than rights-consciousness--to the extent that the Confucian tradition underscores self-cultivation, family cohesiveness, economic well-being, social order, political justice, and cultural flourishing--it is a valuable spring of wisdom for an understanding of human rights broadly conceived. The argument that Confucian humanism is incompatible with human rights needs to be carefully examined. Human rights as "the common language of humanity," to borrow from former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, is a defining characteristic of the spirit of our time. For the past half-century--since the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948--an unprecedented international effort has been made to inscribe not only on paper but on human conscience the bold vision of a new world order rooted in respect for human dignity as the central value for political action. The Enlightenment's Effect In an historical and comparative cultural perspective, this vision emerged through a long and arduous process beginning with the Enlightenment movement in the modern West in the eighteenth century. The Enlightenment mentality is the most dynamic and transformative ideology in human history. Indebted to the Enlightenment mentality are the values that underlie the rise of the modern West: liberty; equality; progress; the dignity of the individual; respect for privacy; government for, by, and of the people; and due process of law. We have been so seasoned in the Enlightenment mentality that we assume the reasonableness of its general spiritual thrust. We find the values it embodies self-evident. However, we must be acutely aware of the destructive power of the Enlightenment mentality, as well. As the Western nations assumed the role of innovators, executors, and judges of the international rules of the game defined in terms of competition for wealth and power, the stage was set for growth, development, and, unfortunately, exploitation. The unleashed juggernaut blatantly exhibited unbridled aggressiveness toward humanity, nature, and itself. This unprecedented destructive engine has for the first time in human history brought into question the viability of the human species. Mainly because of our own avidya (the Buddhist concept of ignorance), we have joined the list of endangered species. Human rights discourse may be conceived as the contemporary embodiment of the Enlightenment spirit. While it does not directly address the question of human survival, it specifies the minimum requirements and basic conditions for human flourishing. It is a powerful, if not the most persuasive, universal moral discourse in the international arena. It may very well be the most effective, if not the only, "instrument" by which states' ordinary standards of behavior can be judged by outsiders without infringing the prerogatives of sovereignty. The Evolving Discourse The universality of human rights broadly conceived in the 1948 Declaration is a source of inspiration for the human community. The moral and legal imperative that any civilized state treat its citizens in accordance with the political rights guaranteed by its own constitution is still a compelling argument. The desirability of democracy as providing to this day the most effective framework in which human rights are safeguarded seems self-evident. However, human rights movement as a dynamic process rather than a static structure requires that the human rights discourse be dialogical, communicative and, hopefully, mutually beneficial. …


Forest resources face numerous threats that require costly management. Hence, there is an increasing need for data-informed strategies to guide conservation practices. The introduction of the emerald ash borer to North America has caused rapid declines in ash populations (Fraxinus spp. L.). Natural resource managers are faced with a choice of either allowing ash trees to die, risking forest degradation and reduced functional resilience, or investing in conserving trees to preserve ecosystem structure and standing genetic diversity. The information needed to guide these decisions is not always readily available. Therefore, to address this concern, we used eight microsatellites to genotype 352 white ash trees (Fraxinus americana L.) across 17 populations in the Allegheny National Forest; a subset of individuals sampled are part of an insecticide treatment regimen. Genetic diversity (number of alleles and He) was equivalent in treated and untreated trees, with little evidence of differentiation or inbreeding, suggesting current insecticidal treatment is conserving local, neutral genetic diversity. Using simulations, we demonstrated that best practice is treating more populations rather than more trees in fewer populations. Furthermore, through genetic screening, conservation practitioners can select highly diverse and unique populations to maximize diversity and reduce expenditures (by up to 21%). These findings will help practitioners develop cost-effective strategies to conserve genetic diversity.


Business Vocabulary in Use Advanced Second edition is for students and professionals looking to expand their business vocabulary. Bringing learners up to date with the language they need for business today, this book explains words and expressions and also provides practice of using the new language. This second edition comes with a CD-ROM which offers practice exercises and games, audio of each word or phrase, tests and a phonemic chart for pronunciation support. This second edition reflects recent developments in technology, global relations and financial practice and covers a range of topics from Competitive Strategy to Globalisation. It also helps learners develop skills in key areas including Working in international teams.