Knowledge engineering is the process of acquiring expert knowledge from human
domain experts. In this thesis the emphasis is on the acquisition of geographic or
spatial knowledge from experts involved in interpreting multi-spectral satellite
images.
This thesis argues that spatial knowledge is primarily visual, hence tools to acquire it
also need to be visual. Currently there is no methodology, other than ad hoc interview
and protocol analysis, for acquiring expert knowledge of interpretation of satellite
images. As a result, there cannot be an integrated knowledge acquisition toolkit, since
this must be based on a formal methodology. This thesis offers a methodology to
overcome this shortcoming and presents a series of tools to implement the
methodology.
In the first part of the thesis the nature of geographic knowledge is investigated. A
geographic knowledge classification scheme is presented as the basis of the work in
the rest of the thesis. It is shown that geographic knowledge can be divided into a six
level hierarchy:
• Primitive knowledge about point, line and areal objects,
• Relationship knowledge about the relationships between primitive objects,
• Assembly knowledge about related collections of primitive objects,
• Non-Visual knowledge of expert heuristics (knowledge of short cuts acquired by
experience),
• Consolidation knowledge of how to resolve and evaluate conflicting information
and
• Interpretation knowledge of how to combine the other knowledge types to produce
a classified image.
This six level hierarchical classification of geographic knowledge forms the basis of
the KAGES (Knowledge Acquisition for Geographic Expert Systems) methodology.
Traditional knowledge acquisition procedures are studied and their relevance to a
geographic domain discussed. This includes both human interaction techniques such as interviewing and automated knowledge acquisition methods such as neural
networks and machine learning. It will be shown that although automated pattern
recognition techniques are important, there is still a need to include knowledge
acquired by human image interpreters in an automated image interpretation system.
There is a theoretical discussion of new techniques to acquire visual knowledge of the
types identified in the KAGES methodology. It is shown that these methods can be
combined into an integrated knowledge engineering toolkit to acquire geographic
knowledge from satellite image interpreters. Not all geographic knowledge is visual
however. Three types of non-visual knowledge, algorithmic, heuristic and temporal,
are identified and investigated. The first two are implemented in the knowledge
engineering toolkit described in this thesis.
It is shown that if there are multiple domain experts and multiple knowledge
acquisition sessions multiple knowledge-bases will be produced. Techniques for the
consolidation of these knowledge-bases is presented.
The final section of the thesis involves evaluation of KAGES. This is done in two
ways: user evaluation and application of the methodology in two domains. The user
evaluation of the KAGES methodology and toolkit involved a number of image
interpretation experts from a variety of domains and currently using a variety of tools.
They were questioned about the usefulness and useability of the KAGES toolkit. The results of using the tools in the toolkit are evaluated by generating rules for two
scenarios, one for sea ice identification and the other for crop recognition. The rules
produced using the toolkit are compared with rules produced using other techniques.
The effect of applying rules generated by the toolkit to classify images is compared
with the results from other image classification methods.


Comparisons of contrast sensitivity functions between young (20–30-yrs) and old (60–70-yrs) subjects show that, on the average, the older subjects require about twice the contrast as the younger to detect gratings of high and intermediate spatial frequencies. The question of the source of this visual loss is addressed by calculating the loss of contrast due to intraocular light scatter. This, in turn, is estimated using measurements of disability glare as a function of glare angle and observer age. It is shown that the measured loss of vision with age is consistent with the hypothesis that it is due to increased intraocular light scatter.


Mutations in the human gap junction β-2 gene (GJB2) that encodes connexin-26 have been shown to cause non-syndromic sensorineural hearing loss (NSSNHL) at theDFNB1 locus on 13q11. Functional and genetic data regarding the disease causing potential of one particularGJB2 sequence variant, 101 T→C (M34T), have proven contradictory. In this study, we found the prevalence of the M34T allele in a cohort of white sib pairs and sporadic cases with NSSNHL from the United Kingdom and Ireland to be 3.179% of chromosomes screened. Significantly, we identified the first M34T/M34T genotype cosegregating in a single family with mid to high frequency NSSNHL. Screening a control population of 630 subjects we identified 25 M34T heterozygotes; however, no M34T homozygotes were detected. Surprisingly, the majority of M34T alleles (88%) were incis with a 10 bp deletion in the 5′ non-coding sequence. This non-coding deletion was also homozygous in the homozygous M34T subjects. Microsatellite analysis of flanking loci in M34T heterozygotes and controls does not define an extensive ancestral haplotype but preliminary data suggest two common alleles in subjects with the M34T allele. In summary, we provide data that support M34T acting as a recessive GJB2 allele associated with mild-moderate prelingual hearing impairment.


Reinhold Niebuhr's support for the foundation of the state of Israel is argued to be an expression of his Christian realism, and as such is based on his ethics but not his theology. The first section assesses Niebuhr's support for Jewish return to the Land of Israel in relation to modern protestant and Jewish support for relocation of the Promised Land back from America to British Mandate Palestine. The second section demonstrates that Niebuhr's support for Zionism grew out of his threefold moral, political and theological realism. This meant taking into account Israel's relation to the United States, and increasingly evidenced a national supersessionist outlook. The third section argues that this shift was undertaken via the role of the temporarily messianic nation, whereby the USA replaced Israel as a nation with a mission. In the fourth section, it is argued that the natural theology that underlies Niebuhr's ethics constitutes a 'Hebraic' turn which is ironic given that he does not ground his Zionism in the covenant with Abraham. The last section argues that Niebuhr's support for Israel's foundation needs to be understood within his reconstruction of natural law, along with his critique of the fusion of nationalism and religion in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As Niebuhr's approach to Israel was based on ethics not dogmatic theology and exegesis, and as it became part of a notion of America as messianic, it failed to be passed on adequately to the mainline protestant churches.


Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the second most common viral infection which poses threat of infection among health care workers and those individuals treated for various debilitated conditions in hospital settings. Patients undergoing haemodialysis are at a greater risk of acquiring HBV infection. Although HBV vaccination has been in use for almost three decades, it is not completely certain about its efficacy in long-term protection. Few studies in the past have emphasized the need for evaluation of anti-HBsAg antibody titers among high risk groups that include patients undergoing haemodialysis. Studies in the past have also noted that few vaccinated group do not respond to HBV vaccine and that few other group of vaccinated individuals develop inadequate antibody titers. The present study evaluated the antibody titers among haemodialysis patients and health care workers.


The paper is devoted to analysis of the potentialities of radionuclide renography as a method for assessment of the effectiveness of radiotherapy of bladder cancer. The results obtained suggested close correlation between change of renal function and the results of irradiation. Normal renal function was observed in 3 patients, improvement--in 16 patients, and deterioration--in 8 patients whereas a complete effect of radiotherapy brought about the following figures: 5, 11 and 3, respectively. A conclusion was made of a high significance of renography parameters in objective assessment of the results of radiotherapy of bladder cancer in conjunction with other therapeutic modalities.


By interacting with the cytoplasmic tail of a Golgi-processed form of transforming growth factor-α (TGFα), Naked2 coats TGFα-containing exocytic vesicles and directs them to the basolateral corner of polarized epithelial cells where the vesicles dock and fuse in a Naked2 myristoylation-dependent manner. These TGFα-containing Naked2-associated vesicles are not directed to the subapical Sec6/8 exocyst complex as has been reported for other basolateral cargo, and thus they appear to represent a distinct set of basolaterally targeted vesicles. To identify constituents of these vesicles, we exploited our finding that myristoylation-deficient Naked2 G2A vesicles are unable to fuse at the plasma membrane. Isolation of a population of myristoylation-deficient, green fluorescent protein-tagged G2A Naked2-associated vesicles was achieved by biochemical enrichment followed by flow cytometric fluorescence-activated vesicle sorting. The protein content of these plasma membrane de-enriched, flow-sorted fluorescent G2A Naked2 vesicles was determined by LC/LC-MS/MS analysis. Three independent isolations were performed, and 389 proteins were found in all three sets of G2A Naked2 vesicles. Rab10 and myosin IIA were identified as core machinery, and Na+/K+-ATPase α1 was identified as an additional cargo within these vesicles. As an initial validation step, we confirmed their presence and that of three additional proteins tested (annexin A1, annexin A2, and IQGAP1) in wild-type Naked2 vesicles. To our knowledge, this is the first large scale protein characterization of a population of basolaterally targeted exocytic vesicles and supports the use of fluorescence-activated vesicle sorting as a useful tool for isolation of cellular organelles for comprehensive proteomics analysis.


The low-loss wide-bandwidth capability of optoelectronic systems makes them attractive for the transmission and processing of microwave signals, while the development of high-capacity optical communication systems has required the use of microwave techniques in optical transmitters and receivers. These two strands have led to the development of the research area of microwave photonics. This paper describes the development of microwave photonic devices, describes their systems applications, and suggests likely areas for future development.


In 2011, workers' compensation laws in Illinois were changed because of a purported excess in claims and payouts to correctional officers in one particular facility. The objectives of this study are 1) to determine the number, rates, and trends of occupational injuries and illnesses among correctional facility workers (CFWs) compared to a reference group of non-correctional facility workers (non-CFWs) during the same period; and 2) to compare workers' compensation cost for correctional officers versus the reference group.
The Illinois Workers Compensation Commission (IWCC) maintains a database of claims from all Illinois employees for occupational injuries and illnesses. We extracted all injuries and illnesses among correctional facility workers as well as a matched group and described them using SAS version 9.4. The total workers monetary compensation and wages were adjusted for inflation (2012). Regression analysis was used to compare injuries, total monetary workers compensation (TWC), permanent partial disability (PPD) percent, and number of weeks away from work for temporary total disability (TTD) between the two groups.
From 2002 to 2012 there were 2997 claims filled by Illinois CFWs. Half of the CFW claims were associated with either upper extremity injuries (n=930; 33%) or lower extremity injuries (n=596; 21%). The major drivers for TWC were average weekly wage, PPD, and TTD. Final settlement amount (TWC) received by CFWs after filing a claim with the IWCC did not significantly differ from the amount received by non-CFWs (CI 95%; -1275.61, 135.36). CFW's were granted 0.49 more weeks away from work for TTD (CI 95%; 0.05, 0.90).
Employees of correctional facilities earn low wages and are exposed to a variety of hazards that result in occupational injury and illness. While the compensation per claim was similar among CFWs and non-CFWs, it should be noted that almost one quarter of the claims filed from 2002 to 2012 by workers at correctional facilities originated at Menard Correctional Center. The IWCC database should be improved and utilized to provide evidence for policy changes and for focusing preventive efforts in CFWs and in all workers in Illinois.


Via 150 signed articles, this volume, Green Cities, in the SAGE Reference Series on Green Society, provides an overview of the key concepts that urban planners, policy makers, and architects, engineers, and developers use to understand the sustainability dimensions of the urban environment. It identifies cities that have taken steps to become greener and discusses the strategies they have used. It reviews broad concepts associated with green cities. It discusses technologies, infrastructures, and programs that contribute to the greening of cities. Cities face enormous environmental challenges, and the entries in this volume, from case studies of greener cities to discussions of green urban design, infrastructure, and processes, can help us transform out cities into healthier, sustainable communities in which a growing urban population can thrive. Along with the articles, pedagogical elements of this electronic product include a Reader's Guide, Chronology, Resource Guide, Glossary, Appendix, and thorough Index.


During the 1990s and early 2000s, working-class and poor neighborhoods in San Francisco underwent dramatic economic and racial changes. One of the most heavily gentrified neighborhoods was the Mission District. As a result of local politics, housing and rental policies, real estate speculation, and development, thousands of Latina/o families were displaced. Using oral historical and ethnographic methodologies, print media, archival sources, and policy papers, this article traces the gentrification of the Mission District from the perspective of the Latina/o community. It also examines how gentrification was articulated as a positive turn within the larger public discourse on space and access.


Ecological research produces a tremendous amount of data, but the diversity in scales and topics covered and the ways in which studies are carried out result in large numbers of small, idiosyncratic data sets using heterogeneous terminologies. Such heterogeneity can be attributed, in part, to a lack of standards for acquiring, organizing and describing data. Here, we propose a terminological resource, a Thesaurus Of Plant characteristics (TOP), whose aim is to harmonize and formalize concepts for plant characteristics widely used in ecology. TOP concentrates on two types of plant characteristics: traits and environmental associations. It builds on previous initiatives for several aspects: (i) characteristics are designed following the entity‐quality (EQ) model (a characteristic is modelled as the 'Quality' of an 'Entity' ) used in the context of Open Biological Ontologies; (ii) whenever possible, the Entities and Qualities are taken from existing terminology standards, mainly the Plant Ontology (PO) and Phenotypic Quality Ontology (PATO) ontologies; and (iii) whenever a characteristic already has a definition, if appropriate, it is reused and referenced. The development of TOP, which complies with semantic web principles, was carried out through the involvement of experts from both the ecology and the semantics research communities. Regular updates of TOP are planned, based on community feedback and involvement. TOP provides names, definitions, units, synonyms and related terms for about 850 plant characteristics. TOP is available online (www.top-thesaurus.org), and can be browsed using an alphabetical list of characteristics, a hierarchical tree of characteristics, a faceted and a free‐text search, and through an Application Programming Interface. Synthesis. Harmonizing definitions of concepts, as proposed by TOP, forms the basis for better integration of data across heterogeneous data sets and terminologies, thereby increasing the potential for data reuse. It also allows enhanced scientific synthesis. TOP therefore has the potential to improve research and communication not only within the field of ecology, but also in related fields with interest in plant functioning and distribution.


Deep neural networks have been used widely to learn the latent structure of datasets, across modalities such as images, shapes, and audio signals. However, existing models are generally modality-dependent, requiring custom architectures and objectives to process different classes of signals. We leverage neural fields to capture the underlying structure in image, shape, audio and cross-modal audiovisual domains in a modality-independent manner. We cast our task as one of learning a manifold, where we aim to infer a low-dimensional, locally linear subspace in which our data resides. By enforcing coverage of the manifold, local linearity, and local isometry, our model -- dubbed GEM -- learns to capture the underlying structure of datasets across modalities. We can then travel along linear regions of our manifold to obtain perceptually consistent interpolations between samples, and can further use GEM to recover points on our manifold and glean not only diverse completions of input images, but cross-modal hallucinations of audio or image signals. Finally, we show that by walking across the underlying manifold of GEM, we may generate new samples in our signal domains. Code and additional results are available at https://yilundu.github.io/gem/.


For cardiac surgeons, mitral valve reconstruction (MVR) surgery is a highly demanding procedure, where an artificial annuloplasty ring is implanted onto the mitral valve annulus to re-enable the valve's proper closing functionality. For a successful operation the surgeon has to keep track of a variety of relevant impact factors, such as patient-individual medical history records, valve geometries, or tissue properties of the surgical target, and thereon-based deduce type and size of the best-suitable ring prosthesis according to practical surgery experience. With this work, we aim at supporting the surgeon in selecting this ring prosthesis by means of a comprehensive information processing pipeline. It gathers all available patient-individual information, and mines this data according to 'surgical rules', that represent published MVR expert knowledge and recommended best practices, in order to suggest a set of potentially suitable annuloplasty rings. Subsequently, these rings are employed in biomechanical MVR simulation scenarios, which simulate the behavior of the patient-specific mitral valve subjected to the respective virtual ring implantation. We present the implementation of our deductive system for MVR ring selection and how it is integrated into a cognitive data processing pipeline architecture, which is built under consideration of Linked Data principles in order to facilitate holistic information processing of heterogeneous medical data. By the example of MVR surgery, we demonstrate the ease of use and the applicability of our development. We expect to essentially support patient-specific decision making in MVR surgery by means of this holistic information processing approach.


PURPOSE
Notch pathway activation by mutations in either NOTCH1 and/or FBXW7 is one of the most common molecular events in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and, in pediatric disease, predicts for favorable outcome. Their prognostic significance in adult T-ALL is unclear. We sought to evaluate the outcome according to mutation status of patients with adult T-ALL treated on the United Kingdom Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia XII (UKALLXII)/Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) E2993 protocol.

METHODS
NOTCH1 and FBXW7 were screened by a combination of denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography and sequencing in 88 adult patients with T-ALL treated on the UKALLXII/ECOG E2993 protocol and compared with clinical characteristics and outcome.

RESULTS
NOTCH1 and FBXW7 mutations were common (60% and 18%, respectively) and were not associated with age or WBC count. NOTCH1 heterodimerization domain mutations were associated with FBXW7 mutations (P = .02), and NOTCH1 proline, glutamic acid, serine, threonine (PEST) rich domain and FBXW7 mutations were mutually exclusive. There were an equal number of high- and standard-risk patients in the NOTCH1 and FBXW7 mutated (MUT) groups. Patients wild type (WT) for both markers trended toward poorer event-free survival (EFS; MUT v WT, 51% v 27%, P = .10; hazard ratio, 0.6). Analysis by each marker individually was not significantly predictive of outcome (NOTCH1 MUT v WT, EFS 49% v 34%, P = .20; FBXW7 MUT v WT, EFS 53% v 41%, P.72).

CONCLUSION
NOTCH1 and FBXW7 mutant-positive patients do not fare sufficiently well to warrant an individualized treatment approach in future studies.


Ensemble Prediction has become an essential part of numerical weather forecasting. In this paper we investigate the ability of ensemble forecasts to provide an a priori estimate of the expected forecast skill. Several quantities derived from the local ensemble distribution are investigated for a two year data set of European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) temperature and wind speed ensemble forecasts at 30 German stations. The results indicate that the population of the ensemble mode provides useful information for the uncertainty in temperature forecasts. The ensemble entropy is a similar good measure. This is not true for the spread if it is simply calculated as the variance of the ensemble members with respect to the ensemble mean. The number of clusters in the C regions is almost unrelated to the local skill. For wind forecasts, the results are less promising.


The aim of this paper is to study the influence of some jersey knitted fabrics characteristics stressed with bagging deformations. We apply a multidirectional stress on some knitted samples varying in composition, in yarn counts and in some knit parameters. We are interested on the permanent maximum deformation and on the maximum permanent bag-ging height. Experiments are carried out and we found that the bagging volume depends on the fabric strength properties, yarns count and the knit density, whereas the permanent maximum deformation characterizing the bagging phenomenon decreases when the yarn linear density increase (yarn count decrease) and when the course count decrease. A rheological study shows that the generalized Maxwell model with four parameters fits (represents) the knitted fabric reaction after the application of the multidirectional stress. Also, the statistical study shows that the material composition is the most impor-tant parameter on the bagging phenomenon.


A detailed, but readable, analysis of the attempt by Britain and Spain since 1980 to solve their dispute over the future of Gibraltar, the last-remaining colony in Europe. Spain wanted the restoration of her "territorial integrity", whereas the Gibraltarians have never shown any interest in becoming part of Spain. Britain had ignored UN calls for negotiations, but following the restoration of Spanish democracy and with Spain due to become a fellow member of both NATO and the European Community, Britain felt an obligation to try to resolve the dispute. Using Spanish as well as British sources, the book examines the events which have taken place following the signing of the Lisbon Agreement between Britain and Spain to discuss the differences between them on this issue. It traces the effect of the Falklands/Malvinas war in 1982 on the Gibraltar negotiations, and shows that although the process was delayed, events in the South Atlantic did not prevent an explicit commitment in the Brussels Declaration of 1984 to discuss the thorny issue of the sovereignty of Gibraltar. Since that time, although communications and co-operation between Spain and the Rock have improved, little progress has been made towards resolving the question of sovereignty. A major stumbling block has been the Preamble to the Gibraltar Constitution of 1969, which has virtually given the Gibraltarians the power of veto over any agreements which Britain and Spain might make. Since 1988, when the veteran Chief Minister, Sir Joshua Hassan stood down and was replaced by Joe Bossano, the Gibraltar government has followed a policy aimed at increasing the colony's self-reliance. If there is to be any change in sovereignty it will probably occur under the umbrella of the European Union, but the manner is imprecise and the timing is remote.


Roughly one-third of households in rural America cannot subscribe to broadband Internet services at any price. This puts many rural communities at a disadvantage with respect to economic growth, job creation, educational opportunities, health care information, commerce, and more. Internet users in urban areas are also adversely affected by the exclusion of so many rural households. For example, e-commerce merchants can attract fewer customers, online universities can attract fewer students, and users of e-mail, Internet telephony, and videoconferencing can communicate with fewer friends and business associates. Government can facilitate the expansion of broadband infrastructure into unserved communities through a suite of interrelated policies. Appropriate changes in spectrum policy would reduce the cost of building new broadband wireless systems in rural areas. These potential new wireless providers could then compete with existing telephone, cable, and cellular companies and other organizations for the obligation to bring broadband to an unserved community in return for a one-time subsidy. Defining this obligation in a highly flexible form and making it tradable on an open market would minimize the cost of infrastructure deployment and thereby reduce the subsidies needed. Attaching very lightweight restrictions on subsidy recipients could protect consumers from monopoly providers that might be tempted to limit their customers' choice of content or applications. Allowing and encouraging local government agencies to play an active role could encourage providers to deploy infrastructure by guaranteeing future revenues and ensuring access to critical resources. Collecting better information on availability of broadband services nationwide would allow both policymakers and potential service providers to better identify the communities that need service. Together, these mutually reinforcing policy reforms would allow government to move the United States closer to the goal of universal access to broadband Internet by harnessing market forces without competing with market forces.


Background : The public health services project of the South-eastern Europe health network has undertaken an evaluation of public health services in its nine member countries. The purpose of the evaluation of public health services provision in the South-eastern European (SEE) countries is to understand where these countries now stand in public health, the institutional, organisational, legislative and service delivery developments that are taking place and to identify strengths and weaknesses in their public health systems and services in order to inform decision making about investment and future reform. Methods : The evaluation was orientated around "essential public health operations" that are deemed to form the core of public health activities and services and to be indispensable to the delivery of modern public health services in any country. The evaluation analysed these activities and services within the structure of the health system functions of stewardship, resource generation, financing and service delivery, as developed by WHO. Results : The results demonstrate a mixed picture of strengths and weaknesses within the context of significant social, economic and political challenges in the region. Among the many visible and significant strengths in public health services in the region are well developed networks of public health institutes with well defined surveillance systems, highly experienced and well educated public health professionals as well as many positive examples of service delivery. But there are also many concerns and challenges, not the least of which is political focus, direction and support for modern public health services, as well as funding. Collaboration and partnership among sectors is weak and information and communication systems are inadequate and not sufficiently integrated. Conclusions : Having emphasized the main weak and challengeable points in the Public Health systems and services in the SEE countries, the evaluation is also a first step to defining a way forward in the SEE countries to ensure that the turmoil of 'transition' is only a prelude to the comprehensive modernisation of public health services.


This paper examines the influence of Static Synchronous Series Compensator (SSSC) on the oscillation damping control in the network. The performance of Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS) controller highly depends upon its parameters and appropriate location in the network. A new Adaptive Inertia Weight Particle Swarm Optimization (AIWPSO) method is employed to design the parameters of the SSSC-base controller. In the proposed controller, the proper signal of the power system such as rotor angle is used as the feedback. AIWPSO technique has high flexibility and balanced mechanism for the local and global research. The proposed controller is compared with a Genetic Algorithm (GA) based controller that confirms the operation of the controller. To show the integrity of the proposed controller method, the achievement of the simulations is done out in a single-machine infinite-bus and multi-machine grid under multi turmoil.


Ecosystems and human systems are interconnected through a complex series of dynamic relations. In particular, natural functions of ecosystems generate flows of services continuously. To represent adequately the importance of ecosystems for human well-being, the concept of Ecosystem Services (ES) was defined. A complete review of methods and values for the assessment of ES from an economic viewpoint was provided by Costanza et al. in 1997. However, in ES valuation (ESV) several values are neglected or not calculated and estimation methods rely on strictly economic and subjective practices. In order to have a physical reference upon which an objective (and complementary) evaluation can be based, we used the concept of emergy. Emergy is a thermodynamic entity based on energy quality and hierarchy. Life on Earth is organized in an ordered series of energy transformations from one type to the next; these types do not have the same ability to do work. Emergy can be defined as the quantity of (solar) energy that is used up directly or indirectly to make a product or a service. An accounting system based on emergy can be implemented to evaluate production processes, ecosystems and nations. In this paper the emergy of different biomes was calculated and translated into money by means of a specific "environmental" emergy-to-money conversion factor given by the ratio of the renewable emergy supporting the entire biosphere (emergy baseline) to the value of the world ES previously proposed. The results show that the new economic value is higher than classical ESV values.


Customer equity is increasingly being considered as a market-based asset that can improve financial performance and market valuation of firms. There has been a trend therefore within organizations to design internal processes which can facilitate maximal achievement of customer equity. From a managerial perspective, it is important to know how such processes come together to influence equity perceptions of the firm's customers. Value theory categorizes processes into two components: value creating and value appropriating. In this dissertation, I evaluate how marketing-related VC and VA processes interact in shaping customer equity of a firm. I develop a framework that identifies several VC and VA organizational processes based on the work of Srivastava and his colleagues (1999) and other relevant extant research. I also propose outcomes to measure effectiveness of VC and VA processes. Using data collected from B2B firms in India, I estimate the efficiency of firms in converting VC and VA inputs into VC and VA outcomes. I call these efficiencies as value creation efficiency (VCE) and value appropriation efficiency (VAE). I then test how VCE and VAE work together to affect CE outcomes. The floodlight analysis of interaction effects between VCE and VAE show that the effect of VC processes on value and relationship equity assessment by customers depends on VA processes being moderately efficient. On the other hand, the effect of VC processes on brand equity assessment by customers depends on the presence of high level of VA efficiency. The overall message is that unless a firm is efficient in transforming VA processes into VA outcomes, it may not gain equity benefits from VC processes.


This paper addresses backstepping controller synthesis for piecewise affine (PWA) systems. The main contribution of the paper is to formulate controller design for a large class of PWA systems as a convex problem. Integrator backstepping is proposed as the principal design step in constructing Lyapunov functions for PWA systems in strict feedback form. The controller synthesis problem is divided into two cases. The first case consists of the construction of a sum of squares (SOS) Lyapunov function for PWA systems with discontinuous vector fields. The second case addresses the construction of a piecewise polynomial Lyapunov function for PWA systems with continuous vector fields. After constructing a (piecewise) polynomial Lyapunov function, controller synthesis for a PWA system can be formulated as an SOS program, which is a convex optimization problem and can be efficiently solved. The new synthesis method is applied to a numerical example.


Although North Korea is increasingly in the limelight of international news, a systematic review has yet to offer an accumulated body of knowledge regarding North Korea and its related communication scholarship. This study assesses the current state of research on media and communication in, around, and about North Korea from 2000 to June 2019. It examines a total of 85 research articles published in 57 journals. Overall, it finds an explosion in research after 2009. Findings reveal that research overwhelmingly deals with content analysis of Western media coverage, which indicates a strong influence of Cold War binaries. Findings also show that North Korea's media environment has been moving toward more openness and better connectivity. Ultimately, this study finds a need for more comparative research to examine not only content, but also audience and producers—to include those inside North Korea, for which innovative, interdisciplinary approaches are called for.


In principle, ordinary killings are different from premeditated killings, in terms of actions that kill the lives of others, but some are carried out in a timeframe, structured and planned. In this research, the formulation of the problem formed is how is the implementation of the requirements for the fulfillment of elements in criminal acts of premeditated murder? And what are the obstacles in deciding the case of premeditated murder in the Blora State Court In the research carried out, the writing uses a sociological juridical approach, that is research that uses the method of approach to the problem by looking at the norms or laws that apply and see the implementation of the facts contained in the field. The results of the study as an answer to the formulation of the problem are (1) The element with the first plan is not a form of deliberate but in the form of how to form intentions / Opzet which has 3 conditions namely the Opzet was formed after being planned in advance, after people planned (Opzet) in advance, and planning the implementation of the "Opzet" requires a rather long period of time. (2) The obstacles of the judge in prosecuting the perpetrators of the crime of planned murder come from internal and external factors.Keywords: Fulfilled Requirements; Elements of Criminal Acts; Planned Murder.


This paper contains the chapters on public enforcement of law and on criminal law from a general, forthcoming book, Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law (Harvard University Press, 2003). By public law enforcement is meant the use of public law enforcement agents -- such as police, tax inspectors, regulatory personnel -- to enforce legal rules. A number of important dimensions of public law enforcement may be distinguished. One is the choice of the basic rule of liability: whether liability is strict or fault-based, and whether liability is imposed only if harm is done or may be imposed on the basis of acts alone (independently of the occurrence of harm). A second dimension of enforcement is the type of sanction, whether monetary or nonmonetary, notably, imprisonment. A third aspect of enforcement is the magnitude of sanctions. And a fourth dimension of enforcement is the degree of enforcement effort, which determines the probability of imposition of sanctions. These dimensions of enforcement are discussed in the chapters that follow. In chapter 20, the basic theory of public enforcement employing monetary sanctions is discussed; in chapter 21, the basic theory of enforcement using nonmonetary sanctions is examined; and in chapter 22, extensions to the basic theory are considered. Then, in chapter 23, functions of sanctions apart from deterrence, namely, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution, are discussed. Finally, in chapter 24, the subject of criminal law is addressed against the background of the theory of public enforcement of law.


Objective. Rheumatoid factor (RF) and anticitrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA) are believed to be associated with more severe rheumatoid arthritis; however, studies in early inflammatory arthritis (EIA) have yielded conflicting results. Our study determined the prognosis of baseline ACPA-negative and RF-negative patients. Methods. Patients enrolled in the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort had IgM RF and IgG anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies 2 (anti-CCP2) measured at baseline. Remission was defined as a Disease Activity Score of 28 joints (DAS28) < 2.6 using logistic regression accounting for confounders at 12-month and 24-month followup. Results. Of the 841 patients, 216 (26%) were negative for both RF and anti-CCP2. Compared to seropositive subjects, seronegative subjects were older (57 ± 15 vs 51 ± 14 yrs), more males proportionately (31% vs 23%), and had shorter length of symptoms (166 ± 87 vs 192 ± 98 days), and at baseline had higher mean swollen joint count (SJC; 8.8 ± 6.8 vs 6.5 ± 5.6), DAS28 (5.0 ± 1.6 vs 4.8 ± 1.5), and erosive disease (32% vs 24%, p < 0.05). Treatment was similar between the 2 groups. At 24-month followup, seronegative compared to seropositive subjects had greater mean change (Δ ± SD) in disease activity measures: ΔSJC counts (−6.9 ± 7.0 vs −5.1 ± 5.9), ΔDAS28 (−2.4 ± 2.0 vs −1.8 ± 1.8), and ΔC-reactive protein (−11.0 ± 17.9 vs −6.4 ± 17.5, p < 0.05). Accounting for confounders, antibody status was not significantly associated with remission. However, at 12-month followup, ACPA-positive subjects were independently more likely to have new erosive disease (OR 2.94, 95% CI 1.45–5.94). Conclusion. Although seronegative subjects with EIA have higher baseline DAS28 compared to seropositive subjects, they have a good response to treatment and are less likely to develop erosive disease during followup.


Spectral sensitivity, visual pigment absorbance spectra and visual pigment opsin sequences were examined in younger shallow-living and older deep-living instars of the ontogenetically migrating lophogastrid Gnathophausia ingens. Spectral sensitivity measurements from dark adapted eyes and microspectrophotometric measurements of the rhabdom indicate maximal sensitivity for long wavelength (495–502 nm) light in both life history stages, but the younger instars are significantly more sensitive to near-ultraviolet light than the adults. Both life history stages express the same two opsins, indicating that there is no ontogenetic change in visual pigment complement between life history stages. Chromatic adaptation shifted the spectral sensitivity maximum to significantly longer wavelengths in both age-classes, but a distinct secondary short wavelength peak is visible only in the younger instars. These shifts appear to be due to the presence of migrating screening pigments, which are probably vestigial in the deep-living adults. Anomalies in the response waveforms under chromatic adaptation also apparently result from filtering by screening pigments, but via an unknown mechanism.


Tight gas reservoir (TGR) plays an important role in unconventional oil and gas resources. The existing seepage models for TGR rarely consider the effects of heterogeneity, stress-sensitivity, and the unsteady fluid exchange between matrix and fracture. Heterogeneity is common for tight gas reservoir which should be carefully considered in geological model. The stress-sensitivity effect of fracture is an important factor influencing the transient flow behavior of TGR. Ultra-low porosity and permeability cause the unsteady flow between matrix and fractures systems. So this paper introduced a mathematical model for the horizontal well in a dual-porosity composite tight gas reservoir with considering the stress-sensitivity effect and unsteady flow between matrix and fractures systems. Some mathematical methods including the finite Fourier cosine transform, perturbation technique, Laplace transform, superposition principle, Stehfest numerical inversion algorithm are used to solve the nonlinear partial differential equation. Different flow regimes are divided based on pressure transient analysis curves. The sensitivity analysis of related parameters is studied according to pressure transient analysis and rate transient analysis curves. The presented model and obtained results in this paper give better understanding on pressure and rate transient behaviors of composite TGR. Cited as :  Zhao, K., Du, P. Performance of horizontal wells in composite tight gas reservoirs considering stress sensitivity. Advances in Geo-Energy Research, 2019, 3(3): 287-303, doi: 10.26804/ager.2019.03.07.


This paper presents two cases of real banks operating in metaverses, and more specifically within Second Life, in order to highlight the potential of such worlds as business and marketing platforms. We present the way the selected banks develop a business and marketing presence in the three dimensional environment by looking at the similarities and differences among their approaches. Subsequently, we emphasise the marketing implications of their approaches by examining the customer relationship management repercussions. At the end we provide further insights into this evolving and dynamic business phenomenon, highlighting specific avenues for future research.


Over the last three decades, corporate white-collar criminal defense and investigations practices have become established within the nation's largest law firms. It did not used to be this way. White-collar work was not considered a legal specialty. And, historically, lawyers in the leading civil firms avoided criminal matters. But several developments occurred at once: firms grew dramatically, the norms within the firms changed, and new federal crimes and prosecution policies created enormous business opportunities for the large firms. Using a unique data set, this Article profiles the Big Law partners now in the white-collar practice area, most of whom are male former federal prosecutors. With additional data and a case study, the Article explores the movement of partners from government and from other firms, the profitability of corporate white-collar work, and the prosecution policies that facilitate and are in turn affected by the growth of this lucrative practice within Big Law. These developments have important implications for the prosecution function, the wider criminal defense bar, the law firms, and women in public and private white-collar practices.


Pholcidae are ubiquitous spiders in tropical and subtropical caves around the globe, yet very little is known about cave-dwelling pholcids beyond what is provided in taxonomic descriptions and faunistic papers. This paper provides a review based on a literature survey and unpublished information, while pointing out potential biases and promising future projects. A total of 473 native (i.e. non-introduced) species of Pholcidae have been collected in about 1000 caves. The large majority of cave-dwelling pholcids are not troglomorphic; a list of 86 troglomorphic species is provided, including 21 eyeless species and 21 species with strongly reduced eyes. Most troglomorphic pholcids are representatives of only two genera:AnopsicusChamberlin & Ivie, 1938 andMetagoniaSimon, 1893. Mexico is by far the richest country in terms of troglomorphic pholcids, followed by several islands and mainland SE Asia. The apparent dominance of Mexico may partly be due to collectors' and taxonomists' biases. Most caves harbor only one pholcid species, but 91 caves harbor two and more species (up to five species). Most troglomorphic pholcids belong to two subfamilies (Modisiminae, Pholcinae), very few belong to Smeringopinae and Arteminae, none to Ninetinae. This is in agreement with the recent finding that within Pholcidae, microhabitat changes in general are concentrated in Modisiminae and Pholcinae.


An evaluation of available opportunities to revive irrigation on a long abandoned irrigation scheme in a dry region of Zimbabwe is presented by assessing water availability at catchment level. The aim is to enhance the livelihoods, income and nutrition of the communities that depend on the irrigation scheme through a sustainable management of revitalised irrigation infrastructure and ensure food security. Runoff generated in the catchment, with potential to flow into the dam that supplies water to the scheme, is estimated using the Soil Conservation Service curve number (SCS-CN) model. The model simulates runoff at catchment level using daily rainfall data. An overview of the methodology and the various steps followed are provided. Daily rainfall and dam water levels are the only measured data available for the catchment. The dam water levels are used to determine the dam water volumes using rating tables. The dam water volumes are used to calculate the daily water inflows into the dam and these are compared with simulated water discharge rates obtained from the model. The plotted hydrographs of both simulated and measured values coincided very well in shape with great precision validating the SCS-CN model for simulating runoff in ungauged catchments.


As an introduction to the special issue of positions: asia critique on the unending Korean War, this opening essay calls critical attention to the war's temporal contours, shifting focus from the question of the Korean War's origins that bedeviled Korean studies throughout the Cold War to the unsettling question of why the Korean War, in our ostensibly post–Cold War moment, is still not over. This introduction highlights how the image-essays, critical analyses, and interview assembled in this issue, in challenging the war's standard 1950–53 periodization, examine the war's persistence in multiple, often overlooked modalities that call for critical and innovative interpretive practice. Against the fog of received historiography on the Korean War, the essays in this collection, by variously questioning the integrity of state-sponsored accounts of the "truth" of the war, call much-needed attention to the Korean War's legacies, its undertheorized afterlives, and its oblique yet telling ongoing manifestations.


I Introduction Although medical malpractice claims occurred before the 1960s, their existence has been perceived to have been quite rare and to have had little impact on the practice of medicine (Danzon, 1985 and 1988; Sloan, et al., 1991; Weiler, 1992). Beginning in the 1960s, however, ever increasing public policy concern focused on the medical malpractice liability system (Sloan et al., 1991; U.S. Senate, 1969). In fact, the belief that the medical malpractice liability system in the U.S. is and has been in crisis has become extremely widespread. Physicians decry a system which they view as being out of control (Blackman and Bailey, 1990; Edwards, 1989). Public policy makers and researchers alike begin with the assumption that the law related to medical malpractice liability needs reform.(1) This paper presents evidence which weakens the conclusion that the U.S. medical malpractice liability system is in crisis and in need of reform. To lay the groundwork, it first carefully explores the basis for the perception that the system is in crisis. Perhaps, more than any other event, the significant changes in the medical malpractice insurance market during the past few decades have prompted the view of a malpractice system in disarray. Malpractice insurance premiums rose dramatically during the 1960s and 1970s. During this period physicians in a few states were unable to buy malpractice insurance at any price. Rising malpractice insurance premiums are caused by a number of factors. However, increased physician liability under medical malpractice law is the primary explanation for the higher premiums. Physician liability has increased since the 1960s because patients began filing more malpractice cases, winning a higher percentage of the cases filed, and receiving ever larger awards from juries for successful malpractice cases. The paper also examines responses by researchers and public policy makers to the perceived medical malpractice crisis. The perception of a crisis has led to at least some legislative reform of the medical malpractice system in every state. Furthermore, the average number of state medical malpractice reforms has increased dramatically over the past two decades. Although medical malpractice reforms do vary widely across jurisdictions, the impetus for the reforms appears to be the same; the current system is perceived to be inadequate due to sudden and dramatic increases in physician liability. However, historical data demonstrate that, contrary to the common perception, recent increases in physician liability are neither sudden nor dramatic. There is no doubt that physician liability and, hence, medical malpractice insurance rates have reached unprecedented highs in the past three decades. Nevertheless, a careful examination of the data reveals that recent growth rates in physician liability are comparable to U.S. growth rates before the 1950s. Given that neither malpractice litigation nor significant growth rates in the frequency of such litigation are recent phenomena, an explanation for recent and past increases is needed. It is implausible that the medical malpractice system could have been dysfunctional throughout most of U.S. history. The possibility that the medical malpractice system has been and is currently functioning efficiently becomes more plausible when medical malpractice is placed in its historical context. Previous research, as well as the public policy debate, has focused on solutions to a "runaway" medical malpractice system rather than focusing on the possibility that recent increases in physician liability have been warranted. However, if the increases in physician liability are warranted, then the public policy debate on medical malpractice reform may be severely flawed. II The Medical Malpractice "Crisis" Reliable statistics on medical malpractice insurance before the mid 1970s are sparse. However, available evidence indicates that during most of the 1950s the market for medical malpractice insurance was quite stable. …


Today, in every field of our lives, an efficient information access and mobility has become a prerequisite for the sustainability of all systems. Considering this fact, Internet technology is the fastest and the most proper media to access the required information worldwide, from our daily questions to scientific researches. Within this rapid development, many Internet compatible applications have been specialized to ease information access and sharing. Hence, internet inevitably becomes the top asset for obtaining the inputs, sharing the information and marketing goods and services. Increasing demand for web based education services is also one of the reflections of this rapid development. Internet based education models integrated with computer technologies provide the best and most efficient conclusions for mass education. To meet the mentioned demands and needs, Anadolu University, has been providing higher education opportunities through distance education since 1982. The University, with over 1.2 million distant students, is one of the leading universities in Turkey and the world. ANAPOD application is a new education model within University's distance education process, which is highly applicable for many disciplines. In this paper, ANAPOD experiences for the architecture education will be discussed.


Cyber-attacks have become increasingly common and are an integral part of contemporary armed conflicts. With that premise in mind, the question arises of whether or not a civilian carrying out cyber-attacks during an armed conflict becomes a legitimate target under international humanitarian law. This paper aims to explore this question using three different analytical and conceptual frameworks while looking at a variety of cyber-attacks along with their subsequent effects. One of the core principles of the law of armed conflict is distinction, which states that civilians in an armed conflict are granted a set of protections, mainly the protection from direct attacks by the adversary, whereas combatants (or members of armed groups) and military objectives may become legitimate targets of direct attacks. Although civilians are generally protected from direct attacks, they can still become victims of an attack because they lose this protection "for such time as they take direct part in hostilities." In other words, under certain circumstances, if a civilian decides to engage in hostile cyber activities (or "hacktivities"), they may well become a target of a direct lethal attack. I will argue that although the answer is highly nuanced and context dependent, the most salutary doctrinal revision that can be made in this area is that the threshold of harm must adapt to the particular intricacies of cyberspace.


The aim of this project was to investigate the performance of bar-silencers in ventilation ducts, with and without mean flow. The goal of which was to determine a product which could be used on its own or in conjunction with current traditional methods for induct sound attenuation. A literature review was conducted on induct sound attenuation and bar-silencers. A test facility was established in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Canterbury. Modifications were made to an existing fan and duct rig to align it with ISO 7235 (1991) Measurement procedures for ducted silencers Insertion loss, flow noise and total pressure loss. A number of bar-silencers were tested in the test facility to determine both their insertion loss and pressure loss characteristics. Bar-silencers which varied in thickness, (such as, triangular shaped silencers) were confirmed to have an insertion loss across a greater range of frequencies, but lower peak absorption than ducting lined on two sides. It was found that the bar-silencers would not be a cost effective method of sound attenuation on their own, due to less effective noise absorption, higher material costs and higher pressure losses, than traditionally lined sections of ducting. However, the barsilencers could be used in conjunction with traditional methods of sound attenuation to increase the attenuation or in low flow velocity ventilation exits where pressure losses are reduced.


RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
The goal of this study was to examine prescription fill patterns of lipid-lowering agents among Medicare/ Medicaid dual-eligible patients by ethnicity.

DATA AND METHODS
Study data were obtained from the Thomson Medstat MarketScan Medicaid claims database. Medicare/Medicaid beneficiaries who filled prescriptions for lipid-lowering agents during 2003 were included in the study. Logistic regression models estimated the probability that beneficiaries, by ethnicity, switched to a different lipid-lowering medication, augmented therapy with another lipid-lowering agent, or titrated the dosage of the drug upward over the course of the year.

RESULTS
The models revealed that African Americans were less likely to switch lipid-lowering agents (odds ratio [OR], 0.68; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-0.78), augment lipid-lowering agents (OR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.43-0.66), or titrate upward (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.67-0.84) than whites.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that African Americans may be receiving less aggressive treatment than other patients, which in turn may explain why many studies find that African Americans are less likely to reach lipid goals. These treatment disparities merit further study, because they may impact dual-eligible patients moving into Medicare Part D plans.


Household debt rose sharply in the United Kingdom in the decade before the financial crisis. This paper uses household level microdata to investigate the relationship between mortgage debt and consumption. We find evidence that more highly indebted groups of households made larger cuts in spending following the financial crisis: spending cuts associated with debt may have reduced the level of aggregate private consumption by up to 2% after 2007. Survey data suggest that large cuts in spending by indebted households after 2007 may reflect a combination of tighter credit conditions and increased concerns about ability to make future debt repayments. The potential for household indebtedness to lead to large adverse impacts on aggregate demand was an important reason why the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee took policy action at its June 2014 meeting.


Research results confirm the existence of various forms of international tax planning by multinational firms. Prominent examples for firms employing tax avoidance strategies are Amazon, Google and Starbucks. Increasing availability of administrative data for Europe has enabled researchers to study behavioural responses of European multinationals to taxation. The present paper summarizes what we can learn from these recent studies in general and about German multinationals in particular.


He is one of basketball's towering figures: 'Mr. Clutch,' who mesmerized his opponents and fans. The coach who began the Lakers' resurgence in the 1970s. The general manager who helped bring 'Showtime' to Los Angeles, creating a championship-winning force that continues to this day. Now, for the first time, the legendary Jerry West tells his story - from his tough childhood in West Virginia, to his unbelievable college success at West Virginia University, his 40-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers and his relationships with NBA legends like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant. Unsparing in its self-assessment and honesty, WEST BY WEST is far more than a sports memoir: it is a profound confession and a magnificent inspiration


Deep‐sea environments are, in some cases, largely unexplored ecosystems, where life thrives driven by the geochemical features of each location. Among these environments, chemosynthesis‐based ecosystems, in the Mid Atlantic Ridge, have an exclusive combination of high depth, high sulfur, and high methane concentrations. This is believed to modulate the biological composition of vent communities and influence the overall vent animal transcriptional activity of genes involved in adaptation processes to extreme environments. This opens, thus, the possibility of finding gene expression signatures specific to a given hydrothermal vent field. Regardless of the extreme physicochemical conditions that characterize deep‐sea hydrothermal vents, the animals dwelling around the vent sites exhibit high productivity and thus must cope with toxic nature of vent surrounding, seemingly deleterious to the animals, while developing surprisingly successful strategies to withstand adverse environmental conditions, including environmental microbes and mechanical stress whether ensuing from animal predation or venting activity. The deep-sea vent mussel Bathymodiolus azoricus has adapted well to deep‐sea extreme environments and represents the dominating faunal community from hydrothermal vent sites in the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge, owing its successful adaptation and high biomasses to specialized exploitation of methane and sulfide sources from venting activity. Its extraordinary capabilities of adapting and thriving in chemosynthesis‐ based environments, largely devoid of photosynthetic primary production and characterized by rapid geochemical regime changes are due to symbiotic associations with chemosynthetic bacteria within its large gills. In an attempt to understand physiological reactions in animals normally set to endure extreme deep‐sea environments, our laboratory has undertaken, for thelast few years, a series of investigations, aimed at characterizing molecular indicators of adaptation processes of which components of the host defense system has received most attention. This study reviews recent advances on the characterization of molecules and genes participating in immune reactions, using in vivo and ex vivo models, to elucidate cellular and humoral defense mechanisms in vent mussels and the strategies they have adopted to survive under extreme environments.


Advanced nuclear power plants currently being designed are characterized by structural, functional and operational features that are uncommon in the current generation of plants worldwide. Due to the long worldwide hiatus in the development of new nuclear power plants most of these issues and the implications of new operational concepts have never been evaluated in detail. This paper is a summary of the results a four-year project at the Idaho National Laboratory to develop a systematic process to analyze the operational requirements of new plants. The paper describes a method to produce reliable information for the design of robust and resilient systems that allow dynamic collaboration between operators and plant systems. It also provides examples of the application of this method to the development of an operational concept for advanced nuclear power plants, with examples from sodium fast reactors (SFRs).


Abstract The Great War was globalized and totalized 1 by the inclusion of colonial and newly independent people from all over the world and of civilians, old people, women and children. The European war became a laboratory for all the suffering of the century, from the extermination of the Armenians to the refugee crisis, the internments, and the unending modernization of warfare.


This book presents a comprehensive analysis of public expenditure control in Europe and the coordination strategies available. It provides a detailed scrutiny of the various audit systems in the EU and the difficulties in building consistency or harmony between them. The book demonstrates how successful strategies should aim to strengthen the collaboration between different layers of government at the EU, national and regional levels.


As we embark on reforming the U.S. healthcare system, population-based healthcare is becoming even more important, and epidemiology is the basic science we will use to evaluate our effectiveness. Although recent research has shown that most undergraduate and graduate programs in health administration teach epidemiology courses in their curricula, the goals, objectives, and final content for such a course remain inconsistent across the programs. There are limited guiding principles (e.g., accreditation and certification criteria) on what health administration programs should expect of students studying epidemiology. To assess the similarities and differences in epidemiological content taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, we systematically reviewed epidemiology content by querying those who teach this specific course via a national survey tool and syllabi obtained from programs. The purpose of this paper is to describe, for health administration programs, the (a) body of knowledge (i.e., content, principles) for a course in epidemiology taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels; and (b) perspectives of instructors regarding their approach in teaching epidemiology at the undergraduate or graduate level. This work will serve as a guide that can help educators when developing the competencies, goals, and objectives for epidemiology courses in their health administration programs.


Abstract : With the change of administrations in Washington, current U.S. policy toward North Korea will naturally undergo review and scrutiny. The essays in this volume offer an option to the current engagement approach. The authors suggest an alternative strategy for promoting peace and security in the Korean peninsula different from the ones contemplated or implemented by Washington in recent years.


We study the relationship between education and cognitive functioning at older ages by exploiting compulsory schooling reforms, implemented in six European countries during the 1950s and 1960s. Using data of individuals aged 50+ from the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), we assess the causal effect of education on old-age memory, fluency, numeracy, orientation and dementia. We find a positive impact of schooling on memory. One year of education increases the delayed memory score by about 0.3, which amounts to 16% of the standard deviation. Furthermore, for women, we find that more education reduces the risk of dementia.


A young Native American woman creates a hauntingly beautiful tribute to an age-old way of life in this fascinating portrait of the women of the Blackfoot Indians. A captivating tapestry of personal and tribal history, legends and myths, and the wisdom passed down through generations of women, this extraordinary book is also a priceless record of the traditional skills and ways of an ancient culture that is vanishing all too fast.Including many rare photographs, The Ways of My Grandmothers is an authentic contribution to our knowledge and understanding of Native American lore -- and a classic that will speak to women everywhere.


This paper explores the rhetoric of silence in Mini Aodla Freeman's Life Among the Qallunaat . Partway through this memoir, the author shares a parable about a government man who, having spent significant time in the North, adopts Inuit ways, becoming "Inuk-washed." The marker of this man's transformation is his decision not to speak back to his superiors; instead, "he chooses to be quiet and to sit back and listen." This learned behaviour resonates with other silences in the book: the narrator is characterized by her refusal and sometimes inability to speak up; meanwhile, Aodla Freeman has since alluded to what was not included in her book (the full history of her experience at residential school). And while these decisions not to speak reflect Inuit cultural protocols around deference to authority, they also challenge a 21 st century audience reading this text in the era of Truth & Reconciliation—a time, after all, of 'breaking the silence' and of speaking back. What are readers to make, then, of Aodla Freeman's insistence upon silence as a commendable act? How are qallunaat to emulate the silence of the government man, especially when it risks complicity with oppression? I argue that Life Among the Qallunaat re-figures silence not only as a form of resistance to the expected 'confession' of traumatic experience (Garneau), but also as a rhetorical tool capable of inspiring reflection and even alliance where, previously, there was none.


This paper reviews models of marriage, with special emphasis on how the sex ratio (the ratio of marriageable men to women) can help explain measurable outcomes such as marriage formation, intra-marriage distribution of consumption goods, savings, labor supply, leisure, type of relationship, divorce, and intermarriage. Predictions are based on Demand and Supply analyses by Becker and the author. Evidence in support of the predictions is reported, most of it based on recent literature.


The role and impact of algorithms has attracted considerable interest in the media. Its impact is already being reflected in adjustments made in a number of sectors – entertainment, travel, transport, cities and financial services. From an innovation point of view, algorithms enable new knowledge to be created and identify solutions to problems. The emergence of smart sensing technologies, 3D printing, automated systems and robotics is seamlessly being interwoven into discourses such as 'the collaborative economy', 'governance by platforms' and 'empowerment'. Innovations such as body worn cameras, fitness trackers, 3D printing, smart meters, robotics and Big Data hold out the promise of a new algorithmic future. However, the shift in focus from natural and scarce resources towards information also makes individuals the objects and the mediated construction of access and knowledge infrastructures now provide the conditions for harnessing value from data. The increasing role of algorithms in environments mediated by technology also coincide with growing inter-disciplinary scholarship voicing concerns about the vulnerability of the values we associate with fundamental freedoms and how these are being algorithmically reconfigured or dismantled in a systematic manner. The themed issue, Justice in Algorithmic Robes, is intended to initiate a dialogue on both the challenges and opportunities as digitalization ushers in a period of transformation that has no immediate parallels in terms of scale, speed and reach. The articles provide different perspectives to the transformation taking place in the digital environment. The contributors offer an inter-disciplinary view of how the digital economy is being invigorated and evaluate the regulatory responses – in particular, how these transformations interact with law. The different spheres covered in Justice in Algorithmic Robes – the relations between the State and individuals, autonomous technology, designing human–computer interactions, infrastructures of trust, accountability in the age of Big Data, and health and wearables – not only reveal the problem of defining spheres of economic, political and social activity, but also highlight how these contexts evolve into structures for dominance, power and control. Re-imagining the role of law does not mean that technology is the problem but the central idea from the contributions is that how we critically interpret and construct Justice in Algorithmic Robes is probably the first step we must take, always mindful of the fact that law may actually reinforce power structures.


Recent developments in hardware have enabled the widespread deployment of sensor networks consisting of small sensor nodes with sensing, computation, and communication capabilities. Sensor data are subject to several sources of errors resulting from power limitations, wireless communication, latency, throughput, and various environmental effects. Such errors may seriously impact the answer to any query posed in the network. An energy efficient approach to query processing is introduced in this paper by implementing new optimization techniques applied to in-network aggregation. We first discuss earlier approaches in sensors data management and highlight their disadvantages. We then present our approach and evaluate it through several simulations to prove its efficiency, competence and effectiveness


Sera from patients with autoimmune diseases often contain antibodies that bind ribonucleoproteins (RNPs). Sera from 30 such patients were found to immunoprecipitate ribonuclease P (RNase P), an RNP enzyme required to process the 5' termini of transfer RNA transcripts in nuclei and mitochondria of eukaryotic cells. All 30 sera also immunoprecipitated the nucleolar Th RNP, indicating that the two RNPs are structurally related. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the Th RNP revealed it was identical to the RNA component of the mitochondrial RNA processing enzyme known as RNase MRP. Antibodies that immunoprecipitated the Th RNP selectively depleted murine and human cell extracts of RNase MRP activity, indicating that the Th and RNase MRP RNPs are identical. Since RNase P and RNase MRP are not associated with each other during biochemical purification, we suggest that these two RNA processing enzymes share a common autoantigenic polypeptide.


Vitamin D deficiency has an impact on the reproduction of more than 40% of repro‐ ductive age women globally. Fibroids are more common among African‐American females owing to their decreased milk consumption and reduced absorption of ultraviolet rays, supporting the relation between vitamin D deficiency and fibroid development. Vitamin D has an inhibitory effect on leiomyoma cells by suppression of proliferation cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), BCL‐2, BCL‐w, CDK1, and catechol‐O‐ methyltransferase (COMT) protein levels. A growing evidence support the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and endometriosis through overexpression of vitamin D recseptor (VDR) and α‐hydroxylase enzyme, however, it is still unclear if the endome‐ triosis patients could benefit from vitamin D supplementation. Effect of vitamin D supplementation on the metabolic outcomes of polycystic ovary (PCO) has been studied and reveled that it is negatively correlated with fasting glucose, fasting insulin, triglycerides, C‐reactive protein, free androgen index, and Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEAS) and positively associated with quantitative insulin sensitivity check index (QUICKI), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), and sexual hormone binding globulin (SHBG), whereas its impact on the ovarian function is still unclear. Vitamin D deficiency may worse the obstetrical outcomes, including preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, low birth weight, increased cesarean section rate, neonatal asthma, seizures, and preterm labor. The relationship between serum levels of 25‐hydroxy‐vitamin D (25(OH) D) and pregnancy rates in ART is still debatable, with the need to conduct more clinical trials toward it. The in vitro antiproliferative and prodifferentiative effect of vitamin D might find a role in control of hyperplastic overactive bladder. Several studies support that vitamin D deficiency constitutes a risk factor for development of many types of cancer such as breast, ovarian, and colorectal.


Over the last four decades, electronic games have profoundly changed the way people play, learn, and connect with each other. Despite the tremendous impact of electronic games, however, until recently, relatively few programs existed to preserve them for future generations of players and researchers. Recognizing the need to save the original content and intellectual property of electronic games from media rot, obsolescence, and loss, the Game Preservation Special Interest Group of the International Game Developers Association has issued a white paper summa rizing why electronic games should be preserved, problems that must be solved to do so, some potential solutions, and why all these issues should matter to everyone interested in electronic games and play in general. In the white paper, the editing of which was partially supported by the Preserving Virtual Worlds project and by funds from the Library of Congress, its editor and six authors (Rachel Donahue created a survey for IGDA members not included in this article) issue a call for heightened awareness of the need to preserve electronic games—endangered by relatively rapid electronic decay and intellectual neglect alike—for play scholarship and for the culture of the twenty-first century.


Although streamflow data is important for water resource planning, it's long-term availability for Indonesian rivers is limited. One factor could be identified for example lack of observation. Here, we presented observation-based modeling to predict long-term discharge data for Cimanuk watershed in Indonesia. The watershed is categorized as one of the critical watersheds, meanwhile it supports to more than one million people. A well-known hydrological model called Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) was used to predict monthly discharge. The model was fed with monthly climate data, topography, land use and soil characteristics. We calibrated the model with the observed data from 1974 to 1994 (20 years). Our results showed that the model was a good performance in estimating monthly discharge as indicated by three statistical metrics used. Based on statistical evaluation, the calibration resulted a low percent bias (3.20%), strong correlation (0.73), and high Kling-Gupta Efficiency (0.78). Further, we did a sensitivity analysis for the model, and we found that hydrological response unit was the most influential parameters for the Cimanuk watershed. A long-term discharge data indicated a monsoonal pattern for this watershed.


Industrial companies are seeking to manage energy consumption and costs, mitigate risks associated with energy, and introduce transparency into reports of their energy performance achievements. Forty industrial facilities are participating in the U.S. DOE supported Superior Energy Performance (SEP) program in which facilities implement an energy management system based on the ISO 50001 standard, and pursue third-party verification of their energy performance improvements. SEP certification provides industrial facilities recognition for implementing a consistent, rigorous, internationally recognized business process for continually improving energy performance and achievement of established energy performance improvement targets. This paper focuses on the business value of SEP and ISO 50001, providing an assessment of the costs and benefits associated with SEP implementation at nine SEP-certified facilities across a variety of industrial sectors. These cost-benefit analyses are part of the U.S. DOE?s contribution to the Global Superior Energy Performance (GSEP) partnership, a multi-country effort to demonstrate, using facility data, that energy management system implementation enables companies to improve their energy performance with a greater return on investment than business-as-usual (BAU) activity. To examine the business value of SEP certification, interviews were conducted with SEP-certified facilities. The costs of implementing the SEP program, including internal facility staff time, are described and a marginal payback of SEP certification has been determined. Additionally, more qualitative factors with regard to the business value and challenges related to SEP and ISO 50001 implementation are summarized.


Composite materials go through a complex process of damage evolution which affect global property (strength and stiffness) degradation and eventual failure. The objective of this study is to enhance understanding of local damage mechanisms and property evolution utilizing frequency depedent dielectric response of carbon fiber reinforced composite materials. Specifically, material state change has been discussed in two example cases: (1) Damage distribution and remaining property after low velocity impact until barely visible impact damage (BVID) limit, and (2) Evolution of damage mechanisms in different laminates during tension loading. A 3D X-ray microscope has been used to visualize and hence validate evolution of damage. Validated results from these test cases show that degradation process, and evolution of properties can be represented by material state variables with a high sensitivity. This provides an opportunity for the development of predictive modeling. Details of experimental methods and results will be presented.


Molecular-dynamics (MD) computer simulations on three intermetallic compounds, NiAl, Ni3Al, and Cu3Au have been performed to investigate the kinetics of the disordering and amorphization processes. These systems were chosen because the embedded atom-type potentials work well for these materials and also because they have experimentally different amorphization behavior. Previous simulations of collision cascades with 5-keV Ni and Cu primary knockout atoms (PKA) have shown a complete loss of the crystalline structure but only partial chemical disorder in the core of the cascade. Dynamical melting simulations of the liquid phase provided significant differences in the short-range order between the three intermetallics, namely: (i) Cu3Au is close to an ideal mixture, Ni3Al is the most ordered liquid, and the disordering level of NiAl lies between the two A(3)B intermetallics, and (ii) NiAl has the fastest and Cu3Au has the slowest kinetics in the disordering process after a sudden increase of temperature. For details see Spacer et al. [Phys. Rev. B 50, 13 204 (1994)]. In the present paper we look for the conditions to induce amorphization in MD cascades in NiAl by 5 and 15 keV PKA's. The kinetic energy of the atoms in the simulated systems is removed on different time scales as a way to mimic strong or weak coupling between electrons and phonons. No evidence of amorphization is found at the end of the cascades created by 5 keV recoils. However, the 15 keV PKA events show that (i) in the no-coupling case the system evolves to a highly disordered state, (ii) an amorphous region with about 100 nonlattice atoms is found in the case of weak coupling, (iii) the locally molten and recrystallized region collapses to a small cluster containing 25 atoms when medium coupling is used, and (iv) a highly ordered state results in the case of strong coupling. Amorphization in MD cascades is reported. A 15 keV recoil event with weak electron-phonon coupling is also shown for Ni3Al. The final structure of the Ni3Al system shows no amorphous cluster formation in agreement with experimental results.


Henri Cartier-Bresson's writings on photography and photographers have been published sporadically over the past 45 years. His essays--several of which have never before been translated into English--are collected here for the first time. "The Mind's Eye" features Cartier-Bresson's famous text on "the decisive moment" as well as his observations on Moscow, Cuba and China during turbulent times. These essays ring with the same immediacy and visual intensity that characterize his photography.


This article aimed at investigating the differences between strategic goal and actual performance of green building marketing. In the past, there were very few researches based on this in Taiwan area, therefore,, in this article, past literatures will be reviewed again, and theories such as "cognition-attitude-behavior model" and "EKB decision theory", which were commonly used in studying market transaction process, will be used as basis, and "importance-performance analysis (IPA)" model will also be used together to understand more the perception strength and gap on all the marketing key factor indexes from the supply end (house builder and dealer) of green building market. Based on the researches , what needed to be noticed was quadrant II: (Concentrate here) and (high importance, low performance), this part represented the area that the supply end of green building needed to improve the present situation and improve the quality harder, including three key factor indexes: "consumer emphasizes on energy saving and carbon reduction and green environment", "actual economic, social and environmental interest was key knowledge factor of green building product" and "marketing personnel emphasize on moral action meeting the social expectation", which were used as reference for preparing real estate marketing strategy and selecting improvement projects.


As profitability is a comparative measure that describes the associations of total amount of profit with different factors. Thisstudy examines the influence of commercial banks determinants on the performance of commercial banks in Pakistan over the time period from 2004-2010. Consistency in performance is the basic reason for smooth running and presence of every financial institution.Profitability is the most significant and consistent indicator as it contributes huge amount of profitthat ultimately impacts its performance positively. The commercial bank's profitability is found out by the return on equity (ROE) and net-interest margin(NIM). Result indicates that the capital strength of a bank is utmost significance in affecting its performance, as a well-capitalized bank is observed to be less risky and such edge lead to high profitability. The assets quality, measured by the loans loss provisions, affects the performance of the banks positively and bank size as deposit indicates direct association with profitability as large banks earn more profit instead of small banks. Inflation and NIGI affects the bank's profitability inversely as increase inflation affects banks cost that increased and its earning main source is its fee that it charge on its services but free services without any charges decrease in gross income that lead a reduction in profit. This study is important and worthwhile for all commercial banks mangers regarding performance decisions of banks. As the development of the banking sector depends profoundly on strong decision making that leads to the efficiency and performance


Critical Border Studies emphasise how distinct political spaces are produced by borders. In this article I suggest that the order of this relationship should be reversed. I argue that space precedes and conditions the manifestation of borders. The argument is based on an understanding of cartography as a practice that mediates the relationship between space and borders. Drawing on Bruno Latour, I introduce the notion of cartopolitics to describe the process where questions pertaining to sovereign control over space are decided through cartography and law. In analysing current border practices in the Arctic, the term cartopolitics captures how the relationship between the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and cartography is shaping the attempts by Arctic states to expand sovereign rights into the sea. The key is the continental shelf and how it is defined in law. In this process cartographic practices work to establish a particular spatial reality that subsequently serve as a basis for border making.


Raspberry-like plasmonic nanoclusters have been synthesized by nanochemistry and self-assembled into bulk metamaterials in microfluidic devices. The optical properties of the nanoclusters have been studied by polarization resolved light scattering prior to assembling. The scattering efficiencies of the electric and magnetic multipoles are unambiguously determined experimentally, in excellent agreement with numerical simulations. The residual degree of anisotropy inherent to the self-assembly process is measured. The effective magnetic permeability of the assembled material differs notably from 1 and shows no significant dependence on the direction of propagation.


The vector-mediated introduction of cDNA into mammalian cells by calcium phosphate co-precipitation or permeation with lipofectamine is widely used for the integration of cDNA into genomic DNA. However, integration of cDNA into the host's chromosomal DNA occurs randomly at unpredictable sites, and the number of integrated recombinant DNAs is not controllable. To investigate the effect of genetic polymorphisms of ABCG2 on the protein expression and the drug resistance profile, we developed the Flp-In method to integrate one single copy of ABCG2 variant-cDNA into FRT-tagged genomic DNA. More than 20 metaphase spreads were examined for both fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) mapping and multicolor-FISH analysis, and it has been revealed that ABCG2 cDNA was incorporated into the telomeric region of the short arm on one of chromosomes 12 in Flp-In-293 cells. Based on the currently available SNP data for human ABCG2, we have created a total of seven variants by site-directed mutagenesis and stably expressed them in Flp-In-293 cells. While mRNAs of those integrated ABCG2 variants and wild type were evenly expressed in Flp-In-293 cells, the protein expression levels of F208S and S441N variants were found to be markedly low. It is suggested that the protein instability due to enhanced degradation resulted in the low levels of their protein expression. Thus, the Flp recombinase system would provide a useful tool to validate the effect of nonsynonymous SNPs on the protein stability and post-translational modification of ABCG2.


During the 1990s and early 2000s, a number of domestic social actors mobilized for peace in several African countries. They did so under unfavorable political conditions. Some of them went further and pursued their objective for peace at the level of formal negotiations. This particularizing inquiry sought to understand the process leading to their engagement with formal negotiations. To achieve this, inquiry focused on two questions: what about the conditions and contexts prevailing in the 1990s to early 2000s accounted for social actor's engagement with formal negotiation processes and how civic groups went about doing so. The main argument was that certain opportunities within the unfavorable political conditions and social actors' understanding of war accounted for the pursuit of peace objectives at the level of formal negotiations. A combination of specific and configurational history strategies were employed to reconstruct the process of engagement and the conditions under which it unfolded. This reconstruction relied on intrinsic and extrinsic analyses of ten peace campaigns led by religious leaders and women organizations that occurred between 1990 and 2005 in Angola, Burundi, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Somalia. Data on these campaigns was collected through archival research and face to face interviews. The resulting account suggests that the failure of social actor's humanitarian activities to mitigate the social and economic suffering caused by the war and the failure of formal negotiations to secure a lasting peace led to social actors' pursuit for an end to war. However, to engage with political actors with political, military and economic leverage, social actors had to deploy their social resources creatively to pursue their demands for peace. PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING: NONCOMBATANT MOBILIZATION FOR PEACE IN AFRICA


A submarine navigator have to keep track of surrounding ships in order to avoid collision and to gain a tactical advantage. This is currently done manually by a sonar operator, trained to listen through the water and identify ship-types by the sound they emit. This project presents a review and implementation of different solutions to the problem of audio classification. The goal of this work was to build a system capable of helping submarine navigators identify surrounding obstacles and ships based on the sound recorded by the sonar on board the submerged submarine. The research aims to uncover the best combination of techniques that can be used for this classification task. This project concerns both the field of signal analysis and artificial intelligence as the system comprises of two parts. The first being a method of extracting informative features from sonar data captured by the submarine. The second part is to feed the processed data into a neural network (NN) and provide a classification of the ship's type. In this project a system have been developed in order to experiment with a variety of feature extraction techniques and neural network structures to find a solution suitable for the submarine sonar classification problem. The system have been able to place 97.3% of the ships in the correct category when using the highest scoring combination of a feature extraction technique and a neural network. The best found combination was the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients feature extraction technique and a standard feed-forward neural network.


The analytical methodology of business management, and in particular, of individual accounting statements, is frequently discussed in domestic literature, together with the calculation of applicable, interpretable and assessable indicators, and also the key aspects of the analysis. Bearing that in mind, the question arises whether these indicators can be applied, and with what corrections, to the assessment of performance at concern level in relation to subsidiaries often pursuing quite different activities, or to the analysis of the company group's operations. Concern-level analyses, in relation to certain market stakeholders including, in particular, owners, potential investors and creditors, are needed also because in addition to examining the individual companies, it is concern-level analyses that enable risk assessment which may be based on consolidated financial data and may shed light on the reliability of the company group, the standard of its business management, and consequently, on the risk level of economic processes. In order to answer the research question, a model group of companies was set up using the experiences of a previous questionnaire-based survey on businesses that operate in the food economy and that fall under the scope of consolidation. The changes induced in the data of individual annual accounting statements by the individual steps of the consolidation processes were examined using the methodology of conventional balance sheet analysis. The results of the examination demonstrate that due to the complexity of company groups, the most marked change in the structure of assets and liabilities is caused by capital consolidation, however, debt consolidation may also have a significant effect thereon. Debt consolidation, filtering out the interim results, and revenue/expenditure consolidation have an impact that significantly depends on the complexity and intensity of internal relations between the members of the company group. Filtering out interim results and revenue/expenditure consolidation are typically more significant in company groups with a vertical structure, and induce decisive changes in the equity of the company group.


Although substantive due process is one of the most confusing and controversial areas of constitutional law, it is well established that the Due Process Clause includes a substantive component that "bars certain arbitrary wrongful government actions 'regardless of the fairness of the procedures used to implement them.'" The Court has recognized substantive due process limitations on law-enforcement personnel, publicschool officials, government employers, and those who render decisions that affect our property rights. Government officials who act with intent to harm or with deliberate indifference to our rights have been found to engage in conduct that "shocks the judicial conscience" contrary to the guarantee of substantive due process. A burgeoning body of case law, however, has limited substantive due process as a viable restraint on the conduct of officials in the executive branch of government. Some appellate courts have restricted substantive due process to claims involving deprivation of a fundamental right. Others have rejected all claims where only deprivation of property is at stake, or they have dismissed such claims where state law provides a remedy, thus confounding the treatment of procedural and substantive due process 1 Berger: Reining in Abuses of Executive Power through Substantive Due Proc Published by UF Law Scholarship Repository, 2008 520 FLORIDA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 60 claims. Further, the courts have narrowly defined the concept of a duty of care to immunize raw abuses of executive power. This Article asserts that substantive due process should be recognized as a meaningful limitation on arbitrary abuses of executive power and that victims of such abuse should not be relegated to the vagaries and increasing hurdles imposed by state tort law. The Article summarizes the origins and development of substantive due process in the Supreme Court as a limitation on legislative, judicial, and executive power. It then critiques the positions adopted by federal appellate courts regarding substantive due process as a limitation on executive power. It addresses separation of powers and federalism concerns that have been used to justify a crabbed interpretation of substantive due process. Finally, the Article suggests ways for attorneys litigating on behalf of government employees, arrestees and detainees, students, and landowners to invoke substantive due process as a meaningful restraint against misuse of executive power.