In family firms, the business and the family are two arenas in which processes significantly overlap and influence management. The present paper investigates the overlap of the family system and the business through the use of culture. Adopting an idiographic approach and recognising the unique psychodynamic process of family business (FB), this study aims to identify the cultural patterns within the FB, starting from what families define as a) family, b) business and, c) the generational change. Twenty-five family firms were considered during the generational change. The results show how and when this overlap takes shape pointing out how the role of family tradition can became a critical or success factor for the business.


Online resource, Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Professionals who work with young children who are gifted or talented can make a real difference to them reaching their full potential. This resource provides early childhood professionals with information and resources to help identify and provide learning for young gifted and talented children (from infancy to eight years old) and their families. Gifted and talented young children experience wellbeing and positive development when provided with supportive and challenging learning environments that are responsive to their individual strengths and interests. Every early childhood professional will be working with gifted children. It is estimated that 10–15 per cent of children are gifted, which means a typical early childhood group or school class will contain at least one gifted child. Many will have more, so it is imperative that professionals reflect on their practice and seek professional learning opportunities to increase their understanding and knowledge of giftedness and talent in young children. Research has shown that educators who have received professional learning opportunities or pre-service preparation in giftedness and talent are better able to recognise and understand giftedness in children, and have more positive attitudes towards it. The professional learning opportunities in this online resource will assist professionals to identify and engage in good practice when working with young gifted and talented children. The content of this online resource has been developed by Dr Anne-Marie Morrissey and Dr Anne Grant (Deakin University).


In recent years, there have been various legislative efforts to modify or supplement the existing H-2A temporary agricultural program authorized by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Concern has centered on making the program easier for growers to use while still maintaining protections for domestic labor. Growers have made limited use of the program in the past and a few years ago program usage was in decline. Current trends, however, show an increase due in part to increased demand from tobacco growers. This report provides information on the H-2A program, illustrates current trends, discusses issues raised by the proposed changes, and tracks pending legislation.


A recent trend in the IoT is to shift from traditional cloud-centric applications towards more distributed approaches embracing the fog and edge computing paradigms. In autonomous robots and vehicles, much research has been put into the potential of offloading computationally intensive tasks to cloud computing. Visual odometry is a common example, as realtime analysis of one or multiple video feeds requires significant on-board computation. If this operations are offloaded, then the on-board hardware can be simplified, and the battery life extended. In the case of self-driving cars, efficient offloading can significantly decrease the price of the hardware. Nonetheless, offloading to cloud computing compromises the system's latency and poses serious reliability issues. Visual odometry offloading requires streaming of video-feeds in real-time. In a multivehicle scenario, enabling efficient data compression without compromising performance can help save bandwidth and increase reliability.


Neurological disorders are medically defined as disorders that affect the brain as well as the nerves found throughout the human body and the spinal cord. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakness, poor coordination, loss of sensation, seizures, confusion, pain and altered levels of consciousness.


The article identifies the features of the management of higher education in Ukraine and in Europe in the context of global economic transformations. In the process of analysis, it was determined that the financing of higher education in European countries is carried out almost equally: at the expense of the State budget and at the expense of individuals. At the same time, the outflow of students from the CIS countries to European countries can be explained by the proposed concepts of providing educational services, the main difference among which consists, firstly, in orientation towards the needs of the state, and secondly, in orientation towards the needs of business structures and various market subjects. It was also determined that the impact of economic factors on the level of education is rather low, and at the same time, this indicator largely depends on the indicator of the social capital. In this regard, the following social trends have been identified that need to be implemented for the successful education management: expanding the population education program, as well as providing lifelong education, ensuring equal access to quality education, strengthening the role of the state in ensuring equity in education, efficient and effective use of education costs, humanization and democratization of education, updating the content, forms, methods and means of training, enhancing the professional competence of teachers, transparency of education systems, the formation of state-public forms of education management.


The widespread proliferation of computer games for children as young as six months of age, merits a reexamination of their manner of use and a review of their facility to provide opportunities for developmental play. This article describes a research study conducted to explore the use of computer games by young children, specifically to investigate the affordances and limitations of such games and the features of children's traditional play that can be supported and further enhanced by different kinds of computer play. Computer games were classified and selected according to game characteristics that support higher order thinking. Children aged 5 and 7 were observed playing the games, and findings are given, together with suggestions for further research.


What is normally described as bias? A possible definition comprises attempts to distort or mislead to achieve a certain perspective, i.e. subjective descriptions intended to mislead. If designers were able to exclude bias from informing systems, then this would maximize their effectiveness. This implicit conjecture appears to underpin much of the research in our field. However, in our efforts to support the evolution and design of informing systems, the way we think, communicate and conceptualize our efforts clearly influences our comprehension and consequently our agenda for design. Objectivity (an attempt to be neutral or transparent) is usually regarded as non-biased. However, claims for objectivity do not, by definition, include efforts to inquire into and reflect over subjective values. Attempts to externalize the mindset of the subject do not arise as part of the description. When claims to objectivity are made, this rarely includes any effort to make subjective bias transparent. Instead, objectivity claims may be regarded as a denial of bias. We suggest that bias can be introduced into overt attempts to admit subjectivity. For example, where people are asked to give subjective opinion according to an artificially enforced scale of truth-falsity (bi-valued logic), they may find themselves coerced into statements of opinion which do not truly reflect the views they might have wished to express. People do not naturally respond to their environment with opinions limited to restricted scales; rather, they tend to use multivalued logic. This paper examines the impact of bias within attempts to establish communicative practice in human activity systems (informing systems).


Digested sewage sludge compost from Washington, DC, was applied to a Downer sand at rates of 0, 56, 112, 224, and 448 dry metric tons/ha. A fertilized control treatment was also utilized. Pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) K. Schum.) was grown as a summer cover crop prior to fall tree seeding. Leaf samples of red oak (Quercus ruba L.) and black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) seedlings were taken the summer of the first growing season. The total metal contents (..mu..g/g) of the compost were 2154 Zn, 517 Cu, 13.9 Cd, and 69 Ni. The treated soils were monitored for DTPA extractable Zn, Cu, Cd, and Ni throughout the 2.4 years of the experiment. No visual, foliar effects were noted on the growth of pearl millet or tree seedlings from the increasing rates of compost, however, pearl millet tissue Cd levels were significantly increased with increasing levels of compost from about 0.40 to about 1.62 ..mu..g/g. Metal contents of the tree seedlings were low and within normal levels recorded in the literature. Extractable soil Zn, Cd, and Cu decreased with time, however, soil Ni extractability tended to increase with time. Compost additions resulted in an increased soil pH which was maintainedmore » throughout the experiment. Poor correlations (r/sup 2/ ranged from 0.002 to 0.543) were obtained between DTPA extractable metals and metal concentrations of pearl millet, red oak, or black walnut.« less


This project is co-directed by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (Department of Art History, University of Delaware) and J.Ritchie Garrison (Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, University of Delaware). The following videos are from the events taken place at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, October 12-14, 2018. (https://sites.udel.edu/globalaestheticasiaamerica/)
How do design ideas, patterns, and aesthetics travel across the globe, even when objects themselves do not? This project's question grew out of a string of provocative inquiries that emerged following exhibitions and recent projects that our alumni and faculty members of the University of Delaware have worked on over the past 10 years (Collecting China [UD-Winterthur, DE], Asia in Amsterdam [PEM, MA], Made for the Americas [MFA Boston, MA], among others). While existing scholarship has recognized the global circulation of objects, artistic forms in the American field sometimes have less to do with the mobility of actual objects from Asia than with translations of Asian aesthetic influences that create new forms in new regions. This project therefore explores ideas about transcultural circulation beyond the concept of objects as commodities, by urging researchers to collaboratively study ideas and influences, across time and space, which have inspired, integrated, and re-generated new aesthetics in and beyond America.
"Asia" and "America" are taken in this project as pointers to encourage a mapping of global and multi-directional flow of aesthetics and aesthetic translation, not merely an exchange between Asia and North America. Our long-term goal is to generate a multi-level investigation that comprehensively encompasses Asia, Europe, the Americas and other related world regions into the study of American art and material culture.


Unique difficulties and challenges can arise for rare diseases and orphan disease indications within a clinical trial. Some of the challenges encountered by trials that are working on rare diseases can include recruitment and enrollment. One of the explanations for the challenges that are encountered in rare disease trials is because of the trial design of study, where the investigational product is being compared to the placebo. This review paper discusses the usage of placebo and when other options could be taken into consideration while creating the protocol, specifically with consideration to rare disease studies. It is essential for the investigators and those designing the protocol to consider alternative options from the standard randomized controlled trial. The aim of this paper is to review alternative trial design options. The trial designs discussed in this review paper include crossover trials, single arm studies and historical data, and n-of-1 trials.


The latest Internet phenomenon is Twitter, a micro-blogging platform that in just a few years has attracted millions of users. With short messages (tweets), following and followers, Twitter is reshaping ways of interacting online. Thus, its accessibility is very important for social interaction as well as for work. In this paper we discuss the accessibility of Twitter for blind users interacting via screen reader and voice synthesizer. First, basic functions such as registration, login, posting and reading tweets have been analyzed highlighting accessibility issues, then a discussion is based on the analyzed case study, offering suggestions for designers.


Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) has a particularly high prevalence in southern China, southeastern Asia and northern Africa. Radiation resistance remains a serious obstacle to successful treatment in NPC. This study aimed to explore the metabolic feature of radiation-resistant NPC cells and identify new molecular-targeted agents to improve the therapeutic effects of radiotherapy in NPC. Methods: Radiation-responsive and radiation-resistant NPC cells were used as the model system in vitro and in vivo. Metabolomics approach was used to illustrate the global metabolic changes. 13C isotopomer tracing experiment and Seahorse XF analysis were undertaken to determine the activity of fatty acid oxidation (FAO). qRT-PCR was performed to evaluate the expression of essential FAO genes including CPT1A. NPC tumor tissue microarray was used to investigate the prognostic role of CPT1A. Either RNA interference or pharmacological blockade by Etomoxir were used to inhibit CPT1A. Radiation resistance was evaluated by colony formation assay. Mitochondrial membrane potential, apoptosis and neutral lipid content were measured by flow cytometry analysis using JC-1, Annexin V and LipidTOX Red probe respectively. Molecular markers of mitochondrial apoptosis were detected by western blot. Xenografts were treated with Etomoxir, radiation, or a combination of Etomoxir and radiation. Mitochondrial apoptosis and lipid droplets content of tumor tissues were detected by cleaved caspase 9 and Oil Red O staining respectively. Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry approach was used to identify CPT1A-binding proteins. The interaction of CPT1A and Rab14 were detected by immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence and in situ proximity ligation analysis. Fragment docking and direct coupling combined computational protein-protein interaction prediction method were used to predict the binding interface. Fatty acid trafficking was measured by pulse-chase assay using BODIPY C16 and MitoTracker Red probe. Results: FAO was active in radiation-resistant NPC cells, and the rate-limiting enzyme of FAO, carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 A (CPT1A), was consistently up-regulated in these cells. The protein level of CPT1A was significantly associated with poor overall survival of NPC patients following radiotherapy. Inhibition of CPT1A re-sensitized NPC cells to radiation therapy by activating mitochondrial apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, we identified Rab14 as a novel CPT1A binding protein. The CPT1A-Rab14 interaction facilitated fatty acid trafficking from lipid droplets to mitochondria, which decreased radiation-induced lipid accumulation and maximized ATP production. Knockdown of Rab14 attenuated CPT1A-mediated fatty acid trafficking and radiation resistance. Conclusion: An active FAO is a vital signature of NPC radiation resistance. Targeting CPT1A could be a beneficial regimen to improve the therapeutic effects of radiotherapy in NPC patients. Importantly, the CPT1A-Rab14 interaction plays roles in CPT1A-mediated radiation resistance by facilitating fatty acid trafficking. This interaction could be an attractive interface for the discovery of novel CPT1A inhibitors.


The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has increased in the US, but little is known about the effects of these products on lung health. The main purpose of this study was to examine the association between e-cigarette use and a participant's report of being diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in a nationally representative sample of adults. Methods: The first wave of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) survey adult data was used (N = 32,320). Potential confounders between e-cigarette users and non-users were balanced using propensity score matching. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated to examine the association between e-cigarette use and COPD in the propensity-matched sample, the entire sample, different age groups, and in nonsmokers. Replicate weights and balanced repeated replication methods were utilized to account for the complex survey design. Results: Of the 3642 participants who met the criteria for e-cigarette use, 2727 were propensity matched with 2727 non e-cigarette users. In the propensity-matched sample, e-cigarette users were more likely to report being diagnosed with COPD (OR 1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12–1.85) than non-e-cigarette users after adjusting for confounders. The result was similar in the entire sample and in the different age subgroups. Among nonsmokers, the odds of reporting a COPD diagnosis were even greater among e-cigarette users (OR 2.94, 95% CI 1.73–4.99) compared to non-e-cigarette users. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that e-cigarette use was associated with a reported diagnosis of COPD among adults in the US. Further research is necessary to characterize the nature of this association and on the long-term effects of using e-cigarettes.


ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential affordances of applying a feminist ethics of care approach to community informatics practices in public internet access facilities. As feminist technology scholars have long observed, technology and technoculture are strongly encoded as masculine, privileging traits such as scientific knowledge, rationality, objectivity, and distance. These characteristics are expressed in traditional infomediary practices in a variety of ways, including notions of expertise, ways of conceptualizing technology, emphasis on skills attainment, and deficit-based models of user behavior. In contrast, ethics of care emphasizes the importance of relational and situated knowledge, pluralistic voices and experiences, and relationships bound by mutual interdependence. Traditionally, caring has been feminized and thus necessarily excluded from technoculture and relegated to invisible and unpaid labor. Caring and associated affective labor practices remain an under-examined subject in infomediary practices. Public libraries and community technology centers are logical places to explore for care work, given that they share many characteristics of the spaces where care work has historically been performed. We argue that an ethics of care framework has several possible affordances for infomediary practices in these institutions, including highlighting the gendered power dynamics that define and shape existing practices; distributing care work and making existing care work visible; and envisioning a more holistic and ethical approach to engaging diverse publics. We translate Tronto's seven warning signs for 'bad care' in institutions into seven positive guidelines for providing 'good care' in public internet access facilities, then contextualize these for community informatics institutions and practices.


We report on the time-resolved detection of the anomalous velocity, constituting charge carriers moving perpendicular to an electric driving field, in undoped GaAs quantum wells. For this we optically excite the quantum wells with circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses, thereby creating a state which breaks time-inversion symmetry. We then employ a quasi-single-cycle terahertz pulse as an electric driving field to induce the anomalous velocity. The electromagnetic radiation emitted from the anomalous velocity is studied with a subpicosecond time resolution and reveals intriguing results. We are able to distinguish between intrinsic (linked to the Berry curvature) and extrinsic (linked to scattering) contributions to the anomalous velocity both originating from the valence band and observe local energy space dependence of the anomalous velocity. Our results thus constitute a significant step towards noninvasive probing of the anomalous velocity locally in the full energy-momentum space and enable the investigation of many popular physical effects such as the anomalous Hall effect and spin Hall effect on ultrafast time scales.


The purpose of this research study is to investigate how the strategising of growth-oriented Small Business Owners (SBOs) influences the strategy in their businesses.

This thesis describes a 'Strategy-as-Practice' (S-as-P) investigation of ten Small Business Owners (SBOs) in Northeast England. Each SBO participated in a confidential 'one-to-one' strategy workshop with the author. The workshop format required each SBO to create a strategy map during the videoed session. The research design was intended to be minimally intrusive for members of the small businesses community.

The theoretical underpinning in this interpretive study was informed by Structuration Theory (ST). The video data were analysed with CAQDAS software. A template analysis approach was used based upon the symbiotic relationship of agency and structure proposed by ST. Cross-cutting themes were sought across the case companies.

The author found that the methodology attracted participation by growth-oriented SBOs. At the meso-level growth-oriented SBOs can be characterised as "strategically aware", even if their strategy has remained unchanged for a considerable time. This strategic awareness is a manifestation of strategising praxes within the business. SBOs that are not actively changing strategy tend to articulate aspects of their business model which are visible in the firm, the others find difficulty in expressing their strategy in words. The "one-to-one" strategy workshop format used in this study facilitates the articulation of tacit knowledge and hence aids such discussion.

This research was focused upon SBOs that had a history of organic-growth, and had been relatively unscathed by the 2008 Banking Crisis aftermath. The participation group were all based in the North East of England.

This study contributes to existing S-as-P knowledge by extending the contextual boundary beyond large organisations into the small business domain. The author contrasts, and compares, the S-as-P findings in this study with the extant field that has almost exclusively been devoted to larger scale enterprise. The videoed "one-to-one" strategy workshop design is a methodological contribution that has proven efficacious in both recruiting and studying SBOs with the minimum of intervention disruption for these busy people. The author creates a synthesised model of small business strategising based on findings from this study that may assist future researchers to better engage and understand the strategising of SBOs.


Web services as the most important event in distributed computing, have achieved great popularity among software developers today. A critical step in the process of developing service-oriented applications is web service discovery, i.e., the identification of existing relevant web services that can potentially be used in the context of a new web application.In this paper, we have proposed a novel method based on data mining techniques to assist and improve the web service discovery process as well as the development of service-oriented applications. Our assistant discovery approach is based on automatic finding of semantic similarity between web services through the application of clustering methods. We have introduced a new fuzzy semantic clustering algorithm which assists web service consumers in discovering a group of similar web services through an individual query. This objective is attained by way of a search space reduction mechanism which adds to the efficiency of the approach. Our proposed approach provides dynamic and flexible clusters which can be changed at discovery process.We have conducted an experimental study on a data set of tagged web services with ontology. The ontology supports the semantic analysis. Preliminary results from clustering indicate the possibility of retrieving web services at the discovery process with reasonable precision by applying the proposed similarity model. From these promising results, we conclude that web service discovery process could be performing in a reasonable time because of reduced search space.


Cloud object stores are increasingly becoming the de facto storage choice for big data analytics platforms, mainly because they simplify the management of large blocks of data at scale. To ensure cost-effectiveness of the storage service, the object stores use hard disk drives (HDDs). However, the lower performance of HDDs affect tenants who have strict performance requirements for their big data applications. The use of faster storage devices such as solid state drives (SSDs) is thus desirable by the tenants, but incurs significant maintenance costs to the provider. We design a tiered object store for the cloud, which comprises both fast and slow storage devices. The resulting hybrid store exposes the tiering to tenants with a dynamic pricing model that is based on the tenants' usage and the provider's desire to maximize profits. The tenants leverage knowledge of their workloads and current pricing information to select a data placement strategy that would meet the application requirements at the lowest cost. Our approach allows both a service provider and its tenants to engage in a pricing game, which our results show yields a win-win situation


We examine whether investment bank-client relationships create valuable relationship-specific capital, using stock market evidence from the period surrounding the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Specifically, we study the impact of the Lehman collapse on firms that employed Lehman for (1) underwriting equity offerings; (2) underwriting debt offerings; (3) providing advice on mergers and acquisitions; (4) providing analyst research services; and (5) providing market-making services. We address two questions: First, which investment bank services, if any, are associated with the creation of relationship-specific capital, and second, what are the value drivers of this relationship capital? These questions are central to understanding whether investment bank services are relationship-based or transactional and, more broadly, how financial intermediaries create value for their clients. We find that firms that used Lehman as lead underwriter for public equity offerings experienced significantly negative abnormal stock returns in the days surrounding Lehman's bankruptcy announcement. In contrast, we find no significant reaction to the bankruptcy announcement among Lehman's debt underwriting clients or any of the other client categories that we examine. While most of the investment bank services we study have potential to create relationship-specific capital, our findings suggest that except for equity underwriting, all the other investment bank services appear to be transactional rather than relationship-based. Indeed, even across Lehman's equity underwriting clients, we observe significant differences. Our cross-sectional analysis shows that an equity underwriting relationship with Lehman was especially valuable for firms that had a high degree of dependence on Lehman to access the capital market, especially smaller, younger, and more financially constrained firms. This finding also implies that larger and financially stronger firms (who typically generate the highest volume of business for investment banks) adopt a relatively more transactional stance toward investment banks, even when they seek equity underwriting services.


A rural hospital hires a new infection control professional, EL, who has just received her master's degree and trained in infection control departments that were up to date on the best evidence. EL reviews the infection control policies and learns that traditional central line catheters are used. Where she trained, a new, more expensive, antiseptic catheter was used. The new catheter is impregnated with chlorhexidine and silver sulfadiazine and costs $25 more than the traditional catheter.

Because the new catheter is designed to reduce the incidence of hospital associated infections, particularly blood stream infections that are catheter related, EL recommends that the hospital begin using it in place of the traditional central line catheter. However, hospital administration and the purchasing department question the value of this new, more expensive, antiseptic impregnated catheter. Issues related to both cost and the possibility of improved outcomes are discussed at a meeting with intensive care nurses, physicians, and representatives from hospital administration and the purchasing department. Specifically, the questions are: (1) is the antiseptic impregnated catheter economically efficient? In other words, are the additional costs of the catheter offset by potential cost savings in reduced number of infections, which will affect length of stay? (2) Is the antiseptic impregnated catheter more cost effective when used in certain types of patients (eg, patients at high risk of catheter related infections, such as immunosuppressed patients)? An interdisciplinary team is asked to conduct a literature search and make an evidence-based recommendation.

As healthcare technology continues to expand, the cost of using all effective clinical services exceeds available resources. Because of the scarcity of resources, decisions regarding the implementation of new services frequently need to be based on economic analysis. Economic analysis is a set of formal, quantitative methods used to compare 2 or more treatments, programmes, or …


During 2015, it's expected to take over 1 billion photos. The 80% of these photos will be take using smartphones. Most photos will be stored and forgotten in digital media. And only a few will be printed. But, what happened to the typical picture frames? In this final work, it has been observed that there may be a niche or group of people who need a framed photo service in the photo printing market. Consequently, during this work it has been conceived, designed and developed a telematics service and framed photographic printing using a client-server architecture and agile methodologies applied during development. As client, it has been developed an application for iOS devices with the functions and resources needed to carry out orders. As server, four entities have been enabled to provide information consultation services, facilitate communications management, in addition to record and rocess the information generated by the user. For the full implementation of the service, there has been done a market research, designed the product, analyzed its feasibility and identified actions to promote and launch the service. Throughout the project, it has been used two agile methodologies: Lean Startup for design part and Scrum to manage the overall development of the service. As a result of this work, it has been created the beta version of the service with the capabilities and resources identified as vital to its implementation.


Remote sensing-based approaches to lithological mapping are traditionally pixel-oriented, with classification performed on either a per-pixel or sub-pixel basis with complete disregard for contextual information about neighbouring pixels. However, intra-class variability due to heterogeneous surface cover (i.e., vegetation and soil) or regional variations in mineralogy and chemical composition can result in the generation of unrealistic, generalised lithological maps that exhibit the "salt-and-pepper" artefact of spurious pixel classifications, as well as poorly defined contacts. In this study, an object-based image analysis (OBIA) approach to lithological mapping is evaluated with respect to its ability to overcome these issues by instead classifying groups of contiguous pixels (i.e., objects). Due to significant vegetation cover in the study area, the OBIA approach incorporates airborne multispectral and LiDAR data to indirectly map lithologies by exploiting associations with both topography and vegetation type. The resulting lithological maps were assessed both in terms of their thematic accuracy and ability to accurately delineate lithological contacts. The OBIA approach is found to be capable of generating maps with an overall accuracy of 73.5% through integrating spectral and topographic input variables. When compared to equivalent per-pixel classifications, the OBIA approach achieved thematic accuracy increases of up to 13.1%, whilst also reducing the "salt-and-pepper" artefact to produce more realistic maps. Furthermore, the OBIA approach was also generally capable of mapping lithological contacts more accurately. The importance of optimising the segmentation stage of the OBIA approach is also highlighted. Overall, this study clearly demonstrates the potential of OBIA for lithological mapping applications, particularly in significantly vegetated and heterogeneous terrain.


Book synopsis:

Written by European professors and focusing on the specificities of European sport, When Sport Meets Business analyses the growing commercialisation of professional sport in recent years and explains how it has developed into a major global industry.

Structured into four sections, the book covers the key issues in the Business of professional sport:

The New Sport Environment – Analysing the consequences of increasing commercialisation by looking at the multi-billion dollar sports goods industry; the effects of globalisation and how commercial influences have made running one of Europe's most popular sports.

Sport Marketing and Media – Investigating the role media and marketing has in commercialisation, with emphasis on the growth of sponsorship; media rights in European club football and the growing influence of social media in sport.

Sport and Finance – Relating to the economics of European sport: there is an investigation into the financial policies employed by European Football clubs, specifically in regards to the Financial Fair Play regulations, and the topical issue of high level corruption.

Sporting Events – Looking at additional factors that affect professional sport: highlighting the impact an Olympic Games can have on a host city and the longevity of an Olympic urban legacy.

The authors have included insightful case studies from across the continent, including anti RB-Leipzig media campaigns in Germany, financial policies at England's Chelsea FC, French Tennis Federation corporate responsibility, Media rights in Spain's LaLiga, the sponsorship viability for Ukraine's Klitschko brothers and the case of Denmark's Viborg F.F.

Suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students in sport related courses, including sport management, sport economics, sport marketing and the sociology of sport.


Exponential smoothing is often used to forecast lead-time demand for inventory control. In this paper, formulae are provided for calculating means and variances of lead-time demand for a wide variety of exponential smoothing methods. A feature of many of the formulae is that variances, as well as the means, depend on trends and seasonal effects. Thus, these formulae provide the opportunity to implement methods that ensure that safety stocks adjust to changes in trend or changes in season.


Higher void (hollow) brick offer the potential for energy savings, decreased raw material usage and reduced environmental impact. These advantages are related to the movement toward "green" building materials. The National Brick Research Center has performed an extensive study comparing the wall system performance of hollow and solid brick. Hollow masonry units are defined by ASTM C 652 while solid masonry units are specified in ASTM C 216. The key differences between these two specifications are related to the permissible void area and face shell thickness. The objective of this work was to determine what effect, if any, increasing void area might have on important aspects of the performance of brick masonry. The effect of decreasing face shell thickness was also evaluated. For this study, the performance of several sets of comparison extruded brick was measured. These sets of comparison brick represent a range of manufacturers and, thus, a range of physical properties. Water penetration, flexural bond strength, and compressive strength were measured on each type of brick and used as indicators of potential performance in a wall. Additionally, mortar usage as a function of void area was studied. Based on the results of testing from these sets of comparison brick, increasing void area or decreasing face shell thickness did not result in increased water penetration or decreased flexural bond strength.


This edited volume, 'Working across Modalities in the Arts Therapies', offers a window into cross modality working and transdisciplinary practice within and between the arts therapies and related disciplines. The book adds to a growing body of literature that addresses interdisciplinary work with a focus on the place where the individual arts therapies meet and where the arts therapies meet other healthcare and psychological interventions, such as speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and nurses, for example, in a "joined up approach that adheres to core principles while accessing skills unique to each discipline"(p: xxii).


Synthesis Methyl Ester Sulfonate ( MES ) from Karet seed oil methyl ester (Havea Brasiliensis.) through sulfonation reaction have been carried out. The results showed Karet seed oil content 46,45%, acid value 9,79623 mg KOH/ g oil and ALB levels of 4,92343%. First Bintaro seed oil is converted into methyl esters through an esterification process with variation of oil and methanol ratio at 1 : 6 using 4 % H2SO4 catalyst, in order to obtain a decrease in acid number of 3,60333 %. The results of GC-MS analysis showed the composition of the most dominant methyl ester is methyl linoleate by 34,19%. Synthesis sulfonation performed by reacting of methyl ester with variants 40%, 60%, and 80 % H2SO4 at a mole fraction ratio of 1 : 1.4 by varying the length of sulfonation time of 90 minutes, purification was performed using methanol 60 % v/v and H2O2 3 % v/v, with neutralization using 20 % NaOH. Sulfonation process is done using methods reflux. The optimum condition of synthesis of MES is sulfonation time reaction at 90 minutes, with the acquisition value of the voltage drop in the water level of 46,7728%. FT-IR spectra provide specific absorption peak for the group -C O of an ester which characterize the existence of the MES as an ester compound at wave number 1168 cm 1 . It can be concluded that the compound is methyl ester sulfonate .


Curcumin has potential as a photosensitiser (PS) in photodynamic therapy (PDT) for localised superficial infections. However, it is a challenge to make an optimal curcumin formulation in which curcumin has acceptable solubility and stability at physiological pH and combined with high selective phototoxic activity towards bacteria. In the present study, the phototoxic effects of curcumin against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria were investigated in selected aqueous preparations. The gram-positive Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus intermedius and the gram-negative Escherichia coli were used as bacterial models. The bacteria were exposed to 1-25 microM curcumin solubilised in DMSO, cyclodextrines, liposomes and surfactants known to interfere with membranes. After 30 min incubation the bacteria were irradiated with fluorescent tubes emitting blue light (emission max 430 nm). The irradiance was 17 mW/cm2 and the radiant exposure (light dose) was 0.5-30J/cm2. The bacterial survival was calculated as a percentage compared to controls. Various post-irradiation incubation times were tested. Curcumin's native fluorescence was exploited in examination of curcumin uptake in or adherence to bacteria by fluorescence microscopy. Changes in post-irradiation incubation time, curcumin concentration, irradiation dose and preparation strongly influenced the phototoxic efficiency of curcumin in vitro. Aqueous preparations of DMSO, polyethyleneglycol and the pluronic block copolymer poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(propylene glycol)-block-poly(ethylene glycol) were the most efficient vehicles for curcumin to exert photokilling of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.


While some countries have unbundled distribution and retailing, skeptics argue that the physical attributes of electricity make retailers redundant. Instead, it is claimed that passive pass through of wholesale prices plus regulated charges for transmission and distribution suffice for customers to benefit from competitive generation markets. We review the Chilean experience with regulated retailing and pass through of wholesale prices. We argue that when energy wholesale prices are volatile and prices are stabilized, distortions emerge. Regulated retailers gain little by mitigating or correcting them. On the contrary, sometimes price distortions increase their profits. We estimate the cost of three distortions that neither regulated retailers nor the regulator have shown any interest in correcting.


Background: Uric acid a metabolic end product of purine degradation is implicated in gout as aetiology. Its increased levels have also been associated with hypertension, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Few studies have been conducted, especially in India to elucidate association of uric acid with prehypertension. Aims: This study intends to assess the association of serum uric acid levels with blood pressure in normotensive, prehypertensive and hypertensive population. It also intends to check whether there is an incremental rise of serum uric acid with increasing blood pressure. Material and methods: Two hundred outpatients who met inclusion and exclusion criteria and consented formed study population. Blood pressure of each participant was measured followed by venipuncture to collect venous blood for measurement of serum uric acid. Participants were categorised into 4 groups as Normal, Prehypertension, Hypertension –Stage 1, Hypertension Stage -2 as per Joint National Committee 7 classification. Data was analysed to know levels of serum uric acid among the four categories and to verify association of uric acid with blood pressure. Results and Conclusions: Stepwise increase in serum uric acid levels was observed along with increasing blood pressure. Strong positive linear correlation was observed between serum uric acid levels and mean blood pressure (Pearson's correlation coefficient r = 0.74; p< 0.0001). Uric acid was associated (r = 0.442) with blood pressure in prehypertension population. Serum uric acid levels are associated with prehypertension and hypertension and are independent and strong predictors of cardiovascular mortality.


We present a novel global compression framework for deep neural networks that automatically analyzes each layer to identify the optimal per-layer compression ratio, while simultaneously achieving the desired overall compression. Our algorithm hinges on the idea of compressing each convolutional (or fully-connected) layer by slicing its channels into multiple groups and decomposing each group via low-rank decomposition. At the core of our algorithm is the derivation of layer-wise error bounds from the Eckart Young Mirsky theorem. We then leverage these bounds to frame the compression problem as an optimization problem where we wish to minimize the maximum compression error across layers and propose an efficient algorithm towards a solution. Our experiments indicate that our method outperforms existing low-rank compression approaches across a wide range of networks and data sets. We believe that our results open up new avenues for future research into the global performance-size trade-offs of modern neural networks. Our code is available at https://github.com/lucaslie/torchprune.


This thesis introduces an architecture to improve the accuracy of a Convolutional Neural Network trained for image classification using visual saliency predictions from the original images. In this thesis the accuracy of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) trained for classification has been improved using saliency maps from the original images. The network had an AlexNet architecture and was trained using 1.2 million images from the Imagenet dataset. Two methods had been explored in order to exploit the information from the visual saliency predictions. The first methodologies implemented applied the saliency maps directly to the existing layers of the CNN, which in some cases were already trained for classification and in other they were initialized with random weights. In the second methodology the information from the saliency maps was merged from a new branch, trained at the same time as the initial CNN. In order to speed up the training of the networks the experiments were implemented using images reduced to 128x128. With this sizes the proposed model achieves 12.39% increase in Top-1 accuracy performance with respect to the original CNN, and additionally reduces the number of parameters needed compared to AlexNet. Regarding the original size images 227x227 a model that increases 1.72% Top-1 accuracy is proposed. To accelerate the training process of the network the images have been reduced. The methodology that provides the higher improvement in accuracy will be implemented using the original size of the images. The results will be compared to those obtained from the network trained only with the original images. All the methodologies proposed are implemented in a network previously trained for classification. Additionally the most successful methodologies will be implemented in the training of a network. The results will provide information about the best way to add saliency maps to improve the accuracy.


The effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and physical distancing were broad, impacting multiple sectors, particularly health, for Māori and Indigenous peoples. This situation report considers health and well-being using Te Whare Tapa Whā, and looks at the experiences and voices of kuia and koroheke—considered to be at high risk of contracting coronavirus—to better understand their health and well-being impacts from physical distancing. This report then reflects on these experiences to identify how help groups can best support communities in future lockdown situations. The recommendations for future support efforts are threefold and centre on increasing coordination amongst the efforts of the different help groups, using a holistic approach such as Te Whare Tapa Whā to address the various pillars of health, and considering individual health and well-being needs.


Biomass based alternative fuels offer a solution to the world's ever-increasing energy demand. With the ability to produce high biomass in marginal lands with low inputs, sorghum has a great potential to meet second-generation biofuel needs. Despite the sorghum crop importance in biofuel and fodder industry, there is no comprehensive information available on the cell wall related genes and gene families (biosynthetic and modification). It is important to identify the cell wall related genes to understand the cell wall biosynthetic process as well as to facilitate biomass manipulation. Genome-wide analysis using gene family specific Hidden Markov Model of conserved domains identified 520 genes distributed among 20 gene families related to biosynthesis/modification of various cell wall polymers such as cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin. Chromosomal localization analysis of these genes revealed that about 65% of cell wall related genes were confined to four chromosomes (Chr. 1–4). Further, 56 tandem duplication events involving 169 genes were identified in these gene families which could be associated with expansion of genes within families in sorghum. Additionally, we also identified 137 Simple Sequence Repeats related to 112 genes and target sites for 10 miRNAs in some important families such as cellulose synthase, cellulose synthase-like, and laccases, etc. To gain further insight into potential functional roles, expression analysis of these gene families was performed using publically available data sets in various tissues and under abiotic stress conditions. Expression analysis showed tissue specificity as well as differential expression under abiotic stress conditions. Overall, our study provides a comprehensive information on cell wall related genes families in sorghum which offers a valuable resource to develop strategies for altering biomass composition by plant breeding and genetic engineering approaches.


The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has investigated the landing site in Eagle crater and the nearby plains within Meridiani Planum. The soils consist of fine-grained basaltic sand and a surface lag of hematite-rich spherules, spherule fragments, and other granules. Wind ripples are common. Underlying the thin soil layer, and exposed within small impact craters and troughs, are flat-lying sedimentary rocks. These rocks are finely laminated, are rich in sulfur, and contain abundant sulfate salts. Small-scale cross-lamination in some locations provides evidence for deposition in flowing liquid water. We interpret the rocks to be a mixture of chemical and siliciclastic sediments formed by episodic inundation by shallow surface water, followed by evaporation, exposure, and desiccation. Hematite-rich spherules are embedded in the rock and eroding from them. We interpret these spherules to be concretions formed by postdepositional diagenesis, again involving liquid water.


The probability of extreme storm-tide events has been extensively studied; however, the variability within the duration of such events and implications to flood risk is less well understood. This research quantifies such variability during extreme storm-tide events (the combined elevation of the tide, surge, and their interactions) at 44 national tide gauges around the UK. Extreme storm-tide events were sampled from water level measurements taken every 15 min between 1993 and 2012. At each site, the variability in elevation at each time step, relative to a given event peak, was quantified. The magnitude of this time series variability was influenced both by gauge location (and hence the tidal and nontidal residual characteristics) and the time relative to high water. The potential influence of this variability on coastal inundation was assessed across all UK gauge sites, followed by a detailed case study of Portsmouth. A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model of the Portsmouth region was used to demonstrate that given a current 1 in 200 year storm-tide event, the predicted number of buildings inundated differed by more than 30% when contrasting simulations forced with the upper and lower bounds of the observed time series variability. The results indicate that variability in the time series of the storm-tide event can have considerable influence upon overflow volumes, hence with implications for coastal flood risk assessments. Therefore, further evaluating and representing this uncertainty in future flood risk assessments is vital, while the envelopes of variability defined in this research provides a valuable tool for coastal flood modelers.


This research focuses on Electronic Dance Music (EDM), or popular electronic music, and the way a band can perform live having the same sonic attributes with those of a studio production, investigating production techniques and performance practices that work with these contemporary mediatized live performances. For the purposes of this research, an Electronic Dance Music (EDM) live act has been formed including conventional instruments, such as electric guitar and keyboards, and other more sophisticated electronic devices such as midi controllers and electronic drums along with vocals. The emerging phenomenon of new types of bands or performers, who try to bring the studio sound on stage, created a gap between 'human' and 'non-human' that requires performers to work with technology in new ways, in this musical style. This thesis builds upon research on authenticity and its relation to aspects of liveness in these types of live performances. More specifically, it builds upon research on Moore's tripartition of authenticities and the two forms of authenticity that are most salient in this process of 'musicking'. These are the 1st and the 3rd person as described in Moore's (2002) model. The 1 st person authenticity relates to the extent to which the participants feel that the performers engage in authentic human expression through their performance. The 3rd person authenticity relates to the participants' assessment of what constitutes an authentic sonic example of a musical tradition or genre – in this case EDM. In addition to what it should sound like, 3rd person authenticity is also concerned with what are the appropriate 'tools' that should be used and factors such as the coherence between aural and visual, employment of skill, performativity and the constant awareness of a 'standard of achievement'. The aim is to create a musical process in which all the participants feel that the band is performing authentically while being sonically faithful to the genre or tradition. The key is the combination of machine accuracy with some aspects of human expressive performance in a way that maintains the integrity of the popular electronic musical style. Following on from the multiple theories that underpin this research, various methodologies have been followed. Qualitative and quantitative research methods have been followed, through interviews, video observations, and audio data analysis. Having said that, a real-time production and performance process has been developed and is called 'performable recordings', that is, 'a type of music production that enables the artist to perform a musical piece live, using, in real-time, the mixing and post-production processes that create the aesthetics of a studio produced version'. This model intends to promote and support performers' emotional expression and creativity that comes from spontaneity, musicianship, face to face performance and freedom of movement that over the past years were minimized or eliminated due to contemporary production processes and performance practices. Furthermore, it creates opportunities for performers and musicians to get involved on stage with a broader range of modern musical styles and genres.


This study attempts to identify geopolitical competition and capacities of the US, Russia and China in Central Asia. The aim of this research is to assess whether the engagement of great powers in Central Asia is identical to the old Great Game. An interesting tug-of-war has been going on, in which the Central Asian Republics (CARs) are offering space to their patrons. The great powers have promised to promote stability in this region as deteriorating security in adjacent Afghanistan could have a domino effect on the regional and global security. Central Asia, after 25 years of independence, is still seeking partners to improve its security. The great powers are aware of the geopolitical and geo-economic importance of this region and focusing on fostering ties with the CARs by promoting regionalism. This paper seeks to offer an overview of the new emerging regional dynamics in Central Asia and dealing of the CARs (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) with the great powers.


Introduction of sample stream air into an argon inductively coupled plasma permits continuous monitoring of hazardous air pollutant metals in combustion flue gases. Along with entrained particulates and metal vapors, various molecular components of the flue gas are introduced into the plasma. These species, and reaction products thereof, also undergo excitation resulting in complex emission spectra of appreciable intensity. Serious spectral interferences arise for several metal elements, from molecular emission bands associated with the stable CN radical and other polyatomic species. Failure to account for these interferences can significantly degrade accuracy particularly at low flue gas metal concentrations. Reported here is an effective method for measurement and correction of CN spectral interferences affecting the on-line detection of hazardous air pollutant metals that incorporates conventional polychromator hardware and existing instrument software capabilities. A demonstration of the ability of this method to achieve virtually complete correction of these interferences under both laboratory and field conditions is presented.


ditry, and ofacial pronouncements raise the specter of war on the internet. Future conoicts may well take place in cyberspace, where victory or defeat could be determined in mere "nanoseconds."1 Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has even warned of a "cyber-Pearl Harbor."2 Nor are fears of cyberwar abstract speculation. Events such as the denial of service attacks against Estonian and Georgian government websites, the Stuxnet worm designed to disable Iranian nuclear centrifuges, and the recent hacking of U.S. military computer networks seem to indicate that the era of cyberwar has already arrived. Cyberwar can be viewed as the most recent phase in the ongoing revolution in military affairs.3 This time, however, the threat is said to be directed at the sophisticated technological civilizations of the West, rather than at desert insurgents or the leaders of rogue states with arsenals of inferior second world military hardware. Joseph Nye expresses this emerging consensus, "Dependence on complex cyber systems for support of military and economic activities creates new vulnerabilities in large states that can be exploited by nonstate actors."4 Following this logic, the United States appears destined to be "the


The age structure in 1876, the last year of the natural frequent-fire regime, of an unharvested ponderosa pine forest in northern Arizona was reconstructed from living and dead dendrochronological samples. Approximately 20% of the trees were .200 yr old in 1876 with ages ranging to 540 yr. If dead trees had not been included in the reconstruction, the distribution would have been biased toward younger trees and a 40% shorter age range. The presettlement age distribution was multimodal with broad peaks of establishment, consistent with the model of regeneration in ''safe sites'' where herbaceous competition and fire thinning are reduced. Although fire disturbance regimes and climatic conditions varied over the centuries before 1876, a clear relationship between these variations and tree establishment was not observed. Due to fire exclusion, reduced grass competition, and favorable climatic events, high levels of regeneration in the 20th century raised forest density from 60 trees/ha in 1876 to .3000 trees/ha in 1992. An ecological restoration experiment initiated in 1993 conserved all living presettlement trees and reduced the density of young trees to near-presettlement levels. Two important components for evaluating the restoration treatment effects are monitoring of old-tree persistence and patterns of future regeneration in the context of the presettlement reference age structure.


New methodologies for the analysis of volatile compounds
using needle traps. Applications to breath, atmospheric and
water analysis. A new preconcentration technique has been developed for the analysis of volatile compounds based on the use of needle traps. These traps are based on stainless steel needles filled with one or more adsorbents, which allows the preconcentration of the anilities inside the trap by passing a gas flow through the needle. The parameters affecting the sorption/desorption process have been assessed (e.g. needle and liner dimensions, injector temperature, split less time, memory effects, and stability inside the needle). For liquid samples, four different sampling methodologies were studied, including passive and active sampling methods. The best results, considering the simplicity and sensitivity, are obtained by sampling the headspace volume using various cycles of a small and fix volume. Once the best conditions of analysis have been found, the method has been validated for gas and liquid samples. The results obtained show that needle traps are a good analytical methodology for the analysis of breath, environmental and liquid samples


Drought phenomenon has often occurred in Malaysia especially in Perlis. Perlis has been facing a rising temperature early every year that can affect the land use and vegetation. Based on data collected from 13 rainfall stations in Perlis, a data processing was carried out in order to find the trend pattern of rainfall from 2007-2016 and to analyse the impact of drought on vegetation change by calculating the value of Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Normalized Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI). In this study, the Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing played a key role in studying the different types of processing in field of meteorological drought and its impact in vegetation health. SPI value was interpolated to get the spatial pattern of meteorological drought. Through interpolation method, Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method was used to verify the trends value for meteorological drought occurrences in Perlis. In order to show the trend pattern of meteorological drought based on SPI value, 30 years of rainfall data was collected and processed using DrinC software. ERDAS Imagine software was also used to process the satellite image of Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM and Landsat 8 OLI-TIRS which was obtained from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to get the NDVI value in Perlis. NDVI value detected the intensity and vegetation health area that has been damaged by meteorological drought based on the SPI value. The final results show the map of Perlis with the trend pattern of drought for the past 10 years and the impact of drought on the vegetation health.


Abstract On sub-Antarctic Marion Island, wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) nests support high abundances of tineid moth, Pringleophaga marioni, caterpillars. Previous work proposed that the birds serve as thermal ecosystem engineers by elevating nest temperatures relative to ambient, thereby promoting growth and survival of the caterpillars. However, only 17 days of temperature data were presented previously, despite year-long nest occupation by birds. Previous sampling was also restricted to old and recently failed nests, though nests from which chicks have recently fledged are key to understanding how the engineering effect is realized. Here we build on previous work by providing nest temperature data for a full year and by sampling all three nest types. For the full duration of nest occupancy, temperatures within occupied nests are significantly higher, consistently by c. 7°C, than those in surrounding soils and abandoned nests, declining noticeably when chicks fledge. Caterpillar abundance is significantly higher in new nests compared to nests from which chicks have fledged, which in turn have higher caterpillar abundances than old nests. Combined with recent information on the life history of P. marioni, our data suggest that caterpillars are incidentally added to the nests during nest construction, and subsequently benefit from an engineering effect.


The well-exposed Hoogland Member (c. 549 Ma) of the northern Nama Group (Kuibis Subgroup), Namibia, represents a storm-dominated carbonate ramp developed in a foreland basin of terminal Proterozoic age. The ramp displays facies gradients involving updip grainstones which pass downdip into broad, spatially extensive tracts of microbial laminites and finely laminated mudstones deposited above and below storm wave base. Trough cross-bedded, coarse grainstones are shown to transit downdip into finer-grained calcarenites, irregular microbial laminites and mottled laminites. Siliciclastic siltstones and shales were deposited further downdip. Platform growth was terminated through smothering by orogen-derived siliciclastic deposits. Ramp morphology was controlled by several different processes which acted across many orders of magnitude (millimetres to kilometres), including in situ growth of mats and reefs, scouring by wave-produced currents, and transport and infilling of coarse-grained carbonates and fine-grained carbonates and clastics. At the smallest scale, 'roughening' of the sea-floor through heterogeneous trapping and binding by microbial mats was balanced by smoothing of the sea-floor through accumulation of loose sediment to fill the topographic lows within the upward-propagating mat. At the next scale up, parasequence development involved roughening of the sea-floor through shoal growth and grainstone progradation, balanced by sea-floor smoothing through shale infilling of resulting downdip accommodation, as well as the metre-scale topographic depressions within the mosaic of shoal-water facies. At even larger (sequence/platform) scales, roughening of the sea-floor occurred through aggradation and progradation of thick carbonates, balanced by infilling of the foreland basin with orogen-derived siliciclastic sediments. At all scales a net balance was achieved between sea-floor roughening and sea-floor smoothing to maintain a more or less constant ramp profile.


Executive Summary: Unlocking Canada's potential for abundant oceans Oceana Canada's first annual Fishery Audit in 2017 revealed that our fish stocks are not delivering nearly as much as they could, for oceans or for people. In 2017, only one-third of our stocks were considered healthy. Of the 26 critically depleted populations, only three had rebuilding plans in place. Big gaps remained in the data required to manage stocks effectively. One year later, some progress has been made. Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has made significant investments in federal fisheries science, and the department continues to increase transparency by releasing its annual Sustainability Survey for Fisheries and departmental work plans. On the legislative front, the House of Commons passed revisions in June that will strengthen the Fisheries Act, including direction on rebuilding depleted stocks. If it becomes law and is supported by strong regulations, this could signal a turning point in the health of Canada's fisheries. However, much more work needs to be done if our seafood industry is going to reach its potential. Recent investments in federal fisheries science capacity has not yet yielded measurable change in the reported metrics. DFO is falling behind on implementing work plans developed in response to the Auditor General's 2016 report. For example, four of five rebuilding plans promised by March 2018 remain incomplete. Key policy instruments have not been fully implemented or remain in draft form, including the proposed Fishery Monitoring Policy. Meanwhile, scientific and management information produced by DFO is often published late or not at all. On the water, there have been few changes in stock health. This is to be expected: it takes time for investments in science and policy to be reflected in measurable changes in the abundance of fish populations. However, the slow pace of policy implementation means the long-term decline in Canada's fish stocks has not yet been halted, let alone reversed. Oceana Canada has recommended specific actions to address issues raised in this Audit. These include completing work plans and rebuilding plans, filling data gaps and finalizing a national catch-monitoring policy.


Family groups comprise a significant percentage of the museum visitor population, and many programs are created specifically for young learners (Borun, 2008). One such learning environment is that of planetaria, where both live and pre-recorded programs are presented to introduce concepts in Earth and Space Science to young children. Pacific Science Center's Preschool Trip to the Moon live, interactive planetarium program was used as a context for exploring families' motivations for attending a planetarium show, their reactions to the show, and in particular what children learned from the show. Methods included adult questionnaires and child interviews. Adult motivation for attending the program was largely due to their own interest in astronomy or their desire for their child to be interested in astronomy, not because the child was already interested in the subject. Children expressed an interest in returning to the planetarium in the future, and many identified several features of the program that they enjoyed. Results pertaining to what children learned suggested a range of outcomes that were behavioral, observational, and conceptual. Future planetarium programming should incorporate support for adults in rooting this interest through informal education led by the adult. PLANETARIUM PROGRAMS & EARLY LEARNING 2 Chapter


An analytical approach for obtaining linear and nonlinear design parameters of microresonators is presented. The eigenmode/eigenfrequency problem of planar resonators is considered in detail, with an analytical closed-form approximation derived for resonators possessing a large radius to width ratio. The analysis permits the resonant frequencies and mode profiles to be determined together with the dispersion properties. The dependence of the effective nonlinear Kerr coefficient on the mode volume is further considered, and also the waveguide coupling together with estimates of the Q-value. Examples, which are in good agreement with numerical simulations, are presented for silicon resonators. The approach can be used for designing planar microring resonators for nonlinear four-wave mixing applications, such as optical Kerr frequency comb generation.


Second, it suggests that the phenomenon—or, more precisely, the phenomena—that it denotes composes a system, and since the systems of which the human (as opposed to the "natural") world is comprised are almost always the products of design, "capitalism" appears to refer to but one more such system among others. So, according to its critics, "capitalism" differs, say, from socialism and communism only in degree: While the latter "distribute" material goods "equally," the former "distributes" them "unequally." Or maybe the difference between "capitalism" and its competitors can be summed up as thus: "the poor" and "the middle class" are the targeted beneficiaries of socialism and communism while "the rich" are intended to benefit most from "capitalism."


The mathematical description of three dimensional surfaces usually falls in one of two classifications: parametric and algebraic. The form is defined as all points which satisfy some equation: F(x,y,z)=0. This form is ideally suited for image space shaded picture drawing, the pixel coordinates are substituted for x and y and the equation is solved for z. Algorithms for drawing such objects have been developed primarily for first and second order polynomial functions. This paper presents a new algorithm applicable to other functional forms, in particular to the summation of several gaussian density distributions. The algorithm was created to model electron density maps of molecular structures but can be used for other artistically interesting shapes.


Manganese-Zinc Ferrite is a very high permeability magnetic material. The permeability is depended on the amount of manganese and zinc used in the synthesis of ferrite material.Reagent graded raw materials were used as initial material to synthesize and get a characterization of Mn-Zn based spinel ferrite. The nanocrystalline powders of manganese ferrite were obtained by the process of citrate precursor method. The obtained nanocrystals of Mn-Zn were doped by Gadolinium which further it was employed to produce specimens of Mn0.5Zn0.5GdxFe2-xO4 (x = 0, 0.01, 0.03). The study of doped (Gd) Mn-Zn ferrite nanocrystals was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results of XRD data determine the average crystallite size of doped (GD) Mn-Zn nanocrystals in the range of 40nm to 45nm. The images obtained through FE-SEM shows the flake-like structure of doped (Gd) Mn-Zn ferrite nanocrystals. Further studies of doped (Gd) Mn-Zn ferrite were done by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. Keyword: Nanoparticle, Ferrite, Structural, Morphological and Spectroscopy properties


Marco Bottura, Raffaele Corrado, Bernard Forgues, and Vincenza Odorici focus on the issue of field-level change by discussing the transformation of the Italian wine industry. Conceptually, apart from different strands of institutional thought, they make particular use of the sociology of professions and the concept of boundary objects in the social studies of science and technology. By applying network analysis, they show the emergence of a new field structure where experts, consultants, ratings and rankings increasingly shape the field. Professional winemakers are of outstanding importance here, as they spread their expert knowledge throughout the network and connect wineries and, ultimately, their products in a hitherto unknown way.


Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a disease that manifests itself after the human body is infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus destroys defense cells (T-CD4 lymphocytes) and an important increase identifier of immunosuppression and/or failure to an immune response, the early signs often appear in the oral cavity in the form of various lesions. With the advent of HAART, it was also observed that it is accompanied by mediumand long-term side effects, mainly metabolic and bone changes. Other clinical manifestations that may occur are the human papillomavirus (HPV) infections in the oral cavity; HPV infections show exophytic growth and are often confluent, showing a "cauliflower" appearance and may or may not correspond to keratinized or non-keratinized tissues. In recent studies on papillomavirus, the literature indicates that HPV 16 and 18 are considered risk factors in the etiology of oral cancer development. Several neoplasias can occur in the oral cavity of patients with AIDS or HIV, and often the oral cavity is the place where we have the first manifestation of the disease, but multidisciplinary follow-up is necessary, so that the patient has care and a better quality of life.


We document the cyclical behavior of debt, equity, and retained earnings for different firm categories using firm-level Canadian data. There is evidence of both procyclical equity and debt issuance for all firm categories but the timing differs. In particular, there is strong evidence that equity issuance increases in anticipation of an expansion. During this phase, some substitution between debt and equity takes place. After the expansion has reached its peak, equity issuance starts to decrease and during this phase there is strong evidence of procyclical debt issuance and some substitution out of equity seems to take place. Retained earnings is procyclical except for small firms.


We address the problem of teaching an RNN to approximate list-processing algorithms given a small number of input-output training examples. Our approach is to generalize the idea of parametricity from programming language theory to formulate a semantic property that distinguishes common algorithms from arbitrary non-algorithmic functions. This characterization leads naturally to a learned data augmentation scheme that encourages RNNs to learn algorithmic behavior and enables small-sample learning in a variety of list-processing tasks.


This paper proposes a new approach to problems of data assimilation, also known as history matching, of oilfield production data by adjustment of the location and sharpness of patterns of geological facies. Traditionally, this problem has been addressed using gradient based approaches with a level set parameterization of the geology. Gradient-based methods are robust, but computationally demanding with real-world reservoir problems and insufficient for reservoir management uncertainty assessment. Recently, the ensemble filter approach has been used to tackle this problem because of its high efficiency from the standpoint of implementation, computational cost, and performance. Incorporation of level set parameterization in this approach could further deal with the lack of differentiability with respect to facies type, but its practical implementation is based on some assumptions that are not easily satisfied in real problems. In this work, we propose to describe the geometry of the permeability field using B-spline curves. This transforms history matching of the discrete facies type to the estimation of continuous B-spline control points. As filtering scheme, we use the ensemble square-root filter (EnSRF). The efficacy of the EnSRF with the B-spline parameterization is investigated through three numerical experiments, in which the reservoir contains a curved channel, a disconnected channel or a 2-dimensional closed feature. It is found that the application of the proposed method to the problem of adjusting facies edges to match production data is relatively straightforward and provides statistical estimates of the distribution of geological facies and of the state of the reservoir.


Introduction Identifying the impedance values in the post-surgery care of cochlear implanted patient, provide useful information to adjust the settings of the sound processor for the best possible auditory perception. Material and methods We investigated changes in impedance values of the intracochlear electrodes implanted in 72 patients over a period of 3 months. The measurement was carried out using computer hardware and software interfaces from cochlear implant producers. Results In absence of electrical stimulation, there is an increase of impedance on all electrodes of all cochlear implant models. After activation, the impedances values variations are depending on the type of the device. Conclusions The intraoperatory impedance values and their fluctuations are part of the postoperative common trends for each specific brand. Besides the parameters related to the device, the individual organic features of the inner ear may play an important role in the distribution of electrical impedance profile.


We propose a novel method for discovering shape regions that strongly correlate with user-prescribed tags. For example, given a collection of chairs tagged, as either "has armrest" or "lacks armrest", our system correctly highlights the armrest regions as the main distinctive parts between the two chair types. To obtain point-wise predictions from shape-wise tags we develop a novel neural network architecture that is trained with tag classification loss, but is designed to rely on segmentation to predict the tag. Our network is inspired by U-Net, but we replicate shallow U structures several times with new skip connections and pooling layers, and call the resulting architecture WU-Net. We test our method, on segmentation benchmarks and show that even with weak supervision of whole shape tags, our method can infer meaningful semantic regions, without ever observing shape segmentations. Further, once trained, the model can process shapes for which the tag is entirely unknown. As a bonus, our architecture is directly operational under full supervision and performs strongly on standard benchmarks. We validate our method through experiments with many variant architectures and prior baselines, and demonstrate several applications.


Will community monitoring assist in delivering just and equitable REDD+? We assessed whether local communities can effectively estimate carbon stocks in some of the world's most carbon rich forests, using simple field protocols, and we reviewed whether community monitoring exists in current REDD+ pilots. We obtained similar results for forest carbon when measured by communities and professional foresters in 289 vegetation plots in Southeast Asia. Most REDD+ monitoring schemes, however, contain no community involvement. To close the gulf between United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change texts on involving communities and field implementation realities, we propose greater embedding of community monitoring within national REDD+ pilot schemes, which we argue will lead to a more just REDD+.


The use of shadow masks (stencils) for nanopatterning overcomes the limitations typically present by patterning methods involving conventional optical lithography and etching, such as diffraction limit and etch selectivity. Nanostencils allow for resistless, low-cost nanopatterning on arbitrary surfaces in a single process step with the prospect of large-scale manufacturing. This paper presents the fabrication of metal cantilevers with sub-micron dimensions using direct evaporation through nanostencils, followed by dry etching to release the metal nanolevers from the substrate. The nanostencils, with structures as small as 250 nm, are excellent tools to study and optimise the process parameters for the fabrication of nanolevers by varying the evaporation conditions. The fabricated cantilevers were characterised using a laser-Doppler interferometer. The smallest slits in the stencil where used to form arrays of nanolevers of 2 – 6 um long, 450 – 700 nm wide, and 50 – 100 nm thick. The resonance frequency as a function of the nanolever thickness was characterised in vacuum. For a 100-nm thick Al cantilever, a resonance frequency of 23 MHz and a quality factor of 628 at 10-3 Pa were measured, which corresponds well to theory. Further studies included deposition of other high-stress metals such as Ni and Cu.


This report contains preliminary results of the study aiming at automating legal evaluation of privacy policies, under the GDPR, using artificial intelligence (machine learning), in order to empower the civil society representing the interests of consumers. We outline what requirements a GDPR-complaint privacy policy should meet (comprehensive information, clear language, fair processing), as well as what are the ways in which these documents can be unlawful (if required information is insufficient, language unclear, or potentially unfair processing indicated). Further, we analyse the contents of privacy policies of Google, Facebook (and Instagram), Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, WhatsApp, Twitter, Uber, AirBnB, Booking.com, Skyscanner, Netflix, Steam and Epic Games. The experiments we conducted on these documents, using various machine learning techniques, lead us to the conclusion that this task can be, to a significant degree, realized by computers, if a sufficiently large data set is created. This, given the amount of privacy policies online, is a task worth investing time and effort. Our study indicates that none of the analysed privacy policies meets the requirements of the GDPR. The evaluated corpus, comprising 3658 sentences (80.398 words) contains 401 sentences (11.0%) which we marked as containing unclear language, and 1240 sentences (33.9%) that we marked as potentially unlawful clause, i.e. either a "problematic processing" clause, or an "insufficient information" clause (under articles 13 and 14 of the GDPR). Hence, there is a significant room for improvement on the side of business, as well as for action on the side of consumer organizations and supervisory authorities.


Leadership targeting has become a key feature of counterterrorism policy. Both academics and policymakers have argued that the removal of leaders is an effective strategy in combating terrorism. Leadership decapitation is not always successful, however, and existing empirical work does not account for this variability. A theory of organizational resilience explains why decapitation results in the decline of some terrorist organizations and the survival of others. Organizational resilience is dependent on two variables: bureaucratization and communal support. Older and larger organizations tend to develop bureaucratic features, facilitating a clear succession process and increasing their stability and ability to withstand attacks on their leadership. Communal support plays an important role in providing the resources necessary for terrorist groups to function and survive. Religious and separatist groups typically enjoy a high degree of support from the communities in which they operate, and thus access to critical resources. Application of this theoretical model to the case of al-Qaida reveals that Osama bin Laden's death and the subsequent targeting of other high-level al-Qaida operatives are unlikely to produce significant organizational decline.


Diffusion Brazing (DB) of nickel-based superalloys is a standard joining process widely used in gas turbine industry. The DB technique uses a low melting nickel-based filler material, which contains a rapidly diffusing melting point depressant (MPD) such as boron. Upon brazing, the braze filler firstly melts and then solidifies isothermally through the diffusion of boron from the liquid braze alloy into the solid parent material. Fully isothermally solidified joints exhibit a brittle-phase free microstructure and show excellent mechanical properties. The kinetics of the DB process are controlled by the "effective MPD flux" from the liquid into the surrounding bulk material. The effective MPD flux is a function of the boron diffusion rates and thermodynamic parameters of the parent materials such as the MPD solubility. In the case of brazing superalloys, the complex interactions between the braze filler and the parent material are not fully understood with regard to thermodynamic parameters that control the effective MPD flux. In the present work, the DB process applied to a single crystal multi-component superalloy is studied by combining experimental and numerical modelling results. A representative superalloy/braze filler system has been selected, namely CMSX-4/D-15. The main task consisted of studying the thermodynamic parameters that control the effective MPD (boron) flux into the parent superalloy. Boron diffusion into the superalloy material causes the formation of borides due to the low solubility of the matrix phase for boron and the presence of boride forming elements such as Cr, W and Mo. Boron is therefore steadily consumed from the superalloy matrix phase during isothermal solidification by in-situ boride precipitation. As a consequence, the effective boron flux into the parent material is increased. The overall boron content in the parent superalloy is higher than the boron solubility limit would allow. It has been found that there exists an optimum brazing temperature at which the effective boron flux into the CMSX-4 material due to boride formation is highest. With an increase in the brazing temperature the volume fraction of borides that are stable in the parent material steadily decreases. Above the optimum brazing temperature, the effect of boride formation on the effective boron flux into the superalloy material is low. The DB process is then mainly controlled by the low boron solubility in the matrix phase. The results regarding the effective boron flux and an optimum brazing temperature can be applied to most superalloy systems as most superalloys contain boride forming elements. The present work supports generally the selection of appropriate brazing cycles for the diffusion brazing of superalloys.


Dr S. H. Treagus writes: Cosgrove (1976) has attempted to explain the variety in form of crenulation cleavage in terms of two main processes: instabilities of different types initiating in a stressed multilayer or fabric, and the development of these structures into zones or planes by mineral migration. These form the two main sections to his paper. It is the first section, that concerned with the buckling behaviour of anisotropic materials, which I wish to criticise. The theory presented by Dr Cosgrove, and the basis of the first section of his paper, is Biot's (1964) analysis of instabilities in the confined multilayer. The multilayer can be considered statistically as an anisotropic homogeneous material (Biot 1965 p. 186, Cobbold et al. 1971). Biot showed that two kinds of instability were solutions to the general displacement equation, and were governed by particular conditions relating to initial stress and elastic moduli (Cosgrove 1976 equations 7-10). The first type of instability is internal sinusoidal buckling, and the second Biot illustrates as a plane of slip or kinking. Geologists (Cobbold et al. 1971, Johnson 1970, Cosgrove 1976) have used Biot's theory to explain the initiation of two distinct structures, buckles and kink bands, in compressed multilayered rocks. It will be shown that in his recent paper Dr Cosgrove has used the two instability solutions incorrectly to explain structures in a variety of types of anisotropic material.Cosgrove (1976) considers three orthotropic models of anisotropy, in the form of fine layering, at 0°, 45° and 90°


Two types of trapped hydrogen atoms (Ht) were found in a natural kaolinite, Kanpaku, irradiated with an ionizing radiation at 77 K. One (Ht(o)) showed a hyperfine coupling (hfc) of 1435 MHz, which is larger than
 1420 MHz for the free hydrogen atom. The line-width of the EPR signal is very wide (ca. 0.6 mT) and its half-life is as long as several minutes even at 250 K. From these characteristics we deduced a small atomic cage consisting of six oxygen atoms (and six aluminium atoms in the next nearest shell) found in the crystalline structure of kaolinite as the trapping site for this Ht. The other (Ht(i)) showed an EPR spectrum with a hfc a little smaller than that of the free hydrogen atom. The yield of this component was saturated at a low level with a dose of above 10 kGy, and it decreased further by repeated irradiation after annealing. Thus, the trapping site of Ht(i) may be a crystalline defect, whose density is usually small and consumed by radiolysis. In the case of synthetic kaolinite, both types of Ht's were also observed as the main components, which were interpreted with the same model as above. In addition,
 another Ht showing a sharp signal with
 a short lifetime was found in the non-crystalline part.


Describes a method for the indexing and retrieval of multimedia data based on annotation and segmentation. Our goal is the retrieval of segments of audio and video that are suitable for inclusion in multimedia documents. Annotation refers to the association of text data with particular time locations of the media. Segmentation is the partitioning of continuous media into homogenous regions. Retrieval is performed over segments of the media using the annotations associated with the segments. We present two scenarios that describe how these techniques might be applied. In the first, we describe how excerpts from a video-taped usage study of a new device are located for inclusion in a report on the utility of the device. In the second, we show how sound bites from a recorded meeting are obtained for use in authoring a summary of the meeting.


This article examines the multifaceted role of music in Franco-Algerian director Karin Albou's Le chant des mariées [The Wedding Song] (2008). The film soundtrack juxtaposes 'traditional' Tunisian folksong, German punk rock, and religious chants in order to convey the solidarity between Jewish and Muslim women in colonial Tunisia. The film reflects a current tendency in Franco-North African cinema to regard the colonial past as a time of interfaith harmony in contrast to the rising sectarian tensions and communitarianism in contemporary France. Extending the work of Will Higbee, Phil Powrie, Anahid Kassabian, and others, I show how Albou's use of both incongruous and supposedly authentic music contributes to the depiction of colonial Tunis as a vibrant, multicultural and feminine space, while simultaneously calling attention to the difficulties of reconstructing the past and the complex (Western) agendas that inevitably accompany such projects. Albou's film challenges canonical narratives of colonial North Africa and works against the visual objectification of women, but its strategy of representing women through music ultimately compromises their political agency and voice.


This paper utilizes the method of synthetic analysis to summarize the characteristics and models of China's cooperative education, which shows the distinctive research and practice of China's Co-op according to 113 thesis and 27 reports presented on Summit of China's Cooperative Education in 2009. Co-op (short for "cooperative education") in graduate education is particular, diversified in undergraduate education and perfect in vocational college. The reform and development of CIAR (short for cooperation of industry-academy-research) becomes much more prosperous. Finally we make the following conclusion: Co-op in China will develop from "three cooperation" to "four cooperation", which is the cooperation in education, school-running, employment and mutual development.


In this article, the authors argue that momentum and profitability factors share a common source in uncertainty. Specifically, the authors find that uncertainty subsumes price momentum and operating profitability; it also accounts for the majority of the profits associated with earnings momentum and return on equity, especially in large firms. Furthermore, the profits of the four aforementioned momentum/profitability strategies concentrate in periods of negative market returns, consistent with high-uncertainty stocks' greater vulnerability to bad market states documented in recent literature. The market-state dependence of momentum/profitability strategies has significant implications for portfolio managers who attempt to profit from these strategies. Understanding the sources of the profits also helps portfolio managers better employ these factors in constructing investment portfolios.


A detailed study of the surface and adsorption properties of zinc oxide was undertaken. The compound (ZnO) was first identified and characterized by X-ray diffractometry, FTIR analysis, surface area and electron probe microanalysis. Point of zero charge and surface acidity constants were determined in the temperature range 293-323K, using a fast titration technique. Point of zero charge (PZC) and the surface acidity constants (pKa1 and pKa2) were found to decrease with increasing temperature. The values of the dissociation constants (pKa1 and pKa2) determined from the Henderson - Hasselbach equation agreed very well with those determined using the Gaines- Thomas equation. The thermodynamic parameters ⌂Ho and ⌂So for the processes were also evaluated.
A comprehensive study of the potentiometric titration's of zinc oxide in the presence of Zn(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Ba(II). Ca(II), and Mg(ll) was undertaken under different experimental conditions of temperature, concentration and pH. Stability constants of the metal surface complex species. resulted front the adsorption reaction, were evaluated by a simplified Gains-Thomas equation. The pK values obtained were in the order Zn(II) > Ni(II) > Co(II) > Ba(ll) > Ca(I I) > Mg(ll). Thermodynamic parameters AGO, AH° and AS° were also investigated.
The adsorption isotherms of Zn(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Mg(II) and Ca(ll) on zinc oxide from aqueous electrolyte solution have been investigated as a function of solution concentration, pH and temperature. The adsorption behaviour in each case was of the Langmuir type. Thermodynamic parameters such as ⌂Go, ⌂Ho and ⌂So of adsorption were computed and interpreted. The extent of adsorption was found to increases with the increase of pH and concentration and decrease of temperature. The affinity of the metal ions towards the oxide surface was found to be in the order Zn(II) > Ni(II) > Co(ll)> Ca(II) and > Mg(ll). The isosteric heat (AH) of Ni(II) adsorption was computed between 303K and 323K. All' was found to increase with the increase in the extent of adsorption indicating a decrease in the extent of the heat evolved in the process. FTIR spectra of ZnO before and after sorption of metal ions as a function of pH and solubility product calculations showed the formation of a double hydroxide, on the surface which resulted in the reduction of the dissolution of the zinc oxide.
The kinetics of both metal cations sorption on ZnO and the surface dissolution were studied at different temperatures (303K - 323K). The decrease in the extent of adsorption of the metal cations with temperature was due to the distraction of the surface on account of the dissolution of the ZnO. The value of energy of activation determined from an empirical relationship was found to be 68.10 kj/mol, which is almost equal to the combined value of 66.27 kj/mol for the adsorption of metal ions and dissolution of ZnO.


Thomas Hobbes has recently been cast as one of the forefathers of political realism. This article evaluates his place in the realist tradition by focusing on three key themes: the priority of legitimacy over justice, the relation between ethics and politics, and the place of imagination in politics. The thread uniting these themes is the importance Hobbes placed on achieving a moral consensus around peaceful coexistence, a point which distances him from realists who view the two as competing goals of politics. The article maintains that only a qualified version of the autonomy of the political position can be attributed to Hobbes, while arguing more generally that attending to the relation between ethics and politics is central to assessing his liberal credentials from a realist perspective. Against the prevalent reading of Hobbes as a hypothetical contract theorist, the article proceeds to show that the place of consent in his theory is better understood as part of his wider goal of transforming the imagination of his audience: a goal which is animated by concerns that realists share.