Abstract Researchers put significant effort to decrease the environmental impact of concrete by using industrial by-products as an alternative binder. However, the considerable environmental impact still exists due to the consumption of natural resources as aggregates. Natural aggregates are the most used resources by volume in the construction sector. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate by-products as an alternative to natural aggregates as well. This study presents the environmental impact of lightweight concrete (LWC) produced by replacing natural aggregates with recycled waste plastic (polyethylene) (RWP) and partially replacing Portland cement with Class F fly ash (FA). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to compare a conventional LWC, containing pumice as natural aggregate and Portland cement as a binder, with green LWC, containing 30% RWP as pumice replacement and 20% FA as cement replacement. These scenarios were evaluated in terms of global warming potential, abiotic depletion, ozone layer depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification and eutrophication. LCA was coupled with mechanical tests at 7 days and 28 days. RWPs were found to be an environment-friendly replacement material for natural lightweight aggregates with an overall decrease in all CML-IA impacts except eutrophication. Tested green mix design also provided sufficient strength for nonstructural applications.


State-of-the-art methods for learning cross-lingual word embeddings have relied on bilingual dictionaries or parallel corpora. Recent studies showed that the need for parallel data supervision can be alleviated with character-level information. While these methods showed encouraging results, they are not on par with their supervised counterparts and are limited to pairs of languages sharing a common alphabet. In this work, we show that we can build a bilingual dictionary between two languages without using any parallel corpora, by aligning monolingual word embedding spaces in an unsupervised way. Without using any character information, our model even outperforms existing supervised methods on cross-lingual tasks for some language pairs. Our experiments demonstrate that our method works very well also for distant language pairs, like English-Russian or English-Chinese. We finally describe experiments on the English-Esperanto low-resource language pair, on which there only exists a limited amount of parallel data, to show the potential impact of our method in fully unsupervised machine translation. Our code, embeddings and dictionaries are publicly available.


Several algorithms for finding the tonal center of a musical context are extant in the literature. For use in interactive music systems, we are interested in algorithms that are fast enough to run in real time and that need only make reference to the material as it appears in sequence. In this article, I examine a number of such algorithms and the ways in which their contribution to real-time algorithmic listening can be bolstered by reference to concurrent analyzers working on other tasks. Though as part of the discussion I review my own key finder, the focus here is on the coordination of published methods using control structures for multiprocess analysis and their application in performance.


Quotative indexes often do not simply encode a speech event but turn out to be grammatical constructions with the dual function of referring to a state of affairs and of orienting the audience to the presence of reported discourse. A still poorly-analyzed quotative strategy without overt reference to a speech event is the use of thetic non-verbal identificational and presentational clauses that focus on the identity of the speaker as the source of the reported discourse. With data that are diverse in terms of geography, genealogical affiliation and diachronic dimension, the article will on the one hand demonstrate that this pattern is cross-linguistically recurrent, and thus robust as a type, and on the other hand aims to explore the special morphosyntactic and functional nature of this subtype of quotative index.


This paper investigates how the role and resilience of the family in the UK has changed over time, and explores how it is coming under increasing pressure from external demographic and economic forces.

We investigate these effects using a novel approach based on survivorship. We also propose a new way to define 'family,' using a framework flexible enough to model a range of family structures and situations: by centring analysis on the 'focal woman.'

Survivorship is the probability of living to a given age (see section 2 for more detail); we take this data from the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) life tables for England and Wales. These are constructed using mortality data and are available from the mid-nineteenth century onwards.

We construct the joint survivorship of typical families based on the number of births. We also employ novel 'family accounting' methods to quantify and analyse the potential overlapping of care responsibilities that face today's families.

Our work is informed by the effects of two broad transitions, widely recognised by demographers as occurring across many societies:

 The first is the progression from high to low mortality and from high to low fertility rates (the average number of children born to each woman in any given population). These two changes combine to produce a surge in population and economic growth, accompanied by rapid increases in life expectancy. In the UK this period lasted from around the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century or later.
 The nature of the second transition is not universally accepted among demographers, but broadly it refers to the societal changes in any given population that have taken place since the 1970s; these include changes in family structures, and a shift towards women choosing to have fewer children, later in life. The arrival of protected rights and wider access to education for women during this period have been key factors in driving these shifts.

We posit that the economic benefits of the first transition are in danger of being reversed by the second, and that our social, political and economic structures are not aligned to support the families in which we now live. We explore this possibility through analysis of family structures in a context of increasingly stretched welfare systems, widening inequalities and ageing populations. This context raises questions:

 Whether our population can continue to replace itself given that families are having fewer children, later in life: our analysis indicates that, at a family level, our increased longevity does not offset the decline in fertility rates.
 How to address the additional strain on our underfunded social, health and state pension systems, with more older people living alone, and a greater need within today's smaller, older families for external support.
 How to address the likelihood that the tendency towards older families leads to each family's main carer being responsible for multiple generations at once.
 Whether the additional burdens of juggling work and caring responsibilities will have a further stagnating effect on the wider economy.
 How to address the inheritance gap that delays the passing of wealth to the next generation as we all live longer.

We believe that society must adjust itself to the new reality, by taking steps to move into a third transition. This will require action to enable more of us to spend our additional years in good health and in decent housing, with the capacity to undertake paid work, to care for our families, or to do both. We suggest that as part of this transition there may be a need for:

 Reformulated personal financial services to address the current gaps in provision at the family level.
 A new approach to social protection that focuses on families as well as individuals.

Our analysis shows that the changes occurring during the second transition have put society on a demographic escalator to economic stagnation, and that matters can only get worse. We believe it will take conscious action by the UK's decision-makers to make a third transition reality and step off the escalator.


This thesis explores how quality of life (QOL thereafter) is constructed by lay people in contemporary China. Theoretically, the thesis critiques the mainstream literature on QOL - which uses expert categories to distinguish sharply between "objective" and "subjective" factors in the assessment of QOL - for failing to address the lifeworld of ordinary people and the wealth of meanings which they attribute to QOL. The dominant literature is particularly problematic when transposed to a Chinese context. The thesis therefore proposes an alternative theoretical framework to study QOL: a social representational approach. This approach re-conceptualises QOL as a symbolic construction, which is inherently cultural and historical, and which takes on different meanings as a function of people's social milieus and particular social position. It posits QOL as a system of symbols and meanings structurally bound up with current societal changes in China. Methodologically, the research is based on five complementary research methods and data sets: word associations, semantic differentials, public discourse in the media, individual interviews and focus groups discussions. Data are collected both in rural and urban settings, and amongst different generations of Chinese people. The analysis shows that, deeply embedded in the collective memory of Chinese society, the representation QOL is organised around a central thema opposing having and being. Having and being are antinomic orientations, emphasizing material possessions and spiritual subsistence, respectively, on the one hand, and are dialogically interdependent, on the other. The synthesis of the opposites between having and being constitutes the deep structure of QOL. The thema of having/being is expressed in the two sets of semantic artefacts. Having is objectified in material possessions, together with the pleasure and positive symbolic meanings consequent upon such possessions. Being is objectified in rootedness, connectedness, participation and freedom, and manifested through joy. The thema of having/being spills over, permeates and underpins the critical domains of life: health, family, work, social relations and the natural environment, emphasizing the instrumental and expressive aspects of QOL in each domain. The thema of having/being, intertwined with the coexistence of rival cultural, political and economic systems - Confucianism, Marxism and capitalism - in China's current social transition, provides the framework within which lay people organise their everyday life, assess of their own QOL and develop aspirations.


The teflon (tef) gene is required specifically for ensuring adhesion between autosomes in male meiosis. In tef mutants, autosomal homologs pair correctly, but separate prior to metaphase, resulting in random segregation of homologs at meiosis I. To identify genes that interact with tef, we have performed a screen for dominant second site modifiers of a hypomorphic allele, tefP1150. We have tested the third chromosome deficiency kit, which spans ~90% of the third chromosome, as well as a collection of previously identified male meiotic mutants (Wakimoto et al. 2004). We identified 11 regions containing Enhancers, and 6 regions containing Suppressors of tef. One of the enhancing deletions removes mod(mdg4), which has been previously proposed to interact with tef to ensure autosomal conjugation (Thomas et al. 2005). A second enhancer was mapped to autophagy specific gene 2 (atg2), which is a novel component of the meiotic homolog segregation pathway in Drosophila males."--Abstract from author supplied metadata.


Epidemiology is the study of health and disease in populations and of how these states are influenced by biology, heredity, and physical and social environment, as well as personal behavior. Advances in research over recent years have led to a fundamental change in our understanding of the periodontal diseases. As recently as the mid-1960s, the prevailing model for the epidemiology of periodontal diseases included the following precepts: (1) all individuals were considered more or less equally susceptible to severe periodontitis; (2) gingivitis usually progressed to periodontitis with consequent loss of bone support and eventually loss of teeth; (3) susceptibility to periodontitis increased with age and was the main cause of tooth loss after age 35–55. Since the development of this paradigm, advances in the understanding of periodontal diseases have led this disease model to be reevaluated. Current knowledge has shown that periodontitis does not present a linear progression and is not age dependent. Moreover, its distribution and severity are strongly influenced by host susceptibility and risk factors. Several epidemiological studies evaluating destructive periodontal diseases have been pursuing associations in the incessant identification of risk factors for these diseases. Analytical epidemiology seeks to identify the risk factors associated with a disease, to quantify the strength of those associations and to estimate whether an association is causal. An understanding of risk factors can lead to theories of causation and then to treatment protocols for clinicians to use in their daily practice. The essential features of epidemiology as a method of research, when compared to clinical research and case studies, are that (1) groups rather than individuals are the focus of study; (2) persons with and without a particular disease (e.g., periodontal diseases) and with and without the exposure of interest are included, rather than just patients. The study of population groups rather than individuals is to allow for valid estimates while accounting for normal biological variation (e.g., some individuals form dental biofilm readily; others do not). Broadening a study to include those with and without a disease can provide a reference point against which a risk is quantified.

Under such background, this special issue was designed to summarize the current status of periodontal epidemiology. Thus, we have invited authors to submit original research articles and analysis that seek to clarify aspects of the epidemiology of periodontal diseases and the relevant related factors. As a result, various interesting and scientifically significant papers have been accepted. This special supplement presents manuscripts reporting information about the prevalence and distribution of periodontitis, as well as their associations with risk factors. In addition several studies reported tooth loss, one of the most visible results of the evolution of periodontitis that causes physiological and psychological impacts on patient's life.

These papers represent an exciting and insightful observation into the state of art, as well as emerging future topics, in this important interdisciplinary field. We hope that this special issue would attract a major attention of the peers.


CONTEXT
As of 2005, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors required investigators to register their trials prior to participant enrollment as a precondition for publishing the trial's findings in member journals.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the proportion of registered trials with results recently published in journals with high impact factors; to compare the primary outcomes specified in trial registries with those reported in the published articles; and to determine whether primary outcome reporting bias favored significant outcomes.

DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION
MEDLINE via PubMed was searched for reports of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in 3 medical areas (cardiology, rheumatology, and gastroenterology) indexed in 2008 in the 10 general medical journals and specialty journals with the highest impact factors.

DATA EXTRACTION
For each included article, we obtained the trial registration information using a standardized data extraction form.

RESULTS
Of the 323 included trials, 147 (45.5%) were adequately registered (ie, registered before the end of the trial, with the primary outcome clearly specified). Trial registration was lacking for 89 published reports (27.6%), 45 trials (13.9%) were registered after the completion of the study, 39 (12%) were registered with no or an unclear description of the primary outcome, and 3 (0.9%) were registered after the completion of the study and had an unclear description of the primary outcome. Among articles with trials adequately registered, 31% (46 of 147) showed some evidence of discrepancies between the outcomes registered and the outcomes published. The influence of these discrepancies could be assessed in only half of them and in these statistically significant results were favored in 82.6% (19 of 23).

CONCLUSION
Comparison of the primary outcomes of RCTs registered with their subsequent publication indicated that selective outcome reporting is prevalent.


BACKGROUND : Intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) produces highly complex and conformal radiation dose distribution at the cost of exposing more normal tissue to low isodoses and greater monitor unit (MU) requirements. Hence concerns have been raised regarding its increased carcinogenic potential. AIMS : Over four experiments, this thesis examines the effect of IMRT on radio-carcinogenic risk through its alteration of radiation dose distribution within the treatment portals as well as its effect on scattered dose to tissues beyond the beam edge. The thesis examines the implications of such altered dose distribution for carcinogenic risk using a range of credible dose-response relationships. Dose distribution from IMRT and resultant carcinogenic risks are compared to those of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) for beam energies and disease sites relevant to clinical radiotherapy. The thesis also investigates the influence of beam energy on individual components of out-of-field scatter for both modalities. METHODS : The first experiment analyses in-field dose distribution through dose volume histogram (DVH) analysis and measures out-of-field scatter in an anthropomorphic phantom using thermo-luminescent dosimeters, for various clinical scenarios. Carcinogenic risks are calculated using several credible dose-response relationships by dividing normal tissues into smaller volumes of homogenous dose and summating their proportional carcinogenic contributions. Its findings questioned previous assertions about IMRT's effect on out-of-field scatter and prompted two further experiments investigating out-of-field scatter in detail. These experiments were performed for both IMRT and 3DCRT in a specially constructed water phantom using both low- and high-energy photon beams. They provide detailed information on the individual contributions of the constituent components of out-of-field dose, namely head leakage, collimator scatter and internally scattered radiation. They analyse the implications for carcinogenesis including the influence of photoneutrons. The fourth experiment described in the thesis is an extension of the first, and examines the effect of high energy pelvic IMRT on in-field dose distribution together with previously measured peripheral doses, so as to generate carcinogenic estimates for the entire body. This experiment also provides information regarding the clinically relevant area of gynaecologic IMRT which was not covered in the first experiment. OUTCOMES : IMRT is demonstrated to constrict high isodoses while spreading out lower ones. Thus the effect of IMRT on in-field risk is variably advantageous or disadvantageous depending on dose-response model used. IMRT is consistently demonstrated to increase overall out-of-field scatter because of excess collimator scatter, despite a reduction in internally scattered radiation. Head leakage contributes very little. IMRT thus invariably increases out-of-field carcinogenic risks but these increases are small in absolute terms. High-energy beams increase machine scatter, for both modalities but reduce internal scatter; the net effect on out-of-field photon dose approximates zero. Photoneutron production however is significant - especially for high-energy IMRT which produces roughly twice as many photoneutrons as 3DCRT. These carry a high radio-carcinogenic risk. Carcinogenic risks are almost always increased by IMRT although relative risks appear lower than initially feared, and small in absolute terms. The increase in risk varies with dose-response model used, MU demand relative to 3DCRT, anatomical site, beam arrangement and beam energy. Dose-response models reflecting ever-increasing risk with increasing dose (no plateau); and less inter-modality MU disparity favour IMRT. High-energy IMRT carries the highest carcinogenic risk.


Citizenship by investment is the way by which one person can hold citizenship status in more than one country by investing a certain amount of money. More and more people are going after multiple citizenships to enjoy the benefits which are not available in their country of origin. This motive cannot be criticized as this is the usual right that people will vie for the better living standard. However, the reality is different in many cases. It is conjectured that for all the persons who are leaving this country for better living standard is not the sole reason. Some transfer their resources behind the mask of multiple citizenships. Different countries provide passports in return for payments or investments. Hence, money is transferred from one country to another country. It is the matter of concern that is money laundered under the dual-citizenship scheme. This paper shows present scenario of investment from Bangladesh in different countries under citizenship scheme. The article is based on both the primary and secondary data. We have prepared a questionnaire under 5-point Likert scale and placed to the employees of anti-money laundering department of Bangladesh Bank and the university teachers in the area of Business Administration and Economics. Collected data have been analyzed through the use of Statistical Package for the Social Science. The initial reliability of the items was verified by Cronbach's alpha. The findings show that there is a positive relationship between citizenship by investment and money laundering from Bangladesh. Aus. J. Acc. Eco. Fin. Vol  3(2),  October 2017, P 58-67


A patch with one texture appears as a distinct perceptual entity within a background region with contrasting texture if their features differ adequately (texture segregation). If there is no pictorial depth cue such as size, the patch, which is a small closed region, may stand out. Incidentally, if two fields of random dots that are identical except for a slight shift in a region are presented in rapid alternation, the region appears as an entity reciprocating above the background (RDK). With these phenomena, a number of studies have attempted to reveal several types of perception such as texture, subjective contour, or motion. While Klymenko et al. (1989) reported that a flickering region appeared as a background when the temporal frequency was high, most studies have not focused on depth perception. This study investigates apparent depth of a patch of dynamic random noise within a static field of random dots. Dynamic random noise involves spatiotemporal changes and stimulates motion detectors. In this regard, it differs from flickering stimuli. An experiment was conducted to determine the appearance. The disparate region was depicted with dynamically changed random dots (2.5, 5, or 10 fps) and the remaining region was depicted with static random dots. Each dot was white on a black background. The disparate region subtended 3.7x3.7 deg. We asked subjects to judge apparent depth of the patch. The results indicated that the disparate region tended to appear through an aperture if the refresh rate of dynamic random noise was 10 fps. Another experiment was conducted to estimate the perceived depth using a depth nulling technique. Binocular disparity was used to null the perceived depth. We found the perceived depth was about 0.5-1.0 arcmin of binocular disparity. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


We predict the existence of an unexpected interference pattern in the profile of light reflected from a multilayered surface under the conditions for excitation of a waveguide mode or surface plasmon. Observation of the interference effect is shown to require passage of the incident light through a lens or pinhole to produce a spread of incident angles on either side of the resonance angle. The effect has possible application to enhancement of the sensitivity of measurements of changes in the index of refraction of substrate materials.


The present paper aims at a treatment technique designed for special industrial wastewaters contaminated with only traces of halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) – concentrations which are nevertheless large enough to make a discharge into municipal sewage works impossible. Our research follows the idea to detoxify the water by a selective destruction of the HOCs by hydrodehalogenation (HDH) reactions on palladium-containing nano-catalysts. Detoxification means that persistent HOCs are converted into organic compounds which can easily be removed by biodegradation in a wastewater treatment plant. A novel promising trend in environmental research is the application of nano-reagents (such as zero-valent iron) and nano-catalysts. As known from nano-sized metal particles, nanocatalysts have the advantage of very high reaction rates due to high specific surface areas and low mass-transfer restrictions. For special applications in wastewater treatment we were able to generate extremely active palladium catalysts on the basis of ferromagnetic carrier colloids. The magnetic nano-sized carriers (such as zero-valent iron or magnetite) were spiked with traces of Pd (0.1 wt.-%). These nano-catalysts have been successfully tested in different reactor systems at the laboratory scale. Using Pd on nano-scale supports leads to enormous activity of the catalyst which is several orders of magnitude higher than reached in conventional fixed-bed reactors. The ferromagnetism of the carriers enables a separation of the catalysts from the treated water by means of magneto-separation. This gives the chance to reuse the catalyst several times. The preferred reductant for the HDH reaction is molecular hydrogen. For highly contaminated waters, alternative hydrogen donors such as formic acid have been successfully tested.


In the spring of 1895 the life of Constance Wilde changed irrevocably. Up until the conviction of her husband, Oscar, for homosexual crimes, she had held a privileged position in society. Part of a gilded couple, she was a popular children's author, a fashion icon, and a leading campaigner for women's rights. A founding member of the magical society the Golden Dawn, her pioneering and questioning spirit encouraged her to sample some of the more controversial aspects of her time. Mrs Oscar Wilde was a phenomenon in her own right. But that spring Constance's entire life was eclipsed by scandal. Forced to flee to the Continent with her two sons, her glittering literary and political career ended abruptly. Having changed her name, she lived in exile until her death. Franny Moyle now tells Constance's story with a fresh eye and remarkable new material. Drawing on numerous unpublished letters, she brings to life the story of a woman at the heart of fin-de-siecle London and the Aesthetic movement. In a compelling and moving tale of an unlikely couple caught up in a world unsure of its moral footing, she uncovers key revelations about a woman who was the victim of one of the greatest betrayals of all time.


We present a simple analytical method for capacity evaluation of IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX networks. Various overheads that impact the capacity are explained and methods to reduce these overheads are also presented. The advantage of a simple model is that the effect of each decision and sensitivity to various parameters can be seen easily. We illustrate the model by estimating the capacity for three sample applications--Mobile TV, VoIP, and data. The analysis process helps explain various features of IEEE 802.16e Mobile WiMAX. It is shown that proper use of overhead reducing mechanisms and proper scheduling can make an order of magnitude difference in performance. This capacity evaluation method can also be used for validation of simulation models.


Magmatic-hydrothermal systems associated with upper crustal plutons strongly influence volcanic and geothermal processes and form important mineral deposits. Fluids released from plutons are commonly saline and undergo phase separation into high-salinity brines and low-salinity vapors upon ascent. While brine-vapor immiscibility has been extensively studied, precipitation of solid salt during phase separation in magmatic-hydrothermal systems has generally been considered a rare phenomenon. Here we show that most porphyry deposits exhibit fluid inclusion evidence best interpreted by solid salt precipitation from ore-forming solutions. This interpretation naturally links thermodynamics, numerical simulations, and independent estimates of porphyry ore formation depths. Salt precipitation imposes major changes on the permeability of the system. Moreover, salt precipitation has implications for ore formation along the liquid-vapor-halite curve. The recognition of salt-saturated systems is challenging, but very relevant for understanding the evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal systems.


A compact gap coupled dual-band patch antenna is proposed for WLAN and WiMAX applications. Two resonating frequencies at 3.6GHz and 5.2GHz with a frequency ratio of 1.40 (theoretical), 1.45 (simulated) and 1.48 (measured) are observed. The frequency ratio depends on the thickness of substrate and gap length between the fed and parasitic patches. The impedance bandwidth at lower resonant frequency is 23.7% (theoretical), 3.9% (simulated) and 8.7% (measured) and at upper resonant frequency it is 23.5% (theoretical), 4% (simulated) and 9.2% (measured). Simulated gain of the patch antenna is 1.6dBi at lower resonant frequency and 4.2 dBi at upper resonant frequency. Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR) remains below 1.2. The electric and magnetic field radiation patterns at both the resonating frequencies clearly depict that the co-polarization is higher than the cross polarization. Experimental return loss (|S_11|), VSWR, input impedance and group delay are in close agreement with theoretical and simulated (by High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) Software) results.


The paper investigates the long-term behaviour of wood-concrete composite floor/deck systems with shear key/anchor connection detail. The beam specimens were first monitored in time after the concrete placement on the wood deck, and then subjected to a sustained load. The experimental results have also been extended to the entire service life of the structure using a Finite Element model. The primary observations are: (i) the bleeding of the fresh concrete is not an issue for the durability of the wood deck; (ii) the type of construction (shored, unshored) is of little influence for the structural performance; (iii) the deflection increases quite significantly over the time because of the rheological phenomena of the component materials. The use of concrete with reduced shrinkage and the pre-cambering of the wood deck are two possible ways to reduce the long-term deflection. The experimental and numerical results are finally compared with those obtained using a simplified approach, showing that the simplified approach leads to reasonably good accuracy.


This Article argues that traditional desegregation cases should be seen as one important tool in the continuing struggle by many parents, students, and civil rights advocates to achieve racial and socioeconomic integration in our public schools. While it is unlikely that any new desegregation cases will be filed and the overwhelming majority of the approximately 16,000 school districts in the United States are not under desegregation orders, these orders are still powerful tools in the school districts where they remain. For decades legal scholars and civil rights litigators have anticipated the end of desegregation, and most have begun to focus on other aspects of education reform such as accountability, school choice, and school finance reform. But until the last school district is declared unitary, civil rights advocates should examine these cases and take a proactive approach to insuring that states and school districts have fulfilled every aspect of desegregation orders. A vigilant and proactive approach to the remaining desegregation cases can potentially influence racial integration and student achievement in the directly affected school districts and the broader landscape of American schools.


We show here that a thin film of a nonlinear conjugated polymer: poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV) is capable of efficiently generating the third harmonic of femtosecond pulses of light at the near infrared (including telecommunication bands) wavelengths, giving coherent, low divergence beams in the visible range. By using more than one fundamental beam overlapping in space and in time on the PPV film, autocorrelation signals are observed as well as higher order mixing signals due to X(5) and higherorder nonlinear susceptibilities. These signals can be used for applications such as short laser pulse diagnostics and photonic signal processing and they provide information about the nonlinear properties of the material itself.


ABSTRACT Based on interviews with Palestinian professionals in Jewish organizations in Israel, this article discloses a distinctive practice of 'everyday racism' and microaggression – a language of everyday racism. This 'language of everyday racism' refers to Hebrew words and expressions that are routinely used by Jews in their mundane conversations and that include the word 'Arab' when describing a deficiency or defect, some sort of unsightliness, filth, or general negativity (as in the expression 'You're dressed like an Arab woman'). This article not only describes the language of everyday racism as a specific form of everyday racism and microaggression (national microaggression), it also illustrates how this language activates the Palestinian professionals in a reflexive manner. The discussion section describes how the internal dialectic between structure and agency is critical to understanding the language of everyday racism, which in turn acts as a mechanism of the inequality that underlies face-to-face interactions.


This article presents the test setup of two quasi-static cyclic tests on U-shaped walls under horizontal diagonal loading recently performed at EPF Lausanne. The results of the first test are discussed in terms of global behaviour: failure mechanisms and force-displacement hystereses as well as in terms of local behaviour. The emphasis is placed on behaviour specific to U-shaped walls under diagonal loading, such as: 1) proneness to out-of-plane buckling of the free ends of the flanges; and 2) plane sections do not remain plane after deformation. Implications of these phenomena in the design and analysis of U-shaped walls are also discussed.


SUMMARY This study examined flexible adjustments of skeletal muscle size, fiber structure, and capillarization in Inuit sled dogs responding to seasonal changes in temperature, exercise and food supply. Inuit dogs pull sleds in winter and are fed regularly throughout this working season. In summer, they remain chained to rocks without exercise, receiving food intermittently and often fasting for several days. We studied two dog teams in Northern Greenland (Qaanaaq) where dogs are still draught animals vital to Inuit hunters, and one dog team in Western Greenland (Qeqertarsuaq) where this traditional role has been lost. Northern Greenland dogs receive more and higher quality food than those in Western Greenland. We used ultrasonography for repeated muscle size measurements on the same individuals, and transmission electron microscopy on micro-biopsies for summer–winter comparisons of muscle histology, also within individuals. At both study sites, dogs' muscles were significantly thinner in summer than in winter – atrophy attributable to reduced fiber diameter. Sarcomeres from West Greenland dogs showed serious myofilament depletion and expansion of the sarcoplasmatic space between myofibrils during summer. At both study sites, summer samples showed fewer interfibrillar and subsarcolemmal mitochondria, and fewer lipid droplets between myofibrils, than did winter samples. In summer, capillary density was higher and inter-capillary distance smaller than in winter, but the capillary-to-fiber-ratio and number of capillaries associated with single myofibers were constant. Increased capillary density was probably a by-product of differential tissue responses to condition changes rather than a functional adaptation, because thinning of muscle fibers in summer was not accompanied by reduction in the capillary network. Thus, skeletal muscle of Inuit dogs responds flexibly to changes in functional demands. This flexibility is based on differential changes in functional components: mitochondrial numbers, lipid droplet size, and the number of contractile filaments all increase with increasing workload and food supply while the capillary network remains unchanged.


A close relative of spotted knapweed in the Asteraceae taxonomic family, diffuse knapweed is typically biennial, reproducing exclusively by seed. It forms a rosette with a central crown and tap root in the juvenile stage and a single upright stem one to three feet (0.3 to 0.9 m) tall with numerous spreading branches at maturity. White (occasionally purple) flowers are borne in heads with spiny bracts (see Figure 1). It is generally found on more arid sites than spotted knapweed. Native to the Mediterranean region, diffuse knapweed was first recorded in Montana from Mineral County in 1951 and by 2008 had been reported from 39 of Montana's 56 counties. Its dense, spiny overstory reduces the availability of desirable forage plants to livestock and wildlife, and grass production can be reduced by over 90% in heavy infestations. Declines in diffuse knapweed populations in western North America have been attributed to the lesser knapweed flower weevil (Larinus minutus), one of 14 approved biological control insects it is host to. Herbicidal management can best be achieved by application of any of the following chemicals at the rosette to bolt stages: aminopyralid, clopyralid, dicamba, picloram, and 2,4-D. Grazing management using sheep or goats should be applied during the rosette and bolt stages before the formation of spiny flowerheads, and animals should be removed when 50% of grass forage has been utilized. Tillage can be used to remove plants and release the seed bank. Persistent hand pulling and grubbing may be practical on small scale infestations. Diffuse knapweed re-sprouts following fire, including intense wildfire. Cultivating and re-vegetating competitive plants will improve the longevity of control applications and reduce re-establishment from the seed bank. NRCS−Montana−Technical Note−Invasive Species−MT-20 1


Article History: Received: 1 Jul. 2017 Accepted: 12 Oct. 2017 Drag reduction of an object is the major concern in many engineering applications. Experimental studies have been carried out on circular cylinder with helical grooves in a subsonic wind tunnel. Different cases of helical grooves with different pitches, helical groove angles and number of starts of helical groove on circular cylinder are tested. Experimental results show the drag coefficient is sensitive with Reynolds number and decreases at critical Reynolds number and at subcritical and supercritical or transcritical Reynolds number the drag coefficient increases as compared with smooth cylinder. The longitudinal grooves over the cylinder surface are tested and showed that drag coefficient much decreases at the subcritical and critical Reynolds number region. The experimental results are validated with available literature and obtained good agreement.


In this first comprehensive departure from the time-and-motion dictums of Frederick Taylor's "Shop Management" that have influenced management practices for most of this century, Kiyoshi Suzaki offers a framework for successfully conducting business at its most crucial point-the shop floor. Drawing on the principles of holistic management, where organizational boundaries are smashed and co-destiny is created, Suzaki demonstrates how modern shop floor management techniques -- focusing maximum energy on the front line -- can lead to dramatic improvements in productivity and valueadded-to-services. The role of management today, Suzaki argues, is to eliminate its own responsibilities by thinking of the organization from the "genba, " or shop floor, point of view. In this challenge, Suzaki claims, organizations need to collect the wisdom of people by practicing "Glass Wall Management," where organizations become transparent, enabling employees to contribute maximum creativity as opposed to blocking their potential with what he calls "Brick Wall Management." Further, to empower individuals to selfmanage their work and satisfy their customers, Suzaki asserts that they all should learn to manage their own "mini-company," where everybody is considered president of his or her area of responsibility. Front-line supervisors, Suzaki shows, must develop a mission and goals and share them both up and downstream. He cites examples of the "shop floor point of view" -- McDonald's Corporation's legal staff learning how to sell hamburgers and fix milkshake machines; Honda's human resource staff training on the assembly line -- that narrow the gap between top management and the shop floor. By upgrading people's skills, focusing on empowerment, and streamlining processes, Suzaki illustrates that an organization will realize concrete improvements in quality, cost, delivery, safety, morale, and ultimately, its competitive position.


Heart transplantation is a well‐established therapy for end‐stage heart failure in children and young adults. The highest risk of graft loss occurs in the first 60 days post‐transplant. Donor fraction of cell‐free DNA is a highly sensitive marker of graft injury. Changes in cell‐free DNA levels have not previously been studied in depth in patients early after heart transplant. A prospective study was conducted among heart transplant recipients at a single pediatric heart center. Blood samples were collected from children and young adult transplant patients at three time points within 10 days of transplantation. DF and total cell‐free DNA levels were measured using a targeted method (myTAIHEART). In 17 patients with serial post‐transplant samples, DF peaks in the first 2 days after transplant (3.5%, [1.9‐10]%) and then declines toward baseline (0.27%, [0.19‐0.52]%) by 6‐9 days. There were 4 deaths in the first year among the 10 patients with complete sample sets, and 3 out of 4 who died had a late rise or blunted decline in donor fraction. Patients who died trended toward an elevated total cell‐free DNA at 1 week (41.5, [34‐65] vs 13.6, [6.2‐22] P = .07). Donor fraction peaks early after heart transplant and then declines toward baseline. Patients without sustained decline in donor fraction and/or elevated total cell‐free DNA at 1 week may have worse outcomes.


With climate change as prototype example, this paper analyzes the implications of structural uncertainty for the economics of low-probability, high-impact catastrophes. Even when updated by Bayesian learning, uncertain structural parameters induce a critical tail fattening of posterior-predictive distributions. Such fattened tails have strong implications for situations, like climate change, where a catastrophe is theoretically possible because prior knowledge cannot place sufficiently narrow bounds on overall damages. This paper shows that the economic consequences of fat-tailed structural uncertainty (along with unsureness about high-temperature damages) can readily outweigh the effects of discounting in climate-change policy analysis.


This article describes social-organizational models that Mexican newspapers have evolved in response to competition from electronic media. The spot news model competes through simulation and cannibalization, and it is organized for efficiency. Its routine of speed and steep hierarchy keep newsroom credibility centralized among newspaper leaders, which makes it difficult for new sources to convince reporters to listen to them, and for reporters, in turn, to convince editors to publish new sources. The reportage model, in contrast, competes with electronic media through differentiation, emphasizing investigation and analysis over speed. Its newsroom is correspondingly organized according to a slower schedule and a flatter hierarchy. The reportage model therefore decentralizes newsroom credibility by allowing reporters the expertise and autonomy they need to put new sources into print. Though these two models represent simultaneous reactions to market competition, they have opposing effects on democratic journalism as measured by pluralism and accountability.


This study analyses whether the Swedish school choice reform, enacted in 1992, had different effects on students from different socio-economic backgrounds. We use detailed geographical data on students' and schools' locations to construct measures of the degree of potential choice. This allows us to study the effects of choice opportunities among public schools, whereas previous studies have focused on newly opened private schools. Our results suggest small positive or no effects of choice opportunities, depending on specification and outcome. We find no strong evidence of differences between subgroups; if anything, effects tend to be slightly more positive for disadvantaged groups, such as students from low-income families. Taken together, the results indicate that students from a socio-economically disadvantaged or immigrant background were not harmed by the reform.


Abstract Objective: Indwelling urinary catheters are the most common source of infections in intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of nurse-generated daily reminders to physicians to remove unnecessary urinary catheters 5 days after insertion. Design: A time-sequence nonrandomized intervention study. Setting: Adult ICUs (medical, surgical, cardiovascular surgical, neurosurgical, and coronary care) of a tertiary-care university medical center. Patients: All patients admitted to the adult ICUs during a 2-year period. The study consisted of a 12-month observational phase (15,960 patient-days) followed by a 12-month intervention phase (15,525 patient-days). Intervention: Daily reminders to physicians from the nursing staff to remove unnecessary urinary catheters 5 days after insertion. Results: The duration of urinary catheterization was significantly reduced during the intervention phase (from 7.0 ± 1.1 days to 4.6 ± 0.7 days; P < .001). The rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) was also significantly reduced (from 11.5 ± 3.1 to 8.3 ± 2.5 patients with CAUTI per 1,000 catheter-days; P = .009). There was a linear relationship between the monthly average duration of catheterization and the rate of CAUTI (r = 0.50; P = .01). The excess monthly cost of antibiotics for CAUTI was reduced by 69% (from $4,021 ± $1,800 to $1,220 ± $941; P = .004). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that a simple measure instituted as part of a continuous quality improvement program significantly reduced the duration of urinary catheterization, rate of CAUTI, and additional costs of antibiotics to manage CAUTI.


We introduce a generic scheme for accelerating first-order optimization methods in the sense of Nesterov, which builds upon a new analysis of the accelerated proximal point algorithm. Our approach consists of minimizing a convex objective by approximately solving a sequence of well-chosen auxiliary problems, leading to faster convergence. This strategy applies to a large class of algorithms, including gradient descent, block coordinate descent, SAG, SAGA, SDCA, SVRG, Finito/MISO, and their proximal variants. For all of these methods, we provide acceleration and explicit support for non-strongly convex objectives. In addition to theoretical speed-up, we also show that acceleration is useful in practice, especially for ill-conditioned problems where we measure significant improvements.


As viral production depends on bacteria, factors which influence bacterial production should also impact viral production. Likewise, viruses and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) both exploit bacterial prey, so HNF grazing could influence interactions between viruses and bacteria. To examine these relationships, we examined samples from experiments in which natural bacterial populations were subjected to relaxation of nutrient limitation and different levels of grazing pressure from HNF. We observed that stimulation of bacterial production and abundance with the relaxation of nutrient limitation resulted in a higher standing stock of viruses, higher viral production and also a higher virus-induced lysis rate of bacterioplankton. These relationships suggest that the relative effect of virus-induced mortality is higher in more productive environments. We found that viral abundance, viral production and virus-induced mortality of bacteria was highest in the treatments in which grazing rates on bacteria by HNF were highest, and lowest in the treatments where no eukaryotic predators were present. Thus, high grazing rates were associated with high virus production rates. The resource enrichment had a stronger effect on viral production and infection of bacteria than grazing. Averaged over time for single treatments, viruses lysed a significant portion (range, 18 to 66%) of the bacterial production per day.


In this paper, we present a novel framework TESTAF to support automatic generation and execution of test cases using object-oriented formal specifications. We use IFAD VDM++ as the specification language, but the ideas presented can be applied equally well to other object-oriented formal notations. The TESTAF framework requires a VDM++ specification for a class, a corresponding implementation in C++, and a test specification, to generate and execute test cases, and evaluate the results. The test specification defines valid test sequences in an intermediate specification language based on regular expressions. The framework uses the formal specification of the class, and the test specification to generate empty test shells, which are then filled in with the test data to create concrete test cases. The test data for a method are generated from the input space defined by the method pre condition and the class invariant. The TESTAF applies boundary value analysis strategy to generate the test data. A test driver then executes the implementation with the test data, and uses a conjunction of method post condition and the class invariant as a test oracle to evaluate the results, while reporting failed test cases to the user.


Broadband wireless channels are often time dispersive and become strongly frequency selective in delay spread domain. Commonly, these channels are composed of a few dominant coefficients and a large part of coefficients are approximately zero or under noise floor. To exploit sparsity of multi-path channels (MPCs), there are various methods have been proposed. They are, namely, greedy algorithms, iterative algorithms, and convex program. The former two algorithms are easy to be implemented but not stable; on the other hand, the last method is stable but difficult to be implemented as practical channel estimation problems be-cause of computational complexity. In this paper, we introduce a novel channel estimation strategy using smooth L0 (SL0) algorithm which combines stable and low complexity. Computer simulations confirm the effectiveness of the introduced algorithm. We also give various simulations to verify the sensing training signal method.


(ABSTRACT) One of the major planning problems faced by medium and large manufacturing enterprises is the distribution of production over various (production) facilities. The need for cross-facility capacity management is most evident in the high-tech industries having capital-intensive equipment and short technology life cycle. There have been solutions proposed in the literature that are based on the lagragian decomposition method which separate the overall multiple product problem into a number of single product problems. We believe that multi-agent systems, given their distributed problem solving approach can be used to solve this problem, in its entirety, more effectively. According to other researchers who have worked in this field, auction theoretic mechanisms are a good way to solve complex production planning problems. This research study develops a multi-agent system and negotiation protocol based on combinatorial auction framework to solve the given multi-facility planning problem. The output of this research is a software library, which can be used as a multi-agent system model of the multi-product, multi-facility capacity allocation problem. The negotiation protocol for the agents is based on an iterative combinatorial auction framework which can be used for making allocation decisions in this environment in real-time. A simulator based on this library is created to validate the multi-agent model as well as the auction theoretic framework for different scenarios in the problem domain. The planning software library is created using open source standards so that it can be seamlessly integrated with scheduling library being developed as a part of the Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) system project or any other software suite which might require this functionality. The research contribution of this study is in terms of a new multi-agent architecture for an Advanced Planning and Control (APS) system as well as a novel iterative combinatorial auction mechanism which can be used as an agent negotiation protocol within this architecture. The theoretical concepts introduced by this research are implemented in the MultiPlanner production planning tool which can be used for generating master production plans for manufacturing enterprises. The validation process carried out on both the iterative combinatorial framework and the agent-based production planning methodology demonstrate that the proposed solution strategies can be used for integrated decision making in the multi-product, multi-facility production planning domain. Also, the software tool developed as part of this research is a robust, platform independent tool which can be used by manufacturing enterprises to make relevant production planning …


In recent years, awareness has risen surrounding the crucial role of plants in providing ecosystem services and on their decline – they are one of the essential foundations of healthy ecosystems that we depend on. However, significant gaps in knowledge still remain. In this context, the European Red List of lycopods and ferns provides the first ever comprehensive assessment of the extinction risk of all native lycopod and fern species to Europe. With 194 species assessed, this assessment highlights that 19.9% of lycopod and fern species are threatened with extinction in Europe. This is mainly due to urban and infrastructure development, human intrusions and disturbance, pollution, and water use and management.


In this paper a new modeling methodology to characterize failure processes in digital computers due to hardware transients is presented. The basic assumption made is that system sensitivity to hardware transient errors is a function of critical resources usage. The failure rate of a given resource is approximated by a deterministic function of time, depending on the average workload of that resource, plus a Gaussian process. The probability density function of the time to failure obtained under this assumption has a decreasing hazard function, explaining why decreasing hazard function densities such as the Weibull fit experimental data so well. Data on transient errors obtained from several systems are analyzed. Statistical tests confirm the good fit between decreasing hazard distributions and actual data. Finally, models of common fault-tolerant redundant structures are developed using decreasing hazard function distributions. The analysis indicates significant differences between reliability predictions based on the exponential distribution and those based on decreasing hazard function distributions. Reliability differences of 0.2 and factors greater than 2 in Mission Time Improvement are seen in model results. System designers should be aware of these differences.


We present a flexible and scalable method for computing global solutions of high‐dimensional stochastic dynamic models. Within a time iteration or value function iteration setup, we interpolate functions using an adaptive sparse grid algorithm. With increasing dimensions, sparse grids grow much more slowly than standard tensor product grids. Moreover, adaptivity adds a second layer of sparsity, as grid points are added only where they are most needed, for instance, in regions with steep gradients or at nondifferentiabilities. To further speed up the solution process, our implementation is fully hybrid parallel, combining distributed and shared memory parallelization paradigms, and thus permits an efficient use of high‐performance computing architectures. To demonstrate the broad applicability of our method, we solve two very different types of dynamic models: first, high‐dimensional international real business cycle models with capital adjustment costs and irreversible investment; second, multiproduct menu‐cost models with temporary sales and economies of scope in price setting.


A novel approach has been developed to fabricate a hierarchical nanotemplated carbon monolithic rod (NTCM) by using C60-fullerene modified silica fullerene C60 (C60) modified silica gels (FMS) as hard templates and resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) copolymer as carbon precursor. The influence of using the C60 modified template was systematically studied using various physiochemical characterisation techniques in comparison with the unmodified counterpart carbon monolith blank (CM blank). This carbon/carbon monolithic composite, NTCM, possessed a higher specific surface area of 435 m2 g-1 with an integrated open hierarchical porous structure consisting of a tri-modal pore distribution. Due to its high surface area, high pore volume and graphite-like nature, it was used to modify the surfaces of boron doped diamond electrodes for hydrogen peroxide detections. The separation of three phenols on an in-house prepared CM blank column in reversed phase liquid chromatography demonstrated that this type carbon monolith has good selectivity for small polar aromatic compounds and poor separation efficiency due to strong affinity between the analytes and stationary phase. Subsequently, CM blank and NTCM in a rod form were tested as SPE sorbents for phenols adsorption. The adsorption kinetics showed that the CMs had good selectivity with very slow adsorption kinetics and lower adsorption capacity than the other common carbonaceous sorbent reported due to the capillary diffusion effect in the broad cross-section of the sorbents. Then the ground CM blank and NTCM powders were used for the adsorption of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous environment. Their adsorption kinetics, Langmuir isotherms, pH and temperature effects were intensely studied. The overall kinetics of both sorbents in a powder form showed much faster than in the rod form. The experimental results showed ground CM blank was a significantly better sorbent material for MB removal in water than NTCM with good reusability. For obtaining carbon monoliths of required shape for actual applications, CO2 laser ablation in a continuous mode was used to cut two CM blank and NTCM rods under control conditions to produce discs with controlled dimensions. Adsorption studies confirmed the changes in surface chemistry and morphology in these resultant laser cut carbon monolithic discs (LCMs). The results showed laser cut is a good technique for cutting the fragile and porous carbon monoliths with intriguing structure and morphology.


This paper proposes a novel scheme to reduce energy consumption of digital transceivers with OFDM as the modulation scheme. The energy consumption of transceivers is saved based on two key techniques: 1) adaptively tune the bandwidth and sampling rate of the OFDM signal; 2) selectively power off individual block of parallel modules in the transceiver. Performance analysis illustrate that the newly designed transceiver consumes a significantly less amount of energy as compared to the conventional transceiver.


Researchers commonly use a tabular format to describe and represent clinical study data. The lack of standardization of data dictionary's metadata elements presents challenges for their harmonization for similar studies and impedes interoperability outside the local context. We propose that representing data dictionaries in the form of standardized archetypes can help to overcome this problem. The Archetype Modeling Language (AML) as developed by the Clinical Information Modeling Initiative (CIMI) can serve as a common format for the representation of data dictionary models. We mapped three different data dictionaries (identified from dbGAP, PheKB and TCGA) onto AML archetypes by aligning dictionary variable definitions with the AML archetype elements. The near complete alignment of data dictionaries helped map them into valid AML models that captured all data dictionary model metadata. The outcome of the work would help subject matter experts harmonize data models for quality, semantic interoperability and better downstream data integration.


An increasing number of scientific evidence supports the preventive value of dietary patterns that favor the consumption of plant food. Especially fruit, vegetables, grains and legumes; the correlation between the reduction of risk of chronic disease such as adherence to the Mediterranean diet is the most significant example. The central role of the endothelium in maintaining vascular homeostasis and the correlation between endothelial dysfunction and the development of cardiovascular diseases makes this tissue a primary target for dietary strategies aimed at cardiovascular diseases prevention. Research in the field of nutrition is therefore directed to the identification of food bioactive components with beneficial effects on the endothelium.
This study first focused on the evaluation of the potential vascular protective effects of a wheat peptide belonging to the family of non-specific lipid transfer proteins type 2 (nsLTP2). nsLTP2, at physiological concentrations, showed antioxidant and cytoprotective effects in HUVECs undergoing oxidative/inflammatory stimulation and demonstrated modulatory capacity on the expression of adhesion molecules and heme oxygenase-1, both involved in endothelial inflammation. Polyphenols are widely studied antioxidant compounds and research supports the preventive/protective role of a polyphenol-rich diet. Despite experimental evidence of their positive influence on human health, to date there is no clear indication of the compunds responsible for this protective role. In fact, upon ingestion polyphenols are extensively metabolized and the molecule that will act at cellular level will more likely be a metabolite. For this reason the second part of the study focused on the protective effect of polyphenol metabolites belonging to two families: cinnamic acids and anthocyanins. Overall the tested compounds demonstrated antioxidant and cytoprotective activities at endothelial level in oxidative/inflammatory conditions, being also able to affect adhesion molecules expression.
These observations may support and characterize biological activities of bioactive peptides and polyphenols metabolites beneficial to vascular health.


This study determined possible uses of toys as instructional tools in the development of problem-solving skills among preschoolers. It aimed to identify the common toys found in preschool and how these toys can be used in lessons to develop students' problem-solving skills. The first phase of the study was the selection of toys to be used in the lesson. The second was the designing of lessons integrating the development of problem-solving skills using toys identified in phase 1. The last is the evaluation of lessons developed in phase 2. Data were gathered using survey, observation, and document analysis. Lessons were developed using the Wallace and Maker Problem Solving Wheel. The study shows that the five commonly found toys in preschool classrooms have the potential to develop problem-solving skills in preschool children.


"The essays are provocative and enhance knowledge of Third World women's issues. Highly recommended..."-Choice "...the book challenges assumptions and pushes historic and geographical boundaries that must be altered if women of all colors are to win the struggles thrust upon us by the 'new world order' of the 1990s." -New Directions for Women "This surely is a book for anyone trying to comprehend the ways sexism fuels racism in a post-colonial, post-Cold War world that remains dangerous for most women." -Cynthia H. Enloe "...provocative analyses of the simultaneous oppressions of race, class, gender and sexuality...a powerful collection." -Gloria Anzaldua "...propels third world feminist perspectives from the periphery to the cutting edge of feminist theory in the 1990s." -Aihwa Ong "...a carefully presented wealth of much-needed information." -Audre Lorde "...it is a significant book." -The Bloomsbury Review "...excellent...The nondoctrinaire approach to the Third World and to feminism in general is refreshing and compelling." -World Literature Today "...an excellent collection of essays examining 'Third World' feminism." -The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory These essays document the debates, conflicts, and contradictions among those engaged in developing third world feminist theory and politics. Contributors: Evelyne Accad, M. Jacqui Alexander, Carmen Barroso, Cristina Bruschini, Rey Chow, Juanita Diaz-Cotto, Angela Gilliam, Faye V. Harrison, Cheryl Johnson-Odim, Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, Barbara Smith, Nayereh Tohidi, Lourdes Torres, Cheryl L. West, & Nellie Wong.


Discriminatory Pricing is a practice that can be used either to eliminate competitors or to charge consumers deserving prices, both of which are condemned by competition law. However, Discriminatory Pricing is often accompanied by certain positive effects. For instance, it allows more consumers to consume the product and thus commit to economies of scale. Therefore, there are no illegal issues associated with Discriminatory Pricing per se. This paper observes that Discriminatory Pricing practices occur in the software market. The software market is a new market that differs from traditional markets in many aspects. Although factors such as network effects and innovation competition provide an environment conducive to the proliferation of Discriminatory Pricing, these factors also remove the eliminative and exploitative aspects of Discriminatory Pricing in the software market. Traditional regulation is not well suited to regulating software Discriminatory Pricing. Software Discriminatory Pricing is a commonly used marketing strategy and should not be subject to restrictions by competition law. This paper analyzed the possibility of abusive Discriminatory Pricing in the software market and suggested a test for assessing such abuse. Accordingly, this paper has concluded that software Discriminatory Pricing is efficient.


Governments the world over are competing with each other to be at a leading position in the arena of e-government. e-Government is seen as a path to modernisation and rendering more efficient and effective public sector services. Recent practices in the field have focused on bringing the government closer to the people. As such, governments worldwide adopted various government-to-citizen (G2C) e-government models in an attempt to improve and provide round the clock availability of all government public services. This article provides a review of the current e-government field with a focus on Arab countries. We present a conceptual six-staged roadmap that illustrates our account of idealisation on how Arab countries should prioritise their e-government short and mid-term efforts. It is a simplified model that represents mega functions that governments need to bear in mind when addressing the changing development needs of the globalised world we live in today. We argue that the stages of the proposed roadmap have the potential to support the development of the public sector and the emergence of the Arab bloc as strong revolutionised citizen-centric governments.


This thesis presents research that combines weaving and 3D Printing to fabricate a textile that will be used for supporting the weight of a person sitting on a stool or chair. This textile uses carbon-reinforced polymers and jute fibers that are stiffened by thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) to achieve adequate resistance with lightweight material. The use of TPE offers a biodegradable option as a stiffener in the textile. 3D Printing different geometric toolpaths allow for variable rigidity in the fabric. The goal of this research is to design a chair of 20 by 20 inches that withstands loads of a 250 pounds person, using a physical and digital model of 5 by 5 inches. Contributions of this research include several geometric tool paths affecting the stiffness of the textile in combination with the weaving pattern and weaving materials. These toolpaths also include geometry inspired by cow bone structure. Besides, a digital tool was developed coded in Grasshopper that allows for parametric modeling of textiles (stiffness, geometry, etc.). These textiles can then be loaded in this digital tool, and their behavior simulated to understand the maximum strengths of each textile design. This approach prevents material waste and allows designers to generate fabrics for possible architectural applications in different loading conditions.


Humidity-based DCV systems have been widely used in France for 35 years and are considered as a reference system, including for low-energy residential buildings. Indeed, most of the new residential buildings, which must be low-energy buildings to comply with the RT 2012 energy performance regulation, are equipped with such systems. Feedbacks from two long-term studies show the durability of the humidity sensitive components and show the robustness of this system to bad maintenance or use by occupants. The on-going Performance 2 project delivers the first results of a ten-year monitoring in thirty social housing apartments. In the context of the increasing awareness about smart ventilation, from these feedbacks, it seems very important consider the durability of the systems and its components (including the sensors) and the robustness of the systems to a lack of maintenance by occupants.


With the growing interest in wireless sensor networks, techniques for their systematic analysis design and optimization are essential. Despite numerous research efforts in optimizing hardware, algorithms and protocols for these networks, it remains largely unexplored how these innovations can be all tied together to design a sensor network for a specific practical application. We propose a methodology that starts from four independent quality of service (QoS) parameters and allows the user to completely and unambiguously describe the desired performance, without having to deal with the details of individual devices or protocols. By making appropriate choices in terms of device capabilities and run-time techniques, a design can be positioned in this four-dimensional QoS space. Furthermore, we describe a technique to explore the associated tradeoffs at design time, using both analytical expressions and simulations. To illustrate the benefits of our approach, a design example is worked out, which shows a five fold improvement in network operational lifetime by adapting the event reporting delay.


A complex-valued wave field is reconstructed from intensity-only measurements given at multiple observation planes parallel to the object plane. The phase-retrieval algorithm is obtained from the constrained maximum likelihood approach provided that the additive noise is gaussian. The forward propagation from the object plane to the measurement plane is treated as a constraint in the proposed variational setting of reconstruction. The developed iterative algorithm is based on an augmented lagrangian technique. An advanced performance of the algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulations.


Essentially ubiquitous in our environment, residues of human and veterinary pharmaceuticals somewhat paradoxically represent an emerging and increasing risk to wild biota. Whilst in recent years a great deal of analytical effort has been expended to quantify the presence of many pharmaceutical contaminants, especially in freshwater systems, our real understanding of the risks posed to most clades of wildlife, aquatic and terrestrial alike, still lags behind. In particular, relevant field-based studies regarding possible chronic impacts in higher terrestrial wildlife (birds, mammals, reptiles, etc.) remain all too scarce. Yet, for example, over the past two decades Old World Gyps vultures on the Indian subcontinent have been virtually extirpated due to non-target exposure to a single synthetic pharmaceutical compound, diclofenac (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug). Here, we highlight and discuss the myriad possible exposure routes to terrestrial wildlife, consider the analytical and monitoring approaches that are already in use or that could be used in future research, and reflect upon a selection of legislative approaches currently being applied to identified terrestrial impacts. Finally, with the ultimate aim of encouraging further applied ecotoxicology-based research in this emerging field, we highlight several priorities for future inquiry, with special emphasis on non-target effects in previously overlooked but potentially vulnerable or highly representative clades of wildlife exposed within environmentally relevant, real-world scenarios.


We present a new method to bootstrap filter Twitter language ID labels in our dataset for automatic language identification (LID). Our method combines geo-location, original Twitter LID labels, and Amazon Mechanical Turk to resolve missing and unreliable labels. We are the first to compare LID classification performance using the MIRA algorithm and langid.py. We show classifier performance on different versions of our dataset with high accuracy using only Twitter data, without ground truth, and very few training examples. We also show how Platt Scaling can be use to calibrate MIRA classifier output values into a probability distribution over candidate classes, making the output more intuitive. Our method allows for fine-grained distinctions between similar languages and dialects and allows us to rediscover the language composition of our Twitter dataset.


The world's first known empires took shape in Mesopotamia between the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, beginning around 2350 BCE. The next 2,500 years witnessed sustained imperial growth, bringing a growing share of humanity under the control of ever-fewer states. Two thousand years ago, just four major powers-the Roman, Parthian, Kushan, and Han empires-ruled perhaps two-thirds all the people on earth. Yet despite empires' prominence in the early history of civilization, there have been surprisingly few attempts to study the dynamics of ancient empires in the western Old World comparatively. Such grand comparisons were popular in the eighteenth century, but scholars then had only Greek and Latin literature and the Hebrew Bible as evidence, and necessarily framed the problem in different, more limited, terms. Near Eastern texts, and knowledge of their languages, only appeared in large amounts in the later nineteenth century. Neither Karl Marx nor Max Weber could make much use of this material, and not until the 1920s were there enough archaeological data to make syntheses of early European and west Asian history possible. But one consequence of the increase in empirical knowledge was that twentieth-century scholars generally defined the disciplinary and geographical boundaries of their specialties more narrowly than their Enlightenment predecessors had done, shying away from large questions and cross-cultural comparisons. As a result, Greek and Roman empires have largely been studied in isolation from those of the Near East. This volume is designed to address these deficits and encourage dialogue across disciplinary boundaries by examining the fundamental features of the successive and partly overlapping imperial states that dominated much of the Near East and the Mediterranean in the first millennia BCE and CE. A substantial introductory discussion of recent thought on the mechanisms of imperial state formation prefaces the five newly commissioned case studies of the Neo-Assyrian, Achaemenid Persian, Athenian, Roman, and Byzantine empires. A final chapter draws on the findings of evolutionary psychology to improve our understanding of ultimate causation in imperial predation and exploitation in a wide range of historical systems from all over the globe. Contributors include John Haldon, Jack Goldstein, Peter Bedford, Josef Wiesehofer, Ian Morris, Walter Scheidel, and Keith Hopkins, whose sparkling essay on Roman political economy was completed just before his death in 2004.


While it is often believed that temporary forms of employment, such as fixed-term contracts, casual work and temporary agency work, provide workers with more flexibility to balance work and private commitments, convincing empirical evidence on this issue is still scarce. This paper investigates the association between temporary employment and work-life balance in Australia, using longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey for the period 2001 to 2017. In contrast to previous studies, we compare results from pooled cross-sectional and fixed-effects regressions to investigate the role of time-constant unobserved worker characteristics in linking temporary employment and work-life outcomes. The results show that, after accounting for job characteristics and person-specific fixed-effects, among women only casual employment is unequivocally associated with better work-life outcomes than permanent employment. For men, we mostly find negative associations between all forms of temporary employment and work-life outcomes, but the magnitudes of these associations are much smaller and mostly insignificant in fixed-effects models. This result suggests that male temporary employees have stable unobserved traits that are connected to poorer work-life balance.


In 1984, only two B12- dependent enzymes were known in Salmonella, ethanolamine ammonia lyase, required for use of ethanolamine (EA) as a nitrogen and carbon source, and a methyltransferase involved in cysteine biosynthesis. A genetic analysis of ethanolamine utilization was undertaken in John Roth's laboratory in part to explore whether ethanolamine degradation contributes to the selective forces that maintain the ability to synthesize B12. Identification of the enzymes encoded in the eut operon suggests that ethanolamine degradation is an integral part of a network of reactions involving both reduction and oxidation of ethanolamine as well as fixation of CO2. EA can be used aerobically as a carbon, energy, and nitrogen source in the presence of Ado-B12 or a suitable corrinoid precursor. Under anaerobic conditions, EA can be used as a carbon source when tetrathionate is provided as an electron acceptor. Induction of the 17-gene eut operon requires the EutR regulatory protein and two effectors: EA, the substrate for the degredative pathway, and Ado-B12, the effector for EutBC lyase, which catalyzes the first step in the pathway. Induction of the operon is under autogenous control by eutR, the regulatory gene positioned at the end of the operon transcript. The eutT gene encodes an adenosyltransferase that plays a role in maintaining levels of Ado-B12 sufficient for eutT operon induction and lyase activity.


This paper reviews on IAS-24, Related-Party Disclosure in the context of insurance company in Bangladesh and discusses issues surrounding such disclosure. This study has also reviewed the annual reports of selected insurance companies and highlights issues of the requirements of regulatory authority for IAS-24, Related Party Disclosure. IAS-24, Related Party Disclosure states the related-party's relationships of commerce and business. The purpose of this study is to identify content analysis using IAS-24, Related Party Disclosure to understand more about the effect of financial reporting. Effective financial reporting disclosure of related-party measures the strength of a company. In order to remove the asymmetry of accounting information worldly, this study has been focused on to analyze getting the actual scenario of related party disclosure and benefits of fully application of IAS-24, Related Party Disclosure for insurance companies. This study has also found out that the most insurance companies have poor application of IAS- 24, Related-Party Disclosure. With the evidence, this study has tried to present the scenario of related party disclosure in annual report and how to improve such disclosure, IAS- 24, Related- Party Disclosure efficiently.


Purpose Noninfectious comorbidities such as cardiovascular diseases have become increasingly prevalent and occur earlier in life in persons with HIV infection. Despite the emerging body of literature linking environmental exposures to chronic disease outcomes in the general population, the impacts of environmental exposures have received little attention in HIV-infected population. The aim of this study is to investigate whether individuals living with HIV have elevated prevalence of heavy metals compared to non-HIV infected individuals in United States. Methods We used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2010 to compare exposures to heavy metals including cadmium, lead, and total mercury in HIV infected and non-HIV infected subjects. Results In this cross-sectional study, we found that HIV-infected individuals had higher concentrations of all heavy metals than the non-HIV infected group. In a multivariate linear regression model, HIV status was significantly associated with increased blood cadmium (p=0.03) after adjusting for age, sex, race, education, poverty income ratio, and smoking. However, HIV status was not statistically associated with lead or mercury levels after adjusting for the same covariates. Conclusions Our findings suggest that HIV-infected patients might be significantly more exposed to cadmium compared to non-HIV infected individuals which could contribute to higher prevalence of chronic diseases among HIV-infected subjects. Further research is warranted to identify sources of exposure and to understand more about specific health outcomes.


Paired watershed studies are used around the world to evaluate and quantify effects of forest and water management practices on hydrology and water quality. The basic concept uses two neighboring watersheds (one as a control and another as a treatment), which are concurrently monitored during calibration (pre-treatment) and post-treatment periods. A statistically significant relationship between the control and treatment watersheds is established during calibration period such that any significant shift detected in the relationship during treatment is attributed to the treatment effects. The approach assumes that there is a consistent, quantifiable, and predictable relationship between watershed response variables. This study tests the hypothesis that the hydrologic relationships between control and treatment watersheds for daily water table elevation (WTE) and daily flow data were similar without any statistically significant difference during two different calibration (1988-1989 and 2007-2008) and treatment periods (1995-1996 and 2009), when the control and treatment watersheds were interchanged. The watersheds are two artificially drained loblolly pine forests (D1: 24.7 haand D2: 23.6 ha) located in coastal North Carolina. Results depicted significantly similar WTE regression relationships during the two calibration periods but significantly different WTE relationships during the two treatment periods with reversed control and treatment watersheds. Calibration and treatment flow relationships, and the mean treatment effects on WTE and flow, before and after treatment reversal were significantly different (α = 0.05). The study also discusses causes of differences in hydrologic relationships and treatment effects for such reversal of treatments during a 21-year span of the study on these two similar and adjacent watersheds. The observed differences in the hydrologic relationships between control and treatment watersheds before and after treatment reversal may be attributed to climate or hydrologic non-stationarity which may affect the reliability of paired watershed approach especially when the calibration periods are short.


The fall of the Ming allowed Cheng Ch'eng-kung—alias Coxinga—and his sons to create a short-lived but independent seaborne regime in China's southeastern coastal provinces that competed fiercely, if only briefly, with Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English merchants during the early stages of globalization.


This paper compares current Extension educational program efforts to improve the economic performance of the beef enterprise in Kentucky with the Sustainable Grazing System that has been developed and successfully applied to improve the performance of the beef industry in the High Rainfall Zone of Southern Australia. This comparison investigates problems addressed by each educational effort as well as different methods used by the programs to help producers improve the performance of the beef business. This comparison identifies potential difficulties faced by the Kentucky program that have been successfully addressed by the Sustainable Grazing Systems program in Southern Australia.


This paper presents and discusses the application of the object-oriented modelling software SIMSCAPE to hydraulic systems, with particular reference to multivariable proportionalintegral-derivative (PID) control. As a result, a particular modelling approach of a double cylinder-piston coupled system is proposed and motivated, and the SIMULINK based PID tuning tool has also been used to select the proper controller parameters. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of the object-oriented approach when both physical modelling and control are tackled. Keywords—Object-oriented modeling, multivariable hydraulic system, multivariable PID control, computer simulation.


Little is known about resistance to digital media in general and to social media in particular—especially beyond the realm of individuals enacting their media preferences. This article addresses that gap through a historical discourse analysis of the emergence of discursive resistance to social media use across multipleU.S.sociocultural realms. I analyze forms of pushback that became widely visible online between 2009 and 2011 and examine indicators of their emergence. Leveraging concerns about the ubiquity and constancy of digital ICTs more generally, I map ways that resistance to social media was framed in regards to work and organizational dynamics, politics, and the military, as well as personal and relational issues—motivated by distinct yet related reasons.


Nanotwinned-metals (nt-metals) offer superior mechanical (high ductility and strength) and electrical (low electromigration) properties compared to their nanocrystalline (nc) counterparts. These properties are advantageous in particular for applications in nanoscale devices. However, fabrication of nt-metals has been limited to films (two-dimensional) or template-based (one-dimensional) geometries, using various chemical and physical processes. In this Letter, we demonstrate the ambient environment localized pulsed electrodeposition process for direct printing of three-dimensional (3D) freestanding nanotwinned-Copper (nt-Cu) nanostructures. 3D nt-Cu structures were additively manufactured using pulsed electrodeposition at the tip of an electrolyte-containing nozzle. Focused ion beam (FIB) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis revealed that the printed metal was fully dense, and was mostly devoid of impurities and microstructural defects. FIB and TEM images also revealed nanocrystalline-nanotwinned-microstructure (nc-nt-microstructure), and confirmed the formation of coherent twin boundaries in the 3D-printed Cu. Mechanical properties of the 3D-printed nc-nt-Cu were characterized by direct printing (FIB-less) of micropillars for in situ SEM microcompression experiments. The 3D-printed nc-nt-Cu exhibited a flow stress of over 960 MPa, among the highest ever reported, which is remarkable for a 3D-printed material. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the nc-nt-Cu were compared to those of nc-Cu printed using the same process under direct current (DC) voltage.


Changes in the labour market in Europe, as well as globally, evolve and are caused by many factors, the impact of which is difficult to predict. Technological changes, the universality of communication, and control solutions requiring new skills and advanced IT knowledge on programming of cooperating devices result in the exclusion from the labour market of people unable to handle advanced machines and devices. Accelerating technological changes may increase the number of those excluded. The purpose of this article is to identify the causes and effects of technological exclusion on the labour market in European countries. In order to achieve this research goal, a review of mainstream literature will be conducted followed by document-based research and statistical databases. The results of this analysis show that digital exclusion may result not only from lack of individual access to technology, but also from lack of skills or the ability to use technology, which leads to social exclusion or no access to jobs. This proves that attitudes towards modern technologies on the labour market in the context of finding or creating jobs and sources of income are varied and dependent on various factors.Keywords: labour market, digital divide, digital exclusion, digital skills, causes, consequences, DESI


RAPD -PCR was used to detect differences at the DNA level between the A and B forms of B. tabaci. All twenty of the RAPD primers tested distinguished readily between the forms. These primers also distinguished between the forms at the egg and nymph stage. Genetic similarity statistics indicate that these two forms of B. tabaci were no more closely related to each other than to bayberry whitefly (Parabemisia mvricae) or bandedwinged whitefly (Trialeurodes abutilonea). DNA from B. tabaci collected from 11 locations around the world was also analyzed. These insects could be classified into six distinct groups, suggesting there are more than two variant forms of B. tabaci. A comprehensive examination of all variant types of B. tabaci will have to be conducted before a concise definition of the taxonomic relationship between the 'A' and 'B'forms can be determined.


Torrefaction is a thermochemical process in a narrow temperature ranging from 200 to 300°C, where primarily hemicellulose fibers are depolymerized. This process is carried out under atmospheric pressure and in anaerobic conditions; heating ratio is low (<50°C/min) and the residence time is relatively long, up to 1 h. During the process, a biomass is partially decomposed and forms different condensing and noncondens - ing gases. The final product is a constant substance rich in carbon, which is called a torrefied biomass—biochar and biocarbon. Currently an increase in energy demand is impacting the environment considerably. For this reason, in this chapter the organic waste torrefaction technology will be presented, including the reactor systems review. Torrefaction process may be conducted in different types of reactors, with diverse tech -nologies. From this variety, two main groups of reactors can be distinguished, with direct and indirect heating. Direct heating group consists of reactors with multiple design, such as Multiple Hearth Furnace, microwave reactor, moving bed, vibrating belt, the reactor belt, and auger. Indirect heating reactors are less common and this group consists of rotating drum and auger reactor. All mentioned reactor types will be presented and discussed.


Estimates of irregular wave reflection in two-dimensional laboratory wave tanks are typically accomplished using an array of spatially separated wave gauges. This paper presents a frequency domain analysis method that utilizes synoptic time series of either; (1) horizontal water velocity and sea surface elevation collected in a vertical array, or (2) horizontal and vertical water velocities collected at the same location in the water column. The `co-located gauge method' was tested using laboratory measurements obtained using a two-component laser Doppler velocimeter. Estimates of incident and reflected wave spectra compared well to similar estimates derived from spatially separated wave gauges. However, reliable estimates are limited to the range of spectral frequencies having appreciable energy and exhibiting good coherence in the cross-spectrum of the time series signals. Outside this range, improbable results occur. Also in this paper, the co-located gauge reflection analysis method is extended to the quasi-three-dimensional case of unidirectional, long-crested irregular waves being obliquely reflected by a straight reflective surface. This extension is based on the assumption that the oblique angle of wave incidence is known a priori.


A bacterium isolated from desert tortoises fits the major criteria for inclusion in the genus Pasteurella (gram-negative, nonmotile, pleomorphic rods that are facultatively anaerobic, fermentative in their attack on various carbohydrates, and catalase, nitratase, and oxidase positive). Tests performed for identifying this organism to the species level produced results that fit none of the currently accepted species of Pasteurella. This organism did not hydrolyze urea but did produce indole from tryptophane, hydrolyze o-nitrophenyl-β-d-galactopyrano-side, and lyse sheep erythrocytes in agar. It fermented a variety of carbohydrates, producing acetic, lactic, propionic, and succinic acids as a result of glucose fermentation. All strains were highly susceptible to ampicillin (≤1 μg/ml); and most strains were susceptible to penicillin (≤1 μg/ml); the susceptibilities to tetracycline, streptomycin, and sulfonamides were variable. Serological tests revealed antigenic heterogeneity and suggested the presence of heat-extractable surface antigens in some strains. Mice-succumbed to intranasal and intraperitoneal inoculations of large numbers of some of the strains. The guanine-plus-cytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acid was between 46 and 47 mol%. The Analytab Products API 20E bacterial identification system could not identify some strains of this organism. Other strains were identified as Pasteurella multocida or Aeromonas hydrophila at probability levels ranging from 1:69 to 1:>106. Species status is proposed for these isolates under the name Pasteurella testudinis sp. nov. The type strain of this species is strain UCD 90–237ndash;79n (= ATCC 33688).


We study here a simple stochastic single neuron model with delayed self-feedback capable of generating spike trains. Simulations show that its spike trains exhibit resonant behavior between "noise" and "delay". In order to gain insight into this resonance, we simplify the model and study a stochastic binary element whose transition probability depends on its state at a fixed interval in the past. With this simplified model we can analytically compute interspike interval histograms, and show how the resonance between noise and delay arises. The resonance is also observed when such elements are coupled through delayed interaction.


Phase inversion phenomenon occurs in many industrial processes including liquid- liquid dispersions. Some parameters such as energy input or the presence of mineral compounds in the system affect this phenomenon. The aim of this research is to study the speed of rotation or energy input at a range of 400 to 800 rpm in a batch liquid-liquid system containing toluene and water. The presence of sodium chloride and magnesium sulphate in the system was also studied. It was shown that the increase of energy input had a more obvious effect on oil in water (O/W ) dispersion at lower values of holdup. It was also shown that the ambivalence (o/w → w/o) region of the phase inversion curve shifted downward and became wider as a result of the decrease in interfacial tension. It was observed that inorganic salt, used in both single and dual (mixed) shapes, enhanced phase inversion for O/W dispersion. Therefore, the greater the ionic strength of salt, the greater the tendency to phase inversion is.