Free markets are, according to neoclassical economic theory, the most efficient way of organizing human activity. The claim is that individuals can benefit society by acting only in their self interest. In contrast, the evolutionary theory of multilevel selection proposes that groups must suppress the self interest of individuals. They often do so, the evidence suggests, by using hierarchical organization. To test these conflicting theories, I investigate how the 'degree of hierarchy' in societies changes with industrial development. I find that as energy use increases, governments tend to get larger and the relative number of managers tends to grow. Using a numerical model, I infer from this evidence that societies tend to become more hierarchical as energy use grows. This result is inconsistent with the neoclassical theory that individual self-interest is what benefits society. But it is consistent with the theory of multilevel selection, in which groups suppress the self-interest of their members.


The Swiss Army uses tactical radios to communicate between troops on the field. Due to the operating environment, these radios experience specific characteristics such as limited bandwidth, in addition to high delay and packet losses. This paper presents the work achieved to develop, evaluate and test a novel application-layer routing algorithm specifically designed for tactical MANET networks. In order to evaluate the proposed algorithm in real conditions, two platforms and specific Quality of Experience metrics have been developed.


A structural approach greatly clarifies which components of meat are responsible for its tenderness, water-holding and appearance, and the events occurr1 ng during processing. In living muscle, water is held in the spaces between the thick and thin filaments. Changes in the content and distribution of water within meat originate from changes in this spacing. Myofibrils shrink laterally post mortem . The fluid expelled accumulates between fibre bundles and betwe en fibres and is d rain ed by gravity forming drip. In pale, soft and exudative meat, shrinkage of the myosin heads on denaturation increases myofibrillar shrinkage. In salt solutions used in meat processing, myofibrils swell laterally taking up water, probably by an entropic mec hanism. The co lour of meat is determined by light scattering as well as by absorption . The light scatterers in meat are observed by scanning confocal light microscopy to be smaller than 1 ~m and concentrated in the A-band regions. 1t is proposed that 1 ight scattering arises from the gaps between myofibri 1 s. The structu r es responsible for the toughness of cooked meat have been studied by observing its fracture behaviour. The perimysial connective tissue determines the breaking strength when the meat is pulled apart transversely. In longitudinal tensile tests, the initial event is the debonding of fibre bundles from the perimysium so that they contr ibut e independently to load-bearing. At greater ex t ensions. it seems likely that fibre bundles progressively fail leaving perimysial strands as the last structure to break. With aged muscle, the muscle fibres probably fail at smaller extensions and therefore contribute less to the breaking strength. Initial paper received February 5, 1989 Manuscript received May 28, 1989 Direct inquiries to G. Offer Telephone number: 44 -9 34 852 661


Ideological censorship, which held the reins of literary activity in the Soviet Union, forced many disgraced poets into translation, a relatively "safe art." While trying to make their way into print and earn a living, author-translators fertilized Russian poetry with hitherto unknown masterpieces of world literature, even though accomplishing this mission would require them also to translate enormous quantities of ideologically-friendly production, as well. In the history of Russian literary translation, the process of reconciling one's own aesthetic predispositions to the ideological demands of the state-owned publishing industry became an important landmark, which not only instituted translation as a major branch of literary activity but also endowed it with a genuinely poetic, and even moral, dimension. In a sense, the popular term "poet-translator" is nearly as emblematic of the Soviet era as censorship itself: while ennobling the craft of translation and putting it on a par with the art of poetry, on the one hand, it also reflected the state-driven tendency to reduce the original art of "unreliable" poets to, at best, the mere transmission of foreign literatures into his or her native tongue, on the other. Russian poet-translators, however, would come across an impressive number of poets whose influence on their own poetics is hard to underestimate. Such was the case of Russian poet and Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky. This chapter explores how translation broadened Brodsky's linguistic horizons and provided him with an additional spectrum of creative opportunities, which would have remained utterly inaccessible within the confines of just one (native) language and culture.Civilization is the sum total of different cultures animated by a common spiritual numerator, and its main vehicle – speaking both metaphorically and literary – is translation.Joseph Brodsky, "The Child of Civilization"


A new technique to retrieve precipitable water vapor (PWV) amount in the clear-cloud transition zone using ground-based zenith spectral radiance is developed. The method uses zenith radiances at the water vapor band at 720 nm and at the adjacent nonadsorbing band at 750 nm. Radiative transfer calculations show that the relative difference in zenith radiance between the two bands depends on PWV and the variations in cloud optical depth introduce a small change in the relative difference which is independent of PWV amount. This allows us to retrieve PWV variations in the clear-cloud transition zone for clouds over dark ocean surface. We applied this method to a Cu cloud case with zenith radiance observations by Shortwave Array Spectroradiometer-Zenith (SASZe) during the Marine ARM GPCI Investigation of Clouds (MAGIC) field campaign. We found that there is about 10% change in PWV amount from the known-cloudy region to known-clear sky in the cloud edges.


The main components of pre-participation physical exams (PPE) at the NCAA Division II level include a thorough medical history and physical evaluation (AHA). "Red flags" for risk on the PPE and medical history include, but are not limited to, heart murmur, diagnosed enlarged heart in a family member, unexplained chest pain, and complaints of "skipped" heartbeats. The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the use of 12-lead ECG for the PPE would reveal further red flags specific to cardiac abnormalities. Twelve-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) was performed on all new athletes at Tarleton State University during the Summer and Fall 2012 (N=200). Twelve-lead ECGs were reviewed and analyzed by the lab director and attending physician. Upon completion of the PPE, medical history, and ECG, five athletes needed follow-up based on PPE and 12-lead ECG. Reasons for initial concern were the previously stated "red flags" as well as abnormal ECG readings. The abnormal ECG readings included left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), incomplete right bundle branch block (IRBBB), sinus arrhythmia, and right atrial enlargement (RAE). LVH, IRBB, and sinus arrhythmia were all found to be normal training induced adaptations, however RAE is a non-training induced cardiac abnormality. Of those five, all of them had some type of cardiac adaptation, but one of them presented with RAE. The athlete was an 18-year old male, 64.5" tall, 116 pounds, and in his first year of collegiate cross-country athletics. His HR was 81bpm and blood pressure was 122/72 mmHg. His grandmother was diagnosed with an enlarged heart. The clearing physician, an orthopedic doctor, found only training induced abnormalities in all five athletes. All five athletes were cleared for competition. Endurance athletes often have abnormal ECG readings as a result of training induced abnormalities. In the present investigation, an athlete with RAE competed for an entire cross-country season without any issues or complaints. Physicians trained in reading ECGs should be responsible for clearing athletes for participation. In this case, right atrial enlargement appeared in the ECG, yet the orthopedic doctor did not request follow up tests. Physicians who are versed in exercise training induced changes that might be classified as normal or abnormal should be the final step in clearing athletes for competition.


Of 45 patients in the McGill Lupus Registry 6 were found to have Jaccoud's deformities. One of these 6 and 4 others had fixed flexion contractures of the elbows. Those with Jaccoud's deformities were similar to the other patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in all respects except that those with Jaccoud's syndrome had had their disease and their arthritis significantly longer. It is concluded that Jaccoud's deformities are the result of longstanding arthritis and that elbow contractures occur via a different mechanism.


Phylogenetic studies on several groups of arthropods, such as Acari (mites) or Collembola (springtails), make wide use of chaetotaxy. Chaetotaxic characters, besides being morphological features (setal shape), often have a binary nature, that is presence vs. absence. A seta can be variable in a population, and one may attribute a presence probability to this seta. In fact, the presence probability should be defined for each instar. One might think that a variable seta corresponds to a polymorphism (e.g., two or more alleles in a population); in fact, setal variability should be regarded as the result of a propensity intrinsic to individuals, i.e., a potentiality being expressed at random among specimens. The phenomenon known as lateral inhibition explains how an early random fluctuation is at the root of the cell fate. Probabilistic organs are likely to originate from a similar phenomenon. A tridimensional species/instars/characters table (SIC table), containing setal presence probabilities, can be built up. Two kinds of analyses may be applied to such a table. In these analyses, the problem of homeotypic setae is emphasized. Related issues are the accuracy of using setal probabilities and the problem of reducing redundancy of information. A first process leads to a bidimensional table with characters in columns, and the species divided into their instars in rows. By using multidimensional statistics we can access ontogenetic trajectories, and in this way, ontogenetic comparisons can be achieved. The aim of the second process is to produce a species/characters table which can be used in a cladistic analysis.


Accurate diagnosis, documentation and coding of services rendered for every patient visit permits close analysis of a healthcare provider's utilization profile. This information, gathered by using diagnostic structuring, can provide detailed data for proper utilization prediction. This book aims to illustrate the importance of data capture and teaches physicians and practice administrators accurate techniques for doing so. It also provides the basics for combining data with in-office demographic information to give the provider a strong position for negotiating managed care contracts. The book aims to help with the successful implemetation of managed care by providing the basics of using diagnostic structuring for: compiling utilization data; creating prediction formulas; developing negotiation strategies and implementing practice strategies to use after contracting.


India is currently in the process of adopting a new legal framework to govern the protection of personal data. This paper contains our comments on the draft Personal Data Protection Bill, 2018 that was prepared by Committee of Experts headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. We note that the draft Bill offers a fairly comprehensive set of data protection principles and rights to data subjects, particularly in relation to processing by private entities. However, there are several key areas where the positions adopted by the Bill need to be revisited. This includes provisions relating to the structure and design of the Data Protection Authority, role of adjudication officers, cross border transfer of data and scope of exemptions under the law, particularly in relation to government agencies.


Traditionally, deaf education has been treated as the domain of special educators who strive to overcome the difficulties associated with hearing loss. Recently, the sociocultural view of deafness has prompted research and academic study of Deaf culture, sign language linguistics, and bilingual education. Linda Komesaroff exposes the power of the entrenched dominant groups and their influence on the politics of educational policy and practice in "Disabling Pedagogy: Power, Politics, and Deaf Education." Komesaroff suggests a reconstruction of deaf education based on educational and social theory. First, she establishes a deep and situated account of deaf education in Australia through interviews with teachers, Deaf leaders, parents, and other stakeholders. Komesaroff then documents a shift to bilingual education by one school community as part of her ethnographic study of language practices in deaf education. She also reports on the experiences of deaf students in teacher education. Her study provides an analytical account of legal cases and discrimination suits brought by deaf parents for lack of access to native sign language in the classroom. Komesaroff confronts the issue of cochlear implantation, locating it within the broader context of gene technology and bioethics, and advocates linguistic rights and self-determination for deaf people on the international level. "Disabling Pedagogy" concludes with a realistic assessment of the political challenge and the potential of the Deaf Resurgence movement to enfranchise deaf people in the politics of their own education."


The continuous-time model of Nesterov's momentum provides a thought-provoking perspective for understanding the nature of the acceleration phenomenon in convex optimization. One of the main ideas in this line of research comes from the field of classical mechanics and proposes to link Nesterov's trajectory to the solution of a set of Euler-Lagrange equations relative to the so-called Bregman Lagrangian. In the last years, this approach led to the discovery of many new (stochastic) accelerated algorithms and provided a solid theoretical foundation for the design of structure-preserving accelerated methods. In this work, we revisit this idea and provide an in-depth analysis of the action relative to the Bregman Lagrangian from the point of view of calculus of variations. Our main finding is that, while Nesterov's method is a stationary point for the action, it is often not a minimizer but instead a saddle point for this functional in the space of differentiable curves. This finding challenges the main intuition behind the variational interpretation of Nesterov's method and provides additional insights into the intriguing geometry of accelerated paths.


Scholarly work devoted to the contribution of the Armenian language to the Romani lexicon has resulted in the discovery of about fifty loanwords of certain or possible Armenian origin. Some of these loanwords are widespread and generally well preserved in a number of Romani varieties. Some loanwords, however, have been found only in few Romani dialects, or even just in one. As has been already shown in the case of Greek loanwords, Southern Italian Romani, a very conservative and relatively under-explored macro-dialect, sometimes preserves early loanwords which in the other Romani varieties have been replaced as a result of contact with other European languages. Dolenjska Romani, too, features some very conservative lexical items, alongside many innovations of Slavic origin. Both Southern Italian Romani and Dolenjska Romani are considered peripheral dialects representing relic areas in the framework of the European Romani. Accordingly, it is possible to posit an Armenian origin for the adverb of Southern Italian Romani válë 'early, soon, quickly' and of Dolenjska Romani vále 'at once'. The article discusses this hypothesis from a phonetic and a semantic point of view, with an emphasis on the historical phonetics of Romani and Armenian.


Dimethyl methylphosphonate (98% pure) is one of four chemicals nominated by the U.S. Army for toxicology and carcinogenesis studies because it was being considered for use to simulate the physical and spectroscopic (but not the biologic) properties of anticholinesterase (nerve) agents. Dimethyl methylphosphonate is also used as a flame retardant, a preignition additive for gasoline, an antifoam agent, a plasticizer and stabilizer, a textile conditioner and antistatic agent, and an additive for solvents and low-temperature hydraulic fluids. The United States produces 0.2-2 million pounds (91,000-910,000 kg) of per year. Gavage was chosen as the route of administration for all four candidate "simulants" to mimic potential exposure. Experimental Design: Dimethyl methylphosphonate was administered in corn oil by gavage to male and female F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice in single-administration, 15-day, and 13-week studies to obtain toxicity data, to establish dose levels for the 2-year studies, and to identify target tissues. Additional studies were also performed to determine toxicity to the reproductive system of male F344/N rats and B6C3F1 mice and to study the potential for genetic damage in bacteria, mammalian cells, and Drosophila. Single-Administration Studies: In the single-administration studies, dimethyl methylphosphonate was given to rats and mice at doses up to 6,810 mg/kg body weight. No compound-related deaths were seen in male or female rats or male mice; two high dose female mice died. Rats exhibited inactivity, unsteady gait, and prostration after dosing; mice were inactive after dosing. Fifteen-Day Studies: Rats and mice received doses of 0, 1,250, 2,500, 5,000, 10,000, or 15,000 mg/kg dimethyl methylphosphonate per day. Compound-related deaths occurred in the three highest dose groups of rats and the two highest dose groups of mice. Rats receiving doses of 2,500 mg/kg or higher were inactive and at 5,000 or 10,000 mg/kg had an unsteady gait after dosing; mice exhibited inactivity, shallow breathing, and prostration at doses of 10,000 mg/kg or higher. No lesions were reported in rats. Nonneoplastic lesions of the stomach were seen in some male mice at doses of 1,250 mg/kg and higher and in some female mice at doses of 5,000 mg/kg and higher. Thirteen-Week Studies: Dimethyl methylphosphonate was given at doses up to 8,000 mg/kg per day. Compound-related deaths occurred at 2,000, 4,000, and 8,000 mg/kg in rats and at 4,000 and 8,000 mg/kg in mice. Mean body weights of rats at 1,000 mg/kg and mice at 2,000 mg/kg were similar to those of the vehicle controls; decreased weight gain was seen at higher doses. No compound-related clinical signs were reported. Minimal to mild renal and testicular lesions were seen at all doses in male rats, but the severity of these lesions did not increase with increasing dose of the chemical. No apparent target tissues were identified in female rats or male and female mice. Doses selected for the 2-year studies were based on body weight effects and mortality seen in the 13-week studies; the lesions seen in the kidney of male rats at the end of the 13-week studies were judged not to be life threatening. In the 2-year studies, dimethyl methylphosphonate was administered in corn oil by gavage at doses of 0, 500, or 1,000 mg/kg per day to groups of 50 F344/N rats of each sex and at 0, 1,000, or 2,000 mg/kg per day to groups of 50 B6C3F1 mice of each sex. All animals were dosed 5 days per week for 103 weeks. Body Weight and Survival in the Two-Year Studies: Mean body weights of high dose male rats were 5%-10% lower than those of the vehicle controls between weeks 28 and 76 and were 10%-24% lower between weeks 80 and 104. Mean body weights of high dose female rats were 8%-12% lower than those of the vehicle controls after week 80. Survival of male rats was greater than 50% in all groups until week 80, and after this time, survival decreased in both groups, with the survival at the end of the study being 27/50 in vehicle control, 17/50 in low dose, and 4/50 in high dose groups. Survival of in low dose, and 4/50 in high dose groups. Survival of low dose female rats was comparable to that of the vehicle controls, but the final survival of high dose female rats was decreased (vehicle control, 30/50; low dose, 33/50; high dose, 23/50). No other compound-related clinical signs were observed. Mean body weights of high dose male mice were 7%-16% lower than those of the vehicle control males between weeks 36 and 76, and those of high dose female mice were 6%-12% lower between weeks 88 and 103. Decreased survival between weeks 23 and 45 in high dose male mice was associated with fighting. Seventeen high dose male and 22 high dose female mice died during week 45; these deaths were associated with the accidental administration of a dose mixture that had a concentration 34% greater than the targeted amount. Eleven low dose male mice died on the same day during week 77. By the end of the study, 29/50 vehicle control, 12/50 low dose, and 0/50 high dose male mice were alive; 41/50, 30/50, and 2/50 female mice survived to the end of the study. Renal Effects in the Two-Year Studies: Administration of dimethyl methylphosphonate to male rats increased the average severity of nephropathy and caused mineralization (calcification) of the collecting tubules in the renal papilla (12/50; 41/50; 36/49), hyperplasia of the transitional epithelium lining the renal pelvis and overlying the renal papilla (0/50; 23/50; 21/49), and focal hyperplasia of the renal tubular epithelium (0/50; 8/50; 9/49). Administration of dimethyl methylphosphonate to male rats was also associated with the occurrence of rare renal tubular cell adenocarcinomas (0/50; 2/50; 3/49) and papillomas of the transitional epithelium lining of the renal pelvis (0/50; 2/50; 3/49); a transitional cell carcinoma occurred in a low dose male rat. There were no tubular cell or transitional cell neoplasms of the kidney in female rats. Hematopoietic System Effects in the Two-Year Studies: The incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia was increased in high dose male rats (10/50; 11/50; 17/50). Genetic Toxicity: Dimethyl methylphosphonate was not mutagenic when tested in the Salmonella typhimurium/microsome assay by the preincubational protocol with strains TA98, TA100, TA1535, or TA1537 with or without metabolic activation. The chemical did induce forward mutations in the mouse lymphoma L5178Y/TK± assay system in the absence of metabolic activation. Treatment of cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells with dimethyl methylphosphonate did not induce chromosomal aberrations; however, sister chromatid exchanges were induced after exposure to this chemical in both the presence and absence of metabolic activation. When fed to Drosophila, dimethyl methylphosphonate induced a significant increase in the frequency of sex-linked recessive lethal mutations but did not induce reciprocal translocations. Dimethyl methylphosphonate caused a dominant lethal effect in male rats and mice. Studies of Reproductive Effects: Dimethyl methylphosphonate caused a dose-related increase in the number of fetal resorptions in undosed female rats and mice mated with males that received the chemical by gavage in water 5 days per week for 13 weeks at doses of 0-2,000 mg/kg per day. After the 13-week dosing period, histopathologic changes were seen in the kidney and testis of male rats but not in male mice; dosed male rats sired fewer litters and fewer pups per litter. Dose-related decreases in sperm count and sperm motility occurred in male rats but not in male mice. Toxic effects to the reproductive system of male rats and mice were reversible after a 13-to 14-week recovery period. Data Audit: An audit of the experimental data was conducted for the 2-year studies on dimethyl methylphosphonate. No data discrepancies were found that influenced the final interpretations. Conclusions: Under the conditions of these 2-year gavage studies, there was some evidence of carcinogenic activity of dimethyl methylphosphonate for male F344/N rats as shown by increased incidences of tubular cell hyperplasia, tubular cell adenocarcinomas, hyperplasia of the transitional cell epithelium, and transitional cell papillomas of the kidney. There was an increased incidence of mononuclear cell leukemia in male rats at 1,000 mg/kg. Renal toxicity and decreased survival occurred in dosed male rats. There was no evidence of carcinogenic activity of dimethyl methylphosphonate for female F344/N rats given doses of 500 or 1,000 mg/kg. The study in male B6C3F1 mice was an inadequate study of carcinogenic activity because of decreased survival in both dosed groups. There was no evidence of carcinogenic activity for female B6C3F1 mice receiving dimethyl methylphosphonate at 1,000 mg/kg; decreased survival of female mice at 2,000 mg/kg made this group inadequate for determination of carcinogenic activity. Synonyms: fyrol DMMP; methyl phosphonic acid, dimethyl ester; DMMP; methanephosphonic acid dimethyl ester; dimethyl methanephosphonate


Stamatov, S., St. Ishpekov, M. Deshev and R. Zajakov, 2017. Application of the independent subjective evaluation method of the hybrid material in the breeding of sesame (Sesamum indicum L). Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 23 (4): 584–588 The study included results from the application of subjective independent method for evaluating the susceptibility of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) for mechanized harvesting. This method tested progeny of different generations of Bulgarian selection resulting from repeated individual selects. It has been shown that the highest seed weight in capsule characterize those progeny who do not possess anatomical peculiarities of the capsule to hold the seeds to entering the threshing mechanism. Such forms are far genetically of the forms that retain the seeds and can be used in a breeding program in which to receive plants with higher yield and mechanisms (strong attached placenta or shape of the capsule), which holds the seeds to entering the threshing.


Fuzzy classification ranks items by degree rather than assigning them either within or without of a category. The novelty of our work is in integrating fuzzy classification algorithms with an interface to visualize fuzzy results. An advantage of our algorithms' 'fuzziness' is that it provides additional information per retrieved result that helps in deciding whether to drill down to the document or skip it. An advantage of our interface is that it allows users to visualize those differences quickly. We have created a prototype that allows the retrieval of journal articles by content word or by ontology-supported browse categories that can be selected independently or in tandem. Journal articles in our digital library pertain to paleontology, but techniques demonstrated viable in indexing and ranking paleo-journal literature should apply to other knowledge domains with little modification.


Due to the rapid of globalization in the Information Age, students must become adept at navigating the complex and ambiguous nature of the global business environment. One major roadblock for training students to become global professionals is the lack of international curriculum within Industrial/Organizational (I/O) Psychology programs at leading post-graduate training institutions. This article examines the methodologies and best practices used in establishing an International I/O Psychology curriculum at the graduate level developed to train students to better understand and work within the complexities of the global business environment. In this article we discuss the process we used to identify the major curriculum components needed for training in international I/O Psychology, and we provide specific advice for programs considering internationalization as well as lessons learned.


This paper surveys the system of sub-national own revenues and the inter- governmental transfer system (including the sharing of oil revenues) in Brazil, highlighting their critical flaws. The latter include heavy reliance on a mixed- origin/destination-based value-added tax and many sub-national governments' inadequate exploitation of the tax bases assigned to them. The paper then discusses reform priorities, outlining a comprehensive reform strategy and some initial steps that could be taken toward its implementation in the near term, as well as related political economy considerations.


Despite distancing themselves from traditional religions, (Western) post-secular societies are still heavily concerned with 'spirituality' and other forms of self-realisation. Within our working postmodernist framework, where 'truth', 'knowledge' and 'God' are found to be relative, this concern often translates into a combination of religiously inspired practices – such as (Hinduist) yoga or (Buddhist) meditation – and a scientific, modern approach to the knowledge of the world. Can this coexistence of practices be a new kind of polytheism? This paper shows that postmodernist, relativistic belief systems share the poly -, or multiplicity of approaches to life and reality, but not the - theist , or conceptualisation of their beliefs as 'divine'.


Research has reported that initial evaluations of consultants' competency are affected by dress and build. This investigation examined how athletes' perceptions of sport psychology consultants (SPCs) are affected by SPCs' physical characteristics of BMI and dress, and whether these perceptions are moderated by the athletes' sex or standard of competition. Two hundred and thirty three competitive sports volunteers classified by sex and competitive standard viewed computer generated images of the same female SPC in sports and formal attire manipulated to represent a range of body mass indexes. Participants were asked to rank the SPCs in order of their preference to work with them, and to rate their perceived effectiveness of each of the SPCs. Results demonstrated that SPCs' physical characteristics do influence athletes' preference to work with them and perceptions of their effectiveness. Furthermore, athlete's competitive standard does significantly moderate initial evaluation of SPCs based on physical cha...


In speaker-adaptive HMM-based speech synthesis, there are typically a few speakers for which the output synthetic speech sounds worse than that of other speakers, despite having the same amount of adaptation data from within the same corpus. This paper investigates these fluctuations in quality and concludes that as mel-cepstral distance from the average voice becomes larger, the MOS naturalness scores generally become worse. Although this negative correlation is not that strong, it suggests a way to improve the training and adaptation strategies. We also draw comparisons between our findings and the work of other researchers regarding "vocal attractiveness." Index Terms: speech synthesis, HMM, average voice, speaker adaptation


Communication is important in preventing social relationships from decaying over time. This study examined the effects of social network size, emotional closeness, and type of relationship (kinship vs. friendship) on communication patterns in the social networks of 251 women. Participants with large kin networks had longer times to last contact to both kin and friends. Participants with high levels of emotional closeness in their networks had shorter times to last contact. The effect of emotional closeness on time to last contact was greater for kin than for friends. These results demonstrate that time to last contact is closely tied to emotional closeness and suggest that the costs of maintaining kin relationships are lower than the costs of maintaining friendships.


Abstract. Underwater archaeological discoveries bring new challenges to the field, but such sites are more difficult to reach and, due to natural influences, they tend to deteriorate fast. Photogrammetry is one of the most powerful tools used for archaeological fieldwork. Photogrammetric techniques are used to document the state of the site in digital form for later analysis, without the risk of damaging any of the artefacts or the site itself. To achieve best possible results with the gathered data, divers should come prepared with the knowledge of measurements and photo capture methods. Archaeologists use this technology to record discovered arteacts or even the whole archaeological sites. Data gathering underwater brings several problems and limitations, so specific steps should be taken to get the best possible results, and divers should well be prepared before starting work at an underwater site. Using immersive virtual reality, we have developed an educational software to introduce maritime archaeology students to photogrammetry techniques. To test the feasibility of the software, a user study was performed and evaluated by experts. In the software, the user is tasked to put markers on the site, measure distances between them, and then take photos of the site, from which the 3D mesh is generated offline. Initial results show that the system is useful for understanding the basics of underwater photogrammetry.


Out of a total of 38 million people living with HIV/AIDS globally today the Asia-Pacific is home to about 7.4 million – a figure which constitutes a sharp rise to previous years. In absolute numbers infections in Asia are projected to exceed African figures within a decade. This has largely to do with economic changes towards market-based capitalism widening socioeconomic disparities and increased levels of mobility (internal and cross- border) as for instance in China and Indonesia. Overall the epidemic in Asia has been described as more complex than in Africa involving a multiplicity of transmission modes. The case studies presented in the contributions to this special issue discuss the connections between issues of mobility gender (trans)nationalism and sexuality in understanding the HIV/AIDS challenge in the region. The various ways in meeting the challenges of HIV/AIDS in Southeast and East Asia are analysed whereby non-governmental and community-based responses often emerge as more effective than state interventions. (authors)


Wave-propagation effects can be useful in determining the system identification of buildings such as the densely instrumented University of California, Los Angeles, Factor building. Waveform data from the 72-channel array in the 17-story moment-resisting steel frame Factor building are used in comparison with finite- element calculations for predictive behavior. The high dynamic range of the 24-bit digitizers allows both strong motions and ambient vibrations to be recorded with reasonable signal-to-noise ratios. A three-dimensional model of the Factor building has been developed based on structural drawings. Observed displacements for 20 small and moderate, local and regional earthquakes were used to compute the impulse response functions of the building by deconvolving the subbasement records as representative input motions at its base. The impulse response functions were then stacked to bring out wave-propagation effects more clearly. The stacked data are used as input into theoretical dynamic analysis simulations of the building's response.


One of the critical parameters in assessing the global impacts of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) on cloud properties and the radiation budget is the estimation of phytoplankton‐induced ocean emissions, which are derived from prescribed, climatological surface seawater DMS concentrations. The most widely used global ocean DMS climatology was published 15 years ago and has recently been updated using a much larger database of observations. The updated climatology displays significant differences in terms of the global distribution and regional monthly averages of sea surface DMS. In this study, we use the ECHAM5‐HAMMOZ aerosol‐chemistry‐climate general circulation model to quantify the influence of the updated DMS climatology in computed atmospheric properties, namely, the spatial and temporal distributions of atmospheric DMS concentration, sulfuric acid concentration, sulfate aerosols, number of activated aerosols, cloud droplet number concentration, and the aerosol radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere. Significant differences are observed for all the modeled variables. Comparison with observations of atmospheric DMS and total sulfate also shows that in places with large DMS emissions, the updated climatology shows a better match with the observations. This highlights the importance of using the updated climatology for projecting future impacts of oceanic DMS emissions, especially considering that the relative importance of the natural sulfur fluxes is likely to increase due to legislation to "clean up" anthropogenic emissions. The largest estimated differences are in the Southern Ocean, Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific Ocean, where the climatologies differ in seasonal concentrations over large geographical areas. The model results also indicate that the former DMS climatology underestimated the effect of DMS on the globally averaged annual aerosol radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere by about 20%.


Recent successes of missions such as the MSL and the Rosetta have increased the interest in the robotic exploration of other planets and asteroids. Although most of these missions envisage the use of rovers, legged robots have shown the potential to outperform wheeled vehicles on rough terrains in terms of speed and energy efficiency. In this paper, the x-MP controller presented in recent work, is used to evaluate the performance of a monopod robot under the effect of different gravitational fields and terrain types. The performance of the x-MP controller during regulating the robot motion on rough terrains and for the exploration of different types of planetary environments will be examined using simulations. Additionally using the Cost of Transport index, useful conclusions regarding the performance of legged robots for planetary exploration will be extracted.


The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provided for major reforms of the private rented residential sector in the Republic of Ireland and established a statutory Private Residential Tenancies Board. Provisions of the Act include a dispute resolution service using mediation and adjudication, registration of tenancies, statutory rights and obligations for landlords and tenants and greater security of tenure for tenants. It also provided that rents should be set at market levels. The legislation is unique in the EU and could be a model for reform elsewhere. The Act closely followed the recommendations of a government commission which reported in 2000 and which was chaired by the author. The paper reviews the genesis of the legislation, outlines the main provisions, considers some of the practical difficulties in implementing aspects of the legislation, reports on experiences of the Private Residential Tenancies Board and presents some early reflections on the operation of the Act and its effect on the sector.


Photonic crystal split-beam nanocavities allow for ultra-sensitive optomechanical transductions but are degraded due to their relatively low optical quality factors. We have proposed and experimentally demonstrated a new type of one-dimensional photonic crystal split-beam nanocavity optimized for an ultra-high optical-quality factor. The design is based on the combination of the deterministic method and hill-climbing algorithm. The latter is the simplest and most straightforward method of the local search algorithm that provides the local maximum of the chosen quality factors. This split-beam nanocavity is made up of two mechanical uncoupled cantilever beams with Bragg mirrors patterned onto it and separated by a 75-nm air gap. Experimental results emphasize that the quality factor of the second-order TE mode can be as high as 1.99×10(4). Additionally, one beam of the device is actuated in the lateral direction with the aid of a NEMS actuator, and the quality factor maintains quite well even if there is a lateral offset up to 64 nm. Potentially promising applications, such as sensitive optomechanical torque sensor, local tuning of Fano resonance, all-optical-reconfigurable filters, etc., are foreseen.


Purpose To describe improvements in visual acuity and contrast sensitivity following Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Methods We analysed 128 consecutive patients (128 eyes) with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy (FED) and bullous keratopathy (BK) who underwent DSAEK at a single tertiary referral centre from January 2006 to September 2009. Our main outcome measures were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and contrast sensitivity over 24 months follow-up. Results Median age was 67 (60–73) years with 55% women (n=70) and majority Chinese (74%, n=94) in our Asian population. There were no significant differences between demographics between the FED (48%, 61 eyes) and BK (52%, 67 eyes) groups. Forward multivariate linear regression adjusted for age, gender, donor graft thickness and diagnosis (FED vs BK) revealed that preoperative visual acuity was the most significant factor associated with visual acuity at 1 year (B=0.032, p=0.03, R2=0.122). Visual recovery was longer in eyes with BK, with a significantly better visual acuity in the FED group at 12 months (mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution BCVA BK: 0.27±0.1 vs FED: 0.22±0.9; p=0.001), but not significant at 24 months (p=0.154). Contrast sensitivity significantly improved more in the first 6 months in the FED when compared with the BK group (at 3.0, 6.0 and 12.0 cycles per degree, p<0.01). Conclusions Our study suggests that while there was significant improvement in contrast sensitivity and visual acuity after DSAEK, poor preoperative visual acuity was associated with an inferior visual outcome and the time to recovery was longer in eyes with BK.


This thesis is an exploration of the subject of historical record linkage. The general goal of historical record linkage is to discover relations between historical entities in a database, for any specific definition of relation, entity and database. Although this task originates from historical research, multiple disciplines are involved. Increasing volumes of data necessitate the use of automated or semi-automated linkage procedures, which is in the domain of computer science. Linkage methodologies depend heavily on the nature of the data itself, often requiring analysis based on onomastics (i.e., the study of person names) or general linguistics. To understand the dynamics of natural language one could be tempted to look at the source of language, i.e., humans, either on the individual cognitive level or as group behaviour. This further increases the multidisciplinarity of the subject by including cognitive psychology. Every discipline addresses a subset of problem aspects, all of which can contribute either to practical solutions for linkage problems or to further insights into the subject matter.


The storage life of mushrooms is less than the other vegetables due mainly to high water contents and a porous and thin epidermal structure. This research was aimed at obtaining a suitable compost combination and an optimal condition of maintenance for increase the storage life of button mushroom. The experimental factors consisted of two maintenance temperatures (4°C and 25°C), two types of packages (transparent and covered with foil) and four types of composts (wheat straw and chicken manure, wheat straw and horse manure, rice straw and chicken manure, rice straw and olive bagasse). Attributes such as percent of weight loss, browning area, percent of dry matter, total phenol and antioxidant capacity of stored samples were assessed 7 days after harvest in room temperature and 25 days after harvest in refrigerator temperature. Mushrooms grown in rice straw and olive bagasse compost had the highest dry matter (11.62%), when stored in room temperature. Mushrooms grown in rice straw and olive bagasse compost had the highest antioxidant capacity in both refrigerator and room temperatures when stored in the package covered with foil. According to our results, rice straw and olive bagasse compost is potent to increase the storage life of the button mushroom and merits further studies.


To evaluate the energy to move the excavator body, we calculated the effort involved in the hydraulic cylinders of the walking mechanism. Unlike man, "pacing" the excavator is on a "drawing", in which the housing pulls the excavator walking mechanism in the direction of the reference points. As a result, the kinematic and dynamic study of the process of pacing is reduced to the analysis of speeds and loads for the simplest of mechanisms, known since ancient times as the slider-crank mechanism. Analysis of the motion of this mechanism can be carried out by conventional (calculated for one position) or by modern analytical methods. Modern methods of analytical studies of the mechanisms permit a computer calculation of the full cycle of movement of the excavator in a single step and to evaluate the stresses produced in the hydraulic cylinders. A variety of design solutions based on different positions of the connecting joints is recorded during the test set kinematics and, accordingly, an amount in the results is obtained. Power movement by one step excavator is theoretically estimated as the amount of work the forces acting on the mechanism during this step undertake. A design that corresponds to the minimum energy consumption should be considered optimal for this type of walking mechanism. The authors of this paper analyzed the performing over thirty different types of mechanisms of pacing. Recommendations for optimizing their designs are formulated for each of these, which not only reduces the power consumption excavator, but also reduces its price.


Mantle Convection in the Earth and Planets is a comprehensive synthesis of all aspects of mantle convection within the Earth, the terrestrial planets, the Moon, and the Galilean satellites of Jupiter. The book includes up-to-date discussions of the latest research developments that have revolutionized our understanding of the Earth and the planets. It is suitable as a text for graduate courses in geophysics and planetary physics, and as a supplementary reference for use at the undergraduate level. It is also an invaluable review for researchers in the broad fields of the Earth and planetary sciences including seismologists, tectonophysicists, geodesists, mineral physicists, volcanologists, geochemists, geologists, mineralogists, petrologists, paleomagnetists, planetary geologists, and meteoriticists. The book features a comprehensive index, an extensive reference list, numerous illustrations (many in color) and major questions that focus the discussion and suggest avenues of future research.


This study examined deaths due to unintentional injuries among children in Japan to identify the age groups and sexes at most risk, and the types of injuries, so that effective forms of targeted intervention can be devised. Among children aged 0–14 years, deaths whose underlying causes had been classified under code V01-X59 of the ICD-10 were defined as deaths of children caused by unintentional injuries. Using data from the Vital Statistics 2000–2009 for analysis, we examined the changes in mortality and trends in terms of sex, age, and cause of death. Mortality decreased by 46.2%, from 933 in 2000 to 502 in 2009. The mortality rate among children aged 1–4 years decreased by almost half. The total number of deaths during this decade was 7,362 (boys: 4,690, girls: 2,672). Among the causes of death, the majority were due to "transport accidents", followed by "other accidental threats to breathing", and "accidental drowning and submersion". The characteristics observed in terms of sex, age, and cause of death—that is, deaths from suffocation among infants aged less than 1 year, drowning deaths among boys, and transport accidents involving pedestrians and cyclists—must be addressed as targets for future intervention.


Space heating and cooling in buildings account for nearly 20% of energy use globally. In most buildings this energy is used to maintain the thermal comfort of the building's human occupants by maintaining the interior air temperature at a particular set point. However, if one could maintain the human occupant's thermal comfort while decreasing the heating or increasing the cooling set point, dramatic energy savings are possible. Here, we propose and evaluate an untapped degree of freedom in improving building efficiency: dynamically tuning the thermal emissivity of interior building surfaces at long-wave infrared wavelengths to maintain thermal comfort. We show that in cold weather conditions tuning the emissivity of interior walls, floors and ceilings to a low value (0.1) can decrease the set point temperature as much as 7°C, corresponding to an energy saving of nearly 67.7% relative to high emissivity materials (0.9). Conversely, in warm weather, high emissivity interior surfaces result in a 38.5% energy savings relative to low emissivity surfaces, highlighting the need for tunability for maximal year-round efficiency. Our results reveal the remarkable energy savings potential possible by better controlling the ubiquitous flows of heat that surround us in the form of thermal radiation.


Logical entity recognition in heterogeneous collections of document page images remains a challenging problem since the performance of traditional supervised methods degrades dramatically in case of many distinct layout styles. In this paper we present an unsupervised method where layout style information is explicitly used in both training and recognition phases. We represent the layout style, local features, and logical labels of physical regions of a document compactly by an ordered labeled X-Y tree. Style dissimilarity of two document pages is represented by the distance between their respective trees. During the training phase, document pages with true logical labels in training set are classified into distinct layout styles by unsupervised clustering. During the recognition phase, the layout style and logical entities of an input document are recognized simultaneously by matching the input tree to the trees in closest- matched layout style cluster of training set. Experimental results show that our algorithm is robust with both balanced and unbalanced style cluster sizes, zone over-segmentation, zone length variation, and variation in tree representations of the same layout style.


The main purpose of this study was to investigate the possible differences in the concentrations of Al, Cu, Ca, Mg, Fe, Ni, and Pb in breast cancer patients and healthy control group. One blood sample each was collected from 40 adult female patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 40 healthy adult female individuals with no medical history of cancer. The concentrations of the elements Al, Cu, Fe, Ni, and Pb were determined by ICP-MS, while Ca and Mg were determined by ICP-OES. Statistical analysis was performed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Spearman's rank correlation test. It was observed that the concentrations of Cu and Mg in the breast cancer patients were significantly higher (p=0.000<0.05 and p=0.001<0.05, respectively) than for the healthy group, while the Al concentration was significantly lower (p=0.002<0.05) in the cancer patients. The Mg concentration in the control group and the patients was 33.60±4.51 and 38.10±9.69 mg/kg, respectively. The difference was statistically significant for Cu, Mg, and Al, whereas no difference was observed between the concentrations of Ca and Fe. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed in breast cancer patients between the concentrations of (Al-Cu), (Al-Ca), (Fe-Mg), and (Cu-Ca).


For much of the twentieth century, parts of our world still seemed vast and unknowable-despite post-industrial innovation. But new technology gave rise to leaps in communication, expanding our collective national awareness and perspective until we became not national, but global citizens. This twentieth-century technology explosion has also shaped a world that has grown smaller and is now quickly growing older.Population aging is occurring in every nation worldwide. The U.N. Population Division projects that people older than age 60 will increase from just less than 800 million in 2011 (11 percent of world population) to more than 2 billion in 2050 (22 percent). Reports and news stories alternately express angst and jubilation over such projections. Is world population aging a positive promise-or does it portend peril? The world's nations now have the challenge and the opportunity to unite as an interconnected global community and find out.This issue of Generations, expertly guided by Guest Editors Frank J. Whittington and Suzanne R. Kunkel, focuses on the demographic, cultural, sociopolitical, and economic impact of world population aging, and the common difficulties it presents to developed and developing nations. These colleagues have collaborated before, co-editing, with Erdman Palmore, The International Handbook on Aging (Praeger, 2009). And they also are at work on a forthcoming textbook on global aging.Whittington is a professor of gerontology and senior associate dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Health and Human Services at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Previously, he was at Atlanta's Georgia State University, where as a professor of sociology he directed the Gerontology Institute for thirteen years. The author of many books, articles, and chapters on long-term care and health behavior of older people, Whittington's National Institute on Aging (NIA)-funded research on independence, autonomy, and quality of life for assisted living residents was published in Communities of Care: Assisted Living for African American Elders (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005)."My interest in global aging is relatively recent, dating to a 2003 visit to Kenya to help establish a research and educational partnership between Kenyatta University in Nairobi and Georgia State University," says Whittington, who advised Kenyatta faculty on the development of a new master's program in gerontology. He and colleague Sharon King also secured funding for a joint research project focused on improving Kenyan grandparents' well-being and effectiveness in caring for their AIDS-orphaned grandchildren. For a co-authored article about that work, King, Whittington, and their colleagues received the 2007 David Peterson Award from the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education.In Kenya, Whittington began to appreciate the determined intention of scholars in remote, under-resourced locations to study aging and train gerontology students. "My Kenyan colleagues understood the need to prepare their [country's] service workforce for an aging population, and to convey an appreciation to students of elders' positive role in society to combat negative stereotypes," he says.Kunkel is director of Miami University's Scripps Gerontology Center in Oxford, Ohio, and a professor in the University's Department of Sociology and Gerontology. Interested first in demography, Kunkel's study of population aging and its impact on long-term care needs now also observes the impact of rapid aging on developing countries. …


Many of the successful campaigns for national liberation in the years following World War II were initially based on democratic and secular ideals. Once established, however, the newly independent nations had to deal with entirely unexpected religious fierceness. Michael Walzer, one of America's foremost political thinkers, examines this perplexing trend by studying India, Israel, and Algeria, three nations whose founding principles and institutions have been sharply attacked by three completely different groups of religious revivalists: Hindu militants, ultra-Orthodox Jews and messianic Zionists, and Islamic radicals. In his provocative, well-reasoned discussion, Walzer asks, Why have these secular democratic movements been unable to reproduce their political culture beyond one or two generations? In a postscript, he compares the difficulties of contemporary secularism to the successful establishment of secular politics in the early American republic-thereby making an argument for American exceptionalism but gravely noting that we may be less exceptional today.


In May 2007 I visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. What I saw and experienced then are fading away and will soon disappear, now that two-thirds of the nearly 800 detainees have been released and President Obama will close the detention centers within the year. Consequently, this essay provides a historical account of one person's media visit to Guantanamo, when it was a fully-operational prison violating human rights, due process and international law. The essay describes not only the visit but also the application process - a bizarre experience. The military's application concluded with two quotes from the New Testament and included an attachment of another person's application, complete with his social security and passport numbers. The flight to Guantanamo from Fort Lauderdale Florida was on a ten-seater propeller plane, without bathrooms. It took over three hours, having to circumvent Cuban air space. Once on the island, we were introduced to the senior military officials on the base and escorted to the detention centers, where we could observe detainees but not speak to them. Every evening, an Operations Security contractor reviewed our digital photos, deleting what were described as security lapses, such as images of the coastline, water towers, guard towers, and faces of the detainees and the guards. On the second day of the three-day trip, I was confronted by an officer who asked whether I was a "habeas lawyer," a lawyer who represented the detainees. Although I was not a habeas lawyer, but rather an author of a forthcoming book on Guantanamo and the war on terror, I was informed that the military had erred in permitting me to visit. The story behind this confrontation, why the military believed they had mistakenly granted me permission to visit the island, and my fears and apprehensions in response to their confrontation appear in this essay.


Pick Your Queen! compares the lives of Elizabeth the First and Queen Victoria. Which English queen was the best? Would you choose jelly or cake? Is a pet bear better than lots of dogs? It's time to pick your queen! Oxford Reading Tree inFact is a non-fiction series that aims to engage children in reading for pleasure as powerfully as fiction does. The variety of topics means there are books to interest every child in this compelling series. The series is written by top children's authors and subject experts. The books are carefully levelled, making it easy to match every child to the right book.


Fifteen triazenes compounds were studied concerning their antibacterial activity by broth microdilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) was determined with E. coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Acinetobacter baumannii, Acinetobacter lwoffii, Ralstonia pickettii, Bordetella bronchiseptica, Micrococcus sp., Enterococcus sp., Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus saprophyticus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Bacillus cereus, Corynebacterium sp., Rhodococcus sp., Salmonella sp., Serratia marcescens, Morganella morganii, Enterobacter cloacae, Shigella flexneri, Shigella sonnei, Shigella sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, ESBL Klebsiella oxytoca 14, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 23, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 24, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 25, ESBL Escherichia coli 26, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 27, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 31, ESBL Escherichia coli 32, ESBL Klebsiella pneumoniae 37 e ESBL Escherichia coli 38. The highest effect was evidenced by the compound 1-methyl-3-(p-carboxyphenyl)triazene 1-oxide (2) against Streptococcus agalactiae (MIC = 16 µg/mL and MBC = 32 µg/mL). The compounds 1-phenyl-3-(4-nitrophenyl)triazene-1-oxide (9), 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-(4-carboxyphenyl)triazene (10) e 1-(4-acethyl amine phenyl)-3-(4-carboxyphenyl)triazene (11) presented MIC between 32 and 64 µg/mL against S. edipermidis, S. saprophyticus, Rhodococcus sp. and E. cloacae. The compounds 1-methyl-3-phenyltriazene-1-oxide (1) , bis-1,3-(4-acethyl oxime)triazene (3), bis-1,3 (4-acethyl phenyl)triazene (4), 1-(2-fluorophenyl)-3-(4-acethylphenyl)triazene (5), 1,3-(3-hydroxy-diphenyltriazenide)(piridil)(bis-oxo-vanadium) (12), 1-(3-nitrophenyl)-3-phenyltriazene (14), 1-(4-nitrophenyl)-3-benzyltriazene (15) presented MIC of the 128 µg/mL against S. aureus ATCC 25923, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853, A. lwoffii, Micrococcus sp., S. epidermidis, S. saprophyticus, Corynebacterirum sp., E. cloacae, S. flenneri e S. sonnei. The compounds 1-phenyl-3-(4-acethylphenyl)triazene (6), 1,3-bis-(4-ethoxycarbonylphenyl) triazene (7), and 3-(4-carboxylatephenyl)-1-methyltriazene 1-oxide of potassium tetrahydrate (13) presented MICs equals or highest than 128 µg/mL. The results have demonstrated the potential biological activity of these compounds against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.


Determining the peak interaction force between an oscillating nanoscale tip and a sample surface has been a fundamental yet elusive goal in amplitude-modulated atomic force microscopy. Closed form analytical expressions are derived using nonlinear asymptotic theory for the peak attractive and repulsive forces that approximate with a high degree of accuracy the numerically simulated peak forces under ambient or vacuum conditions. Scaling laws involving van der Waals, chemical forces, nanoscale elasticity, and oscillator parameters are identified to demonstrate approximate similitude for the peak interaction forces under practical operating conditions.


Phylogenetic trees and networks are leaf-labelled graphs used to model evolution. Display graphs are created by identifying common leaf labels in two or more phylogenetic trees or networks. The treewidth of such graphs is bounded as a function of many common dissimilarity measures between phylogenetic trees and this has been leveraged in fixed parameter tractability results. Here we further elucidate the properties of display graphs and their interaction with treewidth. We show that it is NP-hard to recognize display graphs, but that display graphs of bounded treewidth can be recognized in linear time. Next we show that if a phylogenetic network displays (i.e. topologically embeds) a phylogenetic tree, the treewidth of their display graph is bounded by a function of the treewidth of the original network (and also by various other parameters). In fact, using a bramble argument we show that this treewidth bound is sharp up to an additive term of 1. We leverage this bound to give an FPT algorithm, parameterized by treewidth, for determining whether a network displays a tree, which is an intensively-studied problem in the field. We conclude with a discussion on the future use of display graphs and treewidth in phylogenetics.


The main maintenance of a diversification of production as activity of subjects of managing is considered. being shown in purchase of the operating enterprises, the organizations of the new enterprises, redistribution of investments in interests of the organization and development of new production on available floor spaces. The most important organizational economic targets of a diversification of management are presented by innovative activity of the industrial enterprise.


S U M M A R Y It has been proposed that grass fires affect the magnetic properties of soils by combining generally reducing soil conditions with elevated temperatures. To explore this supposition, we analysed surface and subsurface samples from loessic soils and compared their differences in magnetic properties as a function of fire intensity. Fire intensity was established based on types of burnt vegetation, which ranged from low-intensity fires in short-grass areas to highintensity fires in tall-grass and forested areas. We measured low-field magnetic susceptibility (χ ), a common proxy for the abundance of magnetic minerals, frequency-dependent susceptibility (χFD), a proxy for the presence of ultrafine-grained superparamagnetic minerals, and susceptibility of anhysteretic remanent magnetization (χARM), a magnetic parameter highly dependent on the presence of fine, single-domain magnetic particles. Although intense fires led to an increase in frequency-dependent susceptibility and low-field magnetic susceptibility, moderately intense fires did not produce significant changes in magnetic properties. Observed magnetic changes are limited to sites that were very heavily burnt in forest areas. Grass fires are therefore an unlikely mechanism to explain a measurable component of the magnetic enhancement in prairie soils.


CASE
Joseph is a 20-month-old boy who was thriving and developing well before a 4-day hospitalization for paralytic ileus at 11 months of age. Joseph is the first child born to parents who immigrated to the United States from Southeast Asia 3 years ago. Before the hospitalization, Joseph consumed 3 meals and 480 to 600 mL of milk daily. Oral feedings were restricted during the hospitalization with subsequent rejection of foods upon reintroduction of oral feeds. This resulted in 2 kg of weight loss by follow-up at 13 months. Joseph was referred to the multidisciplinary feeding and nutrition clinic at 16 months for failure to thrive, complicated by iron deficiency anemia and zinc deficiency. Joseph's feeding issues had negatively affected other aspects of his well-being; his development had stagnated, his sleep was fragmented (napping 5 times daily and frequent night waking attributed to hunger), and he had become withdrawn and irritable. By 16 months of age, Joseph was accepting only a couple of bites of solid foods by spoon or drinking small volumes (20-70 mL) of milk every 2 hours around the clock. Anthropometric z scores (World Health Organization) at 16 months: weight for age: < -3; length for age: -2.02; weight for length: -2.92; head circumference: -1.54. Physical examination revealed a cachectic and irritable child with loose skin folds. His skin was dry, and his hair was sparse. There were no perioral or perineal rashes, bruising, or features of rickets noted. Developmentally, parents reported that he was able to crawl and stand independently at the time of hospitalization, but by the time of evaluation at 16 months, he would no longer stand independently and tired quickly when crawling. He did not use any words but waved bye-bye, used gesture to indicate that he would like to be picked up, used a single-finger point to indicate his wants, and sought his parents for comfort. His fine motor skills were appropriate for chronological age. After extensive evaluation without findings of an organic cause for his failure to thrive, Joseph was diagnosed with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). Enteral nutrition was commenced using a nasogastric (NG) tube, and his micronutrient deficiencies were corrected. Joseph made significant gains within 2 weeks of beginning to receive enteral nutrition. Initial improvement in weight gain (25 g daily over 2 wk, resulting in weight for age z score improving to -1.85) was rapid. Joseph regained ability to stand and began taking a few independent steps. He also acquired the ability to use one word spontaneously and appropriately. His sleep improved, his previously cheerful disposition returned, and he became much easier to engage. Unfortunately, at 20 months, Joseph's parents chose to have the NG tube removed, and his growth began to falter. What would be your next steps in Joseph's care?


The focus of this paper is on the civil-service training during cutback management. The impact of the cutback management on civil-service training has not been thoroughly analyzed so far. The paper describes and explains the Estonian case and analyzes its implications for the theory. It is concluded that across-the-board cuts and a decentralized training system will lead to major cuts in training budgets. It is also found that in a cutback environment organizations prefer job-specific training over general civil-service training. Furthermore, in times of budget cuts organizations seek cost-effective training methods and thus provide in-house courses.


The article addresses the topic of great ape–keeper tactile communication. The aim of this paper is to understand whether direct physical contact can be considered a source of enrichment for captive apes and whether it could be used to enhance animal welfare in zoos. We make use of a multispecies perspective provided by umwelt theory in an attempt to determine the role of touch in zoological gardens. By referring to Konrad Lorenz, we describe keeper–animal relationships as a special case of companionship, highlighting the role of keepers in apes' social behaviour. The paper considers social touch as the primary means used by social animals to create and maintain increasingly complex relationships. Since tactile communication in interspecific contexts has been underestimated previously, our theoretical framework allows for a better understanding of physical contact in zoological gardens without assuming an anthropocentric point of view. Our hypothesis is that physical contact with keepers may provide enriching opportunities for social animals and help strengthen the bond between animals and their keepers. We emphasize that ape–animal interactions in zoos need to involve keeper–animal physical contact as a possible means for enhancing the apes' welfare.


Importance The EGFR inhibitors (EGFR-I) cetuximab and panitumumab and the angiogenesis inhibitors (AIs) bevacizumab and aflibercept have demonstrated varying efficacy in mCRC. Objective To document the overall impact of specific chemotherapy regimens on the efficacy of targeted agents in treating patients with mCRC. Data sources: MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were searched to 2014, supplemented by hand-searching ASCO/ESMO conference abstracts. Study Selection Published RCTs of patients with histologically confirmed mCRC were included if they investigated either 1) chemotherapy with or without a biological agent or 2) different chemotherapy regimens with the same biological agent. EGFR-I trials were restricted to KRAS exon 2 wild-type (WT) populations. Data Extraction and Synthesis Data were independently abstracted by two authors and trial quality assessed according to Cochrane criteria. The primary outcome was overall survival with secondary endpoints progression free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR) and toxicity. Results EGFR-I added to irinotecan-based chemotherapy modestly improved OS with HR 0.90 (95% CI 0.81–1.00, p = 0.04), but more so PFS with HR 0.77 (95% CI 0.69–0.86, p<0.00001). No benefit was evident for EGFR-I added to oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy (OS HR 0.97 (95% CI 0.87–1.09) and PFS HR 0.92 (95% CI 0.83–1.02)). Significant oxaliplatin-irinotecan subgroup interactions were present for PFS with I2 = 82%, p = 0.02. Further analyses of oxaliplatin+EGFR-I trials showed greater efficacy with infusional 5FU regimens (PFS HR 0.82, 95% CI 0.72–0.94) compared to capecitabine (HR 1.09; 95% CI 0.91–1.30) and bolus 5FU (HR 1.07; 95% CI 0.79–1.45); subgroup interaction was present with I2 = 72%, p = 0.03. The oxaliplatin-irinotecan interaction was not evident for infusional 5FU regimens. For AIs, OS benefit was observed with both oxaliplatin-based (HR 0.83) and irinotecan-based (HR 0.77) regimens without significant subgroup interactions. Oxaliplatin+AI trials showed no subgroup interactions by type of FP, whilst an interaction was present for irinotecan+AI trials although aflibercept was only used with infusional FP (I2 = 89.7%, p = 0.002). Conclusion and Relevance The addition of EGFR-I to irinotecan-based chemotherapy has consistent efficacy, regardless of FP regimen, whereas EGFR-I and oxaliplatin-based regimens were most active with infusional 5FU. No such differential activity was observed with the varying chemotherapy schedules when combined with AIs.


Introduction: Gypsum is a mineral consisting of compounds of the crystal structure. Composition is calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaSO4 2H2O). In dental laboratory the cast is of great importance and it is used for each prosthetic manufacture, or most exploited material in dental laboratory. White the overflow gypsum obtained a copy of the negative (imprint), on which the spill gets positive or model in the same subject, which according to the size and shape of fully reproduce the original, we get a clear and precise situation of the teeth and around structures.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is exploring the kinds of gypsum in chemical composition, alabaster gypsum, blue or hard gypsum, yellow or super hard gypsum and their proper use in spills manufacture to obtain anatomical studio and working model.

Materials and Methods: For the realization, we made research in PubMed from 1940 to till today. In dentistry are used white gypsum, hard and super hard gypsum. With the overflow of the negative in alabaster gypsum, we received studio models and anatomical models. White gypsum are also used for fixing models in articulator. Hard and super hard gypsum are used for models which is needed to serve for the preparation of dental construction with great precision. Super hard gypsum is used for working models and mobile dental nogs. The working model presents field – ( exactly and precisely all parameters of prosthetic), ( teeth, alveolar ridges), occlusion-articulation relations between the jaws and teeth. The main features that should have been cast are : easy to mix, no porosity in model, the expansion of the gypsum binding is accompanied by a heat release.

Results: Right and wrong manufacture of prosthetic devices n the manipulation of the gypsum. Alabaster gypsum was used for the outpouring of anatomical prints and obtaining anatomical and working patterns, to the articulator models and others. Hard gypsum was used for the outpouring of prints to obtain work and all kinds of precise models. Super hard gypsum was used for the outpouring of prints and acquiring operational models, for dental construction and others.

Conclusion: Obtained data from a lengthy application and work with different types of gypsum , of which we could concluded that manipulation with the gypsum should be according to rules prescribed by the manufacturer.

Key words: gypsum, prints, model, prosthetic devices


Objective: To develop evidence based recommendations for the diagnosis of gout. Methods: The multidisciplinary guideline development group comprised 19 rheumatologists and one evidence based medicine expert, representing 13 European countries. Ten key propositions regarding diagnosis were generated using a Delphi consensus approach. Research evidence was searched systematically for each proposition. Wherever possible the sensitivity, specificity, likelihood ratio (LR), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio were calculated for diagnostic tests. Relative risk and odds ratios were estimated for risk factors and co-morbidities associated with gout. The quality of evidence was categorised according to the evidence hierarchy. The strength of recommendation (SOR) was assessed using the EULAR visual analogue and ordinal scales. Results: 10 key propositions were generated though three Delphi rounds including diagnostic topics in clinical manifestations, urate crystal identification, biochemical tests, radiographs, and risk factors/co-morbidities. Urate crystal identification varies according to symptoms and observer skill but is very likely to be positive in symptomatic gout (LR = 567 (95% confidence interval (CI), 35.5 to 9053)). Classic podagra and presence of tophi have the highest clinical diagnostic value for gout (LR = 30.64 (95% CI, 20.51 to 45.77), and LR = 39.95 (21.06 to 75.79), respectively). Hyperuricaemia is a major risk factor for gout and may be a useful diagnostic marker when defined by the normal range of the local population (LR = 9.74 (7.45 to 12.72)), although some gouty patients may have normal serum uric acid concentrations at the time of investigation. Radiographs have little role in diagnosis, though in late or severe gout radiographic changes of asymmetrical swelling (LR = 4.13 (2.97 to 5.74)) and subcortical cysts without erosion (LR = 6.39 (3.00 to 13.57)) may be useful to differentiate chronic gout from other joint conditions. In addition, risk factors (sex, diuretics, purine-rich foods, alcohol, lead) and co-morbidities (cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and chronic renal failure) are associated with gout. SOR for each proposition varied according to both the research evidence and expert opinion. Conclusions: 10 key recommendations for diagnosis of gout were developed using a combination of research based evidence and expert consensus. The evidence for diagnostic tests, risk factors, and co-morbidities was evaluated and the strength of recommendation was provided.


Biological activity such as burrowing can alter benthic foraminiferal shell preservation and may also modify benthic foraminiferal assemblages by vertical mixing, inducing sediment homogenization. Here, we analyse benthic foraminiferal assemblages and taphonomy of upper Miocene marine deposits from Conil de la Frontera (Cádiz, south‐western Spain). The deposits consist of marls displaying a pervasive alternation of intensively bioturbated beds dominated by Macaronichnus segregatis traces (ichnofabric index 4–5) and non‐bioturbated beds. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages are dominated by Cibicidoides mundulus and Cibicides refulgens, indicating that the marls were deposited on an oligotrophic, well‐oxygenated upper slope. The impact of burrowing on the preservation of benthic foraminiferal tests was tested using Q‐mode cluster analysis, which found two well‐differentiated groups of samples, one including the non‐bioturbated beds and the other encompassing the bioturbated ones. Fragmentation and recrystallization account for the differentiation of these groups, both being higher in the bioturbated sediments. Aggressive chemical digestion by the Macaronichnus trace‐makers, assumed to be a polychaete worm of the family Opheliidae, etched the microfossil shells, making them more vulnerable to fragmentation. Intense bioturbation favoured the circulation of pore fluids, encouraging recrystallization. Pervasive burrowing resulted in significant vertical reworking of microfossils. As a consequence, benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the bioturbated beds were homogenized in the mixed layer; that is, the uppermost layer of the substrate totally burrowed. The alternation of bioturbated and non‐bioturbated beds reflects episodic transfer of food particles down slope from shallower parts of the shelf as well as from the continent due to storms under otherwise homogeneous oligotrophic marine conditions.


AIMS
In advocating and theorising decolonisation, writers have largely focused on processes undertaken by the colonised and oppressed (Freire, 1975; Smith, 1999) rather than those undertaken by the coloniser. Although coloniser groups are often called upon to theorise their own processes of change (Kessaris, 2006), such responses are seldom found in psychological writing. Social movements, on the other hand, have targeted the dominant Anglophone group in former British colonies such as Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, and have developed ideological and psychological interventions for change. So how may the work of social movements help to theorise the contribution of the coloniser to decolonisation work?

METHOD
This paper presents findings of two studies undertaken recently with Pakeha in the anti-racism and Treaty movement in Aotearoa New Zealand. Responding to requests from indigenous Maori, the Treaty educational movement has worked in community and organisational settings with the dominant Pakeha settler group to 'honour the Treaty' for harmonious settlement. Key interventions used by Treaty educators are (i) revisiting colonial history from an indigenous standpoint (ii) encouraging a sense of collective responsibility for dominant cultural/institutional forms and (iii) encouraging collective action by Pakeha in mutual agreement with Maori groups. Using a participatory action approach, fifty educators were invited to articulate theory about how they themselves and their target groups change. To provide evidence of the effect of such interventions, sixteen organisations were invited to recount their experiences of Treaty-focused change over 20 years. Their accounts were analysed using a critical discursive approach.

RESULTS
Key social-psychological elements in decolonising change were emotional responses to new learning and collective cultural change work among the coloniser group. Further critical psychological steps in the process were actively affirming indigenous authority and striving towards a mutually agreed relationship with indigenous groups.

CONCLUSIONS
These innovative contributions to psychological theory in the area of decolonisation will be discussed in relation to community, social and cultural psychology. Practice implications for educational and organisational work in New Zealand and Australia will also be drawn out.


Membranous Nephropathy (MN) is one of the leading causes of end-stage renal
disease (ESRD). MN is an autoimmune disease in which autoantibodies target
antigens at the level of the glomerular basement membrane. The nature of these
antibodies and the reason why they develop are not fully understood.
One of the strategies towards a better understanding of the disorder is genetic
analysis, of which two approaches have been attempted: linkage mapping, based
on a family suggestive for X-linked transmission of the MN trait; and whole
genome association mapping, based on three case-control cohorts. The first
cohort (335 cases and ethnically matched controls from the UK) was genotyped
using SNP markers and analysed in an exploratory study which led to the
identification of two highly significant loci of association. Two cohorts (146
biopsy proven MN cases and ethnically matched controls from the Dutch
research group in Nijmegen and 75 biopsy proven cases and ethnically matched
controls from the French research group in Paris) were used to successfully
replicate the results.
The two loci which we identified and independently confirmed are located on
chromosome 2 and on chromosome 6.
The chromosome 2 locus includes the PLA2R gene, confirming the hypothesis of
Beck et al. which identified PLA2R as a key antigen in idiopathic MN by using
an immunological approach [1].
The chromosome 6 locus lies within the extended Human Leukocyte Antigene
(HLA) system locus, with the highest significance for association reached by
alleles of HLA-DQA1.
Our results suggest that the susceptibility to membranous nephropathy is
associated to genetic variants at the level of both PLA2R1 and HLA loci. The
causative variants could be some of the polymorphisms captured by the
genotyping array which was analysed or, more likely variants (single nucleotide
or copy number variant type) situated nearby (and therefore in linkage
disequilibrium).


Respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. However, the pathogenesis of both acute and chronic lung diseases remains incompletely understood. As a result, therapeutic options for important clinical problems, including acute respiratory distress syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, are limited. Research efforts have been held back in part by the difficulty of modeling lung injury in animals. Donor human lungs that have been rejected for transplantation offer a valuable alternative for understanding these diseases. In 2007, our group developed a simple preparation of an ex vivo-perfused single human lung. In this Review, we discuss the availability of donor human lungs for research, describe the ex vivo-perfused lung preparation, and highlight how this preparation can be used to study the mechanisms of lung injury, to isolate primary cells, and to test novel therapeutics.


Abstract Precipitation scavenging coefficients, such as the HTO washout rate, are often derived from raindrop intensity and average velocity of drop. In this study, several Drop Size Distribution (DSD) functions based on experimental data are compared to calculate HTO concentration, by using Chamberlain equation, then the washout rate. Variability of Gamma, Lognormal and Marshall-Palmer distributions on the rain concentrations and washout rates are estimated. The fall velocities of drops are computed for every DSD with Kessler, Andronache, Seinfield and Loosmore and empirical formula used in the CEA code called CERES which is the CEA reference computational tool for impact assessment. Results show that the HTO concentration in drops and the scavenging coefficient depends very closely on rain characteristics. More than the choice of velocity drop calculations, which represent an uncertainty less than 20%, the choice of the distribution is important and depends on the rain observed. Certain assumptions can lead to uncertainty about a factor 2 to 3 on HTO concentration in rain and on the washout rate.


Since the summer of 2016, a group of English 302 instructors have been working to create a collection of creative commons licensed, classroom-tested, course goal-aligned, peer-reviewed assignments for use in the one course that nearly every Mason student takes: English 302.  Our goal is to strengthen and to some extent regularize an existing culture of collaboration among the 60+-member English 302 instructor community.  The initial collection, supported by grants from GMU 4-VA and the CHSS Term Faculty Development Fund, went live on a Blackboard organization site in Fall 2016, and has seen steady use.  During a second phase of work in Spring and Summer 2018, we are designing a public-facing collection site built on Mason publishing's iteration of the Online Journals System (OJS), transitioning the existing collection to that site, and adding additional items developed in 2016-1017 Composition Program learning communities.  We hope to continue building the collection on the new site using a submission and review process similar to that of an academic journal. The poster presents the new collection (some items in which may be useful to instructors in other disciplines) and describes our process (including challenges encountered and addresses) which could be adapted for OER collections in other disciplines.


Objective: To measure the biometrics (heart rate, heart rate variability) of critical care physicians during live clinical patient scenarios. Design: Participants wore the Hexoskin biometric smart shirt (Hexoskin, Carrè Technologies, Montreal, Quebec) during live clinical activities. Setting: 24-bed tertiary care children's hospital pediatric intensive care unit Subjects: Pediatric critical care attendings and fellows. Interventions: Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and heart rate variability (HRV) were recorded during clinical shifts. Activities included subject baseline (SB), patient rounds (PR), tracheal intubation (TI), and central line insertion (CL). Measurements and main results: Mean HR for the activities SB, PR, TI, and CL were 81 ± 3.65, 85 ± 4.75, 99 ± 10.83, and 108 ± 8.97 beats per min, respectively. Mean standard deviation dispersion perpendicular and along the axis of identity (SD1/SD2) were 0.244 ± 0.038, 0.220 ± 0.022, 0.180 ± 0.050, and 0.167 ± 0.015, respectively. P values for mean HR, max HR, and HRV were significant when comparing SB with TI (0.010, 0.027, and 0.001) and CL (0.007, 0.001, and 0.012) but not when comparing with PR (0.026, 0.125, and 0.321). Comparison of SD1/SD2 for TI versus CL showed no statistical significance, P=0.578. Poincaré plots confirmed the similar patterns of physiologic activation. Subject baseline and PR plots were fan-shaped, suggesting primary parasympathetic input. TI and CL were torpedo-shaped, suggesting sympathetic activation. Conclusion: Study of the biometrics of physicians as they deliver real-time critical patient care is feasible using wearable technology. Critical care activities requiring not only thought, focus, and planning but also the physical execution of technical skills, such as IT or CL insertion, resulted in higher levels of sympathetic activation. Further study of physicians from various specialties and different levels of experience, the use of stress mitigation techniques, and correlation with procedural success or failure is warranted.


Transgenic plums of Prunus domestica L. transformed with the Plum pox virus coat protein gene (PPV-CP) were the subjects of three experiments undertaken in Romania. In the first experiment PPV-CP transgenic clones C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 and PT3 were evaluated for Sharka resistance under high natural infection pressure. Transgenic clone C5, subsequently named "HoneySweet", showed high resistance to PPV. None of the C5 trees became naturally infected by aphids for more than ten years. The resistance of C5 was based on post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In the second experiment we assessed the effect of two heterologous viruses (Prunus necrotic ringspot virus and Prune dwarf virus) on the efficacy and stability of PTGS mediated resistance to PPV displayed by the C5 plum. The engineered resistance to PPV in C5 transgenic plums was stable and was not suppressed by the presence of the assayed heterologous viruses. Some PPV-CP transgenic plum clones that are susceptible to PPV including C2, C3, C4 and PT3 display a constitutive transcription of PPV-CP sequence. In the third experiment we used these plants to assess the environmental safety issues related to potential hazards concerning the emergence of PPV variants. The serological and molecular variability of PPV detected in transgenic and in conventional plums revealed that the transgenic plums do not affect the diversity of indigenous PPV populations. We suggest that the safety and efficacy data developed in Romania and other European countries and in the United States of America over the last 15 years justifies an expansion of the field tests in Romania and in other countries that are experiencing the damages to plum production caused by PPV.


How does language change take place and could developments be predictable? In this study, Arjen Versloot evaluates these questions, supported by analysis of the decline in the use of unstressed vowels in the Frisian language between 1300 and 1550. This decline is found, for example, in the words: Old Frisian sitta 'to sit' > Modern Frisian sitte and Old Frisian sone 'son' > Modern Frisian soan. The study presents two models of language change. Model one considers the duration and intensity of vowels in individual words, rather than abstract, underlying phonemes. The order and timing of vowel reduction can thus be predicted with 95% accuracy over a period of 200 years. In the second model, the language user is regarded as a 'calculating speaker', evaluating what he hears from others, estimating the reception by listeners, and a little lazy in his articulation. With an accuracy of over 90%, the model predicts the order and timing of changes in verbal and nominal endings where vowel reduction is involved. These results of the study support the hypothesis of language as a deterministic, dynamic system, where the 'grammar' and its change are the outcome of self-organization in the language system. The models are fed with detailed data from late-mediaeval Frisian texts, providing a significant amount of new information about Open Syllable Lengthening, Vowel Balance, Vowel Harmony and Apocope/Syncope. One of the remarkable conclusions is that 15th and 16th centuries Frisian was probably a tonal language, just like modern Norwegian.


The IRS is a non-traditional but key player in delivering social benefits to the nation's working poor. In fact, it administers one of the nation's largest anti-poverty programs: the earned income tax credit (EITC). The EITC is generally praised for its role in reducing poverty and incentivizing low-wage work. While the credit has bipartisan support, the IRS continues to face strong criticism over EITC compliance issues.
The IRS has generally focused on tax return characteristics in identifying and preventing erroneous EITC claims. We believe that adding an additional focus on taxpayer characteristics may offer new opportunities to improve EITC compliance (and perhaps other areas where there is systemic noncompliance). To supplement existing approaches and build on insights that derive from a taxpayer rather than tax return-centric model of compliance, we argue that the IRS should draw from insights from the field of cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychology research, often grounded in insights associated with research in behavioral economics, suggests that by increasing psychological costs and the perceived likelihood of detection, people may be more truthful. We offer specific proposals for further exploration. We note that the approach has potential application in other areas of the tax law, but focus on the EITC because of its broad importance as a matter of national policy, the longstanding and persistent criticism of stubbornly high EITC error rates and the limitations of the IRS's current approach addressing EITC compliance.


Inhibited or retarded ejaculation (RE) is one of the least understood of the male sexual dysfunctions. RE has a relatively low prevalence (<3 %). RE is one of the diminished ejaculatory disorders, which is a subset of male orgasmic disorders. This pathology results in depression, anxiety, lack of sexual confidence. Failure of ejaculation may be a lifelong (primary) of acquired (secondary) problem. In some instances, a somatic condition can cause the disorder of ejaculation. Disruption of sympathetic or somatic innervation has the potential to affect ejaculatory process and orgasm. Usually ejaculation and orgasm occur simultaneously in men. However, the terms of disorder ejaculation and orgasm are not identical according modern ideas about the neurophysiological triggers of these processes. The ejaculatory reflex comprises sensory receptors and areas, afferent pathways, cerebral sensory and motor centers, spinal motor centers and efferent pathways. Neurochemically, the reflex includes a complex interplay between central serotonergic and dopaminergic neurons. Cholinergic, adrenergic and oxitocinergic systems play the secondary role. The dominant neurotransmitters are dopamine and serotonin. Currently, there are no effective and safe drugs available to accelerate aculation time. The most effective methods of correcting lifelong RE are psycho - and sex therapy. The best way to treat men with primary RE is to inform them about exiting factors that may retard ejaculation and to instruct them through counselling. The benefit of the therapy depends on the severity of the RE and responsiveness of the patient. Psychotherapy may be useful in some groups, especially in absence of effective or safe drugs. However, the psychological approach to solution of this problem is often disappointing. Further research on the neurophysiological aspects of ejaculation is very important to understand the pathogenic mechanisms of RE and invent the new ways to solve this problem.


The increasing use of electronic forms of communication presents new opportunities in the study of mental health, including the ability to investigate the manifestations of psychiatric diseases unobtrusively and in the setting of patients' daily lives. A pilot study to explore the possible connections between bipolar affective disorder and mobile phone usage was conducted. In this study, participants were provided a mobile phone to use as their primary phone. This phone was loaded with a custom keyboard that collected metadata consisting of keypress entry time and accelerometer movement. Individual character data with the exceptions of the backspace key and space bar were not collected due to privacy concerns. We propose an end-to-end deep architecture based on late fusion, named DeepMood, to model the multi-view metadata for the prediction of mood scores. Experimental results show that 90.31% prediction accuracy on the depression score can be achieved based on session-level mobile phone typing dynamics which is typically less than one minute. It demonstrates the feasibility of using mobile phone metadata to infer mood disturbance and severity.


This study presents the results of a large-scale examination into a dust event that took place over southwestern China, an area that has received relatively little attention in the literature. The sources, transport path, and vertical distribution, as well as formation process of an intense dust storm event that took place over the Sichuan Basin from March 9 to March 14, 2013, were investigated using combined multiple satellite observations and meteorological data. Widespread dust plumes appeared over the Taklimakan Desert, Gobi Desert, and Loess Plateau on March 9. Different from the usual dust storms, the dust plumes did not move downstream directly but settled over the Loess Plateau and Sichuan Basin for several days. Persistent southwestern winds prevailed over eastern China during this period, and could prevent the dust storms from moving directly downstream. Our results suggest that the dust plumes over southwestern China mainly originated from the Gobi Desert. Despite extensive dust plumes over all the Sichuan Basin, PM10 increased sharply to more than 1200 μg/m^3 in the western part of the basin, with only a slight increase in the eastern part. When there was a sharp increase in coarse particles in Chengdu on March 11 and 14, northeasterly winds appeared over northern China. The elevated dust can be blown to the eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau and deposited in the western Sichuan Basin. However, such intense dust events are not common in southwestern China. In addition, floating dust may not be observed near the surface, but can have an important impact on regional aerosol loading and properties.