Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare South Korean female executives' definitions of career success with those of male executives, identify their career development strategies for success and provide implications for research and practice. Two research questions guiding our inquiry included: How do female executives' definitions of career success differ from those of male executives? What career development strategies do male and female executives use for career success?

Design/methodology/approach

A basic qualitative research design was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 male executives and 15 female executives in diverse corporations by using an interview protocol of 13 questions regarding participants' background, definitions of career success and final thoughts. To analyze the interview data, we used both NVivo 11 and a manual coding method.

Findings

Gender differences were detected in the participants' definitions of career success and success factors. As previous studies indicated, male and female executives had different perspectives on career success: men tended to define career success more objectively than women. Many male executives, through experiencing transforming changes in their careers, began to appreciate work–life balance and personal happiness from success. Gender differences were also detected in their career development challenges, meanings of mentors and networking activities. While work stress surfaced as a challenge that men faced, experiencing the token status in the gendered workplace was a major challenge for female participants.

Research limitations/implications

In this study, three research agendas are presented, needing further investigation on career success, women's token status and comparative analyses.

Practical implications

Three implications for practice have been provided, including organizational support, government's role and HRD's role.

Originality/value

Gender differences in this study were not as distinctive as previous literature has indicated. Some male executives valued more subjective career success than others, while a few female executives spoke of more objective definitions than others. These subtle differences could be captured through in-depth interviews. By hearing the participants' stories, both objective and subjective definitions of success, for both genders, could be observed, which might not have been possible in quantitative research. In addition, the study findings reflect the nature of a uniquely Korean context. The participants worked in a Confucian and military culture, which operates in hierarchical structures and the command and control system, coupled with a heightened camaraderie spirit in the workplace.


It is well-known that several work-related factors, for example, asbestos, benzene, nickel, wood dust or passive smoking in restaurants, can cause cancer. In Europe, 3.2 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths from cancer were reported in 2006 (1). Breast cancer has become the most common cancer diagnosed overall, with 430 000 new cases in 2006 (13.5% of all cancer cases). Traditional work-related risk factors are estimated to cause about 4% of malignant neoplasms among Nordic men but less than 1% among Nordic women (2).

While knowledge on the traditional risk factors for cancer has increased and many of these factors have successfully been eliminated from modern workplaces in developed countries, new environmental and individual risk factors for cancer have stepped forward. Shift work and work stress, the prevalent exposures of the "24-hour society", are among some of the "new" exposures now being intensively researched. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is currently working on the evaluation of shift work as a possible carcinogenic risk to humans. The importance of "new" individual risk factors for cancer, alcohol intake, obesity, and the lack of physical activity that are sometimes linked to an occupational behavior model have also been acknowledged. The potential significance of shift work, work stress, and unhealthy living habits are not related to their high carcinogenic nature but, instead, to their extremely high prevalence. For example, if physical inactivity were estimated to increase the risk of breast cancer by 10% (3), about 3% of all cancers among women in Finland would be due to physical inactivity—a higher number of cases than those caused by all of the traditional occupational cancer risk factors combined.

Does shift work cause cancer? Before it can be decided that an environmental or occupational factor is carcinogenic, reliable and unbiased human evidence is needed to show a dose–response relationship between the studied exposure and the specific disease. In addition, it would make the interpretation easier if there were facts about a specific mechanism explaining the possible epidemiologic association.

The pineal gland is known to be the key organ in the regulation of the circadian clock. The suprachiasmatic nuclei of the hypothalamus, which are the major biological clocks in humans, regulate the excretion of plasma melatonin from the pineal gland. The information on external light is carried to the suprachiasmatic nuclei from the retina by the retinohypothalamic tract. Among people with normal circadian rhythmicity, the excretion of endogenous melatonin takes place only during the night, and the nighttime secretion can also be inhibited by artificial light. Melatonin is an important hormone in the regulation of circadian rhythms, but it seems to be involved also directly in the regulation of gonadal function (4). Decreased concentrations of circulating melatonin can result in an increased release of gonadotropins from the pituitary, stimulating testicular testosterone or ovarian estrogen production and release. Extensive animal data show that both pharmacological and physiological doses of melatonin can reduce the growth of malignant cells or tumors of the breast, prostate, and other tumor sites (5–7). On the other hand, light exposure during an experimental "night" of test animals increases the progression of cancer (8). In humans, breast cancer risk among females also decreases according to the degree of visual impairment (9, 10); this decrease suggests a potential role and dose–response relationship between visual stimuli and the incidence of breast cancer. A similar, but less consistent trend has also been observed for prostate cancer in visually impaired males (9).

Although melatonin and light are indeed related to cancer, the relevance of the "melatonin theory" in the association between shift work and cancer depends on whether shift workers are exposed to decreased melatonin secretion due to changes in the environmental light–dark cycle. Shift work does induce changes in light exposure since night work has to be done under artificial lighting conditions and night workers must sleep and spend their free-time during the day. However, there seems to be no sufficient quantitative data on the actual 24-hour differences in light exposure between night and day workers. It is also known that night work changes the endogenous circadian rhythm of melatonin. Most studies indicate a partial phase delay in the melatonin rhythm during consecutive night shifts (10, 11) and a decrease in the melatonin circadian amplitude during the circadian adjustment process. In a recent study, night workers indeed showed a lower diurnal melatonin secretion than day workers (12).

This issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health includes an epidemiologic study that suggests no effect of shift work on cancer risk (13). This study used registry data that basically included the entire Swedish working population. Jobs in the 1970 census were classified according to the estimated percentage of shift workers. The population was followed from 1971 to 1989, for up to 19 years. The Swedish findings are not consistent with those of several earlier studies indicating an increased risk of prostate cancer among rotating shift workers and an increased risk of breast and colorectal cancer among female shift workers. For example, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 studies on night work and breast cancer risk between 1960 and 2005 (14), the aggregate relative risk estimate for all of the studies combined was 1.48, and, for female night workers not including those in studies of cabin crews, it was 1.51.

The current study of Schwartzbaum et al (13) is based on a huge cohort of the Swedish working population. However, only a very small proportion of the population included shift workers, and therefore the power of the study is limited. As the authors state, a possible source of failure to observe a possible association between shift work and breast cancer may have been due to a misclassification of exposure as a result of the used aggregated, rather than individual, exposure information. Exposure was thus based on a group estimate made from job titles. Many of the workers classified as exposed may not have done night work at all, and some of those classified as unexposed may have worked at night. In the main analyses, job categories with >40% shift workers ("exposed") were compared with job categories with <30% shift workers ("unexposed"). The small exposure contrast may have further reduced the possibility of identifying a risk. Due to the increased diversity of workhours, night work is common in many occupations not recognized as actual night or shift work even by workers themselves. Furthermore, the maximum follow-up time of <20 years can be regarded as short since all studies on shift work and breast cancer with a longer follow-up time (≥20 years) have shown an increased risk (15–17).

Schwartzbaum et al (13) were not able to control for potential confounding factors other than marital and socioeconomic status. For instance, in breast cancer data, the most important cofactors, age at first delivery, number of children, and use of hormone replacement therapy, were not yet available in the old combined data set used in this study. Of the other risk factors of breast cancer, obesity and smoking, are normally more frequent among shift workers than among day workers (18), and the lack of control of these two factors probably would not have changed the null result.

In general, there are even opinions that low relative risks should not be studied at all epidemiologically, one of the reasons being the possibility that even a modest uncontrolled residual confounding may falsify the conclusion. On the other hand, some of the factors with a potential low excess of adverse health effects are so common that even a very small relative excess may have larger public health effects than the high relative risks related to rare exposures. Studies on low relative risks are a challenge to epidemiologists, but maybe not impossibly so, especially in the Nordic countries when additional selection of register-based cofactor data and virtually complete follow-up procedures of exposed persons are possible.

In conclusion, Schwartzbaum et al (13) bring another, even rather unfitting piece to the large puzzle trying to shape the relationship between shift work and cancer, and it is important that this puzzle piece be published, even with the shortcomings described by the authors themselves and others put forth in this editorial. The collective picture of the earlier studies on shift work and cancer is too consistent to be dismissed by a single ecological study supporting the null hypothesis. A special challenge is issued to the ongoing, more advanced Nordic studies that have a basic setting similar to that of the study by Schwartzbaum et al (13), but will have a follow-up of up to 45 years, markedly more cancer cases from all five Nordic countries, better classification of job exposure, and data on the most important cofactors. Additional data are also needed on the effect of shift work systems on light exposure and melatonin secretion.


Pulitzer Prize-winning Berkeley Breatheds first illustrated novel! Sam the Lion is actually a priceless dachshund, bred to be a show dog. More important, he is Heidys best friend—and she needs one like never before. Living with her reclusive uncle is hard, but Sam has a way of making her feel soft and whole. Until the day Sam is framed by the jealous poodle Cassius, and is cast out by Heidys uncle, alone on the wild streets, where he is roughed up by a world he was not bred for. Sporting a soup ladle for a leg, Sam befriends other abandoned dogs and journeys all the way to the Westminster Dog Show, where his plan for revenge on Cassius takes an unexpected turn when he and Heidy spot each other after years of being apart. Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Berkeley Breatheds first illustrated novel is a heartwarming and humorous ode to the unconditional and lasting love we and our pets share.


Methods are developed for forecasting the effects of population and economic growth on the distribution of interior forest habitat. An application to the southeastern United States shows that models provide significant explanatory power with regard to the observed distribution of interior forest. Estimates for economic and biophysical variables are significant and consistent with theory. Forecasts of interior forest based on the population and economic growth projected for the region are displayed by ecological section and province and by metropolitan statistical area (MSA). Loss of interior forests is expected to be especially high in certain ecological sections, including the southern Appalachian Piedmont in North and South Carolina, the Gulf prairies and marshes in Texas, and the Florida coastal lowlands. Sixty-six percent of loss of interior forests will be in urban counties, which highlights the conservation importance of the urbanizing fringe of several cities. Among the ten MSAs that will lose the most interior forest, seven are found in Florida. These forecasts provide a mechanism for assigning priorities and targeting areas for more detailed study and for conservation efforts.


Decisions to develop water resources systems so far have been primarily taken on the basis of engineering and economic feasibilities. Very rarely, if ever, sociological feasibility has been considered, except in a very broad sense. Planning is for the people, and it should improve the quality of life. Hence, it is argued that water resources decisions ought to be primarily social ones, and that the success or failure of any resource development should not only be judged by its techno-economic excellence but also by its impact on people.

Water resources planning process is discussed, and the difficulties associated with the evaluation of sociological feasibility of projects are enumerated. The social consequences of water development projects are traced through planning, construction, operation and management impacts. Finally, it is suggested that the foremost factor in the success of any water management program is the public understanding and acceptance of that program.


The potentialities of passive radar (PR) will be illustrated in this chapter with reference to the surveillance of areas of limited extent. Despite the exploitation of the PR principle in short-range applications could appear as a simple task, it is shown that it brings a number of challenging issues that must be solved to benefit from its potential advantages. In addition, the requirements on such sensors could be much more demanding to enable advanced capabilities. The chapter attempts to give the reader an insight into the real-world applications of short-range PR. The considered applications span from maritime traffic control, to vehicular traffic monitoring, and indoor surveillance. For each case, experimental results are reported, obtained in different scenarios when exploiting different waveforms of opportunity. Walking through these results also gives the chance to describe some technical aspects related to system design issues and signal processing techniques.


Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common causes of microangiopathy. Approximately 30% of all diabetics show skin lesions during their lifetime. However, there is a paucity of data on the association of diabetic retinopathy with the skin changes. Objectives: The aim is to study noninfectious diabetes associated dermatoses in patients with diabetic retinopathy and to compare the frequencies of dermatoses in diabetics with retinopathy, diabetics without retinopathy and nondiabetics. Materials and Methods: We screened 400 diabetic patients and found 145 diabetics with cutaneous manifestations were positive for diabetic retinopathy after fundoscopic examination by a qualified ophthalmologist. One hundred and forty-five age- and sex-matched diabetics with cutaneous manifestations and without retinopathy, and another 145 age- and sex-matched nondiabetics with normal random blood sugar (RBS) levels and cutaneous manifestations formed the control groups. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 16 and Chi-square test. Results: Acquired ichthyosis was the most common finding which was seen in 70 (48.27%) diabetics followed by acrochordons in 18 (12.41%) diabetics. Other noninfectious dermatoses associated with Diabetic Mellitus seen among the cases include diabetic foot in 7 (4.8%), psoriasis in 5 (3.44%), acanthosis nigricans in 4 (2.75%), pruritus in 3 (2.068%), vitiligo in 3 (2.068%) patients, Kyrle's disease in 3 (2.068%), and diabetic bullae in 2 (1.37%) patients. Conclusions: Diabetic retinopathy is not an uncommon cause of ocular morbidity. Our observation calls for the need of a holistic approach toward the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and diabetes-associated skin and systemic complications.


Preface Chapter 1: Getting Started with Python Machine Learning Chapter 2: Learning How to Classify with Real-world Examples Chapter 3: Clustering Finding Related Posts Chapter 4: Topic Modeling Chapter 5: Classification Detecting Poor Answers Chapter 6: Classification II Sentiment Analysis Chapter 7: Regression Recommendations Chapter 8: Regression Recommendations Improved Chapter 9: Classification III Music Genre Classification Chapter 10: Computer Vision Pattern Recognition Chapter 11: Dimensionality Reduction Chapter 12: Big(ger) Data Appendix: Where to Learn More about Machine Learning Index Preface Up Chapter 1: Getting Started with Python Machine Learning Machine learning and Python the dream team What the book will teach you (and what it will not) What to do when you are stuck Getting started Introduction to NumPy, SciPy, and Matplotlib Installing Python Chewing data efficiently with NumPy and intelligently with SciPy Learning NumPy Indexing Handling non-existing values Comparing runtime behaviors Learning SciPy Our first (tiny) machine learning application Reading in the data Preprocessing and cleaning the data Choosing the right model and learning algorithm Before building our first model Starting with a simple straight line Towards some advanced stuff Stepping back to go forward another look at our data Training and testing Answering our initial question Summary Up Chapter 2: Learning How to Classify with Real-world Examples The Iris dataset The first step is visualization Building our first classification model Evaluation holding out data and cross-validation Building more complex classifiers A more complex dataset and a more complex classifier Learning about the Seeds dataset Features and feature engineering Nearest neighbor classification Binary and multiclass classification Summary Up Chapter 3: Clustering Finding Related Posts Measuring the relatedness of posts How not to do it How to do it Preprocessing similarity measured as similar number of common words Converting raw text into a bag-of-words Counting words Normalizing the word count vectors Removing less important words Stemming Installing and using NLTK Extending the vectorizer with NLTK's stemmer Stop words on steroids Our achievements and goals Clustering KMeans Getting test data to evaluate our ideas on Clustering posts Solving our initial challenge Another look at noise Tweaking the parameters Summary Up Chapter 4: Topic Modeling Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) Building a topic model Comparing similarity in topic space Modeling the whole of Wikipedia Choosing the number of topics Summary Up Chapter 5: Classification Detecting Poor Answers Sketching our roadmap Learning to classify classy answers Tuning the instance Tuning the classifier Fetching the data Slimming the data down to chewable chunks Preselection and processing of attributes Defining what is a good answer Creating our first classifier Starting with the k-nearest neighbor (kNN) algorithm Engineering the features Training the classifier Measuring the classifier's performance Designing more features Deciding how to improve Bias-variance and its trade-off Fixing high bias Fixing high variance High bias or low bias Using logistic regression A bit of math with a small example Applying logistic regression to our postclassification problem Looking behind accuracy precision and recall Slimming the classifier Ship it! Summary Up Chapter 6: Classification II Sentiment Analysis Sketching our roadmap Fetching the Twitter data Introducing the Naive Bayes classifier Getting to know the Bayes theorem Being naive Using Naive Bayes to classify Accounting for unseen words and other oddities Accounting for arithmetic underflows Creating our first classifier and tuning it Solving an easy problem first Using all the classes Tuning the classifier's parameters Cleaning tweets Taking the word types into account Determining the word types Successfully cheating using SentiWordNet Our first estimator Putting everything together Summary Up Chapter 7: Regression Recommendations Predicting house prices with regression Multidimensional regression Cross-validation for regression Penalized regression L1 and L2 penalties Using Lasso or Elastic nets in scikit-learn P greater than N scenarios An example based on text Setting hyperparameters in a smart way Rating prediction and recommendations Summary Up Chapter 8: Regression Recommendations Improved Improved recommendations Using the binary matrix of recommendations Looking at the movie neighbors Combining multiple methods Basket analysis Obtaining useful predictions Analyzing supermarket shopping baskets Association rule mining More advanced basket analysis Summary Up Chapter 9: Classification III Music Genre Classification Sketching our roadmap Fetching the music data Converting into a wave format Looking at music Decomposing music into sine wave components Using FFT to build our first classifier Increasing experimentation agility Training the classifier Using the confusion matrix to measure accuracy in multiclass problems An alternate way to measure classifier performance using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) Improving classification performance with Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients Summary Up Chapter 10: Computer Vision Pattern Recognition Introducing image processing Loading and displaying images Basic image processing Thresholding Gaussian blurring Filtering for different effects Adding salt and pepper noise Putting the center in focus Pattern recognition Computing features from images Writing your own features Classifying a harder dataset Local feature representations Summary Up Chapter 11: Dimensionality Reduction Sketching our roadmap Selecting features Detecting redundant features using filters Correlation Mutual information Asking the model about the features using wrappers Other feature selection methods Feature extraction About principal component analysis (PCA) Sketching PCA Applying PCA Limitations of PCA and how LDA can help Multidimensional scaling (MDS) Summary Up Chapter 12: Big(ger) Data Learning about big data Using jug to break up your pipeline into tasks About tasks Reusing partial results Looking under the hood Using jug for data analysis Using Amazon Web Services (AWS) Creating your first machines Installing Python packages on Amazon Linux Running jug on our cloud machine Automating the generation of clusters with starcluster Summary Up Appendix: Where to Learn More about Machine Learning Online courses Books Q&A sites Blogs Data sources Getting competitive What was left out Summary


Purpose: Efficiency and performance measurements in the public sector represent a problematic area considering the nature of public administration's activities. The authors attempt to define the efficiency metrics for internal audit as exemplified by one of the European Union countries and its contribution in improving the performance of public entities and the efficiency of public spending. Design/Methodology/Approach: A mixed methodology combining the results of qualitative and quantitative research is used to empirically verify the hypotheses related to the research problem presented. Qualitative research is based on descriptive analysis, and the quantitative research will include the method of statistical information systemization, based on statistical source data analysis. Findings: Empirical research confirmed a positive impact of internal audit efficiency metrics on the completion of public service tasks at an operational level while no impact was recorded on the scale of completion for the areas at the strategic level of the Council of Ministers. Practical Implications: Managers in the public skateboard should decide to increase the performance budget and decide to link it to an internal audit. Originality/value: Internal audit should be more focused on examining the effectiveness of public administration and, to a lesser extent, only hardening the assessment of the decision-making process.


Pressure can induce significant changes in atomic and electronic structures and can in some cases even induce compound formation between elements that do not bond under ambient conditions. Here, we have extensively explored the Li–Fe system at high pressure using the effective CALYPSO algorithm in combination with first-principles calculations. Strikingly, our results show that the stoichiometries of LiFe, Li3Fe and Li3Fe2 have stability regimes on a phase diagram. It is found that both LiFe and Li3Fe2 adopted a fully developed three-dimensional framework. With an increasing Li content, a Li bonding pattern evolves from occupying diamond sublattice to armchair chains, and to the host frameworks constructed by 3- and 6-membered planar rings and 4- and 7-membered planar rings in which linear Fe chains are located in small channels. Our findings put forward a further understanding of the crystal structures and electronic properties of Li–Fe compounds at high pressures.


Libyan International Medical University (LIMU), delegation participated the kick-off meeting of the WHEEL (Network for the Modernization of the Higher Education Sector in Libya) project, together with the delegations of eleven other Libyan universities as well as the delegations of the Spanish University of Alicante and the Italian University of Genoa. The kick-off meeting was held in Genoa, Italy, from 8th to 11th of April 2019 under the sponsorship of Genoa University. The delegation of the LIMU included the President, Provost for Academic Affairs, Provost for Public Affairs and Head of Academic Relations & International Cooperation Office at LIMU. The kick-off meeting discussed the challenges facing the higher education sector in Libya in order to diagnose the Libyan situation and to draft an updated evidence-based diagnosis document about the higher education situation in Libya. It is worth mentioning that the Libyan Universities participating in the WHEEL project are: Al-Asmarya University, Bani-Waleed University, Bright-Star University, Libyan International Medical University, Misurata University, Omar Al-Mokhtar University, Sebha University, Sirte University, University of Benghazi and Elmergib University.


We present the first large-scale, high-resolution spatial and temporal pattern of dis- ease mortality caused by Ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) that has affected Pacific oyster Crass- ostrea gigas in France every year since 2008, in relation to local farm use. Mortality was monitored in healthy oyster spat deployed at 106 locations in the Thau Mediterranean lagoon during the epi- zootic that occurred in spring 2011. We conducted a field survey of farming practices in the areas where the sentinel oysters were placed before the epizootic. We found that the risk of disease mortality in sentinel oysters was higher within the bivalve farming area than outside it, suggesting that the infection pressure is much higher in areas with intensive farming activity. The risk of mor- tality was higher in farms rearing spat, a developmental stage particularly susceptible to OsHV-1, than in farms rearing adult oysters, which are generally more resistant. Additionally, the mortality risk in farms rearing adult animals was similar to that in empty farms, which suggests that, during the study period, adult oysters did not vector the disease. Interestingly, the mortality risk for sentinel oysters deployed in mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis farms was lower than for those held in oyster farms or empty farms, suggesting that mussels reduced the infection pressure on susceptible oysters.


The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program uses visual assessments of tree crown condition to monitor changes and trends in forest health. This report describes four crown condition indicators (crown dieback, crown density, foliage transparency, and sapling crown vigor) measured in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia between 1996 and 1999. Descriptive statistics are presented by species and FIA species group. Inter- and intra-species variation, crown condition stressors, and statistical issues that should be considered when analyzing and interpreting the crown condition data are discussed.


Recent studies showed that the actin cross-linking protein, fascin, undergoes rapid cycling between filopodial filaments. Here, we used an experimental and computational approach to dissect features of fascin exchange and incorporation in filopodia. Using expression of phosphomimetic fascin mutants, we determined that fascin in the phosphorylated state is primarily freely diffusing, whereas actin bundling in filopodia is accomplished by fascin dephosphorylated at serine 39. Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching analysis revealed that fascin rapidly dissociates from filopodial filaments with a kinetic off-rate of 0.12 s(-1) and that it undergoes diffusion at moderate rates with a coefficient of 6 microm(2)s(-1). This kinetic off-rate was recapitulated in vitro, indicating that dynamic behavior is intrinsic to the fascin cross-linker. A computational reaction-diffusion model showed that reversible cross-linking is required for the delivery of fascin to growing filopodial tips at sufficient rates. Analysis of fascin bundling indicated that filopodia are semiordered bundles with one bound fascin per 25-60 actin monomers.


Diverse systems with distinctive approaches characterized the presentations in the Insect Gut Physiology and Nutrition Symposium, held during the Fourth International Conference in Africa for Comparative Physiology and Biochemistry at Mara, Kenya, in July 2008. Within the broad topic of insect nutrition, symposium talks examined the feeding behaviour and plant preference of mosquitoes, the effects of dietary levels of protein on grasshopper reproduction and longevity, and the dependence of honeybee survival on certain dietary components. Gut physiology was represented by a sophisticated study of membrane potential in the springtail, the gut as a point of infection for Sindbis virus in mosquito, and a study of the gut transcriptome and proteome of a coleopteran storage pest. A study of chemical ecology described methods currently being used in Kenya to control locust damage to crops. These presentations provided unique perspectives of insect nutrition and gut physiology as related to insect control or improved understanding of beneficial insects.


The study of deeply exhumed ancient collisional belts offers important constraints on geologic processes and properties complementary to inaccessible portions of the crustal column in active orogens. The ca. 1.8−1.7 Ga Big Sky orogeny in southwest Montana is a major convergent belt associated with the Proterozoic amalgamation of Laurentia. New structural, petrologic, and geochronologic data from the Northern Madison Range, crossing the NE-SW trend of the belt, record key information about the internal dynamics of the orogen. At least two phases of Big Sky−related deformation are preserved, both nearly coeval with peak metamorphic conditions of ∼0.9−0.8 GPa and >700 °C. Metamorphic zircon grains from a deformed mafic dike yield a weighted mean ion probe U-Pb date of 1737 ± 28 Ma (2σ). Monazite grains from a metapelite yield electron microprobe U-Th total-Pb dates of ca. 1750−1705 Ma, spanning prograde, peak, and retrograde intervals. Exposed Proterozoic paleodepths range from deeper levels (∼45−40 km; 1.2 GPa) in the northwestern end of the range to shallower levels (∼30−25 km) in the central-southeast area. The age of high-grade tectonism appears to become younger southeastward away from the core of the orogen, from ca. 1810−1780 Ma in the Highland Mountains, to ca. 1780−1750 Ma in the Ruby Range, Tobacco Root Mountains, and northwesternmost Northern Madison Range, and 1750−1720 Ma in the central Northern Madison Range. These spatial and temporal patterns of lateral growth and propagation of the orogen are similar to those observed in other collisional orogenic systems, and they may reflect multiple collision phases, protracted collision, and/or postcollisional collapse.


In an effort to better understand the role of second phase particles (SPPs) in the hydrogen uptake of zirconium alloys, four alloys and four heat treatments for each alloy were chosen to prepare specimens with different SPPs size distributions and area fractions. The hydrogen uptake performance of these specimens was investigated after autoclave testing in 400°C/10.3 MPa steam. Results show that the hydrogen uptake is not always in a strict corresponding relationship with the corrosion resistance among the specimens, but it is closely related to the size, area fraction, and compositions of the SPPs. In the case of Zry-2 and Zry-4, the hydrogen uptake fraction (HUF) increased with increasing size and area fraction of the SPPs. The dependence was more notable for the Zry-2 than the Zry-4. In the case of N36 and N18, the HUF had only a slight variation with the size and area fraction of the SPPs. No matter which heat treatment was employed, the corrosion resistance of the N18 specimens was superior to the N36 specimens, but the HUF of the former was larger than that of the latter. These results clearly demonstrate that the effect of the size and area fraction of SPPs on the hydrogen uptake depends on the SPP compositions. Pressure-composition-temperature and kinetics of absorbing and desorbing hydrogen tests were conducted on Zr(Fe,Cr)2, Zr2(Fe,Ni), Zr(Nb,Fe)2, and β-Nb alloys (which may be found as SPPs in the four zirconium alloys tested) as well as on pure zirconium. Results show that Zr(Nb,Fe)2, Zr2(Fe,Ni), and Zr(Fe,Cr)2 alloys have a stronger reversible ability for hydrogen absorption and desorption than β-Nb alloy and pure zirconium. Based on the testing results, a model correlating the hydrogen uptake performance to the reversible ability of the SPPs to absorb and desorb hydrogen is proposed. The model can successfully explain the results.


In the related musical worlds of house and techno, there is rarely a shortage of new
sounds to complement and complicate what is already a saturated archive. Across a
wide spectrum of scenes, from the adamantly underground to the unabashedly
mainstream, tracks seem to appear almost as reliably and consistently as the kick
drums that characterise the sound. Of course, much of this material has only fleeting
significance. Functional, generic 'DJ tools' circulate for a short period, before being
replaced by similarly ephemeral tracks. Attali's notion of 'repeating' comes to mind, in
which 'the minor modification of a precedent' becomes the thinly disguised
replacement of innovation (1977: 109). Yet, within this ever-expanding cultural cache,
certain tracks have managed to attain a greater longevity, forming what may
tentatively be thought of as a canonic repertoire. Here I employ the concept of canon
in Katharine Bergeron's prescriptive sense, to denote a 'locus of discipline' that
constructs standardised values and behaviours, within prescribed and internalised
networks of power (1992: 2-4). This formulation emphasises the nature of canons as
on-going, cultural processes of construction, and thus as necessary sites for reflexive
critique.


A new site containing stromatolite-bearing silicified carbonates horizons is described in the Nsuze Group within the Nkandla Basin of the Pongola Supergroup. The stromatolite-bearing carbonate units are interbedded with calcareous arenite and represent stratiform biostromes exhibiting both smooth and wrinkled laminations. Microbially-accentuated current ripples are regularly preserved upon stratiform stromatolitic substrates. The recognition of these stromatolite-bearing units in a previously undifferentiated Nsuze Group succession not only increases the area in which these accretionary, organo-sedimentary structures have been identified, but more importantly can provide the basis for regional lithostratigraphic correlation between the relatively well-defined stratigraphy of the main Pongola Basin and the more deformed and much less well-defined sequences in the structurally complex Nkandla Basin. The improved understanding of the regional stratigraphy generated by the recognition of this stromatolite-bearing marker horizon will provide a fundamental factor in deciphering the relationships of Pongola Supergroup inliers and the tectonic development of the region during the Mesoarchaean.


The research, which was given the terms of reference, "To cut the lead time for getting new products into volume production", was sponsored by a company which develops and manufactures telecommunications equipment. The research described was based on studies made of the development of two processors which were designed to control telephone exchanges in the public network. It was shown that for each of these products, which were large electronic systems containing both hardware and software, most of their lead time was taken up with development. About half of this time was consumed by activities associated with redesign resulting from changes found to be necessary after the original design had been built. Analysing the causes of design changes showed the most significant to be Design Faults. The reasons why these predominated were investigated by seeking the collective opinion from design staff and their management using a questionnaire. Using the results from these studies to build upon the works of other authors, a model of the development process of large hierarchical systems is derived. An important feature of this model is its representation of iterative loops due to design changes. In order to reduce the development time, two closely related philosophies are proposed: By spending more time at the early stages of development (detecting and remedying faults in the design) even greater savings can be made later on, The collective performance of the development organisation would be improved by increasing the amount and speed of feedback about that performance. A trial was performed to test these philosophies using readily available techniques for design verification. It showed that about an 11 per cent saving would be made on the development time and that the philosophies might be equally successfully applied to other products and techniques.


The theoretical analysis of the scattering of a beam by a spherical object centered on the propagation axis is treated exactly. For both conducting and dielectric bodies, those cases of sphere radii smaller than, equal to, and larger than that of the beam are analyzed numerically and the power radiated in the far zone is obtained. The difference between the scattering of a beam wave and that of a plane wave is discussed.


This dissertation is devoted to the study of environmental effects of agricultural production. Recent periods of high demand for agricultural products and the increase of world commodity prices result, in part, from the implementation of biofuel policies and the growth of per-capita income in developing countries. The extent to which food, feed, and fuel demands are satisfied depends on the ability of agricultural supply to react to these events. In economics, supply response models are used as the framework to analyze these types of problems in providing estimated magnitudes of the mentioned effects. The accuracy with which these magnitudes are calculated impacts the measurement of environmental effects of agricultural production, such as green-house gas emissions and land use change at a global scale, having important consequences on country-level accountings. Chapter 2 analyzes the econometric applications of the Neoclassical duality theory of the firm intended to measure the response of production quantities to price changes. We find that the use of real-world market-based data, which is typically available to practitioners but includes features that contradict some hypothesis of the theory, induces bias in the estimated supply response values. In light of these results, Chapter 3 proposes an alternative approach that overcomes the problems encountered when duality theory is applied to real-world data. This novel approach combines market-based data with information about production functions, which are simultaneously used in the econometric estimation of the supply response parameters. The methodology employs Bayesian econometric methods and bases the complementarity among the various datasets on underlined theoretical relationships. An application of this approach to U.S. agriculture provides updated measures of crop yield elasticities with respect to prices. Chapter 4 takes on the issue of direct environmental effects from agricultural production. In particular, it documents and quantifies the effects on nitrous oxide emissions from cutting nitrogen fertilizer applications when farmers face a market instrument intended to discourage the excessive use of nitrogen in soils. An expected utility maximization problem is specified where the farmer chooses the optimal nitrogen application facing a nonlinear market instrument. The nonlinearity captures the nonlinear relationship between nitrogen applications and nitrous oxide emissions and is arguably more efficient than linear schemes. Simulation results for U.S. corn show that farmers are induced to significantly reduce their fertilization (and consequently emissions) with only minor effects on expected crop yields.


We introduce the first very large detection dataset for event cameras. The dataset is composed of more than 39 hours of automotive recordings acquired with a 304x240 ATIS sensor. It contains open roads and very diverse driving scenarios, ranging from urban, highway, suburbs and countryside scenes, as well as different weather and illumination conditions. Manual bounding box annotations of cars and pedestrians contained in the recordings are also provided at a frequency between 1 and 4Hz, yielding more than 255,000 labels in total. We believe that the availability of a labeled dataset of this size will contribute to major advances in event-based vision tasks such as object detection and classification. We also expect benefits in other tasks such as optical flow, structure from motion and tracking, where for example, the large amount of data can be leveraged by self-supervised learning methods.


Educators across the country have begun to incorporate service learning into courses as varied as photography, landscape architecture, civil engineering, and philosophy. Service learning - an innovative pedagogy that takes students into the community in order to provide a needed service to organizations as well as to enhance academic learning-has witnessed a tremendous surge in popularity in recent years. Numerous disciplines have integrated service learning into their curricula, prompting academic conference sessions, an academic journal devoted to service learning, and a series of monographs (see Droge & Murphy, in press). Communication educators also have recognized that service learning and communication coursework can be a good match, offering students a chance to put communication principles into practice. For example, students in public relations courses can write news releases or public service announcements for non-profit agencies needing publicity. Students learning about communication research can conduct focus groups for a public broadcasting station. Video production students can create videos for organizations trying to attract members or raise money. Despite the "fit" between many communication courses and service learning as well as the services provided to community organizations, insufficient research has investigated student perceptions of their service learning experiences as well as actual learning outcomes. This study examined students' service learning experiences in multiple courses taught within a communication department. Service learning literature Although scholars are not in agreement on how students best learn, considerable attention in the past few decades has focused on what might be called learner-centered or learner-directed kinds of learning. such as cooperative learning, experiential learning and service learning. A common element of these pedagogies is providing students with more direct, hands-on experience with the material being learned. Although the term "service learning" is relatively new, its central tenets can be traced back to John Dewey, who strongly maintained that a primary goal of education was to help students become involved, active citizens of the democracy (see Giles & Eyler, 1994, for a discussion of the theoretical roots of service learning in Dewey). Similarly, the focus of today's service learning movement is the connection between the goals of academic learning and the goals of the community. As with many educational pedagogies, precise definitions are difficult to articulate due to the varied contexts in which they are practiced. Olney and Grande (1995) note two characteristics that commonly distinguish service learning from other forms of student involvement in the community: "(1) students engage in active reflection on their community experience, and (2) community learning is linked to academic learning" (p. 43). This study uses a definition of service learning condensed from the National Community Service and Trust Act of 1993, and adopted by American Association of Higher Education: Service learning means a method under which students learn and develop a thoughtfully organized service that: is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an institution of higher education and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility; is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students enrolled; and includes structured time for the students to reflect on the service experience. An important distinction noted by scholars between "volunteering" and established service learning programs is the potential for service learning to be more fully integrated into existing curricula. Wutzdorff and Giles (1997) viewed integration as a primary strength of institutionalized service learning and expressed optimism that "so many solid programs grow from well-intentioned volunteerism to closely integrated components of institutional curricula" (p. …


The inverse relationship between abortion and crime has spurred new research and much controversy. If the relationship is causal, then polices that increased abortion have generated enormous external benefits from reduced crime. In previous papers, I argued that evidence for a casual relationship is weak and incomplete. In this paper, I conduct a number of new analyses intended to address criticisms of my earlier work. First, I examine closely the effects of changes in abortion rates between 1971 and 1974. Changes in abortion rates during this period were dramatic, varied widely by state, had a demonstrable effect on fertility, and were more plausibly exogenous than changes in the late 1970s and early 1980s. If abortion reduced crime, crime should have fallen sharply as these post-legalization cohorts reached their late teens and early 20s, the peak ages of criminal involvement. It did not. Second, I conduct separate estimates for whites and blacks because the effect of legalized abortion on crime should have been much larger for blacks than whites, since the effect of legalization of abortion on the fertility rates of blacks was much larger. There was little race difference in the reduction in crime. Finally, I compare changes in homicide rates before and after legalization of abortion, within states, by single year of age. The analysis of older adults is compelling because they were largely unaffected by the crack-cocaine epidemic, which was a potentially important confounding factor in earlier estimates. These analyses provide little evidence that legalized abortion reduced crime.


To investigate the role of neuronal NF-κB activity in pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we generated transgenic mice with neuron-specific expression of a super-repressor form of the NF-κB inhibitor (IκBα-SR), which were then crossed with mice of both sexes, expressing ALS-linked gene mutants for TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). Remarkably, neuronal expression of IκBα-SR transgene in mice expressing TDP-43A315T or TDP-43G348C mice led to a decrease in cytoplasmic to nuclear ratio of human TDP-43. The mitigation of TDP-43 neuropathology by IκBα-SR, which is likely due to an induction of autophagy, was associated with amelioration of cognitive and motor deficits as well as reduction of motor neuron loss and gliosis. Neuronal suppression of NF-κB activity in SOD1G93A mice also resulted in neuroprotection with reduction of misfolded SOD1 levels and significant extension of life span. The results suggest that neuronal NF-κB signaling constitutes a novel therapeutic target for ALS disease and related disorders with TDP-43 proteinopathy. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This study reports that neuron-specific expression of IκB super-repressor mitigated behavioral and pathologic changes in transgenic mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis expressing mutant forms of either Tar DNA-binding protein 43 or superoxide dismutase. The results suggest that neuronal NF-κB signaling constitutes a novel therapeutic target for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and related disorders with Tar DNA-binding protein 43 proteinopathy.


Multibeam echosounders (MBES) are currently the best way to determine the bathymetry of large regions of the seabed with high accuracy. They are becoming the standard instrument for hydrographic surveying and are also used in geological studies, mineral exploration and scientific investigation of the earth's crustal deformations and life cycle. The significantly increased data density provided by an MBES has significant advantages in accurately delineating the morphology of the seabed, but comes with the attendant disadvantage of having to handle and process a much greater volume of data. Current data processing approaches typically involve (computer aided) human inspection of all data, with time‐consuming and subjective assessment of all data points. As data rates increase with each new generation of instrument and required turn‐around times decrease, manual approaches become unwieldy and automatic methods of processing essential. We propose a new method for automatically processing MBES data that attempts to address concerns of efficiency, objectivity, robustness and accuracy. The method attributes each sounding with an estimate of vertical and horizontal error, and then uses a model of information propagation to transfer information about the depth from each sounding to its local neighborhood. Embedded in the survey area are estimation nodes that aim to determine the true depth at an absolutely defined location, along with its associated uncertainty. As soon as soundings are made available, the nodes independently assimilate propagated information to form depth hypotheses which are then tracked and updated on‐line as more data is gathered. Consequently, we can extract at any time a "current‐best" estimate for all nodes, plus co‐located uncertainties and other metrics. The method can assimilate data from multiple surveys, multiple instruments or repeated passes of the same instrument in real‐time as data is being gathered. The data assimilation scheme is sufficiently robust to deal with typical survey echosounder errors. Robustness is improved by pre‐conditioning the data, and allowing the depth model to be incrementally defined. A model monitoring scheme ensures that inconsistent data are maintained as separate but internally consistent depth hypotheses. A disambiguation of these competing hypotheses is only carried out when required by the user. The algorithm has a low memory footprint, runs faster than data can currently be gathered, and is suitable for real‐time use. We call this algorithm CUBE (Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetry Estimator). We illustrate CUBE on two data sets gathered in shallow water with different instruments and for different purposes. We show that the algorithm is robust to even gross failure modes, and reliably processes the vast majority of the data. In both cases, we confirm that the estimates made by CUBE are statistically similar to those generated by hand.


In the literature on Somali grammar the exponents of gender and number have been given much attention, while the declensional system has passed almost entirely unnoticed. There are two main reasons for this gap: the use of the inadequate traditional techniques of description and the failure to examine the whole range of accentual patterns in Somali nouns. The aim of this thesis, which is a result of over twelve years of research into the language, is to fill the gap in the present knowledge of Somali by providing formulations concerning the nature of Somali declensions, and by describing their exponents and distribution. Moreover, the use of a special descriptive framework is demonstrated in the handling of the data. Although this framework has been developed ad hoc to suit the descriptive needs of the language and has been used here for the first time, the methodological approach is not entirely new and has been used by Kenneth L, Pike, Charles C, Pries and the three authors of the Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary. The exponents of Somali declensions consist of inflectional characteristics and/or accentual patterns which are composed of sequences of various types of tone and stress. The distribution of the exponents is determined by the position of a particular noun form in the sentence, with respect both to its place in the word order and to its grammatical interdependence with other words. The relevant positions of noun forms are first classified (in Part II), and then (in Parts III and IV) a detailed description of the declensional exponents in each position is given, together with examples taken from spontaneous speech. In the conclusion, comparison is made between the grammatical characteristics of noun forms and nominal clusters (extended nouns) and it is shown that nominal clusters have features parallel to the declensional features of nouns. As yet Somali has no official orthography. Brief notes- on the method of transcription used in the thesis are given in an Appendix.


Abstract We show that a classical model for soccer can also provide competitive results in predicting basketball outcomes. We modify the classical model in two ways in order to capture both the specific behavior of each National collegiate athletic association (NCAA) conference and different strategies of teams and conferences. Through simulated bets on six online betting houses, we show that this extension leads to better predictive performance in terms of profit we make. We compare our estimates with the probabilities predicted by the winner of the recent Kaggle competition on the 2014 NCAA tournament, and conclude that our model tends to provide results that differ more from the implicit probabilities of the betting houses and, therefore, has the potential to provide higher benefits.


Overlay networks form the core part of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications such as application-level multicast, content distribution and media streaming. To ease development, middleware solutions and toolkit libraries have been proposed in the past to help with the implementation of overlay networks. Existing solutions, however, are either too generic by only providing low-level communication abstractions, requiring developers to implement algorithms for overlay networks from scratch, or too restrictive by only supporting a particular overlay topology with fixed properties. In this paper, we argue that it is possible to find a middle ground between these two extremes.
 We describe Hyphen, a middleware for overlay construction and maintenance that supports a range of overlay topologies with custom properties, and show how it can replace topology construction for a variety of application-level multicast systems. Unlike previous efforts, Hyphen can construct and maintain a range of overlay topologies such as trees and forests with specific optimisation goals such as low latency or high bandwidth. By using a gossip-based mechanism to define topologies implicitly, Hyphen can scale to many peers and achieve low construction overhead. Our experimental evaluation with Bullet and Splitstream, two P2P streaming systems, shows that Hyphen can construct a bandwidth-optimised tree for Bullet that achieves a higher streaming rate than the original Bullet implementation, and that it can construct a more reliable forest for Splitstream by taking individual peer reliability into account.


Adoption of non-traditional data sources to augment or replace traditional survey vehicles can reduce respondent burden, provide more timely information for policy makers, and gain insights into the society that may otherwise be hidden or missed through traditional survey vehicles. The use of non-traditional data sources imposes several technological challenges due to the volume, velocity and quality of the data. The lack of applied industry-standard data format is a limiting factor which affects the reception, processing and analysis of these data sources. The adoption of a standardized, cross-language, in-memory data format that is organized for efficient analytic operations on modern hardware as a system of record for all administrative data sources has several implications:

Enables the efficient use of computational resources related to I/O, processing and storage.
Improves data sharing, management and governance capabilities.
Increases analyst accessibility to tools, technologies and methods.

Statistics Canada developed a framework for selecting computing architecture models for efficient data processing based on benchmark data pipelines representative of common administrative data processes. The data pipelines demonstrate the benefits of a standardized data format for data management, and the efficient use of computational resources. The data pipelines define the preprocessing requirements, data ingestion, data conversion, and metadata modeling, for integration into a common computing architecture. The integration of a standardized data format into a distributed data processing framework based on container technologies is discussed as a general technique to process large volumes of administrative data.


Mature coconut water (MCW) is a waste product from the coconut milk industry. It is sour and unpalatable, yet it contains sufficient nutrients for microbial growth.

 Four Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), namely L. acidophilus B0258, L. brevis VM1, L. casei B0189, and L. plantarum B0103 were used to ferment MCW over 120 h. Among these LAB strains, only L. casei was capable to grow well with the highest viable bacteria count of 1 x 1011 colony forming unit (cfu)/ml. Although all LAB produced α-aminobutyric acid (GABA) after fermentation, L. acidophilus and L. plantarum produced the highest amount of GABA with the increment of 35.4%±7.9 and 38.9%±1.7, respectively. Other amino acid profiles of fermented MCW were also investigated, but most of them were consumed by the LAB. Both L. acidophilus and L. plantarum utilized the most essential amino acids. Within the first 24 h, GABA content was enhanced in all LAB strains when they were actively growing.

 This study showed that both L. acidophilus and L. plantarum have great potentials to increase GABA content in MCW. Fermented coconut water can be formulated as a healthy functional drink as GABA is known to have therapeutic value in alleviating stress as reported by past research findings.


There is no universal theory, methodology, or definition of transdisciplinarity (TD). Nevertheless, keywords reveal similarities and differences across explanations. This overview tracks five major clusters of meaning: (a) meta-level conceptions of interdisciplinarity, (b) the changing nature and status of unity in the discourse of TD, (c) new alignments with participatory and collaborative problem-oriented research, (d) the forms of knowledge that TD engages, and (e) a transgressive imperative that interrogates the existing structure of knowledge, culture, and education. These categories of meaning are not air-tight. However, with widening use of the core word "transdisciplinarity," it is important to be alert to these patterns and their underlying values and priorities.


In the midst of the international development agenda, two concepts have recently emerged, transparency and accountability. These concepts represent ideas, which have shaped the current direction in which development has been managed. Recent international agreements and partnerships, including the Paris Declaration for Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action, have mentioned transparency and accountability as principles that may create greater aid effectiveness. In a time of austerity, development aid has come under pressure to create results. Transparency and accountability are concepts that may allow for an efficient use of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA). Large donors of ODA shape the development agenda. Yet, many developed nations face questions from citizens regarding finances. The European Union (EU) has provided an example of integration and coherence within development policies. EU Member States and the EU are large donors of ODA. However, the austerity measures have caused a need to reexamine the way in which development aid is spent. Transparent and accountable policies may create effectiveness and efficiency within the deliverance of ODA. By examining the EU and EU Member States, the relevance of transparency and accountability may be understood. This thesis attempts to divulge the complex relationships between transparency, accountability, co-operation and the EU. Furthermore, primary data has been collected on the levels of transparency and accountability within the EU and EU Member States. The role of co-operation and partnership for these actors provides a greater understanding of the perspectives towards development aid. Transparency and accountability may allow for responsibility and trust to occur within co-operative efforts in implementing development aid. The relevance, purpose, and operationalisation of the concepts are central to this research.


Andrei Ivanov (b. 1971) is the most well known Estonian Russianlanguage writer who has won many literary awards in Estonia and Russia. His prose and position in the literary field of Estonia has initiated the discussion about the exact definition of Estonian literature and the status of the Estonian Russian-language literature. Due to Ivanov's prose, the world of Estonian Russians has become more visible for the Estonian audience. He also gives a piercing look into the modern society and offers a different perspective on the world; these are some of the reasons of his popularity. The article focuses on the analysis of the reception of Ivanov's prose published in Estonian. The vast majority of Ivanov's prose has been translated into Estonian: Путешествие Ханумана на Лолланд , Харбинские мотыльки , Бизар , Исповедь лунатика , Горсть праха , Печатный шар Расмуса Хансена , Мой датский дядюшка and Зола . The author has entered the Estonian cultural field through translations, it may be said that he has been found in translations. Ivanov's books are bestsellers and widely discussed in newspapers, blogs and in the literary magazines. The position of Estonian Russian literature has shifted from the periphery into the spotlight and the works by Ivanov have played a decisive role in that process. The article focuses on the analysis of the reception of Ivanov's prose published in Estonian. The articles published in the Estonian language and concentrating on his prose (both in newspapers and in the literary magazines) are under observation. What topics have been discussed? Which aspects of Ivanov's prose have attracted the attention of the critics?


An extract of the filamentous fungus Bionectria sp. (MSX 47401) showed both promising cytotoxic activity (>90% inhibition of H460 cell growth at 20 μg/mL) and antibacterial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A bioactivity-directed fractionation study yielded one new peptaibol (1) and one new tetramic acid derivative (2), and the fungus biosynthesized diverse secondary metabolites with mannose-derived units. Five known compounds were also isolated: clonostachin (3), virgineone (4), virgineone aglycone (5), AGI-7 (6), and 5,6-dihydroxybisabolol (7). Compounds 5 and 7 have not been described previously from natural sources. Compound 1 represents the second member of the peptaibol structural class that contains an ester-linked sugar alcohol (mannitol) instead of an amide-linked amino alcohol, and peptaibols and tetramic acid derivatives have not been isolated previously from the same fungus. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated primarily by high-field NMR (950 and 700 MHz), HRESIMS/MS, and chemical degradations (Marfey's analysis). All compounds (except 6) were examined for antibacterial and antifungal activities. Compounds 2, 4, and 5 showed antimicrobial activity against S. aureus and several MRSA isolates.


Virginia Commonwealth University Decision making for U.S. national security is not a static process. Presidents adjust their decision-making structures from time to time when they perceive that the standard interagency procedures no longer serve their political purposes. This article identifies a distinct pattern in the evolution of national security decision structures over time by examining Carter, Reagan, and G. H. W. Bush decision making on nuclear strategy and arms control Similarities in each administration's structural changes stem from institutional and political pressures. The difference, in the shape of those changes have their origin in the idiosyncratic leadership styles of each president. Decision making for national security is not a static process in which committee responsibilities and procedural protocols that are established during the transition function in the standard mode throughout the tenure of an administration. Presidents adjust their decision-making structures from time to time when they perceive that the standard interagency procedures no longer serve their political purposes. An earlier study of this notion examined the reasons why presidents make these adjustments (Newmann 2001). This article follows from that premise. It considers the nature of these changes by identifying the patterns within those changes and examining the causes of similarities and differences in the evolution of the structure of the presidential advisory processes in several administrations. Structure is defined as the relationships between the senior advisors and the relationships between those advisors and the president. Two basic schools of thought define the literature on presidential decision making. An institutional approach that encompasses the governmental politics school (organizational process and bureaucratic politics models) and the new institutionalism school suggests that the nature of decision making in any administration is essentially the same. Therefore, adjustments made within one administration should resemble those made within other administrations. The idiosyncratic approach, found in presidential management models, argues the contrary: the personal leadership style of each president is the key variable in decision making. Modifications in decision-making structures from administration to administration would also be unique products of particular presidents. This article argues that viewing these schools as mutually exclusive is an obstacle to understanding presidential decision making. An examination of the evolution in decision-making structures from administration to administration reveals much that is similar and much that is different. The similarities stem from the dynamics described in the institutional approach. The differences arise from the leadership styles of each president as illustrated within the idiosyncratic models. As a result of institutional pressures, the structure of national security decision making follows a distinct pattern of evolution over the first term of any presidential administration. Each administration begins with a standard National Security Council-based interagency process. Decision making then evolves in a predictable manner. Presidents will eventually use three concurrent structures to make decisions: a formal structure (the standard interagency process); an informal structure, in which the senior advisers meet with and without the president on a regular basis outside the interagency process; and a confidence structure, in which the president relies on one or two select advisers. The latter two are added to the decision-making mix after the administration has been in office for a time. However, the origins, use, and interactions between these structures are dependent on the leadership style of the president and will vary from administration to administration; different presidents come to rely on different structures. These ideas, particularly the notion of changes in decision making over time, will be considered by following the policy process of three case studies over an extended period of time: the Carter administration and Presidential Directive 59; the Reagan administration and the Build-Down proposal within the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START); and the G. …


Metal wrap through (MWT) cells and modules offer technology that combines a front junction cell with an all back contact module interconnection offering potential for higher efficiency, improved cost to power ratio, lower electrical cell to module losses, and improved module aesthetics. For the best conversion efficiency, isolation of the vias for the emitter contacts is key to reduce shunting pathways. However, in reverse bias conditions, the vias are also a controlled current pathway for homogenous dissipation of heat, offering new design opportunities for diode free, shade tolerant modules. We have developed a process for via isolation in high efficiency n-MWT cells where the behavior under reverse bias can be tuned with little impact on illuminated I-V curve and efficiency. We find that after the first exposure to reverse bias, the efficiency of these cells stabilizes and further reverse bias soaking or testing has little impact on performance. Further, these cells were processed into single cell laminates for simulated hot spot testing. The laminates with the highest reverse current performed best under all shading conditions (20%100%) and were in fact the only laminates that survived all shading conditions without breakage, hot spot development, or significant conversion efficiency reduction.


Crystalline silicon is the most used semiconductor material for solar cell applications accounting for more than 90% of the market share. Nowadays, multicrystalline andmonocrystalline silicon are mainly produced from directional solidification and Czochralski method, respectively. Solar cells made of these two types of material have shown efficiencies below the theoretical limit due to the presence of impurities in the silicon feedstock, challenges during the solidification process and issues in the different solar cell flowchart steps. This book chapter focuses on the solidification of the silicon photovoltaic value chain and corresponding growth technologies. A detailed description of the directional solidification and Czochralski method apparatus is initially presented. The several types of defects generated during the solidification aswell as the source of impurities incorporation into the ingots are described in detail. Among different defects, dislocations and grain boundaries are presented for directional solidification and voids and oxygen-related defects for the Czochralski method. At the end, alternative methods to grow silicon substrates from both liquid and gaseous phase at lower cost andmoderate qualities compared to standard processes are presented. These methods are still not considered to be costeffective compared to more traditional ones due to the higher defect density.


This article contends that for socialist emancipation to occur it is crucial to investigate how political cadres conceal, regulate or displace the demands of citizens and workers in the context of the calamitous effects of global capitalism. Analyzing the constitutive relationship between politics and the media is an essential component in researching those practices of state ideological production. Specifically looking into the transformation of media policy in the case of Argentina, this article problematizes the different political forms through which the state has cloaked its fundamental contradiction: alleged representation of the general interests of citizens, when explored in critical depth, reveals the state's actual adjustment to a process of capitalist transnationalization that increases irrationality, social inequality and misery. Through this lens, the article emphasizes the value of Marxist dialectic method and theory in imagining a true democratic future.


The spin axis of a rotationally deformed planet is forced to precess about its orbital angular momentum vector, due to the tidal gravity of its host star, if these directions are misaligned. This induces internal fluid motions inside the planet that are subject to a hydrodynamic instability. We study the turbulent damping of precessional fluid motions, as a result of this instability, in the simplest local computational model of a giant planet (or star), with and without a weak internal magnetic field. Our aim is to determine the outcome of this instability, and its importance in driving tidal evolution of the spin–orbit angle in precessing planets (and stars). We find that this instability produces turbulent dissipation that is sufficiently strong that it could drive significant tidal evolution of the spin–orbit angle for hot Jupiters with orbital periods shorter than about 10–18 d. If this mechanism acts in isolation, this evolution would be towards alignment or anti-alignment, depending on the initial angle, but the ultimate evolution (if other tidal mechanisms also contribute) is expected to be towards alignment. The turbulent dissipation is proportional to the cube of the precession frequency, so it leads to much slower damping of stellar spin–orbit angles, implying that this instability is unlikely to drive evolution of the spin–orbit angle in stars (either in planetary or close binary systems). We also find that the instability-driven flow can act as a system-scale dynamo, which may play a role in producing magnetic fields in short-period planets.


Summary Reunification or post-adoption contact between adoptees, birth families, and other adoption stakeholders has become a normalized developmental trajectory, yet the process of seeking contact after adoption placement varies greatly depending on numerous factors including access to original birth certificates, openness of the adoption, and systemic and institutional challenges that may aid or hinder contact. In this study, 101 post-adoption search facilitators responded to an online survey comprised of scale items and open-ended responses. Findings Respondents reported that most had no formal education or training to prepare them to assist with searches, they were primarily self-taught and utilized workshops and conferences as a secondary source of preparation, and only about one-quarter required counseling as part of the search process. Findings also indicated that formal education was rated as not helpful and office training (for those who had it) as neutral in its helpfulness. The primary theme identified in the data was that search facilitators must recognize emotions, particularly the grief and loss, associated with the search process to be effective. Applications Social work educators can prepare social work practitioners to effectively assist with post-adoption searches and reunions for adoptees and first/birth parents. Best practice will include training social workers to anticipate both the logistical and emotional needs of searchers.


Helps you become certified for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager V5.3 Includes certification path examples and tips for test questions Contains hands-on lab and sample test This IBM Redbook is a study guide for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Version 5.3 and is meant for those who want to achieve IBM Certifications for this specific product. The IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Certification, offered through the Professional Certification Program from IBM, is designed to validate the skills required of technical professionals who work in the implementation of the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Version 5.3 product. This book provides a combination of theory and practical experience needed for a general understanding of the subject matter. It also provides sample questions that will help in the evaluation of personal progress and provide familiarity with the types of questions that will be encountered in the exam. This publication does not replace practical experience, nor is it designed to be a stand-alone guide for any subject. Instead, it is an effective tool which, when combined with education activities and experience, can be a very useful preparation guide for the exam.


This thesis elucidates the heterogeneous nature of mathematical skills by examining numerical and arithmetical abilities in typical, atypical and exceptional populations. Moreover, it looks at the benefits of intervention for remediating and improving mathematical skills. First, we establish the nature of the 'number sense' and assess its contribution to typical and atypical arithmetical development. We confirmed that representing and manipulating numerosities approximately is fundamentally different from the ability to manipulate them exactly. Yet only the exact manipulation of numbers seems to be crucial for the development of arithmetic. These results lead to a better characterization of mathematical disabilities such as Developmental Dyscalculia and Low Numeracy. In the latter population we also investigated more general cognitive functions demonstrating how inhibition processes of working memory and stimulusmaterial interacted with arithmetical attainment. Furthermore, we examined areas of mathematics that are often difficult to grasp: the representation and processing of rational numbers. Using explicit mapping tasks we demonstrated that well-educated adults, but also typically developing 10 year olds and children with low numeracy have a comprehensive understanding of these types of numbers. We also investigated exceptional maths abilities in a population of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrating that this condition is characterized by outstanding arithmetical skills and sophisticated calculation strategies, which are reflected in a fundamentally different pattern of brain activation. Ultimately we looked at remediation and learning. Targeted behavioural intervention was beneficial for children with low numeracy but not in Developmental Dyscalculia. Finally, we demonstrated that adults' numerical performance can be enhanced by neural stimulation (tDCS) to dedicated areas of the brain. This work sheds light on the entire spectrum of mathematical skills from atypical to exceptional development and it is extremely relevant for the advancing of the field of mathematical cognition and the prospects of diagnosis, education and intervention.


In a tourney with 76 players including 15 masters, Hitech won the Pennsylvania State Chess Championship. It scored 4.5 points out of 5, and ended in a four-way tie for first place. However, the tie-breaking system was decisively in favor of Hitech, since it had played the strongest opponents. Hitech's performance rating for the event was 2559, which is a very high Senior Master rating.


This work was about the factors influencing consumer patronage for bar services by consumers in Kisii Town's Central Business District. The ever changing and competitive nature of bar services has led to flourishing of some bars and closure of others that are unable to cope with the competition in Kisii town's CBD. The main objective of the study was to identify and analyze the factors that influence consumer patronage for a bar. Other objectives included: ranking the identified factors in order of their importance, determining the categories of consumers who frequent the bars and to find out the services that the bars provided.  This was a survey study of bars within the Kisii town's CBD. In order to achieve the study objectives, a sample of a hundred respondents in ten bars was selected. Systematic sampling was used in selecting the ten bars. Convenient sampling was used to draw 40% respondents from each target consumers of each bar. A sample of seven consumers was picked using the random sampling method from each bar while purposive sampling was used to pick, a manager, a bar maid and a cashier from each bar to represent the management respondents. Data was collected by administering a structural questionnaire to the bar consumers and the bar owners during repeated visits to each bar over the period of study. Assistants were incorporated in data collection procedure. They presented copies of the questionnaire to consumers to complete a few minutes after entry of consumers into the bars.  The project incorporated descriptive data analysis tools and the Likert scale was used to determine the weight of each factor influencing consumer patronage. The research's main findings reflected that, patronage status exist in bars in Kisii  town's CBD, many of the bars offered variety services and beer taking was the most commonly service sought for by consumers. The research revealed that there were six categories of consumers for bar services thus, the Government, private company, college students, self-employed, unemployed and the professional categories. The professional category formed the highest number of consumers, and then followed by the Government category, college student category, self-employed category, private company category and the unemployed category in that order. The researcher recommends that Bar entrepreneurs should provide varieties of services in their business premises in order to retain consumers and the bar industry should come up with niche premises to cater for the different categories of consumer groups. The report's findings and recommendations would be used to help bar owners in identifying consumer's patronage for a bar and furnish them with knowledge of consumer expectations. The research would also aid bar owners who would want to increase their sales through consumer retention strategies and would be used to strategize on how to modify the bar image that shall appeal to consumer's taste, gain patrons and improve the bar industry. KEY WORDS: Consumer behavior, Service Points, Customer Patronage


This paper shows how uncertainty undermines collaborative transboundary groundwater management. Focusing on the Santa Cruz Aquifer, spanning the United States–Mexico border between Arizona and Sonora, the authors describe the uncertainties within the aquifer using interviews and hydrologic studies. We discuss how data requirements and ambiguous interpretations exacerbate these uncertainties, and explain how each country's water-management culture combines with this uncertainty to create contrasting views on groundwater availability and abstraction impacts. As a result, water managers in both countries predict different impacts from pumping and recharge, and each uses that information discursively to support unilateral policies rather than to promote collaborative management.


Biomechanical dynamics simulations facilitate the investigation of fundamental principles and concepts in human motions. The simulation results help to explain experimentally observed phenomena and reveal underlying mechanisms. Due to unavoidable restrictions in biomechanical measurements and the determination of personalized model parameters, the simulation results always lie within a specific range of possible solutions. Since these uncertainties can have a significant influence on derived scientific conclusions and clinical decisions, this thesis provides a systematic uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of the common inverse dynamics simulation to assess uncertainty propagation and the contribution of individual uncertainty sources in the estimation of joint torques resulting from particular human motions.

The analysis evaluates uncertainties and sensitivities in selected joint torque estimates of the lower limbs for three motion tasks performed by a female and male subject. It follows the procedure of the inverse dynamics simulation including the acquisition of biomechanical measurements, estimation of model parameters and realization of dynamics simulations with a parallel assessment of uncertainty propagation and apportionment. This approach ensures a systematic and consecutive evaluation of uncertainty and sensitivity with respect to the sequential nature of the procedure and existing dependencies between the involved uncertainty sources. The human locomotor system is modeled as a three-dimensional multibody system implemented within an efficient multibody systems library. The analysis employs a global method based on Monte Carlo simulations in combination with a quasi-random sampling strategy in order to explore the whole input space and consider nonlinearities in the biomechanical model. Potential correlations among the uncertain simulation inputs and model parameters are considered.

The biomechanical measurements that form the basis for the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis comprise motion capture data and force plate measurements with an instrumented treadmill for the considered motion tasks. Associated uncertainties caused by variations in anatomic landmark identification, soft tissue artifacts, motion capture and force plate measurements are quantified and modeled by experimental investigations with the actual subjects and measurements systems or by suitable computational models described in literature. The variances in parameters of two comprehensive regression models for joint center estimation and one widely used regression model for anthropometric parameter estimation in female and male subjects are assessed and modeled based on the found uncertainties for biomechanical measurements as well as additional statistical properties from literature. For the anthropometric parameter estimation, a revised set of regression parameters is derived from the obtained results. The impact of the identified uncertainties on estimated anthropometric parameters is investigated in an exemplary sensitivity analysis. With incorporating the previously determined models for the individual uncertainty sources, the uncertainty propagation and apportionment in the actual inverse dynamics simulation are evaluated and discussed for a walking, running and kicking a ball motion performed by both subjects.

The identified uncertainties at the individual levels of the inverse dynamics simulation allow to evaluate the credibility and accuracy in this and similar biomechanical simulations, while the corresponding sensitivities identify uncertainty sources with particularly high influence on the simulation results. These results give an indication of the expectable validity in biomechanical dynamics simulations, but also allow to enhance the quality of biomechanical studies by specifically approaching the identified problems.

In addition to the uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, complementary research topics regarding a user-centered design methodology for active prosthetic and orthotic devices based on biomechanical simulations of human motions are investigated and presented. A particular focus is put on the analysis and implementation of serial elastic actuator concepts that ensure inherent safety and energy efficiency as well as the development of a personalized audio-visual simulation with respect to relevant psychological factors.


This letter considers the effect of channel estimation errors on the performance of space-time coded (STC) systems with transmit and receive antenna selection over quasi-static flat fading channels. By performing pairwise error probability analysis and presenting numerical examples, we show that the diversity order achieved with perfect channel state information (CSI) is still achievable with imperfect CSI used both at the antenna selection and the space-time decoding processes. We note that our results apply to general STC systems with both transmit and/or receive antenna selection based on largest received powers which can be estimated by any channel estimator.


This digital image was taken by a member of the Memphis Art Project team during fall 2017. It was uploaded to DLynx during fall 2017 in the Visual Resources Center.


Abstract. The Regional Antarctic ice and Global Ocean (RAnGO) model has been developed to study the interaction between the world ocean and the Antarctic ice sheet. The coupled model is based on a global implementation of the Finite Element Sea-ice Ocean Model (FESOM) with a mesh refinement in the Southern Ocean, particularly in its marginal seas and in the sub-ice-shelf cavities. The cryosphere is represented by a regional setup of the ice flow model RIMBAY comprising the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf and the grounded ice in its catchment area up to the ice divides. At the base of the RIMBAY ice shelf, melt rates from FESOM's ice-shelf component are supplied. RIMBAY returns ice thickness and the position of the grounding line. The ocean model uses a pre-computed mesh to allow for an easy adjustment of the model domain to a varying cavity geometry. RAnGO simulations with a 20th-century climate forcing yield realistic basal melt rates and a quasi-stable grounding line position close to the presently observed state. In a centennial-scale warm-water-inflow scenario, the model suggests a substantial thinning of the ice shelf and a local retreat of the grounding line. The potentially negative feedback from ice-shelf thinning through a rising in situ freezing temperature is more than outweighed by the increasing water column thickness in the deepest parts of the cavity. Compared to a control simulation with fixed ice-shelf geometry, the coupled model thus yields a slightly stronger increase in ice-shelf basal melt rates.


YouTube started as a social media tool, but is now evolving into a marketing communications tool. The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of YouTube as a tourism-marketing tool from the viewpoint of tourism organizations and tourists. Developing its theoretical base from the perspective on how tourists recognize images, a review of 320 European tourism videos on YouTube concluded that many organizations failed to understand that media produced for traditional marketing outlets (TV, cinema) cannot be transferred directly to YouTube. The study also highlighted the growing power of the individual consumer in tourism marketing, as reflected in the dominance of tourism videos produced by real tourists rather than by official tourism organizations. The study concluded that while YouTube was useful as a promotional/ communications tool, more research is required to understand how the YouTube generation filter, select and use tourism information in their trip planning. The


Today, the Kurds factor significantly both as a key to some of the most critical conflicts in the Middle East and also as citizens of the world interacting with a highly global, highly interconnected reality. Despite their importance, we lack a nuanced understanding of the complex and multi-layered cultural context of the Kurds that impacts the socio-political factors inside Iraqi Kurdistan. The deeply entrenched political rhetoric of the hegemonic Kurdish nationalist narrative in Iraqi Kurdistan has served to homogenize the idea of what the Kurdish "nation" is, to whitewash deep social, economic and political concerns inside Iraqi Kurdistan and to marginalize those voices that resist nationalist ideals. Utilizing the work of Kurdish artists as well as arts-based perspectives, this study goes beyond the political rhetoric of Kurdish nationalism to understand meaning making within this cultural context and how meaning translates into ideas and behaviors, potentially, producing moments of conflict. This is a study about the place of culture in conflict and conflict analysis and the intersection of the arts and activism, particularly as art creates a space for resistance and a pathway for one group of Kurdish artists in Iraqi Kurdistan to transform a peoples' understanding of politics and their relationship to the world around them. Critically considering the production of artwork, and the linkages between contemporary Iraqi Kurdish visual and conceptual art, as a historically particular phenomenon, this research demonstrates the struggle of a people to transform historical relationships of power and to develop a culture of Just Peace to include being able to effectively shape their society's architecture, including institutions, policies and organizations that support its function.


South Asia, which consists of eight states of different sizes and capabilities, is characterized by high levels of insecurity at the inter-state, intra-state, and human level: insecurity that is manifest in both traditional and non-traditional security problems-especially transnational terrorism fuelled by militant religious ideologies. To explain what has caused and contributed to the perpetual insecurity and human suffering in the region, this book engages scholars of international relations, comparative politics, historical sociology, and economic development, among others, to reveal and analyze the key underlying and proximate drivers. It argues that the problems are driven largely by two critical variables: the presence of weak states and weak cooperative interstate norms. Based on this analysis and the conclusions drawn, the book recommends specific policies for making the region secure and for developing the long lasting inter- and intra-state cooperative mechanisms necessary for the perpetuation of that security.


Censorship-circumvention tools are in an arms race against censors. The censors study all traffic passing into and out of their controlled sphere, and try to disable censorship-circumvention tools without completely shutting down the Internet. Tools aim to shape their traffic patterns to match unblocked programs, so that simple traffic profiling cannot identify the tools within a reasonable number of traces; the censors respond by deploying firewalls with increasingly sophisticated deep-packet inspection. Cryptography hides patterns in user data but does not evade censorship if the censor can recognize patterns in the cryptography itself. In particular, elliptic-curve cryptography often transmits points on known elliptic curves, and those points are easily distinguishable from uniform random strings of bits. This paper introduces high-security high-speed elliptic-curve systems in which elliptic-curve points are encoded so as to be indistinguishable from uniform random strings. At a lower level, this paper introduces a new bijection between strings and about half of all curve points; this bijection is applicable to every odd-characteristic elliptic curve with a point of order 2, except for curves of $j$-invariant 1728. This paper also presents guidelines to construct, and two examples of, secure curves suitable for these encodings.


High performance computer systems, including those used for instrumentation, measurement, and advanced processing require high reliability, high quality complex integrated circuits (ICs) to ensure the accuracy of analytical data they process. Microprocessors and other complex ICs (i.e. GPGPU) are predominantly considered the important components within these systems. They are susceptible to electrical, mechanical and thermal modes of failure like other components on a printed circuit boards, but due to their complexity and roles within a circuit, performance-based failure can be considered an even larger concern. Stability of device parameters is key to guarantee a system will function according to its design. Modifications to operational parameters of these devices through overor under-clocking can either reduce or improve overall reliability, respectively, and furthermore directly affect the lifetime of the system which it is installed in. The ability to analyze and understand the impact that specific operating parameters have on device reliability is necessary to mitigate risk of system degradation, which will affect bus speeds, memory access, data retrieval, and even cause early failure of that system or critical components within it. An accurate mathematical approach which utilizes semiconductor formulae, industry accepted failure mechanism models, Physics-of-Failure (PoF) knowledge and more importantly, device functionality has been devised to access reliability of those integrated circuits vital to system reliability.