Researchers have defined a number of process modeling methods and have developed in-roads to process centered environments that support process modeling and project control. However, there is little research that incorporates variability of the human condition into process modeling. The negative effects of numerous variables on the quality of human situation assessment and decision making can be as detrimental to expected results as any catastrophic failure. The research documented in the paper proposes a model for situation assessment, and derives a taxonomy of individual, task, environmental, and organizational attributes that can affect situation assessment and decision making. The model and attributes are integrated with a state based process modeling paradigm. The MultiGraph Architecture, Vanderbilt University's model integrated computing environment, was used quickly and cost effectively to generate a graphical process modeling environment that accounts for situation assessment and decision making.


Like its neighbouring countries, Oman has witnessed an extraordinary social and economic development over the past few decades. This was mainly one sided socio-economic development dependent on the oil sector and the government has continuously strived to draw a balance between exploitation of its natural resources, and the development program which indicates an early courtesy towards sustainability and environmental protection. The pressure towards massive investment in development and economic progress was nevertheless higher and determined to a large extent its success in maintaining this equilibrium. As such, one has to address this important issue within the framework of urban sustainability. The essence of this thesis contribution to knowledge lies around the dissection of the decision making process around urban planning and development in Oman during the past forty years (through problem and process analysis) and how it may be directed towards a more sustainable urban future. The aims of this research are: to develop a comprehensive understanding of the history of urban development in Oman since 1970, and to provide insights into the decision making processes which have occurred during this period; to develop an understanding of contemporary decision making processes in urban planning, including an understanding of decision makers and citizens attitudes towards urban sustainability; to identify problems and successes in these areas; and to develop an improved strategy for urban planning that will provide an effective and equitable sustainable urban future.

The study has progressed in a sequence of phases: identifying the main dimensions of urban sustainability that are relevant for this study; mapping out the history of urban development planning, including its main objectives, policies, urban development milestones and challenges; carrying out the research using a triangulated methodology approach that consists of: historical analysis of milestones and projects within the development of town planning in Oman over the past forty years, semi-structured interviews of decision makers, and the assessment of behaviour and attitudes of the general public towards sustainability through the use of focus groups and questionnaires. This has revolved around a few case studies of existing districts from Muscat, the capital of Oman.

The framework for this study consisted of 16 urban sustainability dimensions (USDs), which can be looked at as the agenda for any serious review of urban sustainability specific to Oman. The problem analysis phase produced a list of problems, challenges, constraints and drivers that can be utilized in addressing the progress of urban development and how it may be enhanced in the future. It was evident that throughout the early years of development, and up to 1995, Oman has undertaken serious strategy development across various disciplines within urban development. As a result of the process analysis phase, there is an apparent gap between strategy development and implementation, and this research identified 14 strategy shortcomings and 24 implementation shortcomings. As an outcome of this analysis, the research identifies a comprehensive list of recommendations against each urban sustainability dimension and this should aid any consultant that aims to develop future urban planning strategies, and the professionals entrusted with implementation of such strategies. It is not surprising that focus should be cast on land use, urban planning and urban transport. The plot distribution system in Oman has driven our cities to the shape they are in today, and has affected other elements of the city in this route, such as transport corridors, urban design and urban quality. The lack of a meaningful urban development management at a city scale contributes to this dilemma, but there are solutions to overcome this that should be looked at.

This research could be carried forward by translating these urban sustainability dimensions into indicators which will be able to measure progress and success against the government actions and other initiatives addressing sustainability. In addition, the product analysis phase that would involve case studies within Muscat as a city could be undertaken to identify the association of the outcome with the strategies developed and their implementation. In addition, the results within this research could be tested against the current progress and development of Oman National Spatial Strategy, under development since 2008. The qualitative analysis in this research would be enhanced by conducting quantitative analysis into the decision making process and to measure the gap behind strategy and implementation.


This Article examines how best to enforce wage and hour laws in an economy no longer characterized by vertically integrated production. In recent decades, responding to the globalization of product and labor markets, major firms have extended their supply chains and subcontracted many tasks that do not require skilled labor. As a result, much production now takes place through chains or networks of independent firms, with multiple contractual intermediaries between unskilled workers and the companies who benefit from their labor. Such workers frequently experience wage-and-hour violations, or what the U.S. Government Accountability Office recently called "wage theft." The federal Fair Labor Standards Act responded to such challenges by defining many firms as "joint employers" of their contractors' workers, and holding them liable for their contractors' violations. Scholars have generally endorsed that approach, even as they've criticized courts' implementation efforts.In contrast, this Article argues that simply liberalizing tests for joint employer liability is unlikely to significantly enhance wage and hour compliance. Such a strategy creates few incentives for firms to exercise their power over far-flung suppliers, and is inconsistent with common social and economic conceptions of employment. The Article therefore proposes a new regime, one holding firms to a duty of reasonable care to prevent wage and hour violations within their domestic supply chains, regardless of whether they enjoy a contractual relationship with the primary wrongdoer. Drawing from recent scholarship on third-party liability, as well as related tort doctrine, the Article argues that holding firms to such a duty is justified on both instrumentalist and non-instrumentalist grounds.


INTRODUCTION
Prehypertension is a precursor of clinical hypertension and consequently of the cardiovascular disease. Recent studies have found positive correlation between Haemoglobin Level (Hb) and Blood Pressure (BP). But the presumed association between Hb and BP has not been investigated in healthy young adults.

AIM
This study aimed to estimate the incidence of prehypertension and the influence of Hb level on BP in healthy young adults.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study done in 84 apparently healthy undergraduate medical students aged between 18-23 years, of either sex. In study subjects, BP and haemoglobin content was measured. Prehypertension was defined as BP levels of 120 to 139/80 to 89 mm Hg. Statistical analysis was done by unpaired t-test and Pearson correlation Coefficient tests.

RESULTS
Incidence of prehypertension was 50%. In 24% of the study subjects both systolic and diastolic BP was in prehypertensive state. In another 26% of study subjects only systolic BP was above normal. There was positive correlation between systolic BP and Hb level (p = 0.0015).

CONCLUSION
High incidence of prehypertension especially systolic prehypertension prevails inapparently healthy medical undergraduate students. In them, positive correlation between Hb and systolic BP persists.


Mechanical devices such as robots are widely adopted for limb rehabilitation. Due to the variety of human body parameters, the rehabilitation motion for different patients usually has its individual pattern; hence, we adopt clustering-based machine learning technique to find a limited number of motion patterns for upper-limb rehabilitation, so that they could represent the large amount of those from people who have various body parameters. By using the regression motion of the clustering result as the target, in this article, we seek to apply kinematic mapping-based motion synthesis framework to design a 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) mechanism, such that it could lead the patients' upper limb through the target motion. Also, considering rehab training generally involves a large amount of repetition on a daily basis, this article has developed a rehab system with unity3d based on virtual reality (VR). The proposed device and system could provide an immersive experience to the users, as well as the rehab motion data to the administrative staff for evaluation of users' status. The construction of the integrated system and the experimental trial of the prototype are presented at the end of this article.


In real-time video streaming, video quality can be degraded due to network performance issues. Among other artefacts, video freezing and video jumping are factors that influence user experience. Service providers, operators and manufacturers are interested in evaluating the quality of experience (QoE) objectively because subjective assessment of QoE is expensive and, in many user cases, subjective assessment is not possible to perform. Different algorithms have been proposed and implemented in this regard. Some of them are in the recommendation list of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). In this paper, we study the effect of the freezing artefact on user experience and compare the mean opinion score of these videos with the results of two algorithms, the perceptual evaluation of video quality (PEVQ) and temporal quality metric (TQM). Both metrics are part of the ITU-T Recommendation J.247 Annex B and C. PEVQ is a full-reference video quality metric, whereas TQM is a no-reference quality metric. Another contribution of this paper is the study of the impact of different resolutions and frame rates on user experience and how accurately PEVQ and TQM measure varying frame rates.


The powerful, easy way to prepare for the new CompTIA A+ Exams! The brand-new CompTIA A+ Cert Kit is the ultimate electronic study package for todays A+ candidate! CompTIA A+ Cert Kit starts with expert, step-by-step video walkthroughs covering exam objectives for both A+ exams. Next, you get access to a huge library of flexible online flashcards, so you can focus your late-stage study exactly where you need it most. Plus, you get the A+ Quick Reference, the worlds best last-minute A+ study tool, in both print and electronic forms! This product provides comprehensive preparation for both new CompTIA A+ exams: . A+ 220-701 (Essentials) . A+ 220-702 (Practical Application) The CompTIA A+ Certification Kit Contains CompTIA A+ Video Mentor This easy-to-use DVD contains more than 10 full hours of expert-led videos that walk you through the skills and concepts youll need to pass both new CompTIA A+ exams! Just watch, master, and review the A+ exam objectives. CompTIA A+ cert flashcards online 400 Web-Based Flash Cards This web-based service provides fast, efficient, late-stage exam preparation. With 400 questions organized by objective and sub-objective, you can focus your study exactly where you need it. View the flash cards in order or at random, or create custom sets to test yourself. Take notes on any question, and then print out a comprehensive list of your notes, linked to the questions and correct answers for even more review and study. Use on any device that has a web browser and Internet connection. CompTIA A+ Quick Reference You get printed and electronic versions of the A+ Quick Reference, the worlds best last-minute topical review tool for the new A+ exams. The A+ Quick Reference distills the most crucial A+ must-know concepts into brief, straight forward explanations you can study anywhere up to the moment you walk into the exam room! CompTIA A+ Practice Test The Pearson Certification Test Engine includes 245 practice test questions covering the exam objectives for 220-701 and 220-702. The test engine provides real-time practice with multiple test modes, random questions and order of answers as well as detailed explanations of correct and incorrect answers. CompTIA A+ Windows Simulator CompTIA A+ Windows Simulator helps you develop and practice hands-on skills without the investment in expensive lab hardware or changing settings on your computer. This state-of-the-art simulator software was built by experienced teachers for their students and reviewed by A+ and computer repair experts.


Over the course of his career, legendary director Werner Herzog (b. 1942) has made almost sixty films and given more than eight hundred interviews. This collection features the best of these, focusing on all the major films, from Signs of Life and Aguirre, the Wrath of God to Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. When did Herzog decide to become a filmmaker? Who are his key influences? Where does he find his peculiar themes and characters? What role does music play in his films? How does he see himself in relation to the German past and in relation to film history? And how did he ever survive the wrath of Klaus Kinski? Herzog answers these and many other questions in twenty-five interviews ranging from the 1960s to the present. Critics and fans recognized Herzog's importance as a young German filmmaker early on, but his films have attained international significance over the decades. Most of the interviews collected in this volume--some of them from Herzog's production archive and previously unpublished--appear in English for the very first time. Together, they offer an unprecedented look at Herzog's work, his career, and his public persona as it has developed and changed over time.


The cost of addiction in the United States, in combination with a host of new tools and techniques, has fueled an explosion of genetic research on addiction. Because the media has the capacity to reflect and influence public perception, there is a need to examine how treatments and preventive approaches projected to emerge from addiction genetic research are presented to the public. The authors conducted a textual analysis of 145 news articles reporting on genetic research on addiction from popular print media in the United States and from popular news and medical internet sites. In articles that report on prevention, the media emphasize vaccine development and identifying individuals at genetic risk through population screening. Articles that emphasize treatment often promote current pharmaceutical solutions and highlight the possibility of tailoring treatments to specific genetic variants. The authors raise concerns about the tendency of this coverage to focus on the benefits of pharmaceutical treatments and genetic-based approaches to prevention while neglecting or downplaying potential risks and ethical issues. This analysis suggests a need for more balanced, evidence-based media reporting on the potential outcomes of genetic research.


The two-dimensional (2D) electrides are a highly unusual class of materials, possessing interstitial electron layers sandwiched between cationic atomic layers of the solid. In this work, density-functional theory, with the exchange-hole dipole moment dispersion correction, is used to investigate exfoliation and interlayer sliding of the only two experimentally known 2D electrides: [Ca2N]+e- and [Y2C]2+(2e-). Examination of the valence states during exfoliation identifies intercalated electrons in the bulk and weakly-bound surface-states in the fully-expanded case. The calculated exfoliation energies for the 2D electrides are found to be much higher than for typical 2D materials, which is attributed to the ionic nature of the electrides and the strong Coulomb forces governing the interlayer interactions. Conversely, the calculated sliding barriers are found to be quite low, comparable to those for typical 2D materials, and are effectively unchanged by exclusion of dispersion. We conjecture that the metallic nature of the interstitial electrons allows the atomic layers to move relative to each other without significantly altering the interlayer binding. Finally, comparison with previous works reveals the importance of a system-dependent dispersion correction in the density-functional treatment.


This thesis explores the interface between collective memory, history and construction of identity in the sensitive socio-cultural and historical contexts of post-war societies. The issue of a sectarian culture of memory, a gap between private and public memory and divisive identity politics related to the Lebanese Civil War provides a case study. Focussing on young Lebanese, the thesis examines their relationship with remembering and forgetting the past and how it shapes their construction of identity. Theoretically, the thesis presents a dynamic scrutiny of the concept of collective memory, understood as historically shaped, culturally represented and informed through narratives. Making the case for the potential role of memory in breaking the cycle of conflicting memories and finding new forms of consensus, I complement the literature on memory and identity with Castoriadis's concept of 'instituting imaginary' as opening up to a space for autonomy. The empirical research involves thirtysix young Lebanese people from different religious communities and socio-demographic profiles. The participants were assigned to view a photography and video exhibition, held in Beirut, in which artists displayed works about their personal experiences of the civil war and history, and also focused on the nude body - two thematics publicly disregarded in Lebanon. Five focus-group discussions were conducted after the participants' exposure to the exhibition and these were complemented by twenty-four in-depth individual interviews. An analysis of the dynamics of the groups and a typological approach to the individual interviews were employed. The key findings of the thesis are that the emotional charge of the exhibit triggered young Lebanese (mainly women studying humanities) to explore the issue of truth and suffering as a critical response to the Lebanese ethos of fate, the banality of violence, and the taboo of narratives of the war. In contrast, hostile reactions to seeing personal artwork on memory as well as history, and on nude bodies in a public space, led other young Lebanese to repress war memories and demonize the sectarian other. Finally, this thesis discusses the sphere of intimacy mediated by aesthetic experiences in public spaces as constituting a symbolic and imaginary 'space' for the unravelling of cultural and ideological issues from the process of identity construction.


From the Bible's "Canst thou raise leviathan with a hook?" to Captain Ahab's "From Hell's heart I stab at thee!," from the trials of Job to the legends of Sinbad, whales have breached in the human imagination as looming figures of terror, power, confusion, and mystery. In the twentieth century, however, our understanding of and relationship to these superlatives of creation underwent some astonishing changes, and with "The Sounding of the Whale", D. Graham Burnett tells the fascinating story of the transformation of cetaceans from grotesque monsters, useful only as wallowing kegs of fat and fertilizer, to playful friends of humanity, bellwethers of environmental devastation, and, finally, totems of the counter-culture in the Age of Aquarius. When Burnett opens his story, ignorance reigns: even Nature was misclassifying whales at the turn of the century, and the only biological study of the species was happening in gruesome Arctic slaughter-houses. But in the aftermath of World War I, an international effort to bring rational regulations to the whaling industry led to an explosion of global research-regulations that, while well-meaning, were quashed, or widely flouted, by whaling nations, the first shot in a battle that continues to this day. The book closes with a look at the remarkable shift in public attitudes toward whales that began in the 1960s, as environmental concerns and new discoveries about whale behavior combined to make whales an object of sentimental concern and public adulation. A sweeping history, grounded in nearly a decade of research, "The Sounding of the Whale" tells a remarkable story of how science, politics, and simple human wonder intertwined to transform the way we see these behemoths from below.


Wasserstein distributionally robust optimization (\textsf{WDRO}) is a popular model to enhance the robustness of machine learning with ambiguous data. However, the complexity of \textsf{WDRO} can be prohibitive in practice since solving its ``minimax'' formulation requires a great amount of computation. Recently, several fast \textsf{WDRO} training algorithms for some specific machine learning tasks (e.g., logistic regression) have been developed. However, the research on designing efficient algorithms for general large-scale \textsf{WDRO}s is still quite limited, to the best of our knowledge. \textit{Coreset} is an important tool for compressing large dataset, and thus it has been widely applied to reduce the computational complexities for many optimization problems. In this paper, we introduce a unified framework to construct the $\epsilon$-coreset for the general \textsf{WDRO} problems. Though it is challenging to obtain a conventional coreset for \textsf{WDRO} due to the uncertainty issue of ambiguous data, we show that we can compute a ``dual coreset'' by using the strong duality property of \textsf{WDRO}. Also, the error introduced by the dual coreset can be theoretically guaranteed for the original \textsf{WDRO} objective. To construct the dual coreset, we propose a novel grid sampling approach that is particularly suitable for the dual formulation of \textsf{WDRO}. Finally, we implement our coreset approach and illustrate its effectiveness for several \textsf{WDRO} problems in the experiments.


Science education reform focuses on learner-centered instruction within contexts that support learners' sociocultural experiences. The purpose of this study was to explore Hispanic mothers' experiences as accompanying adults at an informal science center within the context of culturally sustaining experiences, which include the fluidity and plurality of cultural and linguistic diversity, and support multilingualism and multiculturalism in practice and perspective for learners. Through a phenomenological approach, eight Hispanic mothers were observed with their children at a science center and then interviewed to elicit an understanding of their experiences. Results indicate that mothers were largely unfamiliar with museums in general, yet the science center supported their socio-cultural ways of learning and engaging with their children. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the mothers, opportunities exist for the science center to provide more cultural/linguistic access to the exhibits. While prior research has shown that informal science education can encompass culturally meaningful experiences by affirming cultural identities, results from this study suggest that this inclusive and affirming approach be extended to all informal science venues using a multi-modal approach to learning, and should include cultural sustainability to support negotiations between prior and current cultural contexts. This could include, but is not limited to, targeted outreach and programming that values parents as intellectual resources and involving diverse community members not only in the design process but also in the operations of the center. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 84–106, 2015


The 2-twist spun trefoil is an example of a sphere that is knotted in 4-dimensional space. A proof is given in this paper that this sphere is distinct from the same sphere with its orientation reversed. Our proof is based on a state-sum invariant for knotted surfaces developed via a cohomology theory of racks and quandles (also known as distributive groupoids). A quandle is a set with a binary operation - the axioms of which model the Reidemeister moves in classical knot theory. Colorings of diagrams of knotted curves and surfaces by quandle elements, together with cocycles of quandles, are used to define state-sum invariants for knotted circles in 3-space and knotted surfaces in 4-space. Cohomology groups of various quandles are computed herein and applied to the study of the state-sum invariants. Non-triviality of the invariants is proved for a variety of knots and links, and conversely, knot invariants are used to prove non-triviality of cohomology for a variety of quandles.


IN 1979, THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN (IRI) inherited an economy that was heavily dependent on oil with a small and inefficient manufacturing sector. An eight-year war with Iraq, an influx of refugees, rapid population growth, US economic sanctions and politically expedient policies have resulted in the economic conditions of today, conditions under which the IRI has little room for manoeuvre. The medium- and long-term policies that are called for are obvious yet politically difficult to implement.This article provides a brief overview of the Islamic Republic's economic performance since the revolution of 1979, describes its policy record, and addresses the economic policy dilemma at hand.ECONOMIC PERFORMANCEIn 1988, Iran's real gross domestic product (GDP) was about what it was in 1977, and given population growth of about 60 percent, per capita real incomes had fallen by roughly 40 percent. Recently, GDP growth has been more satisfactory, at an average annual rate of 6.7 percent for 1990-1995 (although unbalanced and with heavy external financing); 3.8 percent for 1995-2000; and more recently, after adopting some reforms, a more balanced 5.8 percent on average for 2000-2003. During 2002-2003, overall growth reached 6.8 percent even though the oil sector contracted, and 6.5 percent growth is projected for 2003-2004. Yet even after these recent successes, real per capita GDP in 2000 was some 30 percent below the levels of the mid-1970s(1) and 20 percent below those levels in 2003. These figures suggest subpar economic performance and rapid population growth over the long haul, although with significant improvement in recent years.Iran's overall export growth has also been less than stellar since the revolution. Total exports in current dollars declined at an annual rate of 2.5 percent, with fuel oil exports--on which Iran depends heavily--declining at an annual rate of 4.3 percent. (Non-fuel exports increased at an annual rate of 10.9 percent.) Petroleum exports declined for most major oil exporters over the same period. But in the case of Iran, two internal developments further exacerbated the decline in oil export revenues: a decline in oil output (and capacity) and a rapid increase in domestic petroleum consumption. The decline in production capacity was due largely to investment shortfalls in the oil sector. The increase in domestic consumption was due to high population growth and one of the world's highest petroleum product price subsidies.Although the economy underperformed and total exports did not fare well, Iran did not resort to significant external borrowing until 1988, after the Iran-Iraq war. Between 1988 and 1993, Iran's external debt exploded from $5.8 billion to $28.5 billion (all figures in US dollars) because of the rapid increase in imports (to meet pent-up demand in the aftermath of the war) and resulted in large current account deficits. Unfortunately, the increased external borrowing did not finance productive investments and Iran received little long-term benefit from the external debt it incurred. This period was followed by several years of current account surpluses because of lower imports. These current account surpluses reduced the stock of external debt to around $7.2 billion 2002.(2) At the same time, gross official reserves increased from $5.3 billion in 1997 to an estimated $21.8 billion in 2002. Iran's debt/GDP ratio stood at 6.3 percent in 2001; its ratio of debt to exports was 30.4 percent; and its debt (excluding short-term debt) service ratio was 6.3 percent.(3) These are low figures by any standard and represent a significant accomplishment relative to most other developing countries.In the social arena, Iran has enjoyed much more success since the revolution: the average Iranian's life expectancy has risen steadily; infant mortality rates have fallen; access to safe water, sanitation and health care have shown significant improvement; the number of physicians, dentists and nurses per person have increased; and immunization rates have risen. …


Predictive State Representations (PSRs) are an efficient method for modelling partially observable dynamical systems. They have shown advantages over the latent state-based approaches by using functions of a set of observable quantities, called tests, to represent model states. As a consequence, discovering the set of tests for representing the state is one of the central problems in PSRs. Existing techniques either discover these tests through iterative methods, which can only be applied to some toy problems, or avoid the complex discovery problem by maintaining a very large set of tests, which may be prohibitively expensive. In this paper, with the benefits of Monte-Carlo tree search (MCTS) for finding solutions in complex problems, and by proposing the concept of model entropy for measuring the model accuracy as the evaluation function in MCTS, the discovery problem is formalized as a sequential decision making problem. Then such a decision making problem can be solved using MCTS, a set of tests for representing state can be obtained and the PSR model of the underlying system can be learned straightforwardly. We conduct experiments on several domains including one extremely large domain and the experimental results show the effectiveness of our approach.


This paper summarizes the preliminary findings of a study to generate Probability of detection (PoD) and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves for a guided wave (GW) Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system. PoD curves are used to access a detector's performance as a function of damage size or equivalently the backscattered Energy to Noise Ratio (ENR). ROC curves present statistical representations of the reliability of the method for detecting certain size flaws versus their Probability of False Alarms (PFA). To a large extent, generating meaningful versions of these curves involves multiple repetitions of the same experiments while injecting as much realistic variability as possible. Experiments using representative rotorcraft specimens with crack growth in addition to a riveted stiffener are presented. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/332


This paper is an introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Political Ecology on "Ecologies of Hope." The authors argue that discrete, specific, and often, local actions can create spaces that are bettering human lives and livelihoods. The five papers identify actions and movements that are situated in the "middle" between the individual and larger social and economic formations, and inbetween social and economic status- quo and revolution. They are everyday initiatives that do not make revolutionary claims, but which in small but significant ways, help transform the lives of people and communities. These "ecologies of hope" resonate with the work of Karl Polanyi, and his identification of the modern disembedding of the economy and the environment from its societal and cultural context. Polanyi argued that processes that result in a loss of cultural "habitation" engender movements by societies to protect their social solidarity, and distortions of their relationship with the natural environment. Creating and carving out "ecologies of hope" may not mitigate catastrophic global change or miraculously transform the unjust into the just, but does make life and livelihoods a bit more habitable. For people whose lives are affected, this matters. Political ecology should recognize the importance of creating spaces for "habitation" that are not necessarily structural and scalable. Key words: Karl Polanyi, ecologies of hope, habitation, self-organized communities.


The story of how the women's rights movement began at the Seneca Falls convention of 1848 is a cherished American myth. The standard account credits founders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott with defining and then leading the campaign for women's suffrage. In her provocative new history, Lisa Tetrault demonstrates that Stanton, Anthony, and their peers gradually created and popularized this origins story during the second half of the nineteenth century in response to internal movement dynamics as well as the racial politics of memory after the Civil War. The founding mythology that coalesced in their speeches and writings--most notably Stanton and Anthony's "History of Woman Suffrage"--provided younger activists with the vital resource of a usable past for the ongoing struggle, and it helped consolidate Stanton and Anthony's leadership against challenges from the grassroots and rival suffragists.As Tetrault shows, while this mythology has narrowed our understanding of the early efforts to champion women's rights, the myth of Seneca Falls itself became an influential factor in the suffrage movement. And along the way, its authors amassed the first archive of feminism and literally invented the modern discipline of women's history.2015 Mary Jurich Nickliss Prize, Organization of American Historians


The Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver (PRL) family, consisting of PRL-1, PRL-2, and PRL-3, is a group of prenylated phosphatases that are candidate cancer biomarkers and therapeutic targets. Individual PRLs are over-expressed in a variety of cancer cell lines and tissues, and elevated PRL expression has been associated with tumorigenesis and metastasis. Although several studies have documented that altered expression of PRL-1 or PRL-3 can influence cell proliferation, migration and invasion, there is an absence of knowledge about the biological functions of PRL-2. Thus, the current study was designed to evaluate the role of PRL-2 in cell migration and invasion in human cancer cells. I found that four lung cancer cells, including A549, over-expressed PRL-2 when compared with normal lung cells. PRL-2 suppression by siRNA or shRNA markedly inhibited cell migration and invasion. PRL-2 suppression by siRNA decreased p130Cas and vinculin expression, increased phosphorylation of Ezrin on tyrosine 146, and decreased ERK phosphorylation upon serum stimulation. There were no significant changes in total p53, Akt and c-Src expression levels or their phosphorylation status, suggesting PRL-2 suppression could inhibit tumor cell migration and invasion through a Src-independent p130Cas signaling pathway. Ectopic expression of wild type PRL-2, a catalytic inactive C101S mutant, and a C-terminal CAAX deletion revealed a requirement for both the PRL-2 catalytic functionality and prenylation site. Expression of wild type but not the mutant forms of PRL-2 caused ERK phosphorylation and nuclear translocation, and promoted tumor cell migration and invasion. These results support a model in which PRL-2 promotes cell migration and invasion through an ERK-dependent signaling pathway. In addition, thienopyridone, a previously reported PRL inhibitor, showed antiproliferative activity in a concentration-dependent manner, and decreased cell migration and invasion. In summary, these studies demonstrate for the first time that PRL-2 regulates cell migration and invasion in non-small cell lung cancer, and I propose that PRL-2 stimulates cell migration and invasion through an ERK signaling pathway.


This thesis examines art and architecture commissioned by three large-scale industrial corporations in Britain in the interwar period 1919-1939. The companies studies are the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, later to become British Petroleum (BP), Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and Unilever. The main focus of attention is on the headquarters office buildings constructed in London and their sculptural decoration. Attention is also paid to artwork used by Unilever on the covers of its in-house magazine 'Progress' and in its advertisements. A laboratory built by ICI near Manchester is also considered.

The form and meaning of the works of art are examined using evidence of the relationships between the artists and the patrons, those within the companies who commissioned the works, as it is documented in the archives of the companies. Evidence is also taken from the published histories of the companies, the response of critics as revealed in contemporary publication, and the recent history of the appropriate genres and of the individual artists.

Art history is currently undertaking a reappraisal of 20th century British art rejecting the view that the significant art was either, on the one hand, that which belonged to some canon of modernist work, or, on the other, only that which remained true to some view of what was traditionally British. This thesis makes a contribution to that re-appraisal. The approach of examining the mechanisms of patronage has not been applied extensively before to this period and place. In the process much new material about individual artists has been uncovered. In addition by suing the large-scale corporation as its framework, the study has thrown light on one of the major social changes of the period, the growth of a new professional class. This new class, whose habitat was the large bureaucracy, was developing an ideology of rationality and progress by technology which was to help shape 20th century attitudes and 20th century art.


This study presents observations of
the structure of the terminal moraine complex at Imja Lake.
Detailed
ground penetrating radar (GPR)
surveys were
conducted
at Imja Lake.
The lake and the surrounding
Imja glacier have been described in the previous section. This paper should contribute to the
understanding of the structure of the terminal moraine and the distribution of ice in the core of the
moraine.
The formation of glacier lakes in the Nepal Himalaya has been increasing since the early 1960s.
Accompanying this increase in the number and size of glacier lakes is an associated number of GLOF
events.
The
Khumbu
region of Nepal (which includes the Dudh Koshi basin) is regularly mentioned as
an area particularly prone to GLOF events and containing important sites for possible GLOF risk
reduction projects (especially in the Imja Khola).
Imja lake in the Khumbu is often mentioned as a potentially dangerous glacier lake (PDGL) and its
GLOF risk has been investigated for more than 20 years
(Armstrong, 2010). In May and September
2012, the authors visited the lake and observed the rapid rate of change
of the terminal moraine complex.
They performed ground penetrating radar surveys of most of the terminal moraine complex and mapped
the ice core of the moraine.
Imja Lake is currently the focus of several groups in an effort to reduce the risk of a GLOF posed by the
increasing lake level.
The presence or absence of ice in the core of the terminal moraine complex is of
critical importance in designing a risk reduction program for the lake.
This work has used Ground
Penetrating Radar (GPR) to investigate the internal structure of the moraine complex in order to map
out the ice thickness in critical areas.
The results of the GPR survey show that there is extensive ice present in the core of the terminal
moraine complex at Imja Lake (see Figure 8).
The
thickest areas of ice are in the moraine near the
western end of the lake on the northern side of the lake outlet.
The ice in this region is several tens of
meters thick and up to fifty meters thick in some places.
Along the northern and southern sides
of the
lake outlet, the ice is between ten and twenty-five meters thick.
In some portions of the moraine on the
southern side of the outlet the ice thickness is up to forty meters.
Extensive seepage of water from the terminal moraine was observed in two locations during visits to the
lake in September 2011, May 2012, and September 2012.
GPR transects above and below the site of
seepage show the presence of ice above the seep and much less ice below the seep.
Seepage of water
through the terminal moraine is an indication of potential weakness in the moraine and a possible site of
future moraine failure.
Recent work has been initiated by the United Nations Development Programme to develop an Imja
Lake Risk Reduction Program.
One of the primary
methods suggested for reducing risk associated with
the lake is to reinforce and deepen the outlet channel so that it can lower the lake level up to 3 meters
below the current level.
This project involves making excavations of the outlet channel and the
construction of a diversion channel on the southern side of the outlet.
The results presented here
indicate that there may be ice present in the moraine in the vicinity of the excavations being considered
in this project.
Excavation activities that encounter ice in the moraine material may cause weakening of
the ice resulting in increased water seepage and erosion of the moraine.
Therefore, it is recommended
that additional GPR surveys be conducted in this area accompanied with Electrical Resistivity
Tomography (ERT) surveys.
The ER surveys will be able to more definitively indicate the presence of
ice in the moraine as well as the degree of water saturation of the moraine material.


The SARS-CoV-2 virus, also called COVID-19, was initially considered as an international public health emergency, and later it was declared as a pandemic. Due to the high spread of COVID-19 through droplets, the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals has been remarkable, particularly filtering face-piece particulate respirators. Therefore, it is important to know the decontamination methods proposed for their application in our environment, considering the proper asepsis and antisepsis measures to be used, and also on how to preserve the integrity of the device (straps, nasal bridge and nasal foam material) and counting on its natural degradation process. Adequate methods for disinfecting these devices are as follows: using sterilizing ovens (dry heat), autoclave (steam), ultraviolet radiation (UV) and homemade vaporizers, which should be used according to the needs of the healthcare professionals.


The aim of the present study was to compare the activation of the shoulder muscles in more and less skilled novus players during shots of different difficulty level. Nineteen competitive novus players (9 more skilled and 10 less skilled) were recruited to examine bioelectrical activity of the shoulder muscles (trapezius, deltoid lateral and posterior muscles) during a striking accuracy task. Participants performed 3 series, each consisted of 10 novus shots – 10 penalties, 10 cut and 10 rebound shots. Surface EMG (sEMG) amplitude of posterior and lateral deltoid and trapezius muscle of the subjects' dominant side was measured during the shot and compared between successful versus unsuccessful shots in more skilled and less skilled players. Unsuccessful penalties and rebound strokes compared to successful ones in more and less skilled players, and unsuccessful cut shots compared to successful ones in more skilled players are characterized by higher activity in trapezius muscle. Higher activity of trapezius muscle is a characteristic feature of less skilled players' novus shots. During successful penalties, cut and rebound shots the sEMG amplitude of trapezius muscle in more skilled players was significantly lower (34%; p<0.05; 19%; p<0.001 and 60%; p<0.01, respectively) than in less skilled players.


Aim: To verify the relationship between orofacial pain and
absenteeism in workers of slaughter and meat processing industries in
the Southern region of Brazil. Methods: A cross-sectional study, with
the random sample of 401 workers of slaughter and meat processing
industries in the Southern region of Brazil, was carried out. A
questionnaire referred to the situation of absenteeism caused by nine
different types of orofacial pain and also the amount of time the
employee was kept from work. Results: Only 60 workers (15%) reported
having missed work due to orofacial pain in the six months prior to the
study. The prevalence of absenteeism resulting from orofacial pain was
of 15%. The types of orofacial pain that resulted in absenteeism were:
spontaneous toothache (9.7 %); toothache caused by cold or hot liquids
or by sweet foodstuff (6.5%) and pain around and behind the eyes
(3.2%). There was a predominance of absenteeism in half and full work
shifts for the types of orofacial pain experienced. Associations
between absenteeism from induced toothache and gender (p < 0.05),
absenteeism and spontaneous toothache and family income (p = 0.011),
and between absenteeism and the self awareness of their oral health
condition, as well as the nine types of orofacial pain (p < 0.001)
were observed. Conclusions: The prevalence of absenteeism as a result
of orofacial pain was low.


This thesis proposes that those aspects of life that arise and are intensified by our current dependency on the automobile (termed 'automobility') is antithetical to the development and maintenance of our capacities for moral reasoning and conversation. Three tendencies of automobility are drawn from the literature: 1) the dispersion and fragmentation of opportunities for discursive interaction; 2) an individualistic conception of social members, which is fostered by heightened isolation; and 3) the privatization of the substantive issues associated with automobility. Habermas and Benhabib's discourse ethics is used as a framework for addressing the following questions: 1) what is important about discursive interaction?; 2) how do our conceptions of subjectivity influence our interactions with others?; and 3) how does treating issues associated with automobility as those of private concern influence our ability, as a society, to discover the necessary aspects of a morally justified coordination of action (or way of life)? Located in the tradition of critical theory, Habermas' work connects issues of rationality, moral validity, normative legitimacy, and potential for emancipatory social conditions. Benhabib reconceptualizes the definition of the moral point of view that adheres in discourse ethics, and argues that the necessary orientation towards the generalized other in moral-practical discourses does not preclude a simultaneous orientation towards the concrete other. In terms of mobility practices and services, the priorities and justifications of existing policy must be challenged. Prioritizing flexible mobility as a good to be maximized subordinates other forms of social action to that purpose, while systems that minimize mobility reflect a priority of enhancing participatory life, which involves increased communicative action. Automobility is problematic for the very reason that it disrupts communicative action, and the justificatory force of discourse.


Preface. Preface to the First Edition. List of Acronyms and Symbols. 1. General introduction. 1.1 Principles of headspace analysis . 1.2 Types of headspace analysis. 1.2.1 Principles of static headspace - gas chromatography (HS-GC). 1.2.2 Principles of dynamic headspace -- gas chromatography. 1.3 The evolution of the HS-GC methods. 1.4 Headspace -- gas chromatography literature. 1.5 Regulatory methods utilizing (static) HS-GC. 1.6 References. 2. Theoretical background of HS-GC and its applications. 2.1 Basic theory of headspace analysis. 2.2 Basic physicochemical relationships. 2.3 Headspace sensitivity. 2.3.1 Influence of temperature on vapor pressure and partition coefficient. 2.3.2 Influence of temperature on headspace sensitivity for compounds with differing partition coefficients. 2.3.3 Influence of sample volume on headspace sensitivity for compounds with differing partition coefficients. 2.3.4 Changing the sample matrix by varying the activity coefficient. 2.4 Headspace linearity. 2.5 Duplicate analyses. 2.6 Multiple headspace extraction (MHE). 2.6.1 Principles of MHE. 2.6.2 Theoretical background of MHE. 2.6.3 Simplified MHE calculation. 2.7 References. 3. The technique of HS-GC. 3.1 Sample vials. 3.1.1 Types. 3.1.2 Selection of vial volume. 3.1.3 Vial cleaning. 3.1.4 Wall adsorption effects. 3.2 Caps. 3.2.1 Pressure on caps. 3.2.2 Safety closures. 3.3 Septa. 3.3.1 Types. 3.3.2 Septum blank. 3.3.3 Should a septum be pierced twice?. 3.4 Thermostatting. 3.4.1 Influence of temperature. 3.4.2 Working modes. 3.5 The fundamentals of headspace sampling systems. 3.5.1 Systems using gas syringes. 3.5.2 Solid-phase microextraction (SPME). 126.96.36.199 Comparison of the sensitivities in HS-SPME and direct static HS-GC. 3.5.3 Balanced-pressure sampling systems. 3.5.4 Pressure/loop systems. 3.5.5 Conditions for pressurization systems. 3.5.6 The volume of the headspace sample. 22.214.171.124 Sample volume with gas syringes. 220.127.116.11 Sample volume with loop systems. 18.104.22.168 Sample volume with the balanced-pressure system. 3.6 Use of open-tubular (capillary) columns. 3.6.1 Properties of open-tubular columns for gas samples. 3.6.2 Headspace sampling with split or spitless?. 3.6.3 Comparison of split- and splitless headspace sampling. 3.6.4 Band broadening during sample introduction. 3.6.5 Temperature influence on band broadening. 3.6.6 The combination of different columns and detectors. 3.7 Enrichment techniques in HS-GC. 3.7.1 Systems for cryogenic trapping. 184.108.40.206 Systems for Cryogenic condensation. 22.214.171.124 Trapping by cryogenic focusing. 188.8.131.52 Influence of temperature on cryogenic focusing. 184.108.40.206 Comparison of the various techniques of cryogenic trapping. 3.7.2 Influence of water in cryogenic HS-GC. 184.108.40.206 Water removal in static HS-GC. 220.127.116.11 Applications. 3.7.3 Enrichment by adsorption. 18.104.22.168 Water removal from an adsorption trap. 3.8 Special techniques with the balanced-pressure systems. 3.8.1 Instrumentation for MHE. 3.8.2 Backflushing. 3.9. Reaction HS-GC. 3.9.1 Derivatization in the headspace vial. 18.104.22.168 Methylation. 126.96.36.199 Esterification. 18.104.22.168 Transesterification. 184.108.40.206 Acetylation. 22.214.171.124 Carbonyl compounds. 3.9.2 Subtraction HS-GC. 3.9.3 Special reactions. 3.9.4 HS-GC analysis of volatile derivatives from inorganic compounds. 3.10 References. 4. Sample handling in HS-GC. 4.1 Equilibration. 4.1.1 Gas samples. 4.1.2 Liquid samples. 4.1.3 Solid samples. 4.2 Solution approach. 4.3 Sample handling and sample introduction. 4.3.1 Gas samples. 4.3.2 Liquid samples. 4.3.3 Solid samples. 4.4 Preparation of standard solutions. 4.4.1 Preparation of a standard solution from a liquid or solid substance. 4.4.2 Preparation of a standard solution from a gaseous compound. 4.5 Influence of the matrix. 4.5.1 Clean matrix is available. 4.5.2 Matric effect can be eliminated. 4.5.3 Artificial matrix can be prepared. 4.6 Methods aiming the complete evaporation of the analyte. 4.6.1 The total vaporization technique (TVT). 4.6.2 The full evaporation technique (FET). 4.6.3 Calculation of the extraction yield in FET. 4.6.4 Comparison of headspace sensitivities. 4.7 References. 5. Headspace methods for quantitative analysis. 5.1 Internal normalization. 5.2 Internal standard method. 5.3 External standard method. 5.4 Standard addition method. 5.4.1 Single addition. 5.4.2 Handling of the added standard (Gas-phase addition and sample-phase addition). 5.4.3 Determination by multiple additions. 5.5 Multiple headspace extraction (MHE). 5.5.1 Principles of MHE. 5.5.2 Calibration in MHE. 188.8.131.52 External standard. 188.8.131.52 Internal standard. 18.104.22.168 Standard addition. 5.5.3 The use of gaseous external standards in MHE. 5.5.4 The role of quotient Q. 220.127.116.11 Relationship between Q and pressures. 220.127.116.11 Value of Q in the case of total vaporization. 126.96.36.199 The relative position of the MHE plots as a function of Q. 5.5.5 The correlation coefficient (r). 5.5.6 Evaluation of the shape of the regression plot. 5.5.7 Influence of K/s. 5.6 Analysis of solid samples (adsorption systems). 5.6.1 Suspension approach. 5.6.2 Surface-modification techniques. 5.6.3 Highly adsorptive samples. 5.7 Calibration techniques with headspace samples of varying volumes. 5.8 Analysis of gas samples. 5.9 References. 6. Method development in HS-GC. 6.1 General guidelines. 6.2 Determination of the residual monomer content of polystyrene pellets. 6.2.1 First approach: use of internal standard with MHE. 6.2.2 Second approach: single determination with internal standard. 6.2.3 Third approach: use of external standard with MHE. 6.2.4 Fourth approach: use of the solution approach. 6.3 Determination of residual solvents in a printed plastic film. 6.3.1 First approach: use of external standard with MHE. 6.3.2 Second approach: use of standard addition with MHE. 6.3.3 Third approach: use of internal standard. 6.4 Determination of the volatile constituents of a cathodic electrolytic plating bath. 6.4.1 First approach: use of external standard with MHE. 6.4.2 Second approach: dilution and use of external standard. 7. Nonequilibrium static headspace analysis. 7.1 Accelerated analysis. 7.2 Heat-sensitive samples. 7.3 References. 8. Qualitative analysis by HS-GC. 8.1 The use of HS-GC in 'fingerprinting.'. 8.2 The use of headspace sampling in hyphenated systems. 8.3 The use of HS-GC in microbiology. 8.4 References. 9. Special measurements. 9.1 Determination of vapor pressures. 9.2 Determination of activity coefficients. 9.3 Determination of related physicochemical functions. 9.4 Determination of phase distribution (partition coefficient). 9.4.1 The vapor-phase calibration (VPC) method. 9.4.2 The phase-ratio variation (PRV) method. 9.4.3 MHE methods for the determination of the partition coefficient. 9.5 Reaction constant measurements. 9.6 Determination of solute solubility by MHE. 9.7 Gas-solid systems. 9.7.1 Determination of adsorption isotherms. 9.7.2 Determination of the rate of release of a volatile analyte. 9.8 Validation of the headspace instrumentation: investigation of detector linearity and detection limit. 9.8.1 Definitions. 9.8.2 Linear range of the detector. 9.8.3 Precision of the range. 9.8.4 Minimum detectability. 9.9 References. Index.


Wound colonization by microorganisms is most frequently polymicrobial and incidences of high level resistance among bacterial isolates from wounds have been reported. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and extendedspectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Gram-negative bacteria both constitute serious challenge to physician in their choice of antibiotic treatment of infections caused by these bacteria. This study determined the antibiotic susceptibility profiles and prevalence of MRSA and ESBL producers among wound bacterial isolates from a tertiary hospital in Ibadan City. Forty (40) clinical bacterial isolates from five wound sources were collected from the Microbiology unit of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and were authenticated with standard bacteriological techniques. Antibiotic susceptibility test was done by disc-diffusion method using 19 antibiotics belonging to 12 classes. MRSA strains were detected by their resistance to cefoxitin and/or oxacillin antibiotics. Presumptive ESBL production was by double-disc synergy test using 30 μg cefotaxime and ceftazidime around 20/10 μg amoxicillin-clavulanic acid discs. ESBL confirmation was by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) using agar-dilution method. The authenticated isolates include Proteus spp (47.5%), Staphylococcus aureus (27.5%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.5%),  Klebsiella spp (7.5%), Acinetobacter baumanii (2.5%) and E. coli (2.5%). Distribution of the isolates collected according to wound sources includes: acute soft tissue wounds (35%), leg ulcer (32.5%), surgical wounds (17.5%), burn wounds (12.5%) and diabetic foot ulcer (2.5%). Distributions according to patients' gender are: male (65%), female (35%), and according to age-groups are: 0 – 19 years (22.5%), 20 – 39 years (35%), 40 – 59 years (32.5%) and ≥ 60 years (10%). All (100%) the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) being resistant to ≥ 3 classes of antibiotics. Percentages of isolates resistance to each of the antibiotic include: piperacillin, piperacillin tozobactam and amoxicillin-clavulanic acid were 100%, ceftazidime, cefuroxime, cefixime, aztreonam, sulphamethoxazole-trimethoprim, erythromycin, chloramphenicol and doxycyclin were > 70%, cefoxitin (62.5%), Nitrofurantion (52.5%), ciprofloxacin (45%), ofloxacin (35%), perfloxacin (37.5%), gentamicin (32.5%) and imipenem (2.5%). Of the 11 Staphylococcus aureus collected, 54.5% were detected to be MRSA strains while ESBL production was detected in 55.2% of the Gram negative isolates. This study revealed 100% MDR phenotype constituting high level of MRSA strains (54.5%) and ESBL producers (55.2%) among Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial wound isolates respectively. Hence, this calls for caution in the use of extended spectrum antibiotics in treating patients with infected wounds.


X-ray structural analysis of a crystalline complex between acridine C13H9N, cytosine C4H5N3O, and water (1:1:1) has been completed. The cytosine and water molecules form a sheet-like structure through a series of hydrogen bonds. The acridine molecules are bound to this layer through a hydrogen bridge from the water to the ring nitrogen. The acridine molecules stack in a parallel fashion normal to the cytosine-water sheets, with an average interplanar spacing of 3.5 angstroms.


Sibling caretaking, although common across time and cultures, has not been well researched from the carer's point of view. In Nicaragua, ranked as one of the poorest countries in the Americas, sibling caretaking is common. The country's historical background and its state of chronic poverty, widespread unemployment, loose family structures, and migration and mobility makes of the old practise of shared management child care a necessity. Households headed by sing¬le mothers constitute a particular Nica¬raguan charact¬eristic. Many children are expected to help in their own families and care for their siblings and other children living in their households. In its broadest sense sibling caretaking is a public health concern, and we conducted this study to widen the understanding of the phenomenon as it is represented in a setting undergoing a rapid social transition. The main objectives were to identify, describe and analyse the life situation of sibling caretakers in poor areas in Leon, Nicaragua, with focus on how they perceived it themselves. A combined qualitative and quantitative methodological design was used, mainly applying an ethnographic approach. A further ambition was to explore involvement of children in a participatory research process in accordance with the 'Convention on the Rights of the Child'. The overall emotion expressed among the caretakers was pride, even if their situation often was characterized by stress and coping problems. They perceived their work as important for their families and they appreciated to fend for their siblings. Household work and nurturing of siblings were shaping the future lives of the caretakers and constituted part of their socialization. Even if many of these children achieve essential life skills as caretakers, they are at risk of falling behind as they grow older. Their long-term personal development is likely to be hampered by the obligations they have as caretakers. The carers' awareness of missing out on education was the most problematic issue for them. From a societal point of view, caretaking has negative consequences. The individual child is marginalised with limited access to basic education, contributing to overall low educational levels in Nicaragua. While the structuring conditions leading to sibling caretaking may be difficult to change, awareness of how these can affect children might make way for improvements in terms of access to school education and support from the society. The knowledge gained from this study should be further utilised to plan for interventions that take children's perspectives into consideration.


Efficient energy use in the housing sector is crucial for achieving a sustainable society. The expansion of this sector only represents a fraction of the existing houses, hence it's within the existing houses the potential for energy savings lie. This potential has been analyzed in order to determine if it's possible to cut the current energy demand in half. An ongoing renovation project was used as a reference to evaluate the different measures that can increase a buildings efficiency. The measures evaluated were also compared to similar ones from other projects. The main methods examined were ventilation systems utilizing heat exchangers, energy efficient windows and glazed balconies. Based on cost efficiency and amount of energy saved, the results were then evaluated and compared to one another. This showed that the cost efficiency for the different measures varied depending on the size of the building, meaning the different measures should be prioritized in different scenarios. It was concluded that it's theoretically possible cut the current energy demand of the housing sector in half, but very hard and costly to achieve in reality.


Background Psoriasis is an immune-mediated, chronic inflammatory disease affecting multiple aspects of patients' lives. Its epidemiology varies regionally; however, nationwide epidemiologic data on psoriasis depicting profile of Korean patients has not been available to date. Objective To understand nationwide epidemiologic characteristics and clinical features of adult patients with psoriasis visited university hospitals in Korea. Methods This multicenter, non-interventional, cross-sectional study recruited 1,278 adult patients with psoriasis across 25 centers in Korea in 2013. Various clinical data including PASI, BSA, DLQI, SF-36 and PASE were collected. Results A total of 1,260 patients completed the study (male:female=1.47:1). The mean age was 47.0 years with a distribution mostly in the 50s (24.9%). Early onset (<40 years) of psoriasis accounted for 53.9% of patients. The mean disease duration was 109.2 months; mean body mass index was 23.9 kg/m2; and 12.7% of patients had a family history of psoriasis. Plaque and guttate types of psoriasis accounted for 85.8% and 8.4%, respectively. Patients with PASI ≥10 accounted for 24.9%; patients with body surface area ≥10 were 45.9%. Patients with DLQI ≥6 accounted for 78.8%. Between PASI <10 and PASI ≥10 groups, significant difference was noted in age at diagnosis, disease duration, blood pressure, waist circumference of female, and treatment experiences with phototherapy, systemic agents, and biologics. Conclusion This was the first nationwide epidemiologic study of patients with psoriasis in Korea and provides an overview of the epidemiologic characteristics and clinical profiles of this patient population.


Syphilis is one of the most fascinating of all infections. Although its origin is still debated, the history of syphilis includes many famous (and infamous) persons, and the disease is featured in art and literature. Syphilis is caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium, Treponema pallidum, that was first identified over 100 years ago. It has a miniscule genome, and it lacks many of the common metabolic pathways. It is so fragile that it dies within hours outside of the host, yet it is capable of evading host defences to persist for decades within the host. Syphilis is known as "the great imitator" because its clinical manifestations, which can range from an ulcer or rash to blindness and insanity, can be mistaken for many other clinical conditions. In contrast, the infection can lie smouldering for many years, without any clinical evidence. After 70 years of use, penicillin continues to be an effective treatment, yet resistance to macrolide antibiotics like azithromycin has erupted in T. pallidum in many regions of the world. Physicians recognise that some persons who are treated for syphilis can be reinfected, sometimes multiple times. At the population level, the incidence of syphilis can wax and wane, often shifting from one population group to another. How does T. pallidum cause the many manifestations of syphilis and still evade immune clearance? How does macrolide resistance develop and spread? Is there a biological basis for determining which patients can be reinfected or when the incidence of syphilis will decline in a given population? Molecular studies involving the laboratory and the clinic have shed insights into pathogenic mechanisms involved in invasion and dissemination, induction of host responses, and immune evasion by T. pallidum. Molecular epidemiology studies have begun to unravel the movement of T. pallidum strains throughout communities, and to shed light on the appearance of macrolide resistance. Our evolving knowledge about these issues will be discussed in the context of the natural history of syphilis.


Master international economics with Schaum's - the high-performance study guide. It will help you cut study time, hone problem-solving skills, and achieve your personal best on exams! Students love "Schaum's Outlines" because they produce results. Each year, hundreds of thousands of students improve their test scores and final grades with these indispensable study guides. Get the edge on your classmates. Use Schaum's! If you don't have a lot of time but want to excel in class, this book helps you: brush up before tests; find answers fast; study quickly and more effectively; and, get the big picture without spending hours poring over lengthy textbooks. "Schaum's Outlines" give you the information your teachers expect you to know in a handy and succinct format - without overwhelming you with unnecessary details. You get a complete overview of the subject, plus plenty of practice exercises to test your skill.Compatible with any classroom text, Schaum's let you study at your own pace and remind you of all the important facts you need to remember - fast! And Schaum's are so complete, they're perfect for preparing for graduate or professional exams. Inside, you will find: 793 problems, with step-by-step solutions; 144 review questions; practice midterm and final exams; Plain-English explanations of concepts in international economics; a full course in international economics. If you want top grades and thorough understanding of international economics, this powerful study tool is the best tutor you can have!Chapters include: Introduction; Pure Theory of International Trade: Supply; International Trade Theory: Demand and Supply; Heckscher-Ohlin and Other Theories; Dynamic Factors in International Trade: Growth and Development; Trade Restrictions: Tariffs and Other Trade Policies; Foreign Exchange Markets; Balance of Payments; Adjustment in the Balance of Payments: Automatic; Adjustment Policies: Open Economy Macroeconomics; Monetary and Portfolio Balance Approaches, and Flexible Versus Fixed Exchange Rates; and, International Monetary System: Past and Present.


Evolutionary psychology represents a major challenge to sociology, since it claims to provide an alternative, more `objective' account of the human condition and of social problems. It receives widespread media coverage and has a firm hold on the popular imagination. In comparison, sociological accounts of society and identity play only a minor role in public debates. We argue that, as `public intellectuals', it is the responsibility of sociologists to contest these impoverished representations of social life. In order to do so successfully, it is necessary first to examine the popular appeal of evolutionary psychology, which rests on the narrative strategies employed to link human origins with contemporary social problems, and second, to take up the challenge of engaging with less reductionist scientific accounts of the potential biological basis of society.


A vast amount of research into autonomous
underwater navigation has, and is, being conducted
around the world. However, typical research
and commercial platforms have limited
autonomy and are generally unable to navigate
efficiently within coral reef environments without
tethers and significant external infrastructure.
This paper outlines the development and
presents experimental results into the performance
evaluation of a new robotic vehicle for
underwater monitoring and surveying in highly
unstructured environments. The hybrid AUV
design developed by the CSIRO robotic reef
monitoring team realises a compromise between
endurance, manoeuvrability and functionality.
The vehicle represents a new era in AUV design
specifically focused at providing a truly lowcost
research capability that will progress environmental
monitoring through unaided navigation,
cooperative robotics, sensor network distribution
and data harvesting.


Capital requirements are the cornerstone of modern bank regulation, yet little is known about their welfare cost. This paper measures this cost and finds that it is surprisingly large. I present a simple framework which embeds the role of liquidity creating banks in an otherwise standard general equilibrium growth model. A capital requirement limits the moral hazard on the part of banks that arises due to deposit insurance. However, this capital requirement is also costly because it reduces the ability of banks to create liquidity. The key insight is that equilibrium asset returns reveal the strength of households' preferences for liquidity and this allows for the derivation of a simple formula for the welfare cost of capital requirements that is a function of observable variables only. Using U.S. data, the welfare cost of current capital adequacy regulation is found to be equivalent to a permanent loss in consumption of between 0.1 and 1 percent.


The new CRISP filter at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope provides opportunities for observing the solar atmosphere with unprecedented spatial resolution and cadence. In order to benefit from the high quality of observational data from this instrument, we have developed methods for calibrating and restoring polarized Stokes images, obtained at optical and near infrared wavelengths, taking into account field-of-view variations of the filter properties.
In order to facilitate velocity measurements, a time series from a 3D hydrodynamical granulation simulation is used to compute quiet Sun spectral line profiles at different heliocentric angles. The synthetic line profiles, with their convective blueshifts, can be used as absolute references for line-of-sight velocities.
Observations of the Ca II 8542 {\AA} line are used to study magnetic fields in chromospheric fibrils. The line wings show the granulation pattern at mid-photospheric heights whereas the overlying chromosphere is seen in the core of the line. Using full Stokes data, we have attempted to observationally verify the alignment of chromospheric fibrils with the magnetic field. Our results suggest that in most cases fibrils are aligned along the magnetic field direction, but we also find examples where this is not the case.
Detailed interpretation of Stokes data from spectral lines formed in the chromospheric data can be made using non-LTE inversion codes. For the first time, we use a realistic 3D MHD chromospheric simulation of the quiet Sun to assess how well NLTE inversions recover physical quantities from spectropolarimetric observations of Ca II 8542 {\AA}. We demonstrate that inversions provide realistic estimates of depth-averaged quantities in the chromosphere, although high spectral resolution and high sensitivity are needed to measure quiet Sun chromospheric magnetic fields.


On six occurrences (8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30), Matthew recorded Jesus pronouncing judgment, using the idiom "weeping and gnashing of teeth". Each occurrence played a central role in the development of Matthew's theology, by communicating not only a fundamental component of the theme of judgment, but also an increasing force and potency of the event itself. It was discovered that the phrase may have four possible functions, namely (a) a system by which Matthew hoped to make the message of the particular passage unforgettable; (b) a prophetic anticipationof an aspect of the larger shape of history; (c) a linguistic device  to increase the degree of emphasis or heighten the force given to the message of eschatological judgment; and (d) a literary connector holding together a number of specific passages of Scripture. In Matthew's case, the phrase glues together the passages that communicate a holistic theology of end-of-time judgment.


Many pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and protozoan parasites, suppress cellular immune responses through activation of type I IFN signaling. Recent evidence suggests that immune suppression and susceptibility to the malaria parasite, Plasmodium, is mediated by type I IFN; however, it is unclear how type I IFN suppresses immunity to blood-stage Plasmodium parasites. During experimental severe malaria, CD4+ Th cell responses are suppressed, and conventional DC (cDC) function is curtailed through unknown mechanisms. Here, we tested the hypothesis that type I IFN signaling directly impairs cDC function during Plasmodium infection in mice. Using cDC-specific IFNAR1-deficient mice, and mixed BM chimeras, we found that type I IFN signaling directly affects cDC function, limiting the ability of cDCs to prime IFN-γ-producing Th1 cells. Although type I IFN signaling modulated all subsets of splenic cDCs, CD8- cDCs were especially susceptible, exhibiting reduced phagocytic and Th1-promoting properties in response to type I IFNs. Additionally, rapid and systemic IFN-α production in response to Plasmodium infection required type I IFN signaling in cDCs themselves, revealing their contribution to a feed-forward cytokine-signaling loop. Together, these data suggest abrogation of type I IFN signaling in CD8- splenic cDCs as an approach for enhancing Th1 responses against Plasmodium and other type I IFN-inducing pathogens.


Comment on Hull, Matthew. 2012. Government of paper: The materiality of bureaucracy in urban Pakistan. Berkeley: University of California Press.


This is a critical introduction to the educational thought of F. R. Leavis (1895-1978), the greatest English literary critic of the twentieth century, providing the first in-depth examination of Leavis's ideas in relation to contemporary mass higher education. During the course of a long, prolific and controversial academic career, which saw him take issue with figures such as Wittgenstein, T. S. Eliot and C. P. Snow, Leavis became one of the most articulate advocates for the idea of the university as 'a centre of consciousness and human responsibility' in the face of what he saw as the relentless technological drive of civilisation. With the journal Scrutiny which he co-founded, as well as his critical writings, Leavis became a decisive influence on generations of teachers in Britain and overseas. Widely misrepresented as narrowly elitist, his ideas about 'the creative university', with their radical, student-centred approach to teaching, constitute a powerful resource for a higher education system grappling with the contradictory demands of continuity and change. Based on original research, the study provides an overview of Leavis's life, work and heritage and his educational world view, and a comprehensive exploration of Leavis's pedagogy from theoretical and practical perspectives. It also includes a first-hand account by the author of being taught by Leavis in person.


Summary Lodging is a common concern in wheat production, and its intensity depends on many factors including the straw strength of the variety, nitrogen (N) levels, and plant growth regulator (PGR). However, there are limited data exploring how current Kansas wheat varieties respond to PGR applications at different fertility levels. Thus, our objective was to assess the effects of PGR on wheat varieties exposed to different levels of N fertilization. A field trial was established in a split-split-plot design and four replications in two Kansas locations (Great Bend and Ashland Bottoms) during the 2017–18 growing season. Factors evaluated were two N levels as whole plots (e.g., for a yield goal of 55 versus 73 bu/a), two varieties as sub-plot (below average straw strength with 1863 and above average straw strength with WB-Grainfield), and PGR (control versus 14.4 fl oz/a of Palisade applied at jointing). Due to an extremely dry growing season, biomass production was decreased and no lodging was observed. Still, the application of PGR decreased plant height at both locations by 0.6–1 inch, although this decrease depended on fertility level at the Great Bend site. WB-Grainfield was typically taller than 1863, regardless of location evaluated. Despite its effect of reducing plant height, grain yield was unaffected by PGR application. In Great Bend, grain yield was only affected by variety; while an interaction of variety × fertility affected grain yield in Ashland Bottoms. These results are promising as there was no yield drag from PGR applications despite an extremely dry growing season.


An anomaly is the specific event that causes the violation of a process observer's expectations about the process under observation. In this work, the problem of spatially locating an acoustic anomaly is addressed. Once reduced to a problem in robust statistics, an automated observer is designed to detect when high energy sources are introduced into an acoustic scene. Accounting for potential energy from signal amplitude, and kinetic energy from signal frequency in wavelet-filtered sub-bands, an outlier a robust statistical characterization scheme was developed using the Teager energy operator. With a statistical expectation of energy content in sub-bands, a methodology is designed to detect signal energies that violate the statistical expectation. These minor anomalies provide some sense that a fundamental change in energy has occurred in the sub-band. By examining how the signal is changing across all sub-bands, a detector is designed that is able to determine when a fundamental change occurs in the sub-band signal trends. Minor anomalies occurring during such changes are labeled as major anomalies. Using established localization methods, position estimates are obtained for the major anomalies in each sub-band. Accounting for the possibility of a source with spatiotemporal properties, the median of sub-band position estimates provides the final spatial information about the source.


In this case, we presented the electro-clinical findings in a patient with mental retardation, epilepsy and bilateral posterior agyria-pachygyria. Clinical findings were characterized by frequent tonic generalized and scarcely with myoclonic and absence seizures. Interictal electroencephalography (EEG) showed synchronous and asynchronous delta waves in the posterior region, spike activity predominantly on the right side and fast alpha rhythms. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging revealed bilateral, symmetric thickened cortex in the parieto-occipital lobes and reduced volume of white matter. These findings were compatible with agyria and pachygyria of posterior regions of the brain. Consequently, in the patient with mental retardation and intractable epilepsy characterized by interictal EEG with posterior focal epileptiform abnormalities, diffuse polyspike-wave paroxysms, bilateral parieto-occipital agyria-pachygyria should be considered as a possible etiology.


The Caribbean has several white sand beaches visited by many tourists, especially during the summer. The beaches of Copacabana in Barbados Bridgetown, Flamenco Beach in Culebra Puerto Rico, and Maho Beach in St. Maarten were studied. The sand samples were taken in June 2016. The objective of the study was to know the diversity and quantity of filamentous fungi in the dry sand of the beaches and to determine if the fungi found are pathogenic to animals and humans. One gram of each beach sample was taken in triplicate and spread on a plate with rose bengal agar. The samples were incubated for 7 to 14 days at 25°C. The colonies were counted, then isolated in tubes with potato dextrose agar. Three genus of fungi were found; Aspergillus, Penicillium, and Rhizopus. The Aspergillus species resulted in higher identifications in the three beaches included in this preliminary study. The growth of filamentous fungi in the samples ranged from 6 CFU / g to 17 CFU / g. The species were: A. niger, A. versicolor, A. flavus, A. oryzae, A. fumigatus, R. oligosporus, R. stolonifer, A. tamarii and P. wasksmanii. Most of the identified filamentous fungi are pathogenic to humans and animals. Some of the species can cause diseases such as asthma, infections in the eyes, skin, and nails.


Although the overwhelming majority of honor killings worldwide occur within Muslim communities,1 one would not know this by reading the mainstream media. Fearful ofbeing labeled "Islamophobic," the American press has given only glancing attention to the widespread, honor-related ritual murder of Muslim women in the Middle East and South Asia while treating periodic honor killings among Muslim immigrants in the West as ordinary domestic abuse cases. Over the last few years, however, the media has published a flurry of articles about Hindu honor killings in India, the only non-Muslim-majority country where these murders are still rampant.2 Apologists for Muslim culture and civilization rushed to herald the upsurge in Hindu (and Sikh) honor killings as evidence that the practice is "a universal problem, not an Islamic issue."3 While India is indeed a striking exception to Islam's near monopoly on contemporary honor killings, the following preliminary statistical survey shows Hindu honor killings in India to be different in form and commission from those of Muslims in neighboring Pakistan. Though no less gruesome, the Hindu honor killings seem largely confined to the north of India and are perpetuated by sociocultural factors largely specific to India. The millions of Indian Hindus who have immigrated to the West do not bring the practice along with them. The recent spike of honor killings in India is likely the product of a clash between traditional and modem values, intensified by high economic growth and increasing social mobility. The spike may also reflect growing media coverage of this crime. The democratically elected government of India has taken important, if long overdue steps to combat the practice of honor killing, and some progress has been made. Not so in Pakistan where officials at all levels of government are either unable or unwilling to cope with honor killings. For Pakistan and many other Muslim countries, which have yet to experience the social stresses of rapid modernization or build the kind of political institutions that can eradicate a practice so deeply rooted in traditional beliefs - especially as Islamists now dominate - the worst may be yet to come. THE SOCIAL MILIEU Honor killing is the premeditated murder of a relative (usually a young woman) who has allegedly impugned the honor of her family. It tends to predominate in societies where individual rights are circumscribed by communal solidarities, patriarchal authority structures, and intolerant religious and tribal beliefs. Under such conditions, control over marriage and reproduction is critical to the socioeconomic status of kinship groups and the regulation of female behavior is integral to perceptions of honor, known as maryada in many Indian languages and as ghairat in Urdu and Pashto. In such an environment, a woman who refuses to enter into an arranged marriage, seeks a divorce, or fails to avoid suspicion of immoral behavior will be viewed by her family as having dishonored them so grievously that her male relatives will be ostracized and her siblings will have trouble finding suitable spouses. Killing her is the only way the family can restore its honor, regardless of whether she actually is or can be proven guilty of the alleged offense. In sharp contrast to other forms of domestic violence, honor killings are frequently performed out in the open, and the perpetrators rarely act alone. Unni Wikan, a social anthropologist and professor at the University of Oslo, observed that an honor killer typically commits the murder "as a commission from the extended family."4 The lead author of this article documented this in 20095 and 201 06 for honor killings both in the West and in Muslim-majority countries. Though neither Islam nor Hinduism directly sanctions honor killing, both play a role in legitimizing the practice in South Asia - if for no other reason than that such societies have not prosecuted this crime, have issued light sentences, or have failed to use their religious authority to punish and abolish it. …


The tensor components of the electric dipole polarizability at a wavelength of 632.8 nm, those of the magnetizability and the anisotropy of the static hypermagnetizability of furan, thiophene, and selenophene are computed using density functional theory (DFT). The polarizable continuum model (PCM) is employed to describe the system in the condensed phase. We can thus compare the temperature dependence of the Cotton–Mouton constant for the three molecules, both in the gas and in the condensed phase, pure liquids, and solutions, with the results of experiment performed using a 17 T radial access Bitter magnet at the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory. This allows to analyze, in a direct interaction of theory and experiment, the performance of DFT and PCM in describing high order nonlinear mixed electric and magnetic effects in condensed phase.


A key challenge in intelligent robotics is creating robots that are capable of directly interacting with the world around them to achieve their goals. The last decade has seen substantial growth in research on the problem of robot manipulation, which aims to exploit the increasing availability of affordable robot arms and grippers to create robots capable of directly interacting with the world to achieve their goals. Learning will be central to such autonomous systems, as the real world contains too much variation for a robot to expect to have an accurate model of its environment, the objects in it, or the skills required to manipulate them, in advance. We aim to survey a representative subset of that research which uses machine learning for manipulation. We describe a formalization of the robot manipulation learning problem that synthesizes existing research into a single coherent framework and highlight the many remaining research opportunities and challenges.


This guide will help you use the Reference material in the library and find links to general directories and sources not covered in other guides.


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on determinants that influence organizational performance and to develop a framework that could be beneficial for leaders. Design/methodology/approach - – This paper uses a systematic review of articles on the factors that influence organizational performance. The purpose of this systematic review is to collect and summarize all empirical evidence from literature that fits the context of this study. Findings - – The findings of the study have been weaved together in a proposed framework for the role of cognitive, emotional, and social competencies on leadership competencies that in turn influence both employee and organizational performance. Research limitations/implications - – This paper is a literature review, a framework on the determinants of organizational performance has been proposed but has not yet been tested empirically. Practical implications - – Leaders can leverage the results of this study to enhance their leadership competencies for the purpose of improving the performance on both individual employee and organizational levels. Originality/value - – There are few research-based studies on the determinants of organizational performance. This paper has identified key variables that play a significant role in helping organizations perform effectively.


Given the disappointing performance of emerging stock markets in 1997 and1998, it is understandable that investors are now questioning the role of these markets in long-term asset allocations. With emerging markets investments appearing more unstable today than they did just three years ago, do the benefits still outweigh the risks? The author sees the declines of the past two years as nothing more than an extreme manifestation of the high volatility that makes emerging markets a diversifying addition to a global stock portfolio. The problems behind the recent plunge are reversing, and there are no indications of fundamental changes in these markets that would lessen their long-term potential.


Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (FOC) is one of the problem diseases attacking abaca. The most effective way of minimizing the damage is through the use of resistant varieties. The levels of resistance of different abaca varieties/accessions, however, have not been determined yet so this study was conducted to: 1) evaluate the reaction of eight recommended abaca varieties to fusarium wilt, 2) evaluate the reaction of abaca varieties/accessions and abaca relatives from the National Abaca Research Center (NARC) germplasm collection and production area to fusarium wilt, and 3) confirm the reaction of the identified resistant varieties/accessions in a naturally infested field. Among the 8 recommended abaca varieties, Linino showed resistance to FOC having the lowest infection, foliage yellowing and internal vascular discoloration ratings in a pot experiment. This variety was also proven resistant in the field plot screening together with 6 other accessions, namely: Alman No. 2, Alman No. 4, Tinawagan Puti #. 2, Pakol, CES x Pacol and Pakil # 1. Of the six, Alman No. 4, Tinawagan Puti # 2, Linino and Pakil also showed resistance to FOC, when planted in a naturally infested field in Polahongon, Mahaplag, Leyte.


We determine the theoretical singly resonant second-harmonic generation squeezing performance of several cavity designs and nonlinear materials. We show that, for the doubling of the 1064-nm output of Nd:YAG lasers, monolithic cavities made from periodically poled LiNbO3 (PPLN) will produce the largest amount of squeezing. We also present experimental results for a free-space cavity with a PPLN sample that yielded slightly less than 0.6 dB of measured squeezing. The cavity performance as a function of input power agrees with our theoretical predictions and shows the superior performance of periodically poled materials for the production of bright squeezed light. © 2002 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 190.4410, 190.2620, 160.4330, 270.6570.


The spontaneous decay of an excited state of an emitter placed in the vicinity of a metallic single-wall carbon nanotube (SWNT) was examined theoretically. The emitter-SWNT coupling strongly depends on the position of the emitter relative to the SWNT, the length of the SWNT, the dipole transition frequency and the orientation of the emitter. In the high-frequency regime, dips in the spectrum of the spontaneous decay rate exist at the resonance frequencies in the spectrum of the SWNT conductivity. In the intermediate-frequency regime, the SWNT conductivity is very low, and the spontaneous decay rate is practically unaffected by the SWNT. In the low-frequency regime, the spectrum of the spontaneous decay rate contains resonances at the antennas resonance frequencies for surface-wave propagation in the SWNT. Enhancement of both the total and radiative spontaneous decay rates by several orders in magnitude is predicted at these resonance frequencies. The strong emitter-field coupling is achieved, in spite of the low Q factor of the antenna resonances, due to the very high magnitude of the electromagnetic field in the near-field zone. The vacuum Rabi oscillations of the population of the excited emitter state are exhibited when the emitter is coupled to an antenna resonance of the SWNT.


Regularized loss minimization, where a statistical model is obtained from minimizing the sum of a loss function and weighted regularization terms, is still in widespread use in machine learning. The statistical performance of the resulting models depends on the choice of weights (regularization parameters) that are typically tuned by cross-validation. For finding the best regularization parameters, the regularized minimization problem needs to be solved for the whole parameter domain. A practically more feasible approach is covering the parameter domain with approximate solutions of the loss minimization problem for some prescribed approximation accuracy. The problem of computing such a covering is known as the approximate solution gamut problem. Existing algorithms for the solution gamut problem suffer from several problems. For instance, they require a grid on the parameter domain whose spacing is difficult to determine in practice, and they are not generic in the sense that they rely on problem specific plug-in functions. Here, we show that a well-known algorithm from vector optimization, namely the Benson algorithm, can be used directly for computing approximate solution gamuts while avoiding the problems of existing algorithms. Experiments for the Elastic Net on real world data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of Benson's algorithm for regularization parameter tracking.


Brassica vegetables possess high levels of antioxidant metabolites associated with beneficial health effects including vitamins, carotenoids, anthocyanins, soluble sugars and phenolics. Until now, no reports have been documented on the genetic basis of the antioxidant activity (AA) in Brassicas and the content of metabolites with AA like phenolics, anthocyanins and carotenoids. For this reason, this study aimed to: (1) study the relationship among different electron transfer (ET) methods for measuring AA, (2) study the relationship between these methods and phenolic, carotenoid and anthocyanin content, and (3) find QTLs of AA measured with ET assays and for phenolic, carotenoid and anthocyanin contents in leaves and flower buds in a DH population of B. oleracea as an early step in order to identify genes related to these traits. Low correlation coefficients among different methods for measuring AA suggest that it is necessary to employ more than one method at the same time. A total of 19 QTLs were detected for all traits. For AA methods, seven QTLs were found in leaves and six QTLs were found in flower buds. Meanwhile, for the content of metabolites with AA, two QTLs were found in leaves and four QTLs were found in flower buds. AA of the mapping population is related to phenolic compounds but also to carotenoid content. Three genomic regions determined variation for more than one ET method measuring AA. After the syntenic analysis with A. thaliana, several candidate genes related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis are proposed for the QTLs found.


This paper presents the preliminary findings of an empirical study into a specific and novel form of contemporary consumption: 'yellow sticker shopping'. This type of consumption involves the active targeting for purchase of food products that have been reduced in price because they are approaching their expiry date. Given the complexities of food provisioning in austerity Britain, that include both non-conventional sites like markets and food banks as well as conventional 'discounters' and high street supermarkets the analysis reveals how this form of food provisioning goes far beyond the 'cost-saving' accounts that might be expected. The research uses autoethnographic material in the form of vignette, constructed around research conducted in the North of England, together with analysis of an online discussion forum. Data are thematically analysed using literature on shopping and supermarkets and then organised according to the three dimensions of social practice: materials, competences and meanings. The paper makes three key contributions in relation to the practice of yellow sticker shopping. Firstly, that it has distinct spatial and temporal qualities and the role played by the space of the supermarket and its associated fixtures and technologies is important. Secondly, that the uncertain supply of yellow sticker goods results in unpredictability. Successful shopping is celebrated and characterised in ways other than the drudgery often associated with the weekly shop. Thirdly, it reveals an assemblage of competences, skills and knowledge not only in relation to grocery shopping but that take place in the home, around food, its storage and preparation and cooking and recipe knowledge. The paper concludes by outlining further planned research associated with the practice of yellow sticker shopping that will contribute to ongoing study into the alternative modes of food provisioning and their spatialities that are characteristic of life in contemporary Britain.