We characterize and analyze silicon avalanche photodetectors (APDs)
 fabricated with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
 Current characteristics, responsivity, avalanche gain, and photodetection bandwidth
 of CMOS-APDs based on two types of PN junctions, N-well/P-substrate and
 $P^+$/N-well junctions, are compared and
 analyzed. It is demonstrated that the CMOS-APD using the
 $P^+$/N-well junction has higher responsivity
 as well as higher photodetection bandwidth than N-well/P-substrate. In addition, the
 important factors influencing CMOS-APD performance are clarified from this
 investigation.


This case report detailed the history and treatment of a female postpartum patient with diastasis recti. Treatment for this patient included the use of prolotherapy, an injection-based therapy using dextrose as the active compound. The solution used during the course of therapy was composed of 6 mL of 50% dextrose, 3 mL of 1% lidocaine, and 1 mL of methylcobalamin (1000 mcg/mL). Injections were administered every 2 weeks for a total of 7 prolotherapy sessions. Following the series of prolotherapy injections, there was a marked closure observed in the diastasis, decreasing from 2.7 cm to 0.5 cm. The patient did not report any side effects, and no complications were observed or recorded. This appears to be the first case report documenting an improvement in abdominal diastasis recti following a course of prolotherapy. Within the limitations of the study design, further research is recommended to evaluate prolotherapy for diastasis recti in postpartum patients.


In radio interferometry, every pair of antennas in an array defines one sampling point in the Fourier domain of the sky image. By combining information from different wavelengths, sample coverage - and therefore reconstruction quality - can be increased. However, the images at different wavelengths can be dramatically dissimilar; this fact must be taken into account when reconstructing multi-frequency images. In this paper, we present a novel reconstruction algorithm based on the assumption that the spectrum is continuous. In contrast to prior work, we allow for sparse deviations from this assumption: this allows, for example, for accurate reconstruction of line spectra superimposed on a continuum. Using simulated measurements on synthetic multi-frequency images, we show that the proposed approach provides significant improvements over a comparable method based solely on a continuity assumption.


Abstract This essay explores the rhetorical education of nineteenth‐century women attending the Westfield State Normal School, the second public and first co‐educational normal school in the United States. Archival research reveals that Westfield developed a program of rhetorical study that aimed to prepare both men and women to use oral and written persuasive discourse in their work as teachers. Westfield justified its progressive curriculum by arguing that advanced study in rhetoric would help future teachers to foster learning, win respect, and achieve meaningful moral influence among their pupils. While traditional gender ideologies at times complicated the efforts of female students to master oral and written persuasive discourse, Westfield's faculty and students remained committed throughout the century to the idea that study in rhetoric would aid the future teacher in cultivating a powerful public voice.


Exploring the question of what exactly makes good people good, Protagoras and Meno are two of the most enjoyable and accessible of all of Plato's dialogues. Widely regarded as his finest dramatic work, the Protagoras, set during the golden age of Pericles, pits a youthful Socrates against the revered sophist Protagoras, whose brilliance and humanity make him one the most interesting and likeable of Socrates' philosophical opponents, and turns their encounter into a genuine and lively battle of minds. The Meno sees an older but ever ironic Socrates humbling a proud young aristocrat as they search for a clear understanding of what it is to be a good man, and setting out the startling idea that all human learning may be the recovery of knowledge already possessed by our immortal souls.


Aromatic new plant type (NPT) rice lines were selected to obtain high yielding and aromatic lines. The objectives of the research were to study the yield stability and adaptability of 35 NPT rice lines across different environment, with Ciherang and Sintanur as check varieties. The lines planted at two locations, Bogor and Pusakanagara in two seasons (2009 dry and wet seasons, DS-WS). The experiment used randomized complete block design (RCBD), with three replications. The 21-day-old seedlings were planted with spacing of 20 cm x 20 cm, with a plot size of 2 m x 5 m. Yield stability and adaptability were estimated by using coeffi cient regression (bi) and general mean of yield by Finlay-Wilkinson method. Combined analysis of variance showed that lines (G), environment (E), and the G x E interaction were signifi cantly different. Lines showed different stability and adaptability. Several lines yielded higher than Ciherang variety. Nine lines were classifi ed as stable and widely adapted at the marginal environment, i.e IPB 116-F-3-1, IPB 117-F-4-1, IPB-117-F-14-2, IPB-117-F-15-2, IPB-117F-17-5, IPB 140-F-1-1, 140-F-IPB, 2-1, IPB 140-F-3, and IPB 149-F-2. Lines IPB 113-F-2, IPB 140-F-4, IPB 140-F-6, IPB 140-F-7, and B11738-MR-Si-1-2-1-2 were not stable and adapted only in optimum environmental condition (bi > 1) while IPB 116-F-46-1, IPB-117-F 17-4, IPB-117-F 18-3 and B11955-MR-84-1-4 has the value of bi < 1 or adaptable to marginal environments.


A version of the Diamond-Dybvig model of banking is used to evaluate the narrow banking proposal, the idea that banks should be required to back demand deposits entirely by safe short-term assets. It is shown that the mere existence of an amount of safe short-term assets outside the banking system that exceeds banking system liabilities does not make the proposal either innocuous or desirable. In fact, despite such existence, using narrow banking to cope with banking system illiquidity eliminates the role of the banking system.


The 40-hour week was approved by the Commonwealth Arbitration Court on 8 September 1947, to take effect from 1 January 1948. The 40-hour campaign, the 35-hour campaign that followed in the late 1950s, the 44-hour campaign that preceded these, and union attempts between all three to fix the working week at either 30 or 33 hours, were parts of a long movement for the codification and reduction of Australian working hours that began in the mid 1850s with struggles by workers to establish the principle of the 8-hour day. Stonemasons in Sydney and Melbourne gained the first successes during 1855 and 1856. At the time skilled workers in these cities generally worked 10 hours per day Monday to Friday with 8 hours on Saturday. For other workers it was longer; shop assistants, for example, worked 12–14 hours per day. During the period 1913-1963, which embraces much of this campaigning, hours, leave and wages were the greatest causes of time lost in Australian industrial disputes, while rating second to issues relating to physical working conditions and managerial policy as causes of industrial conflict. This journal article is available in Illawarra Unity Journal of the Illawarra Branch of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History: http://ro.uow.edu.au/unity/vol7/iss1/3


ABSTRACT The presence of the cercopithecids in the Neogene of Greece is known since the beginning of the 19th century. The excavations of the last 20 years increase their number in Greece. The main taxon of the cercopithecids is Mesopithecus Wagner, 1839 found originally in the middle Turolian (MN 12) locality of Pikermi, near Athens. The Pikermi Mesopithecus sample is rich and belongs to a medium-sized form, M. pentelicus Wagner, 1839. Besides the well-known M. pentelicus, two other species were recognized. The new species M. delsoni Bonis, Bouvrain, Geraads & Koufos, 1990, a large-sized form found in the early Turolian (MN 11) locality Ravin des Zouaves-5 of Axios Valley (Macedonia, Greece) has several differences from the type species. In the middle Turolian (MN 12) localities of Vathylakkos (Axios Valley) and Perivolaki (Thessaly) a large to medium-sized Mesopithecus form with "delsoni" and "pentelicus" characters was found and is referred to as M. delsonil pentelicus. A small-sized form named M. cf. monspessulanus was recognized by a mandibular fragment in the late Turolian (MN 13) locality Dytiko-2 of Axios Valley and indicates the early appearance of the taxon at the end of Miocene. The rest of the material found in the late Turolian localities of Dytiko has some differences from the typical M. pentelicus. Moreover, Mesopithecus was traced in several late Miocene localities, indicating its wide distribution in Greece. Two other cercopithecids were also found in the Pliocene of Greece. Dolichopithecus ruscinensis Depéret, 1889 was recognized in the locality of Megalon Emvolon and in Ptolemais Basin (Macedonia, Greece); both are dated to late Ruscinian (MN 15). The second Pliocene cercopithecid is Paradolichopithecus arvernensis (Depéret, 1929), found in the locality of Vatera (Lesvos Island) and dated to late Pliocene. The stratigraphic distribution and the palaeoenvironment of these cercopithecids are also discussed.


Since 2014, a well-designed rainwater for drinking (RFD) project has been successfully operating at Cukhe Elementary School, near Hanoi, Vietnam. During that time, daily rainfall data, water consumption, water quality and questionnaires to the community were prepared. Several concerns over the design and operation of RFD projects, such as lack of sufficient rainfall data, water quality concerns, and public acceptance, are identified and overcome. Modeled results from using observed daily rainfall data, and using a simplified method from insufficient monthly data, are compared. The simplified method using insufficient rainfall data is acceptable for design within the error range of 0–11%. Rainwater quality after the use of the point of use treatment device proved that a well-designed RWH system ensures safe drinking water, which complies with WHO and Vietnam drinking water quality standards (VDWQS) guidelines. The people of the community liked the RFD system because of the satisfactory water quality and the economic benefits of not needing to purchase bottled water. The success of the RFD project at the Cukhe Elementary School proved the potential of promoting rainwater as drinking water in rural areas in developing countries, where a safe drinking water supply is a challenge, and should be promoted as an important means to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6.


We choose the Andersen et al. (2007) and Lee and Mykland (2008) jump detection tests to detect intraday price jumps for ten foreign exchange rates and cojumps for six groups of two dollar exchange rates and one cross exchange rate at the one-minute frequency for five years from 2007 to 2011. We reject the null hypothesis that jumps are independent across rates as there are far more cojumps than predicted by independence for all rate combinations. We find that one dollar rate and the cross rate combination almost always has more cojumps than the two dollar rates combination. We also find some clustering of jumps and cojumps can be related to the macroeconomic news announcements affecting the exchange rates. The two selected jump detection tests find a similar number of jumps for ten foreign exchange rates. We compare density forecasts for the prices of Dow Jones 30 stocks, obtained from 5-minute high-frequency returns and daily option prices for four horizons ranging from one day, one week, two weeks to one month. We use the Heston model which incorporates stochastic volatility to extract risk-neutral densities from option prices. From historical high-frequency returns, we use the HAR-RV model to calculate realised variances and lognormal price densities. We use a nonparametric transformation to transform risk-neutral densities into real-world densities and make comparisons based on log-likelihoods. For the sixty-eight combinations from seventeen stocks for four horizons, the transformed lognormal Black-Scholes model gives the highest log-likelihoods for fifty-nine combinations. The HAR-RV model and the Heston model have similar forecast accuracy for different horizons, either before or after applying a transformation which enhances the densities. The transformed real-world densities almost always pass the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Berkowitz tests, while the untransformed risk-neutral densities almost always fail the diagnostic tests.


This working paper identifies the good practices applied by those private employment agencies that adopt fair recruitment principles for prospective migrant workers. It also describes the challenges that such recruiters face, including the bottlenecks and gaps in the legislative and regulatory frameworks that stand in the way of agencies committed to fair principles. The paper considers the commercial and practical challenges that confront fair labour recruiters, and identifies opportunities to help them to thrive in a highly competitive market. It examines how fair recruitment practices can be promoted in areas such as Mindanao, where deceptive and abusive recruitment practices are currently most prevalent. Finally, it identifies specific migration corridors in which fair recruitment practices could become the norm.


The ability to accurately estimate grain yield using spectral reflectance measurements prior harvest could be used to reduce phenotyping time and costs. In this study, grain yield of 300 maize testcrosses grown under different water and temperature regimes in the dry season 2010 was predicted using spectral reflectance (495–1853 nm) of both leaves and canopy measured between tassel emergence until milkgrain stage. Partial least square regression (PLSR) was used for data analysis. Coefficients of determination (R2) between predicted and actual grain yield were highest for measurements conducted at anthesis and milk-grain stage, explaining at maximum 23% and 40% of the genotypic variation in grain yield after validation, respectively. PLSR models explained a higher proportion of the genetic variation in grain yield under drought stress compared to well-watered conditions. The association between predicted and actual grain yield was stronger in spectral reflectance measurements taken at the leaf level compared to canopy level. By combining the most predictive PLSR models across trials, at maximum of 40% of the variation in grain yield could be explained in each trial with a relative efficiency of selection of 0.88 and 0.68 using leaf and canopy reflectance, respectively. The most relevant wavelengths for predicting grain yield were associated with photosynthetic capacity (495–680 nm), red inflection point (680–780 nm) and plant water status (900, 970, and 1450 nm, 1150–1260 nm, and 1520–1540 nm). Additional wavelengths based on leaf (800, 1000, and 1260–1830 nm) and canopy (988–999 nm and 1430–1640 nm) reflectance of unknown physiological relevance were also identified for prediction of grain yield. Caution must be exercised before integrating our spectral reflectance approach into a breeding program because this is a gle lo pilot study based on a sin


Nest predation is the primary factor influencing grassland songbird reproductive success. Understanding factors driving spatial and temporal variation in nest survival requires that we identify the primary nest predators and factors influencing predator abundance and behavior. Predation events are rarely witnessed, and the identification of nest predators is inferred, often incorrectly, from nest remains or observations of potential predators. We used video photography to identify predators of Sprague's Pipit (Anthus spragueii) nests in Saskatchewan and Montana. We monitored 60 nests in Saskatchewan and 11 nests in Montana and documented at least ten different species preying upon eggs and nestlings. Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) and thirteenlined ground squirrel (Ictidomys tridecemlineatus) were the most common nest predators documented on videotape, along with mouse (Peromyscus spp.), vole (Microtus spp.), deer (Odocoileus spp.), striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), coyote (Canis latrans), Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia), Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), and gartersnake (Thamnophis spp.). Most predation events occurred during the nestling stage and primarily during the day, potentially due to the increased activity of adults feeding young and of the nestlings begging for food. The diverse predator communities documented destroying grassland songbird nests presents many challenges for land managers attempting to increase reproductive success of Sprague's Pipits and other priority grassland birds.


The ideals of the founders of cooperatives so that cooperatives can be perceived by members to bring meaning for the development of cooperatives in Indonesia. This can be realized through its contribution to national and local economic development through GDP. To be able to prove this opinion, then the study to look for answers in this study is 1). Is the role of sharia cooperatives able to help provide the welfare of farmers to be able to free vegetable farmers from the entanglement of debt or bond "remuneration"? 2). What problems did Sharia cooperatives have in providing the welfare of farmers to be able to free vegetable farmers from entanglement of debt or "reciprocity" bonds? The findings are the function and role of cooperatives nationally run by Sharia cooperatives. It is run because the Shariah cooperative has performed the function and role of the cooperative as a joint effort between the members and the board to the welfare of vegetable farmers in Claket village. This is evident from the existence of sharia cooperatives that dare to be different with the existence of savings and loan cooperatives in general. The role of sharia cooperatives is to provide welfare to vegetable farmers. Because agriculture is one of the important and noble things in human life. The role of sharia cooperatives to prosper vegetable farmers in Claket Village, Pacet Subdistrict, Mojokerto Regency, East Java is urgently needed. Because not only vegetable farmers who benefit from sharia cooperatives but the public in general can feel it, which is getting a cheap vegetable prices. The problem faced by vegetable farmers in Claket village is vegetable farmers who always get loan money from middlemen before they harvest. At the time of harvesting the vegetables they must return the loan money from the middleman. Thus, crop yields from farmers only benefit the middlemen and do not bring economic change to farmers.


ABSTRACT War metaphors are ubiquitous in discussions of everything from political campaigns to battles with cancer to wars against crime, drugs, poverty, and even salad. Why are warfare metaphors so common, and what are the potential benefits and costs to using them to frame important social and political issues? We address these questions in a detailed case study by reviewing the empirical literature on the subject and by advancing our own theoretical account of the structure and function of war metaphors in public discourse. We argue that war metaphors are omnipresent because (a) they draw on basic and widely shared schematic knowledge that efficiently structures our ability to reason and communicate about many different types of situations, and (b) they reliably express an urgent, negatively valenced emotional tone that captures attention and motivates action. Nevertheless, we find that the meaning (and consequences) of war metaphors is intimately tied to the context in which they are used, which may result in either positive or negative outcomes, depending on the situation. Thus, blanket statements about whether or not a war frame is useful are misguided or overly constraining. Here we situate our case study results in relation to popular theories of metaphoric representation and processing and offer some guidelines for using a war framing effectively. This work helps illuminate the complex, dynamic, and nuanced functions of metaphor in cognition in general, and in public discourse in particular.


In the present study, total phenolic, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins, total antioxidant capacity, total soluble solids, colour parameters (such as L*, a*, b*, C*, and H°) and phenolic compounds, including catechin, total catechin, quercetin-3- glucoside, total quercetin, and chlorogenic acid of nine dried fig fruit cultivars in Fars province, Iran, were studied since only limited information on that topic is available in the literature. Results showed that the total phenolic content in 'Khafrak' cultivar was significantly higher than other examined cultivars. Regarding to the values of total antioxidant capacity, there were no statistically significant differences among the majority of cultivars except between 'Khafrak' and 'Rowno'. Except for 'Khafrak' and 'Rowno', TF content in 'Sigoto' was significantly higher than the other examined cultivars. Anthocyanin content in all cultivars was negligible and it was not detected in some cultivars. Based on colorimetric results, the lightest skin color was observed in 'Shahanjir', while the darker color was in 'Seyah'. Significant differences were determined among the cultivars with respect to the distribution of phenolic compounds. Catechin and total quercetin contents in 'Matti' were significantly higher than the other examined cultivars. Results suggest that chlorogenic acid played a trifling role in determination of antioxidant capacity of the fruits. In addition, the cluster analysis based on Euclidean distance with Unweighted pair-group method using arithmetic average (UPGMA) method separated the cultivars into three main groups.


In response to widening achievement gaps and increased demand for post-secondary education, local and federal governments across the US have enacted policies that have boosted high school graduation rates without an equivalent rise in student achievement, suggesting a decline in academic standards. To the extent that academic standards can shape effort decisions, these trends can have important implications for human capital accumulation. This paper provides both theoretical and empirical evidence of the causal effect of academic standards on student effort and achievement. We develop a theoretical model of endogenous student effort that depends on grading policies, finding that designs that do not account for either the spread of student ability or the magnitude of leniency can increase achievement gaps. Empirically, under a research design that leverages variation from a statewide grading policy and school entry rules, we find that an increase in leniency mechanically increased student GPA without increasing student achievement. At the same time, this policy induced students to increase their school absences. We uncover stark heterogeneity of effects across student ability, with the gains in GPA driven entirely by high ability students and the reductions in attendance driven entirely by low ability students. These differences in responses compound across high school and ultimately widen long-term achievement gaps as measured by ACT scores.


Deep unsupervised generative models are regarded as a promising alternative to supervised counterparts in the field of MRI-based lesion detection. They denote a principled approach for detecting unseen types of anomalies without relying on large amounts of expensive ground truth annotations. To this end, deep generative models are trained exclusively on data from healthy patients and detect lesions as Out-of-Distribution (OOD) data at test time (i.e. low likelihood). While this is a promising way of bypassing the need for costly annotations, this work demonstrates that it also renders this widely used unsupervised anomaly detection approach particularly vulnerable to non-lesion-based OOD data (e.g. data from different sensors). Since models are likely to be exposed to such OOD data in production, it is crucial to employ safety mechanisms to filter for such samples and run inference only on input for which the model is able to provide reliable results. We first show extensively that conventional, unsupervised anomaly detection mechanisms fail when being presented with true OOD data. Secondly, we apply prior knowledge to disentangle lesion-based OOD from their non-lesion-based counterparts.


Common sense has always been a cornerstone of American politics. In 1776, Tom Paine's vital pamphlet with that title sparked the American Revolution. And today, common sense--the wisdom of ordinary people, knowledge so self-evident that it is beyond debate--remains a powerful political ideal, utilized alike by George W. Bush's aw-shucks articulations and Barack Obama's down-to-earth reasonableness. But far from self-evident is where our faith in common sense comes from and how its populist logic has shaped modern democracy. Common Sense: A Political History is the first book to explore this essential political phenomenon. The story begins in the aftermath of England's Glorious Revolution, when common sense first became a political ideal worth struggling over. Sophia Rosenfeld's accessible and insightful account then wends its way across two continents and multiple centuries, revealing the remarkable individuals who appropriated the old, seemingly universal idea of common sense and the new strategic uses they made of it. Paine may have boasted that common sense is always on the side of the people and opposed to the rule of kings, but Rosenfeld demonstrates that common sense has been used to foster demagoguery and exclusivity as well as popular sovereignty. She provides a new account of the transatlantic Enlightenment and the Age of Revolutions, and offers a fresh reading on what the eighteenth century bequeathed to the political ferment of our own time. Far from commonsensical, the history of common sense turns out to be rife with paradox and surprise.


Written by the founder of DumpAnalysis.org this book is not about bugs or debugging techniques but about background knowledge everyone needs to start experimenting with x64 WinDbg, learn from practical experience and read other advanced debugging books. Solid understanding of fundamentals like pointers is needed to analyze stack traces beyond !analyze -v and lmv WinDbg commands. This is the book to help technical support and escalation engineers and Windows software testers without the knowledge of assembly language to master necessary prerequisites to understand and start debugging and crash dump analysis on x64 Windows platforms. It doesn't require any specific knowledge, fills the gap and lowers the learning curve. The book is also useful for software engineers coming from managed code or Java background, engineers coming from non- Wintel environments, Windows C/C++ software engineers without assembly language background, security researchers and beginners learning x64 Windows software disassembling and reverse engineering techniques. This book can also be used as AMD64 and Intel EM64T assembly language and x64 Windows debugging supplement for relevant undergraduate level courses. For someone, who wants to learn these foundations in the context of 32-bit Windows environments there is a separate x86 book (ISBN: 978-1-906717-10-0). However, this book is completely independent from that earlier book and almost every illustration was recreated to reflect x64 architecture and x64 Windows ILP 32-32-64 model (Integer-Long-Pointer).


Coupling of TiO2 with rare earth (RE) metal-based upconversion particles (UCPs) is a promising strategy to develop near-infrared (NIR)-driven TiO2-based photocatalysts. This, however, requires the controlled synthesis of bright NIR-to-UV UCPs with tailored morphology, size and crystalline phase. Herein, we report a rapid, efficient and reproducible co-precipitation/microwave (MW)-assisted hydrothermal method for the preparation of NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+ UCPs which allows tailoring the morphology (spherical nanoparticles, microrods) and crystalline phase (cubic, hexagonal) and hence the optical response of the resulting UCPs by simply varying the MW treatment time or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) concentration. The EDTA concentration strongly affects the size of the primary UCPs during the co-precipitation step which plays a decisive role in dictating the final particle morphology in the subsequent MW-assisted hydrothermal step. Based on microscopic and XRD analyses, a model for the growth of UCPs with different morphologies has been proposed. Pure hexagonal microrods with strong upconversion (UC) photoluminescence (PL) in the UV (345 nm, 361 nm) and visible (450 nm, 475 nm) regions are obtained using MW treatment times of 30–60 min and EDTA/RE3+ molar ratios above 1.5. The UCPs@TiO2 core@shell composite photocatalysts prepared by coating anatase TiO2 on the surface of UCPs using a sol–gel method showed good photocatalytic activity under both ultraviolet (UV) and NIR light. This efficient and reproducible co-precipitation/MW-assisted approach may be considered as a step forward towards the efficient harvesting of sunlight for photochemical and photoelectrical applications based on TiO2.


The author explores trajectories of creating well-being with regard to old age in a poor Muslim community in Kerala, India. Theoretically, she draws on the nonstate-led concept of 'inclusive social security' and links it with the anthropology of the house. In doing so she takes approaches of 'making' kinship, gender, age as well as citizenship into account. Care and respect for the elderly result from strong but gendered intergenerational kin relationships in and around the house, which they establish for a large part themselves. Governmental and civil provisions play an enabling or supplementary role. Elderly women, particularly widows, benefit from property relationships that are less gendered. Surprisingly, there is a remarkable tendency of creating house ownership, and thus of bargaining power, for women in this community. It is suggested that this is effected by a combination of Muslim inheritance rules, recent dowry-giving practices and Kerala's matrilineal history.


The determination of α-keto acids has clinical importance, because these are intermediates in a number of biochemical processes. This work reports the development of an HPLC procedure for the analysis α-keto acids in blood and urine samples after derivatization with 4-nitro-1,2- phenylenediamine (NPD). Nine α-keto acids: glyoxylic acid (GA), pyruvic acid (PYR), 2- oxobutyric acid (KB), 3-methyl-2-oxobutyric acid (MKBA), 3-methyl-2-oxovaleric acid (K3MVA), 2-oxoglutaric acid (KG), 4-methyl-2-oxovaleric acid (K4MVA), 2-oxohexanoic acid (KHA) and phenylpyruvic acid (PPY) were derivatized with (NPD) at pH 3 and separated on a Zorbax 300 SB-C18 HPLC column (4.6x150mm id) and photodiode array detection at 255 nm. The isocratic elution was performed with methanol: water: acetonitrile (42: 56:2, v/ v/ v) with a flow rate 0.9 mL/min. The keto acids separated within 14 min. The method was repeatable with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.1-2.9% for each of the α-keto acids. The limits of detection and quantitation were obtained within the range 0.05-0.26 µg/ mL and 0.15-0.8 µg/ mL respectively. The method was applied for determination of α-keto acids from a pharmaceutical preparation, human serum and urine samples of healthy volunteers and diabetic patients. The results were further confirmed by standard addition technique. The method is rapid and simple and is suitable for the separation and determination of α-keto acids from clinical samples.


Abstract. To analyse the response and recovery characteristics of forest to forest fire, this paper selected the forest fire in the Greater Khingan Mountains (GKM) in China in 1987 and the forest fire in the Yellowstone National Park (YSP) in the United States in 1988. We first used Landsat-5 TM images before and after the fire to extract the burned area and calculate burn severity based on the Differential Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). Next, we analysed the response of forest vegetation to forest fire with different burn severity using the anomaly value of Leaf area index (LAI) derived from Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS) products. And the recovery of forest vegetation after forest fire were revealed using time – series LAI data and MODIS Land cover data. The results showed that the LAI decreased rapidly after the forest fire, and the greater the burn severity, the higher the decreasing amplitude of LAI. The maximum decreasing amplitude of LAI in the burned areas with high burn severity were 1.3–3.8 times higher than that in low burn severity areas. The recovery time of LAI is affected by burn severity and manual interference. The recovery time of LAI in burned areas in the GKM is about 5–10 years, which in the burned areas with high burn severity is 2 times than that with low burn severity. The recovery time of LAI in the burned areas with low burn severity in the YSP is at least 20 years, while that with high burn severity will take longer time to recovery. And the manual interference accelerated the recovery of LAI in the GKM. Our research on the response and recovery of vegetation is helpful for formulating and implementing adaptation and mitigation strategies in response to forest fire.


In the past few years, two wrongful incarceration cases have garnered especially heightened media attention. Both cases involved lawyers who knew all about the wrongful incarcerations of innocent men but were barred from disclosing exonerating information because of confidentiality restraints with their own clients. The following Article is an attempt to frame some of the concerns presented by a possible wrongful incarceration exception to attorney-client confidentiality. The Article begins in Part One by providing background on the judicial system's requirements of a lawyer, including attorneys' ultimate duty to their clients and their obligations under attorney-client confidentiality. Part Two proceeds with an analysis of the wrongful incarceration exception with six subparts. Part A discusses the possible chilling effect of a new exception on attorney-client discussions. Part B considers the proposition that the substantial bodily harm and reasonably certain death exception already captures an exception for wrongful incarcerations. Part C, D, E and F raise some practical issues with a wrongful incarceration exception, including, respectively, the length of conviction that would be required for an attorney to disclose information, the proper timing procedurally for an attorney to come forward, the possibility that a wrongful incarceration exception could violate a client's constitutional rights against self-incrimination and for effective counsel, and finally, the difference in attorney behavior that could be expected to result from a wrongful incarceration exception. The Article concludes by suggesting a proposal for a new exception that would best solve the issues raised by a wrongful incarceration exception to attorney-client confidentiality.


The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Person Act ("RLUIPA") provides statutory relief where the constitutional right to free exercise of religion is impinged by restrictive zoning ordinances. This Note examines the "Equal Terms" provision of RLUIPA, which forbids governments from treating "a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution." Seven circuit courts have addressed the meaning of the Equal Terms provision. While those cases can be described as falling into two approaches — the strict scrutiny requirement and the similarly situated requirement — courts are further split within those approaches, and some courts have avoided endorsing either. This Note argues that this is not because of any ambiguity in the text itself. The different interpretations arise from the limitations that the circuit courts have read into the statute on the basis of constitutional avoidance. The Note then proposes a straightforward, broad reading of the statute — wherever governments allow secular assemblies and institutions, they must also permit religious assemblies and institutions on no less than equal terms. This reading, without any caveats, would be more consistent with the text, history, and purpose of the Act. It would also provide a rule that is easier to administer without violating existing constitutional principles.


This paper argues that innovation policy research can benefit from utilizing new research methods as they might lead to different policy recommendations. It demonstrates this by using a set-theoretic fsQCA method to analyse the data on innovation policies in the European Union (EU). It shows that the use of correlation-based statistical methods is not appropriate for the evaluation of innovation policies due to their causally complex nature that correlational statistical methods cannot unravel. This paper demonstrates this by focusing on the special importance of linkages among actors and innovation commercialisation through entrepreneurship and the notion that they represent a necessary condition for innovation success. Results confirm that the single factor of Linkages & entrepreneurship is the necessary condition for innovation success, thus emphasizing the importance of an open innovation framework for innovation policy-making. Results also show three combinations of sufficient conditions (but no single factor) lead to innovation success. They confirm the causal complexity of innovation policy and confirm that using different research methods will lead to different policy recommendations


Prior work on neural network verification has focused on specifications that are linear functions of the output of the network, e.g., invariance of the classifier output under adversarial perturbations of the input. In this paper, we extend verification algorithms to be able to certify richer properties of neural networks. To do this we introduce the class of convex-relaxable specifications, which constitute nonlinear specifications that can be verified using a convex relaxation. We show that a number of important properties of interest can be modeled within this class, including conservation of energy in a learned dynamics model of a physical system; semantic consistency of a classifier's output labels under adversarial perturbations and bounding errors in a system that predicts the summation of handwritten digits. Our experimental evaluation shows that our method is able to effectively verify these specifications. Moreover, our evaluation exposes the failure modes in models which cannot be verified to satisfy these specifications. Thus, emphasizing the importance of training models not just to fit training data but also to be consistent with specifications.


Increasing areas available for corn (Zea mays L.) production in eastern Canada have stimulated the search for improved management practices to obtain Higher yields. These management practices include hybrid selection, plant density, and fertility optimization. Large year-to-year variations in corn yields due to weather, however may mask management effects. The objective of this study was to quantify corn grain yield, stover yield, and total dry-matter production as functions of heat units (HU) and total seasonal water inputs. A field experiment was conducted on a Brooks ton sandy clay loam soil (fine-loamy, frigid, mesic Typic Hapludalf) in Quebec from 1984 to 1989. Empirical equations for corn grain, stover, and total drymatter yield were developed for combinations of two plant populations (65 000 and 90 000 plants ha⁻¹) and two fertilizer rates (170-44-141 and 400-132-332 kg ha⁻¹ as N-P-K). Corn grain yield was a function of HU under conventional management practices with low and high HU reducing yields. Corn grain yield with the higher plant population and the higher fertilizer rate was proportional to the product of HU and water inputs received during the growing season. Interactions between management practices indicated that management practices must be devised for most probable climatic conditions. Optimization of climatic factors and management practices could increase grain conn yield.


In assessing delictual damages the plaintiff is burdened with the duty to prove loss with a preponderance of probability, including uncertain future loss. In quantifying such a claim an actuary is often used to make actuarial calculations based on proven facts and realistic assumptions regarding the future. The role of the actuary is to guide the court in the calculations to be made. Relying on its wide judicial discretion the court will have the final say regarding the correctness of the assumptions on which these calculations are based. The court should give detailed reasons if any assumptions or parts of the calculations made by the actuary are rejected. It should preferably refrain from making its own calculations if an actuary is involved and should rather instruct the actuary to do recalculations if necessary. It does, however, fall within the wide discretion of the court to make a general contingency adjustment after the basic calculations have been accepted. In assessing delictual damages it is the duty of the court to ensure that both objective and subjective factors are considered in such a manner that the assessment may be regarded as an application of "fair" mathematics.


This study examined the effects of cooperative learning techniques (CLT) on vocabulary achievement of reflective/impulsive Iranian EFL Learners. From among 130 students at Fajr institute in Dehdasht, Kohkiloyeh and Boyer Ahmad Province, Iran, 90 participants were selected based on their performance on the Oxford Placement Test (OPT). The participants were then divided into two experimental groups (comprising reflective learners and impulsive learners) and one control group labeled as conventional instruction (CI) group. The instrument used to divide the participants into reflective and impulsive groups was the Eysenck's (1990) Impulsivity Questionnaire. The experimental groups were taught with the student team achievement division (STAD) technique, while the control group was taught through the traditional method for ten weeks. To measure the vocabulary knowledge of the learners in different groups at the beginning and at the end of the experiment, a pretest and a posttest, each consisting of 40 items on new English words based on their book were used. Independent-Samples and paired-samples t tests were used to determine whether there were significant interand intra-group differences. The statistical analysis of the results showed that the experimental groups (reflective and impulsive) performed better on vocabulary achievement posttest than the control group (CI), and also it was revealed that reflective learners performed better on vocabulary achievement than impulsive learners. In sum, cooperative learning enhanced learners' vocabulary performance, especially the reflective ones.


This paper extends tha Water Availability Index concept to downstream reservoirs in the Apalachicola-Chattahochee-Flint (ACF) system. This extended index should be helpful in adjusting limited water resources in the basin to provide an equitable distribution to the various users and to alleviate localized extreme conditions in one of the subbasins.


Public controversies over issues ranging from global warming to biotechnology have politicized scientific expertise and research. Some respond with calls for restoring a golden age of value-free science. More promising efforts seek to democratize science. But what does that mean? Can it go beyond the typical focus on public participation? How does the politics of science challenge prevailing views of democracy? In Science in Democracy, Mark Brown draws on science and technology studies, democratic theory, and the history of political thought to show why an adequate response to politicized science depends on rethinking both science and democracy. Brown enlists such canonical and contemporary thinkers as Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Dewey, and Latour to argue that the familiar dichotomy between politics and science reinforces a similar dichotomy between direct democracy and representative government. He then develops an alternative perspective based on the mutual shaping of participation and representation in both science and politics. Political representation requires scientific expertise, and scientific institutions may become sites of political representation. Brown illustrates his argument with examples from expert advisory committees, bioethics councils, and lay forums. Different institutional venues, he shows, mediate different elements of democratic representation. If we understand democracy as an institutionally distributed process of collective representation, Brown argues, it becomes easier to see the politicization of science not as a threat to democracy but as an opportunity for it.


Generalised Mersenne Numbers (GMNs) were defined by Solinas in 1999 and feature in the NIST (FIPS 186-2) and SECG standards for use in elliptic curve cryptography. Their form is such that modular reduction is extremely efficient, thus making them an attractive choice for modular multiplication implementation. However, the issue of residue multiplication efficiency seems to have been overlooked. Asymptotically, using a cyclic rather than a linear convolution, residue multiplication modulo a Mersenne number is twice as fast as integer multiplication; this property does not hold for prime GMNs, unless they are of Mersenne's form. In this work we exploit an alternative generalisation of Mersenne numbers for which an analogue of the above property -- and hence the same efficiency ratio -- holds, even at bitlengths for which schoolbook multiplication is optimal, while also maintaining very efficient reduction. Moreover, our proposed primes are abundant at any bitlength, whereas GMNs are extremely rare. Our multiplication and reduction algorithms can also be easily parallelised, making our arithmetic particularly suitable for hardware implementation. Furthermore, the field representation we propose also naturally protects against side-channel attacks, including timing attacks, simple power analysis and differential power analysis, which is essential in many cryptographic scenarios, in constrast to GMNs.


There is a key tension associated with ethnographic explorations into the lives of people in the Global South – 'outsider' researchers from the Global North who lack experience of the environments they are seeking to understand. A considered response, therefore, is for scholars to seek physical immersion in a field—to live among those they are trying to understand. Such ethnographic inquiries are optimal when researchers have the capacity to engage over long periods of time. However, in some circumstances, this may not feasible. Thus, questions arise about the veracity of field work investigations that are not only temporally brief but undertaken by scholars who lack local experience. This paper reflects on the experiences of a researcher who was faced with those challenges. It provides guidance as to how scholars might prepare for short-term ethnography (STE) in field work, along with the limitations and constraints of such an approach. The research centered on a sport for development and peace study into intergroup relations and ethnic separatism in Fijian sport


Histochemical study indicated that the posterior pituitary possesses numerous microvesicles (MVs) containing synaptophysin, a marker protein specific for brain synaptic vesicles (Navone, F., Di Gioia, G., Jahn, R., Browning, M., Greengard, P., and De Camilli, P. (1989) J. Cell Biol. 109, 3425-2433). By monitoring cross-reactivity with anti- synaptophysin antibody, the MVs were highly purified from bovine posterior pituitaries by a combination of differential and sucrose density gradient centrifugations. The purified MVs had an average diameter of about 60 nm and were associated with synaptophysin as revealed by immunoelectron microscopy. The vesicles contained ATPase activity partially sensitive to bafilomycin A1 and to vanadate. The membrane fraction immunoisolated with anti-synaptophysin antibody also exhibited similar ATPase activity. The two ATPases could be purified separately; the vandate-sensitive enzyme was identified as a 115-kDa polypeptide immunochemically similar to chromaffin granule P-ATPase (forming phosphoenzyme intermediate), and the bafilomycin A1-sensitive ATPase showed essentially the same properties as those of vacuolar type H(+)-ATPases. Upon addition of ATP, the MVs formed an electrochemical gradient of protons and took up norepinephrine in a reserpine-sensitive manner, indicating the presence of secondary monoamine transporter coupled with vacuolar type H(+)-ATPase. No uptake of L-glutamate, gamma- aminobutyrate, glycine, or acetylcholine was observed. The identification of MVs as organelles responsible for storage of monoamines is important for understanding the physiological function of the posterior pituitary.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate selected shoe characteristics as risk factors for fatal musculoskeletal injury (FMI) and specifically for suspensory apparatus failure (SAF) and cannon bone condylar fracture (CDY) of Thoroughbred racehorses in California.

DESIGN
Case-control study.

ANIMALS
Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 201) that died of were euthanatized at California racetracks between August 1992 and July 1994.

PROCEDURE
Shoe characteristics were compared between case horses affected by FMI (155), SAF (79), and CDY (41) and control horses that died for reasons unrelated to the appendicular musculoskeletal system (non-FMI; 46). Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios for FMI, SAF, and CDY.

RESULTS
Toe grabs were identified as possible risk factors for FMI, SAF, and CDY. The odds of FMI, SAF, and CDY were 1.8, 6.5, and 7.0, respectively, times greater for horses shod with low toe grabs than for horses shod without toe grabs on front shoes. Horses shod with regular toe grabs on front shoes had odds 3.5, 15.6, and 17.1 times greater (P < 0.05) for FMI, SAF, and CDY, respectively, compared with horses shod without toe grabs. The odds of horses shod with rim shoes were a third (P < 0.05) of those shod without rim shoes for either FMI or SAF. The apparent association between toe grab type and CDY may, in part, be attributable to concurrent SAF and CDY injuries in many horses.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Avoiding the use of toe grabs should decrease the incidence of FMI, especially SAF, in Thoroughbred racehorses. The use of rim shoes that are more consistent with natural hoof shape may decrease injury risk.


The purpose of the present study was to contribute to the research and literature on psychological abuse through the Italian adaptation of the Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA; Murphy & Hoover, 1999; Murphy, Hoover, & Taft, 1999) and to evaluate its psychometric properties. The MMEA is a multifactor measure assessing the following four subtypes of psychological abuse for both Victimization (abuse by the partner) and Perpetration (abuse by the self): Restrictive Engulfment, Denigration, Hostile Withdrawal, and Dominance/Intimidation. The sample was recruited from two cities in central Italy and comprised 417 college students (188 males and 229 females), who were involved in a heterosexual romantic relationship of at least six months' duration. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the original four-factor structure for both Victimization and Perpetration. Moreover, the four subscales showed satisfactory internal consistency coefficients (ρ) for both Victimization and Perpetration. Furthermore, validity analysis revealed that the MMEA subscales correlated moderately to highly with communication measures and relationship satisfaction. The present study, therefore, demonstrates that MMEA is a reliable measure assessing different, but correlated, forms of psychological abuse within the Italian context.


There has been considerable confusion and media debate about the proposal to introduce a national health insurance (NHI) in South Africa. The purpose of this chapter is to demystify the proposed health system reform. It explains the objective of the proposed reform, evaluates how South Africa currently fares relative to this objective and explores the implications of lessons from international experience for the South African health system. It also considers what is required to ensure that a reformed health system is affordable and sustainable.
This chapter argues that the term 'NHI' has itself contributed to the confusion about the intended reform and that the focus should instead be placed on the core objective of the reform, which is to achieve a universal health system. A universal system is one that ensures that everyone is able to use health services when needed and that provides financial protection against the costs of health care for everyone. The reality is that many South Africans cannot access health care when needed.
Another misconception is that the proposed reform is simply about how to fund health services. Instead, it is very much about ensuring that South Africans have real access to appropriate, efficient, quality health services.
A key area of contention has been whether a universal system is affordable or not. Not only is it premature to declare the NHI unaffordable when there are no details of the proposed reforms in the public domain, but it is also important to recognise that it is not the universality of a health system that makes it unaffordable. It is, instead, inappropriate design of a health system that can make it unaffordable.
There is neither doubt that health system change is needed in South Africa, nor dispute that it is possible to achieve an affordable universal system. What is required is constructive and evidence-informed debate from all stakeholders on how best to achieve improved health for all South Africans through health system reform.


This paper presents an overview of New Hampshire's efforts to implement a pilot accountability system designed to support deeper learning for students and powerful organization change for schools and districts. The accountability pilot, referred to as Performance Assessment of Competency Education or PACE, is grounded in a competency- based educational approach designed to ensure that students have meaningful opportunities to achieve critical knowledge and skills. These opportunities are judged by the outcomes students achieve and not by inputs such as seat time. Therefore, students must achieve these competencies before moving on to the next major learning targets and/or graduating from high school. High quality performance assessments play a crucial role in the PACE system because of the need to have assessments that measure the depths of student understanding of these complex learning targets. Performance assessments are used as both summative and interim measures in the PACE system as a way to document student learning of the competencies and  to support remediation or extension interventions. The paper describes the system of assessments being implemented as part of the PACE pilot as well as providing a discussion of the technical quality issues the state is working to address as part of this accountability pilot. For example, being able to produce valid and comparable annual determinations for all students each year is a considerable technical challenge as well as documenting the degree to which all students are held to the same threshold expectations (equity). The paper concludes by relating the PACE initiative to the push for deeper and more meaningful learning for students.


This paper explores the link between compulsory voting and income distribution using a cross-section of countries around the world. Our empirical cross-country analysis for 91 countries during the period 1960-2000 shows that compulsory voting, when enforced strictly, improves income distribution, as measured by the Gini coefficient and the bottom income quintiles of the population. Our findings are robust to changes and additions to our benchmark specification. Since poorer countries suffer from relatively greater income inequality, it might make sense to promote such voting schemes in developing regions such as Latin America. This proposal assumes that bureaucratic costs related with design and implementation are not excessive.


Diane E. Peters. Canadian Music and Music Education: An Annotated Biblioof Theses and Dissertations. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 1997. xvii, 476 pp. ISBN 0-8108-3275-5 (hardcover). The field of Canadian music research has come a long way in recent decades. With courses in Canadian music now firmly established as an integral part of the curriculum in many of our music departments and a plethora of recently completed publications, dissertations, and theses on aspects of music in Canada, books such as Diane Peters' s annotated bibliography of theses and dissertations on Canadian music and music education are welcome additions to this rapidly growing field.1 As Peters rightly points out in the introduction to the book, existing dissertation abstracts are of limited value when searching for current scholarship on Canadian music, and Master's level works completed at American or foreign universities are often extremely difficult to uncover. The present volume includes annotated bibliographic citations of over 1 ,200 theses and dissertations relating to aspects of Canadian music or music education in Canada. The scope of the entries is impressive, with the bibliography partitioned neatly into 15 sections as follows: (1) Analytical Studies: General; (2) Analytical Studies: Instrumental Music; (3) Analytical Studies: Vocal Music; (4) Bibliographies/Inventories/Repertoire Lists; (5) Ethnomusicology/Folk Music; (6) Historical/Bibliographical Studies; (7) Music and Literature; (8) Music Education; (9) Music Journalism/Criticism; (10) Music Recording/Broadcasting; (11) Musical Instruments; (12) Original Compositions; (13) Psychology of Music/Music Therapy; (14) Sacred Music; (15) Sociological Studies. There are many attributes which make this book a valuable reference tool. The numbered, categorized abstracts are clear and concise, yet detailed enough to give the reader a precise summary of the subject, methodology, and contents of each thesis and dissertation. While approximately forty per cent of works listed were written in French and a small number in German and other languages, all of the abstracts have been translated into English with the title of the work indicating the language in which it was written. An especially useful feature is that entries available through University Microfilms in Ann Arbor, Michigan, or in the National Library of Canada's Canadian theses series, are followed by order numbers for purchase. Separate indices by author, title, institution, and subject are given at the end of the book. Peters has obviously spared no effort in assembling this wide-ranging compilation of unpublished sources, many of which lie outside the realm of what would normally be considered "Canadian music." Indeed, Peters' s definition of the term is considerably broader than most, encompassing not only writings about Canadian composers, performers, musical styles, genres, etc., but also works such as music-related psychological studies in which some or all of the participants are Canadian. Within this eclectic fusion of disparate subjects and methodologies, it then becomes possible for the abstracts of non-music specialists to appear alongside specialized works from the more "traditional" fields of musical inquiry (analysis, musicology/ethnomusicology, music criticism, music education, composition, performance pedagogy, etc.). How else could one open up a music bibliography and find an entry titled "Shame, Body Image and Locus-of-control in Male and Female Exotic Dancers" (p. 307)?2 The risk with this type of approach is that the scope of entries becomes so broad as to be unmanageable. While I do not think this is necessarily the case here, there are some questionable choices of cross-referencing and indexing and, in certain instances, some unfortunate omissions of important dissertations pertaining to Canadian music. To test the usefulness of Peters' s bibliography, I first searched for theses and dissertations on two Canadian composers whose music I have researched fairly extensively - S. …


Discussion and exchange among peers have being hailed as an essential part of learning since at least, Vygot-sky's socio-constructivist theory. There, learning is presented as a subtle and dynamical collective process. Hence, despite numerous efforts to understand how learners engage and maintain inspiring discussions, researchers continue to question how to effectively reinforce the collective actions. In Learning Management Systems (LMSs) they propose Learning Dashboards (LDBs) to learners, tutors, and managers to help them monitor various learning indicators. But only recently have they employed Natural Language Processings (NLPs) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques to display temporal indicators incorporating the fo-rums' content analysis and the learners' behavioral patterns. In this study, we present our design efforts to model a scalable and portable indicator of collective actions. We aim to support tutors' monitoring of fo-rums' activities through explorable visualizations. We review previous researches about visual explorations of Forums' content and online collaboration's measures. We expose in progress visualizations built from three different datasets and propose directions towards further development of indicators to monitor collective actions.


Drawing on my PhD field research in Bangladesh, this paper contributes to the growing body of methodological literature on young people's right to participate in research. I reflexively evaluate the approach and ethics that I employed in my research, arguing that we must recognise the social and spatial dimensions of participation, which shape ethical issues of access and the construction of obedience, privacy and confidentiality. I reflect critically on the impact of inter-generational power relations on young people's voluntary participation, and conclude by arguing that methodology – including ethical responses – needs to be context-specific. My experience reveals the challenges of translating rights-based research into practice.


On its first appearance, The Screwtape Letters was immediately recognized as a milestone in the history of popular theology and has since sold more than a quarter of a million editions. Now 60 years old, it is stunningly repackaged to launch the Signature Classics range. A masterpiece of satire, this classic has entertained and enlightened readers the world overwith its sly and ironic portrayal of human life and foibles from the vantage point of Screwtape, a highly placed assistant to 'Our Father Below'. At once wildly comic, deadly serious and strikingly original, C.S. Lewis gives us the correspondence of the worldly wise old devil to his nephew Wormwood, a novice demon in charge of securing the damnation of an ordinary young man. Dedicated to Lewis's friend and colleague J.R.R. Tolkien, The Screwtape Letters is the most engaging account of temptation -- and triumph over it -- ever written.


The timing of life history events, such as germination and reproduction, influences ecological and selective environments throughout the life cycle. Many organisms evolve responses to seasonal environmental cues to synchronize these key events with favourable conditions. Often the fitness consequences of each life history transition depend on previous and subsequent events in the life cycle. If so, shifts in environmental cues can create cascading effects throughout the life cycle, which can influence fitness, selection on life history traits, and population viability. We examined variation in cue responses for contingent life history expression and fitness in a California native wildflower, Streptanthus tortuosus, by manipulating seasonal germination timing in a common garden experiment. We also manipulated chilling exposure to test the role of vernalization cues for seasonal life history contingency. Plants germinating early in the growing season in autumn were more likely to flower in the first year and less likely to perennate than later germinants in spring. First‐year reproduction and overall fitness was the highest for autumn cohorts. Sensitivity analyses showed that optimal germination date depended on survival beyond the first year and fruit production in later years. Experimental chilling exposure induced first‐year flowering in spring germinants, demonstrating that seasonal life history contingency is mediated by a vernalization requirement. This requirement reduced fitness of spring germinants without increasing survival or later fecundity and may be maladaptive. Such mismatches between cues and fitness may become more pervasive as predicted climate change reduces exposure to chilling, shortens growing seasons, and increases severity of summer drought. Synthesis. Shifts in germination timing in seasonal environments can cause cascading effects on trait expression and fitness that extend beyond the first year of the life cycle. Climate change is likely to shift seasonal conditions, influencing such life history contingency, with significant impacts on trait expression, fitness, and population persistence. These shifts may cause strong natural selection on cue sensitivity and life history expression, but it is an open question whether populations have the potential for rapid adaptation in response to this selection.


In this study, we simulated and analyzed a plasmonic waveguide modulator based on a single layer of graphene. It includes a graphene sheet, which sandwiches between two layers of silicon dioxide. Then, some gates are arranged on either side of the waveguide on a periodic structure. When an electric field is applied perpendicular to the waveguide plate, the Fermi level of graphene under the gates changes. Detailed analysis is performed by the method of lines based on Maxwell's equations along the propagation direction of the waveguide. Computation of the multi-gate device starts by examining the effect of the Fermi level. The transmission coefficient of the magnetic-field norms of the modulator is calculated by varying the parameters, such as Fermi level, length, gates number, and distance between the gates to achieve optimized design of the modulator device with very small dimensions. The results show that at higher Fermi levels, where the imaginary part of the effective index of the waveguide is close to zero, the reflection is dominant and absorption is low. Therefore, the modulator length becomes so long that it is more than one hundred nanometers. At lower Fermi levels, where the amount of the imaginary part of the effective index is significant, the absorption is dominant. At this range, a one-gate device is sufficient for modulation. Consequently, the designed minimum device length becomes equal to six nanometers for the ten-micrometer wavelength. Furthermore, the design is carried out in other wavelengths.


In competitions for rank-based rewards, how does the structure of rewards affect risk-taking? We answer this question in a framework where, subject only to a mean-performance constraint, contestants compete for rank-based "prizes" by choosing random performance levels. We derive the unique equilibrium of this game and provide a comprehensive analysis of the relation between the equilibrium performance distribution -- including modality, symmetry, tail behavior, dispersion, and skewness -- and the contest structure. Increasing the real gain inequality of prizes, adding contestants, or scaling up contest size increases performance dispersion but not necessarily skewness while convexifying the prize schedule increases both dispersion and skewness.The supplement to this paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2747503


Much has been written concerning the incidence of sexual abuse of children and adolescents, the potential long-term consequences of such abuse, and the need for child sexual abuse prevention efforts (Barker, 1990; Barth & Derezotes, 1990; Krivacska, 1990). Education about sexual abuse and other prevention efforts is becoming increasingly prominent in schools, community-based agencies, and in the home (Krivacska, 1990). Recent literature, however, has emphasized as important sexual reactivity, another potential repercussion for the sexual abuse victim. Sexual reactivity refers to sexualized behavior that appears in direct response to recent sexual abuse (Friedrich, 1990; Sgroi, Bunk, & Wabrek, 1988). This article will focus on the sexually aggressive behavior of children and adolescents who have been sexually abused as children. We will provide an overview of the current literature on sexual reactivity, offer theoretical explanations for the incidence of sexually reactive behavior, and discuss implications for prevention and early intervention of this phenomenon.


extract] Lawyers speak of the corporate trilogy: the company, the directors, and the members in general meeting. But the corporate game is being played by a quarternary, the fourth and most important group being the senior executives, some, but not all of whom, may be counted amongst the ranks of the directors. The group will be led by a general manager (by whatever name called) who will possess extensive power. Any analysis which ignores the role of those who make up this all powerful executive can be likened to an examination of Westminster government without proper consideration of the role of Cabinet. This paper aims to redress this imbalance by examining the obligations of senior employees of large corporations as fiduciaries and as executive officers under the Corporations Law. It does not purport to examine their liabilities where they are also directors.


This paper introduces two new spatial interpolation techniques that utilize the network of road segments and the resulting nodes to allocate aggregated demographic characteristics from one type of geographic boundaries (i.e., the geographic hierarchy of the U.S. Census) to another (e.g. watersheds) under conditions of "spatial incongruity." Spatial incongruity arises when spatially aggregated data are available for one set of geographic areal units but not the areal units of primary interest. Spatial incongruity presents a major obstacle to the integration of social and natural science data and consequently places limitations on interdisciplinary research efforts. In the natural sciences the geographic units of analysis frequently are areas defined by land use, land cover, soil type, watershed boundaries, and a variety of other biophysical and geophysical features. Given that census geography and its concomitant demographic data seldom correspond exactly to these areas, combining the data from different disciplines and disparate units of analysis becomes a crucial function. The road segment length interpolation method presented in this paper improves upon areal weighting, the most common method used to allocate characteristics from one geographic system to another, in limited circumstances while the nodal count method represents a substantial improvement.


Gulru Necipoglu and Alina Payne, eds. Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2016, 454 pp., 204 color and 34 b/w illus. $60, ISBN 9780691167282

This wide-ranging and beautifully produced collection of essays, edited by Gulru Necipoglu and Alina Payne, addresses the role of ornament in architecture and the decorative arts in light of its recent revival in cutting-edge architecture and design. The publisher's description presents Histories of Ornament: From Global to Local as "the first major global history of ornament from the Middle Ages to today"; this is not a comprehensive survey, however, but an episodic study, composed of twenty-six individual contributions arranged thematically rather than chronologically. The result of a conference held at Harvard in 2012, it features many scholars with ties to that university. The coverage is impressively wide-ranging but by no means global. Almost all the essays address European, Asian, or North African material. Aside from Jonathan Hay's essay on a single Chinese vase, however, most of Asia, at least those parts of it lying east and south of India—not to mention Australia and sub-Saharan Africa—does not figure in a volume that is less a compendium than an assortment of highly focused, individual studies.

The essays do not share a single approach or theme. The opening chapters attempt to justify the return of ornament; most of the rest examine artifacts and architecture from perspectives developed in recent years by historians of early modern material culture and economic exchange. The strongest contributions generally follow this second approach. The rather scattered trio of essays at the end also merit attention; although they do not fit neatly into either category, they build a chronological bridge between them.

Grounded in theories of architecture and ornament, especially the writings of Gottfried Semper and Adolf Loos, the initial chapters seek to provide a theoretical framework for the use of ornament by today's "starchitects." All avoid acknowledging art nouveau as a key precedent for the current interest in …


Recently, there are many good examples of how multi-disciplinary learning can support students to learn collaboratively and not solely focus on a single professional sector. During the Fall 2011 and Spring 2012 semesters, we have attempted to gather students studying different professional domains together. Students from the Department of Computing (COMP) and the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) are involved as partners and team members to work on joint student projects. One group of SHTM students is planning a conference event in 2012 with over 300 guests. These students act as the clients who require a banquet management system as well as a delegates managing application. Another group of SHTM students is to manage the development projects with the support of IT consultants who are in fact the COMP students. During the Fall semester, different communication channels have been set up to facilitate the inter-group and intra- group communications with the support offered by an e-learning system, Blackboard. Furthermore, there are classroom presentations given by the SHTM students and prototype demonstrations prepared by the COMP students. Pre-project and post-project questionnaires have been given to all participating students in order to assess their gain in professional and business knowledge in 2 different areas, namely database application development and conference management. During the Spring semester, another group of COMP students continued the development and made the 2 systems available on the Web. The two systems were used in a real conference and have received many positive feedbacks. In this paper, we would like to report the group dynamics of our students, achievement and difficulties encountered in this multi-disciplinary project.


The aim of this study was to determine whether the autonomic nervous system modulates the cardiovascular, endocrine, and/or urinary responses to atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) infusion in the fetus. We infused ANF intravenously for 30 min into chronically catheterized, late-gestation sheep fetuses with autonomic blockade and compared the responses to those in autonomically intact fetuses. During the infusions, plasma ANF concentration increased similarly in the blocked and intact fetuses. Arterial pressure decreased by 2 mmHg in both groups, but the decrease occurred earlier in the blocked fetuses. Heart rate was significantly decreased by an average of 15 beats/min in the blocked compared with the intact fetuses. Plasma protein concentration decreased in the blocked fetuses compared with a rise in the intact fetuses. In the blocked fetuses, the restoration of blood volume to normal during the postinfusion period occurred earlier. In the blocked animals, low doses of ANF produced a diuresis, whereas high doses did not increase urine flow; the opposite responses occurred in the intact group. Plasma arginine vasopressin (AVP) concentration increased during the infusion only in the blocked animals. The fetal venous pressure, plasma renin activity, and norepinephrine responses were similar in both groups. These data suggest that the autonomic nervous system may play a role in modulating the fetal arterial pressure, heart rate, blood volume, plasma protein concentration, AVP, and urine flow responses to ANF. Thus the autonomic nervous system appears to significantly modulate multiple responses to ANF in the late-gestation ovine fetus.


Rhizobium nitrogen-fixing nodules are a well-known trait of legumes, but nodules also occur in other plant lineages either with rhizobium or the actinomycete Frankia as microsymbiont. The widely accepted hypothesis is that nodulation evolved independently multiple times, with only a few losses. However, insight in the evolutionary trajectory of nodulation is lacking. We conducted comparative studies using Parasponia (Cannabaceae), the only non-legume able to establish nitrogen fixing nodules with rhizobium. This revealed that Parasponia and legumes utilize a large set of orthologous symbiosis genes. Comparing genomes of Parasponia and its non-nodulating relative Trema did not reveal specific gene duplications that could explain a recent gain of nodulation in Parasponia. Rather, Trema and other non-nodulating species in the Order Rosales show evidence of pseudogenization or loss of key symbiosis genes. This demonstrates that these species have lost the potential to nodulate. This finding challenges a long-standing hypothesis on evolution of nitrogen-fixing symbioses, and has profound implications for translational approaches aimed at engineering nitrogen-fixing nodules in crop plants.


The U.S. National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (RCN) program broke new ground in funding the development of new research communities of practice. This assessment of RCN supports the conclusion that networking activity was increased for a sample set of projects compared to a control group. Journal articles resulting from RCN support score as highly interdisciplinary. Moreover, those articles appear as notably influential, being published in high impact journals and being highly cited. The RCN program does indeed seem to be fostering new biological science research networks.


Abstract Computer models and simulations have become, since the 1960s, an essential instrument for scientific inquiry and political decision making in several fields, from climate to life and social sciences. Philosophical reflection has mainly focused on the ontological status of the computational modeling, on its epistemological validity and on the research practices it entails. But in computational sciences, the work on models and simulations are only two steps of a longer and richer process where operations on data are as important as, and even more time and energy-consuming than modeling itself. Drawing on two study cases—computational embryology and computational epidemiology—this article contributes to filling the gap by focusing on the operations of producing and re-using data in computational sciences. The different phases of the scientific and artisanal work of modelers include data collection, aggregation, homogenization, assemblage, analysis and visualization. The article deconstructs the ideas that data are self-evident informational aggregates and that data-driven approaches are exempted from theoretical work. More importantly, the paper stresses the fact that data are constructed and theory laden not only in their fabrication, but also in their reusing.


This paper studies two artificial viscosity methods for approximating solutions to the Navier-Stokes Equations. Both methods that are introduced add stabilization, then remove it only on a coarse mesh. Both methods can be considered as conforming, mixed methods for 1) velocity and its gradient, and 2) velocity and vorticity. Herein we rigorously study the schemes both analytically and computationally, showing that both methods are unconditionally stable and optimally convergent. Numerical experiments show both methods provide improved results over the unstabilized Navier-Stokes Equations.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
The macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1) is a divergent member of the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily that can serve as a potential immune-therapeutic target and/or a prognostic biomarker for the treatment of some cancers. This article reviews the current published data on the molecular and clinical application of MIC-1 in cancer.

METHODS
Literature review was conducted using Medline, PubMed, Embase and Cochrane databases.

RESULTS
MIC-1 is the only known secreted p53-regulated cytokine and therefore can serve as a biomarker for p53 activation both in vitro and in vivo. MIC-1 gene can be activated by cyclooxygenase inhibitors and has pro-apoptotic and anti-tumour activities. Although MIC-1 may induce anti-tumour role in the early stages of cancer, it can promote the invasiveness and metastatic behaviour in advanced stages. Greater concentration of MIC-1 was associated with the induction of cancer-related anorexia and weight loss in animals and humans. Of clinical interest, MIC-1 out-performs all available biomarkers including CA19-9 in the differentiation of patients with resectable pancreatic cancer from patients with benign pancreatic disease. MIC-1 gene was over-expressed in colorectal cancer (CRC), and a progressive rise of MIC-1 serum levels was noted in patients with adenomatous polyps and further in patients with CRC.

CONCLUSIONS
MIC-1 cytokine has the potential characteristics for a new diagnostic biomarker and a target for cancer treatment. Further research however is required to characterise MIC-1 receptors and to revalidate its diagnostic power in larger and better-standardised clinical studies.


A low-energy 2.4GHz RF transceiver supporting 1Mb/s Gaussian Frequency-Shift Keying modulation and designed to run on a 1.5V battery is implemented in a standard 0.18µm CMOS technology. The integrated DC-DC converter can provide up to 100mA to an external load besides the current required by the transceiver. The transmitter current at 0dBm nominal output power is 11.9mA. The receiver draws 11.4mA and presents a sensitivity of −82.5dBm at a bit-error rate of 0.1% with the on-chip DC-DC converter delivering a total of 120mA. The transceiver is able to operate at a supply voltage as low as 0.8V.


We examine gradient descent on unregularized logistic regression problems, with homogeneous linear predictors on linearly separable datasets. We show the predictor converges to the direction of the max-margin (hard margin SVM) solution. The result also generalizes to other monotone decreasing loss functions with an infimum at infinity, to multi-class problems, and to training a weight layer in a deep network in a certain restricted setting. Furthermore, we show this convergence is very slow, and only logarithmic in the convergence of the loss itself. This can help explain the benefit of continuing to optimize the logistic or cross-entropy loss even after the training error is zero and the training loss is extremely small, and, as we show, even if the validation loss increases. Our methodology can also aid in understanding implicit regularization n more complex models and with other optimization methods.


Rhizobia are soil bacteria able to establish a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis with legume plants. Both in soil and in planta, rhizobia spend non-growing periods resembling the stationary phase of in vitro-cultured bacteria. The primary objective of this work was to better characterize gene regulation in this biologically relevant growth stage in Sinorhizobium meliloti. By a tap-tag/mass spectrometry approach, we identified five sigma factors co-purifying with the RNA polymerase in stationary phase: the general stress response regulator RpoE2, the heat shock sigma factor RpoH2, and three extra-cytoplasmic function sigma factors (RpoE1, RpoE3 and RpoE4) belonging to the poorly characterized ECF26 subgroup. We then showed that RpoE1 and RpoE4 i) are activated upon metabolism of sulfite-generating compounds (thiosulfate and taurine), ii) display overlapping regulatory activities, iii) govern a dedicated sulfite response by controlling expression of the sulfite dehydrogenase SorT, iv) are activated in stationary phase, likely as a result of endogenous sulfite generation during bacterial growth. We showed that SorT is required for optimal growth of S. meliloti in the presence of sulfite, suggesting that the response governed by RpoE1 and RpoE4 may be advantageous for bacteria in stationary phase either by providing a sulfite detoxification function or by contributing to energy production through sulfite respiration. This paper therefore reports the first characterization of ECF26 sigma factors, the first description of sigma factors involved in control of sulphur metabolism, and the first indication that endogenous sulfite may act as a signal for regulation of gene expression upon entry of bacteria in stationary phase.


Selective breeding and genetic improvement have left detectable signatures on the genomes of domestic species. The elucidation of such signatures is fundamental for detecting genomic regions of biological relevance to domestication and improving management practices. In aquaculture, domestication was carried out independently in different locations worldwide, which provides opportunities to study the parallel effects of domestication on the genome of individuals that have been selected for similar traits. In this study, we aimed to detect potential genomic signatures of domestication in two independent pairs of wild/domesticated Atlantic salmon populations of Canadian and Scottish origins, respectively. Putative genomic regions under divergent selection were investigated using a 200K SNP array by combining three different statistical methods based either on allele frequencies (LFMM, Bayescan) or haplotype differentiation (Rsb). We identified 337 and 270 SNPs potentially under divergent selection in wild and hatchery populations of Canadian and Scottish origins, respectively. We observed little overlap between results obtained from different statistical methods, highlighting the need to test complementary approaches for detecting a broad range of genomic footprints of selection. The vast majority of the outliers detected were population‐specific but we found four candidate genes that were shared between the populations. We propose that these candidate genes may play a role in the parallel process of domestication. Overall, our results suggest that genetic drift may have override the effect of artificial selection and/or point toward a different genetic basis underlying the expression of similar traits in different domesticated strains. Finally, it is likely that domestication may predominantly target polygenic traits (e.g., growth) such that its genomic impact might be more difficult to detect with methods assuming selective sweeps.


Although research on worry has increased over the past 15 years, few studies have examined worry in adolescents (Vasey, 1993). Recently, Dugas and his colleagues (1998) have developed a model of excessive worry that has been highly effective for predicting the tendency to worry in adults. This model proposes that four process variables are associated with excessive worry: intolerance of uncertainty, positive beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation, and cognitive avoidance. The goal of the present study is to explore the relationship between worry and these cognitive processes in an adolescent sample. Five hundred and twenty-eight participants aged 14 to 18 years completed questionnaires assessing worry, somatic anxiety symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, positive beliefs about worry, negative problem orientation, and cognitive avoidance. The first hypothesis, which predicted that each of the four process variables would make a unique contribution to the prediction of worry, was partially supported. Specifically, intolerance of uncertainty, positive beliefs about worry, and negative problem orientation made a unique contribution to the prediction of adolescent worry. The second hypothesis, which postulated that the four process variables would contribute to the discriminant function and that the discriminant function would be effective in classifying moderate and high worriers into their respective groups, was also partially supported. Results revealed that 72.8% of the original grouped cases were correctly classified. Finally, the third hypothesis, which proposed that intolerance of uncertainty would make the most important contribution to the prediction of worry and would be the most important variable in discriminating between moderate and high worry groups, was supported. Results suggest that intolerance of uncertainty may be a key construct implicated in the development and maintenance of worry in adolescence.


The research presented in the thesis explores the biomechanics of the head and neck during impacts in football. The research related to the head is geared towards advancing the current understanding of the mechanisms of mild traumatic brain injury, specifically by investigating head accelerations experienced by football players during impacts. To do this, a six degree of freedom sensor that could be integrated into existing football helmets and is capable of measuring linear and angular acceleration about each axis of the head was developed and validated. This sensor was then installed in the helmets of 10 Virginia Tech football players and data was recorded for every game and practice during the 2007 football season. A total 1712 impacts were recorded, creating a large and unbiased dataset. No instrumented player sustained a concussion during the 2007 season. From 2007 head acceleration dataset, 24 of the most severe impacts were modeled using a finite element head model, SIMon (Simulated Injury Monitor). Besides looking at head acceleration, the force transmitted to the mandible by chin straps in football helmets was investigated through impact testing. Little research has been conducted looking at the mandible-chin strap interface in the helmet, and this may be an area of helmet design that can be improved. The research presented in this thesis related to the neck is based on stingers. Football players wear neck collars to prevent stingers; however, their designs are largely based on empirical data, with little biomechanical testing. The load limiting capabilities of various neck collars were investigated through dynamic impact testing with anthropomorphic test devices. It was found that reductions in loads correlate with the degree to which each collar restricted motion of the head and neck. To investigate the differences in results that using different anthropomorphic test devices may present, the matched neck collar tests were performed with the Hybrid III and THOR-NT 50th percentile male dummies. The dummies exhibited the same trends, in that either a load was reduced or increased; however, each load was affected to a different degree.


Context: Alström syndrome is characterized by increased risk of cardiovascular disease from childhood. Objective: To explore the association between risk factors for cardiovascular disease, aortic pulse wave velocity, and vascular events in Alström syndrome. Design: Cross-sectional analyses with 5-year follow-up. Setting: The UK NHS nationally commissioned specialist clinics for Alström syndrome. Patients: Thirty-one Alström patients undertook vascular risk assessment, cardiac studies, and aortic pulse wave velocity measurement. Subsequent clinical outcomes were recorded. Interventions: Insulin resistance was treated with lifestyle intervention and metformin, and diabetes with the addition of glitazones, glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists, and/or insulin. Thyroid and T deficiencies were corrected. Dyslipidemia was treated with statins and nicotinic acid derivatives. Cardiomyopathy was treated with standard therapy as required. Main Outcome Measures: The associations of age, gender, and risk factors for cardiovascular disease with aortic pulse wave velocity were assessed and correlated with the effects of reduction in left ventricular function. Vascular events were monitored for 5 years. Results: Aortic pulse wave velocity was positively associated with the duration of diabetes (P = .001) and inversely with left ventricular ejection fraction (P = .036). Five of the cohort with cardiovascular events had higher aortic pulse wave velocity (P = .0247), and all had long duration of diabetes. Conclusions: Duration of diabetes predicted aortic pulse wave velocity in Alström syndrome, which in turn predicted cardiovascular events. This offers hope of secondary prevention because type 2 diabetes can be delayed or reversed by lifestyle interventions.


The article demonstrates that the rescue-by-PF-deletion account of the amelioration effect of island violations under ellipsis, originally noted by Ross (1969), can be extended to account for the that-trace effect, including the adverb amelioration effect, and the lack of intervention effects with certain null arguments that are otherwise found with their overt counterparts, as well as to deduce the generalizations that traces do not count as interveners for relativized minimality effects and that traces void islandhood. The fact that the rescue-by-PF-deletion analysis makes it possible to unify a number of previously unrelated phenomena should be taken as a strong argument in its favor. The current extension of the rescue-by-PF-deletion approach, on which the rescue can arise not only through the deletion process involved in ellipsis but also through regular copy deletion, also accounts for the different behavior of the Superiority Condition and the Wh-Island Condition with respect to the amelioration effect under ellipsis, a surprising difference given that both of these are generally subsumed under relativized minimality effects in current research.


This paper describes the collaborative design, implementation and evaluation of a discipline-based eLearning module (eLM). The eLM was piloted as a mandatory but ungraded assessment task in five subjects across all years of study in the Management and Marketing specialisations, four in the Bachelor of Commerce, and one in the Master of Commerce, at the University of Wollongong. The eLM was developed in the subject's eLearning space within the learning management system, Blackboard Vista and included a streamed lecture which provides a range of instruction and examples of how to use evidence, a link to the University's Harvard Referencing Guidelines and an online quiz. The evaluations indicated that the design of the module and its embedded nature, in terms of both content and location, provided students with explicit instruction on using evidence and referencing that in general most students are required to acquire through a process of osmosis. Explicit instruction and assessment allowed students to be more strategic about their selection and use of evidence and apply these newly acquired skills to other subjects of study.