When evaluating the efficacy of social programs and medical treatments using randomized experiments, the estimated overall average causal effect alone is often of limited value and the researchers must investigate when the treatments do and do not work. Indeed, the estimation of treatment effect heterogeneity plays an essential role in (1) selecting the most effective treatment from a large number of available treatments, (2) ascertaining subpopulations for which a treatment is effective or harmful, (3) designing individualized optimal treatment regimes, (4) testing for the existence or lack of heterogeneous treatment effects, and (5) generalizing causal effect estimates obtained from an experimental sample to a target population. In this paper, we formulate the estimation of heterogeneous treatment effects as a variable selection problem. We propose a method that adapts the Support Vector Machine classifier by placing separate sparsity constraints over the pre-treatment parameters and causal heterogeneity parameters of interest. The proposed method is motivated by and applied to two well-known randomized evaluation studies in the social sciences. Our method selects the most effective voter mobilization strategies from a large number of alternative strategies, and it also identifies the characteristics of workers who greatly benefit from (or are negatively affected by) a job training program. In our simulation studies, we find that the proposed method often outperforms some commonly used alternatives.


The angiogenic phenotype is associated with hyperpermeable capillar ies. Through treatment with angiogenesis inhibitors capillary permeabil ity may be reduced, and it can be anticipated that cytotoxic agents coadministered may be adversely affected. The current investigation ex amined this possibility for the combination of TNP-470, an angiogenesis inhibitor, and temozolomide (IM/1, a DNA-alkylating agent with dem onstrated activity in brain tumors. TNP-470 (30 mg/kg) was given s.c. on days 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 following s.c. implantation of rat C6 glioma cells in Sprague-Dawley rats. On the 15th day following tumor implantation, control (no TNP-470) and treated rats received 40 mg/kg of"I'M/, intraarterially. Prior to dosing, a linear microdialysis probe was placed in the tumor to collect interstitial fluid. Plasma and interstitial fluid samples were collected for 8 h and measured for IM/ by a high-performance liquid chromatography assay. Pharmacokinetic parameters for TMZ were calculated by noncompartmental methods. Total systemic clearance (39.8 ±7 versus 44.2 ±14 ml min"1 kg"1) and volume of distribution (5.4 ±2 versus 5.2 ±0.8 L kg~') were not significantly different in control and TNP-470-treated animals. However, the mean TMZ area under the interstitial fluid concentration-time curve was reduced by 25% in the TNP-470-treated group compared to the control (5450 ± 1892 versus 4120 ±1790 UK min ml"'; P < 0.05). It appears that TNP-470 caused this reduction in the tumor uptake of TMZ by its pharmacodynamic action on the tumor vasculature. Since combination regimens using angiogenesis inhibitors and cytotoxic drugs will be increasingly used, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic investigations will be needed to determine how such combinations can be used effectively. The current animal model, which utilized tumor microdialysis, can serve as a model to further analyze combination chemotherapy.


The spur or the supracondylar process variation of the humerus was first described by Struthers in 1849. The supracondylar spur has a prevalence of 0.3% - 2.7%. It is believed to represent a phylogenetic vestige of the supracondyloid foramen found in reptiles, cats and climbing animals. Three cases of supracondylar process of the humerus are presented. The main features of a supracondylar process correlated with osteochondroma are reviewed. Family relation is obvious in our case - father and two daughters. No one of them had compression symptoms or pain. They accidentally revealed the outgrowth: the father during bathing, and in two children during bathing and dressing. Radiographic findings are identical in all three cases: native radiography of the skeleton on the right elbow, on the medial side of the distal right humerus presented soft tissue shadow like the avian spur, with a broad background associated with the skeleton; suspect cartilage exostose findings. Ultrasound findings determined: ultrasonographic soft shadow, in addition to a soft tissue, suspicious for a cartilage exostosis. Also, motor and sensory functions of the nerves and muscle strength were within normal limits and Tinel and Phalen tests were negative in all three cases. No anomalies were identified on neurography and electromyography. Laboratory tests showed normal values. No one of our three patients underwent surgical interventions, because no one of them had median nerve compression or long standing pain. We suggest a follow-up of the spur's growth in both children and to re-investigate in a 6 month interval, because of the non-completion of the spatial growth. After depiction in our cases and a review of the literature available for this kind of scenario using same aiming, it is important to emphasise the characteristics of spurs as an anatomic variant. Second is to evaluate and differentiate between osteochondroma and our findings on supracondylar processes, which will give us a hint for specific treatment in both osteochondroma and spur anomalies within coherent family incidence.


We present a general probabilistic perspective on Gaussian filtering and smoothing. This allows us to show that common approaches to Gaussian filtering/smoothing can be distinguished solely by their methods of computing/approximating the means and covariances of joint probabilities. This implies that novel filters and smoothers can be derived straight forwardly by providing methods for computing these moments. Based on this insight, we derive the cubature Kalman smoother and propose a novel robust filtering and smoothing algorithm based on Gibbs sampling.


Severe weather events frequently affect important marine fish stocks and fisheries along the United States Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. However, the effects of these events on fish and fisheries are not well understood. The availability of self-reported data from two fisheries in a region frequently affected by tropical cyclones provided a unique opportunity to investigate short-term responses to past events. This study involved selecting severe weather events, calculating changes in effort and catch-per-uniteffort (CPUE), and analyzing those changes across various temporal, spatial, and species-specific scenarios. Responses in each variable were analyzed within and across scenario factors and explored for correlations and linear multivariate relationships with hypothesized explanatory variables. A negative overall directional change was identified for logbook fishing effort. Based on both correlations and linear models, changes in logbook fishing effort were inversely related to changes in average maximum wind speed. Severe weather events are more likely to affect fishing effort than catch rates of reef-fish species. However, lack of responses in CPUE may also relate to the ability of this study to detect changes. The temporal and spatial scales analyzed in this study may not have been adequate for identifying changes in effort for the headboat fishery, or in CPUE for either fishery. Although there was no region-wide response in CPUE associated with severe weather events, further research on this topic is necessary to determine if storm-induced changes in fishery data are likely strong, long-lasting, or widespread enough to influence the outcome of stock-wide assessments.


As EUV lithography is being introduced into the market, the need for resists that can satisfy the exigent requirements of sensitivity, resolution, and line-edge roughness requires the development of guidelines for new generations of materials. In this work, we aim for gaining more understanding on the contribution of the organic components in inorganic-organic hybrid molecular resists to their sensitivity. A method to investigate the effect of specific functionalities on the sensitivity of metal oxo clusters is presented, which consists in the "doping" of the methacrylate shell through the introduction of fluorinated, iodinated and extended aromatic ligands. By introducing each of these functionalities in small ratios to the methacrylate ligand (1:11 and 2:10) the main chemical properties of the materials (solubility and molecular packing in the thin film) are expected to be unaltered. Our investigations show that the sensitivity is enhanced in the presence of halogens and drastically decreased when extended aromatic compounds are introduced. The trends are uncorrelated with the absorptivity estimated for each material, which seems to indicate that the doping functionalities might interfere with the cross-linking of the methacrylate ligands or introduce new chemical pathways. Our results indicate that specific organic functionalities can be used to tune the reactivity of hybrid compounds for EUV light by introducing them in doping amounts, thus preserving the processability of the initial material.


This article is a transcript from a program sponsored by the American Bar Association Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities entitled, "Politics and the Death Penalty: Can Rational Discourse and Due Process Survive the Perceived Political Pressure?" In it, Norman Redlich, former Dean of New York University Law School, James Coleman, Shabata Sundiata Waglini, Attorney General Ernest Preate, Jr., Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center, journalist Nat Hentoff, New York State Assemblywoman Susan John, and Chief Justice Exum of the North Carolina Supreme Court discuss the issue of the death penalty in America. Redlich discusses his experience litigating organizing the New York State Justice-PAC, a political action committee which promoted anti-death penalty candidates for the New York State legislature, and challenges the notion that there is overwhelming public support in the United States of America for the death penalty. Coleman provides an overview on what the Supreme Court has done in the area of capital punishment, with an emphasis on the question whether the states can implement the death penalty fairly. Coleman posits that there is still unguided discretion in the implementation of the death penalty since Furman v. Georgia and McCleskey v. Kemp, and that in the years since the Court reinstituted the death penalty, it has become increasingly more difficult for defendants to litigate the constitutionality of their convictions and sentences. Waglini, born Joseph Green Brown, spent fourteen years on death row and came within fifteen hours of being executed for a crime he did not commit. Waglini emphasizes that he sees the issue of death penalty at the state level as primarily a political one, and discusses his experience in the system from his trial through his appeal before the Eleventh Circuit, which stayed his death sentence. Attorney General Preate posits that in too many of our capital cases there is ineffective assistance of counsel on both sides and discusses his work towards achieving federal habeas reform. Stevenson discusses his experiences representing men on death row, with a focus on the racial disparities of the system, while Nat Hentoff discusses how the press has done very little to clarify, or to expose, what he sees as propaganda by the advocates of the death penalty. Assemblywoman John discusses running for office as an anti-death penalty candidate, and Chief Justice Exum comments on the politics of the death penalty in the North Carolina judiciary.


As recently found, the distribution of sunspots is non-axisymmetric and spot group formation implies the existence of two persistent active longitudes separated by 180°. Here we quantitatively study the non-axisymmetry of sunspot occurrence. In a dynamic reference frame inferred from the differential rotation law, the raw sunspot data show a clear clustering around the persistent active longitudes. The differential rotation describing the dynamic frame is quantified in terms of the equatorial angular velocity and the differential rotation rate, which appear to be significantly different from those for individual sunspots. This implies that the active longitudes are not linked to the depth of sunspot anchoring. In order to quantify the observed effect, we introduce a measure of the non-axisymmetry of the sunspot distribution. The non-axisymmetric component is found to be highly significant, and the ratio of its strength to that of the axisymmetric one is roughly 1:10. This provides additional constraints for solar dynamo models.


Solving complex real-world problems often involves the simultaneous optimisation
of multiple con
icting performance criteria, these real-world problems
occur in the elds of engineering, economics, chemistry, manufacturing, physics
and many more. The optimisation process usually involves some design challenges
in the form of the optimisation of a number of objectives and constraints. There
exist many traditional optimisation methods (calculus based, random search,
enumerative, etc...), however, these only o er a single solution in either adequate
performance in a narrow problem domain or inadequate performance across a
broad problem domain.
Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimisation (EMO) algorithms are robust optimisers
which are suitable for solving complex real-world multi-objective optimisation
problems, as they are able to address each of the con
icting objectives
simultaneously. Typically, these EMO algorithms are run non-interactively with
a Decision Maker (DM) setting the initial parameters of the algorithm and then
analysing the results at the end of the optimisation process. When EMO is
applied to real-world optimisation problems there is often a DM who is only interested
in a portion of the Pareto-optimal front, however, incorporation of DM
preferences is often neglected in the EMO literature.
In this thesis, the incorporation of DM preferences into EMO search methods
has been explored. This has been achieved through the review of EMO literature
to identify a powerful method of variation, Covariance Matrix Adaptation
(CMA), and its computationally infeasible EMO implementation, MO-CMA-ES.
A CMA driven EMO algorithm, CMA-PAES, capable of optimisation in the
presence of many objectives has been developed, benchmarked, and statistically
veri ed to outperform MO-CMA-ES and MOEA/D-DRA on selected test suites.
CMA-PAES and MOEA/D-DRA with the incorporation of the novel Weighted
Z-score (WZ) preference articulation operator (supporting a priori, a posteriori
or progressive incorporation) are then benchmarked on a range of synthetic and
real-world problems. WZ-CMA-PAES is then successfully applied to a real-world
problem regarding the optimisation of a classi er for concealed weapon detection,
outperforming previously published classi er implementations.


In this article, Matthew Johnson examines the possibility of using elements of John Gray's work to advance a means of evaluating cultures, in order to inform the development of pluralist perfectionist forms of public policy and, in particular, educational programs. Johnson engages critically with elements of Gray's value pluralism, such as his understanding of the objectivity and universality in human values, needs, and well-being; determinacy of circumstance; and particularity with regard to the selection of values. These elements support an instrumental account of culture in which a group's choice of values is assessed according to their contribution to well-being. Johnson then considers the potential conflict between pluralism and perfectionism in the development of education systems in heterogeneous societies, highlighting the harms inflicted on the identity, meaning, and security of particular groups by attempts to promote well-being. Johnson concludes the article with an exploration of possible means of minimizing harm through pragmatic engagement with identity and circumstance.


org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. EDITORIAL


Israeli same-sex couples who marry abroad may register as "married" in the Population Registry and may enjoy a few of the rights associated with the institution, but their marriages are unrecognized for most other purposes. Since the field of marriage recognition is not regulated under Israeli positive law, the courts will have to decide whether to apply the English personal law system or the American principle of lex loci celebrationis. A critical comparison between the two competing systems reveals that the American rule is preferable since it best promotes the policy objectives which choice of law rules in the field of marriage recognition should seek to achieve. It is also preferable since it best corresponds to the unique social and legal conditions prevalent in the State of Israel. Foreign marriages performed by Israeli same-sex couples (valid in the place of celebration) should thus be recognized, subject to the public policy exception. Religious norms, which are exclusively applied in matters of marriage and divorce within Israel, should not be considered in the framing of the public policy exception, which should be interpreted narrowly, as protecting only democratic, secular, rational and liberal values. Thus, and based on the scope and interpretation of the public policy doctrine in Anglo-American law, the prohibition on same-sex marriages within Israel does not reflect a strong enough public policy for the invalidation of such marriages when contracted abroad.


Mississippi Valley-type deposits are widespread in Carboniferous strata in eastern Belgium. Five successive Fe-rich, fracture-filling calcite generations have been recognized in the veins containing the Pb-Zn mineralization of Bleiberg. Fluid-inclusion evidence indicates that all the calcites formed from fluids with salinities between 16.0 and 23.1 equivalent wt% NaCl. The trapping temperature of the fluid inclusions decreases from ∼125 °C in the first two calcite generations to ≤50 °C in the last two vein cements. The δ 13 C values of the calcites vary between -0.1‰ and -8.3‰ relative to PDB (Peedee belemnite). The oxygen isotopic composition of the ambient fluids, calculated from the trapping temperature and the isotopic composition of the calcites, varies between -5.2‰ and +7.6‰ relative to SMOW (standard mean ocean water). The low δ 13 C values of the calcites are explained by the contribution of 12 C from CO 2 released during the oxidation of organic matter in the upper Carboniferous shales and the coupled reduction of sulfate in the mineralizing brine. The highly variable oxygen isotopic composition of the ambient fluids, the low δ 18 C value of the water from which one calcite cement precipitated, and the intense water-rock interaction necessary to leach metals indicate that the original fluids had a low δ 18 C, and that those fluids became enriched in 18 O by water-rock interaction. Waters with such low δ 18 C, values must have had a meteoric origin. Flow of these waters into the deeper subsurface was likely gravity driven and took place from the uplifted parts of the Variscan orogen toward the foreland basin.


The brain synthesizes steroids de novo from cholesterol, which are called neurosteroids. The formation of neurosteroids in the brain is a conserved property across vertebrates, but it is still incompletely elucidated in vertebrates. In fact, 7α-hydroxypregnenolone (7α-OH PREG) was identified as a novel bioactive neurosteroid stimulating locomotor behavior in the brain of several vertebrates. Subsequently, the mode of action of 7α-OH PREG and the regulation of 7α-OH PREG synthesis in the brain have demonstrated by follow-up studies. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the pineal gland, an endocrine organ located close to the brain, is a major site of formation of bioactive neurosteroids. This is a new finding of the formation of neurosteroids because for a long time neurosteroids are believed to be produced in neurons and glial cells in the brain. In addition to the brain, the pineal gland actively produces 7α-OH PREG as a major pineal neurosteroid that acts on the brain to regulate locomotor rhythms. Thus, the discovery of 7α-OH PREG, a new bioactive neurosteroid, has provided a novel direction to investigate neurosteroid regulation of locomotor behavior. This review summarizes the discovery, progress and prospect of brain and pineal 7α-OH PREG regulating locomotor behavior in vertebrates.


Problem statement: A mobile ad hoc network is a self-configuring network of mobile nodes connected by wireless links. As the nodes are free to move randomly, topology of the network may change rapidly and unpredictably. As a result, intermediat e nodes in the communication routes tend to lose connection with each other during the communication process. In order to repair a broken link, an end- to- end (from source to destination) route discovery is typically performed to establish a new route for communication. The mechanism results in huge communication overhead and long delay in completion of the communication. So, it is rational to locally re pair a link, as much as possible, than to discover a whole new route. Approach: In the present article, we proposed a Link Stabili ty and Node Energy Conscious (LSNEC) local route repair scheme for mobile ad hoc networks. In case of breakage of a link from node na to another node nb in between a communication session, LSNEC instructs na to broadcast a ROUTE- REPAIR message within its radio-range specifying nb or any successor of nb in the broken route, as a desirable destination. If any node residing within the radio-range of na has an already established single/multi-hop path to any one of those destinati ons mentioned in the ROUTE-REPAIR message, it sends a REPAIR-ACK message back to na. Attributes of REPAIR-ACK include the identificati on number (s) of the destination (s) as well as identificatio n numbers, geographical positions (in terms of lati tude and longitude), radio-ranges and residual energies of n odes present in the associated path to that destina tion along with the intuitively computed stability of li nks between the consecutive nodes. The stability is computed depending upon relative velocities of the involved nodes, distance between them and the histo ry of survival of the link. The optimal path is chosen depending upon the residual energy of nodes, stabi lity of links and number of hops in that path. Results: In simulations we compared the LSNEC embedded versions of the protocols Ad hoc On-demand Distance Vector routing (AODV) and Associatively Based Routing (ABR) with their ordinary versions as well as PATCH and "Quick Local Repair" scheme (to be referred to as QLR subsequently in this study) embe dded versions. Both PATCH and QLR are well- known local repairing schemes for ad hoc networks. It is found that, LSNEC-AODV dramatically saves 57% control overhead compared to ordinary AODV, 32.7% compared to PATCH-AODV and 36.3% compared to QLR-AODV. Similarly, LSNEC-ABR saves 29.3% control overhead than ordinary ABR, 10.7% than PATCH-ABR and 12.8% than QLR-ABR. Accordingly decrease the power consumption of network nodes and delay in recovery. Conclusion: The simulation results emphatically illustrated th e performance benefit of our proposed scheme LSNEC compared to the other state-of-the-art local route- repair schemes, in respect of control overhead, ove rall energy consumption of the network, data packet delivery ratio and route recovery delay. LSNEC has its application wherever an ad hoc network is used. Please note that ad hoc networks are extremely usef ul in military and other tactical applications such as emergency rescue, exploration missions and other sc enarios w here cellular infrastructure is unavailab le.


Forest ecosystems systematically produce more litterfall dry mass per unit of nitrogen in sites with less aboveground nitrogen circulation. This pattern is observed both within and among tropical, temperate deciduous, coniferous, Mediterranean, and fertilized ecosystems. The differences among sites are probably related to differences in soil nitrogen availability. Patterns of nitrogen use for root and wood production probably reinforce the litterfall results. An examination of phosphorus and calcium use efficiency for litterfall production yields more ambiguous results. The pattern for nitrogen circulation and nitrogen use efficiency in forests has important implications for ecosystem-level properties, including the development of low nitrogen availability in soil.


Forecasts of financial time series requires the use of a possibly large set of input (explanatory) variables drawn form a very large set of potential inputs. Selection of a meaningful and useful subset of input variables is a formidable task. How to find a reasonable transformation for a large set of multivariate data is a very common problem in many areas of science. We propose to use a technique called Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to extract the independent components (ICs) from monthly time series on a wide range of economic variables. This procedure will reduce the number of explanatory variables by reducing the set of financial and economic information to a much smaller subset of ICs which hopefully will capture most of the useful information. Removal of the random elements in each of the sets of economic data should make it much easier to identify relationships between the ICs and the stock indexes. Properly estimated ICs are independent of each other. We will then use the ICs from the explanatory variable data sets to perform and test forecasts of the S & P 500 stock index using neural network procedures. Numerous studies such as have shown neural networks to be very useful in nonlinear forecasting. IC analysis has been employed in relatively few applications to finance. Kiviluoto and Oja (1998) use IC analysis in an application to parallel cash flow time series. Black and Weigand (1997) use IC analysis to extract estimates of the structure from a set of common stock returns. We feel that this research will contribute to the identification and understanding of the major economic factors affecting stock prices.


The idea of workers owning the businesses where they work is not new. In America's early years, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison believed that the best economic plan for the Republic was for citizens to have some ownership stake in the land, which was the main form of productive capital. This book traces the development of that share idea in American history and brings its message to today's economy, where business capital has replaced land as the source of wealth creation. Based on a ten-year study of profit sharing and employee ownership at small and large corporations, this important and insightful work makes the case that the Founders' original vision of sharing ownership and profits offers a viable path toward restoring the middle class. Blasi, Freeman, and Kruse show that an ownership stake in a corporation inspires and increases worker loyalty, productivity, and innovation. Their book offers history-, economics-, and evidence-based policy ideas at their best.


The focus in this chapter is on the evaluative systems of attitude, as modelled in the appraisal framework. While fully accepting the validity of the model, I explore three practical issues that arise in applying it. The first concerns the question of whether affect, the core area of attitude, should be distinguished from the more general field of emotion talk, and, if so, how. The second issue arises because two related but distinct criteria are used to distinguish judgements and appreciations: the kind of entity evaluated (the target) and the value ascribed to it. As a result, there may be an apparent mismatch between these two criteria. The third difficulty can be called the 'Russian doll' dilemma. An expression of one category of attitude may function as a token (an indirect expression) of a different category; and that token may itself function as an indirect expression of yet another category, and so on. This poses problems for a study of evaluation which relies on quantitative analysis. I suggest my own principles to help make life a little easier for anyone engaged in analysing evaluation in text.


A previous study reported that histone methyltransferase SETD3 is up-regulated in tumor tissues of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and is associated with the growth of HCC. However, the clinical significance and the effect of SETD3 on HCC metastasis remain unclear. In the present study, both the protein and mRNA expression levels of SETD3 were measured in a larger cohort of HCC patients. The results showed that the protein level of SETD3 in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in non-tumorous tissues, which was inconsistent with the mRNA expression level of SETD3. The high protein level of SETD3 in HCC tissues was significantly associated with male gender, poor pathological differentiation, liver cirrhosis and unfavorable prognosis of HCC patients. Subsequently, we demonstrated that SETD3 could be regulated at post-transcriptional step by a couple of miRNAs (miR-16, miR-195 and miR-497). Additionally, in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that SETD3 played opposing roles in proliferation and metastasis of HCC: promoting proliferation but inhibiting metastasis. Mechanistic experiments revealed that doublecortin-like kinase 1 (DCLK1) was a downstream target of SETD3. SETD3 could increase the DNA methylation level of DCLK1 promoter to inhibit the transcription of DCLK1. Further study revealed that DCLK1/PI3K/matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2 (MMP-2) was an important pathway that mediated the effect of SETD3 on HCC metastasis. In conclusion, the present study revealed that SETD3 is associated with tumorigenesis and is a promising biomarker for predicting the prognosis of HCC patients after surgical resection. In addition, SETD3 plays inhibitory role in HCC metastasis partly through DCLK1/PI3K/MMP-2 pathway.


One of Andrew Wyeths most important paintings, Wind from the Sea, a recent gift to the National Gallery of Art, is also the artists first full realization of the window as a recurring subject in his art. Wyeth returned to windows over the next sixty years, producing more than 250 works that explore both the formal and conceptual richness of the subject. Spare, elegant and abstract, these paintings are free of the narrative element inevitably associated with Wyeths better-known figural compositions. In 2014 the Gallery will present an exhibition of a select group of these deceptively realistic works, window paintings that are in truth skilfully manipulated constructions engaged with the visual complexities posed by the transparency, beauty and formal structure of windows. In its exclusive focus on paintings without human subjects, this catalogue will offer a new approach to Wyeths work, being the first time that his non-figural compositions have been published as a group. The authors explore Wyeths fascination with windows their formal structure and metaphorical complexity. In essays that address links with the poetry of Robert Frost and the paintings of Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler and Franz Kline, the authors consider Wyeths statement that he was, in truth, an abstract painter.


Distributed storage systems need to store data redundantly in order to provide some fault-tolerance and guarantee system reliability. Different coding techniques have been proposed to provide the required redundancy more efficiently than traditional replication schemes. However, compared to replication, coding techniques are less efficient for repairing lost redundancy, as they require retrieval of larger amounts of data from larger subsets of storage nodes. To mitigate these problems, several recent works have presented locally repairable codes designed to minimize the repair traffic and the number of nodes involved per repair. Unfortunately, existing methods often lead to codes where there is only one subset of nodes able to repair a piece of lost data, limiting the local repairability to the availability of the nodes in this subset. In this paper, we present a new family of locally repairable codes that allows different trade-offs between the number of contacted nodes per repair, and the number of different subsets of nodes that enable this repair. We show that slightly increasing the number of contacted nodes per repair allows to have repair alternatives, which in turn increases the probability of being able to perform efficient repairs. Finally, we present pg-BLRC, an explicit construction of locally repairable codes with multiple repair alternatives, constructed from partial geometries, in particular from Generalized Quadrangles. We show how these codes can achieve practical lengths and high rates, while requiring a small number of nodes per repair, and providing multiple repair alternatives.


This research investigates the researcher's experience of the integration of art making within sensorimotor psychotherapy as they relate to the resolution of attachment trauma. The heuristic method of research inquiry was employed in which the researcher was the subject in the research. The basis for the research was an increasing awareness of attachment trauma present in her life history. A review of the literature yielded that a large body of research had been published on attachment theory, trauma, and art therapy. There existed at the time of the research inquiry a lack of literature exploring the utilization of art making in sensorimotor psychotherapy. Data was gathered in the form of artworks created during individual psychotherapy with a psychologist certified in sensorimotor psychotherapy and in the form of post-session reflective writings. The artworks and post-session writings were analyzed. Themes that substantiated the research inquiry emerged. Multiple meanings were derived from this research. A primary meaning was the recognition that the therapeutic alliance coupled with art making and sensorimotor psychotherapy provided a secure environment for integration of attachment trauma. Further research is warranted. There is a potential for development of methodology for incorporating art making into sensorimotor psychotherapy for clients with whom the process is merited. Future iterations of the developed protocol might include replications of the study and modification and expansion of the protocol. The protocol could be employed for processing other types of trauma. Additionally, there is a need for more art therapists who are concurrently trained in sensorimotor psychotherapy.


JIMMY CARTER'S FOREIGN POLICY: THE BATTLE FOR POWER AND PRINCIPLE Frances M. Jacobson Old Dominion University, 2008 Director: Dr. Simon S. Serfaty Evaluating the foreign policies of presidents while they are in office or shortly after their tenure ends can sometimes lead to conclusions that prove to be unsound in the future. The case of Harry Truman exemplifies this. When he left office in 1952 his approval rating was in the 20 percentile range. Yet, he set the tone and direction of United States foreign policy that led eventually to the successful conclusion of the Cold War. The foreign policy of President Jimmy Carter was also generally viewed as a failure by many scholars in the field, both during his time in office and for some years beyond. Another analysis is now due. This work reviews five issue areas of Carter's foreign policy: the Panama Canal treaties, arms transfers and human rights, Southern Africa, Camp David Accords, and the Iranian revolution and hostage crisis. It argues that Carter pursued policy choices that proved to be in the best interests of the United States in the long run. These issues were and are some of the most contentious that any president has been faced with in the post war world. Emotions ran high on many of them, which can create a toxic environment for many politicians, most of whom either have their eye on the next election or on their legacy. Carter, however, was not held prisoner to either of these. He consistently did the right thing, but seldom the popular thing. Camp David was the exception, and he has been given high praise for his work in helping to stabilize the Middle East, a region that is filled with old hatreds and grievances. It is difficult to achieve anything positive there and most presidents shy away from the Arab-Israeli problem because it yields little or nothing in political rewards. Carter's policies were not without their critics, however, and he got few accolades for his work on the other areas of concern that this work covers. This work has examined Carter's foreign policy from the vantage point of what we know now, and argues that he tried to work within a framework of power and principle. It concludes that while his steady diplomacy, his prudence, and his refusal to use a military option except as a last resort made him unpopular at the time, in hindsight, he was successful in working for the long term national interests of the United States.


We propose a scheme to probe the non-Abelian statistics of the collective anyonic excitation in Kitaev's honeycomb model with cold atoms in an optical lattice. The generation of the anyonic excitation can be realized by simple rotating operation acting on an effective spin-1/2 system, which is encoded in the atomic hyperfine energy levels. The non-Abelian nature of the anyonic excitation is manifested by the braiding of four vortices, which leads to different operations on the subspace of degenerate ground states, and thus results in different final states. Here, by introducing an ancilla atom, the effective control over the lattice atoms can be realized and the final different states can also be imprinted on the ancilla and further distinguished by measurement. c © 2018 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 000.1600, 140.3325, 270.5585


Clipperton Atoll, one of the most isolated coral reefs worldwide, is of great scientific interest due to its geomorphology and high levels of endemism. This study explored the reef fish assemblage structure of Clipperton Atoll and its relationship with live coral cover. Nine stations were sampled at three sites and three depths (6, 12 and 20 m) around the reef, measuring fish species richness and biomass and hermatypic coral cover (at genus level). We evaluated variation in species richness, biomass and diversity of fish assemblages among sites and depths, as well as the relationship between the entire fish assemblage composition and live coral cover. The results showed that species richness and biomass were similar among sites, but differed across depths, increasing with depth. In contrast, diversity differed among sites but not among depths. Multivariate analyses indicated that fish assemblage composition differed among sites and depths in relation to changes in cover of coral of the genera Pocillopora, Porites, Pavona and Leptoseris , which dominate at different depths. The results showed that fish species richness and diversity were low at Clipperton Atoll and that, in isolated coral reefs with a low habitat heterogeneity and low human disturbance, live coral cover has a significant influence on the spatial variation of the reef fish assemblages. This study highlights the importance of coral habitat structure in shaping coral reef fish assemblages.


The aim of this study was to reveal the viewpoints of social studies teachers regarding oral history method. The qualitative research approach was used to achieve this purpose. A total of 225 middleschool social studies teachers from various provinces of Turkey participated in the study. A standardized open-ended interview form comprising three sections was used to collect data. Data collected online and during face-to-face interviews were evaluated with content analysis method. At the end of the research, important results regarding the usage of oral history in social studies courses were obtained. First, it was observed that most of the social studies teachers were acquainted with the oral history method and that they learned about this method during their university education. Second, most of the teachers defined the method as an interesting and effective method that facilitates permanent learning. Third, they remarked that the oral history method presents first-hand information, develops historical thinking skills and ensures the establishment of a meaningful connection with society. In spite of this, the teachers who stated that they do not use this method in their courses mentioned some problems related to the school curriculum and oral history method. In the context of these results, it can be concluded that the oral history method has begun to gain popularity among social studies teachers despite some problems.


This series of photographs was shot on October 29-30, 2019, in Jambi province (Sumatra). I was invited by CIRAD researchers, Jean Ollivier and Alexis Thoumazeau, to attend a workshop in Agronomy they organized in Petaling Jaya, about 50 kilometers South of Jambi city, as part of one of their research projects on the environmental effects of different oil palm cultivation practices in the area. The workshop gathered smallholders from a cooperative, rural development NGO field workers, and University professors. The pictures show participants going through in-class discussions of the stakes of agronomic analysis and presentations of methods to analyze soils and plants, and then participating to on-field demonstrations of these methods. I coordinate the research project EXPALMIND on the effects of plantation agriculture on land use and food security, funded by the Mutalim CNRS-INRAE fund in 2019-2021, and this project involved geographers from CNRS-LETG and CIRAD-Systemes de perennes, and my participation was part of that project.


Volunteer water quality monitors represent the intersection between citizen science and environmental stewardship. Understanding what motivates participation will enable project managers to improve recruitment and retention. This survey of 271 volunteers from eight water quality monitoring organizations in the U.S. found the strongest motivators to participate are helping the environment or community and contributing to scientific knowledge. No variation by gender was found, but younger volunteers have different motivations and preferences than older volunteers. Volunteers value the communication of tangible results more than recognition or reward. Abstract


Purpose-built office (PBO) market in Malaysia has shown positive developments and
increasing level of competitiveness. Many characteristics of PBO were unveiled by virtue
of recent studies, market demand, and technology growth and new guidelines1 standards
in order to fulfil the property market participants' need. As a result, the characteristics of
Malaysia's PBO have become more complex. The increasing complexity of
characteristics would entail greater needs on their influence on the rental levels of the
PBO space. Nevertheless, there is a lack of research in the country that had actually
studied in detail the influence of both the building and locational characteristics on rental
levels alone in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to establish the building
and locational characteristics' quality of PBO and their relationship with rentals in the
Malaysia's office property market. Integral to achieve this objective, various
characteristics that cover all fields are grouped under eight categories. Delphi Method has
been selected as a reliable qualitative method according to the local context in developing
building and locational characteristics of ranking through the eyes of local expert panels
that can deliver guidance to researcher in recognising the quality of each characteristics of
PBO in the local environment. In line with the gap of knowledge in relation to the need to
adopt a more consumer oriented approach and the utilisation of high level spatial
technology to refine the measurement of variables, modification and improvement based
on the current method that is Building Quality Index (BQI) has been applied into this
research. Building and Locational Quality Index (BLQI) was introduced as a unique
approach whereby it emphasised on observation method for the quality level of each of
the characteristics of PBO in detail. It is a comprehensive method that can combine the
data between weightage of importance and weightage of score for each PB0
characteristics. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method analysed the weightage of
importance based on the occupants' perception towards PBO. An analysis through a
detail observation was done based on previous developed building and locational
characteristics' ranking of PBO. There are differences on PBO characteristics that became
the variables, building characteristics of PBO that have been measured through building
inspections and an informal interview whereas for locational characteristics of PBO, Geoinformation
System software measured the distance and radius precisely. BLQI method
also takes into account the subjectivity and objectivity in making a measurement. Hence,
by having quality index for building and locational characteristics of PBO, regression
analysis was applied to analyse the relationship between these characteristics' quality of
PBO and rental. Moreover, in benefiting from a plethora of variables, several areas in
Kuala Lurnpur were selected to provide the data on PBO. The study was successful in
identifying the relationship of each characteristics of PBO with rental which they have
given different results in each study area. Thus, this study is expected to provide insights
to the property market participants in improving the performance of the office property
market particularly in Malaysia so that it can compete in the international arena.


Abstract The Lower Carboniferous flysch of the Istanbul Zone in Turkey is an over 1500 m thick turbiditic sandstone–shale sequence marking the onset of the Variscan deformation in the Pontides. It overlies Lower Carboniferous black cherts and is unconformably overlain by Lower Triassic continental sandstones and conglomerates. The petrography of the Carboniferous sandstones and the geochronology and geochemistry of the detrital zircons and rutiles were studied to establish the provenance of the clastic rocks. The sandstones are feldspathic to lithic greywackes and subgreywackes with approximately equal amounts of quartz, feldspar and lithic clasts. The amount of quartz and lithic fragments decreases upwards in the sequence at the expense of feldspar. The lithic fragments are dominated by intermediate volcanic rocks, followed by metamorphic and sedimentary rock fragments. Coarse lithic fragments are generally granitoidic. In the discrimination diagrams, sandstone samples lie mainly in the field of dissected arc. A total of 218 detrital zircons and 35 detrital rutiles from four sandstone samples were analysed with laser ablation ICP-MS. The detrital zircons show a predominantly bimodal age distribution with Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous (390 to 335 Ma) and Cambrian–Neoproterozoic (640 to 520 Ma) ages. The remaining 9 % of the analysed zircons are in the 1700–2750 Ma range; zircons of the 700–1700 Ma age range are absent. The REE patterns and Th/U ratios of the zircons are consistent with a magmatic origin. With one exception (Neoproterozoic), the rutile ages are Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous and their geochemistry indicates that they were derived from amphibolite-facies metamorphic rocks. Sandstone petrography and detrital zircon–rutile ages suggest one dominant source for the Lower Carboniferous sandstones: a Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous magmatic and metamorphic province with overprinted Neoproterozoic basement. Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous magmatic and metamorphic rocks are unknown from the Eastern Mediterranean region. They are, however, widespread in central Europe. The Istanbul Zone is commonly correlated with the Avalonian terrranes in central Europe, which collided with the Armorican terranes during Carboniferous times, resulting in the Variscan orogeny. The Carboniferous flysch of the Istanbul Zone must have been derived from a colliding Armorican terrane, as indicated by the absence of 700–1700 Ma zircons and by Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous magmatism, typical features of the Armorican terranes. This suggests that during Carboniferous times the Istanbul terrane was located close to the Bohemian Massif and has been translated by strike-slip along the Trans-European Suture Zone to its Cretaceous position north of the Black Sea.


This thesis examines the feasibility of the ASL for Active Living Program as an intervention for clinical practice among individuals with memory loss and/or aphasia with associated depression. It strives to answer the following questions: First will an eight session RT intervention impact on symptoms of depression in individuals with mild memory loss and aphasia? Second, will participation in this intervention change levels of self-esteem? Third, to what extent will the older adult participants be able to learn and retain finger-spelling and vocabulary taught? Lastly, will participants be satisfied with this type of intervention? The first chapter reports the current trends of an aging society, as well as the increase in co-morbid disorders such as depression. The second chapter provides a thorough literature review which clearly identifies Mild Cognitive Impairment and Primary Progressive Aphasia as well as describes efficacy studies that provide the foundation for this study. The third chapter identifies the ARCS theory and model, and its contribution to providing a solid foundation for intervention development. The fourth chapter describes the research process and highlights the methods and procedures used throughout the research process. Chapter five describes the data using a mixed methods procedure to report the success of this intervention developmental study. Results indicate this is a feasible intervention for the field of recreation therapy for the treatment of depression for those with memory loss and/or aphasia.


With the conclusion of the third observing run for Advanced LIGO/Virgo (O3), we present a detailed analysis of both triggered and serendipitous observations of 17 gravitational-wave (GW) events (7 triggered and 10 purely serendipitous) from the Searches After Gravitational-waves Using ARizona Observatories (SAGUARO) program. We searched a total of 4935 deg2 down to a median 5σ transient detection depth of 21.1 AB mag using the Mt. Lemmon 1.5 m telescope, the discovery engine for SAGUARO. In addition to triggered events within 24 hr, our transient search encompassed a time interval following GW events of <120 hr, providing observations on ∼1/2 of the events accessible to the Mt. Lemmon 1.5 m telescope. We covered 2.1%–86% of the LVC total probability (P total) for individual events, with a median P total ≈ 8% within <120 hr. Following improvements to our pipeline and the addition of serendipitous observations, we find a total of seven new optical candidates across five GW events, which we are unable to rule out after searching for additional information and comparing to kilonova models. Using both publicly available and our own late-time data, we investigated a total of 252 optical candidates for these 17 events, finding that only 65% were followed up in some capacity by the community. Of the total 252 candidates, we are able to rule out an additional 12 previously reported counterpart candidates. In light of these results, we discuss lessons learned from the SAGUARO GW counterpart search. We discuss how community coordination of observations and candidate follow-up, as well as the role of archival data, are crucial to improving the efficiency of follow-up efforts and preventing unnecessary duplication of effort with limited electromagnetic resources.


On many tokamaks the reconstruction of the magnetic field structure in the plasma is supported by polarimetric measurements. Recent proposed and realized methods are based on a far-infrared laser beam with a rotating polarization ellipse. The same instrument usually performs as an interferometer measuring the line integrated plasma density. It has been shown that the rotating polarization ellipse disturbs the interferometric measurements. A method based on the principle of a rotating polarization in which the interferometric measurement is unaffected is proposed. Bench test results are presented which show the feasibility of this method. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.


Both an exploration of the ways in which we fashion our public identity and a manual of modern sociability, this lively and readable book explores the techniques we use to present ourselves to the world: body language, tone of voice, manners, demeanour, 'personality' and personal style. Drawing on historical commentators from Castiglione to Machiavelli, and from Marcel Mauss to Roland Barthes, Joanne Finkelstein looks to popular visual culture, including Hollywood film and makeover TV, to show how it provides blueprints for the successful construction of 'persona'. She also discusses the role of fashion and of status symbols and how advertising sells these to us in our never ending quest for social mobility. Finkelstein's interest here is not in the veracity of the self - recently dissected by critical theory - but rather in the ways in which we style this 'self', in the enduring appeal of the 'new you' and in our fascination with deception, fraudulent personalities and impostors.


Objective To examine the unique and congruent findings between multiple raters in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in the context of understanding individual differences in treatment response during antipsychotic therapy for schizophrenia. Materials and methods We performed GWAS to search for genetic variation affecting treatment response. The analysis sample included 738 patients with schizophrenia, successfully genotyped for ∼492k single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trial of Intervention Effectiveness. Outcomes included both clinician and patient report of illness severity on global impression scales, the clinical global impression severity scale and patient global impression, respectively. Our criterion for genome-wide significance was a prespecified threshold ensuring that, on average, only 10% of the significant findings are false discoveries. Results Thirteen SNPs reached genome-wide significance. The top findings indicated three SNPs in PDE4D, 5q12.1 (P=4.2×10−8, 1.6×10−7, 1.8×10−7), mediating the effects of quetiapine on patient-reported severity and an additional three SNPs in TJP1, 15q13.1 (P=2.25×10−7, 4.86×10−7, 4.91×10−7), mediating the effects of risperidone on patient-reported severity. For clinician-reported severity, two SNPs in PPA2, 4q24 (P=3.68×10–7, 5.05×10−7), were found to reach genome-wide significance. Conclusion We found evidence of both a novel and a consistent association when examining the results from the patient and clinician ratings, suggesting that different raters may capture unique facets of schizophrenia. Although our findings require replication and functional validation, this study shows the potential of GWAS to discover genes that potentially mediate treatment response of antipsychotic medication.


Literature pertaining to ethnic entrepreneurship assumes that religious-cultural and generational factors espouse the intention and ability of the entrepreneur towards business development. And by way of business growth and development, such entrepreneurs should breakout from their local ethnic customer base to service a wider non-ethnic customer base. In reality, many ethnic entrepreneurs lack the resources, the motivation, the ability and/or intention to do this. Consequently, the development and success of the business become hampered. To this end, working within a context of ethnic entrepreneurship, the aim of this paper is to examine the notion that entrepreneurial intention, ability and opportunity inform business growth, development and how the entrepreneur defines the success thereof. Addressing this, 48 semi-structured interviews and 11 comparative case studies were conducted with first- and second-generation South Asian Sikh, Hindu and Pakistani Muslim entrepreneurs within Greater London. A phenomenological paradigm was adopted, with key-words-in-context used to analyze data. Findings note there is no evidence of genuine breakout. Instead, what defines business development and growth is three approaches: (i) content to remain, (ii) forced to remain, and (iii) struggling to adjust. Hindered are attempts to increase the customer and market base beyond that of local clients. Additionally, differences and success between the two generations are reflective of sectorial location, intention, ability and skill-sets, rather than generational or cultural influences. Essentially, the paper presents an alternative view of how entrepreneurial intention, ability and opportunity facilitate or inhibit small business growth and success. However, given the sample-frame and, socio-economic environment within Greater London, findings may not be generalizable. In conclusion, debate pertaining to ethnic entrepreneurship needs to be re-examined; because placing emphasis on culture, religion, ethnicity and generation may be misleading researchers as to the true nature of business requirements, problems and support for ethnic entrepreneurs.


OF THESIS THE MINDFULLY ATTACHED THERAPIST: FACTORS THAT PREDICT AND PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPASSION FATIGUE Characterized as a loss of empathy, compassion fatigue is experienced by many in the helping professions. Also known as secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue occurs when those in the helping professions experience trauma through interacting with the traumatic experiences of the people they are helping. Previous literature has found the development of compassion fatigue to be inevitable due to the amount of empathy those professionals must utilize on a daily basis. Mindfulness practices, such as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have been found to be a helpful learning tool for those in the helping professions to reduce their levels of stress. Using a convenience sample of 74 therapists, the present study utilized attachment as a framework for exploring factors of predicting and preventing compassion fatigue. Attachment styles in romantic relationships was predicted to be associated with the development of compassion fatigue, while mindfulness levels were predicted to be preventative in the development of compassion fatigue. Findings indicated that levels of compassion fatigue were higher for females, and that higher levels of mindfulness was associated with lower levels of compassion fatigue for both males and females. Implications for therapists, supervisors, and therapists-in-training are addressed.


We live in uncertain times in an uncertain world. While large-scale efforts exist to end poverty, promote peace, share wealth, and protect the planet, we are witnessing serious deterioration of solidarity and respect for human diversity, coupled with alarming tides of authoritarian populism in the West. Many multilinguals—even more so multilinguals in marginalized communities—are vulnerable in the present climate. Researching bi/multilingualism is the business of second language acquisition (SLA) researchers. How well equipped is this field to respond to the present challenges? In this article I unpack four constraints that I believe hamper SLA's capacity to generate useful knowledge about multilingualism. One is a disciplinary identity that is built around the language two of learners and the late timing of learning. The second constraint is the adherence to an essentialist ontology of language that considers it a system separate from the act of communication. A third constraint is a teleological view of linguistic development benchmarked against an ideal monolingual native speaker model. The fourth and final constraint is the disaffection for ethics, values, power, and ideologies, all of which are considered inappropriate disciplinary content. Tempering such a pessimistic view, some hopeful signs suggest SLA's research habitus is changing and may soon be better suited to investigate gradient, equitable multilingualism in all its forms. In this spirit of hope, I suggest nine strategies that would help SLA researchers better investigate the human capacity for language and support equitable multilingualism in today's uncertain world.


Abraxane, an FDA-approved albumin-bound nanoparticle (NP) form of paclitaxel (PTX) to treat breast cancer and nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), has been demonstrated to be more effective than the original Taxol, the single molecule form. We have established a cell line from NSCLC A549 cells to be resistant to Abraxane. To further understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the NP drug resistance, global protein expression profiles of Abraxane sensitive (A549) and resistant cells (A549/Abr), along with the treatment of Abraxane, have been obtained by a quantitative proteomic approach. The most significantly differentially expressed proteins are associated with lipid metabolism, cell cycle, cytoskeleton, apoptosis pathways and processes, suggesting several mechanisms are working synergistically in A549 Abraxane-resistant cells. Overexpression of proteins in the lipid metabolism processes, such as E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase RNF139 (RNF139) and Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMGCS1), have not been reported previously in the study of paclitaxel resistance, suggesting possibly different mechanism between nanoparticle and single molecular drug resistance. In particular, RNF139 is one of the most up-regulated proteins in A549 Abraxane-resistant cell line, but remains no change when the resistant cells were further treated with Abraxane and down-regulated in the sensitive cells after 4 h treatment of Abraxane. This study shows the use of a proteomic strategy to understand the unique response of drug resistant cells to a nanoparticle therapeutic.


We examine how overall delivery of public goods (i.e., efficiency) is affected by affirmative action in elections, i.e., restricting candidate entry in elections to one population group. We argue that when group identities are salient, such restrictions on candidate entry need not necessarily reduce electoral competition. In fact, when group sizes are asymmetric, affirmative action may increase electoral competition and consequently, improve provision of public goods. This happens because in an open election, the (best) candidate from the large group facing a minority candidate suffers from a moral hazard problem. Affirmative action eliminates this problem and increases within-group competition. We study a randomized caste based quota policy in village elections in a large state in India to test these claims. Consistently, we find that electoral quotas for a caste group (OBCs) increased provision of public goods in villages with high OBC population shares. We show that this did not happen due to changes in politicians' preferences or quality, and the increased provision of public goods did not disproportionately benefit the OBCs. Further, using election data, we show evidence in favor of our mechanism: win margins are narrower in quota elections relative to open elections in villages where OBC group is large. Our results highlight that efficiency concerns regarding affirmative action in politics may need reevaluation.


In human-robot interaction, the behaviour of the robot is usually predefined and can easily be predicted. However, this is not true for the behaviour of the users. Throughout the interaction, users employ various behaviours which often cannot be foreseen intuitively. Therefore, theoretical models need to be developed to predict and explain the users' behaviour in order to enable the robot to better understand its interaction partner. The current work suggests such a model which is based on the concepts of situations and expectations. It claims that both concepts support the prediction of user behaviour in the interaction and demonstrates the usefulness of the model in a case study based on data from human-robot interaction in a home tour situation.


The importance of social responsibility in organizational and business units have been increasingly stressed by the researchers in recent years. As the supply chain plays an important role in today's business environment, the issue of social responsibility must be carefully considered in designing and planning supply chain.This paper considers the social responsibility to be one of the goals of designing the reverse logistics network for recycling large household waste in terms of uncertainty. To deal with the uncertainty in proposed model, scenario-based random planning is used, and the proposed model has been solved by using GAMS Software. Since the objective function value has been taken into consideration for the model of social responsibility as one of the objectives, the objective function value is more than basic model one; we tried to present an approach as a motivational factor for enterprises to move towards the adoption of social responsibility towards society.


The self-assembly problem involves designing individual behaviors that a collection of agents can follow in order to form a given target structure. An effective solution would potentially allow self-assembly to be used as an automated construction tool, for example, in dangerous or inaccessible environments. However, existing methodologies are generally limited in that they are either only capable of assembling a very limited range of simple structures, or only applicable in an idealized environment having few or no constraints on the agents' motion. The research presented here seeks to overcome these limitations by studying the self-assembly of a diverse class of non-trivial structures (building, bridge, etc.) from different-sized blocks, whose motion in a continuous, three-dimensional environment is constrained by gravity and block impenetrability. These constraints impose ordering restrictions on the self-assembly process, and necessitate the assembly and disassembly of temporary structures such as staircases. It is shown that self-assembly under these conditions can be accomplished through an integration of several techniques from the field of swarm intelligence. Specifically, this work extends and incorporates computational models of distributed construction, collective motion, and communication via local signaling. These mechanisms enable blocks to determine where to deposit themselves, to effectively move through continuous space, and to coordinate their behavior over time, while using only local information. Further, an algorithm is presented that, given a target structure, automatically generates distributed control rules that encode individual block behaviors. It is formally proved that under reasonable assumptions, these rules will lead to the emergence of correct system-level coordination that allows self-assembly to complete in spite of environmental constraints. The methodology is also verified experimentally by generating rules for a diverse set of structures, and testing them via simulations. Finally, it is shown that for some structures, the generated rules are able to parsimoniously capture the necessary behaviors. This work yields a better understanding of the complex relationship between local behaviors and global structures in non-trivial self-assembly processes, and presents a step towards their use in the real world.


In this paper we provide human service professionals with a foundation for understanding the cultural and programmatic issues necessary for effectively addressing the needs of Latinos within a context of demographic transition and decreases in public support for educational attainment, physical and mental health, and occupational success. A long tradition of deficit thinking has shaped many of the current models employed when addressing the needs of Latinos. The authors suggest "community/culturally centered" or "strengths-based" approaches, such as community based organizations (CBOs), as promising alternatives to current practices. Coalitions among CBOs can be the most effective method in creating and sustaining reform of communitybased services. These coalitions can better serve Latinos by expanding human service providers' cultural awareness and redefining risk and protective factors according to the framework of the Latino communities they serve.


Anthropology combines two quite different enterprises: the ethnographic study of particular people in particular places and the theorizing about the human species. As such, anthropology is part of cognitive science in that it contributes to the unitary theoretical aim of understanding and explaining the behavior of the animal species Homo sapiens. This article draws on our own research experience to illustrate that cooperation between anthropology and the other sub-disciplines of cognitive science is possible and fruitful, but it must proceed from the recognition of anthropology's unique epistemology and methodology.


The Prisons Memory Archive (2010) is a unique collection of on-site filmed recordings of 175 people who worked or were imprisoned in Northern Ireland's prisons during the Troubles. Participants include a Secretary of State, prison staff, probation service, teachers, chaplains and prisoners; the sites include the Maze and Long Kesh Prison and Armagh Gaol. Underpinned by collaborative practices and using a life-history approach which allows the materiality of the site to stimulate memory, the archive, by developing digital interactivity, addresses how we manage the process of allowing the 'other' to speak and be heard, where conflicting versions of the past constitute part of the contested present. This audio visual material will provide primary sources for future generations of international scholars investigating story-telling from post-conflict societies. The prototype is available at www.prisonsmemoryarchive.com. Selected highlights have been screened at international research centres in the USA, Estonia, Spain and Australia. A commitment to host the archive has been given by Boston College, the Imperial War Museum, London, the National Museum of Ireland.


Inferring causal structure poses a combinatorial search problem that typically involves evaluating structures with a score or independence test. The resulting search is costly, and designing suitable scores or tests that capture prior knowledge is difficult. In this work, we propose to amortize causal structure learning. Rather than searching over structures, we train a variational inference model to directly predict the causal structure from observational or interventional data. This allows our inference model to acquire domain-specific inductive biases for causal discovery solely from data generated by a simulator, bypassing both the hand-engineering of suitable score functions and the search over graphs. The architecture of our inference model emulates permutation invariances that are crucial for statistical efficiency in structure learning, which facilitates generalization to significantly larger problem instances than seen during training. On synthetic data and semisynthetic gene expression data, our models exhibit robust generalization capabilities when subject to substantial distribution shifts and significantly outperform existing algorithms, especially in the challenging genomics domain. Our code and models are publicly available at: https://github.com/larslorch/avici.


Transport and retention of polyvinylpyrrolidone‐coated silver nanoparticles (PVP‐AgNPs) were examined in water‐saturated columns packed with three types of natural soils: a clay loam red soil (RS), a sandy loam fluvo‐aquic soil (FS), and a loam huangni soil (HS). Specific factors investigated included monovalent K+ and divalent Ca2+ concentrations and the coupled effect of Ca2+ with humic acid (HA) at a PVP‐AgNP concentration of 10 mg L−1 and Darcy velocity of 0.182 cm min−1. Our results showed that transport of PVP‐AgNPs decreased with increasing K+ and Ca2+ concentrations, primarily due to enhanced aggregation of PVP‐AgNPs and reduced repulsive interactions between PVP‐AgNPs and soil grains. Consistent with the Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory, retention of PVP‐AgNPs was more pronounced in the presence of Ca2+ than K+. However, the presence of HA significantly weakened the mobility of PVP‐AgNPs with increasing Ca2+ concentration, probably due to increased aggregation of PVP‐AgNPs (forming a HA–Ca–PVP‐AgNPs complex). Irrespective of solution chemistry, the mobility of PVP‐AgNPs in all three soils remained in the order of RS < FS < HS. Principal components analysis indicated that the mobility of PVP‐AgNPs was positively correlated with pH, cation exchange capacity, and soil organic matter content and was negatively correlated with Fe oxide content and specific surface area of the soils. Overall, our findings highlight the dominant role of soil physicochemical properties in the mobility of Ag nanoparticles in natural soils and the importance of investigating these factors to better understand the fate of engineered nanoparticles in natural environments at the point of disposal and protecting groundwater resources.


In this research paper, a 3-D finite element model was used for the analysis of curved concrete slab on steel girder bridges. A parametric study was carried out to calculate the load distribution factors for horizontally curved steel I-girder bridges based on (AASHTO LRFD) live loads .The bridges are analyzed by three dimensional finite elements using SAP 2000 software (Structural Analysis Program) with shell elements. The parameters considered in this study were: span-to-radius of curvature ratio, span length and the analysis of bridge will be performed for the case of full live load and partial live loads. The full data are given together with AASHTO LRFD calculations up to L/R equal to (0.6).


Proposed as a collection of imaginary logos for the corporate sponsors of Borges's Library of Babel, Kern balances on a precipice between the visual and nonsensical, offering poems just out of meaning's reach. Using dry-transfer lettering, Derek Beaulieu made these concrete pieces by hand, building the images gesturally in response to shapes and patterns in the letters themselves. This is poetry closer to architecture and design than confession, in which letters are released from their usual semantic duties as they slide into unexpected affinities and new patterns. Kern highlights the gaps inside what we see and what we know, filling the familiar with the singular and the just seen with the faintly remembered.


This paper describes the background, development and use of a new Virtual Reality (VR) model of the built fabric of Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) which has been based upon direct archaeological evidence, literary evidence and comparisons with the remains of similar Romano-British cities. It forms the conclusion of the first stage of a larger ongoing collaborative research project to create an inhabited virtual Romano-British world populated by interacting avatars programmed using a novel form of artificial intelligence (AI) to have a range of Romano-British morals and values for the purposes of examining resultant emergent behaviors and societal development. Virtual Roman Leicester (VRL) has been created in a popular games engine to allow real-time exploration by real world users and has a multi-platform capability to also examine issues surrounding the use of Virtual Reality for public outreach and the wider understanding of cultural heritage. Here we focus firstly upon issues surrounding the interpretation of the archaeological evidence and its extrapolation into full buildings (using a technique we call architectural forensics), secondly upon technical is-sues concerning importation of ancient land surface terrain and thirdly upon aspects of initial user experience following an extensive public exhibition of the model.


Elucidating receptor–ligand and protein–protein interactions represents an attractive alternative for designing effective Plasmodium vivax control methods. This article describes the ability of P. vivax rhoptry neck proteins 2 and 4 (RON2 and RON4) to bind to human reticulocytes. Biochemical and cellular studies have shown that two PvRON2‐ and PvRON4‐derived conserved regions specifically interact with protein receptors on reticulocytes marked by the CD71 surface transferrin receptor. Mapping each protein fragment's binding region led to defining the specific participation of two 20 amino acid‐long regions selectively competing for PvRON2 and PvRON4 binding to reticulocytes. Binary interactions between PvRON2 (ligand) and other parasite proteins, such as PvRON4, PvRON5, and apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1), were evaluated and characterised by surface plasmon resonance. The results revealed that both PvRON2 cysteine‐rich regions strongly interact with PvAMA1 Domains II and III (equilibrium constants in the nanomolar range) and at a lower extent with the complete PvAMA1 ectodomain and Domains I and II. These results strongly support that these proteins participate in P. vivax's complex invasion process, thus providing new pertinent targets for blocking P. vivax merozoites' specific entry to their target cells.


Policymakers in England have recently, in common with other Anglophone countries, encouraged the provision of higher education within vocational Further Education Colleges. Policy documents have emphasised the potential contribution of college-based students to widening participation: yet the same students contribute in turn to the difficulties of this provision. This article draws on a study of part-time higher education students in a college, a group whose perspectives, identities and voices have been particularly neglected by educational research. Respondents' narratives of non-participation at 18 indicated the range of social and geographical constraints shaping their decisions and their aspirations beyond higher education; whilst they drew on vocational and adult traditions to legitimate college participation, their construction of identity was also shaped by the boundaries between further education and the university. These distinctive processes illustrate both possibilities and constraints for future higher education provision within colleges.


Sources for drinking water (DW) production contain increasing concentrations of organic micropollutants, such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Traditional purification processes are not suitable for their removal or conversion, but even sophisticated technologies, like advanced oxidation processes and membrane filtration, are not able to efficiently remove all compounds from DW. For recalcitrant compounds, affinity adsorption, based on a specific interaction of the adsorbent surface with functional groups in the compounds' molecular structure, may be an effective alternative or addition. It can either be applied as a polishing step in DW purification or for removal of compounds directly at the source.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common causes of pain and disability. Currently, non-surgical treatment is limited to analgesic and anti-inflammatory drugs, which are not capable of either modifying the disease process or regenerate damaged parts in articular cartilage. From a clinical point of view, small focal lesions in articular cartilage are frequent incidental findings mainly in the hip and knee but also in other joints during open and arthroscopic joint preserving surgical procedures. There is therefore an obvious demand for (bio)-pharmaceutical treatment options to complement surgical procedures in order to regenerate damaged parts in articular cartilage and generally attenuate disease progression. However, pharmaceutical approaches are generally associated with low bioavailabilities of the therapeutic molecules in the cartilage matrix, the primary site of the disease process in OA. The low bioavailability is due to the fact that the joint assumes a remote location being connected to the systemic circulation via the synovial fluid, which is an ultrafiltrate of blood secreted into the joint space. Articular cartilage, i.e. the lining of the joint surfaces providing nearly frictionless motion, is avascular and therefore not connected to the systemic circulation at all and thus depends on nutrients from the synovial fluid being transported to the cells, i.e. chondrocytes, by convective transport, which is inherently impaired due to its dense extracellular matrix. In addition, small molecules which may end up in the joint space via the synovial fluid systemically or after local administration by intra-articular injection are rapidly cleared out of the joint through lymphatic uptake. In order for (bio)-pharmaceutical treatment options to be efficient and effective, the therapeutic needs to reach the site of the disease process, here articular cartilage, and stay there long enough to exert its desired function. At first, we sought to engineer a nanoparticle-based drug delivery system which is capable of targeting the cartilage matrix and is subsequently immobilized there to release its cargo over time. Towards this end, we used a technique called peptide-on-phage display to carry out rounds of affinity selection against bovine cartilage in order to discover potential 6-mer peptides as bioaffinity ligands to a cartilage extracellular matrix component. Phage display relies on the genotype-phenotype linkage of inserts in the gene coding for minor coat protein of the phage virion, which is then displayed as a fusion protein on its surface. The sequence displayed by recovered binding phages can therefore be determined by sequencing of the phage DNA. After five rounds of affinity selection, i.e. recovering the binding phages, amplifying and re-exposing them to bovine articular cartilage, the peptide sequence WYRGRL could be discovered, which appeared in 94 out of 96 sequenced phage clones. WYRGRL was shown to bind specifically to articular cartilage and not to the synovial membrane. In addition, adding synovial fluid does not impair its capability of binding to articular cartilage. In a competetive binding assay of phages displaying WYRGRL and its synthesized free peptide an IC50 of binding to articular cartilage of 140 nM could be calculated. The free peptide was subsequently immobilized in a thiopropyl sepharose column for affinity purification in order to identify the binding partner of WYRGRL in the cartilage extracellular matrix. Affinity purification yielded one single protein band in SDS-PAGE which was identified to be collagen II alpha1 by in-gel trypsin digestion and analysis of protein fragments by mass-spectrometry. The peptide WYRGRL therefore provides means of immobilizing macromolecules in the collagen II network of articular cartilage. As a proof of principle, the peptide was conjugated to the surface of poly(propylene sulfide) nanoparticles, which were in average between 31 to 38 nm in size. It was covalently bound to the emulsifier for nanoparticle synthesis which remains displayed on the surface after polymerization. To visualize the nanoparticles in vivo by confocal laser scanning microscopy, they were labelled with a fluorophore for visualization. The nanoparticles were injected into the knee joints of mice, which were sacrificed after 24, 48 and 96 h. Compared to control nanoparticles displaying the scrambled peptide sequence, a 44.8-fold higher accumulation of nanoparticles in the extracellular matrix after 24 h could be observed, which was 71.7-fold higher after 48 h and 27.6-fold higher after 96 hours. Conjugation of WYRGRL to nanoparticles therefore efficiently immobilized them in the extracellular matrix of articular cartilage, an effect that was not present in nanoparticles with a scrambled peptide sequence attached to their surface. Nanoparticles could also be observed in chondrocytes in vivo, although to a lesser extent than in the extracellular matrix. In the light of potential adverse effects on cells, internalization of nanoparticles in immature murine articular chondrocytes (IMAC) and their effect on cell viability as well as phenotype specific gene-expression was studied. In accordance with the observations in vivo, conjugated and non-conjugated nanoparticles were efficiently internalized by cultured IMACs ranging from 74.8% to 77.5% after 24 h. Nanoparticle internalization was shown to be associated with elevetad rates of cell death and a decrease in the phenotypic gene expression, especially collagen II and aggrecan, but also collagen I, whereas cathepsin B as a de-differentiation marker and lysosomal enzyme was not downregulated. After 96 h, gene expression levels seemed to recover and approach baseline values. At the concentrations used, internalized nanoparticles seemed to be toxic to IMACs and interfere with phenotypic gene expression and potentially alter the cell phenotype, which needs to be investigated further for potential clinical applications. As it was shown that the peptide WYRGRL effectively immobilized poly(propylene sulfide) nanoparticles in the extracellular matrix of articular cartilage, we sought to extend this concept to protein-based therapeutics. Of interest here is FGF-18 which had been shown to be an important trophic factor on chondrocytes, inducing synthesis of matrix molecules. It had also been shown that FGF-18 was capable of repairing focal cartilage lesions in a model of rapidly progressing OA in rats, which required bi-weekly intra-articular injections, however. A fusion protein of human FGF-18 and the collagen II-binding peptide WYRGRL was expressed in E. coli and purified by heparin-affinity chromatography. It was demonstrated in vitro by surface plasmon resonance, that the fusion of FGF-18 and WYRGRL exhibits slower release after binding to immobilized collagen II than wild-type FGF-18. In a model of surgically induced knee joint instability in mice, injection of the fusion protein of FGF-18 at the time of surgery and after 2 weeks prevented the onset of OA in these animals over 5 weeks and demonstrated significantly improved histological scores compared to the wild-type protein and control animals. Enhanced retention of FGF-18 in the cartilage matrix resulted therefore to shift from bi-weekly to less than bi-monthly intra-articular administration of the therapeutic. In conclusion, the present thesis introduces an enhanced retention technology for articular cartilage which has been demonstrated to immobilize nanoparticles and protein-based therapeutics in the cartilage matrix by binding to the collagen II network. The potential reduction of intra-articular injections as a result of immobilizing either the carrier or the therapeutic is of significant clinical relevance and may prove to be pivotal for future (bio)-phamaceutical approaches for cartilage regeneration.


Virtual organization and blockchain are two newly emerging technologies that researchers are exploring their potentials to solve many information and communication technology unaddressed problems and challenges. Health care is one of the sectors that are very dynamic and it is in need of constant improvement in the quest to better the quality of cares and reduce cost. One of the hotline of research in the sector is the use of information and communication technology to provide health care and this is where the concept of virtual healthcare is relevant. In virtual healthcare patients and care providers are collaborating in virtual settings where two of the most difficult challenges are verifying and validating the identity of the communicating parties and the information exchanged. In this paper we propose a conceptual framework using blochchain technology to address the health care provider and record verification and validation issue. The framework is specific to healthcare systems developed based on Virtual Breeding Environment and Virtual Organization. We outline and explain each step in the framework and demonstrate its applicability in a simple healthcare scenario. This paper contributes towards the continuing effort to address user identity and information verification and validation issues in virtual settings in general and in healthcare in specific.


Many Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used to collect and process confidential information. Confidentiality must be ensured at all times and, for example, solutions for confidential communication, processing or storage are required. To date, the research community has addressed mainly the issue of confidential communication. Efficient solutions for cryptographically secured communication and associated key exchange in WSNs exist. Many WSN applications, however, rely heavily on available on-node storage space and therefore it is essential to ensure the confidentiality of stored data as well. In this paper we present Codo, a confidential data storage solution which balances platform, performance and security requirements. We implement Codo for the Contiki WSN operating system and evaluate its performance.


The history of globin research is marked by a series of contributions seminal to our understanding of the genome, its function, and its relation to disease. For example, based on studies on hemoglobinopathies, it was understood that gene expression can be under the control of DNA elements that locate away from the genes on the linear chromosome template. Recent technological developments have allowed the demonstration that these regulatory DNA elements communicate with the genes through physical interaction, which loops out the intervening chromatin fiber. Subsequent studies showed that the spatial organization of the b-globin locus dynamically changes in relation


The case illustrates the role of performance measurement and analytics in translating TD-Canada Trust's service model of comfortable banking into operational terms. In 2000, in a banking market where consumers and regulators were typically hostile to mergers and acquisitions, Canada's fifth largest commercial bank, Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank), undertook a merger with a relatively small trust company, Canada Trust, which was known for exceptional customer service. To assuage the concerns of regulators, consumer groups, and newly acquired customers, TD Bank made several public pronouncements promising to maintain Canada Trust's high customer service standards and to deliver a comfortable banking experience. Chris Armstrong, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, was now faced with the task of defining the comfortable banking model and consistently delivering on these promises. Armstrong and his team undertake a systematic analysis of the drivers of customer satisfaction and branch network profitability and, based on the results, must decide how to change TD-Canada Trust's branch compensation and performance reporting systems to consistently, and profitably, deliver a comfortable banking experience.


Introduction
Inspired by the Open Archives Initiative, the United Kingdom (UK) Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) established the FAIR (Focus on Access to Institutional Repositories) programme in 2002. One of the programme's objectives was to "explore the challenges associated with disclosure and sharing [of content], including IPR and the role of institutional repositories". To this end, the JISC funded a one-year project called RoMEO (Rights Metadata for Open archiving). RoMEO, which took place between 2002–2003, specifically looked at the self-archiving of academic research papers, and the subsequent disclosure and harvesting of metadata about those papers using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) by OAI Data and Service Providers [Open Archives Initiative, 2002a].

The RoMEO project aimed to develop simple rights metadata by which academics could protect their research papers in an open-access environment and also to develop a means by which OAI Data and Service Providers could protect their open-access metadata. RoMEO proposed to show how such rights solutions might be disclosed and harvested under OAI-PMH.

The RoMEO project was divided into two phases: a data-gathering phase and a development phase. The project team produced a series of six studies based on their work [Gadd, Oppenheim, and Probets, 2003a; 2003b, 2003c, 2003d, 2003e, 2003f]. (In the remainder of this article, these studies will be referred to as RoMEO Studies 1–6). This article aims to provide an overview of all the activities of the RoMEO project and to report on its key findings and recommendations.


In this protocol for a pilot study we seek to establish the feasibility of using a web-based survey to simultaneously supply healthcare organisations and agencies with feedback on a key aspect of the care experience they provide and increase the generic health decision literacy of the individuals responding. The focus is on the person's involvement in decision making, an aspect of care which is seriously under-represented in current surveys if one adopts the perspective of person-centred care. By engaging with an instrument to assess decision quality the person can, in the one action, provide a retrospective evaluation of a past decision making experience in a specific provider context and enhance their competency in future decision making in any setting. We see this as an exercise in context-sensitive educational health informatics.


The climate research community uses atmospheric reanalysis data sets to understand a wide range of processes and variability in the atmosphere, yet different reanalyses may give very different results for the same diagnostics. The Stratosphere–troposphere Processes And their Role in Climate (SPARC) Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP) is a coordinated activity to compare reanalysis data sets using a variety of key diagnostics. The objectives of this project are to identify differences among reanalyses and understand their underlying causes, to provide guidance on appropriate usage of various reanalysis products in scientific studies, particularly those of relevance to SPARC, and to contribute to future improvements in the reanalysis products by establishing collaborative links between reanalysis centres and data users. The project focuses predominantly on differences among reanalyses, although studies that include operational analyses and studies comparing reanalyses with observations are also included when appropriate. The emphasis is on diagnostics of the upper troposphere, stratosphere, and lower mesosphere. This paper summarizes the motivation and goals of the S-RIP activity and extensively reviews key technical aspects of the reanalysis data sets that are the focus of this activity. The special issue "The SPARC Reanalysis Intercomparison Project (S-RIP)" in this journal serves to collect research with relevance to the S-RIP in preparation for the publication of the planned two (interim and full) S-RIP reports.


The 2011 Chilean student strikes, led by university students but promptly joined by hundreds of thousands of secondary school students, triggered a significant drop in public secondary school attendance (a decline of about 15 percentage points in all four grades). Attendance returned to normal levels in 2012. Using the type of school that students attended in 2011 as an instrument for school absenteeism, I show that school absenteeism has negative effects on secondary school students' results in a post-secondary high-stakes math exam and university enrollment rates. Instrumental variables estimations suggest that a 10 percentage point decrease in attendance during secondary school is related to a 9.5 percent of a standard deviation decline in the math exam score, and a 3.2 percentage point reduction in the associated probability of university enrollment. I do not find any significant effect on the high-stakes language exam at the 5 percent level. A key finding is the persistent negative effect of school absenteeism on students' academic performance: this negative effect is present even for those students who sat the high-stakes exams three years after the strikes had ended, that is, after three years of regular schooling following the negative shock to their attendance. These results are not driven by inputs to the education production function that might have been affected by the student strikes, such as disruptiveness at the time of the high-stakes exams, school environment, teachers, class instruction, or class size.