Abstract. The Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project has developed tools and methods that can be employed by analysts to create accurate glacier outlines. To illustrate the importance of accurate glacier outlines and the effectiveness of GLIMS standards we conducted a case study on Bering Glacier System (BGS), Alaska. BGS is a complex glacier system aggregated from multiple drainage basins, numerous tributaries, and many accumulation areas. Published measurements of BGS surface area vary from 1740 to 6200 km2, depending on how the boundaries of this system have been defined. Utilizing GLIMS tools and standards we have completed a new outline (3630 km2) and analysis of the area-altitude distribution (hypsometry) of BGS using Landsat images from 2000 and 2001 and a US Geological Survey 15-min digital elevation model. We compared this new hypsometry with three different hypsometries to illustrate the errors that result from the widely varying estimates of BGS extent. The use of different BGS hypsometries results in highly variable measures of volume change and net balance (bn). Applying a simple hypsometry-dependent mass-balance model to different hypsometries results in a bn rate range of −1.0 to −3.1 m a−1 water equivalent (W.E.), a volume change range of −3.8 to −6.7 km3 a−1 W.E., and a near doubling in contributions to sea level equivalent, 0.011 mm a−1 to 0.019 mm a−1. Current inaccuracies in glacier outlines hinder our ability to correctly quantify glacier change. Understanding of glacier extents can become comprehensive and accurate. Such accuracy is possible with the increasing volume of satellite imagery of glacierized regions, recent advances in tools and standards, and dedication to this important task.


This thesis argues that there are two distinct procedures found in the Church Dogmatics. The first is a simple movement from exegesis of continuous passages to dogmatic theology, in which the theologian moves from what the text said and the author or redactor meant, to work out what is implied for dogmatic theology and to assess its significance. The second is a more complex movement from selected fragments of Scripture, exegeted separately, but grouped together as the basis upon which there can be movement into dogmatic theology. It is shown that the way in which these fragments are employed corresponds to the form in which they are found. The analysis of these two distinct procedures is found in chapters two and three respectively, where it is made clear that these arrangements form complementary components in Earth's dogmatic method. These chapters are the centre of the thesis, which are prefaced by an examination of the role of the historical critical method as the beginning of Earth's exegesis. Here it is demonstrated that Earth employs historical criticism wherever it is consistent with his theological purpose. The final chapter investigates the controls at work in Earth's method, which are shown to be a concern for the immediate context of a passage; a belief in the unity of Scripture, and a determination to see the central referential point of Scripture as Jesus Christ himself. Both the methods of research and the arrangement of this presentation have been devised to make plain the movement from exegesis to dogmatics in the theology of Karl Earth,


Objectives. We examined how National Cancer Institute–funded Community Network Programs (CNPs) operationalized principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR). Methods. We reviewed the literature and extant CBPR measurement tools. On the basis of that review, we developed a 27-item questionnaire for CNPs to selfassess their operationalization of 9 CBPR principles. Our team comprised representatives of 9 of the National Cancer Institute's 25 CNPs. Results. Of the 25 CNPs, 22 (88%) completed the questionnaire. Most scored well on CBPR principles of recognizing community as a unit of identity, building on community strengths, facilitating colearning, embracing iterative processes in developing community capacity, and achieving a balance between data generation and intervention. CNPs varied in the extent to which they employed CBPR principles of addressing determinants of health, sharing power among partners, engaging the community in research dissemination, and striving for sustainability. Conclusions. Although the development of assessment tools in this field is in its infancy, our findings suggest that fidelity to CBPR processes can be assessed in a variety of settings. (Am J Public Health. 2012;102:1195–1203. doi:10.2105/


We use a large sample of galaxies from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to calculate galaxy luminosity and stellar mass functions in the local universe. We estimate corrections for passband shifting and galaxy evolution, as well as present-day stellar mass-to-light (M/L) ratios, by fitting the optical-near-infrared galaxy data with simple models. Accounting for the 8% galaxy overdensity in the SDSS early data release region, the optical and near-infrared luminosity functions we construct for this sample agree with most recent literature optical and near-infrared determinations within the uncertainties. We argue that 2MASS is biased against low surface brightness galaxies and use SDSS plus our knowledge of stellar populations to estimate the "true" K-band luminosity function. This has a steeper faint end slope and a slightly higher overall luminosity density than the direct estimate. Furthermore, assuming a universally applicable stellar initial mass function (IMF), we find good agreement between the stellar mass function we derive from the 2MASS/SDSS data and that derived by Cole et al. The faint end slope for the stellar mass function is steeper than -1.1, reflecting the low stellar M/L ratios characteristic of low-mass galaxies. We estimate an upper limit to the stellar mass density in the local universe Ω*h = 2.0 ± 0.6 × 10-3 by assuming an IMF as rich in low-mass stars as allowed by observations of galaxy dynamics in the local universe. The stellar mass density may be lower than this value if a different IMF with fewer low-mass stars is assumed. Finally, we examine type-dependence in the optical and near-infrared luminosity functions and the stellar mass function. In agreement with previous work, we find that the characteristic luminosity or mass of early-type galaxies is larger than for later types, and the faint end slope is steeper for later types than for earlier types. Accounting for typing uncertainties, we estimate that at least half, and perhaps as much as 3/4, of the stellar mass in the universe is in early-type galaxies. As an aid to workers in the field, we present in an Appendix the relationship between model stellar M/L ratios and colors in SDSS/2MASS passbands, an updated discussion of near-infrared stellar M/L ratio estimates, and the volume-corrected distribution of g- and K-band stellar M/L ratios as a function of stellar mass.


We analyze the scaling behaviors of two field-scale log permeability data sets showing heavy-tailed frequency distributions in three and two spatial dimensions, respectively. One set consists of 1-m scale pneumatic packer test data from six vertical and inclined boreholes spanning a decameters scale block of unsaturated fractured tuffs near Superior, Arizona, the other of pneumatic minipermeameter data measured at a spacing of 15 cm along three horizontal transects on a 21 m long and 6 m high outcrop of the Upper Cretaceous Straight Cliffs Formation, including lower-shoreface bioturbated and cross-bedded sandstone near Escalante, Utah. Order q sample structure functions of each data set scale as a power ξ(q) of separation scale or lag, s , over limited ranges of s . A procedure known as extended self-similarity (ESS) extends this range to all lags and yields a nonlinear (concave) functional relationship between ξ(q) and q . Whereas the literature tends to associate extended and nonlinear power-law scaling with multifractals or fractional Laplace motions, we have shown elsewhere that (a) ESS of data having a normal frequency distribution is theoretically consistent with (Gaussian) truncated (additive, self-affine, monofractal) fractional Brownian motion (tfBm), the latter being unique in predicting a breakdown in power-law scaling at small and large lags, and (b) nonlinear power-law scaling of data having either normal or heavy-tailed frequency distributions is consistent with samples from sub-Gaussian random fields or processes subordinated to tfBm or truncated fractional Gaussian noise (tfGn), stemming from lack of ergodicity which causes sample moments to scale differently than do their ensemble counterparts. Here we (i) demonstrate that the above two data sets are consistent with sub-Gaussian random fields subordinated to tfBm or tfGn and (ii) provide maximum likelihood estimates of parameters characterizing the corresponding Levy stable subordinators and tfBm or tfGn functions.


This is the introductory chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies (OUP 2013). The chapter provides an overview of the rise of Internet Studies, the scope of this field, and competing perspectives on its present and future development. In addition, it provides an outline of the contributions to the handbook.


Background: The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between the survival outcomes and biological subtype in breast cancer patients with brain metastases. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated clinical data from 422 breast cancer patients with brain metastases between 2001 and 2011 from referral centers in Turkey. The study population was divided into four biological subtypes according to their hormone receptor status and HER2 expression. Results: Systemic treatment prolonged median overall survival (OS) after brain metastases in the entire group (14 vs. 3.2 months, p < 0.001). It also prolonged median OS after brain metastases in the triple negative (7.5 vs. 1.6 months, p = 0.010) and luminal A (14.3 vs. 7.1 months, p = 0.003) subgroups. The median OS for untreated patients, chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy receiving patients, and chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy plus targeted therapy receivers was 2, 5.8, and 17.7 months, respectively (p < 0.001), in the HER2-overexpressing subgroup. In the luminal B subgroup, it was 3.7, 5.3, and 15.4 months, respectively (p = 0.003). Conclusions: The use of systemic therapy improves OS after brain metastases in all biological subgroups. Targeted therapies also improve OS after brain metastases in HER2-positive patients. The combined use of targeted therapies and lapatinib are superior to single use and trastuzumab, respectively, in these patients.


In this study, we assess changes of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and direct radiative forcing (DRF) in response to the reduction of anthropogenic emissions in four major pollution regions in the Northern Hemisphere by using results from nine global models in the framework of the Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (HTAP). DRF at top of atmosphere (TOA) and surface is estimated based on AOD results from the HTAP models and AOD‐normalized DRF (NDRF) from a chemical transport model. The multimodel results show that, on average, a 20% reduction of anthropogenic emissions in North America, Europe, East Asia, and South Asia lowers the global mean AOD (all‐sky TOA DRF) by 9.2% (9.0%), 3.5% (3.0%), and 9.4% (10.0%) for sulfate, particulate organic matter (POM), and black carbon (BC), respectively. Global annual average TOA all‐sky forcing efficiency relative to particle or gaseous precursor emissions from the four regions (expressed as multimodel mean ± one standard deviation) is −3.5 ± 0.8, −4.0 ± 1.7, and 29.5 ± 18.1 mW m−2 per Tg for sulfate (relative to SO2), POM, and BC, respectively. The impacts of the regional emission reductions on AOD and DRF extend well beyond the source regions because of intercontinental transport (ICT). On an annual basis, ICT accounts for 11 ± 5% to 31 ± 9% of AOD and DRF in a receptor region at continental or subcontinental scale, with domestic emissions accounting for the remainder, depending on regions and species. For sulfate AOD, the largest ICT contribution of 31 ± 9% occurs in South Asia, which is dominated by the emissions from Europe. For BC AOD, the largest ICT contribution of 28 ± 18% occurs in North America, which is dominated by the emissions from East Asia. The large spreads among models highlight the need to improve aerosol processes in models, and evaluate and constrain models with observations.


The sketch is the embodiment of the architectural discussion. It incorporates rapidness and fuzziness and as this it is an object of interpretation. The interesting thing there is the question, if the usage of VR/AR already in the early phases of a design can have an impact for the quality of a design-process. Examples like VRAM (Regenbrecht et al., 2000) or TAP (Seichter et al., 2000) showed that there is a huge potential for research. The sketch as one of the parts of an early design is tightly coupled with cognitive aspects and communication. Pictured by a sketch is just a snapshot of what have to be discussed in the ensuing design procedure. The intention behind this work is an exploration about a medium which is not yet adapted to the digital world (Myers et al., 2000) and it can be easily be described with the words of Harald Innis: Mankind constantly being caught in his own traps: language and systems, developed and most difficult to break down. (Innis, 1951)


The discovery of infinite products by Wallis and infinite series by Newton marked the beginning of the modern mathematical era. It allowed Newton to solve the problem of finding areas under curves defined by algebraic equations, an achievement beyond the scope of the earlier methods of Torricelli, Fermat and Pascal. While Newton and his contemporaries, including Leibniz and the Bernoullis, concentrated on mathematical analysis and physics, Euler's prodigious accomplishments demonstrated that series and products could also address problems in algebra, combinatorics and number theory. In this book, Ranjan Roy describes many facets of the discovery and use of infinite series and products as worked out by their originators, including mathematicians from Asia, Europe and America. The text provides context and motivation for these discoveries, with many detailed proofs, offering a valuable perspective on modern mathematics. Mathematicians, mathematics students, physicists and engineers will all read this book with benefit and enjoyment.


We propose two methods to predict the AC transport current losses of MgB2 superconducting wires with respect to various operating currents (Itr) and temperatures (T). Firstly, the transport current loss was estimated by a numerical method (finite element analysis). In order to consider the highly nonlinear behavior of the superconducting properties according to magnetic flux density (B) at each temperature, the measured Jc - B - T characteristics were used in the calculation. The numerical results were compared with these of conventional Norris theory and showed quite good coincidence. A second method to predict the transport current loss at various temperatures, which used a loss at a specific temperature and the critical current data, is suggested. We deduce a formula for the prediction of the loss by a simple analogy through normalization, which performs excellently. The comparison of the transport current loss values calculated using the two methods is addressed.


One area of Charter jurisprudence which has developed a particularly high level of controversy is the recognition of "commercial expression" as falling under the purview of "freedom of expression" and thereby deserving of s. 2(b) Charter protection. The source of this controversy relates to the nature of both the Charter 's guarantees and of commercial expression. The Charter is the supreme law of Canada and the main source of our constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms. Commercial expression is that expression having the sale of a good or service as its purpose. Commercial expression is, simply put, advertising. Many people no doubt feel a certain level of discomfort affording advertising for breakfast cereal the same level of constitutional protection as political speech. Despite this common sensical antipathy toward commercial expression, the Supreme Court of Canada has firmly entrenched commercial expression as being within the purview of section 2(b) of the Charter. This paper will demonstrate why commercial expression should not be afforded section 2(b) protection under the Charter. The Supreme Court, in granting commercial expression constitutional recognition, relied on a series of justifications. Upon closer analysis, these justifications in fact lead to the conclusion that commercial expression should be denied section 2(b) protection. The reasons given by the Supreme Court support the constitutional recognition of commercial expression in theory only, and not in practice. The jurisprudential framework of the Supreme Court in deciding these issues is a predominantly liberal one. In addition, the court uses economic justifications for granting commercial expression constitutional recognition. For these reasons this paper will use liberal and law and economic analyses to challenge the conclusions reached by the Supreme Court. Rather than demonstrate that the Court's conclusions can be challenged by alternative legal philosophies (for example, Critical Legal Studies or feminism), this paper proposes to show that the Supreme Court's conclusions can be challenged from within the very same framework(s) used by the Court.


Adhesion control in liquid-liquid-solid systems represents a challenge for applications ranging from self-cleaning to biocompatibility of engineered materials. By using responsive polymer chemistry and molecular self-assembly, adhesion at solid/liquid interfaces can be achieved and modulated by external stimuli. Here, we utilize thermosensitive polymeric materials based on random copolymers of di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (x = MEO2MA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (y = OEGMA), that is, P(MEO2MAx-co-OEGMAy), to investigate the role of hydrophobicity on the phenomenon of adhesion. The copolymer ratio (x/y) dictates macromolecular changes enabling control of the hydrophilic-to-lipophilic balance (HBL) of the polymer brushes through external triggers such as ionic strength and temperature. We discuss the HBL of the thermobrushes in terms of the surface energy of the substrate by measuring the contact angle at water-decane-P(MEO2MAx-co-OEGMAy) brush contact line as a function of polymer composition and temperature. Solid supported polyelectrolyte layers grafted with P(MEO2MAx-co-OEGMAy) display a transition in the wettability that is related to the lower critical solution temperature of the polymer brushes. Using experimental observation of the hydrophilic to hydrophobic transition by the contact angle, we extract the underlying energetics associated with liquid-liquid-solid adhesion as a function of the copolymer ratio. The change in cellular attachment on P(MEO2MAx-co-OEGMAy) substrates of variable (x/y) composition demonstrates the subtle role of compositional tuning on the ability to control liquid-liquid-solid adhesion in biological applications.


Globalized economy has brought about many economic and political problems in both national and international fields. One of the most significant results of globalization is that it has removed boundaries and reduced time and space related costs preventing international capital from moving towards areas where it can increase its value. This change, which is positive considering revaluation and profit increase in global capital, has caused normlessness and led to a process blocking international competition, which may most of the time result in national and international economic crises. Countries have, thus, started to introduce tax policies that would attract global capital. This problem has conceptually been handled in fiscal literature as international tax competition. Recently its harmful aspects have also been included in the discussions. In this context, national authorities as well as international institutions such as European Union and OECD have been working on projects to prevent harmful tax competition. Yet, globalization and financialization of economy have made countries more dependent on international capital. It is conflicting that countries are making new regulations to prevent harmful tax competitions while they are also creating an environment where they can promote global capital to avoid possible financial crises. This conflict was clearly observed in European Union during the 2008 global crisis. This study reveals the conflict between tax policies applied by EU to overcome the 2008 global financial crisis and the works intended for preventing harmful tax competition in EU.


Readers have wrangled over the "meaning" of Gulliver's Travels since it was first published in 1726. No critical consensus has ever been reached even on some very fundamental issues of interpretation. What can be done to extricate us from what appears to be a critical impasse? Many particulars of Swift's satire seem to be pretty well understood and agreed on, such as the attack on Walpole and the parody of travel literature. What remains contested, even after almost a century of serious modern criticism, are the larger issues of the overall object of the satire and what it tells us about Swift's values and his view of the world. As a critical experiment, I propose getting a fresh take on these issues by looking at some exemplars of "Gulliveriana." The appearance of the Travels was followed by a spate of imitations and continuations, in part attempts to capitalize on its popularity and in part serious appropriations of Swiftian satire. Eighteenth-century satirists used the Travels in a variety of ways, and modern writers continue to use Swift as a satiric model. These works are usually more derivative than dazzling, but--so I will argue--they are not without interest for our understanding of the original. Attempts to replicate Swift's techniques are especially useful in reconstructing the ways in which his methods have been understood by readers. What sort of satire did these respondents think they were emulating, and what do the discrepancies between original and attempted duplications tell us about how that original has been--or should be--understood? Reading Swift alongside his imitators can demonstrate what is fundamental to his satire--including its difficulty. Parallels between imaginative imitations and standard scholarly approaches, moreover, suggest that imitators and critics share some assumptions; studying the efforts of imitators to replicate Swift's satire can help us understand critics' problems in explaining it. WRITING SWIFTIAN SATIRE Gulliver's Travels was an immediate sensation and remains a satiric exemplar. In the massive, seven-volume edition of eighteenth-century Gulliveriana, Jeanne K. Welcher and George E. Bush, Jr. acknowledge over sixty significant responses to Gulliver's Travels that endeavor "to reproduce something of its style, intent, and design." (1) Though Gulliver is not at the center of a literary sensation in the twentieth-and twenty-first centuries as he was in the eighteenth, Swift's voyager and other features from the Travels continue to appear in satiric or quasi-satiric works. Although these appropriations vary in the extent to which they use Swift's satire, comparisons between them and the Travels almost always demonstrate the profound oddity and difficulty of the original. Some writers have been content to borrow only the best known features or language from the Travels. The Two Lilliputian Odes (1727), for example, are only slightly connected to the Travels;, they "parody Lilliputian diminutiveness by using trisyllabic lines," as Welcher and Bush suggest, (2) but otherwise have no connection to Swift's technique or themes. Other examples of this sort include The Lilliputian Widow (1729), The Pleasures and Felicity of Marriage, Display 'd in Ten Books, published under the nom de plume Lemuel Gulliver (1745), and Dreams in Lilliput (1790). (3) These and other works similarly exploit the popularity of all things Gulliverian, and though they are often fun and clever in their own right, most have very little to do with, or to tell us about, the original. Such is the case, too, with those imitators who have borrowed Swift's most general objects for their own particular ends. Many of these writers allude to Swift in order to invigorate satiric attacks on those follies that Swift too undertook to expose. Writing under the pseudonym Doctor Bantley, for instance, the author of Critical Remarks on Capt. Gulliver's Travels (1735) uses Swift to make his own attack on pedantry in general and Richard Bentley (a prominent enemy of Swift and Pope) in particular. …


Abstract : This technical report characterizes systems of systems from several perspectives; shows the role of emergent behavior in systems of systems; and introduces interoperability as the domain of development, use, sustainment, and evolution for systems of systems. It argues that the increasing importance of systems of systems was inevitable, emergent behavior is inherent in systems of systems, traditional software and systems engineering methods are inadequate for interoperation of systems of systems, and emergent methods offer a potential for cost-effective and predictable solutions. This report aims to facilitate discussion and reasoning about interoperation within systems of systems by showing some of the interdependencies among systems, emergence, and interoperation. It establishes a sizable but incomplete repertoire of topics, characteristics, and principles that are fundamental to the intersection of systems of systems, emergent behavior, and interoperation.


Writing as the revelations about alleged corruption at the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the dramatic resignation speech of the organisation's president, Sepp Blatter, are still being digested,2 it is all too easy to consider corruption as yet another form of bread and circuses entertainment provided by sport. Individuals – the 'bad guys' and the 'good guys' – are being identified, and in some cases mocked and vilified for alleged abuses of entrusted power for their own private gain (such as Blatter, Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer of, or once of, FIFA),3 or praised and celebrated for doggedly tracking them down (such as English investigative reporter Andrew Jennings).4 Individuals are easier to identify than complex systems, however. This can allow the structure that enables corruption to remain intact. The structure of the system is the 'elephant in the room'; just as the 'criminogenic environment of the financial system'5 was responsible for the economic crash of 2007–8, it is necessary to consider the crisis of international sport as part of a systemic crisis. This article sketches some of the ways in which corruption risks enter into the planning and hosting of sports megaevents. It recognises that the sources, forms and consequences of corruption are 'embedded within political and economic systems. Its precise role and effects will depend on the configurations and dynamics of such systems'.6

The concept of regional corruption binaries create the potential for accusations of overstepping territorial jurisdiction,7 as has happened with respect to the role of the FBI and the US Attorney General in the 2015 crisis at FIFA, which served as the basis for concerns that the action taken was politically motivated against Russia (host of the 2018 World Cup) and Qatar (host of the 2022 World Cup).8 This also raises an important question, though: how else are international sports organisations
(ISOs) such as FIFA or the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to be regulated?


A hybrid enhanced artificial bee colony algorithm (HEABC) is proposed for solving the problem of bus network design. The algorithm is intended to reduce the weighted sum of the number of transfers and the total travel time of the users through restructured bus routes and new frequencies without increased fleet sizes. The HEABC relies mainly on the enhanced artificial bee colony algorithm to determine the route structure, and the frequency is determined by the frequency-setting heuristic during the fitness evaluation. For an illustration of its performance, the HEABC was compared with a hybrid generic algorithm and a variant of the HEABC. The results indicated that the HEABC could produce better solutions than the other two algorithms could. Moreover, the HEABC could produce a design that was better than the existing design for maximum intermediate stops, total travel time, number of transfers, maximum headway, and total fuel cost. The design should be acceptable to the public and to bus operators.


The chapter addresses the question of subjectivity in language, in particular, that aspect of subjectivity which is discussed under the rubric of 'subjective construal' in Cognitive Linguistics. It is argued that faced with a situation to be linguistically encoded, the speaker of any language can operate either with subjective or objective construal but that there is a marked difference among the speakers of different languages in the extent to which they indulge in subjective rather than objective construal. This is illustrated by referring to Japanese, whose speakers tend to prefer subjective construal (which results in subject-object merger), as contrasted with the speakers of English and probably of western languages in general, who apparently prefer objective construal (which results in subject-object contrast).


Some ecologists suggest that trophy hunting (e.g. harvesting males with a desirable trait above a certain size) can lead to rapid phenotypic change, which has led to an ongoing discussion about evolutionary consequences of trophy hunting. Claims of rapid evolution come from the statistical analyses of data, with no examination of whether these results are theoretically plausible. We constructed simple quantitative genetic models to explore how a range of hunting scenarios affects the evolution of a trophy such as horn length. We show that trophy hunting does lead to trophy evolution defined as change in the mean breeding value of the trait. However, the fastest rates of phenotypic change attributable to trophy hunting via evolution that are theoretically possible under standard assumptions of quantitative genetics are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude slower than the fastest rates reported from statistical analyses. Our work suggests a re-evaluation of the likely evolutionary consequences of trophy hunting would be appropriate when setting policy. Our work does not consider the ethical or ecological consequences of trophy hunting.


It is necessary to study the optical properties of thin films to fabricate optoelectronic and interference devices. One of the methods in thin film preparation is the spray pyrolysis technique, which involves many technical aspects for the preparation of uniform coating. In the present study, Nickel Oxide (NiO) thin film is prepared by spray pyrolysis technique. NiO thin film was deposited using 0.5M aqueous solution of nickel chloride onto ultrasonically cleaned glass substrate at Tsub = 350C. The film is more homogeneous and there is no pinhole. The structural and optical properties of the sample were examined by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible and Photoluminescence (PL) spectral analysis. XRD study revealed that the film exhibited (1 1 1) orientation with cubic structure. The thickness of NiO film was 0.16 μm and the calculated grain size was 51 nm. UV – Visible spectral study of the film exhibit high optical transmittance in the visible region and the film possess direct band gap value of 3.5 eV. The reflectance and refractive index are also calculated from the optical measurements. The room temperature excitation PL spectrum of NiO thin film shows a strong dominant peak at 362 nm. These results suggest that this NiO thin film can be used as an antireflection coating in solar cells.


Italy has been particularly exposed to migration flows for more than thirty years. Nevertheless, the development of an asylum seekers' reception system in compliance with the standards set forth by the Reception Conditions Directive (RCD) has been very slow. After a brief overview of Member States obligations under international and EU law on asylum-seekers' reception, the article particularly focuses on the national and European case-law, giving a contribution to the reconstruction of the material reception conditions in Italy (quite critical in some cases). Moreover, it will be highlighted how, according to recent inquiries by national enforcement Authorities and even by the Italian Parliament, the organized crime learned to profit from refugees' reception. As a consequence, hosting asylum-seekers in Italy can be sometimes a business, riddled with corruption and illicit taking of public resources. Yet, under the pressure of the Courts decisions, Italy has undertaken an effort to finally make the reception policies for asylum seekers compliant with the obligations incurred at European and supranational level and recent data show that projects based on the politics of integration by small numbers and in small cities (so called SPRAR) can be fruitful, for both refugees and some local communities. The growing European efforts to contain the migratory flows and a general bias to the tightening of the financial, administrative and procedural aspects linked both to the reception and to the examination of asylum applications put into question the fate of national and international solidarity legal obligations.


Abstract Despite important progress in knowledge about interview 'best practice' with child victims, few studies had yet evaluated the impact of interviewers' personal characteristics on adherence to these 'best practice'. This study was designed to determine whether interviewers' personal characteristics are associated with adherence to a structured interview protocol (National Institute of Child and Human Development), the use of open-ended questions and the amount of details provided in children's responses during investigative interviews with alleged victims of child sexual abuse. 114 interviews were scored from 13 police investigators after they followed a one-week training program. Results showed that experience, emotional intelligence, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness and Neuroticism were related with adherence to the protocol and ratio of open-ended questions. Cognitive abilities were related to the amount of details obtained from the child. Generalized estimating equations were used to compare relative contribution of each variable. These findings raise questions about how investigative interviewers are selected and trained.


Although the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission clearly controls the First Amendment rights of corporations, the effect of Citizens United on corporate criminal liability is less obvious, though equally (if not more) significant. The Court's view that corporations are equal to human beings, at least under the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause, when combined with the traditional understanding that corporations are considered "persons" under the United States Constitution, likely impacts the way that corporations' alleged misdeeds are investigated by the government and the manner in which the government subsequently deals with corporate misconduct, specifically through deferred prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements. In particular, certain provisions that are typically included in deferred and non-prosecution agreements may have to be altered or eliminated from use altogether in the wake of Citizens United. Another result prompted by the decision could be the implementation of judicial oversight over these agreements, which would include the submission of all such agreements to federal courts for approval and the provision of an opportunity for a corporation to be heard if the government made a unilateral claim of breach. Undoubtedly, these changes would greatly alter the landscape of corporate criminal liability in the United States. Part I of the Article provides an introduction to the concept of corporate criminal liability, with Section A describing the courts' approach, Section B providing an overview of the commentators' approach, and Section C detailing the government's approach — including overall corporate charging and sentencing policy. Part II explores the government's use of deferred prosecution agreements and non-prosecution agreements and courts' and commentators' views on such agreements. Part III examines the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. Finally, Part IV enumerates the ways in which Citizens United potentially affects the above-described approaches to corporate criminal liability and outlines resulting changes with respect to the government's treatment of corporate criminality.


We study norm-based uniform convergence bounds for neural networks, aiming at a tight understanding of how these are affected by the architecture and type of norm constraint, for the simple class of scalar-valued one-hidden-layer networks, and inputs bounded in Euclidean norm. We begin by proving that in general, controlling the spectral norm of the hidden layer weight matrix is insufficient to get uniform convergence guarantees (independent of the network width), while a stronger Frobenius norm control is sufficient, extending and improving on previous work. Motivated by the proof constructions, we identify and analyze two important settings where (perhaps surprisingly) a mere spectral norm control turns out to be sufficient: First, when the network's activation functions are sufficiently smooth (with the result extending to deeper networks); and second, for certain types of convolutional networks. In the latter setting, we study how the sample complexity is additionally affected by parameters such as the amount of overlap between patches and the overall number of patches.


Developing unsupervised vision systems in Dynamic Environments is one of the next
challenges in Computer Vision. In Dynamic Environments, we usually lack the complete
domain knowledge of the applied environments before deployment, and computation is
also limited due to the need for prompt reaction and on-board computational capacity. This
thesis studies a series of key Computer Vision problems in Dynamic Environments. First, we propose a stream clustering algorithm and a number of variants for unsupervised feature learning and object discovery, which possess several crucial characteristics
required by applications in Dynamic Environments, e.g. fully progressive, arbitrary similarity measure, matching object while the feature space is increasing, etc. We give strong
provable guarantees of the clustering accuracy in statistic view. Based on the above the approaches, we tackle the problem of discovering aerial objects on-the-fly, where we assume
all of the objects are unknown at the beginning of the deployment. The vision system is
required to discover from the low-level features to salient objects on-the-fly without any
supervision. We propose a number of approaches with respect to object proposal, tracking, recognition, and localization to achieve real-time performance. Extensive experiments
on prevalent aerial video datasets showed that the approaches efficiently and accurately
discover salient ground objects. To explore complex and deep architectures in Dynamic Environments, we propose Unsupervised Deep Encoding which unifies traditional Visual Encoding and Convolutional
Neural Networks. We found strong relationships between single-layer Neural Networks
and Clustering and thus performed unsupervised feature learning at each layer from the feature maps of the previous layer. We replaced the dot product inside each neuron with
a similarity measure, which is also used in unsupervised feature learning. The weight
vectors of our network are initialized by cluster centers. Therefore, one feature map is
a visual encoding of its previous feature map. We applied this mechanism to pre-training
Convolutional Neural Networks for image classification. It has been found by extensive experiments that pre-training benefits the network more reliable learning dynamics (e.g.fast
convergence without Batch Normalization) and better classification accuracy.


Using a two-dimensional ocean thermohaline circulation model, we varied the cavity shape beneath Amery Ice Shelf in an attempt to reproduce the 150-m-thick marine ice layer observed at the "GI" ice core site. Most simulations caused melting rates which decrease the ice thickness by as much as 400 m between grounding line and G1, but produce only minor accumulation at the ice core site and closer to the ice front. Changes in the seafloor and ice topographies revealed a high sensitivity of the basal mass balance to water column thickness near the grounding line, to submarine sills, and to discontinuities in ice thickness. Model results showed temperature/salinity gradients similar to observations from beneath other ice shelves where ice is melting into seawater. Modeled outflow characteristics at the ice front are in general agreement with oceanographic data from Prydz Bay. A freshwater flux across the grounding line, derived from melting beneath the grounded ice sheet, would have to be anomalously large to produce the basal marine ice layer and account for the Ice Shelf Water outflow. We concur with Morgan's inference that the G 1 core may have been taken in a basal crevasse filled with marine ice. This ice is formed from water cooled by ocean/ice shelf interactions along the interior ice shelf base.


We present a little Higgs model where a dark matter parity is implemented such that it is not violated by WZW terms present in strongly coupled UV‐completions. We show how to consistently implement fermions into this setup and determine the low energy spectrum of the model. The lightest parity odd state is stable and a viable dark matter candidate. We briefly discuss experimental constraints on the model.


Genetic algorithms have been widely used in many practical optimization problems. Inspired by natural selection, operators, including mutation, crossover and selection, provide effective heuristics for search and black-box optimization. However, they have not been shown useful for deep reinforcement learning, possibly due to the catastrophic consequence of parameter crossovers of neural networks. Here, we present Genetic Policy Optimization (GPO), a new genetic algorithm for sample-efficient deep policy optimization. GPO uses imitation learning for policy crossover in the state space and applies policy gradient methods for mutation. Our experiments on Mujoco tasks show that GPO as a genetic algorithm is able to provide superior performance over the state-of-the-art policy gradient methods and achieves comparable or higher sample efficiency.


The concept of frailty provides access to key health and social care services. While health care professionals charged with implementing standard assessments generally agree on what constitutes frailty, lay understandings make a crucial distinction between 'being' and 'feeling' frail. The distinction between the imposition of a medical/functional classification (being frail) and the emotions related to impairment, traumatic events, and maintaining a continuous identity (feeling frail) reveal how that which is commonly considered 'frailty' plays out within the everyday experiences lived in, and in relation to, the body and self. Older women's interpretations illustrate some of the conflicts and emotions within experiences of impairment, disability and decline — showing how these are much more personal than we are led to believe by policies and practices focused on objective criteria and standard measurement. Further, they suggest that older women's identities and strategies are at least partly negotiated in relation to the experience of 'feeling' frail, that the identity and self may serve as a protective mechanism from 'becoming' frail, and the existence of a threshold between these two conditions. Understanding and addressing the emotional aspects of what professionals know as 'frailty' may improve the likelihood of appropriate professional responses to older persons.


The essay presents the composer, Lucio San Pedro, as the archetype of the conservatory during the rise of the modernist movement in the Philippines. Based from interviews from former composition students and colleagues as well as archival research, an analysis of his "creative nationalist" philosophy of composition in the Philippines in comparison to the ideals of the modernist movement is discussed using socio-anthropological theories such as Bourdieu's habitus, Collins' social reproduction, as well as Ortner's practice theory. An attempt is made in positioning San Pedro as a composer in a socio-cultural light to see San Pedro's subjectivities and attached cultural meanings as results of social interactions. By looking at San Pedro as a composer in the modernist period, the theoretical framework of Bourdieu, Collins, and Ortner give us an understanding of how San Pedro as a composer and an agent given his context and history, navigated the changing structures of music composition. Keywords: composition, romanticism, modernism, social reproduction, practice theory, habitus


The development of low-cost and structure-controlled precursors has become one of the crucial issues in the improvement of pyrolyzed carbonaceous materials for the oxygen reduction reaction. In this work, a facile and interchangeable cross-linking process has been developed to synthesize polyphthalocyanines with different cross-linking degrees. After the pyrolysis treatment, the cross-linked polyphthalocyanine generated N-doped carbon-encased metal nanoparticle materials. During the pyrolysis treatment, the cross-linked structure of polyphthalocyanine can effectively restrain the aggregation of the metal core and significantly increase the amount of active N species in the pyrolyzed carbon shell. Different from the pyrolyzed pure phthalocyanine, the pyrolyzed cross-linked polyphthalocyanine electrocatalyst shows excellent electroactivity via a 4-electron pathway along with remarkable stability and good methanol tolerance. In addition, the unraveling of the cross-linking degree effect also provides guidance for future design of more efficient non-precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction and other electrochemical applications.


The literature is divided as to how ethnicity affects wartime patterns of violence in civil wars. This article conducts an assessment of the relative impact of two competing explanations for violence in Bosnia's civil war. One account of this conflict attributes violence to the intentions of ethnic groups to create ethnically homogenous territories, thus advocating a macroterritorial explanation where the origin of violence is external to the locations it is perpetrated at. Competing theories, however, describe violence in Bosnia as a result of local ethnic resentment and fear that were activated once the war had started. Results from spatial regression provide evidence for violence "from above" and "from below," showing that there is evidence for both macro- and microeffects of ethnicity on violence. In addition, I estimate a finite mixture model that is able to tell where and under which conditions the respective mechanisms apply best.


Background: The Head and Neck Cancer Working Group of Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) has investigated the level of consensus (LOC) and discrepancy in everyday practice of diagnosis and treatment in head and neck cancer. Materials and Methods: An online survey was iteratively generated with 10 Swiss university and teaching hospitals. LOC below 50% was defined as no agreement, while higher LOC were arbitrarily categorized as low (51–74%), moderate (75–84%), and high (≥85%). Results: Any LOC was achieved in 62% of topics (n = 60). High, moderate, and low LOC were found in 18, 20, and 23%, respectively. Regarding Head and Neck Surgery, Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, and biomarkers, LOC was achieved in 50, 57, 83, and 43%, respectively. Conclusions: Consensus on clinical topics is rather low for surgeons and radiation oncologists. The questions discussed might highlight discrepancies, stimulate standardization of practice, and prioritize topics for future clinical research.


Abstract : Background: although the efficacy of pneumococcal vaccination for the more common serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae has been demonstrated, the 13-valent vaccine (Prevenar 13®) is still offered in different ways in the Italian regional healthcare units, and in the region of campania, some local health authorities administer the vaccine free of charge whilst others practice a co-payment. Methods : we performed a budget impact analysis of the possible free administration of Prevenar 13® vaccine to all newborns in the campania region, by comparing two different delivery settings, one having an active vaccination program and another in which such program was absent. during the operation of the vaccination program, the number of expected cases with 50, 80 and 100% vaccine coverage in the popula- tion was considered. the economic advantage resulting from pneumococcal diseases deemed avoidable thanks to the vaccination was compared with the costs of the vaccination program. the analysis considered the direct costs in the 2 years after implementation of the vaccination program. costs were expressed in € euros 2010. Results : although we did not consider the benefits achievable in the 10 years following the vaccina- tion, nor the herd effects, we showed that offering anti-pneumococcal vaccination to all newborns could give economic advantages to the region, estimated as close to 1 million euros. Conclusion : the use of Prevenar 13® can be considered a greatly advantageous public health strategy....


The inherent complexity of the environment is such that attempts to model it must operate under simplifications and assumptions. Considering predictions from alternative models, with a range of assumptions and data requirements, therefore provides a more robust approach. The intractability and uncertainty resulting from a suite of predictions may hinder the application of science in policy, where a single prediction with little ambiguity or uncertainty would be most desirable. Few studies modelling species' distributions attempt to present multi-model outputs in a format most useful to the non-modelling community, and none of these have done so for the marine environment. The problem of uncertainty is particularly prevalent in predicting the distribution of invasive alien species under climate change. As invasive alien species are one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and may incur significant economic costs, the benefit of applying predictions to highlight areas of possible establishment and inform policy and management may be large. An ensemble prediction is used to assess the distribution of suitable habitat for the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, in UK waters both currently and in the future. The ensemble incorporates predictions from three species distribution models, using data from two global climate models. A method is developed highlighting the agreement of the ensemble, further applying threshold values to retain information from constituent predictions in the final map of agreement. Ensemble predictions made here suggest that Pacific oyster will experience an opening of suitable habitat in northern UK waters, reaching the Faroe Islands and the eastern Norwegian Sea by 2050. Habitat suitability will increase with warming temperatures in the English Channel and Central North Sea for this species. The approaches applied here can be incorporated into risk assessment frameworks for invasive species, as stipulated in the Convention on Biological Diversity.


Terrestrial and oceanic biomass carbon sinks help reduce anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and mitigate the long-term effect of increasing atmospheric CO 2. Woody plants have large carbon pools because of their long residence time, however N availability can negatively impact tree responses to elevated CO 2. Seasonal cycling of internal N in trees is a component that contributes to fitness especially in N limited environments. It involves resorption from senescing leaves of deciduous trees and storage as vegetative storage proteins (VSP) in perennial organs. Populus is a model organism for tree biology that efficiently recycles N. Bark storage proteins (BSP) are the most abundant VSP that serves as seasonal N reserves. Here I show how poplar growth is influenced by N availability and how growth is influenced by shoot competition for stored N reserves. I also provide data that indicates that auxin mediates BSP catabolism during renewed shoot growth. Understanding the ii components of N accumulation, remobilization and utilization can provide insights leading to increasing N use efficiency (NUE) of perennial plants. Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who by His grace and mercy took me through this Plant Science program. I give Him all the praise and glory iii Acknowledgements


Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) have promising properties that make them potentially useful in a wide variety of applications. The decoration of MWCNTs by metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles aims to intensify some of their properties, in particular thermal and electrical conductivity. Fluidized Bed Chemical Vapour Deposition (FBCVD) is an efficient process to uniformly coat powders by various materials. The coating by SnO2, Fe and Si nanoparticles of MWCNTs (Graphistrength®) tangled in balls of 360 microns in mean diameter using the FBCVD process has been studied. The influence of some deposition parameters with and without oxidative pre-treatment is analysed on the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles. The various results obtained indicate that the intrinsic surface reactivity of MWCNTs is high enough for CVD precursors involving the formation of highly reactive unsaturated species such as silylene SiH2 formed from silane SiH4 pyrolysis in the case of Si deposition. But it must be enhanced for less reactive CVD precursors such as tin tetrachloride SnCl4 which needs the presence of oxygen-containing groups at the nanotube surface to allow Sn nucleation. So, provided the reactivity of the powder surface and that of the CVD precursors are well tuned, the FBCVD process can uniformly coat the outer surface of MWCNTs by metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles.


You don't have to know everything about a car to drive one, and you don't need to know everything about Ruby to start programming with it. Written for both experienced and new programmers alike, Learning Ruby is a just-get-in-and-drive book -- a hands-on tutorial that offers lots of Ruby programs and lets you know how and why they work, just enough to get you rolling down the road. Interest in Ruby stems from the popularity of Rails, the web development framework that's attracting new devotees and refugees from Java and PHP. But there are plenty of other uses for this versatile language. The best way to learn is to just try the code! You'll find examples on nearly every page of this book that you can imitate and hack. Briefly, this book: Outlines many of the most important features of RubyDemonstrates how to use conditionals, and how to manipulate strings in Ruby. Includes a section on regular expressionsDescribes how to use operators, basic math, functions from the Math module, rational numbers, etc.Talks you through Ruby arrays, and demonstrates hashes in detailExplains how to process files with RubyDiscusses Ruby classes and modules (mixins) in detail, including a brief introduction to object-oriented programming (OOP)Introduces processing XML, the Tk toolkit, RubyGems, reflection, RDoc, embedded Ruby, metaprogramming, exception handling, and other topicsAcquaints you with some of the essentials of Rails, and includes a short Rails tutorial. Each chapter concludes with a set of review questions, and appendices provide you with a glossary of terms related to Ruby programming, plus reference material from the book in one convenient location. If you want to take Ruby out for a drive, Learning Ruby holds the keys.


Dynamical jets are generally found on light bridges (LBs), which are key to studying sunspot decay. So far, their formation mechanism is not fully understood. In this paper, we used state-of-the-art observations from the Goode Solar Telescope, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, the Spectro-polarimeter on board Hinode, and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory to analyze the fan-shaped jets on LBs in detail. A continuous upward motion of the jets in the ascending phase is found from the Hα velocity that lasts for 12 minutes and is associated with the Hα line wing enhancements. Two mini jets appear on the bright fronts of the fan-shaped jets visible in the AIA 171 and 193 Å channels, with a time interval as short as 1 minute. Two kinds of small-scale convective motions are identified in the photospheric images, along with the Hα line wing enhancements. One seems to be associated with the formation of a new convection cell, and the other manifests as the motion of a dark lane passing through the convection cell. The finding of three-lobe Stokes V profiles and their inversion with the NICOLE code indicate that there are magnetic field lines with opposite polarities in LBs. From the Hα −0.8 Å images, we found ribbon-like brightenings propagating along the LBs, possibly indicating slipping reconnection. Our observation supports the idea that the fan-shaped jets under study are caused by magnetic reconnection, and photospheric convective motions play an important role in triggering the magnetic reconnection.


Born near Einsiedeln in 1493, Philip Theophrastus von Hohenheim, who later called himself Paracelsus, was the son of a physician. His thirst for knowledge led him to study arts in Vienna, then medicine in Italy, but the instruction left him disillusioned. He had learned to see nature with his own eyes, undiluted by the teachings of books. He was a rebellious spirit, hard-headed and stubborn, who travelled all over Europe and the British Isles to practice medicine, study local diseases, and learn from any source he could, humble as it might be. In these years of wanderings, Paracelsus developed his own system of medicine and a philosophy of theology all his own. Though he wrote a great many books that covered a wide range of subjects, only a few of his works were ever published in his lifetime. When he died in Salzburg in 1541, one of the most forceful personalities of the Renaissance died with him. Here are collected four treatises which illustrate four different aspects of Paracelsus' work. The first gives a passionate justification of his character, activities, and views, and gives a picture of the man and his basic ideas. The second treatise is a study of the diseases of miners, with whom Paracelsus had spent a great deal of time. Then follows a treatise on the psychology and psychiatry of Paracelsus. Written at a time when mental diseases were beginning to be studied and treated by physicians, this pioneering essay anticipates a number of modern views. The last essay, entitled "A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits," is a fanciful and poetic treatment of paganism and Greek mythology, as well as a good sample of Paracelsus' philosophy and theology. Together these essays show one of the most original minds of the Renaissance at the height of his powers.


In this paper we use the idea, developed by a large socio-psychological literature, asserting that happiness depends on the relationship of actual income to a reference or comparison level, to model tax evasion decisions. In the theoretical section we apply Cumulative Prospect Theory, as a notable example of reference dependent preferences, to a standard tax evasion set-up. We show that a taxpayer's behaviour may change depending on whether the disposable income he would obtain if he paid all his tax liability is higher or lower than the reference income. If it is higher, we show that the taxpayer behaves as in the standard expected utility model and, among other things, evades less as the tax rate increases; if, on the other hand, it is lower, the taxpayer's decision is mainly motivated by the desire to obtain a disposable income at least equal to the reference income (if he is not caught) and he responds to increases in the marginal tax rate by evading more. We carry out a first empirical validation of the model using a data set of individual observations collected from the auditing activity of the Italian tax authorities and find support for the reference dependence specification.


Abstract Early amniotomy is one of the main interventions to enhance the labor progress and prevent dystocia in pregnant women. However, the efficacy of amniotomy has not been approved via labor-related indices and outcomes and has remained a subject for debate and future research. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of early amniotomy on labor indices and outcomes in nulliparous women. This randomized clinical trial was performed on 151 singleton pregnant women who were referred to Besat Hospital in Sanandaj, Iran, from March 2016 to March 2018. Participants were randomly divided into an early amniotomy (EA) group and a control group. Duration of the first and second phases of labor, corioamionit, dystocia rate, Apgar score at the first and fifth minutes, prolonged labor and post-partum haemorrhage were evaluated and compared between the two groups. Data were recorded in a checklist and analysed using SPSS Version 23. The p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results showed that labor indices such as duration of the first and second phases, Apgar score one and five minutes after delivery and frequency of prolonged labor, foetal distress and postpartum haemorrhage were significantly improved in patients of the early amniotomy group, compared with the control group (p≤0.05). Early amniotomy significantly decreased the total labor duration without significant increase in the rate of maternal and neonatal complications.


In this paper we extend our previous studies (Didenko et al., 2012; FA¶ldvAiri et al., 2012; Van Leeuwen et al., 2011) on the role of conventional factors of production (fixed, or physical, and human forms of capital) and their productivity depending on their interrelations and economic development policies. Methodologically based on Solow (1956, 1957) and Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992) we apply our theoretical models on the factors of economic growth to compare China with the republics of the former Soviet Union and, to this end, create a new database for both regions. Following Krugman (1994), we decompose economic growth in perspiration (i.e. production factors) and inspiration (i.e. TFP, which consists in turn of technical efficiency of the production factors and a general production frontier) factors and find that in the socialist central-planning period economic growth was largely driven by physical and, to lesser extent, human capital accumulation. Moreover, at these times conventional TFP change was strongly negative (1930s for the FSU, 1950s for China). This means that focusing mainly on physical capital increases the factors of production (hence increasing growth via perspiration) but reduces the technical efficiency of the factors of production strongly (hence lowers the growth via TFP, i.e. inspiration). After the economic transitions were launched (end 1970s in China and end 1980s in the FSU) the inspiration/perspiration pattern changed. China managed to keep technical inefficiency relatively moderate, largely by massively increasing its human capital (which made it easier to make use of physical capital). At the same time, they managed to increase their productivity frontier. In the FSU, however, the change in the human to physical capital ratio was primarily caused not by an increase of human-, but rather by a decrease of physical capital. This means that, even though technical efficiency relatively increased, the general productivity frontier remained stable or declined. This changed in the late 1990s and the start of the 21th century when the FSU started to recover somewhat, only to reach the 1990 level.


The purpose of this study is to compare the bibliometric characteristics between funded and non-funded publications in the field of tribology. The Science Citation Index – Expanded (SCI-E) is used to retrieve the bibliographic records related to the tribology research. Bibliometric indicators such as number of publications, number of citations, funded ratio, and average number of authors, author keywords, and references are employed. A new relative indicator called Relative Funding Index is introduced in this study. The results of this study show that more than 55% of tribology research publications were funded and number of funded publications has increased dramatically. Funded research publications have higher number of cited references and international collaborative papers than non-funded ones. However, the share of single authored publications is lower than non-funded ones. There is no difference in citation impact between funded and non-funded research.


In France, Belgium, and other Francophone countries, comic strips---called bande dessinee or "BD" in French---have long been considered a major art form capable of addressing a host of contemporary issues. Among French-speaking intelligentsia, graphic narratives were deemed worthy of canonization and critical study decades before the academy and the press in the United States embraced comics. The place that BD holds today, however, belies the contentious political route the art form has traveled. In Drawing France: French Comics and the Republic, author Joel E. Vessels examines the trek of BD from it being considered a fomenter of rebellion, to a medium suitable only for semi-literates, to an impediment to education, and most recently to an art capable of addressing social concerns in mainstream culture. In the mid-1800s, alarmists feared political caricatures might incite the ire of an illiterate working class. To counter this notion,proponents yoked the art to a particular articulation of "Frenchness" based on literacy and reason. With the post-World War II economic upswing, French consumers saw BD as a way to navigate the changes brought by modernization. After bande dessinee came to be understood as a compass for the masses, the government, especially Francois Mitterand's administration, brought comics increasingly into "official" culture. Vessels argues that BD are central to the formation of France's self-image and a self-awareness of what it means to be French.


Nongenomic effects of estrogen have been reported and are likely initiated by estrogen receptors (ERs) located on the plasma membrane. One such effect is the activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) mediated by plasma membrane-localized ERα. Wyckoff et al. implicate the Gαi protein in mediating the signal from ERα to eNOS in immortalized endothelial cells and in transfected COS-7 cells. Estrogen-stimulated eNOS activity was inhibited by pertussis toxin and guanosine 5′-O-(2-thiodiphosphate). Estrogen stimulated the physical interaction of Gαi and ERα , which was detected by coimmunoprecipitation and was inhibited by antagonists of the ERα or pertussis toxin. The role of Gαi was substantiated by two additional experiments: (i) Gαi was overexpressed and an enhanced estrogen-stimulated eNOS activation was observed, and (ii) overexpression of the negative regulator of G-protein signaling RGS4 inhibited estrogen-stimulated eNOS activation. M. H. Wyckoff, K. L. Chambliss, C. Mineo, I. S. Yuhanna, M. E. Mendelsohn, S. M. Mumby, P. W. Shaul, Plasma membrane estrogen receptors are coupled to endothelial nitric-oxide synthase through Gαi. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 27071-27027 (2001). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This paper presents the findings of a study exploring the views of charitable beneficiaries on literature that is designed to appeal to donors. Ethical questions raised by using images of beneficiaries in fundraising materials have been a matter of debate for some time, but such debates normally only include the opinions of 'powerful' voices such as charity leaders, moral philosophers and media commentators. This research extends the parameters of the debate by canvassing the opinions of those depicted, to ask: what do users think of the images of themselves found in fundraising appeals?

The study is based on five focus groups attended by a total of 38 young people living in, or attending services at, homeless hostels in four English cities. Focus group participants were asked their opinion of an array of images
of homelessness that had recently been used in fundraising campaigns run by major charities working in this field.
The findings demonstrate that this group of beneficiaries are visually literate, familiar with how marketing works and largely supportive of methods that maximize income. They understood why charity marketing often makes use of contrived and simplified images to depict homelessness, and showed appreciation for the skills of fundraisers in balancing the accurate depiction of social problems with the need to generate enough donations to – literally, in most cases – provide a roof over their heads.

However, participants also expressed a desire for fundraising imagery to 'tell stories' about how people find themselves in need of charitable assistance and how they can turn their lives around, so that potential donors can appreciate how others come to be in need of help. This preference for dynamic imagery andstorytelling was contrasted with 'sympathy snapshots': fundraising materials that simply show an image of beneficiaries at their lowest ebb. Our study participants preferred the use of images that elicit empathy in potential donors, rather than
those that only attempt to arouse sympathy, as they hope people will decide to make a generous response as a result of a recognition of common humanity rather than through emotions such as guilt or pity.

The paper concludes by noting that the images used in fundraising materials play a key role both in defining social issues and in attracting a public response to those issues. Therefore the representations of need that are promoted by charities matter to beneficiaries, and it is important to include their voice in debates about the content of fundraising appeals.


The study was based on the research completed by the authors. The research for the study was based on the use of a relatively broad selection of cartographic materials as well as scientific literature. The characteristics of 17 kinds of natural landscapes and 31 variations of landscape of the Chełmno-Dobrzyń Lakeland, Ursziilewo Plain and the neighbouring Vistida and Drwęca Valleys were described. The origins of the terrains provided the main criteria used for identifying the kinds of landscapes. A relationship to the appropriate sort of natural landscapes (glacial, glacioaquatic, aeolian, depression, river and channel valley), and the morphology and hypsometry of the land reliefs (flat plains, undulated plains, hills, ridges, high slopes) determined the terrain origin. When identifying the different variations of natural landscape, the following were of major importance: the land relief (defined as the kinds of landscape), and lithology of the surface deposits, and land use (forests, arable land, meadows and pastures). Urban areas and large excavations were described separately. Similar distinctions of kinds and variations of landscape used by other authors, are noted elsewhere.


Based on two decades of participant-observation field research in diverse online environments, this engaging book offers insights for improving lifestyles and enhancing wellbeing in the digital age. John R. Suler, a founder of the field of cyberpsychology, explains its fundamental principles across a wide variety of topics, including online identity management, disinhibition, communication via text and photographs, intimacy and misunderstandings in online relationships, conflicting attitudes toward social media, addiction, deviant behavior, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and media overload. He provides a new framework, the 'Eight Dimensions of Cyberpsychology Architecture', which researchers, students, and general readers interested in cyberpsychology can apply as a valuable tool for creating and understanding different digital realms. Psychology of the Digital Age focuses on the individual, shedding new light on our conscious as well as subconscious reactions to online experiences and our intrinsic human need to self-actualize.


: Recent approaches to innovation and development have slowly started shifting their emphasis from economic growth to social equality and justice. These two concepts were prominent in the 1970s, but were sidelined during the neo-liberal era and are currently being rediscovered. Thus, innovation and development researchers now agree that 'making new things in new ways' has positive and negative impact on equality and socio-economic and political relations within and between countries. They recognise that innovation and technical change are significant from the point of view of distributive justice. However, despite their recognition, none of them adequately defines these concepts or provides a set of principles which ought to guide socially equitable or just innovation and development. This paper explains why innovation and development studies need to move towards the normative terrain in search of a plausible theory of distributive justice. Unless such a theory can be found and defended against other competing theories, the recent shift from economic growth to equality and social justice will be temporary and without any substantial impact on global policies for poverty reduction.


Finding neural network weights that generalize well from small datasets is difficult. A promising approach is to learn a weight initialization such that a small number of weight changes results in low generalization error. We show that this form of meta-learning can be improved by letting the learning algorithm decide which weights to change, i.e., by learning where to learn. We find that patterned sparsity emerges from this process, with the pattern of sparsity varying on a problem-by-problem basis. This selective sparsity results in better generalization and less interference in a range of few-shot and continual learning problems. Moreover, we find that sparse learning also emerges in a more expressive model where learning rates are meta-learned. Our results shed light on an ongoing debate on whether meta-learning can discover adaptable features and suggest that learning by sparse gradient descent is a powerful inductive bias for meta-learning systems.


Case-Based Learning (CBL) is a popular and successful teaching method used for a long time in disciplines such as medicine, business, law, and computer science. In the past decade, there has been a trend to introduce CBL into library instructions as an active teaching approach in the field of library and information science. Although a few studies have been conducted to investigate the advantages of this teaching technique in the library and information science literature, there remains a substantial absence of first-hand instructional experiences and observations from academic librarians who are actively teaching information literacy. This article presents a personal account of the concept, design, implementation, and assessment of CBL in an information literacy classroom. It discusses the advantages and limitations of CBL, offers suggestions for the future, and points out potential concerns related to the evaluation of workload, librarians' responsibilities, and the workplace culture. Based on experiences and assessments of CBL classes, the article outlines foreseeable challenges for teaching librarians planning to implement CBL program in information literacy education.


Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is an attractive approach to generate hydrogen as a clean chemical fuel from solar energy. But there remain many fundamental issues to be solved, including inadequate photon absorption, short carrier diffusion length, surface recombination, vulnerability to photo-corrosion, and unfavorable reaction kinetics. Owing to its self-limiting surface reaction mechanism, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is capable of depositing thin films in a highly controllable manner, which makes it an enabling technique to overcome some of the key challenges confronted by PEC water splitting. This tutorial review describes some unique and representative applications of ALD in fabricating high performance PEC electrodes with various nanostructures, including (i) coating conformal thin films on three-dimensional scaffolds to facilitate the separation and migration of photocarriers and enhance light trapping, as well as realizing controllable doping for bandgap engineering and forming homojunctions for carrier separation; (ii) achieving surface modification through deposition of anti-corrosion layers, surface state passivation layers, and surface catalytic layers; and (iii) identifying the main rate limiting steps with model electrodes with highly defined thickness, composition, and interfacial structure.


This work describes a method for real-time motion detection using an active camera mounted on a pan/tilt platform. Image mapping is used to align images of different viewpoints so that static camera motion detection can be applied. In the presence of camera position noise, the image mapping is inexact and compensation techniques fail. The use of morphological filtering of motion images is explored to desensitize the detection of algorithm in inaccuracies in background compensation. Two motion detection techniques are examined, and experiments to verify the methods are presented. The system successfully extracts moving edges from dynamic images, even when the pan/tilt angles between successive frames are as large as 3/spl deg/.


National infrastructure systems spanning energy, transport, digital, waste, and water are well recognised as complex and interdependent. While some policy makers have been keen to adopt the narrative of complexity, the application of complexity-based methods in public policy decision-making has been restricted by the lack of innovation in associated methodologies and tools. In this paper we firstly evaluate the application of complex adaptive systems theory to infrastructure systems, comparing and contrasting this approach with traditional systems theory. We secondly identify five key theoretical properties of complex adaptive systems including adaptive agents, diverse agents, dynamics, irreversibility, and emergence, which are exhibited across three hierarchical levels ranging from agents, to networks, to systems. With these properties in mind, we then present a case study on the development of a system-of-systems modelling approach based on complex adaptive systems theory capable of modelling an emergent national infrastructure system, driven by agent-level decisions with explicitly modelled interdependencies between energy, transport, digital, waste, and water. Indeed, the novel contribution of the paper is the articulation of the case study describing a decade of research which applies complex adaptive systems properties to the development of a national infrastructure system-of-systems model. This approach has been used by the UK National Infrastructure Commission to produce a National Infrastructure Assessment which is capable of coordinating infrastructure policy across a historically fragmented governance landscape spanning eight government departments. The application will continue to be pertinent moving forward due to the continuing complexity of interdependent infrastructure systems, particularly the challenges of increased electrification and the proliferation of the Internet of Things.


The neurovascular unit (NVU), consisting of endothelial cells, basement membrane, pericytes, astrocytes and microglial cells, couples local neuronal function to local cerebral blood flow and regulates transport of blood-borne molecules across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The building blocks and the phenotype of the NVU are well-established but the intercellular signaling between the different components remains elusive. A better understanding of the cellular interactions and signaling within the NVU is critical for the development of efficient therapeutics for the treatment of a variety of brain diseases, such as brain cancer, stroke, neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. This review gives an overview about the current in vivo knowledge of the NVU and the communication between its different cellular constituents. We also discuss the usefulness of various model organisms for studies of the brain vasculature.


Technology grows up, day to day to facilitate human beings' lifestyle, in order to protect them and their properties. Cloud computing is a platform that one hardware is shared by different clients in the virtual ways and works as standalone physical hardware, is accessed everywhere at any time through the internet. Security is an essential and a vital point to all customers is belonged in the same physical component. This survey paper discusses about cloud computing challenges, types of attacks, and currently solutions in the details. Furthermore, cloud security of models as application, network, and deployment and also services. Cloud security based on a distributed ledger helps the clients to operate within transparency manners and is decentralized to enhance cloud computing information security principals, cloud security requirements, cloud security control, and security design of cloud computing.


IMPORTANCE
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects more than 185 million individuals worldwide. Twenty percent of patients chronically infected with HCV progress to cirrhosis. New, simpler therapeutics using direct-acting antivirals that target various stages of the HCV life cycle are in development to eradicate HCV without concomitant interferon.

OBJECTIVES
To summarize published evidence on safety, efficacy (measured by a sustained virologic response [SVR], which is the treatment goal of undetectable plasma HCV RNA 12 or 24 weeks after therapy completion), and tolerability of current US Food and Drug Administration-approved interferon-based regimens and oral interferon-free regimens used for treating HCV infection and coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and HCV; to provide treatment recommendations for specialists and generalists based on published evidence.

EVIDENCE REVIEW
A literature search of Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Agricola, Cochrane Library, Cinahl Plus, ClinicalTrials.gov, Conference Papers Index, Gideon, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and Oaister was conducted from January 1, 2009, to May 30, 2014. Publications describing phase 2, 3, and 4 studies evaluating the treatment of HCV were included. Forty-one studies involving 19,063 adult patients were included. Strength of clinical data and subsequent HCV treatment recommendations were graded according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine.

FINDINGS
Patients infected with HCV genotype 1 represent 60% to 75% of HCV infections in the United States. Hepatitis C virus genotype 1 is more difficult to cure than genotype 2 or genotype 3. Patients with HCV genotype 1 should receive treatment with sofosbuvir + pegylated interferon + ribavirin because of the shorter duration of therapy and high rates of SVR (89%-90%). Simeprevir + pegylated interferon + ribavirin is an alternative for patients with HCV genotype 1 (SVR, 79%-86%). Patients with HCV genotypes 2 and 3, representing 20% to 29% of US HCV infections, should receive therapy with sofosbuvir + ribavirin alone (SVR for genotype 2, 12 weeks' duration: 82%-93%; SVR for genotype 3, 24 weeks' duration, 80%-95%). Patients with HIV-HCV coinfection and patients with compensated cirrhosis (ie, cirrhosis but preserved synthetic liver function) should receive the same treatment as HCV-monoinfected patients.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
New, short-duration, simpler therapies result in high SVR rates for HCV-infected patients. In conjunction with increased screening for HCV as suggested by recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, availability of new therapies may lead to the treatment of many more people with chronic HCV infection.


Chapters cdx–cdxiii of Martorell's Tirant lo Blanc narrate knight Espercius' fantastic adventures after the shipwreck on the shores of Lango. Unlike the rest of the novel, which is characterized by the verisimilitude, this episode shows many typical topoi of fantasy fiction, particularly referring to Espercius' ultimate trial: the Fier baiser. Martorell draws from several sources – starting with Sir John Mandeville's Le livre des merveilles du monde – developing and adapting the legend of Hipocras' daughter, turned into a dreadful dragon, to his purposes. By kissing the monstrous Dragon Maiden and breaking the spell Espercius completes his initiation thus fulfilling his destiny: he obtains the princess' hand and the sovereignty of the island. This episode represents a small break from the predominant realism of the novel, since in these chapters magic and fantasy take over the reality.


Background Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), a highly migratory filter feeding species, aggregate in the coastal regions of the southern Bay of La Paz, Mexico every year. A growing eco-tourism industry is capitalising on the aggregations, yet very little is known about the drivers of seasonality. This investigation sought to determine the patterns of whale shark seasonality and identify the influence of oceanographic and atmospheric variables on the aggregations. Approach A 12-year (2003–2015) whale shark abundance data series, collected by the Whale Shark Mexico NGO, was analysed using generalised linear mixed effects models and generalised additive mixed models to investigate the influence of oceanographic and atmospheric variables on aggregation abundance. Sea surface temperature, wind, chlorophyll, and Oceanic Nino Index were used to investigate changes in monthly seasonality. In addition to these variables, moon illumination and tidal state were used to investigate fluctuation within seasons from 2012–2014. Results Aggregations of juvenile whale sharks are restricted to the southern-most region of the Bay of La Paz and occur in highest abundance between November and January. Sea surface temperature anomaly in the Bay of La Paz showed a positive effect on whale shark abundance. Oceanic Nino Index, conversely, showed a negative effect, potentially due to the disruption of the wind-driven upwelling corridor along the east coast of the Gulf of California. A thermal preference of ~24°C was seen to significantly increase daily whale shark sightings. Aggregations are thought to be associated with foraging on zooplankton blooms in the bay which may be detected by olfactory cues. Conclusions Effects of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events have been associated with a number of changes in species distribution and abundance in the Gulf of California, and whale sharks appear to be no exception. Analysis of Gulf of California-wide oceanographic trends, matched with whale shark satellite tracking programmes, would help further improve the understanding of the drivers and timings of aggregations in the Bay of La Paz.


This article shows that the standard accounts of the life of Chief Justice Hodges in England before he arrived in the Cape in 1858 are inaccurate and unsatisfactory. It sets out the correct story, including an interesting but forgotten incident in Cornwall in 1839; it descriptionbes circuit life in mid-nineteenth century England, including the little known institution of the revising barrister; and it illustrates the difficulties and dangers of basing biographies on obituaries, particularly when the information in the obituary has been supplied at an earlier stage by the deceased himself, so that he has in effect written his own obituary.


Several studies have tried to determine the relationship between autoantibodies against the acetylcholine receptor and the development of pemphigus vulgaris. In this study, we observed that antibody levels against the acetylcholine receptor are mildly elevated in pemphigus vulgaris (PV), and significantly correlate with disease severity on the initial diagnosis and during follow up. However, it is not clear if these antibodies are just an epiphenomenon or a potential trigger of the known pathogenic process in PV.


Extracted from text ... SA Fam Pract 2004;46(7) 10
Hypertension is the most important
modifiable risk factor for stroke. General
practitioners play a pivotal role in stroke
risk reduction by screening patients for
hypertension, accurately diagnosing
hypertension and monitoring the blood
pressure lowering response of antihypertensive
drugs.
Most hypertensive patients will need
more than one drug (combination therapy)
and the general practitioner is instrumental
in updating the script to ensure effective
anti-hypertensive therapy to reach goal
blood pressure.
This health advertorial emphasises
the importance of blood pressure control
in stroke risk reduction.
Death from both ischaemic heart disease
and stroke increases progressively and
linearly ..


We present the results of a novel early childhood intervention in which disadvantaged 3-4-year- old children were randomized to receive a new preschool and parent education program focused on cognitive and non-cognitive skills (CogX) or to a control group that did not receive preschool education. In addition to a typical academic year (9 month) program, we also evaluated a shortened summer version of the program (2 months) in which children were treated immediately prior to the start of Kindergarten. Both programs, including the shortened version, significantly improved cognitive test scores by about one quarter of a standard deviation relative to the control group at the end of the year. The shortened version of the program was equally as effective as the academic- year program because most of the gains in the academic-year program occurred within the first few months.


Coding strategies that exploit node cooperation are developed for relay networks. Two basic schemes are studied: the relays decode-and-forward the source message to the destination, or they compress-and-forward their channel outputs to the destination. The decode-and-forward scheme is a variant of multihopping, but in addition to having the relays successively decode the message, the transmitters cooperate and each receiver uses several or all of its past channel output blocks to decode. For the compress-and-forward scheme, the relays take advantage of the statistical dependence between their channel outputs and the destination's channel output. The strategies are applied to wireless channels, and it is shown that decode-and-forward achieves the ergodic capacity with phase fading if phase information is available only locally, and if the relays are near the source node. The ergodic capacity coincides with the rate of a distributed antenna array with full cooperation even though the transmitting antennas are not colocated. The capacity results generalize broadly, including to multiantenna transmission with Rayleigh fading, single-bounce fading, certain quasi-static fading problems, cases where partial channel knowledge is available at the transmitters, and cases where local user cooperation is permitted. The results further extend to multisource and multidestination networks such as multiaccess and broadcast relay channels.


The biorelated degradability and clearance of siliceous nanomaterials have been questioned worldwide, since they are crucial prerequisites for the successful translation in clinics. Typically, the degradability and biocompatibility of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) have been an ongoing discussion in research circles. The reason for such a concern is that approved pharmaceutical products must not accumulate in the human body, to prevent severe and unpredictable side‐effects. Here, the biorelated degradability and clearance of silicon and silica nanoparticles (NPs) are comprehensively summarized. The influence of the size, morphology, surface area, pore size, and surface functional groups, to name a few, on the degradability of silicon and silica NPs is described. The noncovalent organic doping of silica and the covalent incorporation of either hydrolytically stable or redox‐ and enzymatically cleavable silsesquioxanes is then described for organosilica, bridged silsesquioxane (BS), and periodic mesoporous organosilica (PMO) NPs. Inorganically doped silica particles such as calcium‐, iron‐, manganese‐, and zirconium‐doped NPs, also have radically different hydrolytic stabilities. To conclude, the degradability and clearance timelines of various siliceous nanomaterials are compared and it is highlighted that researchers can select a specific nanomaterial in this large family according to the targeted applications and the required clearance kinetics.


We describe an adaptation of the billiard algorithm for finding dense packings of equal spheres inside a domain of the euclidean space. In order to improve the convergence of this stochastic algorithm, we introduce systematic perturbations in it. We apply this perturbed billiard algorithm in the case of $n$ spheres in a cube and display all the optimal and best known packings up to $n=32$. We improve the previous record packings for all $11\leq n\leq 26$ except $n=13,14,18$. We prove the existence of the displayed packings for $n=11,12,15,17,20,21,22,26,32$, by constructing them explicitly. For example, the graph of the conjectured optimal packing of twenty-two spheres is composed of five octahedrons and four isolated points. We also conjecture that the minimum distance $d_n$ between spheres centers of the optimal packings is constant in the range $29\leq n \leq 32$.


Acknowledging the importance of speaking, of witnessing, of claiming an independent voice and vision, Simin Behbahani is now at the height of her powers and popularity. For well over half a century, Behbahani has been the voice of freedom and moderation rising against repression and discrimination in Iran. Although she has avoided involvement in party politics, from the beginning of her career this pioneering poet has condemned any form of violence. Concern for social justice has been the strongest drive in her poetry. Consistently, her allegiance has been to democracy, her perspective egalitarian, her worldview tolerant.

This article studies eight of the most salient features of Behbahani's poetry. As a literary giant who has produced 16 volumes of poetry, a memoir of her late husband, two collections of short stories and literary criticism, and a book of translation, and as an advocate of individual rights regardless of gender, class, religion, or ethnicity, Behbahani has also managed to transform a conventional and mainly masculine poetic form—the Ghazal. She is a master innovator of devices and techniques, blending the old and the new. The discourses of modernity and tradition do not compete in her work. They complement one another. They restructure and reconstruct each other. Behbahani integrates an exclusively classical tradition with a distinctly modern vision. Small wonder then if her elegant poetry has attracted the attention and admiration of an ever-growing number of readers inside and outside of Iran.


A building is subjected to progressive collapse when a primary vertical structural element fails, resulting in the failure of adjoining structural elements, which cause further structural failure, leading eventually to partial or total collapse of the structure. The failure of a primary vertical support might occur because of extreme loadings such as a bomb explosion in a terrorist attack, a car colliding with supports in a parking garage, an accidental explosion of explosive materials, or a severe earthquake. Different design codes address the progressive collapse of structures attributable to the sudden loss of a main vertical support such as the General Services Administration (GSA) code and the Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC). The alternative path method (APM) is the main analysis method for evaluating the hazard of progressive collapse in the two codes. The APM requires that the structure be capable of bridging over a missing structural element, with the resulting extent of damage being localized. In the current study, a progressive collapse assessment according to the GSA code is carried out for a typical ten-story RC-framed structure. The structure is designed according to the building code requirements for structural concrete. Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis for the structure is carried out using the applied-element method (AEM). According to the GSA code, a primary vertical structural element is removed, and the collapse area is investigated. The investigated cases include the removal of a corner column, an edge column, an edge shear wall, internal columns, an internal shear wall, and a corner shear wall. The numerical analysis showed that, for an economic design, the analysis should consider slabs and cannot be simplified into a two- or three-dimensional frame analysis. Neglecting the slabs in the progressive collapse analysis is a very conservative approach that may lead to uneconomic design. The RC structures designed according to American Concrete Institute guidelines met the GSA limits and were found to have a low potential for progressive collapse.