Tertiary institutions exist to train manpower to solve local, national, and international problems. Products from such institutions should not be a problem to countries as in the case of some Sub-Saharan African countries including Ghana which has a high level of graduate unemployment. Among the causes of the problem is the nature of teaching or the syllabus or the programs students pursue while in such institutions. The paper discusses one of the teaching strategies used to make a course relevant for a program and for the working world. In this course, students are introduced to practice-oriented learning through simulation exercises. The project activities specifically seek to assess the students' understanding of business formation; examine students' understanding of sustainability, creativity and innovation of business ideas; assess their understanding of the functional areas of business including marketing & sales, finance, human resource management, operations, and accounting, among others. Feedback from students who have participated indicates the exercise gave much more exposure and meaning to the concepts they learned in class. In this exercise, students build teams, develop a product, learn to set up a business, and design organogram, business vision, mission, and core values. The exercise empowers students to learn by doing. It accords students the opportunity to review their own knowledge and skills with respect to the concepts they have learned in the course. More than 3000 students have participated in this project since its inception in the academic year 2013/2014. It is estimated that 1000 students will participate in this project in the academic year 2017/2018. - Published in: Brautlacht, Agyapong, Owino (Eds.): Handbook of Applied Teaching and Learning, pp. 82-88


ABSTRACT This article examines the re-emergence of far-right extremism and terrorism as the adversary of European integration. The European Union (EU) becoming a grievance factor for far-right extremism and terror is qualitatively new. This article examines the emergence of this new actor in line with the changing four faces of the EU presented in this special issue, namely thin, thick, parochial and global. Paradoxically, the core argument of this article is that moves towards thick Europe have contributed to this development by way of addressing core fears in Europe after the migration/refugee crisis in 2015. The chronological discourse of the construction of the EU's identity has showed that since 2014, there has been a major shift regarding Europeans' fears and anxieties. (In)security linked to the migration/refugee crisis has been widening the market for security, despite the contrasting fact that Europe has been thriving for the longest peace period since WWII. This article analyses the impacts of the refugee crisis on the mutation of the European perception of threats. It uses the concept of ontological security to understand how the anxiety and fear caused by the refugee crisis led to the shaping of the European self-identity crisis.


A thesis Submitted to the University of Gezira in Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Aword of the Degree of Master of Arts. in English Language Teaching , Department of Foreign Languages-Faculty of Educational Science


Psoriasis is a common immune-mediated inflammatory condition that primarily affects skin and nails. 6-41% of psoriasis patients develop psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The ways in which PsA can manifest itself include peripheral arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, dactylitis and enthesitis. This heterogeneous clinical picture makes it sometimes difficult to recognise PsA,potentially resulting in permanent joint damage and functional impairments. Some people see psoriasis and PsA as 2 manifestations of a single disease because the multifactorial origins of psoriasis and PsA are largely overlapping. Psoriatic conditions are associated with a high burden of disease, reduced quality of life and comorbidities, including psychiatric and cardiovascular conditions. In recent years, several immunological pathways, immune cells and cytokines have been identified as important factors in pathophysiology and as new therapeutic targets. For many PsA patients treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs leads to significant improvement of symptoms and quality of life.


The corrosion behavior of a nanocrystalline (NC) low carbon steel (LCS) surface film deposited on a conventional polycrystalline (PC) LCS by magnetron sputtering was studied in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution using impedance and potentiodynamic polarization techniques. The corrosion inhibiting effect of a non toxic organic compound (methionine) and synergistic KI additives was also studied. Microstructure characterization by X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy revealed no phase changes due to nanoprocessing and the grain size of the NC surface layer was ~ 40 nm. Electrochemical results show that both the PC and NC surfaces underwent active corrosion with no transition to passivation in the potential range studied. Surface nanocrystallization however increased the corrosion susceptibility of low carbon steel more than two-fold, leading to a decrease in interfacial impedance and an increase in the kinetics of the anodic reaction. Methionine inhibited the corrosion of both specimens with comparable inhibition efficiencies. Iodide ions synergistically increased the inhibition efficiency of methionine on both specimens. This synergistic effect was more pronounced for the bulk steel and has been discussed vis-à-vis the more positive surface charge on bulk steel surface at the corrosion potential compared to the nanocrystalline surface.


Between the first (1802) and the second (1821) editions of the Esku-Liburua ("Handbook") by the Bizkaian writer Pedro Antonio de Anibarro, there are many appreciable variations brought about by the author, of which those affecting spelling are particularly systematic and interesting. In general, they address the aspects of Basque spelling which were most hotly debated until the constitutionof the current standard form, and they unfailingly offer new solutions, some ofwhich became widespread years later. The main objective of the changes is to match the spelling with the phono-logical peculiarities of Basque, and, at the same time, to eliminate the incoherences inherited from Spanish spelling, often adopting the positions of the Castilian grammarians themselves. Although a precursor of these practices, Anibarro did no more than receive ideas of previous theorists like Larramendi and Cardaveraz, whom to an extent he went along with. Another close influence, doubtless more surprising and less well-known, is that of Juan Bautista de Erro and, largely through him, Pedro Pablo de Astarloa; it was this influence which gave rise to many of the more daring changes.


Polypharmacy has generally been assessed by raw counts of different drugs administered concomitantly to the same patients; not with respect to the likelihood of dosage-adjustments. To address this aspect of polypharmacy, the objective of the present study was to identify co-medications associated with more frequent dosage adjustments. The data foundation was electronic health records from 3.2 million inpatient admissions at Danish hospitals (2008–2016). The likelihood of dosage-adjustments when two drugs were administered concomitantly were computed using Bayesian logistic regressions. We identified 3,993 co-medication pairs that associate significantly with dosage changes when administered together. Of these pairs, 2,412 (60%) did associate with readmission, mortality or longer stays, while 308 (8%) associated with reduced kidney function. In comparison to co-medications pairs that were previously classified as drug-drug interactions, pairs not classified as drug-drug interactions had higher odds ratios of dosage modifications than drug pairs with an established interaction. Drug pairs not corresponding to known drug-drug interactions while still being associated significantly with dosage changes were prescribed to fewer patients and mentioned more rarely together in the literature. We hypothesize that some of these pairs could be associated with yet to be discovered interactions as they may be harder to identify in smaller-scale studies.


Tomorrow's Table. Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food. By Pamela C. Ronald and Raoul W. Adamchak. Oxford University Press, New York, 2008. 226 pp. $29.95, £17.99. ISBN 9780195301755. Writing for nonspecialists, Ronald (a rice geneticist) and Adamchak (an organic farmer) argue that the best path to sustainable food production lies through a careful combination of organic farming and genetically engineered plants.


Abstract. Eberswalde Crater, a hotspot of Mars exploration, possesses an unambiguous hydrological system. However, little research has been performed on the large-scale mineral abundances retrieval in this region. Hence, we employed hyperspectral unmixing technology to quantitatively retrieve mineral abundances of the delta region in Eberswalde. In this paper, the single-scattering albedos were calculated by the Hapke bidirectional reflectance function from Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) data (FRT000060DD) and CRISM spectral library respectively, and a sparse unmixing algorithm was adopted to quantitatively retrieve mineral abundances. The abundance maps show that there are six kinds of minerals (pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase, siderite, diaspore, and tremolite). By comparing minerals spectra obtained from images with corresponding spectra in spectral library, we found the similar trend in both curves. Besides, the mineral abundance maps derived in this study agree well spatially with CRISM parameter maps. From the perspective of mineralogy, the instability of pyroxene and olivine indicates the area in which they distribute is close to provenance, and the original provenance is ultrabasic rock (e.g. peridotite) and basic rock (e.g. gabbro), respectively. And minerals, existing in the area of alluvial fan, also distribute in the outside of alluvial fan, which might be caused by fluid transportation.


The purpose of this bachelor thesis was to investigate the PLC systems used in ABBs breaker factory in Ludvika and to create a system specification suitable to be used in the procurement of a back-up solution for this workshop.This work involved information gathering from different sources, such as archives, physical installations and interviews of maintenance personnel and operators.The results included the requested system specification (in Swedish) including suggestions for pilot test installations and evaluations. The work also resulted in an extensive listing of all PLC systems with placement, typedesignations, expansion modules and other pertinent information. This information ismade available as a macro enabled multipage Microsoft Excel document.A summary and suggestions for follow up work is also included.


Cross-border E-commerce has grown exponentially in the past decade. To gain global competitivity in product-convergent markets, China's over 200 thousands cross-border E-commerce businesses have focused more on the service and cost of supply chain downstream. Therefore, selecting appropriate cost control strategy has marked impact on them. In this study, we evaluated three strategic cost control measures according to 10 evaluation criteria by using a complex fuzzy set based model, named C-COPRAS. The C-COPRAS model is an extension of the COmplex PRoportion ASessment (COPRAS) method. This model uses complex fuzzy set to tackle uncertainty and temporal features in given evaluation context. We then apply this model to a case study of helping a Chinese E-commerce business to select strategic cost control measure on supply chain downstream.


Ozonation of 2 commercially important textile biocidal finishing agents (called BI and BII herein) in aqueous solution was studied in a semi-batch bubble column reactor at different ozone feed rates (500, 750, and 900 mg/h) and pH (pH=7 and 12). Ozonation efficiency and kinetics were assessed in terms of COD, TOC and UV absorbance at 280 nm (UV280) and 254 nm (UV254), representing the aromaticity and unsaturated moieties of the studied textile biocides, respectively. Due to its chlorinated aromatic content, the fate of Adsorbable Organic Halogens (AOX) of BI was also followed during the ozonation experiments. At alkaline pH, appreciably higher COD and TOC removals were achieved, speaking for a free radical (•OH) dominated degradation pathway for both tested biocides. AOX, UV280 and TOC abatement rates obtained for BI ozonation at optimized reaction conditions indicated that the degradation of BI followed a sequential path of dechlorination, dearomatization, oxidation and mineralization, respectively.


We present the status of the art of the Archimedes experiment, devoted to measuring the debated interaction of quantum vacuum fluctuations and gravity. The method is essentially the weighing of the transition energy of a layered superconductor where the contribution of vacuum energy to the transition energy is expected to be relevant. The transition is obtained by modulating the temperature of the superconducting sample at a frequency of about 10 mHz and the expected change of weight is measured with a suitably designed high sensitivity cryogenic beam balance. In this paper, we present an overview of the experiment, discussing the expected signal to be measured, and presenting in particular the result of a prototype balance operated in our present laboratory. In the frequency range of the measurement, the sensitivity is affected mainly by seismic, thermal, sensor, and control noise. We discuss these points showing in particular the design of the cryogenic apparatus, the final balance, and the quiet seismic site that will host the final measurement.


Artists at risk

The dental health of the population has improved worldwide due to fluoridation of drinking water and improved preventive dental care. In recent years, full dentures are less commonly used, with a wider application of bridges or crowns. During the last few years, demand for cosmetic prostheses has risen, especially among the aging population.

Dentures are made by laboratory dental technicians. This is a job with relatively stable tasks and the process is used worldwide, but the occupational exposure can vary, according to working conditions and materials used.

Rough data indicate that there are around 3800 dental technicians in Serbia, of which 30% are men and 70% women.

Dentists send to the technicians a specification of the item (that is, crown, bridge, prosthesis, etc) to be made, along with an impression (mould) of the patient's mouth or teeth. Dental technicians then create a model of the patient's mouth by pouring plaster into the impression and allowing it to set (fig 1).

 Figure 1
 Impression (mould) and a plaster model.

The next step is to place the model on an apparatus that mimics the bite and movement of the patient's jaw. The model serves as the basis of the prosthetic device. Technicians examine the model, and on these observations and the dentist's specifications, build and shape a wax model, using small hand instruments called wax carvers. They use this wax model to cast the metal framework for the missing tooth or teeth.

Dental technicians then prepare the metal surface to allow the alloy and porcelain to bond, by using small hand-held tools and sandblasting (fig 2). They then apply porcelain in layers, to achieve the desired shape and colour of a tooth (fig 3).

 Figure 2
 Sandblasting of a metal framework.

 Figure 3
 Application of porcelain layers.

Technicians place the tooth in a porcelain furnace …


Problem statement: Fetal loss and abortion are responsible for significant emotional distress for couples desiring children. There are many documents which support the role of some certain asymptomatic infections such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in spontaneous abortion. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of seropositivity for CMV IgG and IgM in women with abortion and compare it with normal women with no previous history of abortion. Approach: This case-control study was carried out in Shariatee hospital of Hormozgan University of medical sciences, during 2003-2004. A number of 250 women with definite diagnosis of previous abortion and 200 matched women with normal full term delivery and negative history of miscarriage as controls were studied as case and control groups. Serum samples were obtained from participants and a demographic questionnaire was also filled for each of them. All serum samples were then tested using ELISA method for detection of anti-CMV IgM and IgG Antibodies. Data was analyzed, using SPSS software (chi square and t-test). Results: The average age was 25.6±7.6 years in case group and 25.3±6.5 years in control group. The number and percentage for CMV-IgG was 235(94%) and 150(75%) in case and control groups, respectively (p-value = 0.0001). In case group 13(5.2%) women were positive for CMV-IgM, while no positive sample was detected in control group (p-value = 0.0001). Conclusion: This study showed higher prevalence of seropositivity for CMV in women with spontaneous abortion comparing to women with normal full term delivery and suggest that cytomegalovirus plays a significant role in abortion.


Evaluation method of nano-scale internal cracks by ultrasonic atomic force microscopy (UAFM) is proposed based on two approaches. The first one is a linear vibration analysis of the contact stiffness calculated from a finite element method analysis of a model including a subsurface gap. The second one is a nonlinear vibration analysis of a stiffening or softening spring representing the opening-and-closing behavior of the gap. These methods were verified by obtaining the resonance frequency mapping, the load dependence of the resonance frequency and the resonance spectra in UAFM on a subsurface gap in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. As a result, it was proved that the proposed method is useful for evaluating the opening-and-closing behavior of the gap. Although the present study is focused on a nano-scale gap, this method is applicable to larger scale cracks using a larger tip and more stiff support than those used in AFM.


This thesis examines the pursuit of strict secrecy by Nixon and Kissinger as the key feature of the U. S. rapprochement with China in the early 1970s. It was Nixon's presidential leadership that drove the new China initiative, together with Kissinger as a skilful operator and negotiator. The centralization of power in the White House and the exclusion of the State Department from the direct decision-making process was a 'diplomatic coup. ' Nixon and Kissinger over-emphasized the speed and effectiveness of the transformation in the China policy to counteract the danger of bureaucratic leaks and the possibility of a conservative backlash in American domestic politics. At policy planning level, however, Nixon and Kissinger were still dependent on interdepartmental policy studies by the bureaucracy, mainly the NSC staff and the State Department in order to develop and implement the new China initiative. The National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) papers from 1969 to 1971 on the China policy were much more comprehensive and detailed than were previously estimated. Owing to the excessive secrecy, however, Nixon and Kissinger did not sufficiently use the multiple intelligence sources from the State Department to more effectively operate the China policy. The resumption of the Warsaw Ambassadorial Talks in January and February 1970 was the first major breakthrough during the U. S. opening to China, officially clarifying the U. S. intention to promote a new dialogue with the People's Republic of China. On the other hand, the preparation for the Warsaw talks also revealed the difference between the White House and the State Department; while Nixon and Kissinger wanted to move faster to send a special envoy to Beijing and discuss major security issues directly with the Chinese leaders, the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs remained cautious, still seeking to obtain more substantial concessions on the Taiwan issue. From late 1970, without the State Department's expertise, the White House sought to focus on the U. S. -Soviet-China triangular relationship and pursued back-channel communications with the Chinese through third parties, such as Pakistan and Romania. In direct talks in July and October 1971, and February 1972, Nixon and Kissinger gave an assurance to the Chinese leaders for the U. S. withdrawal from Taiwan in relation to the negotiated settlement in Indochina. Simultaneously, Nixon and Kissinger sought to persuade the Chinese leaders that the remaining U. S. military presence in Asia would serve China's security interests in order to contain the emergence of any other states, such as the Soviet Union, Japan, and India. This thesis concludes by assessing the rapprochement as the beginning of a long process to pursue pragmatic co-existence between the United States and China, neither as enemies nor as friends.


The objective of Search is to find documents relevant to a particular user's notion of relevance. However, relevance is often a moving target: imperfectly defined and subject to change as more documents are seen. In this paper, we report on systematic User Modeling (UM) and the use of a system-internal agent (proxy) to produce a hybrid human-computer system that achieves extraordinarily high performance on mediated Search tasks. We present details of our UM-approach and its four main components: (i) use case (ii) scope (iii) nuance and (iv) linguistic variability. We illustrate how these components provide a framework with which a user and a proxy co-construct a shared representation of information needs and mutual knowledge. This representation serves as the common ground through which external knowledge is shared, mediated, negotiated, synthesized and made accessible to the system. We evaluated the performance of our system on the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library, a corpus of advertising, manufacturing, marketing, sales and scientific research activities of major US tobacco companies. Independently adjudicated results from NIST's 2008 TREC legal track demonstrate that our approach to UM yields high performance on Search tasks.


Background: The Patient Self Determination Act was passed in 1991 and requires healthcare facilities to present patients with information regarding advanced directives. Since that time, there has been no improvement in the number of patients reported to have had such discussions. Numerous barriers to these discussions exist both on the patient and provider side. This study aims to identify barriers to end of life discussions among providers in the primary care setting.

Methods: The study population included practicing primary care physicians in the OhioHealth system. They were administered an anonymous questionnaire addressing demographic information and questions specific to end of life discussions and what barriers exist.

Results: A majority of primary care physicians reported engaging in end of life discussions with their patients. A majority of physicians cited lack of time as a barrier to having these discussions. There was a statistically significant age difference among primary care physicians who reported they have end of life discussions with their patients and among these physicians there was a statistically significant increase in their level of comfort having these discussions.

Conclusion: Primary care physicians further into their career reported having end of life discussions more frequently and felt more comfortable doing so. Additionally, physicians cite lack of time as the most common barrier to holding end of life discussions.


The geometrical shielding produced by intergranular crack-tip branching in the fracture toughness tests of the Fe–V–P alloy is quantitatively assessed particularly with respect to the contribution of crack splitting. This process was evaluated by an identification of secondary intergranular cracks visualized on metalographical samples perpendicular to the fracture surface. The analysis of mixed trans/intergranular fracture revealed no special influence of triple-point branching (splitting) on the total crack tip shielding in cases of such highly spatially tortuous crack fronts. Thus, the previously reported results taking only the effect of crack tip kinking and meandering into account were proved to be correct.


Abstract Seventy-three women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from rape or physical assault participated in a loud-tone procedure, while skin conductance (SC), heart rate, and electromyogram responses were recorded. Pearson correlations were examined between each psychophysiological response and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) symptom scores. Significant correlations were adjusted for each remaining individual PTSD symptom score. Heart rate response (HRR) significantly correlated with CAPS total score and with CAPS nightmares. The relationship between HRR and nightmares remained significant after controlling for each of the other 16 individual PTSD symptoms, for the remaining reexperiencing cluster, and for CAPS total score. The zero-order correlations between SC response and nightmares and between electromyography response and nightmares were both not significant. The association of nightmares with larger HRR in the absence of an association with larger SC response likely reflects reduced parasympathetic tone. Thus, our findings indirectly support a role for reduced parasympathetic tone in PTSD nightmares.


[1] Recent studies have shown that tropospheric sulfate aerosols commonly contain 50% or more by mass organic species. The influence of these organics on the chemical and physical properties of sulfate aerosols is not fully established. Using an aerosol flow tube technique, we have determined ice nucleation temperatures for particles composed of ammonium sulfate and mixtures of ammonium sulfate with a series of dicarboxylic acids. A calibration curve was developed to allow us to convert the freezing temperatures to a saturation ratio required for ice nucleation. At levels detectable by our experimental technique we find that the freezing temperatures and critical ice saturation ratios of each system were identical, for a given water activity of the solution, even though the solutions contained varying fractions of inorganic and organic components. Further experiments showed that the freezing behavior of pure dicarboxylic acid particles was identical to that of the other systems studied if the water activity was identical. Although the apparent freezing temperatures reported here are substantially warmer than those predicted by the water activity based nucleation theory of T. Koop et al., we find that solution water activity defined the freezing conditions for the systems studied here.


Summary form only given. In this talk we summarize some of our work in creating computational infrastructure to enable Monte Carlo computations in serial, parallel, distributed, and grid-based environments. We begin with a brief overview of the scalable parallel random number generators (SPRNG) library. This provides high quality pseudorandom numbers in all the above environments. We then discuss specific grid services for Monte Carlo that we recently developed. These services reduce wall clock time and improve the trustworthiness and integrity of grid-based computations. We then discuss quasirandom numbers based on scrambling in this context. Finally, we present results that differ for quasi-Monte Carlo methods on the grid from those presented for pseudorandom numbers.


Informed by my first six months of doctoral research, this paper offers a topography of virtual influencers that at once acknowledges their continuation of and breaking with the precedents of a lineage of "virtual beings" who have achieved celebrity status. Responding to the ahistoricism of much recent commentary, it draws on archival press and web research to situate virtual influencers at the intersection of technological advancements, discourses, and anxieties similarly characterising Hollywood's "synthespians" at the turn of the twenty-first century; the legacy of "virtual idols" in East Asia (also known as "Vocaloids" in Japan); and the latter's recent democratisation by a new generation of "vTubers" across video-sharing sites. Recognising this cross-medium migration of virtual celebrity—from anime, video games and blockbuster cinema to the participatory web—this paper adopts a platform-specific lens to highlight the affordances, cultures and vernaculars of specific social media as essential to virtual influencers' aspiration to, and attainment and maintenance of, attention and fame.


The first point made by the commentary was related with "The definition of the primary endpoint (chronic pain after 6 months in relation to what?)". The International Association for the Study of Pain (1) defines chronic postsurgical pain as pain persisting at least 3 months after surgery. The primary outcome variable of our study was chronic pain related to thoracic surgery (yes/no) at 6 months after surgery, based on the following question: "Do you currently have pain related to your thoracic surgery?" Those patients with chronic pain related to thoracic surgery at 6 months after surgery were compared to those patients without such pain at that time.


Suppose there are n post oces p 1 ,. .. p n in a city. Someone who is located at a position q within the city would like to know which post oce is closest to him. Modeling the city as a planar region, we think of p 1 ,. .. p n and q as points in the plane. Denote the set of post oces by P = {p 1 ,. .. p n }. Figure 8.1: Closest post oces for various query points. While the locations of post oces are known and do not change so frequently, we do not know in advance for whichpossibly manyquery locations the closest post oce is to be found. Therefore, our long term goal is to come up with a data structure on top of P that allows to answer any possible query eciently. The basic idea is to apply a so-called locus approach: we partition the query space into regions on which is the answer is the same. In our case, this amounts to partition the plane into regions such that for all points within a region the same point from P is closest (among all points from P). As a warmup, consider the problem for two post oces p i , p j ∈ P. For which query locations is the answer p i rather than p j ? This region is bounded by the bisector of p i and p j , that is, the set of points which have the same distance to both points.


Relates Texas Expectations of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) to Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) information literacy standards Goal 1


Widely admired as one of Canada's leading philosophers, Francis Sparshott is a major figure in postwar philosophical aesthetics. In this book he presents an annotated version of the text of the four 1996 Ryle Lectures that he gave at Trent University. Addressing the nature and prospects of aesthetics as a discipline, Sparshott discusses beauty, taste, and the place of imagination, fiction, and fine art in societies. He investigates the place of such a discipline in the broad social structures provided by universities and civilizations, and tackles many perennially interesting questions about education and the life of the mind. Written with wit and charm, the lectures journey through a vast terrain of references, yet wear their learning lightly. Sparshott's engaging style and humane vision will, as always, attract a wide and diverse readership.


We inescapably experience the world through our body. Yet as our embodiment itself is the background of all our everyday experience, it appears to be experienced quietly. We tend to take for granted that our body is present in and contributing to all experience, as we also tend to take for granted the feeling that it belongs to us and it is under our control. However, certain neuropsychological disorders that arise after damage to the right hemisphere of the brain serve as a reminder that these feelings and intuitions cannot always be taken for granted. What is more 'counter-intuitive' than someone who is unaware of the fact that they can no longer move half their body? Or someone who cannot recognise their own arm or, leg as theirs? These disorders have troubled neurology, philosophy and psychology since the time of Charcot, Janet, Freud and Babinski and continue to represent frequent, largely unmet and poorly studied clinical challenges. The present thesis aims to explore from an interdisciplinary vantage point the way in which the body is experienced in people with such neuropsychological disorders following a stroke. More specifically, it aims to complement current scientific perspectives on these disorders with existential-phenomenological ideas regarding the experience of embodiment in these patients, with particular emphasis on the 'pre-reflected' dimensions of embodiment and their derivatives in mental life as highlighted by the philosopher Merleau-Ponty.
The empirical part of the thesis involves behavioural and neuroimaging methodologies from the field of neuropsychology, including two case series and one single case study (total N = 14). Three hypotheses inspired by the early writings of Merleau-Ponty on embodiment were explored in these three studies, respectively: (a) whether patients with motor unawareness have a 'pre-reflective' awareness of their deficits; (b) whether such forms of pre-reflective awareness may paradoxically contribute to their explicit unawareness and (c) whether insights generated by the above two studies could be translated to a psychophysical intervention that can help a patient recover her explicit awareness of her paralysis. The results of these studies confirmed all three hypotheses, with some theoretical constraints that are discussed in each chapter.
More generally, the results of these studies are discussed in relation to both scientific and philosophical theories of body awareness and most importantly in relation to clinical challenges and the scope of existential counselling psychology. I argue that these disorders allow a unique insight into how existential, counselling and psychotherapeutic psychology can position its practice in relation to some of these paradoxical ways of being-in-the-world that are not habitually so 'visible', unless revealed by brain damage. These considerations apply particularly to the more general paradox of psychotherapeutic clients who frequently come to therapy consciously hoping to change their habitual ways of being-in-the-world while implicitly, yet with almost equal force, they may hope not to change their commitment to the world.


Discrete breathers, originally introduced in the context of biopolymers and coupled nonlinear oscillators, are also localized modes of excitation of Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC) in periodic potentials such as those generated by counter-propagating laser beams in an optical lattice. Static and dynamical properties of breather states are analysed in the discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation that is derived in the limit of deep potential wells, tight-binding and the superfluid regime of the condensate. Static and mobile breathers can be formed by progressive re-shaping of initial Gaussian wave-packets or by transporting atomic density towards dissipative boundaries of the lattice. Static breathers generated via boundary dissipations are determined via a transfer-matrix approach and discussed in the two analytic limits of highly localized and very broad profiles. Mobile breathers that move across the lattice are well approximated by modified analytical expressions derived from integrable models with two independent parameters: the core-phase gradient and the peak amplitude. Finally, possible experimental realizations of discrete breathers in BEC in optical lattices are discussed in the presence of residual harmonic trapping and in interferometry configurations suitable to investigate discrete breathers' interactions.


Purpose: The study aims to analyze the relationship between the pace of economic development expressed by the GDP index and the level of income inequalities measured by the Gini coefficient. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research hypothesis assumes that the level of income inequalities influences GDP growth. I hypothesize that this relationship is negative – a lower level of income inequalities favor the economic growth. I use the GDP per capita (per adult) year-to-year index to measure the pace of economic development. GDP index is a dependent variable in all estimated models. The explanatory variables are, GINI index, net national saving, public goods spending, country's dummy variables, year dummy variables. Findings: Using data from 43 countries covering the years 1990-2017, I prove that (1) higher income inequality is related to higher economic growth (but only on the level of the sample); (2) a level of savings affects the economic growth positively; (3) a higher level of spending on public goods affects GDP positively (on the level of the whole sample and in the group of more improve rished countries). Practical Implications The analysis confirms the positive relationship between income inequalities and the pace of economic development, but only at the whole sample level. Higher public spending positively affects economic growth. Savings accumulated by the citizens significantly affect economic growth, as a higher level of savings creates greater investment opportunities. Originality/Value: Inequalities are an inherent part of society and the economy. It is often presumed that if the level of income inequality is too high, it negatively affects the economy by lowering the development pace. Although the previous findings are somewhat mixed, I pose the research hypothesis assuming a low level of income inequality is linked to higher GDP growth.


It is shown that estradiol in the presence of horse radish peroxidase interacts with hydrogen peroxide, which is evidenced by an increase in its optical density at 280 nm. The photometering of samples containing estradiol and horse radish peroxidase upon their titration with hydrogen peroxide indicated that the increase in optical density stops after introducing hydrogen peroxide equimolar in concentration to estradiol. The stoichiometric ratio of estradiol consumed during oxidative destruction to hydrogen peroxide was 1:1. In the presence of ascorbate, the oxidative destruction of estradiol by the action of hydrogen peroxide, catalyzed by horse radish peroxidase, was observed only after a latent period and showed the same regularities as in the absence of ascorbate. It was found by calorimetry that, during the latent period, estradiol catalyzes the degradation of hydrogen peroxide and ascorbate without undergoing oxidative destruction. The substrates of the peroxidase reaction benzidine, 1-naphthol, and phenol interact with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ascorbate and horse radish peroxidase in a similar way. Presumably, upon interaction with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of horse radish peroxidase, estradiol, like other substrates of this reaction, undergoes oxidative destruction by the mechanism of peroxidase reaction. It is shown that oxidative destruction of estradiol by the action of hydrogen peroxide can also be catalyzed by methemoglobin by the same mechanism. These data are important for understanding the role of estradiol in the organism and the pathways of its metabolic conversions.


Recent advances in programmable metasurfaces, also dubbed as reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs), areenvisioned to offer a paradigm shift from uncontrollable to fully tunable and customizable wireless propagation environments, enabling a plethora of new applications and technological trends. Therefore, in view of this cutting edge technological concept, we first review the architecture and electromagnetic waves manipulation functionalities of RISs. We then detail some of the recent advancements that have been made towards realizing these programmable functionalities in wireless communication applications. Furthermore, we elaborate on how machine learning (ML) can address various constraints introduced by real-time deployment of RISs, particularly in terms of latency, storage, energy efficiency, and computation. A review of the state-of-the-art research on the integration of ML with RISs is presented, highlighting their potentials as well as challenges. Finally, the paper concludes by offering a look ahead towards unexplored possibilities of ML mechanisms in the context of RISs.


Automated verification has become an essential part in the security evaluation of cryptographic protocols. Recently, there has been a considerable effort to lift the theory and tool support that existed for reachability properties to the more complex case of equivalence properties. In this paper we contribute both to the theory and practice of this verification problem. We establish new complexity results for static equivalence, trace equivalence and labelled bisimilarity and provide a decision procedure for these equivalences in the case of a bounded number of sessions. Our procedure is the first to decide trace equivalence and labelled bisimilarity exactly for a large variety of cryptographic primitives—those that can be represented by a subterm convergent destructor rewrite system. We implemented the procedure in a new tool, DEEPSEC. We showed through extensive experiments that it is significantly more efficient than other similar tools, while at the same time raises the scope of the protocols that can be analysed.


This study examines the relationship between cellular sphingomyelin content and the distribution of unesterified cholesterol between the plasma-membrane pool and the putative intracellular regulatory pool. The sphingomyelin content of cultured human skin fibroblasts was reduced by treatment of intact cells with extracellularly added neutral sphingomyelinase, and subsequent changes in the activities of cholesterol-metabolizing enzymes were determined. Exposure of fibroblasts to 0.1 unit of sphingomyelinase/ml for 60 min led to the depletion of more than 90% of the cellular sphingomyelin, as determined from total lipid extracts. In a time-course study, it was found that within 10 min of the addition of sphingomyelinase to cells, a dramatic increase in acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase activity could be observed, whether measured from the appearance of plasma membrane-derived [3H]cholesterol or exogenously added [14C]oleic acid, in cellular cholesteryl esters. In addition, the cholesteryl ester mass was significantly higher in sphingomyelin-depleted fibroblasts at 3 h after exposure to sphingomyelinase compared with that in untreated fibroblasts [7.1 +/- 0.4 nmol of cholesterol/mg equivalents of esterified cholesterol compared with 4.2 +/- 0.1 nmol of cholesterol/mg equivalents of cholesteryl ester in control cells (P less than 0.05)]. The sphingomyelin-depleted cells also showed a reduction in the rate of endogenous synthesis of cholesterol, as measured by incorporation of sodium [14C]acetate into [14C]cholesterol. These results are consistent with a rapid movement of cholesterol from sphingomyelin-depleted plasma membranes to the putative intracellular regulatory pool of cholesterol. This mass movement of cholesterol away from the plasma membranes presumably resulted from a decreased capacity of the plasma membranes to solubilize cholesterol, since sphingomyelin-depleted cells also had a decreased capacity to incorporate nanomolar amounts of [3H]cholesterol from the extracellular medium, as compared with control cells. These findings confirm previous assumptions that the membrane sphingomyelin content is an important determinant of the overall distribution of cholesterol within intact cells.


Purpose: Studies on color preferences for different types of spaces are scarce and show ambiguous results. This paper aims to present data about preferred colors for two work environments: the office and a meeting room, and two residential spaces: the living room and the bedroom. The authors also explore whether people with different personal characteristics of gender, age, education and type of person have different color preferences. Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected by means of a questionnaire that was distributed among 1,077 Dutch people. Findings: The color white was most frequently mentioned as the preferred color, by 32-44 per cent of all male respondents and 28-38 per cent of all female respondents, dependent on type of space. The choice "no color preference" rated high as well: by 11-22 per cent of men and 7-22 per cent of women. Preferred colors showed to be significantly different for different types of spaces, males and females, different age groups, level of education and type of person. Research limitations/implications: The research took place in the Netherlands, so only Dutch color preferences have been collected. Due to the many influencing factors, only a selection of the conceptual model could be empirically tested. Practical implications: Information about color preferences for different types of spaces can support clients, end users and (interior) architects to create environments that people like, which may influence peoples' well-being in a positive way. It is suggested to apply colors in the built environment more like nature shows. Originality/value: Until now, no information was available about color preferences for different types of spaces in connection with different types of personalities.


Fatigue cracking is one of the main and dominant distresses of hot mix asphalt (HMA) at moderate temperatures. This distress happens mainly because of two reasons: 1) Cohesive fracture in the asphalt binder or mastic phase, and 2) Adhesive fracture at the interface of asphalt binder and aggregate. Therefore, one of the main features of the materials used in asphalt mixtures, which affects their fracture type, is the surface free energy (SFE) of asphalt binder and aggregates. In this study, SFE components of aggregates and asphalt binders were respectively determined by universal sorption device (USD) and sessile drop (SD) tests. Also, to evaluate the effects of adhesive and cohesive parameters on the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures, the samples prepared with different combinations of asphalt binder and aggregate were examined by indirect tensile fatigue test. Results showed that the asphalt mixtures with limestone aggregates and asphalt binder 85-100 had the highest fatigue life compared to the mixtures produced by other aggregates. This feature can be caused by three parameters: 1) Limestone due to the high specific surface area has the highest adhesion with asphalt binder. 2) By using the asphalt binder 85-100, greater adhesion energy was created between the asphalt binder and aggregate, which increased the energy required for separating the asphalt binder from the aggregate surface and the occurrence of adhesion rapture distress. 3) By using asphalt binder 60-70 caused less significant free energy of cohesion in the asphalt binder which resulted in the increased possibility of distress in mastic. Review History: Received: 25 January 2016 Revised: 6 November 2016 Accepted: 21 November 2016 Available Online: 5 December 2016


We have isolated, from newborn rats, heart cultures enriched in contractile muscle cells (M) and cultures of fibroblast-like cells (F). M cultures respond to simulated ischemia by an arrest of beating activity, by a decrease in beta oxydation rate, ATP and phosphocreatine content and by a loss of membrane phospholipids associated with neutral lipids accumulation. F cells in contrast do not respond to oxygen deprivation. Firstly, we observed that cocultures of M and F cells respond to oxygen deprivation by an arrest of beating activity and a decrease in cellular ATP content, but failed to exhibit any significant loss of membrane phospholipids. Secondly, we demonstrated that culture medium conditioned by F cells is able to inhibit the reaction of M cells to simulated ischemia thus suggesting that fibroblasts produce a diffusible factor able to block phospholipase activation. Heat treatment and trypsinisation failed to abolish this activity, indicating that the phospholipase inhibitory factor is probably not a polypeptide.


The stability of discrete systems with time-varying delay is considered. New delay-dependent stability criteria are devised, which are dependent on the minimum and maximum delay bounds. An initial analysis leads to a criterion depending on an inequality involving certain matrices that can be freely chosen. By carefully choosing them to reflect the appropriate relationship between states at differing times, a stricter criterion is thereby obtained. Furthermore, new results for delay-dependent robust stabilisation of uncertain systems with time-varying delay are provided on the basis of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) framework. As the conditions obtained for the existence of admissible controllers are not expressed using strict LMI conditions, a cone complementary linearisation procedure is used to find suitable controllers. Finally, the results obtained, including the stability analysis, static output-feedback stabilisation and dynamic output feedback stabilisation are further extended to discrete time-delay systems having uncertain but norm-bounded parameters. Numerical examples demonstrate the validity of the approach proposed.


This paper describes the concentric compression test results of carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite sheet jacketed concrete specimens with circular, square and rectangular cross-sections. In the experimental program, pre-damaged specimens and repeated compressive loads were considered as well as undamaged specimens and monotonic compressive loads. The contribution of CFRP composite jackets to the compressive behaviour of the specimens is evaluated quantitatively, in terms of strength, longitudinal and lateral deformability and energy dissipation. Simple analytical expressions are proposed for compressive strength and ultimate axial strain that are valid for CFRP composite jacketed concrete with circular, square and rectangular cross-sections. The analytical results obtained by the proposed expressions are in good agreement with the experimental data obtained in this study, as well as the experimental data available in literature.


Severely reduced wall thickness was encountered at the liquid line of a lead-bath pan that was used in a continuous strip or wire oil-tempering unit. Replacement of the pan was necessary after six months of service. The pan, 6.9 m (22.5 ft) long, 0.6 m (2 ft) wide, and 38 cm (15 in.) deep with a 2.5-cm (1-in.) wall thickness, was a type 309 stainless steel weldment. Operating temperatures of the lead bath in the pan ranged from 805 deg C (1480 deg F) at the entry end to 845 deg C (1550 deg F) at the exit end. Analysis (visual inspection. metallographic analysis, moisture testing, and etched micrographs using Murakami's reagent) supported the conclusions that thinning of the pan walls at the surface of the molten lead resulted from using coke of high moisture content and from the low fluctuating coke level. Recommendations included reducing the supply of oxygen attacking the grain boundaries and the hydrogen that readily promoted decarburization with the use of dry (2 to 3% moisture content) coke. Maintaining a thick layer of coke over the entire surface of molten lead in the pan would exclude atmospheric oxygen from the grain boundaries.


Like many ideas forged in the Enlightenment, 'authenticity' has lost much of its lustre. The product of an eighteenth-century culture fascinated with the past, with notions of origins, essences, and depths, it was endowed by twentieth-century existentialism with a numinous quality that many theorists saw as ripe for deconstruction. Indeed, the traditional rhetoric of authenticity is emphatically un-postmodern in its auratic essentialism and its concern, in the absence of rational foundations, to locate some kind of centre for what is genuine and real. Such metaphysical earnestness is apt to cause embarrassment today, which is perhaps why commentators not bent on dismantling the notion of the authentic have approached it with circumspection. Among these, Lionel Trilling, whose 1971 study Sincerity and Authenticity remains essential reading, worries that 'authenticity,' like 'irony' and 'love,' is 'one of those words [...] which are best not talked about if they are to retain any force of meaning [...]' (120). More recently, Geoffrey Hartman has conceded that '"Spirit" and "authenticity" are word concepts that cannot be saved from their own pathos. Perhaps we should not even try to sober them up' (1). The temperate critic, it would seem, is well advised to handle authenticity with care.


We have made a SiO2:PMMA hybrid nanocomposite based on 150nm spherical silica nanoparticles synthetized by sol-gel method. A molecule containing a methacrylate group (TPM), was chemically grafted to the silica surface to improve the electrical performance. The filling factor of the nanonanocomposite was up to 20%vol. The 1um thick nanocomposite films were deposited on polished steel by spin coating. Compared to similarly prepared PMMA films, the dielectric constant, as measured by BDS (proadband dielectric spectroscopy) was enhanced by a factor of two for the nanocomposite, and the disruptive electric field by a factor of 2.5. This eventually yields an overall improvement of the energy density by a factor of 12.5.


Today, GPUs represent an important hardware development platform for many problems in dynamical systems, where massive parallel computations are needed. Beside that, many numerical studies of chaotic dynamical systems require a computing precision higher than common oating point (FP) formats. One such application is locating invariant sets for chaotic dynamical systems. In particular, we focus on rigorously proving the existence of stable periodic orbits for the Hénon map for parameter values close to the classical ones. For that, we present a multiple-precision floating-point arithmetic library in CUDA programming language for the NVIDIA GPU platform. Our library extends the precision using so-called FP expansions, where a number is represented as the unevaluated sum of standard machine precision FP numbers. This format offers the advantage of using directly available and highly optimized hardware FP operations. We generalize algorithms used by multiple-precisions libraries such as Bailey's QD, or the analogue GPU version, GQD.


The goal of software synthesis is to generate programs automatically from high-level specifications. However, efficient implementations for challenging programs require a combination of high-level algorithmic insights and low-level implementation details. Deriving the low-level details is a natural job for a computer, but the synthesizer can not replace the human insight. Therefore, one of the central challenges for software synthesis is to establish a synergy between the programmer and the synthesizer, exploiting the programmer's expertise to reduce the burden on the synthesizer.
This thesis introduces sketching, a new style of synthesis that offers a fresh approach to the synergy problem. Previous approaches have relied on meta-programming, or variations of interactive theorem proving to help the synthesizer deduce an efficient implementation. The resulting systems are very powerful, but they require the programmer to master new formalisms far removed from traditional programming models. To make synthesis accessible, programmers must be able to provide their insight effortlessly, using formalisms they already understand.
In Sketching, insight is communicated through a partial program, a sketch that expresses the high-level structure of an implementation but leaves holes in place of the low-level details. This form of synthesis is made possible by a new SAT-based inductive synthesis procedure that can efficiently synthesize an implementation from a small number of test cases. This algorithm forms the core of a new counterexample guided inductive synthesis procedure (CEGIS) which combines the inductive synthesizer with a validation procedure to automatically generate test inputs and ensure that the generated program satisfies its specification. With a few extensions, CEGIS can even use its sequential inductive synthesizer to generate concurrent programs; all the concurrency related reasoning is delegated to an off-the-shelf validation procedure.
The resulting synthesis system scales to real programming problems from a variety of domains ranging from bit-level ciphers to manipulations of linked datastructures. The system was even used to produce a complete optimized implementation of the AES cipher. The concurrency aware synthesizer was also used to synthesize, in a matter of minutes, the details of a fine-locking scheme for a concurrent set, a sense reversing barrier, and even a solution to the dining philosophers problem.
The system was also extended with domain specific knowledge to better handle the problem of implementing stencil computations, an important domain in scientific computing. For this domain, we were able to encode domain specific insight as a problem reduction that converted stencil sketches into simplified sketch problems which CEGIS resolved in a matter of minutes. This specialized synthesizer was used to quickly implement a MultiGrid solver for partial differential equations containing many difficult implementation strategies from the literature.
In short, this thesis shows that sketching is a viable approach to making synthesis practical in a general programming context.


A unified framework is presented that enables coupled multiscale analysis of composite structures and associated graphical pre and post processing within the Abaqus/CAE environment. The recently developed, free, Finite Element Analysis - Micromechanics Analysis Code (FEAMAC) software couples NASA's Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells (MAC/GMC) with Abaqus/Standard and /Explicit to perform micromechanics based FEA such that the nonlinear composite material response at each integration point is modeled at each increment by MAC/GMC. The Graphical User Interfaces (FEAMAC-Pre and FEAMAC-Post), developed through collaboration between SIMULIA Erie and NASA Glenn Research Center, enable users to employ a new FEAMAC module within Abaqus/CAE that provides access to the composite microscale. FEAMAC-Pre is used to define and store constituent material properties, set up and store composite repeating unit cells, and assign composite materials as sections with all data being stored within the CAE database. Likewise FEAMAC-Post enables multiscale field quantity visualization (contour plots, X-Y plots), with point and click access to the microscale (i.e., fiber and matrix fields).


A new seriesof 4-aryl-5-cyano thiouracilderivatives 4(a-c)was synthesized by reacting ethyl cyanoacetate, thiourea or substituted thiourea and aromatic aldehyde in presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. The main target compound 4-(p-chlorophyll) -2- mercapto -6 -oxo-1,6- dihydropyrimidine-5- carbonitriles ( 4a) were reacted with chloroacetyl chloride , chloroacetonitrile or oxalyl chloride to give 2,5-dioxothiazolopyrimidines, 3-amino-5- oxothiazolopyrimidines and 2,3,5-trioxothiazolopyrimidines 5,6,7 respectively . Derivatives of 2-substituted benzylidne 3, 5-dioxothiazolopyrimidines 8a, b were prepared via reacting 4a with chloroacetic acid, aromatic aldehyde and anhydrous sodium acetate in presence of a mixture of acetic acid and acetic anhydride. Reacting compound 9 which was obtained by refluxing compound 4a with hydrazine hydrate , with formic acid or acetic anhydride give the respective triazolopyrimidines 10,11 .On the other handthe pyrimidotriazines 12,13 were obtained by the action of compound 9 with diethyl oxalate and ethyl bromoacetate in sodium ethoxide respectively. Reacting compound 9 with different aromatic aldehyde in glacial acetic acid gave a series of azomethene compounds 14(a-d). All the newly formed compounds are evaluated for their antimicrobial activity .It was found that some of the tested compoundshas variable activity against the selected strain.


This project is a collaborative study between the Anatomy Department, Canniesburn Hospital and the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, and consists of two parts. I. A scanning electron microscopical study documenting the variation in the surface pattern of buccal epithelial cells obtained by repeated swabbing of the buccal mucosa at a defined site in normal control subjects, and investigating the possibility of using oral swabs to monitor the dose of radiotherapy without the need for biopsies. From this study it is concluded that: 1) There is considerable variation in the surface morphology of normal buccal epithelial cells as seen by scanning electron microscopy of oral swabs. 2) These variations seem to reflect the level at which the cells lie within the epithelium. 3) Adjacent cells can have different surface patterns. 4) The superficial and deep surfaces of one cell may show different patterns. 5) These findings in normal buccal epithelium suggest caution in attributing particular patterns to the effect of specific doses of radiation. 6) Swabs from the surface of intraoral radial forearm flaps are not helpful in monitoring the behaviour of the flap. II. A clinical, histological and ultrastructural study of the behaviour of free radial forearm flaps transplanted into the oral cavity for treatment of oral tumours. In particular the study aimed to document the structural basis of a change in the gross appearance of some of the flaps from skin to that of oral mucosa. Data was collected from 53 patients from whom a total of 77 biopsies were taken at different periods following their treatment by either surgery alone or surgery and radiotherapy. The clinical observations were correlated with the histological and ultrastructural findings and it is concluded that: 1) Radiotherapy is not essential for the skin to change to an appearance similar to mucosa. 2) The time of onset of the change is variable. 3) The change can start anywhere in the flap and may involve the whole flap or parts of it. 4) The change to an appearance resembling oral mucosa is reversible. 5) The epidermis of the changed flaps showed signs of hyperactivity i. e. parakeratosis, acanthosis and increased glycogen content. The dermis showed various grades of inflammatory reaction. 6) Transmission electron microscopy showed the tonofilaments in keratinocytes of the changed flaps to be dispersed in the cytoplasm, as seen in cells of normal lining mucosa, with persistence of fat droplets in the cells of the stratum corneum. 7) Radiotherapy at the dose given to these patients produces permanent damage to the hair follicles. 8) Candidal infection is probably an important factor in producing the change.


This paper uses risk neutral densities (RNDs) of stock options to investigate the markets perceptions of crash risk in the recent U.S. subprime crisis. RNDs were estimated using the double lognormal method for the S&P 500 market index, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. We find strong evidence of bimodality in the RND of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch as early as April 2008. In contrast, no evidence of bimodality was found for either Goldman Sachs or the S&P 500 index. These results vindicate the usefulness of the RND as a forecasting tool in extreme market conditions.


During an emergency, it is necessary to quickly disseminate messages to the public. These communications often provide information about the emergency as well as guidance or advice aimed at ensuring the safety of the population. Successful emergency communication depends upon how rapidly and reliably a message can be disseminated, but also on how people respond to the message that they receive. To assist emergency planners tasked with developing message sets for future incidents, in this paper we report a systematic review of all studies that assessed the impact of mobile telephone alerting systems on intended and actual behaviour, to identify factors that affect their likely impact. We searched multiple databases and conferred with topic experts, resulting in a total of 22 studies which met the inclusion criteria. Our results indicate that limited data exist on how people respond to text‐based warning messages and that much of the data is poor quality, indicating a need for more real‐world studies.


An essential building block for any data grid infrastructure is the storage server. In this paper we describe a high-performance cluster storage server built around the SDSC Storage Resource Broker (SRB) and commodity workstations. A number of performance critical design issues and our solutions to them are described. We incorporate pipeline optimizations into SRB to enable the full overlapping of communication and disk I/O. With these optimizations we were able to deliver to the application more than 95% of the disk throughput achievable through a remote connection. Then we show how our approach to network-striped transport is effective in achieving aggregate cluster-to-cluster throughput which scales with the number of connections. Finally, we present a federated SRB service over MPI that allows fast TCP connections to stripe data across multiple server disks reaching 97% of the combined write capacity of multiple nodes.


The need for thorough evaluations is an emerging area of interest and importance in music interaction research. As a large degree of DMI evaluation is concerned with exploring the subjective experience: ergonomics, action-sound mappings and control intimacy; User Experience (UX) methods are increasingly being utilised to analyse an individual's experience of new musical instruments, from which we can extract meaningful, robust findings and subsequently generalised and useful recommendations. However, many music interaction evaluations remain informal. In this paper, we provide a meta-review of 132 papers from the 2014 -- 2016 proceedings of the NIME, SMC and ICMC conferences to collate the aspects of UX research that are already present in music interaction literature, and to highlight methods from UX's widening field of research that have not yet been explored. Our findings show that usability and aesthetics are the primary focus of evaluations in music interaction research, and other important components of the user experience such as enchantment, motivation and frustration are frequently if not always overlooked. We argue that these factors are prime areas for future research in the field and their consideration in design and evaluation could lead to a better understanding of NIMEs and other computer music technology.


This work presents the dynamical modelling of cardiac electrical
activity using bidomain approach. It focuses on the effects of variation of the
ionic model parameters on cardiac wave propagation. Cardiac electrical
activity is governed by partial differential equations coupled to a system of
ordinary differential equations. Numerical simulation of these equations is computationally expensive due to their non-linearity and stiffness. Nevertheless, we
adopted the bidomain model due to its ability to reflect the actual cardiac
wave propagation. The derived bidomain equations coupled with FitzHugh-Nagumo's
ionic equations were time-discretized using explicit forward Euler method and
space-discretized using 2-D network modelling to obtain linearized equations
for transmembrane potential Vm,
extracellular potential φe and gating variable w.
We implemented the discretized model and performed simulation
experiments to study the effects of variation of ionic model parameters on the
propagation of electrical wave across the cardiac tissue. Time characteristic
of transmembrane potential, Vm,
in the normal cardiac tissue was obtained by setting the values of ionic model
parameters to 0.2, 0.2, 0.7 and 0.8 for excitation rate constant e1, recovery
rate constant e2, recovery
decay constant γ and excitation decay
constant β respectively. Changing the
values of e1, e2 to 0.04
and 0.28 respectively, the obtained Vm showed a time dilation at 0.04 indicating cardiac arrhythmia but no significant
change to Vm was observed
at 0.28. Also, changing β to 0.3 and
1.1 and γ to 0.4 and 1.2
sequentially, there was no significant change to the time characteristic of Vm. The obtained results
revealed that only decrease in e1, e2 impacted significantly
on the cardiac wave propagation.


Research in both machine learning and psychology suggests that salient examples can help humans to interpret learning models. To this end, we take a novel look at black box interpretation of test predictions in terms of training examples. Our goal is to ask `which training examples are most responsible for a given set of predictions'? To answer this question, we make use of Fisher kernels as the defining feature embedding of each data point, combined with Sequential Bayesian Quadrature (SBQ) for efficient selection of examples. In contrast to prior work, our method is able to seamlessly handle any sized subset of test predictions in a principled way. We theoretically analyze our approach, providing novel convergence bounds for SBQ over discrete candidate atoms. Our approach recovers the application of influence functions for interpretability as a special case yielding novel insights from this connection. We also present applications of the proposed approach to three use cases: cleaning training data, fixing mislabeled examples and data summarization.


Probability is usually estimated as a quotient of successful attempts and total attempts. This article introduces my own formula, whose estimates are consistently better. The motivation for writing this paper was an effort to make the best possible predictions of the future shooting percentages of ice hockey teams, so this topic is used throughout the entire work. The topic of this paper is both relevant within a statistical context and, simultaneously, will also appeal to all involved with ice hockey in general. In the last section I explain the role of shot quality in the NHL and show the weaknesses of popular ice hockey statistics, such as the Corsi. _KEYWORDS:_ probability estimation, regression to the mean, beta-binomial distribution, ice hockey


Among medical specialties, anesthesiology/postoperative care has one of the highest rates of malpractice claims. This article treats the responsibilities of interns and residents in anesthesiology, their supervisors, and the institutions where they practice and receive training.


In this study, a novel procedure to obtain the non-crosslinked, photoconductive, white form of the linear copolymer of N-vinyl carbazole (NVCz) and methyl ethyl ketone formaldehyde resin (MEKF-R) is reported. A possible mechanism of copolymerization is suggested. The yield of the copolymer is increased almost 10 times by the addition of catalytic amounts of ceric ammonium nitrate as an oxidant during the electrochemical polymerization of NVCz in the presence of MEKF-R in a divided electrochemical cell. Since cerium(III) is readily oxidized to cerium(IV) at the anode, the concentration of cerium(IV) remained constant and the deposition of green poly(NVCz) can be prevented. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The hemoglobin of the "thin" sibling species of Thyonella gemmata (phylum: Echinodermata; class: Holothuria) has three electrophoretically distinct polypeptide chains. In "stout" sibling species of T. gemmata there are only two chain types. These results account for the greater number of multiple hemoglobins in "thins" than in "stouts," as well as for differences in the amounts of some of the multiple hemoglobins when comparisons are mnade of hemolyzates of erythrocytes from the water vascular systemn and from the main body cavity of the "thin" but not the "stout" sibling species.


BACKGROUND
Data on drug utilisation patterns in nursing home populations is scarce. We aimed to describe drug use patterns in Danish nursing home residents.

METHODS
We established a cohort of 5,179 individuals (63% women; median age of 84 years) admitted into 94 nursing homes across Denmark during 2015-2017. Data on prescription drug use and other census data were obtained from the nationwide Danish health registries.

RESULTS
The total number of drug classes filled increased from a median of 6 drugs (interquartile range [IQR] 3-9) at 18-24 months before nursing home admission to a median of 8 drugs (IQR 6-11) just after admission, with the most common drug classes comprising paracetamol (61%), platelet inhibitors (41%), proton pump inhibitors (34%), statins (33%) and potassium supplements (31%). The incidence rate of new drug treatments increased from 21 new treatments/100 residents/month at 12-24 months before admission to a peak of 71 new treatments/100 residents/month in the month prior to admission, while it levelled off to about 34 new treatments/100 residents/month after 6-9 months. The drug classes primarily responsible for this peak were laxatives, antibiotics and analgesics. The largest absolute increases were seen for laxatives (53%), paracetamol (43%) and antidepressants (36%), all showing a marked increase up to and following admission. A high proportion of residents remained on therapy in the 3-year period following admission, with users of antidepressants and antidementia drugs being most persistent.

CONCLUSION
Nursing home admission is associated with an increase in use of both predominantly preventive and non-preventive drug classes.


This study compares the usability of a general heuristic evaluation to that of a domain-specific heuristic evaluation focused on technical documentation. Eight technical writers used both heuristic evaluations to identify usability problems in an online help application. The validity of the usability problems they identified was ascertained by user testing. No significant difference was found in overall effectiveness or efficiency. However, writers indicated greater satisfaction with the general heuristic evaluation, while the domain-specific heuristic evaluation was more effective in some categories and showed greater inter-rater agreement. Results suggest that differences in effectiveness were related to the level of detail of the heuristics. This study therefore recommends the incorporation of more detailed heuristics into heuristic evaluations.


Cosmopolitanism has become an integral part of social systems. Fashion consciousness is also a central aspect of the self of the fashion consumer. Thus, cosmopolitanism orientation may be one of the main determinants of fashion consciousness in the world at large regardless the geographical proximity. Most of the studies centred on cosmopolitanism, fashion consciousness, and fashion related products are based upon developed countries reflecting the seldom of developing country-based research. Addressing such gaps in the literature this scrutiny firstly aims to assess the degree of cosmopolitanism orientation in Sri Lankan young consumers, secondly to examine whether or not cosmopolitism orientation varies across the different ethnic groups, and thirdly to examine whether cosmopolitanism orientation discriminates the high from moderate, and moderate from low degree of fashion consciousness of Sri Lankan young educated consumers by performing Multiple Discriminant Analysis. A survey was carried out taking university students as the proxy for Sri Lankan younger generation. 663 usable questionnaires were used for the analysis. The result uncovers that Sri Lankan educated young consumers possess moderate degree of cosmopolitanism orientation and that Sinhalese are more open to Western Values than Tamil and Muslim Community. The results of Multiple Discriminant Analysis divulge that cosmopolitanism orientation discriminates the high from moderate, and moderate from low degree of fashion consciousness though the discriminating power is weak. Finally the paper makes important implications and suggestions for practitioners as well as for academics in the field of fashion and fashion related products. Keywords Cosmopolitanism Orientation, Fashion Consciousness, Fashion Products


In 2008 and 2009, the House of Representatives directed billions of dollars to the auto industry by passing a bailout and the "cash for clunkers" program. Moving beyond corporate influence via campaign contributions, we demonstrate that the presence of auto workers in a district strongly predicts legislative support for both bills. In addition to this critical legislation, we also analyze over 250 bills on which the auto industry either lobbied or took a public position. We find no patterns relating a district's workers or corporate campaign contributions to these votes on broader legislation where other groups, such as environmental advocates or labor unions, are at the table. Instead, the auto industry garners consistent support only on quasi-private, particularistic legislation. Thus, we contend that on particularistic legislation the presence of workers (not just campaign contributions) drives legislative support; however, when legislators expand the scope of conflict, the influence of a single industry is attentuated by other interests.


A distributed application that operates in an ad hoc network formed by mobile nodes must limit its use of all-to-all communication since the overall capacity of such a network is severely constrained. To address this problem, we describe an algorithm that allows an application to impose a hierarchical structure on the participating nodes. A simple tree is maintained as hosts join and leave the ad hoc network. We evaluate this algorithm in the context of a collaboration tool for a network of Linux laptops using IEEE 802.11b network cards. Preliminary performance results from our mobile test-bed indicate that the application responds well to connectivity changes and is sufficiently agile to run in a highly mobile environment.


We study the linearized Bogoliubov excitation spectrum of infinitely long anharmonically trapped Bose–Einstein condensates, with the aim of overcoming inhomogeneous broadening. We compare the Bogoliubov spectrum of a harmonic trap with that of a theoretical flat-bottom trap and find a significant reduction in the inhomogeneous broadening of the lineshape of Bogoliubov excitations. While the Bragg excitation spectrum for a condensate in a harmonic trap supports a number of radial modes, the flat trap is found to significantly support just one mode. We also study the excitation spectrum of realistic anharmonic traps with potentials of finite power dependence on the radial coordinate. We observe a correlation between the number of radial modes and the number of bound states in the effective potential of the quasi-particles. Finally, we compare a full numerical Gross–Pitaevskii simulation of a finite-length condensate to our model of infinite, linearized Gross–Pitaevskii excitations. We conclude that our model captures the essential physics.


Observational salinity data from the Global Temperature and Salinity Profile Program (GTSPP) are used to identify temporal and spatial variability of the upper ocean freshwater content (FWC). First, the optimal spectral decomposition (OSD) is used to build up monthly synoptic temperature and salinity data set from January 1990 to December 2009 on 1o×1o grids and the same 33 vertical levels as the World Ocean Atlas 2005. Then, the monthly varying upper layer FWC fields (F) with four different layer thicknesses (surface to 50, 100, 300, and 700 m depths) are obtained. Second, a composite analysis is conducted to obtain the totaltime mean FWC field ( F ) and the mean annual FWC variability ( F ), which is found an order of magnitude smaller than F . Third, an empirical orthogonal function (EOF) method is conducted on the residue data ( F̂ ), deviating from F + F , in order to obtain non-annual variability of the FWC fields. The first two EOF modes account for 63.6-76.4% and 6.7-6.8% of the variance for the four layer thicknesses, representing near-global scale (EOF-1, dominant mode) and northern-southern alternative (EOF-2, minor mode) freshening/salinization events. The near-global scale freshening/salinization has a decadal trend from salinization before 2002 to freshening after 2002. The northern-southern alternative freshening/salinization does not have evident trend.


Immune regulation is essential to fighting pathogens and tolerance to self and non-harmful (food and commensal) antigens. The immune system has several mechanisms in place to keep the immune system in balance. In this study some of these mechanisms are more closely investigated in health and disease. In autoimmune Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) immune regulation fails at the site of disease, with large pro-inflammatory cell infiltrates and inflammation. In the first part of this thesis potential mechanisms in regulating the severity of JIA are examined through analysis of previously acquired gene expression array data from oligoarticular JIA synovial fluid cells at the time of diagnosis, stratified by disease severity outcome after one year. Expression of three genes (SMAD3, ERRFI1 and VIPR1) was tested using RT-PCR. Particular focus was put on vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor type one (VIPR1), as it was expressed at lower levels and with an apparent variant at the inflamed site of JIA. Regulatory T cells (Treg) are one essential part of immune regulation. Recent studies have suggested some pro-inflammatory potential by Treg producing cytokines including IL-17 and IFN-γ. In this thesis Treg cytokine production was linked to CD161 expression. CD161+ Treg were characterized in health, throughout development and in JIA. CD161+ Treg showed a memory effector T cell like phenotype, including expression of transcription factors (Tbet, RORCv2). However CD161+ Treg were also potent suppressors in vitro and showed a predominantly demethylated Treg specific demethylated region (TSDR). CD161+ Treg appeared pathogen specific and behaved differently to TCR stimulation as CD161- Treg. Furthermore CD161+ Treg were highly enriched in the synovial fluid of JIA and correlated with disease. This thesis suggests that immune regulation is influenced by the inflammatory environment and has more facets to it, with cytokine-producing Treg playing an important part in health and disease.


Electricity suppliers have started replacing traditional electricity meters with so-called smart meters, which can transmit current power consumption levels to the supplier within short intervals. Though this is advantageous for the electricity suppliers' planning purposes, and also allows the customers a more detailed look at their usage behavior, it means a considerable risk for privacy. The detailed information can be used to judge whether persons are in the household, when they come home, which electric devices they use (e.g. when they watch TV), and so forth. In this work, we introduce the "smart metering privacy model" for measuring the degree of privacy that a smart metering application can provide. Moreover, we present two design solutions both with and without involvement of trusted third parties. We show that the solution with trusted party can provide "perfect privacy" under certain conditions.


Hwang, S. F., Ahmed, H. U., Turnbull, G. D., Gossen, B. D. and Strelkov, S. E. 2014. The effect of seed size, seed treatment, seeding date and depth on Rhizoctonia seedling blight of canola. Can. J. Plant Sci. 94: 311-321. Rhizoctonia solani can have a substantial impact on seedling establishment and productivity of canola (Brassica napus). The effects of seeding date, seeding depth, seed size, and seed treatment on seedling blight of canola were evaluated under greenhouse and field conditions. Early seeding resulted in higher seedling emergence in one trial year and higher seed yield in all trial years relative to a late-seeded treatment. Mid-sized seed (range 0.7-2.0 mm diam.) had greater seedling emergence in R. solani-inoculated growth medium in a greenhouse trial and higher seed yield in one of two field trials compared with smaller seed (<0.7 mm). In the greenhouse study, sowing of large seed resulted in greater plant height and shoot weight compared with sowing of smaller seed. The effect of seeding depth was significant only on shoot dry weight, which increased at a seeding depth of 2.6 cm. Seed treatment with Helix Xtra (thiamethoxam+difenconazole+metalaxyl+fludioxonil), and Prosper FX (clothianidin+carboxin+trifloxystrobin+metalaxyl) resulted in a significant increase in seedling emergence and yield compared with the inoculated control. These results indicate that fungicidal seed treatment can minimize the impact of R. solani on canola.


This study examines the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and institutional investor ownership, and the impact of this relation on stock return volatility. We find that institutional ownership does not strictly increase or decrease in CSR; rather, institutional ownership is a concave function of CSR. This evidence suggests that institutional investors do not see CSR as strictly value enhancing activities. Institutional investors adjust their percentage of ownership when CSR activities go beyond the perceived optimal level. Employing the path analysis, we also examine the mediating effect of institutional ownership on the relation between CSR and stock return volatility. We find that CSR decreases stock return volatility at a decreasing rate through its effect on institutional ownership. Our results remain robust under several different CSR measures and estimation methods.


Cover crops hold potential to improve soil quality, to recover residual fertilizer N in the soil after a summer crop that otherwise might leach to the groundwater, and to be a source of N for subsequently planted vegetable crops. The objective of this 5-year study was to determine the N uptake by winter cover crops and its effect on summer vegetable productivity. Winter cover crops [red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), cereal rye (Secale cereale L. var. Wheeler), a cereal rye/Austrian winter pea (Pisum sativum L.) mix, or a winter fallow control] were in a rotation with alternate years of sweet corn (Zea mays L. cv. Jubilee) and broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. Botrytis Group cv. Gem). The subplots were N rate (zero, intermediate, and as recommended for vegetable crop). Summer relay plantings of red clover or cereal rye were also used to gain early establishment of the cover crop. Cereal rye cover crops recovered residual fertilizer N at an average of 40 kg.ha -1 following the recommended N rates, but after 5 years of cropping, there was no evidence that the N conserved by the cereal rye cover crop would permit a reduction in inorganic N inputs to maintain yields. Intermediate rates of N applied to summer crops in combination with winter cover crops containing legumes produced vegetable yields similar to those with recommended rates of N in combination with winter fallow or cereal rye cover crops. There was a consistent trend (P < 0.12) for cereal rye cover crops to cause a small decrease in broccoli yields as compared to winter fallow.


Background: Advantages offered by canine population substructure, combined with clinical presentations similar to human disorders, makes the dog an attractive system for studies of cancer genetics. Cancers that have been difficult to study in human families or populations are of particular interest. Histiocytic sarcoma is a rare and poorly understood neoplasm in humans that occurs in 15% to 25% of Bernese Mountain Dogs (BMD). Methods: Genomic DNA was collected from affected and unaffected BMD in North America and Europe. Both independent and combined genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were used to identify cancer-associated loci. Fine mapping and sequencing narrowed the primary locus to a single gene region. Results: Both populations shared the same primary locus, which features a single haplotype spanning MTAP and part of CDKN2A and is present in 96% of affected BMD. The haplotype is within the region homologous to human chromosome 9p21, which has been implicated in several types of cancer. Conclusions: We present the first GWAS for histiocytic sarcoma in any species. The data identify an associated haplotype in the highly cited tumor suppressor locus near CDKN2A. These data show the power of studying distinctive malignancies in highly predisposed dog breeds. Impact: Here, we establish a naturally occurring model of cancer susceptibility due to CDKN2 dysregulation, thus providing insight about this cancer-associated, complex, and poorly understood genomic region. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 21(7); 1019–27. ©2012 AACR.


Renewable energy would become more topical as natural energy resources are depleted. Also a major global issue is the extent of solid waste generation of which biowaste is the main component and development of its bio-energy potential can address issues such as renewable energy and environmental pollution, simultaneously. Used paper is a primary component of biowaste with cellulose its dominant structural biopolymer. Various used paper materials have been treated with a cellulose hydrolyzing enzyme from Penicillium funiculosum to bioconvert their cellulose component into sugars such as glucose that could be utilized as feedstock for the synthesis of biodegradable products such as bio-ethanol. These paper materials exhibited nonsimilar susceptibilities toward this cellulase enzyme and consequently different sugar releasing and bioconversion efficiency patterns were obtained when changing quantities of each paper were treated with a fixed amount of enzyme. When a fixed amount of each paper material was trea...


In this study a newly developed method called the Progressing and Backcasting models were used to evaluate the annual resource utilizations of steel scrap in Sweden and globally. The model results show that it is possible to assess the amounts of steel scrap available for steelmaking at a given point in time, based on statistical dynamic material flow models. By a better mapping of the available amounts of steel scrap reserves on a country basis, it is possible to ease the trade of scrap across country boarders. This in turn can optimize the supply of recyclable metals as a raw material used in the industry. The results for Swedish steel consumption show that export bans used to secure the domestic market of steel scrap do damage the internal market due to increased amounts of losses. This suggests that export bans should be lifted to optimize recycling in countries. The model results also show that the global losses of steel are higher than for an industrialized country such as Sweden. Furthermore, the results show that the Backcasting and Progressing models can be used to calculate robust forecasts on the long term availability of steel scrap assets. This information could be used for future structural plans of scrap consuming steelmaking mills and waste management facilities. Hence, it is possible to contribute to a sustainable industrial development and a circular economy.


Aim: We examined body size scaling relationships for two developmental life stages of parasitic helminths (egg and adult) separately in relationship to latitude (i.e. Bergmann's rule), temperature and temperature seasonality. Given that helminth eggs experience environmental conditions more directly, whereas adults live inside infected host individuals, we predict stronger environmentally driven gradients of body size for eggs than for adults. Location: Global. Time period: Present day. Major taxa studied: Parasitic helminths. Methods: We compiled egg size and adult body size data (both minimum and maxi‐ mum) for 265 parasitic helminth species from the literature, along with species latitu‐ dinal distribution information using an extensive global helminth occurrence database. We then examined how the average helminth egg and adult body size of all helminth species present (minimum and maximum separately) scaled with latitude, tempera‐ ture and temperature variability, using generalized linear models. Results: Both the egg size and the adult body size of helminths tended to decrease towards higher latitudes, although we found the opposite body size scaling pattern for their host species. Helminth sizes were also positively correlated with tempera‐ ture and negatively, but more weakly, with temperature seasonality. Main conclusions: Instead of following the body size patterns of their hosts, helminth parasites are more similar to other ectotherms in that they follow the converse Bergmann's rule. This pattern did not differ between helminth developmental stages, suggesting that mean annual temperature and seasonality are unlikely to be related mechanistically to body size variation in this case.


This study examined the Efficiency Market hypothesis in its weak form using run tests, unit root tests and the Ljung-Box Q-statistics. The motivation was to determine whether foreign exchange rate returns follow a random walk. The data covered the period starting January 1994 to June 2007 for the daily closing spot price of the Kenya shillings per US dollar exchange rate. The main finding of this study is that the foreign exchange rate market is not efficient. The results showed that most of the rejections are due to significant patterns, trend stationarity and autocorrelation in foreign exchange returns. This is attributed to both exchange rate undershooting and overshooting phenomena.


Background Subjective cognitive complaints are prevalent in those affected by functional psychoses and a variety of possible associated factors have been investigated. However, few studies have examined these potential factors within single studies or analyses. Methods Patients with a history of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 115) and a non-clinical comparison group (n = 45) completed the Subjective Scale to Investigate Cognition in Schizophrenia (SSTICS) and the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS). The patient group also completed the Positive and Negative Syndromes Scale (PANSS), the Birchwood Insight Scale (IS), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results The BACS and SSTICS scores were associated in the non-clinical comparison group, but not in the patient group. In the patient group worse subjective cognition was associated positively with good insight, greater dysphoria and greater positive symptoms. Linear regression revealed that, once other variables had been accounted for, dysphoria (HADS anxiety and depression factor) was the only significant predictor of SSTICS scores. Conclusions Subjective cognitive impairment in patients with psychosis in the absence of formal testing should not be taken as evidence of impaired cognitive functioning. Mood should be investigated when patients present with subjective cognitive complaints.


Abstract Working with Old High German and Old Saxon texts has become rare in German language and literature studies. Nowadays, the brief introductions to historical linguistics and philology do not suffice to enable students to explore the oldest German texts in significant depth. A new tool could at least help move closer to this dept of textual exploration: an on-line publication of all Old High German and Old Saxon texts with a morphological word-by-word annotation. The data has been collected by the research project 'Old German Reference Corpus' ('Referenzkorpus Altdeutsch' / ReA) and can already be used for complex database queries. Within the framework of the 'eHumanities Centre for Historical Lexicography' (eHumanities-Zentrum für Historische Lexikographie / ZHistLex), it has been converted into a clearly arranged format, focusing on the information needed for comprehending the texts: the 'Lesekorpus Altdeutsch' (LeA). This tool can of course not replace the work with text editions, translations and commentaries, but will help pave the way from the first insight into the language to a profound understanding. Additionally, a supplemental both-way linking between every word token and the corresponding entry in the on-line dictionaries of historical German is being prepared.


Although Barack Obama's entrance into the 2008 presidential campaign has been warmly received by Whites, Blacks have been somewhat ambivalent. Some even have claimed that Obama is not "Black." The case of Barack Obama brings to the forefront the prospect of intragroup identity differences that exist among Blacks and the potential importance of a candidate's racial background in elections. Consequently, the authors ask the following questions: (a) Does the racial background of a political candidate affect Black voters' support and evaluation of a candidate's personal attributes (i.e., trust, concern, strength, and qualification)? and (b) Focusing purely on the treatment groups separately (White, biracial, and Black candidates), does Black identity affect Blacks' support and evaluation of a candidate's personal attributes? The experimental results of this exploratory study find race does make a difference on candidate support, and Black identity influences the way in which Black respondents perceive White, biracial, and Black candidates. As a result, these findings suggest that differences in how Blacks feel about a candidate will depend on the candidate's racial background, their own attitudes and beliefs about being Black, and where they fall on various demographic and political measures.