Exploring Situational Interest Sources in the French Physical Education Context

Science.gov (United States)

Roure, Cédric; Pasco, Denis

2018-01-01

Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that situational interest possesses strong motivation potential for students in physical education. Understanding how teachers can use situational interest in a classroom context is critical to motivate students. However, such investigations have been exclusively conducted in the United States…

Identifying regions of interest in medical images using self-organizing maps.

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Wei-Guang; Chang, Ping-Lin

2012-10-01

Advances in data acquisition, processing and visualization techniques have had a tremendous impact on medical imaging in recent years. However, the interpretation of medical images is still almost always performed by radiologists. Developments in artificial intelligence and image processing have shown the increasingly great potential of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD). Nevertheless, it has remained challenging to develop a general approach to process various commonly used types of medical images (e.g., X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound images). To facilitate diagnosis, we recommend the use of image segmentation to discover regions of interest (ROI) using self-organizing maps (SOM). We devise a two-stage SOM approach that can be used to precisely identify the dominant colors of a medical image and then segment it into several small regions. In addition, by appropriately conducting the recursive merging steps to merge smaller regions into larger ones, radiologists can usually identify one or more ROIs within a medical image.

What killed Alexander the Great?

Science.gov (United States)

Battersby, Cameron

2007-01-01

The cause of the death of the Macedonian King, Alexander the Great, at Babylon in 323 BC has excited interest and conjecture throughout the ages. The information available in the surviving ancient sources, none of which is contemporaneous, has been reviewed and compared with modern knowledge as set out in several well-known recent surgical texts. The ancient sources record epic drinking by the Macedonian nobility since at least the time of Phillip II, Alexander's father. Alexander's sudden illness and death is likely to have resulted from a surgical complication of acute alcoholic excess.

Credit risk exposure with interest and currency swaps

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coppes, R.C.; Stokking, E.J.

1996-01-01

The increased use of financial derivatives like interest rate and currency swap contracts has drawn much attention, as it exposes banks to non-performance by their counterparts. This credit risk exposure is of great concern to monetary authorities, e.g. the Bank for International Settlements. Ln

Interesting Interest Points

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aanæs, Henrik; Dahl, Anders Lindbjerg; Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup

2012-01-01

on spatial invariance of interest points under changing acquisition parameters by measuring the spatial recall rate. The scope of this paper is to investigate the performance of a number of existing well-established interest point detection methods. Automatic performance evaluation of interest points is hard......Not all interest points are equally interesting. The most valuable interest points lead to optimal performance of the computer vision method in which they are employed. But a measure of this kind will be dependent on the chosen vision application. We propose a more general performance measure based...... position. The LED illumination provides the option for artificially relighting the scene from a range of light directions. This data set has given us the ability to systematically evaluate the performance of a number of interest point detectors. The highlights of the conclusions are that the fixed scale...

Deviation from Covered Interest Rate Parity in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seungho Lee

2003-06-01

Full Text Available This paper tested the factors which cause deviation from covered interest rate parity (CIRP in Korea, using regression and VAR models. The empirical evidence indicates that the difference between the swap rate and interest rate differential exists and is greatly affected by variables which represent the currency liquidity situation of foreign exchange banks. In other words, the deviation from CIRP can easily occur due to the lack of foreign exchange liquidity of banks in a thin market, despite few capital constraints, small transaction costs, and trivial default risk in Korea.

[Lumbar disc herniation: Natural history, role of physical examination, timing of surgery, treatment options and conflicts of interests].

Science.gov (United States)

Delgado-López, Pedro David; Rodríguez-Salazar, Antonio; Martín-Alonso, Javier; Martín-Velasco, Vicente

Indication for surgery in lumbar disc herniation (LDH) varies widely depending on the geographical area. A literature review is presented on the natural history, role of physical examination, timing of surgery, evidence-based treatment, and conflicts of interests in LDH. Surgery is shown to provide significant faster relief of pain compared to conservative therapy, although the effect fades after a year. There is no treatment modality better than the rest in terms of pain control and neurological recovery, nor is there a surgical technique clearly superior to simple discectomy. The lack of sound scientific evidence on the surgical indication may contribute to its great geographical variability. Since LDH has a favourable natural history, neuroimaging and surgery should not be considered until after a 6-week period. It is necessary to specify and respect the surgical indications for LDH, avoiding conflicts of interests. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Neurocirugía. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Did Alexander the Great die of acute pancreatitis?

Science.gov (United States)

Sbarounis, C N

1997-06-01

I propose that Alexander the Great died of acute pancreatitis secondary to heavy alcohol consumption and a very rich meal. The cause of death of prominent historic or artistic figures attracts considerable interest of historians and researchers. This is especially the case for Alexander the Great. More than 20,000 publications, books, or monographs on the life and work of Alexander the Great have been published. There are several theories and hypotheses regarding the cause of his death, that are based on historic descriptions, diaries, notations, and interpretations of events. It is inevitable that history and myth intermingle in any investigative approach, no matter how scholarly. In this article, on the basis of several historic sources. I have made an effort to reconstruct the final 14 days of his life and record the course of medical events that preceded his death with the formulation of a plausible diagnosis.

The Great Recession was not so Great

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ours, J.C.

2015-01-01

The Great Recession is characterized by a GDP-decline that was unprecedented in the past decades. This paper discusses the implications of the Great Recession analyzing labor market data from 20 OECD countries. Comparing the Great Recession with the 1980s recession it is concluded that there is a

Volatility co-movement and the great moderation: An empirical analysis

OpenAIRE

Mumtaz, Haroon; Theodoridis, Konstantinos

2016-01-01

We propose an extended time-varying parameter Vector Autoregression that allows for an evolving relationship between the variances of the shocks. Using this model, we show that the relationship between the conditional variance of GDP growth and the long-term interest rate has become weaker over time in the US. Similarly, the co-movement between the variance of the long-term interest rate across the US and the UK declined over the 'Great Moderation' period. In contrast, the volatility of US an...

The Optimal Interest Rates and the Current Interest Rate System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioannis N. Kallianiotis

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the current target interest rate, which is closed to zero with the new experiment of quantitative easing since 2009 and has reduced the rate of return and the income and has made the real savings rate negative. This target rate has not reduced unemployment and has not improved growth (it is not optimal, but has increased the debt of individuals and the low taxes on businesses have magnified the budget deficits and the national debt. People were borrowing the present value of their uncertain future wealth and their high debt and low income raise the risk and this high risk premium heighten the interest rate on loans, especially on credit cards. The current monetary system needs to be changed and an interest rate floor on deposits (savings and an interest rate ceiling on individuals‟ loans (borrowings is necessary to improve social welfare, fairness, and justice in our society and not to support only disintermediation (financial markets. The middle class cannot work only to pay taxes and interest on its debt (redistribution of their wealth to government and banks or worse to be in chronic unemployment. Many home owners defaulted on their loans payments and their homes are foreclosed. They will end up without property (real assets. The unconcern towards the middle class will affect negatively the entire socio-economic structure of the nation and after losing its productive power, it will start declining, as history has shown to us with so many empires that do not exist anymore. We hope the leaders (the democratic governments to improve public policies, to regulate the financial market and institutions, and to satisfy their policy ultimate objective, which is citizens‟ perfection and the nation‟s highest point of prosperity.

A zero-sum monetary system, interest rates, and implications

OpenAIRE

Hanley, Brian P.

2015-01-01

To the knowledge of the author, this is the first time it has been shown that interest rates that are extremely high by modern standards (100% and higher) are necessary within a zero-sum monetary system, and not just driven by greed. Extreme interest rates that appeared in various places and times reinforce the idea that hard money may have contributed to high rates of interest. Here a model is presented that examines the interest rate required to succeed as an investor in a zero-sum fixed qu...

Great apes prefer cooked food.

Science.gov (United States)

Wobber, Victoria; Hare, Brian; Wrangham, Richard

2008-08-01

The cooking hypothesis proposes that a diet of cooked food was responsible for diverse morphological and behavioral changes in human evolution. However, it does not predict whether a preference for cooked food evolved before or after the control of fire. This question is important because the greater the preference shown by a raw-food-eating hominid for the properties present in cooked food, the more easily cooking should have been adopted following the control of fire. Here we use great apes to model food preferences by Paleolithic hominids. We conducted preference tests with various plant and animal foods to determine whether great apes prefer food items raw or cooked. We found that several populations of captive apes tended to prefer their food cooked, though with important exceptions. These results suggest that Paleolithic hominids would likewise have spontaneously preferred cooked food to raw, exapting a pre-existing preference for high-quality, easily chewed foods onto these cooked items. The results, therefore, challenge the hypothesis that the control of fire preceded cooking by a significant period.

River basin management and estuarine needs: the Great Brak case study

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Huizinga, P

1995-01-01

Full Text Available The study of the effect of the Wolwedans Dam on the Great Brak Estuary and the development of the management plan to maintain a healthy environment yielded many interesting results. The general conclusion is that developments in a catchment...

Pricing real estate index options under stochastic interest rates

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Pu; Dai, Jun

2017-08-01

Real estate derivatives as new financial instruments are not merely risk management tools but also provide a novel way to gain exposure to real estate assets without buying or selling the physical assets. Although real estate derivatives market has exhibited a rapid development in recent years, the valuation challenge of real estate derivatives remains a great obstacle for further development in this market. In this paper, we derive a partial differential equation contingent on a real estate index in a stochastic interest rate environment and propose a modified finite difference method that adopts the non-uniform grids to solve this problem. Numerical results confirm the efficiency of the method and indicate that constant interest rate models lead to the mispricing of options and the effects of stochastic interest rates on option prices depend on whether the term structure of interest rates is rising or falling. Finally, we have investigated and compared the different effects of stochastic interest rates on European and American option prices.

Interest rates and coupon bonds in quantum finance

CERN Document Server

Baaquie, Belal E

2009-01-01

The economic crisis of 2008 has shown that the capital markets need new theoretical and mathematical concepts to describe and price financial instruments. Focusing almost exclusively on interest rates and coupon bonds, this book does not employ stochastic calculus - the bedrock of the present day mathematical finance - for any of the derivations. Instead, it analyzes interest rates and coupon bonds using quantum finance. The Heath-Jarrow-Morton and the Libor Market Model are generalized by realizing the forward and Libor interest rates as an imperfectly correlated quantum field. Theoretical models have been calibrated and tested using bond and interest rates market data. Building on the principles formulated in the author's previous book (Quantum Finance, Cambridge University Press, 2004) this ground-breaking book brings together a diverse collection of theoretical and mathematical interest rate models. It will interest physicists and mathematicians researching in finance, and professionals working in the fin...

Global patterns in students' views of science and interest in science

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Griethuijsen, R.A.L.F.; van Eijck, M.W.; Haste, H.; den Brok, P.J.; Skinner, N.C.; Mansour, N.; Gencer, A.S.; BouJaoude, S.B.

2015-01-01

International studies have shown that interest in science and technology among primary and secondary school students in Western European countries is low and seems to be decreasing. In many countries outside Europe, and especially in developing countries, interest in science and technology remains

can Money Matter for Interest Rate Policy?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brueckner, M.; Schabert, A.

2006-01-01

In this paper it is shown that money can matter for macroeconomic stability under interest rate policy when transactions frictions are non-negligible. We develop a sticky price model with a shopping time function, which induces the marginal utility of consumption to depend on the (predetermined)

Great auricular neuropraxia with beach chair position

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joshi M

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Minal Joshi,1 Ruth Cheng,2 Hattiyangadi Kamath,1 Joel Yarmush1 1Department of Anesthesiology, New York Methodist Hospital, New York, NY, USA; 2School of Medicine, St. George’s University, Grenada, West Indies Abstract: Shoulder arthroscopy has been shown to be the procedure of choice for many diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Neuropraxia of the great auricular nerve (GAN is an uncommon complication of shoulder surgery, with the patient in the beach chair position. We report a case of great auricular neuropraxia associated with direct compression by a horseshoe headrest, used in routine positioning for uncomplicated shoulder surgery. In this case, an arthroscopic approach was taken, under regional anesthesia with sedation in the beach chair position. The GAN, a superficial branch of the cervical plexus, is vulnerable to neuropraxia due to its superficial anatomical location. We recommend that for the procedures of the beach chair position, the auricle be protected and covered with cotton and gauze to avoid direct compression and the position of the head and neck be checked and corrected frequently. Keywords: neuropraxia, anesthesia, arthroscopy, great auricular nerve

MICRO- AND NANOENCAPSULATION VIA ELECTRO-HYDRODYNAMIC PROCESSING OF INTEREST IN FOOD APPLICATIONS

OpenAIRE

PÉREZ MASIÁ, ROCÍO

2016-01-01

Micro- and nanoencapsulation have generated great interest over the last years in multiple fields. Particularly in the food industry, this technology presents potential applications for the development of smart packaging structures, as well as for the protection of sensitive ingredients and the production of novel healthy foods. Therefore, in this thesis, the development of different encapsulation structures of interest in the food area was carried out. Specifically, c...

Awareness, Interest, and Preferences of Primary Care Providers in Using Point-of-Care Cancer Screening Technology.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Chloe S; Vanture, Sarah; Cho, Margaret; Klapperich, Catherine M; Wang, Catharine; Huang, Franklin W

2016-01-01

Well-developed point-of-care (POC) cancer screening tools have the potential to provide better cancer care to patients in both developed and developing countries. However, new medical technology will not be adopted by medical providers unless it addresses a population's existing needs and end-users' preferences. The goals of our study were to assess primary care providers' level of awareness, interest, and preferences in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice and to provide guidelines to biomedical engineers for future POC technology development. A total of 350 primary care providers completed a one-time self-administered online survey, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete. A $50 Amazon gift card was given as an honorarium for the first 100 respondents to encourage participation. The description of POC cancer screening technology was provided in the beginning of the survey to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of what constitutes POC technology. More than half of the participants (57%) stated that they heard of the term "POC technology" for the first time when they took the survey. However, almost all of the participants (97%) stated they were either "very interested" (68%) or "somewhat interested" (29%) in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice. Demographic characteristics such as the length of being in the practice of medicine, the percentage of patients on Medicaid, and the average number of patients per day were not shown to be associated with the level of interest in using POC. These data show that there is a great interest in POC cancer screening technology utilization among this population of primary care providers and vast room for future investigations to further understand the interest and preferences in using POC cancer technology in practice. Ensuring that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs will maximize the likelihood it will be used by medical providers and patients.

The economics interests In Football

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raúl Fustes-Ross

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The football is the most popular sport in the Word and the economics interests have been fundamentals in his increase and expansion; this idea is confirmed by the numerous competitions for even sexes with categories from National Championships to regional events, continentals, intercontinental, Olympic Games and World Cup from majors, the most important event where showed the most expensive and important merchandise: the players. All this sport mechanism is capitalized by the owners clubs, business trade associations and greats corporations in the host cities, the nations participating also those without participation but with many fans. Each and every one are customers, is a chance for increase the sales.

“Democratic Government”, Interest Groups and American Trade Politics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhanyu Dong

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The study of American trade politics is of great significance when interpreting U.S.A. trade policies and understanding China-U.S.A. trade relations. In order to explain the mechanism of American trade politics, this paper constructs a new analytical framework of “democratic government-interest groups”, which argues that U.S.A. trade policies are not only the choices made by the democratic government between state interests and political private benefits, but also the outcomes of interaction between the U.S.A. government and interest groups. The case study of the U.S.A. trade policies toward China since the new century also demonstrates how the interaction between the government and interest groups ultimately shapes trade policies. Therefore, we need to understand the logic of American trade politics, generate more mutual benefits for our two countries, and work together to promote the bilateral free trade as well as the bilateral relations between China and the U.S.A.

Deep Learning Methods for Quantifying Invasive Benthic Species in the Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Billings, G.; Skinner, K.; Johnson-Roberson, M.

2017-12-01

In recent decades, invasive species such as the round goby and dreissenid mussels have greatly impacted the Great Lakes ecosystem. It is critical to monitor these species, model their distribution, and quantify the impacts on the native fisheries and surrounding ecosystem in order to develop an effective management response. However, data collection in underwater environments is challenging and expensive. Furthermore, the round goby is typically found in rocky habitats, which are inaccessible to standard survey techniques such as bottom trawling. In this work we propose a robotic system for visual data collection to automatically detect and quantify invasive round gobies and mussels in the Great Lakes. Robotic platforms equipped with cameras can perform efficient, cost-effective, low-bias benthic surveys. This data collection can be further optimized through automatic detection and annotation of the target species. Deep learning methods have shown success in image recognition tasks. However, these methods often rely on a labelled training dataset, with up to millions of labelled images. Hand labeling large numbers of images is expensive and often impracticable. Furthermore, data collected in the field may be sparse when only considering images that contain the objects of interest. It is easier to collect dense, clean data in controlled lab settings, but this data is not a realistic representation of real field environments. In this work, we propose a deep learning approach to generate a large set of labelled training data realistic of underwater environments in the field. To generate these images, first we draw random sample images of individual fish and mussels from a library of images captured in a controlled lab environment. Next, these randomly drawn samples will be automatically merged into natural background images. Finally, we will use a generative adversarial network (GAN) that incorporates constraints of the physical model of underwater light propagation

Stock Market Capitalisation and Interest Rate in Nigeria: A Time ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Obviously for the Nigerian capital market to enhance economic growth and development and compare favourably with those of developed market economies, investors will need to be abreast with the happenings and great benefits of the stock market. In this case a lot depends on considerable control of the interest rate, the ...

The great battles of the energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chevalier, J.M.

2004-10-01

This book presents an introduction to the great world energy challenges. The first part of this book, is devoted to the energy sources history with a special interest for the petroleum. The advantages and disadvantages of the energy sources as the natural gas, the coal, the nuclear power and the renewable energies, are also discussed. Two chapters are devoted to the analysis of the energy sectors deregulation in Europe, in particular the electric power market. The last part proposes to discuss on the twenty century challenge: how to reconcile the energy demand, the environment protection and the developing countries economic development? (A.L.B.)

The Components of Great Sex: Sexuality Education for People Who Desire to Scale the Heights of Optimal Sexuality

Science.gov (United States)

Wampold, Charles H.

2014-01-01

Ubiquitous "sex tips" in popular media evidence an unquenchable public interest in learning how to experience "great sex," and studies confirm that a great sexual relationship correlates to general relationship satisfaction, which in turn correlates to overall happiness. However, sexologists have paid scant attention to…

Interest rates in quantum finance: the Wilson expansion and Hamiltonian.

Science.gov (United States)

Baaquie, Belal E

2009-10-01

Interest rate instruments form a major component of the capital markets. The Libor market model (LMM) is the finance industry standard interest rate model for both Libor and Euribor, which are the most important interest rates. The quantum finance formulation of the Libor market model is given in this paper and leads to a key generalization: all the Libors, for different future times, are imperfectly correlated. A key difference between a forward interest rate model and the LMM lies in the fact that the LMM is calibrated directly from the observed market interest rates. The short distance Wilson expansion [Phys. Rev. 179, 1499 (1969)] of a Gaussian quantum field is shown to provide the generalization of Ito calculus; in particular, the Wilson expansion of the Gaussian quantum field A(t,x) driving the Libors yields a derivation of the Libor drift term that incorporates imperfect correlations of the different Libors. The logarithm of Libor phi(t,x) is defined and provides an efficient and compact representation of the quantum field theory of the Libor market model. The Lagrangian and Feynman path integrals of the Libor market model of interest rates are obtained, as well as a derivation given by its Hamiltonian. The Hamiltonian formulation of the martingale condition provides an exact solution for the nonlinear drift of the Libor market model. The quantum finance formulation of the LMM is shown to reduce to the industry standard Bruce-Gatarek-Musiela-Jamshidian model when the forward interest rates are taken to be exactly correlated.

Congress and National Security: Interest, Influence and Speed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

but instead a quick response in a period of already great distrust of the executive branch in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate . Congress had...Option,” Foreign Policy 39 (1980): 143–153. 22 continue to dominate the debate through the Iran-Contra scandal .49 Loch Johnson concludes, “the...Princeton University Press, 2007), 48–49. 23 Lindsay cites the Iran-Contra scandal as another interesting oversight dilemma. Although the

Great Expectations: The Persistent Effect of Institutions on Culture

OpenAIRE

Litina, Anastasia

2014-01-01

This research exploits the event of immigration to establish that institutions have a persistent effect on culture. It is argued that immigrants coming from corrupt countries, tend to overtrust the institutions at the host country. This inflated trust of immigrants is documented as the Great Expectations effect. This result is interesting and intriguing for several reasons. First, it highlights the persistent effect of institutions (at the origin coun- try) on the cultural attitudes of immigr...

Revisiting Uncovered Interest Rate Parity: Switching Between UIP and the Random Walk

NARCIS (Netherlands)

R. Huisman (Ronald); R.J. Mahieu (Ronald)

2007-01-01

textabstractIn this paper, we examine in which periods uncovered interest rate parity was likely to hold. Empirical research has shown mixed evidence on UIP. The main finding is that it doesn’t hold, although some researchers were not able to reject UIP in periods with large interest differentials

China in search of 'legitimate' great power intervention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Camilla T. N.

2016-01-01

Thanks to Beijing’s expanding global role and interests, it is no longer possible for China to follow its traditional ‘lay low’ [tao guang yang hui] strategy and the traditionally rather strict interpretation of the principle of non-intervention. Consequently, among Chinese International Relations...... (IR) scholars there is an intense debate on how China can protect and promote its global presence and interests while at the same time continuing to ‘stay within’ the principle of non-intervention. New concepts and approaches are developing as the debate progresses. Current Chinese foreign...... and security policy reflects a more flexible and pragmatic Chinese interpretation – and implementation – of the principle of non-intervention. This chapter examines the search for ‘legitimate’ great-power intervention that characterizes both the debate among Chinese IR scholars and current Chinese foreign...

BANKING WITHOUT INTEREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Ilieva

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there has been increased global awareness of Islamic finance. This topic is mainly opened with respect to the great financial crisis that mostly hit the banking system and the financial markets and caused many bank bankruptcies and state interventions. This paper analyzes the basic principles of Islamic banking. The absolute prohibition of receiving and giving interest (Riba and profit-and-loss sharing (PLS paradigms are elaborated in detail; they are primarily based on mudarabah (profit-sharing and musyarakah (joint venture concepts which nowadays are becoming an accepted way of doing business in several Western multinational banks. An overall comparison of the advantages of Islamic vs. conventional banking is also given. Islamic finance technology solutions have matured and they will face various challenges in the following decades, due to conventional banks offering, increasingly, Islamic products. The need for a more comprehensive environment and regulatory framework is emphasized, so that Islamic banking development can be ensured.

The balancing of interests in environmental-law in the case of public interest in the use of renewable energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unterpertinger, L.

2015-01-01

This study examines the conflict between the public interests in the use of renewable energy on the one hand and environmental protection on the other hand. Considering the current legal situation, the first part of the thesis elaborates on what theses concrete public interests are, and how they are regulated by law. Likewise, it shall be asked to what extent the legislator defines overriding public interests, and its impact on balance of interests. The second part focuses on balance of interests from an administrative law perspective. It overviews the current debates on whether balance of interests is meant to have discretion. In this context, the recent establishment of a two-level administrative jurisdiction has posed new questions. It is, therefore, necessary to conduct a profound analysis of the administrative control. With reference to the case law of the Administrative Court, it will also be shown that balance of interests is based on a proportional assessment. Moreover, with respect to the administrative procedures for hydropower projects, there is a relevant provision in the Austrian Water Act, which has specific characteristics, yet was interpreted inconsistently up to this point. Thus, this provision will be examined in detail. The relevant administrative body does not only use legal provisions, but also criteria documents which are internal administrative regulations. Those documents will be further discussed as well. (author) [de

A Simple Account of the Behavior of Long-Term Interest Rates.

OpenAIRE

Campbell, John Y; Shiller, Robert J

1984-01-01

Recent empirical research on the term structure of interest rates has shown that the long-term interest rate is well described by a distributed lag on short-term interest rates, but does not conform to the expectations theory of the term structure. It has been suggested that the long rate "overreacts" to the short rate. This paper presents aunified taxonomy of risk premia, or deviations from the expectations theory. This enables the hypothesis of overreaction to be formally stated. It is show...

Dependent interest and transition rates in life insurance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buchardt, Kristian

2014-01-01

For market consistent life insurance liabilities modelled with a multi-state Markov chain, it is of importance to consider the interest and transition rates as stochastic processes, for example in order to consider hedging possibilities of the risks, and for risk measurement. In the literature......, this is usually done with an assumption of independence between the interest and transition rates. In this paper, it is shown how to valuate life insurance liabilities using affine processes for modelling dependent interest and transition rates. This approach leads to the introduction of so-called dependent...... forward rates. We propose a specific model for surrender modelling, and within this model the dependent forward rates are calculated, and the market value and the Solvency II capital requirement are examined for a simple savings contract....

Great Apes

Science.gov (United States)

Sleeman, Jonathan M.; Cerveny, Shannon

2014-01-01

Anesthesia of great apes is often necessary to conduct diagnostic analysis, provide therapeutics, facilitate surgical procedures, and enable transport and translocation for conservation purposes. Due to the stress of remote delivery injection of anesthetic agents, recent studies have focused on oral delivery and/or transmucosal absorption of preanesthetic and anesthetic agents. Maintenance of the airway and provision of oxygen is an important aspect of anesthesia in great ape species. The provision of analgesia is an important aspect of the anesthesia protocol for any procedure involving painful stimuli. Opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often administered alone, or in combination to provide multi-modal analgesia. There is increasing conservation management of in situ great ape populations, which has resulted in the development of field anesthesia techniques for free-living great apes for the purposes of translocation, reintroduction into the wild, and clinical interventions.

Low-dose glyphosate does not control annual bromes in the northern Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Annual bromes (downy brome and Japanese brome) have been shown to decrease perennial grass forage production and alter ecosystem functions in northern Great Plains rangelands. Large-scale chemical control might be a method for increasing rangeland forage production if low application rates confer co...

What Googling Trends Tell Us About Public Interest in Earthquakes

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Y. J.; Maharjan, R.

2017-12-01

Previous studies have shown that immediately after large earthquakes, there is a period of increased public interest. This represents a window of opportunity for science communication and disaster relief fundraising efforts to reach more people. However, how public interest varies for different earthquakes has not been quantified systematically on a global scale. We analyze how global search interest for the term "earthquake" on Google varies following earthquakes of magnitude ≥ 5.5 from 2004 to 2016. We find that there is a spike in search interest after large earthquakes followed by an exponential temporal decay. Preliminary results suggest that the period of increased search interest scales with death toll and correlates with the period of increased media coverage. This suggests that the relationship between the period of increased public interest in earthquakes and death toll might be an effect of differences in media coverage. However, public interest never remains elevated for more than three weeks. Therefore, to take advantage of this short period of increased public interest, science communication and disaster relief fundraising efforts have to act promptly following devastating earthquakes.

Awareness, Interest, and Preferences of Primary Care Providers in Using Point-of-Care Cancer Screening Technology.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chloe S Kim

Full Text Available Well-developed point-of-care (POC cancer screening tools have the potential to provide better cancer care to patients in both developed and developing countries. However, new medical technology will not be adopted by medical providers unless it addresses a population's existing needs and end-users' preferences. The goals of our study were to assess primary care providers' level of awareness, interest, and preferences in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice and to provide guidelines to biomedical engineers for future POC technology development. A total of 350 primary care providers completed a one-time self-administered online survey, which took approximately 10 minutes to complete. A $50 Amazon gift card was given as an honorarium for the first 100 respondents to encourage participation. The description of POC cancer screening technology was provided in the beginning of the survey to ensure all participants had a basic understanding of what constitutes POC technology. More than half of the participants (57% stated that they heard of the term "POC technology" for the first time when they took the survey. However, almost all of the participants (97% stated they were either "very interested" (68% or "somewhat interested" (29% in using POC cancer screening technology in their practice. Demographic characteristics such as the length of being in the practice of medicine, the percentage of patients on Medicaid, and the average number of patients per day were not shown to be associated with the level of interest in using POC. These data show that there is a great interest in POC cancer screening technology utilization among this population of primary care providers and vast room for future investigations to further understand the interest and preferences in using POC cancer technology in practice. Ensuring that the benefits of new technology outweigh the costs will maximize the likelihood it will be used by medical providers and

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Great Lakes Mussel Watch(2009-2014)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Following the inception of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to address the significant environmental issues plaguing the Great Lakes region, the...

The Great Gorilla Jump: An Introduction to Riemann Sums and Definite Integrals

Science.gov (United States)

Sealey, Vicki; Engelke, Nicole

2012-01-01

The great gorilla jump is an activity designed to allow calculus students to construct an understanding of the structure of the Riemann sum and definite integral. The activity uses the ideas of position, velocity, and time to allow students to explore familiar ideas in a new way. Our research has shown that introducing the definite integral as…

Model dependencies of risk aversion and working interest estimates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lerche, I.

1996-01-01

Working interest, W, and risk adjusted value, RAV, are evaluated using both Cozzolino's formula for exponential dependence of risk aversion and also for a hyperbolic tangent dependence. In addition, the general method is given of constructing an RAV formula for any functional choice of risk aversion dependence. Two examples are given to illustrate how the model dependencies influence choices of working interest and risk adjusted value depending on whether the expected value of the project is positive or negative. In general the Cozzolino formula provides a more conservative position for risk than does the hyperbolic tangent formula, reflecting the difference in corporate attitudes to risk aversion. The commonly used Cozzolino formula is shown to have simple exact arithmetic expressions for maximum working interest and maximum RAV; the hyperbolic tangent formula has approximate analytic expressions. Both formulae also yield approximate analytical expressions for the working interest yielding a risk neutral RAV of zero. These arithmetic results are useful for making quick estimates of working interest ranges and risk adjusted values. (Author)

The Milky Way and the Local Group: playing with great circles.

Science.gov (United States)

Fusi Pecci, F.; Bellazzini, M.; Ferraro, F. R.

The small group of recently discovered galactic globular clusters (Pal 12, Ter 7, Rup 106, Arp 2) significantly younger than the average cluster population of the Galaxy are shown to lie near great circles passing in the proximity of most satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. Assuming that these great circles are in some way preferential planes of interaction between the Galaxy and its companions, the authors identified along one of them another candidate "young" globular cluster, IC 4499. Within this observational framework, the possibility that the sample of young globulars found in the halo of the Galaxy could have been captured from a satellite galaxy or formed during a close interaction between the Milky Way and one of its companions is briefly discussed.

DEBT AMORTIZATION AND SIMPLE INTEREST: THE CASE OF PAYMENTS IN AN ARITHMETIC PROGRESSION

OpenAIRE

Clovis José Daudt Lyra Darrigue Faro

2014-01-01

With the argument that, necessarily, compound interest implies anatocism, the Brazilian Judiciary has been determining that, specially for the case of  debt amortization in accordance with the so called Tabela Price, when we have constant payments, the use of simple interest. With the same determination occurring in the case of the Constant Amortization Scheme, when the payments follow arithmetic progressions.  However, as simple interest lacks the property of time subdivision, it is shown th...

THE POSITION OF INTEREST IN SPORTS AND RECREATION OF 7th GRADE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE FACTOR ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT INTEREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Milošević

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Personal interests carry a great potential and are usually a drive to act. Therefore they usually point towards the activity of an individual in his interest area. An insight into the position of the interest in sports and recreation among other interests can be obtained by inspecting the interests of 7th grade elementary school students from Sremska Mitrovica and Jagodina. The sample consisted of 736 7th grade elementary school students of both genders. A non-experimental study of the students’ interests was done using a questionnaire that consisted of 5 interest indicators: job preference, self-estimation of affinity, use of free time, direct self-estimation of interests and reaction to key words-stimuli. Each indicator had 30 items that asses 30 interests. A t test was used to inspect the level of interest in sports and recreation. Also, factor analysis was done for each indicator separately. The reason for this approach is that there is no real confirmation that these 5 indicators are well suited for assessing the interests of young persons in the time we live in. Students’ interest in sports and recreation is about 4 on the scale of 1 to 5, on each of the indicators. The data shows that the interest of 7th grade elementary school students in sports and recreation is closely linked to interest in military, these two interests belong to the same factor regardless of the way the interests are assessed, that is, they belong to the same factor on each of the 5 indicators. The interest in adventure belongs to the same factor as the interest in sports and recreation on 4 out of 5 indicators, and interest in humor, interest in travel and hedonistic interest on 3 out of 5 indicators. These results might indicate that the motives for engaging in sports and recreation are unstable, because this composition of relatedness of the interests can be interpreted as the factor of fun. If that is so, these findings alert to the importance of building a

Creating a tsunami disaster archive of the Great Northeastern Japan earthquake using images uploaded to the internet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, N; Takehara, A

2014-01-01

We think that the that the experiences from the disaster caused by the Great Northeastern Earthquake in Japan must be of great interest to people not only in the stricken areas but in the whole of Japan and the whole world. Accordingly, we tried to create a method to preserve the digital images of Great Northeastern Earthquake for the next generation. The Creative Commons License may be one of the most useful solutions to avoid complicated processes when a person other than authors would like to build a disaster archive using images uploaded to the Internet

The Special Interest Tourism Development and the Small Regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drita Kruja

2011-04-01

Full Text Available It is easy to attract visitors when you have plenty of resources, nice accommodations, powerful selling techniques, many supporting sectors and of course reliable government support. The challenge starts when you lack most of the above and what you have is only a handful of beautiful natural resources, breathtaking sceneries, goodwill and a great desire and pride to show those visitors what your country is made of. How can we generate income using what we have? The answer is simple. You target that group of customers whom are specifically interested in what you have, beautiful views, heartfelt welcome, home like accommodations and very warm people. These customers do not look for fancy, expensive, overcrowded hotels; they are in search of real beauty and nature. They have special interests and would like to fulfill them toward a reasonable price. Hence starts the development of what is widely known as the special interest tourism whose analysis as a potential tool for the improvement of tourism in the region of Shkodra is the main purpose of this paper.

Hydrocarbon assessment summary report of Buffalo Lake area of interest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lemieux, Y. [Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, Yellowknife, NT (Canada)

2007-07-01

The Northwest Territories (NWT) Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) is a process to identify the known cultural, ecological and economic values of areas in the NWT. This report presented a hydrocarbon resource potential assessment of Buffalo Lake area of interest located in the Great Slave Plain region. It covers an area greater than 2100 square km. The region is almost entirely covered by a thick mantle of glacial deposits. It is underlain by a southwest-dipping, relatively undisturbed succession dominated by Paleozoic carbonate rocks and Cretaceous clastic rocks. Six exploration wells have been drilled within, or near the outer limit of Buffalo Lake area of interest. Suitable source and reservoir rocks are present within Buffalo Lake area of interest, but the potential of significant petroleum discoveries is likely very low. Most of the prospective intervals are either shallow or exposed at surface. Other exploration risks, such as discontinuous distribution and isolation from source rocks, are also anticipated for some of the plays. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.

Great Lakes Literacy Principles

Science.gov (United States)

Fortner, Rosanne W.; Manzo, Lyndsey

2011-03-01

Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie together form North America's Great Lakes, a region that contains 20% of the world's fresh surface water and is home to roughly one quarter of the U.S. population (Figure 1). Supporting a $4 billion sport fishing industry, plus $16 billion annually in boating, 1.5 million U.S. jobs, and $62 billion in annual wages directly, the Great Lakes form the backbone of a regional economy that is vital to the United States as a whole (see http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/downloads/economy/11-708-Great-Lakes-Jobs.pdf). Yet the grandeur and importance of this freshwater resource are little understood, not only by people in the rest of the country but also by many in the region itself. To help address this lack of knowledge, the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Great Lakes, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, developed literacy principles for the Great Lakes to serve as a guide for education of students and the public. These “Great Lakes Literacy Principles” represent an understanding of the Great Lakes' influences on society and society's influences on the Great Lakes.

Root growth during molar eruption in extant great apes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Jay; Dean, Christopher; Ross, Sasha

2009-01-01

While there is gradually accumulating knowledge about molar crown formation and the timing of molar eruption in extant great apes, very little is known about root formation during the eruption process. We measured mandibular first and second molar root lengths in extant great ape osteological specimens that died while either the first or second molars were in the process of erupting. For most specimens, teeth were removed so that root lengths could be measured directly. When this was not possible, roots were measured radiographically. We were particularly interested in the variation in the lengths of first molar roots near the point of gingival emergence, so specimens were divided into early, middle and late phases of eruption based on the number of cusps that showed protein staining, with one or two cusps stained equated with immediate post-gingival emergence. For first molars at this stage, Gorilla has the longest roots, followed by Pongo and Pan. Variation in first molar mesial root lengths at this stage in Gorilla and Pan, which comprise the largest samples, is relatively low and represents no more than a few months of growth in both taxa. Knowledge of root length at first molar emergence permits an assessment of the contribution of root growth toward differences between great apes and humans in the age at first molar emergence. Root growth makes up a greater percentage of the time between birth and first molar emergence in humans than it does in any of the great apes. Copyright (c) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The Impact of Learning Task Design on Students' Situational Interest in Physical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Roure, Cédric; Pasco, Denis

2018-01-01

Purpose: Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that teachers can enhance students' situational interest (SI) by manipulating the components of learning tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of learning task design on students' SI in physical education (PE). Method: The participants were 167 secondary school…

Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Harackiewicz, Judith M; Smith, Jessi L; Priniski, Stacy J

2016-10-01

Interest is a powerful motivational process that energizes learning, guides academic and career trajectories, and is essential to academic success. Interest is both a psychological state of attention and affect toward a particular object or topic, and an enduring predisposition to reengage over time. Integrating these two definitions, the four-phase model of interest development guides interventions that promote interest and capitalize on existing interests. Four interest-enhancing interventions seem useful: attention-getting settings, contexts evoking prior individual interest, problem-based learning, and enhancing utility value. Promoting interest can contribute to a more engaged, motivated, learning experience for students.

Media in a Crisis Situation Involving National Interest:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xigen, Li; Lindsay, Laura; Mogensen, Kirsten

A content analysis of coverage of 9/11 incident during the first eight hours examined how five television networks framed the news coverage as events unfolded. Media performed their function in a crisis basically as they were expected and coverage and issues do not vary significantly among...... the networks. This study found that a variety of sources was used, and the influence of government officials was not as great as in the coverage of a crisis with less involvement of U.S. national interest. Media primarily serve as the sources of accurate information instead of guidance and consolation...

NASA-ESA Joint Mission to Explore Two Worlds of Great Astrobiological Interest - Titan and Enceladus

Science.gov (United States)

Reh, K.; Coustenis, A.; Lunine, J.; Matson, D.; Lebreton, J.-P.; Erd, C.; Beauchamp, P.

2009-04-01

Rugged shorelines, laced with canyons, leading to ethane/methane seas glimpsed through an organic haze, vast fields of dunes shaped by alien sciroccos… An icy moon festooned with plumes of water-ice and organics, whose warm watery source might be glimpsed through surface cracks that glow in the infrared… The revelations by Cassini-Huygens about Saturn's crown jewels, Titan and Enceladus, have rocked the public with glimpses of new worlds unimagined a decade before. The time is at hand to capitalize on those discoveries with a broad mission of exploration that combines the widest range of planetary science disciplines—Geology, Geophysics, Atmospheres, Astrobiology,Chemistry, Magnetospheres—in a single NASA/ESA collaboration. The Titan Saturn System Mission will explore these exciting new environments, flying through Enceladus' plumes and plunging deep into Titan's atmosphere with instruments tuned to find what Cassini could only hint at. Exploring Titan with an international fleet of vehicles; from orbit, from the surface of a great polar sea, and from the air with the first hot air balloon to ride an extraterrestrial breeze, TSSM will turn our snapshot gaze of these worlds into an epic film. This paper will describe a collaborative NASA-ESA Titan Saturn System Mission that will open a new phase of planetary exploration by projecting robotic presence on the land, on the sea, and in the air of an active, organic-rich world.

A New Great Game: US-China Competition in Guam and the CNMI

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

media . It would appear the US in Guam and the CNMI is playing the role of the metaphorical frog being slowly boiled to death in a Chinese pot...nonimmigrant worker and tourism policy which greatly aid an aggressive Chinese intelligence collection posture. Finally, Chapter 5 will provide...island chain. This intersection of interest extends beyond physical geography. While the US has most significantly impacted the social geographies of

Magnetic resonance imaging of the heart and great vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Naitoh, Hiroaki; Nishimura, Tsunehiko; Takamiya, Makoto; Kozuka, Takahiro.

1985-01-01

About sixty subjects with normal heart or various cardiovascular diseases were examined with 0.35 or 1.5 T superconductive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, and ECG-gated spin-echo multislice technique was used to evaluate cardiovascular anatomy. MRI accurately demonstrated ventricular wall thinning caused by myocardial infarction and asymmetric ventricular hypertrophy owing to cardiomyopathy. Rheumatic valvular thickening, congenital cardiac malformations, aortic aneurysm and dissection were also clearly demonstrated by gated MRI without the use of any contrast media. MRI was shown to be an excellent non-invasive imaging modality for evaluation of pathoanatomy of the heart and great vessels. (author)

Momentum distribution at great depths when electron axial channeling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khokonov, M.Kh.; Tuguz, F.K.

1989-01-01

The electron distribution in momenta during axial channeling in thick monocrystals in great depths is estimated. The estimate was carried out with respect to the fact that due to diffusion the angular momentum of the electron can change only in a limited region of phase space and that multiple scattering only takes place on thermal oscillations of nuclei of the crystal lattice. It is shown that in thick monocrystals the distribution in momenta can be considered uniform on the greater part of the way of channeled electrons which can simplity the qualitative consideration of spectral-angular characteristics forming during this radiation

Tectonic setting of the Great Dyke, Chembadzi, Chewore and Atchiza layered complexes in Zimbabwe and Mozambique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Master, S.

1990-01-01

The Great Dyke of Zimbabwe is one of the largest ultramafic-mafic layered igneous complexexs in the world. Because of the economic importance of large layered intrusions like the Great Dyke, their tectonic setting is of great interest. The Chembadzi complex is a 14 km long, dyke-like layered intrusion up to 800m wide. The Chewore complex, which was thought to have the structure of an irregular lopolith, outcrops over an area of about 200 km in horst blocks in the lower Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. The Atchiza complex is situated just north of the Cahora Bassa lake and the Zambezi River valley in Mozambique. In considering the tectonic setting of the Great Dyke and its correlatives, most attention has been focussed on events in the Limpopo Mobile Belt, which were responsible for producing the fractures in the Zimbabwe craton that is occupied by the intrusives. 39 refs

Culture and vocational interests: the moderating role of collectivism and gender egalitarianism.

Science.gov (United States)

Ott-Holland, Catherine J; Huang, Jason L; Ryan, Ann Marie; Elizondo, Fabian; Wadlington, Patrick L

2013-10-01

In some cultures, individuals are free to pursue careers that match their personalities. In others, familial and societal expectations regarding career paths may restrict the links between individual personality and interests. Gender role expectations also may vary across cultures and may be associated with gender differences in interests. Past meta-analytic research has shown some career interests are related to personality traits (Barrick, Mount, & Gupta, 2003; Larson, Rottinghaus, & Borgen, 2002), but the cross-cultural variation of these relationships has not been sufficiently explored. Interest and personality data were obtained from an archival data set of 391,485 individuals from 20 countries. Results indicated that in cultures with high in-group collectivism, connections between personality traits and occupational interests may be less pronounced. Cultural gender egalitarianism moderated the level of gender differences in interests, unexpectedly demonstrating that gender differences may be wider in egalitarian cultures. Implications for career guidance in multicultural settings are discussed.

Great Powers, National Interests, and Australian Grand Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

merchandise from both countries.90 In response to Australia’s implementation of the Imperial Preference system—in the form of the 1936 Trade...connected cyber domain. While Australia’s physical territory may remain secure, its digital landscape remains vulnerable. The government’s roll-out of a...a key to the protect Australia from the threat to its digital networks.61 While digital attacks pose a novel threat to the international order, the

Recommending personally interested contents by text mining, filtering, and interfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Songhua

2015-10-27

A personalized content recommendation system includes a client interface device configured to monitor a user's information data stream. A collaborative filter remote from the client interface device generates automated predictions about the interests of the user. A database server stores personal behavioral profiles and user's preferences based on a plurality of monitored past behaviors and an output of the collaborative user personal interest inference engine. A programmed personal content recommendation server filters items in an incoming information stream with the personal behavioral profile and identifies only those items of the incoming information stream that substantially matches the personal behavioral profile. The identified personally relevant content is then recommended to the user following some priority that may consider the similarity between the personal interest matches, the context of the user information consumption behaviors that may be shown by the user's content consumption mode.

What Are We Drinking? Beverages Shown in Adolescents' Favorite Television Shows.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Marla E; Larson, Nicole I; Gollust, Sarah E; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2017-05-01

Media use has been shown to contribute to poor dietary intake; however, little attention has been paid to programming content. The portrayal of health behaviors in television (TV) programming contributes to social norms among viewers, which have been shown to influence adolescent behavior. This study reports on a content analysis of beverages shown in a sample of TV shows popular with a large, diverse group of adolescents, with attention to the types of beverages and differences across shows and characters. Favorite TV shows were assessed in an in-school survey in 2010. Three episodes of each of the top 25 shows were analyzed, using a detailed coding instrument. Beverage incidents (ie, beverage shown or described) were recorded. Beverage types included milk, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), diet beverages, juice, water, alcoholic drinks, and coffee. Characters were coded with regard to gender, age group, race, and weight status. Shows were rated for a youth, general, or adult audience. χ 2 tests were used to compare the prevalence of each type of beverage across show ratings (youth, general, adult), and to compare characteristics of those involved in each type of beverage incident. Beverage incidents were common (mean=7.4 incidents/episode, range=0 to 25). Alcohol was the most commonly shown (38.8%); milk (5.8%) and juice (5.8%) were least common; 11.0% of incidents included SSBs. Significant differences in all types of beverage were found across characters' age groups. Almost half of young adults' (49.2%) or adults' (42.0%) beverage incidents included alcohol. Beverages are often portrayed on TV shows viewed by adolescents, and common beverages (alcohol, SSBs) may have adverse consequences for health. The portrayal of these beverages likely contributes to social norms regarding their desirability; nutrition and health professionals should talk with youth about TV portrayals to prevent the adoption of unhealthy beverage behaviors. Copyright © 2017 Academy of

What are we drinking? Beverages shown in adolescents’ favorite TV shows

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Marla E.; Larson, Nicole I.; Gollust, Sarah E.; Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne

2016-01-01

Background Media use has been shown to contribute to poor dietary intake; however, little attention has been paid to programming content. The portrayal of health behaviors in television (TV) programming contributes to social norms among viewers, which have been shown to influence adolescent behavior. Objective This study reports on a content analysis of beverages shown in a sample of TV shows popular with a large, diverse group of adolescents, with attention to the types of beverages and differences across shows and characters. Design Favorite TV shows were assessed in an in-school survey in 2010. Three episodes of each of the top 25 shows were analyzed using a detailed coding instrument. Key measures Beverage incidents (i.e. beverage shown or described) were recorded. Beverage types included milk, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), diet beverages, juice, water, alcoholic drinks and coffee. Characters were coded with regards to gender, age group, race, and weight status. Shows were rated for a youth, general or adult audience. Statistical analyses Chi-square tests were used to compare the prevalence of each type of beverage across show ratings (youth, general, adult), and to compare characteristics of those involved in each type of beverage incident. Results Beverage incidents were common (mean=7.4 incidents/episode, range=0–25). Alcohol was the most commonly shown (38.8%); milk (5.8%) and juice (5.8%) were least common; 11.0% of incidents included SSB. Significant differences in all types of beverage were found across age groups. Almost half of young adults’ (49.2%) or adults’ (42.0%) beverage incidents included alcohol. Conclusions Beverages are often portrayed on TV shows viewed by adolescents, and common beverages (alcohol, SSB) may have adverse consequences for health. The portrayal of these beverages likely contributes to social norms regarding their desirability; nutrition and health professionals should talk with youth about TV portrayals to prevent the

Great Lakes Science Center

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — Since 1927, Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) research has provided critical information for the sound management of Great Lakes fish populations and other important...

Financial Strain and Mental Health Among Older Adults During the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Lindsay R

2016-07-01

The economic recession has garnered the interest of many scholars, with much attention being drawn to how the recession has affected labor force participation, household wealth, and even retirement decisions. Certainly, the Great Recession has influenced the financial well-being of older adults, but has it had discernible effects on mental health? This study draws on 5,366 respondents from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2010) to examine objective and subjective measures of financial well-being in the period surrounding the Great Recession. Guided by cumulative inequality theory, this research investigates whether the economic downturn contributed to worsening anxiety and depressive symptoms over a 4-year period. Results from linear fixed effects models reveal that decreases in objective financial resources were associated with increased financial strain during the Great Recession. Unlike the objective indicators, however, financial strain was a strong and robust predictor of worsening mental health between 2006 and 2010. Building on prior research, this study elucidates the factors that shape financial strain and provides evidence that the Great Recession not only affected the financial well-being of older adults but also had adverse effects on mental health. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

SOFTWARE FOR REGIONS OF INTEREST RETRIEVAL ON MEDICAL 3D IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. G. Stromov

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Implementation of software for areas of interest retrieval in 3D medical images is described in this article. It has been tested against large volume of model MRIs.Material and methods. We tested software against normal and pathological (severe multiple sclerosis model MRIs from tge BrainWeb resource. Technological stack is based on open-source cross-platform solutions. We implemented storage system on Maria DB (an open-sourced fork of MySQL with P/SQL extensions. Python 2.7 scripting was used for automatization of extract-transform-load operations. The computational core is written on Java 7 with Spring framework 3. MongoDB was used as a cache in the cluster of workstations. Maven 3 was chosen as a dependency manager and build system, the project is hosted at Github.Results. As testing on SSMU's LAN has showed, software has been developed is quite efficiently retrieves ROIs are matching for the morphological substratum on pathological MRIs.Conclusion. Automation of a diagnostic process using medical imaging allows to level down the subjective component in decision making and increase the availability of hi-tech medicine. Software has shown in the article is a complex solution for ROI retrieving and segmentation process on model medical images in full-automated mode.We would like to thank Robert Vincent for great help with consulting of usage the BrainWeb resource.

Interest in science: a RIASEC-based analysis of students' interests

Science.gov (United States)

Dierks, Pay O.; Höffler, Tim N.; Blankenburg, Janet S.; Peters, Heide; Parchmann, Ilka

2016-01-01

Considering the reported lack of interest in the STEM-domain and the consequential difficulties in recruiting talented and interested young academics, the development of effective enrichment measures is indispensable. This requires a precise picture of students' interests. The paper presents an approach to characterize interest profiles in explicitly science-related activities. Adapting Holland's RIASEC-model, an instrument was developed and tested which allows the description of interest in activities along Holland's dimensions (and a seventh dimension networking) within the confined science domain. The findings of a study with N = 247 students (age cohorts 12-19 years) uncovered interest differences for the environments school, enrichment, and (prospective) vocation. The mutual importance of the performed activity and the environment the activity is performed in is confirmed by a cross-classified model. Contrasting different subgroups revealed multiple results, e.g., girls showed more interest in artistic and social activities within the science domain. High achieving students showed more interest in science-related activities in all dimensions. In conclusion, using our adapted model, students' interest structure can be described in a differentiated manner. This could lay the foundation for further analyses of students' interest profiles and thereby contribute to future development of effective and congruent enrichment measures, thus enhancing interest in science.

Public opinion on environmental and energy issues. Result of the census after 3 years of the Great East Japan Earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosugi, Motoko

2014-01-01

The public opinion on the energy and environmental issues has changed greatly in Japan through experiences in and along the Great East Japan Earthquake. We conducted a social survey in order to grasp public opinions for environment and energy issues in March, 2014, which obtained 2313 valid responses (response rate was 64.3%). For the energy and environmental issues, while respondents show high interests in matters related to the Fukushima accident and nuclear power generation as well as electricity prices, they show relatively low interest in every other aspect. With regard to Japan's energy policy in the future, as expectations for renewable and natural sources of energy are large, about 60% of respondents have negative attitude in restart of nuclear power. For nuclear power, as compared to the previous survey conducted in August 2008, evaluation of 'control-ability of environmental impacts' and 'the power companies' risk management ability' was greatly reduced in particular. These results suggest the importance of provoke interest in the energy issues in general, as a premise to seek an understanding of the activities of the government and power companies. Furthermore, in order for the power companies to restore trust from the public, it is important to sympathize to public's anticipations of impacts on the health and environment through uses of nuclear power in the future. (author)

Examination of the embargo hypothesis as an explanation for the Great Silence

Science.gov (United States)

Deardorff, J. W.

1987-08-01

The embargo or quarantine hypothesis for explaining the 'Great Silence' is reviewed and found to be more plausible than the view that, at most, earth might expect to receive radio messages from some distant star. The latter hypothesis is shown to be compatible with extraterrestrial technologies only a few hundred years in advance of those on earth, whereas the embargo hypothesis more reasonably infers that they should be tens of thousands of years in advance and in control of any contact with humanity. Reasons why the embargo hypothesis has received insufficient attention are presented; they involve failure to allow for the application of both greatly advanced technology and high ethical values by maturing societies of extraterrestrial intelligence. The implication of the embargo hypothesis for space development is that planets already harboring diverse biota are ethically off-limits for exploitive colonization.

The Persian Gulf Region as a Field of China’s Geopolitical Interests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M F Ilminskaya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the political situation in the Gulf region in the light of China’s vital interests. Particular attention is paid to Chinese energy diplomacy, mechanisms for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the Chinese project that is expected to revive the «Great Silk Road» and the priority areas of Chinese energy security. The author considers China as the largest world energy consumer whose economy is directly dependent on oil supplies, primarily from the Persian Gulf region. The article also analyzes the reasons of acute energy shortages in China and its growing interest in the Gulf region. The author reveals strategic significance of such important water transport arteries, as Straits of Hormuz and Malacca, touches on the issue of global players’ competition over ownership and control of hydrocarbons. The article focuses on flexibility of Chinese diplomacy and foreign policy maneuvering techniques in the region, successfully applied by Beijing to maximize the benefits for the implementation of its own national interests.

Interest Rate Fluctuation Effect on Commercial Bank's Fixed Fund Deposit in Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Okolo Chimaobi Valentine

2015-01-01

Commercial banks in Nigeria adopted many strategies to attract fresh deposits including the use of high deposit rate. However, pricing of banking services moved in favor of the banks at the expense of customers, resulting in their seeking other investment alternatives rather than saving their money in the bank. Both deposit and lending rates were greatly influenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decision on interest rate. Therefore, commercial bank effort to attract...

Teaching vs. Preaching: Complex Climate Shown Simply

Science.gov (United States)

Unger, M.; Besser, N.

2013-12-01

Stepping outside of traditional educational venues to reach people in ways they can relate to is critical in engaging the public in topics that are complex and subtle, particularly those that have become polarized and misunderstood. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) recently designed a visitor center for its new supercomputing facility that incorporates a variety of elements intended to draw visitors in, pique their curiosity, and invite them to explore the world of climate science from a fresh perspective. We made use of video storytelling, highlighting the people at the heart of the research, to present information in a conversational tone while captivating visitors with stunning images and music. We also designed interactive games to illustrate concepts like parallel processing, and how those, in turn, apply to understanding climate. And in addition to more traditional kinesthetic displays, we are exploring ways to use social media as a means of interacting with our audiences. One of the newer modes of communication we've adopted has been cartoon storytelling. Two dimensional cartoon animation has strong cultural connotations of levity and fun. For this reason it has proven to be a particularly useful tool in communicating climate science as it disarms the viewer from the apprehension of trying to understand a great deal of scientific jargon. By crafting key concepts into scripts and using appropriate metaphors with a dash of humor we have been able to reach a far broader audience without sacrificing the science or the message.

A Method of Vector Map Multi-scale Representation Considering User Interest on Subdivision Gird

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YU Tong

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Compared with the traditional spatial data model and method, global subdivision grid show a great advantage in the organization and expression of massive spatial data. In view of this, a method of vector map multi-scale representation considering user interest on subdivision gird is proposed. First, the spatial interest field is built using a large number POI data to describe the spatial distribution of the user interest in geographic information. Second, spatial factor is classified and graded, and its representation scale range can be determined. Finally, different levels of subdivision surfaces are divided based on GeoSOT subdivision theory, and the corresponding relation of subdivision level and scale is established. According to the user interest of subdivision surfaces, the spatial feature can be expressed in different degree of detail. It can realize multi-scale representation of spatial data based on user interest. The experimental results show that this method can not only satisfy general-to-detail and important-to-secondary space cognitive demands of users, but also achieve better multi-scale representation effect.

Credit spread variability in U.S. business cycles: the Great Moderation versus the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

Hylton Hollander; Guangling Liu

2014-01-01

This paper establishes the prevailing financial factors that influence credit spread variability, and its impact on the U.S. business cycle over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods. To do so, we develop a dynamic general equilibrium framework with a central role of financial intermediation and equity assets. Over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods, we find an important role for bank market power (sticky rate adjustments and loan rate markups) on credit spread variab...

Credit spread variability in U.S. business cycles: The Great Moderation versus the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

Hylton Hollander and Guangling Liu

2014-01-01

This paper establishes the prevailing financial factors that influence credit spread variability, and its impact on the U.S. business cycle over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods. To do so, we develop a dynamic general equilibrium framework with a central role of financial intermediation and equity assets. Over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods, we find an important role for bank market power (sticky rate adjustments and loan rate markups) on credit spread variab...

To what extent does wind power deployment affect vested interests? A case study of the Northeast China Grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Xiaoli; Zhang, Sufang; Zou, Yasheng; Yao, Jin

2013-01-01

China's wind power is in an embarrassing state. Along with its dramatic development since 2005, its curtailment ratio has been rising. Although this could be attributed to both physical and institutional factors, it is the institutional obstacles, mainly resulting from the adjustment difficulties of interests distribution, that have exercised a greater impact. The stakeholders relating to wind power integration are thermal power companies, grid companies and local governments. The extent to which wind power deployment affects these vested interests determines the core institutional obstacles to be addressed. Mainly based on quantitative and case analyses, we argue that currently wind deployment in China has a little impact on the interests of thermal companies, moderate impact on the interests of grid companies and great impact on local governments. We recommend that it is crucial to elevate the role of environmental protection and renewable energy increase while de-emphasize the role of economic growth in the evaluation of local governments’ performance, as well as provide incentives for grid companies to attend more to their social responsibilities rather than their scale expansion and revenue growth. - highlights: • China's wind deployment has little impact on the interests of thermal plants. • Wind deployment has limited impact on the interests of grid companies. • The taxation per year from a thermal plant is higher than from a wind farm. • Local economic growth is comparatively greatly affected by wind power. • It is crucial to induce local governments to be concerned about renewable energy increase

DEBT AMORTIZATION AND SIMPLE INTEREST: THE CASE OF PAYMENTS IN AN ARITHMETIC PROGRESSION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clovis José Daudt Lyra Darrigue Faro

2014-12-01

Full Text Available With the argument that, necessarily, compound interest implies anatocism, the Brazilian Judiciary has been determining that, specially for the case of  debt amortization in accordance with the so called Tabela Price, when we have constant payments, the use of simple interest. With the same determination occurring in the case of the Constant Amortization Scheme, when the payments follow arithmetic progressions.  However, as simple interest lacks the property of time subdivision, it is shown that as in the case of constant payments, the adoption of simple interest in the case of payments following an arithmetic progression results in amortization schemes that are financially inconsistent. In the sense that the determination of the outstanding principal in accordance with the prospective, retrospective and of recurrence methods lead to conflicting  results. To this end, four different variations of the use of simple interest are numerically analyzed.

[The transformation of Friedrich the Great. A psychoanalytic study].

Science.gov (United States)

Lewy, E

1995-08-01

The transformation of Frederick the Great. A psychoanalytic study.--As a child and young man, Prince Frederick Hohenzollern, later King Frederick II of Prussia, flatly rejected his father's militaristic, Teutonic code of behaviour with its emphasis on dutiful service, self-abnegation and obedience. Instead he indulged his more "effeminate" leanings, taking an interest in literature, music and the unsoldierly delights provided by the courtly life of the age, and was encouraged in this by both his mother and his sister. This refusal to espouse the manly, paternal principle drove the crown prince into an increasingly vehement conflict with his father, who observed his son's indifference to all things military with growing bitterness, and finally led to a catastrophe in the course of which Frederick's closest friend was executed and he himself only just escaped his father's deadly vengeance. After this crisis, Frederick conformed more and more closely to his father's expectations and instructions and after the latter's death in 1740 developed into a ruler who enhanced Prussia's military and political glory and established a paternalistic principle that not only equalled but indeed exceeded everything that his father had stood for. The author traces in detail Frederick's astounding transformation into the "Frederick the Great" familiar to us from history books, analysing it both psychodynamically and in terms of identity theory. His conclusion is that it was the strength of Frederick's ego--itself the very prerequisite of "greatness"--that saved him from coming to grief over this conflict of identity.

Great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) can detect auditory cues while diving

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kirstin Anderson; Maxwell, Alyssa; Siebert, Ursula

2017-01-01

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under...... the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its...... underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater...

Google it! Using the Google Trends tool to understand the Algarve Tourist destination public interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Dinis

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In a sector strongly dependent on information as is the case of tourism, the timely knowledge of consumer behaviour enables making well-considered decisions and less uncertainty. Nowadays, the act of searching on the Internet about a particular subject before decision-making is part of the individuals’ daily lives. The Google Trends tool provides real time aggregated data on the online individuals’ interest based on the carried out search queries on Google. The objective of this paper is to show that Google Trends can provide comparative information about the individuals’ interest in relation to Portugal tourism regional areas and in particular, on the tourist destination "Algarve", and also between its competing tourist destinations. The results show that the tool can contribute to the knowledge of the individuals’ interests in relation to regional tourist destinations, information considered of great interest for Destination Management Organizations.

What Makes a Great Journal Great in Economics? The Singer Not the Song.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C-L. Chang (Chia-Lin); M.J. McAleer (Michael); L. Oxley (Les)

2010-01-01

textabstractThe paper is concerned with analysing what makes a great journal great in economics, based on quantifiable measures. Alternative Research Assessment Measures (RAM) are discussed, with an emphasis on the Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science database (hereafter ISI). The various ISI RAM that

Great Basin Experimental Range: Annotated bibliography

Science.gov (United States)

E. Durant McArthur; Bryce A. Richardson; Stanley G. Kitchen

2013-01-01

This annotated bibliography documents the research that has been conducted on the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER, also known as the Utah Experiment Station, Great Basin Station, the Great Basin Branch Experiment Station, Great Basin Experimental Center, and other similar name variants) over the 102 years of its existence. Entries were drawn from the original...

Interest and attention in facial recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Melinda C R; Weaver, George E

2003-04-01

When applied to facial recognition, the levels of processing paradigm has yielded consistent results: faces processed in deep conditions are recognized better than faces processed under shallow conditions. However, there are multiple explanations for this occurrence. The own-race advantage in facial recognition, the tendency to recognize faces from one's own race better than faces from another race, is also consistently shown but not clearly explained. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the levels of processing findings in facial recognition are a result of interest and attention, not differences in processing. This hypothesis was tested for both own and other faces with 105 Caucasian general psychology students. Levels of processing was manipulated as a between-subjects variable; students were asked to answer one of four types of study questions, e.g., "deep" or "shallow" processing questions, while viewing the study faces. Students' recognition of a subset of previously presented Caucasian and African-American faces from a test-set with an equal number of distractor faces was tested. They indicated their interest in and attention to the task. The typical levels of processing effect was observed with better recognition performance in the deep conditions than in the shallow conditions for both own- and other-race faces. The typical own-race advantage was also observed regardless of level of processing condition. For both own- and other-race faces, level of processing explained a significant portion of the recognition variance above and beyond what was explained by interest in and attention to the task.

The GREAT3 challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyatake, H; Mandelbaum, R; Rowe, B

2014-01-01

The GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 3 (GREAT3) challenge is an image analysis competition that aims to test algorithms to measure weak gravitational lensing from astronomical images. The challenge started in October 2013 and ends 30 April 2014. The challenge focuses on testing the impact on weak lensing measurements of realistically complex galaxy morphologies, realistic point spread function, and combination of multiple different exposures. It includes simulated ground- and space-based data. The details of the challenge are described in [1], and the challenge website and its leader board can be found at http://great3challenge.info and http://great3.projects.phys.ucl.ac.uk/leaderboard/, respectively

An Analysis of Disillusionment of American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

李成烨

2015-01-01

American dream has always been a hot topic in the study and research of the American literature.And this topic has been researched deeply by many scholars and those who are interested in the field of literature.But the study or analysis of the disillusionment of American dream keeps updating from different angles by people from different fields,for the success of American dream isn’t easy to achieve by people.While this paper is going to illustrate the disillusionment of American dream of Gatsby and explain the reason that Gatsby failed but made him Great.

Risk Management of Interest Rate Derivative Portfolios: A Stochastic Control Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Konstantinos Kiriakopoulos

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we formulate the Risk Management Control problem in the interest rate area as a constrained stochastic portfolio optimization problem. The utility that we use can be any continuous function and based on the viscosity theory, the unique solution of the problem is guaranteed. The numerical approximation scheme is presented and applied using a single factor interest rate model. It is shown how the whole methodology works in practice, with the implementation of the algorithm for a specific interest rate portfolio. The recent financial crisis showed that risk management of derivatives portfolios especially in the interest rate market is crucial for the stability of the financial system. Modern Value at Risk (VAR and Conditional Value at Risk (CVAR techniques, although very useful and easy to understand, fail to grasp the need for on-line controlling and monitoring of derivatives portfolio. The portfolios should be designed in a way that risk and return be quantified and controlled in every possible state of the world. We hope that this methodology contributes towards this direction.

The Interactions of Relationships, Interest, and Self-Efficacy in Undergraduate Physics

Science.gov (United States)

Dou, Remy

This collected papers dissertation explores students' academic interactions in an active learning, introductory physics settings as they relate to the development of physics self-efficacy and interest. The motivation for this work extends from the national call to increase participation of students in the pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. Self-efficacy and interest are factors that play prominent roles in popular, evidence-based, career theories, including the Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the identity framework. Understanding how these constructs develop in light of the most pervasive characteristic of the active learning introductory physics classroom (i.e., peer-to-peer interactions) has implications on how students learn in a variety of introductory STEM classrooms and settings structured after constructivist and sociocultural learning theories. I collected data related to students' in-class interactions using the tools of social network analysis (SNA). Social network analysis has recently been shown to be an effective and useful way to examine the structure of student relationships that develop in and out of STEM classrooms. This set of studies furthers the implementation of SNA as a tool to examine self-efficacy and interest formation in the active learning physics classroom. Here I represent a variety of statistical applications of SNA, including bootstrapped linear regression (Chapter 2), structural equation modeling (Chapter 3), and hierarchical linear modeling for longitudinal analyses (Chapter 4). Self-efficacy data were collected using the Sources of Self-Efficacy for Science Courses - Physics survey (SOSESC-P), and interest data were collected using the physics identity survey. Data for these studies came from the Modeling Instruction sections of Introductory Physics with Calculus offered at Florida International University in the fall of 2014 and 2015. Analyses support the idea that students

Maternal steroids in egg yolk as a pathway to translate predation risk to offspring : Experiments with great tits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coslovsky, Michael; Groothuis, Ton; de Vries, Bonnie; Richner, Heinz

2012-01-01

Exposure of mothers to risk of predation can induce phenotypic changes in offspring as shown in several species. We previously found that cross-fostered great tit (Parus major) chicks of females exposed to increased predation risk were smaller and lighter, but had faster wing growth than control

75 FR 6354 - NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project Grants under the Great Lakes Restoration...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-09

...-04] RIN 0648-ZC10 NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project Grants under the Great Lakes... Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of funding availability; Date... on January 19, 2010. That notice announced the NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project...

The Next Great Generation?

Science.gov (United States)

Brownstein, Andrew

2000-01-01

Discusses ideas from a new book, "Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation," (by Neil Howe and William Strauss) suggesting that youth culture is on the cusp of a radical shift with the generation beginning with this year's college freshmen who are typically team oriented, optimistic, and poised for greatness on a global scale. Includes a…

Interest rate derivatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikkel

This Ph.D. thesis consists of four self-contained essays on valuation of interest rate derivatives. In particular derivatives related to management of interest rate risk care are considered.......This Ph.D. thesis consists of four self-contained essays on valuation of interest rate derivatives. In particular derivatives related to management of interest rate risk care are considered....

Interest-free and Interest-bearing Money Demand: Policy Invariance and Stability

OpenAIRE

Amir Kia

2001-01-01

This paper, using quarterly Iranian data for the period of 1966-1998, extends the literature by investigating the stability of the interest-free money demand function. The study also examines the stability of economic agents' behavior in demanding interest-bearing and interest-free money. It was found, contrary to interest-bearing demand or money, both short- and long-run demand for interest-free money functions are stable and their coefficients are invariant with respect to policy and other ...

Risky forward interest rates and swaptions: Quantum finance model and empirical results

Science.gov (United States)

Baaquie, Belal Ehsan; Yu, Miao; Bhanap, Jitendra

2018-02-01

Risk free forward interest rates (Diebold and Li, 2006 [1]; Jamshidian, 1991 [2 ]) - and their realization by US Treasury bonds as the leading exemplar - have been studied extensively. In Baaquie (2010), models of risk free bonds and their forward interest rates based on the quantum field theoretic formulation of the risk free forward interest rates have been discussed, including the empirical evidence supporting these models. The quantum finance formulation of risk free forward interest rates is extended to the case of risky forward interest rates. The examples of the Singapore and Malaysian forward interest rates are used as specific cases. The main feature of the quantum finance model is that the risky forward interest rates are modeled both a) as a stand-alone case as well as b) being driven by the US forward interest rates plus a spread - having its own term structure -above the US forward interest rates. Both the US forward interest rates and the term structure for the spread are modeled by a two dimensional Euclidean quantum field. As a precursor to the evaluation of put option of the Singapore coupon bond, the quantum finance model for swaptions is tested using empirical study of swaptions for the US Dollar -showing that the model is quite accurate. A prediction for the market price of the put option for the Singapore coupon bonds is obtained. The quantum finance model is generalized to study the Malaysian case and the Malaysian forward interest rates are shown to have anomalies absent for the US and Singapore case. The model's prediction for a Malaysian interest rate swap is obtained.

Implicit User Interest Profile

CERN Document Server

Chan, K

2002-01-01

User interest profile presents items that the users are interested in. Typically those items can be listed or grouped. Listing is good but it does not possess interests at different abstraction levels - the higher-level interests are more general, while the lower-level ones are more specific. Furthermore, more general interests, in some sense, correspond to longer-term interests, while more specific interests correspond to shorter-term interests. This hierarchical user interest profile has obvious advantages: specifying user's specific interests and general interests and representing their relationships. Current user interest profile structures mostly do not use implicit method, nor use an appropriate clustering algorithm especially for conceptually hierarchical structures. This research studies building a hierarchical user interest profile (HUIP) and the hierarchical divisive algorithm (HDC). Several users visit hundreds of web pages and each page is recorded in each users profile. These web pages are used t...

Empirical study of peak-load pricing and investment policies for the domestic market of gas in Great Britain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tzoannos, J

1977-06-01

This paper reports the main results of a study aimed at determining empirically an optimal structure of seasonal tariffs for the domestic sector of gas in Great Britain. The study first involves the development of a peak-load pricing model which maximizes social welfare. The model is then quantified with cost and demand functions which have been statistically estimated for Great Britian using data for town gas. The procedure of estimating these functions is based on an error components model. The seasonal pricing and investment policy resulting from the solution to the above model is then compared with the existing policy for the domestic sector of gas in Great Britain. It is shown that the former is superior to the latter in terms of improvements in social welfare and capacity utilization. 22 references.

Degradation of Rural and Urban Great Tit Song

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mockford, Emily J; Marshall, Rupert C; Dabelsteen, Torben

2011-01-01

Acoustic signals play a fundamental role in avian territory defence and mate attraction. Several studies have now shown that spectral properties of bird song differ between urban and rural environments. Previously this has been attributed to competition for acoustic space as a result of low......-frequency noise present in cities. However, the physical structure of urban areas may have a contributory effect. Here we investigate the sound degradation properties of woodland and city environments using both urban and rural great tit song. We show that although urban surroundings caused significantly less...... degradation to both songs, the transmission efficiency of rural song compared to urban song was significantly lower in the city. While differences between the two songs in woodland were generally minimal, some measures of the transmission efficiency of rural song were significantly lower than those of urban...

Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA) houses environmental data on a wide variety of constituents in water, biota, sediment, and air in the Great Lakes area.

Making Learning Meaningful: Facilitating Interest Development and Transfer in At-Risk College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Heddy, Benjamin C.; Sinatra, Gale M.; Seli, Helena; Taasoobshirazi, Gita; Mukhopadhyay, Ananya

2017-01-01

The Teaching for Transformative Experience in Science (TTES) model has shown to be a useful tool to generate learning and engagement in science. We investigated the effectiveness of TTES for facilitating transformative experience (TE), learning, the development of topic interest and transfer of course concepts to other courses employing a…

Self-interest without selfishness: the hedonic benefit of imposed self-interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Jonathan Z; Small, Deborah A

2012-10-01

Despite commonsense appeal, the link between self-interest and happiness remains elusive. One reason why individuals may not feel satisfied with self-interest is that they feel uneasy about sacrificing the needs of others for their own gain. We propose that externally imposing self-interest allows individuals to enjoy self-benefiting outcomes that are untainted by self-reproach for failing to help others. Study 1 demonstrated that an imposed self-interested option (a reward) leads to greater happiness than does choosing between a self-interested option and a prosocial option (a charity donation). Study 2 demonstrated that this effect is not driven by choice in general; rather, it is the specific trade-off between benefiting the self and benefiting others that inhibits happiness gained from self-interest. We theorize that the agency inherent in choice reduces the hedonic value of self-interest. Results of Study 3 find support for this mechanism.

Refining a region-of-interest within an available CT image

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Enjilela, Esmaeil; Hussein, Esam M.A.

2013-01-01

This paper describes a numerical method for refining the image of a region-of-interest (RoI) within an existing tomographic slice, provided that projection data are stored along with the image. Using the attributes of the image, projection values (ray-sums) are adjusted to compensate for the material outside the RoI. Advantage is taken of the high degree of overdetermination of common computed tomography systems to reconstruct an RoI image over smaller pixels. The smaller size of a region-of-interest enables the use of iterative methods for RoI image reconstruction, which are less prone to error propagation. Simulation results are shown for an anthropomorphic head phantom, demonstrating that the introduced approach enhances both the spatial resolution and material contrast of RoI images; without the need to acquire any additional measurements or to alter existing imaging setups and systems. - Highlights: ► A method for refining the image of a region-of-interest within an existing tomographic image. ► Refined spatial-resolution within the region-of-interest, due to high redundancy of CT data. ► Enhancement in image contrast by the use of iterative image reconstruction, made possible by the smaller problem size. ► No need for additional measurements, no alteration of existing imaging setups and systems

How do STEM-interested students pursue multiple interests in their higher educational choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Vulperhorst, Jonne Pieter; Wessels, Koen Rens; Bakker, Arthur; Akkerman, Sanne Floor

2018-05-01

Interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has lately received attention in research due to a gap between the number of STEM students and the needs of the labour market. As interest seems to be one of the most important factors in deciding what to study, we focus in the present study on how STEM-interested students weigh multiple interests in making educational choices. A questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items was administered to 91 STEM-interested students enrolled in a STEM programme of a Dutch University for secondary school students. Results indicate that students find it important that a study programme allows them to pursue multiple interests. Some students pursued multiple interests by choosing to enrol in two programmes at the same time. Most students chose one programme that enabled them to combine multiple interests. Combinations of pursued interests were dependent on the disciplinary range of interests of students. Students who were interested in diverse domains combined interests in an educational programme across academic and non-academic domains, whilst students who were mainly interested in STEM combined only STEM-focused interests. Together these findings stress the importance of taking a multiple interest perspective on interest development and educational choice.

33 CFR 100.124 - Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York. 100.124 Section 100.124 Navigation and Navigable... NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.124 Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York...

26 CFR 301.6621-3 - Higher interest rate payable on large corporate underpayments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... level) are not treated as letters of proposed deficiency that allow the taxpayer an opportunity for... resulting from a math error on Y's return. Y did not request an abatement of the assessment pursuant to...,000 amount shown as due on the math error assessment notice (plus interest) on or before January 31...

Global Patterns in Students' Views of Science and Interest in Science

Science.gov (United States)

van Griethuijsen, Ralf A. L. F.; van Eijck, Michiel W.; Haste, Helen; den Brok, Perry J.; Skinner, Nigel C.; Mansour, Nasser; Savran Gencer, Ayse; BouJaoude, Saouma

2015-08-01

International studies have shown that interest in science and technology among primary and secondary school students in Western European countries is low and seems to be decreasing. In many countries outside Europe, and especially in developing countries, interest in science and technology remains strong. As part of the large-scale European Union funded `Science Education for Diversity' project, a questionnaire probing potential reasons for this difference was completed by students in the UK, Netherlands, Turkey, Lebanon, India and Malaysia. This questionnaire sought information about favourite courses, extracurricular activities and views on the nature of science. Over 9,000 students aged mainly between 10 and 14 years completed the questionnaire. Results revealed that students in countries outside Western Europe showed a greater interest in school science, in careers related to science and in extracurricular activities related to science than did Western European students. Non-European students were also more likely to hold an empiricist view of the nature of science and to believe that science can solve many problems faced by the world. Multilevel analysis revealed a strong correlation between interest in science and having such a view of the Nature of Science.

The impact of classification of interest on predictive toxicogenomics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre R. Bushel

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The era of toxicogenomics has introduced a new way of monitoring the effect of environmental stressors and toxicants on biological systems via quantification of changes in gene expression. Because the liver is one of the major organs for synthesis and secretion of substances which metabolize endogenous and exogenous materials, there has been a great deal of interest in elucidating predictive and mechanistic genomic markers of hepatotoxicity. This mini-review will bring context to a limited number of toxicogenomics studies which used genomics to evaluate the transcriptional changes in blood and liver in response to acetaminophen (APAP or other liver toxicants, but differed according to the classification of interest (COI, i.e. the partitioning of the samples a priori according to a common toxicological characteristic. The toxicogenomics studies highlighted are characterized by a classification of either no/low vs. high APAP dose exposure, none vs. observed necrosis, and severity of necrosis. The overlap or lack thereof between the gene classifiers and the modulated biological processes that are elucidated will be discussed to enhance the understanding of the effect of the particular COI model and experimental design used for prediction.

Glial cell biology in the Great Lakes region.

Science.gov (United States)

Feinstein, Douglas L; Skoff, Robert P

2016-03-31

We report on the tenth bi-annual Great Lakes Glial meeting, held in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, September 27-29 2015. The GLG meeting is a small conference that focuses on current research in glial cell biology. The array of functions that glial cells (astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells) play in health and disease is constantly increasing. Despite this diversity, GLG meetings bring together scientists with common interests, leading to a better understanding of these cells. This year's meeting included two keynote speakers who presented talks on the regulation of CNS myelination and the consequences of stress on Schwann cell biology. Twenty-two other talks were presented along with two poster sessions. Sessions covered recent findings in the areas of microglial and astrocyte activation; age-dependent changes to glial cells, Schwann cell development and pathology, and the role of stem cells in glioma and neural regeneration.

Differences in the Effects of the Great Recession on Health Outcomes among Minority Working-Age Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Towne, Samuel D; Probst, Janice C; Hardin, James W; Bell, Bethany A; Glover, Saundra

2015-03-01

We examined the effects of the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009) among vulnerable adults who may be at high risk of poor health and low access to health care. Our primary outcomes of interest were self-reported health status (fair/poor versus good/very good/excellent), and foregoing needed health care due to cost in the past 12 months. Racial and ethnic minorities, except Asians, experienced higher rates of poor/fair health and higher rates of forgone medical care than did White adults. Hispanic and AIAN adults experienced differential effects of the Great Recession, as compared to White adults. Understanding how vulnerable populations react in times of economic flux will enable policy makers to identify strategies/policies to lessen the burden experienced by vulnerable adults.

Great Expectations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dickens, Charles

2005-01-01

One of Dickens's most renowned and enjoyable novels, Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, an orphan boy who wishes to transcend his humble origins and finds himself unexpectedly given the opportunity to live a life of wealth and respectability. Over the course of the tale, in which Pip

Implied Volatility of Interest Rate Options: An Empirical Investigation of the Market Model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christiansen, Charlotte; Hansen, Charlotte Strunk

2002-01-01

We analyze the empirical properties of the volatility implied in options on the 13-week US Treasury bill rate. These options have not been studied previously. It is shown that a European style put option on the interest rate is equivalent to a call option on a zero-coupon bond. We apply the LIBOR...

Horticulture in Argentina: a productive alternative with great potential

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Maria Castagnino

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Horticulture in Argentina is an activity with great potential whose history has mainly been driven by Italian immigrants who arrived during the last two centuries. It is a valuable complement for traditional primary productions on which the country is focused with more than 30 millions of cultivated hectares and different agro-climatic conditions that characterize the different horticultural regions distributed throughout the country. The aim of this article is to give a panorama of the history, reality and perspectives in Argentina of an activity that is an opportunity for producers and entrepreneurs interested in it. Due to its characteristics, horticulture generates and dynamizes employment with great importance for regional economies. The proportion between vegetables and fruit produced and commercialized in Argentina is 63 and 34% respectively. Horticultural products for exportation largely are garlic, onion and beans. Concerning the most commercialized vegetables in Argentina, potato, tomato, onion, squash, lettuce, pepper, marrow and sweet potato stand out, whereas orange, tangerine, apple, banana, lemon, pear, grape and grapefruit may be highlighted among fruit. At present, the main challenge of the Argentinian horticultural sector is given not only by the possibilities of productive diversification and the expansion of the productive area but also of the technological level optimization, the application of quality norms and the agro-industry growth.

The great intimidators.

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, Roderick M

2006-02-01

After Disney's Michael Eisner, Miramax's Harvey Weinstein, and Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina fell from their heights of power, the business media quickly proclaimed thatthe reign of abrasive, intimidating leaders was over. However, it's premature to proclaim their extinction. Many great intimidators have done fine for a long time and continue to thrive. Their modus operandi runs counter to a lot of preconceptions about what it takes to be a good leader. They're rough, loud, and in your face. Their tactics include invading others' personal space, staging tantrums, keeping people guessing, and possessing an indisputable command of facts. But make no mistake--great intimidators are not your typical bullies. They're driven by vision, not by sheer ego or malice. Beneath their tough exteriors and sharp edges are some genuine, deep insights into human motivation and organizational behavior. Indeed, these leaders possess political intelligence, which can make the difference between paralysis and successful--if sometimes wrenching--organizational change. Like socially intelligent leaders, politically intelligent leaders are adept at sizing up others, but they notice different things. Those with social intelligence assess people's strengths and figure out how to leverage them; those with political intelligence exploit people's weaknesses and insecurities. Despite all the obvious drawbacks of working under them, great intimidators often attract the best and brightest. And their appeal goes beyond their ability to inspire high performance. Many accomplished professionals who gravitate toward these leaders want to cultivate a little "inner intimidator" of their own. In the author's research, quite a few individuals reported having positive relationships with intimidating leaders. In fact, some described these relationships as profoundly educational and even transformational. So before we throw out all the great intimidators, the author argues, we should stop to consider what

Interest rates mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Kanevski, M.; Maignan, M.; Pozdnoukhov, A.; Timonin, V.

2008-06-01

The present study deals with the analysis and mapping of Swiss franc interest rates. Interest rates depend on time and maturity, defining term structure of the interest rate curves (IRC). In the present study IRC are considered in a two-dimensional feature space-time and maturity. Exploratory data analysis includes a variety of tools widely used in econophysics and geostatistics. Geostatistical models and machine learning algorithms (multilayer perceptron and Support Vector Machines) were applied to produce interest rate maps. IR maps can be used for the visualisation and pattern perception purposes, to develop and to explore economical hypotheses, to produce dynamic asset-liability simulations and for financial risk assessments. The feasibility of an application of interest rates mapping approach for the IRC forecasting is considered as well.

Using Scenario Development to Encourage Tourism Business Resilience in the Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Chin, N.; Day, J.; Sydnor, S.; Cherkauer, K. A.

2015-12-01

Tourism is an economic sector anticipated to be greatly affected by climate change, but the potential impacts of climate change on tourism have rarely been examined in detail in existing research. Past research has shown, however, that the small and medium businesses that dominate the tourism sector could be greatly impacted by climate change. We have presented global climate and hydrologic model research results to pre-selected coastal tourism business owners in the Great Lakes region to determine the best methods for delivering user-friendly future climate scenarios, given that existing research suggests that climate change adaptive behaviors and resilience increase with information (message) clarity. Model output analyses completed for this work have focused on temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events due to their economic impact on tourism activities. We have also experimented with the development and use of infographics because of their ability to present information quickly and clearly. Initial findings of this work will be presented as well as lessons learned from stakeholder interactions. Two main results include that (1) extreme weather events may have more meaning to tourism business owners than general trends in climate and (2) long-term planning for climate is extremely difficult for tourism business owners because they operate on a much shorter planning timeline than those generally used for climate change analyses.

ECO-Report - Great issues, great diversions

Science.gov (United States)

Janie Canton-Thompson; Jim Saveland; Sharon Ritter; Yvette K Ortega; Dean F. Pearson; Mick Harrington; Elaine Kennedy Sutherland; Clint Cook; Greg Jones

2004-01-01

ECO-Report is an annual Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) publication which contains a set of articles showcasing the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP) research projects and activities. The articles are concise, user-friendly, and designed to inform a broad range of audiences interested in ecosystem management. Articles featured in...

Making the news interesting : Understanding the relationship between familiarity and interest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sluis, F. van der; Glassey, R.J.; Broek, E.L. van den

2012-01-01

News feeds are an important element of information encountering, feeding our (new) interests but also leading to a state of information overload. Current solutions often select information similar to the user's interests. However, long-term interest in one topic, and being highly familiar with that

Radiation-induced leiomyosarcoma of the great vessels presenting as superior vena cava syndrome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weiss, K.S.; Zidar, B.L.; Wang, S.

1987-01-01

A patient with a pleomorphic intravascular leiomyosarcoma of the great vessels of the neck and mediastinum presented clinically with a superior vena cava syndrome. A latent period of 29 years elapsed between receiving orthovoltage radiation to the neck and right side of chest to treat recurrent ganglioneuroblastoma, and the appearance of a leiomyosarcoma and subsequent recurrences. The patient underwent partial resection of the tumor, received adjunct chemotherapy, and was shown to be free of disease by clinical tests and by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) 17 months after completion of chemotherapy. The criteria for the diagnosis of radiation-induced sarcomas are reviewed in relation to the present case. The critical role of magnetic resonance imaging in both the diagnosis and continued follow-up of the patient is described. This would appear to be the first reported case of radiation-induced intravascular leiomyosarcoma of the great vessels of the neck and mediastinum presenting as a superior vena cava syndrome

Great cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo) can detect auditory cues while diving

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Kirstin Anderson; Maxwell, Alyssa; Siebert, Ursula; Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Wahlberg, Magnus

2017-06-01

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater than expected, and the hearing thresholds are comparable to seals and toothed whales in the frequency band 1-4 kHz. This opens up the possibility of cormorants and other aquatic birds having special adaptations for underwater hearing and making use of underwater acoustic cues from, e.g., conspecifics, their surroundings, as well as prey and predators.

Interest in Use of Technology for Healthcare Among Veterans Receiving Treatment for Mental Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Christopher J; McInnes, D Keith; Stolzmann, Kelly; Bauer, Mark S

2016-10-01

There is great interest in leveraging technology, including cell phones and computers, to improve healthcare. A range of e-health applications pertaining to mental health such as messaging for prescription refill or mobile device videoconferencing are becoming more available, but little is known about the mental health patient's interest in using these newer applications. We mailed a survey to 300 patients seen in the general mental health clinic of a local Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Survey questions focused on interest in use of cell phones, tablets, and other computers in patients' interactions with the healthcare system. A total of 74 patients, primarily treated for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety disorders, returned completed surveys. Nearly all reported having a cell phone (72/74, 97%), but fewer than half reported having a smartphone (35/74, 47%). Overall, a substantial majority (64/74, 86%) had access to an Internet-capable device (smartphone or computer, including tablets). Respondents appeared to prefer computers to cell phones for some health-related communications, but did not express differential interest for other tasks (such as receiving appointment reminders). Interest in use was higher among younger veterans. Most veterans with a mental health diagnosis have access to technology (including cell phones and computers) and are interested in using that technology for some types of healthcare-related communications. While there is capacity to utilize information technology for healthcare purposes in this population, interests vary widely, and a substantial minority does not have access to relevant devices. Although interest in using computers for health-related communication was higher than interest in using cell phones, single-platform technology-based interventions may nonetheless exclude crucial segments of the population.

Fitting measurement models to vocational interest data: are dominance models ideal?

Science.gov (United States)

Tay, Louis; Drasgow, Fritz; Rounds, James; Williams, Bruce A

2009-09-01

In this study, the authors examined the item response process underlying 3 vocational interest inventories: the Occupational Preference Inventory (C.-P. Deng, P. I. Armstrong, & J. Rounds, 2007), the Interest Profiler (J. Rounds, T. Smith, L. Hubert, P. Lewis, & D. Rivkin, 1999; J. Rounds, C. M. Walker, et al., 1999), and the Interest Finder (J. E. Wall & H. E. Baker, 1997; J. E. Wall, L. L. Wise, & H. E. Baker, 1996). Item response theory (IRT) dominance models, such as the 2-parameter and 3-parameter logistic models, assume that item response functions (IRFs) are monotonically increasing as the latent trait increases. In contrast, IRT ideal point models, such as the generalized graded unfolding model, have IRFs that peak where the latent trait matches the item. Ideal point models are expected to fit better because vocational interest inventories ask about typical behavior, as opposed to requiring maximal performance. Results show that across all 3 interest inventories, the ideal point model provided better descriptions of the response process. The importance of specifying the correct item response model for precise measurement is discussed. In particular, scores computed by a dominance model were shown to be sometimes illogical: individuals endorsing mostly realistic or mostly social items were given similar scores, whereas scores based on an ideal point model were sensitive to which type of items respondents endorsed.

What great managers do.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckingham, Marcus

2005-03-01

Much has been written about the qualities that make a great manager, but most of the literature overlooks a fundamental question: What does a great manager actually do? While there are countless management styles, one thing underpins the behavior of all great managers. Above all, an exceptional manager comes to know and value the particular quirks and abilities of her employees. She figures out how to capitalize on her staffers' strengths and tweaks her environment to meet her larger goals. Such a specialized approach may seem like a lot of work. But in fact, capitalizing on each person's uniqueness can save time. Rather than encourage employees to conform to strict job descriptions that may include tasks they don't enjoy and aren't good at, a manager who develops positions for his staff members based on their unique abilities will be rewarded with behaviors that are far more efficient and effective than they would be otherwise. This focus on individuals also makes employees more accountable. Because staffers are evaluated on their particular strengths and weaknesses, they are challenged to take responsibility for their abilities and to hone them. Capitalizing on a person's uniqueness also builds a stronger sense of team. By taking the time to understand what makes each employee tick, a great manager shows that he sees his people for who they are. This personal investment not only motivates individuals but also galvanizes the entire team. Finally, this approach shakes up existing hierarchies, which leads to more creative thinking. To take great managing from theory to practice, the author says, you must know three things about a person: her strengths, the triggers that activate those strengths, and how she learns. By asking the right questions, squeezing the right triggers, and becoming aware of your employees' learning styles, you will discover what motivates each person to excel.

Extrusive and Intrusive Magmatism Greatly Influence the Tectonic Mode of Earth-Like Planets

Science.gov (United States)

Lourenco, D.; Tackley, P. J.; Rozel, A.; Ballmer, M.

2017-09-01

Plate tectonics on Earth-like planets is typically modelling using a strongly temperature-dependent visco-plastic rheology. Previous analyses have generally focussed on purely thermal convection. However, we have shown that the influence of compositional heterogeneity in the form of continental or oceanic crust can greatly influence plate tectonics by making it easier (i.e. it occurs at a lower yield stress or friction coefficient). Here we present detailed results on this topic, in particular focussing on the influence of intrusive vs. extrusive magmatism on the tectonic mode.

A Matter of Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Paul

2009-01-01

In these days of financial turmoil, there is greater interest in depositing one's money in the bank--at least one might hope for greater interest. Banks and various trusts pay compound interest at regular intervals: this means that interest is paid not only on the original sum deposited, but also on previous interest payments. This article…

The strength of great apes and the speed of humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Walker, Alan

2009-04-01

Cliff Jolly developed a causal model of human origins in his paper "The Seed-Eaters," published in 1970. He was one of the first to attempt this, and the paper has since become a classic. I do not have such grand goals; instead, I seek to understand a major difference between the living great apes and humans. More than 50 years ago, Maynard Smith and Savage (1956) showed that the musculoskeletal systems of mammals can be adapted for strength at one extreme and speed at the other but not both. Great apes are adapted for strength--chimpanzees have been shown to be about four times as strong as fit young humans when normalized for body size. The corresponding speed that human limb systems gain at the expense of power is critical for effective human activities such as running, throwing, and manipulation, including tool making. The fossil record can shed light on when the change from power to speed occurred. I outline a hypothesis that suggests that the difference in muscular performance between the two species is caused by chimpanzees having many fewer small motor units than humans, which leads them, in turn, to contract more muscle fibers earlier in any particular task. I outline a histological test of this hypothesis.

Great Ellipse Route Planning Based on Space Vector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LIU Wenchao

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Aiming at the problem of navigation error caused by unified earth model in great circle route planning using sphere model and modern navigation equipment using ellipsoid mode, a method of great ellipse route planning based on space vector is studied. By using space vector algebra method, the vertex of great ellipse is solved directly, and description of great ellipse based on major-axis vector and minor-axis vector is presented. Then calculation formulas of great ellipse azimuth and distance are deduced using two basic vectors. Finally, algorithms of great ellipse route planning are studied, especially equal distance route planning algorithm based on Newton-Raphson(N-R method. Comparative examples show that the difference of route planning between great circle and great ellipse is significant, using algorithms of great ellipse route planning can eliminate the navigation error caused by the great circle route planning, and effectively improve the accuracy of navigation calculation.

Promotion strategies shown for the example of North-Rhine Westphalia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borchers, S.

1997-01-01

As one of Germany's technology and energy centres the Land of North-Rhine Westphalia sees it as a great challenge to implement a proactive policy for the protection of the Earth's atmosphere and in particular to bring about the urgently needed reduction in climatically active emissions. The current degree of efficient energy utilisation, in particular from renewable sources, still lags behind what is economically possible. Active political and governmental support is needed to promote the cause of efficient energy utilisation and the use of renewable energy sources and accord them the status they deserve. This insight led the Government of North-Rhine Westphalia in 1987 to frame a programme for ''Efficient energy utilisation and use of renewable renewable energy sources''. The present paper describes the aims and promotion strategies of the programme, examines the results it has produced, and sketches out perspectives for the near future [de

Nothing Great Is Easy

OpenAIRE

Stansbie, Lisa

2014-01-01

A solo exhibition of 13 pieces of art work.\\ud \\ud Nothing Great is Easy is an exhibition of sculpture, film, drawing and photography that proposes reconstructed narratives using the sport of swimming and in particular the collective interaction and identity of the channel swimmer. The work utilises the processes, rituals/rules, language and the apparatus of sport.\\ud \\ud “Nothing great is easy” are the words on the memorial to Captain Matthew Webb who was the first man to swim the English ch...

Imagining the Great Lakes Region: discourses and practices of civil society regional approaches for peacebuilding in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, van M.

2008-01-01

The idea has gained ground in recent years that, as conflicts in the countries of the Great Lakes Region are strongly interlinked, regional approaches are necessary to resolve them. This interest in regional dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding also gains currency in other parts of the world.

Afghanistan’s significance for Russia in the 21st Century: Interests, Perceptions and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sangar Kaneshko

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Since President Barack Obama set the end of 2014 as the deadline to complete the planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, numerous commentators have sought to assess Russia’s Afghan policy since September 11, 2001 and anticipate Moscow’s strategy in ‘post-2014’ Afghanistan. This paper maintains that an assessment/evaluation of Afghanistan’s significance for Russia in the current system of international relations is needed to understand Moscow’s current and future Afghan strategy. Hence, the aim of this study is to identify and analyse the major factors, which lead to a conceptualization of Russia’s interests in Afghanistan. When assessing Russia’s interests in Afghanistan, one must take into account a plethora of significant issues, including Putin’s ‘great-power’ rhetoric; geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic rivalries in the wider region; security threats such as the illegal narcotics emanating from Afghanistan and global terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism; the rivalry and competition for energy resources; and control over pipeline routes and energy corridors. The analysis of these substantiating factors demonstrate why in the 21st century the Afghan problem remains a significant challenge to Russia’s ‘great power’ identity, to its international strategy abroad, to its strategically important ‘near abroad,’ and to the country’s domestic socio-economic policy

Continuous resistivity profiling data from Great South Bay, Long Island, New York

Science.gov (United States)

Cross, V.A.; Bratton, J.F.; Kroeger, K.D.; Crusius, John; Worley, C.R.

2013-01-01

An investigation of submarine aquifers adjacent to the Fire Island National Seashore and Long Island, New York was conducted to assess the importance of submarine groundwater discharge as a potential nonpoint source of nitrogen delivery to Great South Bay. Over 200 kilometers of continuous resistivity profiling data were collected to image the fresh-saline groundwater interface in sediments beneath the bay. In addition, groundwater sampling was performed at sites (1) along the north shore of Great South Bay, particularly in Patchogue Bay, that were representative of the developed Long Island shoreline, and (2) at sites on and adjacent to Fire Island, a 50-kilometer-long barrier island on the south side of Great South Bay. Other field activities included sediment coring, stationary electrical resistivity profiling, and surveys of in situ pore water conductivity. Results of continuous resistivity profiling surveys are described in this report. The onshore and offshore shallow hydrostratigraphy of the Great South Bay shorelines, particularly the presence and nature of submarine confining units, appears to exert primary control on the dimensions and chemistry of the submarine groundwater flow and discharge zones. Sediment coring has shown that the confining units commonly consist of drowned and buried peat layers likely deposited in salt marshes. Low-salinity groundwater extends from 10 to 100 meters offshore along much of the north and south shores of Great South Bay based on continuous resistivity profiling data, especially off the mouths of tidal creeks and beneath shallow flats to the north of Fire Island adjacent to modern salt marshes. Human modifications of much of the shoreline and nearshore areas along the north shore of the bay, including filling of salt marshes, construction of bulkheads and piers, and dredging of navigation channels, has substantially altered the natural hydrogeology of the bay's shorelines by truncating confining units and increasing

Climate variability and Great Plains agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenberg, N.J.; Katz, L.A.

1991-01-01

The ways in which inhabitants of the Great Plains, including Indians, early settlers, and 20th century farmers, have adapted to climate changes on the Great Plains are explored. The climate of the Great Plains, because of its variability and extremes, can be very stressful to plants, animals and people. It is suggested that agriculture and society on the Great Plains have, during the last century, become less vulnerable to the stresses imposed by climate. Opinions as to the sustainability of agriculture on the Great Plains vary substantially. Lockeretz (1981) suggests that large scale, high cost technologies have stressed farmers by creating surpluses and by requiring large investments. Opie (1989) sees irrigation as a climate substitute, however he stresses that the Ogallala aquifer must inevitably become depleted. Deborah and Frank Popper (1987) believe that farming on the Plains is unsustainable, and destruction of shelterbelts, out-migration of the rural population and environmental problems will lead to total collapse. With global warming, water in the Great Plains is expected to become scarcer, and although improvements in irrigation efficiency may slow depletion of the Ogallala aquifer, ultimately the acreage under irrigation must decrease to levels that can be sustained by natural recharge and reliable surface flows. 23 refs., 2 figs

Great Basin land managers provide detailed feedback about usefulness of two climate information web applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad Zanocco

Full Text Available Land managers in the Great Basin are working to maintain or restore sagebrush ecosystems as climate change exacerbates existing threats. Web applications delivering climate change and climate impacts information have the potential to assist their efforts. Although many web applications containing climate information currently exist, few have been co-produced with land managers or have incorporated information specifically focused on land managers’ needs. Through surveys and interviews, we gathered detailed feedback from federal, state, and tribal sagebrush land managers in the Great Basin on climate information web applications targeting land management. We found that a managers are searching for weather and climate information they can incorporate into their current management strategies and plans; b they are willing to be educated on how to find and understand climate related web applications; c both field and administrative-type managers want data for timescales ranging from seasonal to decadal; d managers want multiple levels of climate information, from simple summaries, to detailed descriptions accessible through the application; and e managers are interested in applications that evaluate uncertainty and provide projected climate impacts. Keywords: Great Basin, Sagebrush, Land management, Climate change, Web application, Co-production

Prenatal Diagnosis of Dextrotransposition of the Great Arteries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeng-Hsiu Hung

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Dextrotransposition of the great arteries (DTGA is a common cardiac cause of cyanosis in newborn infants that can cause acidosis and death within a short period of time unless there is a large atrial-level shunt or a patent ductus arteriosus. Here, we report a case of prenatal diagnosis of DTGA at 24+1 gestational weeks. In a tilted 4-chamber view, the pulmonary trunk branched to the left and the right pulmonary, with its root connected to the left ventricle outflow tract. In the short-axis view, the pulmonary trunk was shown to be parallel with the ascending aortic root. Cesarean section was performed due to the nonreassuring fetal status at 38+5 gestational weeks. The male neonate appeared to have mild cyanotic symptoms and weighed 3,108 g. Apgar scores were 8 and 9 at 1 and 5 minutes, respectively. Neonatal echocardiography was performed immediately after birth and the findings confirmed DTGA associated with atrial septal defect secundum. Postnatally, angiography confirmed the echocardiographic diagnosis of DTGA with a large atrial septal defect secundum and a large patent ductus arteriosus. Jatene arterial switch operation and atrial septal defect closure with Gore-Tex patch were performed. The neonate withstood the operation well and was discharged 27 days after birth weighing 2,950 g and in a stable condition. Prenatal diagnosis of DTGA can greatly aid to prepare the patient's family and the surgeon and significantly improve the outcome of complex heart disease in the neonatal period.

INTEGRATING GEOPHYSICS, GEOLOGY, AND HYDROLOGY TO DETERMINE BEDROCK GEOMETRY CONTROLS ON THE ORIGIN OF ISOLATED MEADOW COMPLEXES WITHIN THE CENTRAL GREAT BASIN, NEVADA

Science.gov (United States)

Riparian meadow complexes found in mountain ranges of the Central Great Basin physiographic region (western United States) are of interest to researchers as they contain significant biodiversity relative to the surrounding basin areas. These meadow complexes are currently degradi...

When Dishonesty Leads to Trust: Moral Judgments Biased by Self-interest are Truly Believed

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bocian Konrad

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Research has shown that cheating is perceived as immoral when it serves the cheater’s interests, though it can be seen as moral when it serves the interests of the perceiver. However, are such biased moral judgments real, or are they merely lip service? To answer the question of whether biased moral judgments actually inform behavior, the authors asked participants to observe a confederate who either cheated for money or did not cheat, which benefited either the confederate alone or both the confederate and the participating observer. Then, participants evaluated the confederate and, finally, played a one shot trust game with her. Cheating influenced moral judgments and decreased behavioral trust, but this only occurred when self-interest was not involved. When self-interest was involved, participants showed no significant differences in trust levels, independent of whether the confederate had cheated or not. Implications for the dual process theory in moral psychology are discussed.

The great moderation of inflation: a structural analysis of recent U.S. monetary business cycles

OpenAIRE

Casares Polo, Miguel; Vázquez, Jesús

2012-01-01

U.S. inflation has experienced a great moderation in the last two decades. This paper examines the factors behind this and other stylized facts, such as the weaker correlation of inflation and nominal interest rate (Gibson paradox). Our findings point at lower exogenous variability of supply-side shocks and, to a lower extent, structural changes in money demand, monetary policy, and firms’ sticky pricing behavior as the main driving forces of the changes observed in recent U.S. business cycle...

Understanding Interest Rate Volatility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Volker, Desi

This thesis is the result of my Ph.D. studies at the Department of Finance of the Copenhagen Business School. It consists of three essays covering topics related to the term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate volatility. The rst essay, \\Monetary Policy Uncertainty...... and Interest Rates", examines the role of monetary policy uncertainty on the term structure of interest rates. The second essay, \\A Regime-Switching A ne Term Structure Model with Stochastic Volatility" (co-authored with Sebastian Fux), investigates the ability of the class of regime switching models...... with and without stochastic volatility to capture the main stylized features of U.S. interest rates. The third essay, \\Variance Risk Premia in the Interest Rate Swap Market", investigates the time-series and cross-sectional properties of the compensation demanded for holding interest rate variance risk. The essays...

Der Einfluss von personeller Einkommensverteilung auf die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefan Trappl

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Der Einfluss gestiegener Einkommensungleichheit auf die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“ wurde mehrfach postuliert (Galbraith 1954/2009; Eccles 1951; Rajan 2010; Stiglitz 2012; Piketty 2014. Konkrete empirische Arbeiten zum Zusammenhang zwischen Einkommensverteilung und dem Entstehen von Wirtschaftskrisen gibt es aber bislang wenige. Kumhof/Ranciere (2010 überprüften die von Rajan (2010 aufgestellte Hypothese, die einen entsprechenden Zusammenhang postuliert, mittels Modellrechnung. Bordo/Meissner (2012 und darauf aufbauend Gu/Huang (2014 verwendeten unterschiedliche Regressionsmodelle in Bezug auf einen entsprechenden Zusammenhang, ohne jedoch eindeutige Ergebnisse zu liefern. Die vorliegende Arbeit schließt an diese Arbeiten an, beschränkt die Untersuchung allerdings auf Staaten, für die Daten für die letzten hundert Jahre verfügbar sind, und untersucht zudem explizit die Zeiträume um die beiden größten Krisen der letzten hundert Jahre, die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“. Die Auswertungen zeigen, dass die personelle Einkommensverteilung ein guter Prädiktor für die Kriseneintrittswahrscheinlichkeit ist.

Three-player conflicting interest games and nonlocality

Science.gov (United States)

Bolonek-Lasoń, Katarzyna

2017-08-01

We outline the general construction of three-player games with incomplete information which fulfil the following conditions: (i) symmetry with respect to the permutations of players; (ii) the existence of an upper bound for total payoff resulting from Bell inequalities; (iii) the existence of both fair and unfair Nash equilibria saturating this bound. Conditions (i)-(iii) imply that we are dealing with conflicting interest games. An explicit example of such a game is given. A quantum counterpart of this game is considered. It is obtained by keeping the same utilities but replacing classical advisor by a quantum one. It is shown that the quantum game possesses only fair equilibria with strictly higher payoffs than in the classical case. This implies that quantum nonlocality can be used to resolve the conflict between the players.

26 CFR 1.265-3 - Nondeductibility of interest relating to exempt-interest dividends.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... interest relating to exempt-interest dividends. (a) In general. No deduction is allowed to a shareholder of... dividends distributed by the company to the shareholder during the shareholder's taxable year. (b) Interest... amount of exempt-interest dividends received by the shareholder. The denominator of the fraction is the...

The Reaction of Private Spending and Market Interest Rates to the Changes in Public Spending

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Przekota Grzegorz

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Expansionary fiscal policy is mired in controversy. Its proponents suggest that during recession, it stimulates investors’ activity and has a stabilizing effect on economic growth. However, its opponents point to the costs associated with the budget deficit and public debt handling. Increased public spending may result in an increase in the interest rates, which may, in turn, hinder private investment and weaken the multiplier effect of public spending. The following study examines how private spending and market interest rates reacted to changes in public spending in Poland. The study has shown that public spending stimulates private spending, which is consistent with the Keynesian model, but it also leads to an increase in market interest rates, which is consistent with the neoclassical model.

Regional economic integration in Great East Asia: determinants and barriers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volodymyr Korol

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The article studies both general trends and peculiar characteristics of processes of economic integration in the Great East Asia, which plays the role of one of the major centers of contemporary global development. The basic determinants and barriers for implementation of regional strategies by China, Japan, ASEAN that will influence the geo-economic policy of Ukraine not only in East Asian, but also European and Eurasian areas. Attention is focused on the basic principles of realized and potential future integration models in the "ASEAN+" format with variable composition of member states that correspond to different extents to strategic objectives of both specified key actors in the region and extra-regional states that have global and transnational interests. Extrapolation of dominant trends in the nature and dynamics of transformation processes of East Asian economic regionalization allowed forming a forecast for the longterm conservation of importance of free trade agreements in the absence of preconditions to create customs unions. At the same time it was stressed out that proper assurance of national interests of international economic relations will be based on contractual instruments at the international level, without creating institutional and legal superstructure similar to the European Union or the Eurasian Economic Union as supranational law and supranational bodies.

Great Lakes Bathymetry

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Bathymetry of Lakes Michigan, Erie, Saint Clair, Ontario and Huron has been compiled as a component of a NOAA project to rescue Great Lakes lake floor geological and...

What Caused the Great Depression?

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Jean; O'Driscoll, Timothy G.

2007-01-01

Economists and historians have struggled for almost 80 years to account for the American Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early years of World War II. In this article, the authors discuss three major schools of thought on the causes of the Great Depression and the long failure of the American economy to return to full…

The Sixth Great Mass Extinction

Science.gov (United States)

Wagler, Ron

2012-01-01

Five past great mass extinctions have occurred during Earth's history. Humanity is currently in the midst of a sixth, human-induced great mass extinction of plant and animal life (e.g., Alroy 2008; Jackson 2008; Lewis 2006; McDaniel and Borton 2002; Rockstrom et al. 2009; Rohr et al. 2008; Steffen, Crutzen, and McNeill 2007; Thomas et al. 2004;…

Great magnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsurutani, B.T.; Yen Te Lee; Tang, F.; Gonzalez, W.D.

1992-01-01

The five largest magnetic storms that occurred between 1971 and 1986 are studied to determine their solar and interplanetary causes. All of the events are found to be associated with high speed solar wind streams led by collisionless shocks. The high speed streams are clearly related to identifiable solar flares. It is found that (1) it is the extreme values of the southward interplanetary magnetic fields rather than solar wind speeds that are the primary causes of great magnetic storms, (2) shocked and draped sheath fields preceding the driver gas (magnetic cloud) are at least as effective in causing the onset of great magnetic storms (3 of 5 events ) as the strong fields within the driver gas itself, and (3) precursor southward fields ahead of the high speed streams allow the shock compression mechanism (item 2) to be particularly geoeffective

[Is it Possible to Arouse Interest in a Career in Traumatology with a Curricular Course in Medical School?

Science.gov (United States)

Meder, A; Lammerding-Köppel, M; Zundel, S; Stöckle, U; Bahrs, C; Gonser, C

2016-12-01

Background: There is a serious lack of young doctors in trauma surgery, which has intensified in recent years. The reasons are complex. Studies have shown that the interest in starting a career in surgery significantly decreases during medical school. To counteract the lack of young talent in the clinic, interest in the subject should be aroused in medical school. The aim of the present study was to evaluate current teaching at our university, where trauma surgery is a curricular subject with mandatory attendance for all medical students. Material and Methods: The current curriculum is intended for medicine students in their fifth year. The curriculum comprises lectures, practical courses and observation modules held in small groups. Students are provided with an experienced surgeon as teacher and mentor for the whole week. A teaching and training centre is available for the practical courses. In an anonymised questionnaire, students were asked about their overall assessment and the training success of practical and theory-oriented modules, as well as their specific interest in traumatology. Results: The evaluated curriculum gave very good results, with an overall rating of 1.53 (average) on a 6-point Likert scale in the overall assessment. It could be shown that students previously not interested in starting a career in trauma surgery showed significantly more interest in the subject after the curriculum. The practical parts scored best in the individual assessment. Conclusion: We showed that intensive teaching can arouse interest in traumatology in students who had been indifferent to orthopaedics and traumatology. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Is holography ready for yet another life? or make holography great again

Science.gov (United States)

Trolinger, James D.

2016-08-01

Holographic metrology, unlike most other applications of holography, has always thrived and continues to thrive by continuously incorporating new supporting technologies that make it more powerful and useful. Successes, failures, lives, and deaths are examined and recognized as evolutionary steps that position the field where opportunities are as great and as many as ever. This is a story of that evolution. Comparisons and analogies with other applications of holography such as data storage, archiving, the arts, entertainment, advertising, and security and their evolution are interesting. Critical events, successes, mistakes, and coincidences represent milestones of abandonment or failure to deliver in many holography communities that followed a different evolutionary path. Events and new technical developments continue to emerge in supporting fields that can revive and expand all holography applications. New opportunities are described with encouragement to act on them and take some risks. Don't wait until all of the required technology and hardware are available, because good scientists always act before then. The paper is about "making holography great again" and your opportunity to be a part of the upcoming revolution. Although the discussion focuses on holographic metrology, the same principles should apply to other holography communities.

Monitoring the environment and human sentiment on the Great Barrier Reef: Assessing the potential of collective sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Becken, Susanne; Stantic, Bela; Chen, Jinyan; Alaei, Ali Reza; Connolly, Rod M

2017-12-01

With the growth of smartphone usage the number of social media posts has significantly increased and represents potentially valuable information for management, including of natural resources and the environment. Already, evidence of using 'human sensor' in crises management suggests that collective knowledge could be used to complement traditional monitoring. This research uses Twitter data posted from the Great Barrier Reef region, Australia, to assess whether the extent and type of data could be used to Great Barrier Reef organisations as part of their monitoring program. The analysis reveals that large amounts of tweets, covering the geographic area of interest, are available and that the pool of information providers is greatly enhanced by the large number of tourists to this region. A keyword and sentiment analysis demonstrates the usefulness of the Twitter data, but also highlights that the actual number of Reef-related tweets is comparatively small and lacks specificity. Suggestions for further steps towards the development of an integrative data platform that incorporates social media are provided. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

'Great Power Style' in China's Economic Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Yang

2011-01-01

China’s ascendance attracts concern, even though Beijing claims to be a responsible great power and tries to demonstrate its ‘great power style’ in economic diplomacy. This article therefore discusses the following questions: to what extent does the current notion and practice of Chinese ‘great...... power style’ in economic diplomacy comply with, or differ from, the criteria of benign hegemony; and what are the major constraining factors? Conceptually, China’s ‘great power style’ is rooted in ancient Chinese political philosophy and institution, but it highly resembles the Western notion of benign...

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

OpenAIRE

Castro, MA; Burrows, R; Wooffitt, R

2014-01-01

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain . Our findings show that 37 per cent of British adults...

Biomedical Science Ph.D. Career Interest Patterns by Race/Ethnicity and Gender.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kenneth D Gibbs

Full Text Available Increasing biomedical workforce diversity remains a persistent challenge. Recent reports have shown that biomedical sciences (BMS graduate students become less interested in faculty careers as training progresses; however, it is unclear whether or how the career preferences of women and underrepresented minority (URM scientists change in manners distinct from their better-represented peers. We report results from a survey of 1500 recent American BMS Ph.D. graduates (including 276 URMs that examined career preferences over the course of their graduate training experiences. On average, scientists from all social backgrounds showed significantly decreased interest in faculty careers at research universities, and significantly increased interest in non-research careers at Ph.D. completion relative to entry. However, group differences emerged in overall levels of interest (at Ph.D. entry and completion, and the magnitude of change in interest in these careers. Multiple logistic regression showed that when controlling for career pathway interest at Ph.D. entry, first-author publication rate, faculty support, research self-efficacy, and graduate training experiences, differences in career pathway interest between social identity groups persisted. All groups were less likely than men from well-represented (WR racial/ethnic backgrounds to report high interest in faculty careers at research-intensive universities (URM men: OR 0.60, 95% CI: 0.36-0.98, p = 0.04; WR women: OR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47-0.89, p = 0.008; URM women: OR: 0.46, 95% CI: 0.30-0.71, p<0.001, and URM women were more likely than all other groups to report high interest in non-research careers (OR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.28-2.90, p = 0.002. The persistence of disparities in the career interests of Ph.D. recipients suggests that a supply-side (or "pipeline" framing of biomedical workforce diversity challenges may limit the effectiveness of efforts to attract and retain the best and most

Understanding Interest Rate Volatility

OpenAIRE

Volker, Desi

2016-01-01

This thesis is the result of my Ph.D. studies at the Department of Finance of the Copenhagen Business School. It consists of three essays covering topics related to the term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate volatility. The rst essay, \\Monetary Policy Uncertainty and Interest Rates", examines the role of monetary policy uncertainty on the term structure of interest rates. The second essay, \\A Regime-Switching A ne Term Structure Model with Stochast...

The interest in eight new psychoactive substances before and after scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Ledberg, Anders

2015-07-01

In recent years the recreational use of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has increased. NPS are considered a threat to public health and the main response to this threat is to make the selling and buying of these substances illegal. In Sweden, during the last 5 years, 62 new substances have been classified as narcotics but little is known of the effects of making a particular substance illegal. The aim of this work is to study how legal status influences the interest in NPS in Sweden. Forty-five thousand posts made in a Swedish Internet discussion forum (Flashback Forum) related to eight NPS (MDPV, Methylone, 4-MEC, 4-HO-MET, MXE, 6-APB, AH-7921, and 3-MMC) were used to derive time-dependent measures of interest in these substances. Intervention analyses were used to investigate the effects of legal status on the forum interest. For all eight substances the activity on the forum (measured as number of posts per day) showed a drastic decrease around the time of classification. The statistical analysis showed that in seven of eight cases, the drop in activity could be accounted for by the legal status of the substances. The legal status of the substances was shown to have a substantial effect on the interest in the substances. The novel measure used to trace the interest in particular NPS could be a useful tool to follow trends in substance use in almost real-time. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Halomonas maura is a physiologically versatile bacterium of both ecological and biotechnological interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Llamas, Inmaculada; del Moral, Ana; Martínez-Checa, Fernando; Arco, Yolanda; Arias, Soledad; Quesada, Emilia

2006-01-01

Halomonas maura is a bacterium of great metabolic versatility. We summarise in this work some of the properties that make it a very interesting microorganism both from an ecological and biotechnological point of view. It plays an active role in the nitrogen cycle, is capable of anaerobic respiration in the presence of nitrate and has recently been identified as a diazotrophic bacterium. Of equal interest is mauran, the exopolysaccharide produced by H. maura, which contributes to the formation of biofilms and thus affords the bacterium advantages in the colonisation of its saline niches. Mauran is highly viscous, shows thixotropic and pseudoplastic behaviour, has the capacity to capture heavy metals and exerts a certain immunomodulator effect in medicine. All these attributes have prompted us to make further investigations into its molecular characteristics. To date we have described 15 open reading frames (ORF's) related to exopolysaccharide production, nitrogen fixation and nitrate reductase activity among others.

Edaiila area of interest non-renewable resource assessment (phase 1) Great Bear Lake area, Northwest Territories Parts of NTS 86 K, 86 L, 86 M, 86 N and 96 I

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gebert, J.S.; Jackson, J.E.; O' Neil, C.E. [AMEC Americas Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada). Earth and Environment Division

2007-07-01

The Edaiila study area of interest is located in the Deline District of the Sahtu Settlement area in the Northwest Territories. It lies in the Proterozoic Bear geologic province of the Canadian Shield. The area is currently covered by prospecting claims and is likely undergoing exploration for uranium, precious metals, base metals and diamonds. This document presented a Phase 1 non-renewable resource assessment (NRA) of the area that was completed as part of the Northwest Territories Protect Area Strategy (PAS). It presented compiled historical information, provided a preliminary resource assessment and made recommendations for further Phase 2 studies. This region is within the continuous permafrost zone and is characterized by a high subarctic climate. The study area straddles the tree line and contains vegetation typical of taiga and tundra regions. The bedrock covering the flat to gently rolling topography is covered by undulating glacial drift, raised beaches and outwash deposits. About 25 per cent of the area is covered by wetlands. The Bear province is subdivided into two major domains, the Wopmay orogen and the Coppermine homocline. In the eastern portion of the study area, basement rocks are part of the Great Bear magmatic zone and are locally exposed in the Fault River area. Although basement rocks in the western portion of the study area are not exposed, they are assumed to be composed of the Hottah terrane. 86 refs., 14 tabs., 7 figs., 4 appendices.

Development of interest in training by creation emotional and comfortable educational environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olga M. Shentsova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Russian education system is in continuous process of modernization today. Changes in the Russian society, policy and economy exert direct impact on this process. These changes define those conditions in which it is necessary to gain knowledge, abilities and mastering professional activity, and further to carry out labor professional activity by the young specialist. In addition, an important role in this process is played by motivation, and one of the main motives is interest in training.At the initial stage, we have made an experiment, by questioning the 1-year students, which has shown that the students of the university at the beginning of the educational activity have poor interest in training and this subsequently entails not fully mastering the educational programs.Researches of psychologists (B. Ananyev, A. Arkhipov, L. Bozhovich, L. Gordon, V. Ivanov, A. Kovalyov, A. Leontyev, N. Morozova, V. Myasishchev, S. Rubenstein, B. Teplov, etc., teachers (V. Belikov, R. Gilman, M. Duranov, V. Zhernov, T. Klimova, Ya. Komensky, O. Lesher, John Locke, A. Markova, V. Maximova, V. Ushachev, K. Ushinsky, O. Shentsova, G. Schukina, etc. show that interest is the important motive, which contributes to the effective development of different types of activity and stimulates the student on activity performance.The purpose of this work – consideration of tools for the emotional and comfortable educational environment as the pedagogical condition, contributing to the development of students’ interest in training at universities.In the main part of the paper, development of students’ interest in training at universities is considered. Pedagogical approach to a solution consists of the following: to present in pedagogical process a possibility of interesting aspects of the educational activity; to excite and constantly maintain the students’ state of active interest by educational processes; to purposefully form and develop interest as the valuable

4. 7s nearly periodic oscillations superimposed on the solar microwave great burst of 28 March 1976

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaufmann, P; Piazza, L R; Raffaelli, J C [Universidade Mackenzie, Sao Paulo (Brazil). Centro de Radio-Astronomia e Astrofisica

1977-09-01

An unusual fast oscillation was found superimposed on the solar great burst on 28 March 1976, as measured at 7 GHz. The period of the oscillation was 4.7 +- 0.9 s, defined over the entire duration of the event. The amplitude of the oscillation was proportional to the flux density in the range 50shown any fast periodic time structure.

Ballast Water Treatment, U.S. Great Lakes Bulk Carrier Engineering and Cost Study. Volume 1: Present Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

2013-11-01

There are two U.S. cement plants (Charlevoix and Alpena ) that supply all U.S. ports on the lakes. Ballast Water Treatment, U.S. Great Lakes...Marquette, MI Brevort, MI Buffington, IN Alpena , MI Bay City, MI Cleveland, OH Ashtabula, OH Duluth, MN Munising, MI Charlevoix, MI Burns Harbor, IN...Manitowoc Pathfinder Calumet Alpena Total shown: 40,699,415 mt Total, all U.S. Vsls: 42,508,108 mt % ballast moved by top 5 vsls

The heart and great vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Condon, V.

1985-01-01

Heart disease is the fifth most common cause of death in infants and children (preceded by anoxic and hypoxic conditions, gross congenital malformations, accidental death, and immaturity). Of all the cardiac lesions, congenital heart disease (CHD) makes up the gross majority, accounting for approximately 90% of all cardiac deaths. Approximately two-thirds of all infants who die from CHD do so within the first year of life; of these, approximately one-third die within the first month. The most common cause of death in the first month is hypoplastic left heart syndrome and lesions associated with it, i.e., aortic atresia/critical aortic stenosis and mitral atresia/critical mitral stenosis. Severe coarctation of the aorta (coarctation syndrome) and transposition of the great arteries are the other most important causes of death in this age group. CHD occurs as a familial condition in approximately 1-4% of cases; ventricular septal defects, patent ductus arteriosus, and atrial septal defect are particularly common forms. Parental age plays an important role, with a significantly increased risk of CHD in infants of mothers over 39 years of age. Patent ductus arteriosus is more prevalent in firstborn children, particularly those born prematurely to young mothers. Environmental factors, such as exposure to teratogenic agents, have also been shown to increase the incidence of CHD. Children with various syndromes also have increased incidence of CHD. Down syndrome is a classic example, as are other trisomies

Professional medical associations and their relationships with industry: a proposal for controlling conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothman, David J; McDonald, Walter J; Berkowitz, Carol D; Chimonas, Susan C; DeAngelis, Catherine D; Hale, Ralph W; Nissen, Steven E; Osborn, June E; Scully, James H; Thomson, Gerald E; Wofsy, David

2009-04-01

Professional medical associations (PMAs) play an essential role in defining and advancing health care standards. Their conferences, continuing medical education courses, practice guidelines, definitions of ethical norms, and public advocacy positions carry great weight with physicians and the public. Because many PMAs receive extensive funding from pharmaceutical and device companies, it is crucial that their guidelines manage both real and perceived conflict of interests. Any threat to the integrity of PMAs must be thoroughly and effectively resolved. Current PMA policies, however, are not uniform and often lack stringency. To address this situation, the authors first identified and analyzed conflicts of interest that may affect the activities, leadership, and members of PMAs. The authors then went on to formulate guidelines, both short-term and long-term, to prevent the appearance or reality of undue industry influence. The recommendations are rigorous and would require many PMAs to transform their mode of operation and perhaps, to forgo valuable activities. To maintain integrity, sacrifice may be required. Nevertheless, these changes are in the best interest of the PMAs, the profession, their members, and the larger society.

Interest organizations across economic sectors : explaining interest group density in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, Joost; Carroll, Brendan J.; Braun, Caelesta; Chalmers, Adam W.; Destrooper, Tine; Lowery, David; Otjes, Simon; Rasmussen, Anne

2015-01-01

The number of interest organizations (density) varies across policy domains, political issues and economic sectors. This shapes the nature and outcomes of interest representation. In this contribution, we explain the density of interest organizations per economic sector in the European Union on the

Interest organizations across economic sectors: explaining interest group density in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, Joost; Carroll, Brendan; Braun, Caelesta; Chalmers, Adam; De Strooper, Tine; Lowery, David; Otjes, Simon; Rasmussen, Anne

2015-01-01

The number of interest organizations (density) varies across policy domains, political issues and economic sectors. This shapes the nature and outcomes of interest representation. In this contribution, we explain the density of interest organizations per economic sector in the European Union on the

Recensie "The Great Reset" : Richard Florida

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roy van Dalm

2010-01-01

Like the Great Depression and the Long Depression before it, experts have viewed prolonged economic downturns as crises. In The Great Reset , bestselling author Richard Florida argues that we should instead see the recent recession as an opportunity to create entirely new ways of working and living

The Accounting Profession: Serving the Public Interest or Capital Interest?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary A Kaidonis

2008-12-01

Full Text Available As an integral facet of society, the accounting profession has a role in the State and thecorporate sector, and is also expected to serve the public interest. The capacity for theAustralian accounting profession to serve the public interest is considered in the context oflegislation and the accounting standard setting process. Specific reference is made to theCLERP Act 1999 and ASIC Act 2001. It is argued that the combined effect of these Acts is tolegislate bias so that accounting standards privilege the specific needs of holders of capital,that is capital interest. The assumption that capital markets are surrogate for the publicinterest is contested. Accordingly, if the accounting profession follows national objectives tosupport capital markets, it may undermine its role in serving society.

Thirty years of great ape gestures.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomasello, Michael; Call, Josep

2018-02-21

We and our colleagues have been doing studies of great ape gestural communication for more than 30 years. Here we attempt to spell out what we have learned. Some aspects of the process have been reliably established by multiple researchers, for example, its intentional structure and its sensitivity to the attentional state of the recipient. Other aspects are more controversial. We argue here that it is a mistake to assimilate great ape gestures to the species-typical displays of other mammals by claiming that they are fixed action patterns, as there are many differences, including the use of attention-getters. It is also a mistake, we argue, to assimilate great ape gestures to human gestures by claiming that they are used referentially and declaratively in a human-like manner, as apes' "pointing" gesture has many limitations and they do not gesture iconically. Great ape gestures constitute a unique form of primate communication with their own unique qualities.

Pacific salmonines in the Great Lakes Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Claramunt, Randall M.; Madenjian, Charles P.; Clapp, David; Taylor, William W.; Lynch, Abigail J.; Léonard, Nancy J.

2012-01-01

Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus) are a valuable resource, both within their native range in the North Pacific rim and in the Great Lakes basin. Understanding their value from a biological and economic perspective in the Great Lakes, however, requires an understanding of changes in the ecosystem and of management actions that have been taken to promote system stability, integrity, and sustainable fisheries. Pacific salmonine introductions to the Great Lakes are comprised mainly of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead and have accounted for 421, 177, and 247 million fish, respectively, stocked during 1966-2007. Stocking of Pacific salmonines has been effective in substantially reducing exotic prey fish abundances in several of the Great Lakes (e.g., lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario). The goal of our evaluation was to highlight differences in management strategies and perspectives across the basin, and to evaluate policies for Pacific salmonine management in the Great Lakes. Currently, a potential conflict exists between Pacific salmonine management and native fish rehabilitation goals because of the desire to sustain recreational fisheries and to develop self-sustaining populations of stocked Pacific salmonines in the Great Lakes. We provide evidence that suggests Pacific salmonines have not only become naturalized to the food webs of the Great Lakes, but that their populations (specifically Chinook salmon) may be fluctuating in concert with specific prey (i.e., alewives) whose populations are changing relative to environmental conditions and ecosystem disturbances. Remaining questions, however, are whether or not “natural” fluctuations in predator and prey provide enough “stability” in the Great Lakes food webs, and even more importantly, would a choice by managers to attempt to reduce the severity of predator-prey oscillations be antagonistic to native fish restoration efforts. We argue that, on each of the Great Lakes, managers are pursuing

The Great Firewall of China: A Critical Analysis

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Whiting, Michael D

2008-01-01

Censorship has a great impact on society as we enter the cyber environment. The Chinese "Great Firewall", as it is commonly called, brings great attention to China as they enter into the global economy...

Great Lakes rivermouths: a primer for managers

Science.gov (United States)

Pebbles, Victoria; Larson, James; Seelbach, Paul; Pebbles, Victoria; Larson, James; Seelbach, Paul

2013-01-01

Between the North American Great Lakes and their tributaries are the places where the confluence of river and lake waters creates a distinct ecosystem: the rivermouth ecosystem. Human development has often centered around these rivermouths, in part, because they provide a rich array of ecosystem services. Not surprisingly, centuries of intense human activity have led to substantial pressures on, and alterations to, these ecosystems, often diminishing or degrading their ecological functions and associated ecological services. Many Great Lakes rivermouths are the focus of intense restoration efforts. For example, 36 of the active Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) are rivermouths or areas that include one or more rivermouths. Historically, research of rivermouth ecosystems has been piecemeal, focused on the Great Lakes proper or on the upper reaches of tributaries, with little direct study of the rivermouth itself. Researchers have been divided among disciplines, agencies and institutions; and they often work independently and use disparate venues to communicate their work. Management has also been fragmented with a focus on smaller, localized, sub-habitat units and socio-political or economic elements, rather than system-level consideration. This Primer presents the case for a more holistic approach to rivermouth science and management that can enable restoration of ecosystem services with multiple benefits to humans and the Great Lakes ecosystem. A conceptual model is presented with supporting text that describes the structures and processes common to all rivermouths, substantiating the case for treating these ecosystems as an identifiable class.1 Ecological services provided by rivermouths and changes in how humans value those services over time are illustrated through case studies of two Great Lakes rivermouths—the St. Louis River and the Maumee River. Specific ecosystem services are identified in italics throughout this Primer and follow definitions described

Whooping crane stopover site use intensity within the Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Pearse, Aaron T.; Brandt, David A.; Harrell, Wade C.; Metzger, Kristine L.; Baasch, David M.; Hefley, Trevor J.

2015-09-23

Whooping cranes (Grus americana) of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population migrate twice each year through the Great Plains in North America. Recovery activities for this endangered species include providing adequate places to stop and rest during migration, which are generally referred to as stopover sites. To assist in recovery efforts, initial estimates of stopover site use intensity are presented, which provide opportunity to identify areas across the migration range used more intensively by whooping cranes. We used location data acquired from 58 unique individuals fitted with platform transmitting terminals that collected global position system locations. Radio-tagged birds provided 2,158 stopover sites over 10 migrations and 5 years (2010–14). Using a grid-based approach, we identified 1,095 20-square-kilometer grid cells that contained stopover sites. We categorized occupied grid cells based on density of stopover sites and the amount of time cranes spent in the area. This assessment resulted in four categories of stopover site use: unoccupied, low intensity, core intensity, and extended-use core intensity. Although provisional, this evaluation of stopover site use intensity offers the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners a tool to identify landscapes that may be of greater conservation significance to migrating whooping cranes. Initially, the tool will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other interested parties in evaluating the Great Plains Wind Energy Habitat Conservation Plan.

Issues resulting from separation of production and facilities interests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, J. J.

1996-01-01

Traditionally, Canadian oil and gas producers have had full control over the exploration, production, marketing, processing and transportation aspects of their business. The disadvantages and recent changes to this traditional structure were discussed. It was shown how the deregulation of gas markets and prices in the 1980s led to some major changes in the industry. The separation of production interests from the processing and gathering facilities required a new focus by both producers and owners of the facilities. The concerns of both sides (i.e. producers and processors) were outlined. The importance of the Petroleum Joint Venture Agreement (PJVA) in defining obligations in plant expansion and development, and the jurisdictional issues over gathering and processing were described

Regional versus local influences on lead and cadmium loading to the Great Lakes region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yohn, S.; Long, D.; Fett, J.; Patino, L. [Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI (United States). Dept. of Geological Science

2004-07-01

Environmental legislation has reduced the anthropogenic loadings of Pb and Cd to the Great Lakes region over the past 3 decades. However, the accumulation rates of these metals still remain above background values. Because environmental legislation was targeted at major sources (e.g., Pb in gasoline) whose influence on the environment was on a regional scale, local sources (e.g., watershed scale) for the metals may now play a more significant role. The relative importance of regional versus local scale influences on metal inputs to the environment is poorly understood. In this study, sediment chronologies of Pb and Cd were examined from 12 inland lakes that cover the broad geographic area of the State of Michigan. These chronologies were compared temporally and spatially and to watershed population densities and metal production records to gain an understanding of local and regional influences on metal inputs to the Great Lakes region. Results show that anthropogenic Pb loading during the 1930s and 1970s was dominated by regional sources. such as coal burning and use of leaded gasoline. Current loadings are now more related to local influences such as watershed population densities, rather than atmospheric deposition. Anthropogenic Cd loadings to the Great Lakes region have been dominated by both regional and local sources over time. Lead may also have shown the influence of local sources over time, if the influence of emissions from gasoline had not been present. This work shows that Pb and Cd loadings in the Great Lakes region are strongly related to watershed population densities; however, the specific sources and pathways for the metal cycling are unclear.

Power plant instrumentation and control. Innovations shown at the Interkama '99 trade fair

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ullemeyer, M.; Fritz, P.

2000-01-01

At the Interkama '99 trade fair, innovative software and hardware solutions for the power industry 'from power plant to the plug' were shown. The report mentions the companies and explains their new developments and systems. (orig./CB) [de

The Great London Smog of 1952.

Science.gov (United States)

Polivka, Barbara J

2018-04-01

: The Great London Smog of December 1952 lasted five days and killed up to 12,000 people. The smog developed primarily because of extensive burning of high-sulfur coal. The health effects were both immediate and long lasting, with a recent study revealing an increased likelihood of childhood asthma development in those exposed to the Great Smog while in utero or during their first year of life. Subsequent pollution legislation-including the U.S. Clean Air Act and its amendments-have demonstrably reduced air pollution and positively impacted health outcomes. With poor air quality events like the Great Smog continuing to occur today, nurses need to be aware of the impact such environmental disasters can have on human health.

New flags, upward forces and sheltered harbours: The new ‘Great Game’ in the Pacific Islands region

OpenAIRE

Kowasch, Matthias; Lindenmann, Peter

2014-01-01

The centre of the global economy and the US-geostrategic focus seem to be shifting to the Asia-Pacific region. The present paper deals with the role of Pacific Island states in this new ‘Great Game’ between China and Western powers. Pacific Island states have a long tradition in building non-confrontational and open ties with rival powers. While only four countries in the Pacific have known mineral resources, others depend mainly on tourism, fisheries and remittances. China is interested in t...

Great Expectations for Middle School Counselors

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Robert J.

2012-01-01

During the Great Recession, 2008 to 2010, school systems scrambled to balance budgets, and the ratio of counselors to students became even larger. To make matters worse, the Great Recession had a major impact on cuts in educational funding. Budget cutbacks tend to occur where the public will be least likely to notice. The loss of teachers and the…

20 CFR 725.608 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... simple annual interest, computed from the date on which the benefits were due. The interest shall be... payment of retroactive benefits, the beneficiary shall also be entitled to simple annual interest on such... entitled to simple annual interest computed from the date upon which the beneficiary's right to additional...

Evaluating Interest in Acids-Bases: Development of an Acid-Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and Assessment of Pre-Service Science Teachers' Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Çiçek, Ö.; Ilhan, N.

2017-01-01

Students are more likely to be successful in topics they are interested in than others. This study aims to develop an Acid-Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and subsequently evaluate the interest of pre-service science teachers in acids-bases according to gender, years at the university, type of high school the pre-service science teachers attended, and…

Oil and the geopolitics of Central Asia: A "new 'great game'"?

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sati, Saud M.

The nineteenth century rivalry between the Russian Empire and Great Britain over Central Asia, known as the "great game," was triggered by the quest for power and dominance. This study revisits Sir Halford Mackinder's thesis, which viewed the "heartland," consisting of Russia and Central Asia, as being crucial for international politics. It also discusses the influence of Mackinder's ideas on twentieth century geopolitical thinking. The study also examines the common assumption that the new "great game" in Central Asia is evolving around the exploitation of energy resources, and analyzes the consequences of this new factor for the geopolitical significance of the region. The landlocked nature of the Central Asian countries makes it necessary for them to rely on their neighbors for the export of oil and gas to international markets. Thus, the political and economic interests of Russia, Iran, and Turkey motivate them to compete with each other for export routes through their territories. This study also shows that the estimates of Central Asian proven oil reserves are characterized by considerable ambiguity. Estimates vary from seven to twenty-two billion barrels. Despite the fact that these proven oil reserves are limited compared to those of other regions, such as the Middle East, continued exploration is compatible with the Western strategy of energy resource diversification. Another primary aim of American involvement is to prevent the reintegration of Central Asia into the Russian federation and to block Chinese influence in Central Asia. This study reveals that realities in today's Central Asia are different from those of the nineteenth century. Central Asia now consists of independent countries; the competing powers have changed, with the exception of Russia; and oil has emerged as a new factor. However, the perpetual quest for power and dominance that marked the historical "great game" is still at work in the last decade of the twentieth century. Finally, the

National report of Great Britain. Risks and risk assessment according to British legislation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vieweg, K.

1980-01-01

Who has got the competence in Great Britain to decide about criteria to be applied and methods to be taken in the prevention of damage thus ensuring the required safety standards and definine the maximum acceptable risk to be taken due to the operation of industrial and other facilities. The answer is laid down in the legal regulations covering virtually all industrial and technical installations. The author discusses the skeleton regulations of the 'Health and Safety at Work Act 1974', which is to be considered as the basis of British industrial law. Giving numerous examples, the author explains the legal status and administrative practice concerning the wide range of conventional technical facilities. Furthermore, he describes legal status and administrative practice concerning nuclear facilities and aircraft. After discussing methods of environmental pollution control, especially air pollution, the author enters into the regulations governing planning procedures of great relevance in Britain's legal practice, and the administrative procedures, shown by the example of the Windscale Inquiry. Finally, the author describes methods of risk assessment in other fields of law and some possible approaches to use risk analyses in the framework of the legal system. (orig./HSCH) [de

12 CFR 7.4001 - Charging interest at rates permitted competing institutions; charging interest to corporate...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... institutions; charging interest to corporate borrowers. 7.4001 Section 7.4001 Banks and Banking COMPTROLLER OF... interest at rates permitted competing institutions; charging interest to corporate borrowers. (a... the law of that state. If state law permits different interest charges on specified classes of loans...

Whose interests and under whose control?: Interest convergence in science-focused school-community collaborations

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Deb

2018-03-01

In this dialogue with Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick's Whose banner are we waving?: exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth, I engage the critical race theory (CRT) tenet of interest convergence. I first expand Derrick Bell's (1980) initial statement of interest convergence with subsequent scholarly work in this area. I then explore ways CRT in general and interest convergence specifically have been applied in the field of education. Using this framing, I examine how interest convergence may be shed new insights into Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick's study. For example, the tenet of interest convergence is used to frame why it was beneficial for the White artist, Jacob, and the Achievement Scholars to collaborate in the service-learning mural. Then the idea of interest divergence is brought into explore the ways in which Jacob benefitted from his participation in the service learning project while the Achievement Scholars were left with an unfinished project which they had to problem solve. To conclude, I provide future directions for the application of interest convergence and divergence to issues facing science education.

Great Indoors Awards 2007

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2007-01-01

Hollandis Maastrichtis jagati 17. XI esimest korda rahvusvahelist auhinda The Great Indoors Award. Aasta sisekujundusfirmaks valiti Masamichi Katayama asutatud Wonderwall. Auhinna said veel Zaha Hadid, Heatherwick Studio, Ryui Nakamura Architects ja Item Idem

Energy and water in the Great Lakes.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tidwell, Vincent Carroll

2011-11-01

The nexus between thermoelectric power production and water use is not uniform across the U.S., but rather differs according to regional physiography, demography, power plant fleet composition, and the transmission network. That is, in some regions water demand for thermoelectric production is relatively small while in other regions it represents the dominate use. The later is the case for the Great Lakes region, which has important implications for the water resources and aquatic ecology of the Great Lakes watershed. This is today, but what about the future? Projected demographic trends, shifting lifestyles, and economic growth coupled with the threat of global climate change and mounting pressure for greater U.S. energy security could have profound effects on the region's energy future. Planning for such an uncertain future is further complicated by the fact that energy and environmental planning and regulatory decisionmaking is largely bifurcated in the region, with environmental and water resource concerns generally taken into account after new energy facilities and technologies have been proposed, or practices are already in place. Based on these confounding needs, the objective of this effort is to develop Great Lakes-specific methods and tools to integrate energy and water resource planning and thereby support the dual goals of smarter energy planning and development, and protection of Great Lakes water resources. Guiding policies for this planning are the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The desired outcome of integrated energy-water-aquatic resource planning is a more sustainable regional energy mix for the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.

Conflict of interest and professional medical associations: the North American Spine Society experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Schofferman, Jerome A; Eskay-Auerbach, Marjorie L; Sawyer, Laura S; Herring, Stanley A; Arnold, Paul M; Muehlbauer, Eric J

2013-08-01

Recently the financial relationships between industry and professional medical associations have come under increased scrutiny because of the concern that industry ties may create real or perceived conflicts of interest. Professional medical associations pursue public advocacy as well as promote medical education, develop clinical practice guidelines, fund research, and regulate professional conduct. Therefore, the conflicts of interest of a professional medical association and its leadership can have more far-reaching effects on patient care than those of an individual physician. Few if any professional medical associations have reported their experience with implementing strict divestment and disclosure policies, and among the policies that have been issued, there is little uniformity. We describe the experience of the North American Spine Society (NASS) in implementing comprehensive conflicts of interest policies. A special feature article. We discuss financial conflicts of interest as they apply to professional medical associations rather than to individual physicians. We describe the current policies of disclosure and divestment adopted by the NASS and how these policies have evolved, been refined, and have had no detrimental impact on membership, attendance at annual meetings, finances, or leadership recruitment. No funding was received for this work. The authors report no potential conflict-of-interest-associated biases in the text. The NASS has shown that a professional medical association can manage its financial relationships with industry in a manner that minimizes influence and bias. The NASS experience can provide a template for other professional medical associations to help manage their own possible conflicts of interest issues. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

INTEREST AND READING MOTIVATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alhamdu Alhamdu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between interest and reading motivation based on literature review. The concept of the interest portrayed as a psychological state that occurs during interaction between individual and specific topic, object or activity including process of willingness, increased attention, concentration and positive feeling to the topic, object or activity. Meanwhile reading motivation emphasized to mental readiness, willingness and refers to beliefs and perception of individual to engage in reading activity. Some researchers were identified factors that influenced reading motivation such as intrinsic and extrinsic factors, self-concept and value of reading, and interest. In general, the literature review described that have positive relationship between interest and reading motivation.

The History of Research and Development Islands Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandr B. Kosolapov

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the history of the discovery, research and development of the islands of Russian pioneers in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan from the middle of the XIX century. The paper used in scientific papers and journalistic materials researchers Islands Peter the Great Bay, unpublished sources: Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, Primorsky Region State Archives, Archives of Primorsky regional department of the All-Russian public organization "Russian Geographical Society" Society for the Study of the Amur region. The methodological basis of the work was the principle of historicism and objectivity, allowed to consider the issue of research and development of the islands of the Gulf of Peter the Great on a broad documentary basis in the process of development in the specific historical conditions. The history of hydrographic discoveries of natural and geographical studies. It touches upon the issues concerning the construction of Vladivostok fortress. In the periodical press materials recreated pages agricultural and industrial development of the islands. Examples of business entrepreneurs first edge (A.D. Startsev, M.I. Jankowski, O.V. Lindgolm. The Toponymic notes link the island territories with the names of their discoverers, explorers, industrialists. The authors conclude that the historical conditionality of development of the islands is linked mainly with the military interests of Russia on its southeastern edge, using the resources of the sea and the unique natural conditions suitable for the development of agricultural, industrial, recreation and tourism.

38 CFR 3.370 - Pulmonary tuberculosis shown by X-ray in active service.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Pulmonary tuberculosis... Rating Considerations Relative to Specific Diseases § 3.370 Pulmonary tuberculosis shown by X-ray in... connection for pulmonary tuberculosis. When under consideration, all available service department films and...

Towards Patient-Centered Conflicts of Interest Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter D. Young

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Financial conflicts of interest exist between industry and physicians, and these relationships have the power to influence physicians’ medical practice. Transparency about conflicts matters for ensuring adequate informed consent, controlling healthcare expenditure, and encouraging physicians’ reflection on professionalism. The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS launched the Open Payments Program (OPP to publicly disclose and bring transparency to the relationships between industry and physicians in the United States. We set out to explore user awareness of the database and the ease of accessibility to disclosed information, however, as we show, both awareness and actual use are very low. Two practical policies can greatly enhance its intended function and help alleviate ethical tension. The first is to provide data for individual physicians not merely in absolute terms, but in meaningful context, that is, in relation to the zip code, city, and state averages. The second increases access to the OPP dataset by adding hyperlinks from physicians’ professional websites directly to their Open Payments disclosure pages. These changes considerably improve transparency and the utility of available data, and can furthermore enhance professionalism and accountability by encouraging physicians to reflect more actively on their own practices.

U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Proceedings, Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 27-29, 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Kuniansky, Eve L.

2008-01-01

*INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS* Karst aquifer systems are present throughout parts of the United States and some of its territories. The complex depositional environments that form carbonate rocks combined with post-depositional tectonic events and the diverse climatic regimes under which these rocks were formed result in unique hydrologic systems. The dissolution of calcium carbonate and the subsequent development of distinct and beautiful landscapes, caverns, and springs have resulted in some karst areas of the United States being designated as national or state parks and commercial caverns. Karst aquifers and landscapes that form in tropical areas, such as the north coast of Puerto Rico, differ greatly from karst areas in more arid climates, such as central Texas or western South Dakota. Many of these public and private lands contain unique flora and fauna associated with the hydrologic systems in these karst areas. As a result, multiple Federal, State, and local agencies have an interest in the study of karst terrains. Carbonate sediments and rocks (limestone and dolomite) are composed of greater than 50 percent carbonate minerals and the predominant carbonate mineral is calcium carbonate or limestone (CaCO3). Unlike terrigenous clastic sedimentation, the depositional processes that produce carbonate rocks are complex, involving both biological and physical processes. These depositional processes impact greatly the development of permeability of the sediments. Carbonate minerals readily dissolve or precipitate depending on the chemistry of the water flowing through the rock, thus the study of both marine and meteoric diagenesis of carbonate sediments is multidisciplinary. Even with a better understanding of the depositional environment and subsequent diagenesis, the dual porosity nature of karst aquifers presents challenges to scientists attempting to study ground-water flow and contaminant transport. Many of the major springs and aquifers in the United

On the meaning of Ribā [interest] and its effect on the Nigerian economy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muritala K. Kareem

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The role of financial intermediation in a modern capitalist system hinges mainly on the taking and charging interest. While some Islamic scholars consider interest to be lawful for Muslims to take or charge on their transactions, many Islamic scholars consider charging or taking interest to be non-shari’ah compliant. It is against this backdrop that the paper sets out to provide a correct articulation of the meaning of ribā [interest/usury], which is the foundation stone on which the conventional financial institutions are based and examines its effects on the Nigerian economy. Using information about the forms and structure of socio-economic transactions during al-Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic period in Makkah and during the Prophet’s time in Makkah and Madinah, we found that interest of all kinds is prohibited. The practice of interest payment in a modern capitalist economy is against the dictates of the Shari’ah. The article finds that debt servicing has badly affected the economic growth development of Nigeria. The article reveals a sharp increase in the amounts used to finance the country’s debt obligation. The debt servicing as a percentage of the capital expenditure has been increasing greatly since 2011 to till date. The percentage of debt servicing to capital expenditure in Nigeria from 1981 to 2015 has been very high for the country, with an average of over 59.0% under the 35 years considered in this study. In some years, this ratio was over 100.0% reaching its peak at 150.4% in 2003. In 2015, the ratio stood at 129.57%. This could account for low level of development in the country. The negative impact of debt servicing on the economy serves as a barrier to poverty alleviation, economic growth and development.

27 CFR 70.93 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 70.93... Excise and Special (Occupational) Tax Interest § 70.93 Interest rate. (a) In general. The interest rate... annual percentage rate of interest will exceed the prescribed rate of interest. (b) Applicability of...

The Great War and German Memory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leese, Peter

2012-01-01

Review essay on Jason Crouthamel, The Great War and German Memory. Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914-18 (2009) and Anton Kaes, Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War (2009)......Review essay on Jason Crouthamel, The Great War and German Memory. Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914-18 (2009) and Anton Kaes, Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War (2009)...

Bacteriology of the teeth from a great white shark: potential medical implications for shark bite victims.

Science.gov (United States)

Buck, J D; Spotte, S; Gadbaw, J J

1984-11-01

Bacteria were cultured for the first time from the teeth of a great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias). Isolates included Vibrio alginolyticus, Vibrio fluvialis, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and other genera. All are common in the marine environment and some may be associated with wound infections in humans. Shark bite lacerations may serve as a source of these potentially infectious bacteria, particularly Vibrio spp., and should be treated immediately. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns are shown for representatives of Vibrio isolates and indicate that a variety of new agents may be appropriate chemotherapy for shark bite victims.

Using natural range of variation to set decision thresholds: a case study for great plains grasslands

Science.gov (United States)

Symstad, Amy J.; Jonas, Jayne L.; Edited by Guntenspergen, Glenn R.

2014-01-01

Natural range of variation (NRV) may be used to establish decision thresholds or action assessment points when ecological thresholds are either unknown or do not exist for attributes of interest in a managed ecosystem. The process for estimating NRV involves identifying spatial and temporal scales that adequately capture the heterogeneity of the ecosystem; compiling data for the attributes of interest via study of historic records, analysis and interpretation of proxy records, modeling, space-for-time substitutions, or analysis of long-term monitoring data; and quantifying the NRV from those data. At least 19 National Park Service (NPS) units in North America’s Great Plains are monitoring plant species richness and evenness as indicators of vegetation integrity in native grasslands, but little information on natural, temporal variability of these indicators is available. In this case study, we use six long-term vegetation monitoring datasets to quantify the temporal variability of these attributes in reference conditions for a variety of Great Plains grassland types, and then illustrate the implications of using different NRVs based on these quantities for setting management decision thresholds. Temporal variability of richness (as measured by the coefficient of variation, CV) is fairly consistent across the wide variety of conditions occurring in Colorado shortgrass prairie to Minnesota tallgrass sand savanna (CV 0.20–0.45) and generally less than that of production at the same sites. Temporal variability of evenness spans a greater range of CV than richness, and it is greater than that of production in some sites but less in other sites. This natural temporal variability may mask undesirable changes in Great Plains grasslands vegetation. Consequently, we suggest that managers consider using a relatively narrow NRV (interquartile range of all richness or evenness values observed in reference conditions) for designating a surveillance threshold, at which

A Review of Conflict of Interest, Competing Interest, and Bias for Toxicologists

Science.gov (United States)

One of the issues often associated with scientific misconduct is conflict of interest (CoI). Although there is a lack of uniformity in the definition of CoI, many express concerns that competing interests may bias research methods and the interpretation of data and conclusions. ...

Points of Interest: What Determines Interest Rates?

Science.gov (United States)

Schilling, Tim

Interest rates can significantly influence people's behavior. When rates decline, homeowners rush to buy new homes and refinance old mortgages; automobile buyers scramble to buy new cars; the stock market soars, and people tend to feel more optimistic about the future. But even though individuals respond to changes in rates, they may not fully…

Interest Rates and Inflation

OpenAIRE

Coopersmith, Michael; Gambardella, Pascal J.

2016-01-01

This article is an extension of the work of one of us (Coopersmith, 2011) in deriving the relationship between certain interest rates and the inflation rate of a two component economic system. We use the well-known Fisher relation between the difference of the nominal interest rate and its inflation adjusted value to eliminate the inflation rate and obtain a delay differential equation. We provide computer simulated solutions for this equation over regimes of interest. This paper could be of ...

Cost inefficiency under financial strain: a stochastic frontier analysis of hospitals in Washington State through the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Izón, Germán M; Pardini, Chelsea A

2017-06-01

The importance of increasing cost efficiency for community hospitals in the United States has been underscored by the Great Recession and the ever-changing health care reimbursement environment. Previous studies have shown mixed evidence with regards to the relationship between linking hospitals' reimbursement to quality of care and cost efficiency. Moreover, current evidence suggests that not only inherently financially disadvantaged hospitals (e.g., safety-net providers), but also more financially stable providers, experienced declines to their financial viability throughout the recession. However, little is known about how hospital cost efficiency fared throughout the Great Recession. This study contributes to the literature by using stochastic frontier analysis to analyze cost inefficiency of Washington State hospitals between 2005 and 2012, with controls for patient burden of illness, hospital process of care quality, and hospital outcome quality. The quality measures included in this study function as central measures for the determination of recently implemented pay-for-performance programs. The average estimated level of hospital cost inefficiency before the Great Recession (10.4 %) was lower than it was during the Great Recession (13.5 %) and in its aftermath (14.1 %). Further, the estimated coefficients for summary process of care quality indexes for three health conditions (acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia, and heart failure) suggest that higher quality scores are associated with increased cost inefficiency.

Great ape genetic diversity and population history

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prado-Martinez, Javier; Sudmant, Peter H; Kidd, Jeffrey M

2013-01-01

Most great ape genetic variation remains uncharacterized; however, its study is critical for understanding population history, recombination, selection and susceptibility to disease. Here we sequence to high coverage a total of 79 wild- and captive-born individuals representing all six great ape...

GREAT: a web portal for Genome Regulatory Architecture Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouyioukos, Costas; Bucchini, François; Elati, Mohamed; Képès, François

2016-07-08

GREAT (Genome REgulatory Architecture Tools) is a novel web portal for tools designed to generate user-friendly and biologically useful analysis of genome architecture and regulation. The online tools of GREAT are freely accessible and compatible with essentially any operating system which runs a modern browser. GREAT is based on the analysis of genome layout -defined as the respective positioning of co-functional genes- and its relation with chromosome architecture and gene expression. GREAT tools allow users to systematically detect regular patterns along co-functional genomic features in an automatic way consisting of three individual steps and respective interactive visualizations. In addition to the complete analysis of regularities, GREAT tools enable the use of periodicity and position information for improving the prediction of transcription factor binding sites using a multi-view machine learning approach. The outcome of this integrative approach features a multivariate analysis of the interplay between the location of a gene and its regulatory sequence. GREAT results are plotted in web interactive graphs and are available for download either as individual plots, self-contained interactive pages or as machine readable tables for downstream analysis. The GREAT portal can be reached at the following URL https://absynth.issb.genopole.fr/GREAT and each individual GREAT tool is available for downloading. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

27 CFR 6.32 - Indirect interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail Property § 6.32 Indirect interest. Industry member interest in retail property includes any interest acquired by corporate officials, partners, employees or other representatives of the industry member. Any interest in retail property...

27 CFR 6.26 - Indirect interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail License § 6.26 Indirect interest. Industry member interest in retail licenses includes any interest acquired by corporate officials, partners, employees or other representatives of the industry member. Any interest in a retail license...

Upper secondary students’ situational interest:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dohn, Niels Bonderup

2013-01-01

’ interest was investigated by a descriptive interpretive approach, based on data from classroom and field trip observations, video recording, and interviews. The findings provided evidence that substantial situational interest can be generated during a fieldtrip to a zoo. Students’ interest was triggered...

Legal drug content in music video programs shown on Australian television on saturday mornings.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Rebecca; Croager, Emma; Pratt, Iain S; Khoo, Natalie

2013-01-01

To examine the extent to which legal drug references (alcohol and tobacco) are present in the music video clips shown on two music video programs broadcast in Australia on Saturday mornings. Further, to examine the music genres in which the references appeared and the dominant messages associated with the references. Music video clips shown on the music video programs 'Rage' (ABC TV) and [V] 'Music Video Chart' (Channel [V]) were viewed over 8 weeks from August 2011 to October 2011 and the number of clips containing verbal and/or visual drug references in each program was counted. The songs were classified by genre and the dominant messages associated with drug references were also classified and analysed. A considerable proportion of music videos (approximately one-third) contained drug references. Alcohol featured in 95% of the music videos that contained drug references. References to alcohol generally associated it with fun and humour, and alcohol and tobacco were both overwhelmingly presented in contexts that encouraged, rather than discouraged, their use. In Australia, Saturday morning is generally considered a children's television viewing timeslot, and several broadcaster Codes of Practice dictate that programs shown on Saturday mornings must be appropriate for viewing by audiences of all ages. Despite this, our findings show that music video programs aired on Saturday mornings contain a considerable level of drug-related content.

Stem cell therapy: the great promise in lung disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Siniscalco, Dario; Sullo, Nikol; Maione, Sabatino; Rossi, Francesco; D'Agostino, Bruno

2008-06-01

Lung injuries are leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Pulmonary diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease characterized by loss of lung elasticity, small airway tethers, and luminal obstruction with inflammatory mucoid secretions, or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis characterized by excessive matrix deposition and destruction of the normal lung architecture, have essentially symptomatic treatments and their management is costly to the health care system.Regeneration of tissue by stem cells from endogenous, exogenous, and even genetically modified cells is a promising novel therapy. The use of adult stem cells to help with lung regeneration and repair could be a newer technology in clinical and regenerative medicine. In fact, different studies have shown that bone marrow progenitor cells contribute to repair and remodeling of lung in animal models of progressive pulmonary hypertension.Therefore, lung stem cell biology may provide novel approaches to therapy and could represent a great promise for the future of molecular medicine. In fact, several diseases can be slowed or even blocked by stem cell transplantation.

24 CFR 206.21 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 206.21 Section 206... CONVERSION MORTGAGE INSURANCE Eligibility; Endorsement Eligible Mortgages § 206.21 Interest rate. (a) Fixed interest rate. A fixed interest rate is agreed upon by the mortgagor and mortgagee. (b) Adjustable interest...

5 CFR 550.806 - Interest computations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... agency shall compound interest by dividing the applicable interest rate (expressed as a decimal) by 365... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest computations. 550.806 Section... ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL) Back Pay § 550.806 Interest computations. (a)(1) Interest begins to accrue on the date...

Interest Organisations and European Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Ove K.

This paper examines the influence of European integration on the relationship between state administration and private interests in the four Nordic countries - Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. By private interests I mean interest organizations, private corporations and independent experts....... The paper focuses exclusively on the national policy processes that are involved with managing European Union (EU) issues. More specifically, this paper discusses two aspects of multi-level governance. First is the important role of private interests in the coordination of decision making at the national...... level preceding their government's representation of national interests in the European Council of Ministers and other EU organizations. Second is the effect of all this on national democratic systems....

A Systematic Review of Surgical Randomized Controlled Trials: Part 2. Funding Source, Conflict of Interest, and Sample Size in Plastic Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Voineskos, Sophocles H; Coroneos, Christopher J; Ziolkowski, Natalia I; Kaur, Manraj N; Banfield, Laura; Meade, Maureen O; Chung, Kevin C; Thoma, Achilleas; Bhandari, Mohit

2016-02-01

The authors examined industry support, conflict of interest, and sample size in plastic surgery randomized controlled trials that compared surgical interventions. They hypothesized that industry-funded trials demonstrate statistically significant outcomes more often, and randomized controlled trials with small sample sizes report statistically significant results more frequently. An electronic search identified randomized controlled trials published between 2000 and 2013. Independent reviewers assessed manuscripts and performed data extraction. Funding source, conflict of interest, primary outcome direction, and sample size were examined. Chi-squared and independent-samples t tests were used in the analysis. The search identified 173 randomized controlled trials, of which 100 (58 percent) did not acknowledge funding status. A relationship between funding source and trial outcome direction was not observed. Both funding status and conflict of interest reporting improved over time. Only 24 percent (six of 25) of industry-funded randomized controlled trials reported authors to have independent control of data and manuscript contents. The mean number of patients randomized was 73 per trial (median, 43, minimum, 3, maximum, 936). Small trials were not found to be positive more often than large trials (p = 0.87). Randomized controlled trials with small sample size were common; however, this provides great opportunity for the field to engage in further collaboration and produce larger, more definitive trials. Reporting of trial funding and conflict of interest is historically poor, but it greatly improved over the study period. Underreporting at author and journal levels remains a limitation when assessing the relationship between funding source and trial outcomes. Improved reporting and manuscript control should be goals that both authors and journals can actively achieve.

A Non-Member Spouse's Entitlement To The Member's Pension Interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Motseotsile Clement Marumoagae

2014-12-01

Full Text Available It is important that married couples seek legal advice with regard to the assets falling within their joint estate, more particularly their retirement benefits. This article reflects on the entitlement (if any of non-member spouses to their spouses' retirement fund benefits. Pension benefits can be due before, during or after divorce, and parties to the marriage should be aware of their rights with regard to the accruing pension benefits of their spouses. While it is settled law that non-member spouses are entitled to receive a portion of their member spouses' pension benefits (known as "pension interest" immediately on divorce, it is not particularly clear whether non-member spouses are also entitled to receive the same before or sometime after divorce. In this article I provide a contextual understanding of the entitlements (if any which spouses or former spouses of members of pension funds have on such member spouses' retirement benefits. Furthermore, it shown in this article that various divisions of South African High Courts have been inconsistent in how they have approached the issue of the pension interest between divorcing spouses or divorced ex-spouses.

Integration of Interests at University

Science.gov (United States)

Koshkin, Andrey; Yablochkina, Irina; Kornilova, Irina; Novikov, Andrey

2017-01-01

University students and instructors constantly correlate their personal interests with generally accepted interests and corporate norms. The process of assimilating organizational norms is not always characterized by the optimum dynamics and focus among all the students and even instructors. Students' and instructors' personal interests often do…

“An Arctic Great Power”? Recent Developments in Danish Arctic Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rahbek-Clemmensen, Jon

2016-01-01

Denmark has been a firm advocate for Arctic cooperation in the recent decade, most importantly as the initiator of the 2008 Ilulissat meeting. Two new strategic publications – a foreign policy report (Danish Diplomacy and Defence in a Time of Change) and a defense report (The Ministry of Defence......’s Future Activities in the Arctic), which were published in May and June 2016 –highlight the Kingdom of Denmark’s status as “an Arctic great power” and the importance of pursuing Danish interests, which could indicate a shift away from a cooperation-oriented policy. This article investigates whether...... the documents represent a break in Danish Arctic policy. It argues that the two documents represent continuation, rather than change. They show that the High North continues to become steadily more important on the Danish foreign policy agenda, although the region remains just one of several regional priorities...

Urbanization Is Associated with Divergence in Pace-of-Life in Great Tits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Charmantier

2017-05-01

Full Text Available As an extension of the classic life history theory, the recently highlighted pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis predicts the coevolution of behavioral, physiological and life-history traits. For instance, bolder and shyer individuals do not only differ in personality profiles, but also in neuro-endocrinology and breeding patterns. While theory predicts that bolder (i.e., proactive, more aggressive individuals should colonize more rapidly urbanized habitats than shyer (i.e., reactive, less aggressive individuals, it is also predicted that across generations, adaptive selection processes could favor shyer individuals that are more sensitive to novel environmental cues. Here we compared two personality traits (handling aggression, exploration score in a novel environment, one physiological trait related to stress response (breath rate and four breeding traits (lay date, clutch size, hatching success and fledging success in a rural and an urban study population of Mediterranean great tits Parus major. Mixed models revealed strong phenotypic divergence between forest and city in most traits explored, in particular in personality, whereby urban great tits were more reactive to stress and faster explorers compared to rural birds (yet not more aggressive. Urban birds also laid smaller broods earlier in spring compared to their rural conspecifics, and city broods resulted in lower hatching success yet interestingly fledging success was similar. Nest-box centered measures of anthropogenic (artificial light, pedestrians, and cars perturbation and resource abundance allowed us to go beyond the classical forest/city comparison by exploring the phenotypic variation across an urbanization gradient. This revealed that high urbanization in nest-box surroundings was associated overall with earlier breeding and smaller clutches, but also with faster breath rate, although these trends showed strong annual variation. Ongoing rapid urbanization and non-random gene flow

76 FR 77581 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-13

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 76586 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-28

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

76 FR 18821 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-05

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 18664 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

75 FR 81326 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 39560 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-03

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

75 FR 37872 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-30

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 20476 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-04

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

76 FR 38717 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This [[Page...

75 FR 60152 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-29

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 59447 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 62932 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-22

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 39434 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

Management of interest rate risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šabović Šerif

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Interest rate risk is one of the biggest and most dangerous risks that a bank is exposed to. When a change of interest rates occurs, the incomes of a bank based on credits and securities endure significant changes. Banks resources also endure some changes. The change of interest rates changes the value of the assets and liabilities of the bank and it's net and investment worth . The change of interest rates also affects bank's balance sheet, income sheet statement and bank's share capital.

Nuclear effects on bremsstrahlung neutrino rates of astrophysical interest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoica, Sabin; Horvath, J.E.

2002-01-01

We calculate in this work the rates for the neutrino pair production by nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung taking into account the full contribution from a nuclear one-pion-exchange potential. It is shown that if the temperatures are low enough (T≤20 MeV), the integration over the nuclear part can be done for the general case, ranging from the completely degenerate (D) to the nondegenerate (ND) regime. We find that the inclusion of the full nuclear contribution enhances the neutrino pair production by nn and pp bremsstrahlung by a factor of about 2 in both the D and ND limits when compared with previous calculations. This result may be relevant for the physical conditions of interest in the semitransparent regions near the neutrinosphere in type II supernovae, cooling of neutron stars, and other astrophysical situations

Contaminants of emerging concern in tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes: I. Patterns of occurrence

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Sarah M.; Brigham, Mark E.; Lee, Kathy E.; Banda, Jo A.; Choy, Steven J.; Gefell, Daniel J.; Minarik, Thomas A.; Moore, Jeremy N.; Jorgenson, Zachary G.

2017-01-01

Human activities introduce a variety of chemicals to the Laurentian Great Lakes including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, plasticizers, and solvents (collectively referred to as contaminants of emerging concern or CECs) potentially threatening the vitality of these valuable ecosystems. We conducted a basin-wide study to identify the presence of CECs and other chemicals of interest in 12 U.S. tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes during 2013 and 2014. A total of 292 surface-water and 80 sediment samples were collected and analyzed for approximately 200 chemicals. A total of 32 and 28 chemicals were detected in at least 30% of water and sediment samples, respectively. Concentrations ranged from 0.0284 (indole) to 72.2 (cholesterol) μg/L in water and 1.75 (diphenhydramine) to 20,800 μg/kg (fluoranthene) in sediment. Cluster analyses revealed chemicals that frequently co-occurred such as pharmaceuticals and flame retardants at sites receiving similar inputs such as wastewater treatment plant effluent. Comparison of environmental concentrations to water and sediment-quality benchmarks revealed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations often exceeded benchmarks in both water and sediment. Additionally, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dichlorvos concentrations exceeded water-quality benchmarks in several rivers. Results from this study can be used to understand organism exposure, prioritize river basins for future management efforts, and guide detailed assessments of factors influencing transport and fate of CECs in the Great Lakes Basin.

Pre-college Science Experiences; Timing and Causes of Gender Influence Science Interest Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplita, E.; Reed, D. E.; McKenzie, D. A.; Jones, R.; May, L. W.

2015-12-01

It is known that female students tend to turn away from science during their pre-college years. Experiences during this time are not limited to the classroom, as cultural influences extend beyond K-12 science education and lead to the widely studied reduction in females in STEM fields. This has a large impact on climate science because currently relatively little effort is put into K-12 climate education, yet this is when college attitudes towards science are formed. To help quantify these changes, 400 surveys were collected from 4 different colleges in Oklahoma. Student responses were compared by gender against student experiences (positive and negative), and interest in science. Results of our work show that females tend to have their first positive experience with science at a younger age with friends, family and in the classroom, and have more of an interest in science when they are younger. Males in general like experiencing science more on their own, and surpass the interest levels of females late in high school and during college. While in college, males are more comfortable with science content than females, and males enjoy math and statistics more while those aspects of science were the largest areas of dislike in females. Understanding how to keep students (particularly female) interested in science as they enter their teen years is extremely important in preventing climate misconceptions in the adult population. Potential small changes such as hosting K-12 climate outreach events and including parents, as opposed to just inviting students, could greatly improve student experiences with science and hence, their understanding of climate science. Importantly, a greater focus on female students is warranted.

Firing back: how great leaders rebound after career disasters.

Science.gov (United States)

Sonnenfeld, Jeffrey A; Ward, Andrew J

2007-01-01

Among the tests of a leader, few are more challenging-and more painful-than recovering from a career catastrophe. Most fallen leaders, in fact, don't recover. Still, two decades of consulting experience, scholarly research, and their own personal experiences have convinced the authors that leaders can triumph over tragedy--if they do so deliberately. Great business leaders have much in common with the great heroes of universal myth, and they can learn to overcome profound setbacks by thinking in heroic terms. First, they must decide whether or not to fight back. Either way, they must recruit others into their battle. They must then take steps to recover their heroic status, in the process proving, both to others and to themselves, that they have the mettle necessary to recover their heroic mission. Bernie Marcus exemplifies this process. Devastated after Sandy Sigoloff ired him from Handy Dan, Marcus decided to forgo the distraction of litigation and instead make the marketplace his batttleground. Drawing from his network of carefully nurtured relationships with both close and more distant acquaintances, Marcus was able to get funding for a new venture. He proved that he had the mettle, and recovered his heroic status, by building Home Depot, whose entrepreneurial spirit embodied his heroic mission. As Bank One's Jamie Dimon, J.Crew's Mickey Drexler, and even Jimmy Carter, Martha Stewart, and Michael Milken have shown, stunning comebacks are possible in all industries and walks of life. Whatever the cause of your predicament, it makes sense to get your story out. The alternative is likely to be long-lasting unemployment. If the facts of your dismissal cannot be made public because they are damning, then show authentic remorse. The public is often enormously forgiving when it sees genuine contrition and atonement.

26 CFR 509.109 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... SWITZERLAND General Income Tax § 509.109 Interest. The rate of United States tax imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 upon interest on bonds, securities, notes, debentures, or on any other form of... 26 Internal Revenue 19 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest. 509.109 Section 509.109 Internal...

Vocational interest evaluation of TMR adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, R L; Schull, C; Cambell, K

1981-01-01

Fifty TMR adults participated in a three-stage job-training and placement program over a 5-year period. Vocational inventoried interest and expressed interest were correlated, as were relationships between inventoried interest and such variables as CA and IQ. The results showed that (a) TMR adults can discriminate between occupational likes and dislikes when using pictorial inventoried interest assessment techniques, (b) a positive relationship exists between expressed and inventoried interest, (c) inventoried interest is independent of CA and IQ, (d) there was a general consistency in inventoried occupational choice over a 6-month interval, and (e) the Reading-Free Vocational Interest Inventory has predictive and status validity, as evidenced by job incumbents' success and their inventory cluster profiles.

Marea guvernare liberală: independenţa României şi proclamarea Regatului (The Great Liberal Government: the Romanian Independence and the Monarchy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dan CARBARĂU

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The study below is putting together, in a historical view, important events for the Romanian history. Brief, the research is related to the period between 1876 and 1888, also called by historians “The Great liberal government”, when the national ideals were made real. The study tells about the State Independence (1877, the Constitution revision (1879 and finally, the transition to monarchy (1881. By putting together, the study shares how the National Liberal Party and its past leaders were able to put above the party interests and national interests, leaving the individualism behind.

Defining and Classifying Interest Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baroni, Laura; Carroll, Brendan; Chalmers, Adam

2014-01-01

The interest group concept is defined in many different ways in the existing literature and a range of different classification schemes are employed. This complicates comparisons between different studies and their findings. One of the important tasks faced by interest group scholars engaged...... in large-N studies is therefore to define the concept of an interest group and to determine which classification scheme to use for different group types. After reviewing the existing literature, this article sets out to compare different approaches to defining and classifying interest groups with a sample...... in the organizational attributes of specific interest group types. As expected, our comparison of coding schemes reveals a closer link between group attributes and group type in narrower classification schemes based on group organizational characteristics than those based on a behavioral definition of lobbying....

Aspects and interest of MRI in the diagnosis and the follow-up of infectious non-tuberculous spondylitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korvin, B. de; Provensol, T.; Le Dantec, P.; Gautier, C.; Rolland, Y.; Arvieux, C.; Duvauferrier, R.; Devillers, A.

1994-01-01

This work is about 25 patients clinically and biologically suspected of spondylodiscitis (27 levels). All of them had a MRI exam before discovertebral needle biopsy and treatment. The results are compared to those of literature. Each infectious spondylitis case (19 cases) had a new MRI exam each three months. This study concludes to the great sensibility of MRI (89%) in the diagnosis of infectious spondylitis and to the limited interest of it in the follow-up of spondylodiscitis. (authors). 23 refs., 3 tabs., 5 figs

Great Basin geologic framework and uranium favorability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larson, L.T.; Beal, L.H.

1978-01-01

Work on this report has been done by a team of seven investigators assisted over the project span by twenty-three undergraduate and graduate students from May 18, 1976 to August 19, 1977. The report is presented in one volume of text, one volume or Folio of Maps, and two volumes of bibliography. The bibliography contains approximately 5300 references on geologic subjects pertinent to the search for uranium in the Great Basin. Volume I of the bibliography lists articles by author alphabetically and Volume II cross-indexes these articles by location and key word. Chapters I through IV of the Text volume and accompanying Folio Map Sets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, discuss the relationship of uranium to rock and structural environments which dominate the Great Basin. Chapter 5 and Map Sets 6 and 7 provide a geochemical association/metallogenic grouping of mineral occurrences in the Great Basin along with information on rock types hosting uranium. Chapter VI summarizes the results of a court house claim record search for 'new' claiming areas for uranium, and Chapter VII along with Folio Map Set 8 gives all published geochronological data available through April 1, 1977 on rocks of the Great Basin. Chapter VIII provides an introduction to a computer analysis of characteristics of certain major uranium deposits in crystalline rocks (worldwide) and is offered as a suggestion of what might be done with uranium in all geologic environments. We believe such analysis will assist materially in constructing exploration models. Chapter IX summarizes criteria used and conclusions reached as to the favorability of uranium environments which we believe to exist in the Great Basin and concludes with recommendations for both exploration and future research. A general summary conclusion is that there are several geologic environments within the Great Basin which have considerable potential and that few, if any, have been sufficiently tested

Great Books. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

Science.gov (United States)

What Works Clearinghouse, 2011

2011-01-01

"Great Books" is a program that aims to improve the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills of students in kindergarten through high school. The program is implemented as a core or complementary curriculum and is based on the Shared Inquiry[TM] method of learning. The purpose of "Great Books" is to engage students in…

Libraries Achieving Greatness: Technology at the Helm

Science.gov (United States)

Muir, Scott P.

2009-01-01

Libraries have been around for thousands of years. Many of them are considered great because of their magnificent architecture or because of the size of their collections. This paper offers ten case studies of libraries that have used technology to achieve greatness. Because almost any library can implement technology, a library does not have to…

The great debate series: surgical treatment of aortic valve abnormalities in children.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Udekem, Yves; Tweddell, James S; Karl, Tom R

2018-05-01

This article is the latest in an EJCTS series entitled 'The Great Debates'. We have chosen the topic of aortic valve (AoV) surgery in children, with a focus on infants and neonates. The topic was selected due to the significant challenges that AoV problems in the young may present to the surgical team. There are many areas of active controversy, despite the vast accumulated world experience. We have tried to incorporate many of these issues in the questions posed, not claiming to be all-inclusive. The individuals invited to this debate are experts in paediatric valve surgery, with broad and successful clinical experiences on multiple continents. We hope that the facts and opinions presented in this debate will generate interest and discussion and perhaps prove useful in decision-making for future complex valve cases.

IMPROVING THE SKILL AND THE INTEREST OF WRITING ADVERTISEMENTS AND POSTERS THROUGH ESA SEQUENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

author Fatma Yuniarti

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The action reserach aims at improving the students’ writing skill especially to write advertsements and posters. Both are the short functional texts to be learned at the second semester. According to the data on pre cycle, the students of second semester got difficulties to write advertisements and posters. A treatment was necessary to help the students overcome their problem. To consider the related literature, the writer decided to implement ESA sequence (Harmer 2001 in the class. The elements of teaching in ESA Sequence are Engage (to arouse the students’ interests, Study (learn the language focus, and Activate (use the language freely and communicatively. The data were taken from the test of the linguistic competence mastery, the students writing, and the questionnaire. The students’ linguistic competence got increased as shown by the score (58 in pre-cycle, 66 in cycle 1, and 70 in cycle 2. The students’ ability to write the short functional texts also get improved as indicated by the average score on writing tasks (53 in pre-cycle, 63 in cycle 1, 72 in cycle 2. The interest also gets better as shown by the score of the questionnaire (22,3 in pre-cycle, 33,5 in cycle 1, and 37 in cycle 2. It means ESA Sequence can improve the studets’ ability to write advertisements and posters.Key words : advertisement, ESA (Engange Study Activate, poster

On some interesting properties of the working temperature in a Tokamak reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunelli, B.

1987-01-01

A D,T burning plasma has two equilibrium temperatures T/sub 1/ and T/sub 2/ wherein power-in equals power-out. At marginal ignition: T/sub 2/ = T/sub 1/ = T/sub 0/. It is shown that, under hypothesis usually satisfied in a Tokamak reactor, the temperature T/sub 0/ has a peculiar behaviour with respect to the reactor parameters. Simple expressions are given for T/sub 0/ T/sub 1/ and T/sub 2/ which have been found quite straightforward for a well-grounded discussion of the thermal reactor dynamics. Typical cases of interest are discussed

78 FR 1222 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-08

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning January 1, 2013, the interest rates for [[Page 1223

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP): watch the great toes!

Science.gov (United States)

Kartal-Kaess, Mutlu; Shore, Eileen M; Xu, Meiqi; Schwering, Ludwig; Uhl, Markus; Korinthenberg, Rudolf; Niemeyer, Charlotte; Kaplan, Frederick S; Lauten, Melchior

2010-11-01

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare genetic disorder and the most disabling condition of heterotopic (extraskeletal) ossification in humans. Extraskeletal bone formation associated with inflammation preceding the osseous conversion usually begins in the first decade, predominantly in the head, neck, and shoulders. All patients have malformed great toes. Most patients have a spontaneous mutation of the ACVR1 gene. We report a 17-year-old girl with malformed great toes who had her first episode of heterotopic ossification and impaired mobility of the left hip at the age of 13 years. No inflammatory fibroproliferative masses preceded the onset of heterotopic ossification. Radiographic studies demonstrated myositis ossificans, but failure to associate the great toe malformation with heterotopic ossification led to a failure to diagnose FOP. She underwent repeated and unnecessary operative procedures to remove a recurrent lesion. FOP was finally suspected when the great toe malformation was correlated with the trauma-induced heterotopic ossification. Genetic analysis confirmed the presence of the classic FOP mutation (ACVR1 c.617G>A; R206H). This case highlights the importance of examining the great toes in anyone with heterotopic ossification. The association of malformations of the great toe with heterotopic ossification in all cases of classic FOP will lead to prompt clinical diagnosis and the prevention of iatrogenic harm.

Rising Long-term Interest Rates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hallett, Andrew Hughes

Rather than chronicle recent developments in European long-term interest rates as such, this paper assesses the impact of increases in those interest rates on economic performance and inflation. That puts us in a position to evaluate the economic pressures for further rises in those rates......, the first question posed in this assignment, and the scope for overshooting (the second question), and then make some illustrative predictions of future interest rates in the euro area. We find a wide range of effects from rising interest rates, mostly small and mostly negative, focused on investment...... till the emerging European recovery is on a firmer basis and capable of overcoming increases in the cost of borrowing and shrinking fiscal space. There is also an implication that worries about rising/overshooting interest rates often reflect the fact that inflation risks are unequally distributed...

Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — NOAA-GLERL and its partners conduct innovative research on the dynamic environments and ecosystems of the Great Lakes and coastal regions to provide information for...

Interests, Effort, Achievement and Vocational Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjoberg, L.

1984-01-01

Relationships between interest in natural sciences and technology and perceived ability, success, and invested effort were studied in Swedish secondary school students. Interests were accounted for by logical orientation and practical value. Interests and grades were strongly correlated, but correlations between interests and effort and vocational…

The Great Mathematician Project

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Sabrina R.

2013-01-01

The Great Mathematician Project (GMP) introduces both mathematically sophisticated and struggling students to the history of mathematics. The rationale for the GMP is twofold: first, mathematics is a uniquely people-centered discipline that is used to make sense of the world; and second, students often express curiosity about the history of…

State Government Revenue Recovery from the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

James Alm; David L. Sjoquist

2014-01-01

The "Great Recession" lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, and it wreaked havoc on the revenues of state (and local) governments. While the U.S. economy has improved since the end of the Great Recession, state government revenues have in most cases still not completely recovered. We use various indicators to measure how different states have -- or have not -- recovered in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and we also attempt to explain why these different patterns of recovery have emer...

75 FR 20373 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-19

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in... quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts..., the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and 4 percent for non...

76 FR 64964 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-19

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in... quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts..., the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3 percent for non...

76 FR 2404 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Customs And Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in... quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on overdue accounts..., the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3 percent for non...

The strategic interests of the USA, Russia and Сhina in the central Asia at the present stage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tofan A.V.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available this article is devoted to develop and analyze the strategic concerns of key geopolitical actors in the Central Asian region. The author comes to the conclusion that the specialty of the Central Asia is a beneficial geopolitical location and great amount of nature resources that makes the region an object of world powers’ geopolitical interests. The main actors in the CA are the USA, China and Russia, which have influence on political processes inside the region, realizing their own strategies.

Great Lakes CoastWatch Node

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — CoastWatch is a nationwide National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) program within which the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL)...

The great pipeline debate : the Minister of everything

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2008-01-01

This article described the challenges facing Trans-Canada Pipelines (TCPL) in the 1950s regarding the construction of a pipeline to deliver gas to central Canadian markets. Alberta had been granted gas export permits, and the proposed pipeline was financed primarily by American interests. In addition, TCPL had difficulties with several competing proposals to move gas east from Alberta. There was also opposition to TCPL's original route which was through American territory. When the pipeline was rerouted through rugged Precambrian Shield, private-sector financiers balked at the additional costs. During the Great Pipeline debate in 1956, federal Minister C.D. Howe encouraged TCPL and its competitors to merge and put a bill before Parliament to create a Crown corporation to build and own the Canadian Shield portion of the line, leasing it back to TCPL. The first president of TCPL was Eldon Tanner, member of Alberta's Legislative Assembly. He remained at the helm until the pipeline was completed. Industrialist Frank McMahon who participated in drilling activities in British Columbia and at Turner Valley, Alberta, also promoted a plan to complete the construction of the Westcoast Transmission pipeline from the Peace River, Canada's first large natural-gas pipeline. 4 figs

The great downside dilemma for risky emerging technologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baum, Seth D

2014-01-01

Some emerging technologies promise to significantly improve the human condition, but come with a risk of failure so catastrophic that human civilization may not survive. This article discusses the great downside dilemma posed by the decision of whether or not to use these technologies. The dilemma is: use the technology, and risk the downside of catastrophic failure, or do not use the technology, and suffer through life without it. Historical precedents include the first nuclear weapon test and messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence. Contemporary examples include stratospheric geoengineering, a technology under development in response to global warming, and artificial general intelligence, a technology that could even take over the world. How the dilemma should be resolved depends on the details of each technology’s downside risk and on what the human condition would otherwise be. Meanwhile, other technologies do not pose this dilemma, including sustainable design technologies, nuclear fusion power, and space colonization. Decisions on all of these technologies should be made with the long-term interests of human civilization in mind. This paper is part of a series of papers based on presentations at the Emerging Technologies and the Future of Humanity event held at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 17 March 2014. (invited comment)

7 CFR 4280.124 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 4280.124 Section 4280.124 Agriculture... Improvements Program Section B. Guaranteed Loans § 4280.124 Interest rates. (a) The interest rate for the... in similar circumstances in the ordinary course of business. The interest rate charged is subject to...

Interests diffusion in social networks

Science.gov (United States)

D'Agostino, Gregorio; D'Antonio, Fulvio; De Nicola, Antonio; Tucci, Salvatore

2015-10-01

We provide a model for diffusion of interests in Social Networks (SNs). We demonstrate that the topology of the SN plays a crucial role in the dynamics of the individual interests. Understanding cultural phenomena on SNs and exploiting the implicit knowledge about their members is attracting the interest of different research communities both from the academic and the business side. The community of complexity science is devoting significant efforts to define laws, models, and theories, which, based on acquired knowledge, are able to predict future observations (e.g. success of a product). In the mean time, the semantic web community aims at engineering a new generation of advanced services by defining constructs, models and methods, adding a semantic layer to SNs. In this context, a leapfrog is expected to come from a hybrid approach merging the disciplines above. Along this line, this work focuses on the propagation of individual interests in social networks. The proposed framework consists of the following main components: a method to gather information about the members of the social networks; methods to perform some semantic analysis of the Domain of Interest; a procedure to infer members' interests; and an interests evolution theory to predict how the interests propagate in the network. As a result, one achieves an analytic tool to measure individual features, such as members' susceptibilities and authorities. Although the approach applies to any type of social network, here it is has been tested against the computer science research community. The DBLP (Digital Bibliography and Library Project) database has been elected as test-case since it provides the most comprehensive list of scientific production in this field.

Molecular confirmation of hybridization between Dascyllus reticulatus × Dascyllus aruanus from the Great Barrier Reef

KAUST Repository

He, Song; Johansen, Jacob L.; Hoey, Andrew S.; Pappas, Melissa; Berumen, Michael L.

2017-01-01

To date, more than 81 species of tropical coral reef fish have been reported to hybridize in nature, spanning multiple families, including the Chaetodontidae, Pomacanthidae, and Labridae. Hybridization, however, is seemingly rare among benthic nesting species that engage in pair spawning, such as the Pomacentridae. Here, we present evidence for the first molecularly confirmed record of hybridization within the genus Dascyllus; D. aruanus and D. reticulatus. Interestingly, although many hybridization events are attributed to peripheral range effects or areas of limited overlap among otherwise allopatric species, this hybrid individual was collected from the northern Great Barrier Reef, centrally located within the distribution ranges of both species. The hybrid exhibited coloration and meristic counts intermediate between D. aruanus and D. reticulatus. Diagnostic genetic markers and subsequent microsatellites analysis confirmed that this individual was a hybrid offspring of D. aruanus and D. reticulatus, with the latter providing the maternal contribution. The occurrence of the D. aruanus × D. reticulatus hybrid on the Great Barrier Reef represents an exception to the otherwise species-specific haplotypes. The nuclear diagnostic marker which was identified during this study could serve as a hybrid indicator and benefit future hybrid investigations for hybridization between these two species.

Molecular confirmation of hybridization between Dascyllus reticulatus × Dascyllus aruanus from the Great Barrier Reef

KAUST Repository

He, Song

2017-11-17

To date, more than 81 species of tropical coral reef fish have been reported to hybridize in nature, spanning multiple families, including the Chaetodontidae, Pomacanthidae, and Labridae. Hybridization, however, is seemingly rare among benthic nesting species that engage in pair spawning, such as the Pomacentridae. Here, we present evidence for the first molecularly confirmed record of hybridization within the genus Dascyllus; D. aruanus and D. reticulatus. Interestingly, although many hybridization events are attributed to peripheral range effects or areas of limited overlap among otherwise allopatric species, this hybrid individual was collected from the northern Great Barrier Reef, centrally located within the distribution ranges of both species. The hybrid exhibited coloration and meristic counts intermediate between D. aruanus and D. reticulatus. Diagnostic genetic markers and subsequent microsatellites analysis confirmed that this individual was a hybrid offspring of D. aruanus and D. reticulatus, with the latter providing the maternal contribution. The occurrence of the D. aruanus × D. reticulatus hybrid on the Great Barrier Reef represents an exception to the otherwise species-specific haplotypes. The nuclear diagnostic marker which was identified during this study could serve as a hybrid indicator and benefit future hybrid investigations for hybridization between these two species.

48 CFR 52.232-17 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... Contractor to the Government under this contract shall bear simple interest from the date due until paid... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Interest. 52.232-17... Interest. As prescribed in 32.611(a) and (b), insert the following clause: INTEREST (OCT 2010) (a) Except...

24 CFR 232.560 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 232.560 Section 232... Equipment Eligible Security Instruments § 232.560 Interest rate. (a) The loan shall bear interest at the rate agreed upon by the lender and the borrower. (b) Interest shall be payable in monthly installments...

24 CFR 200.83 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 200.83 Section 200... Eligibility Requirements for Existing Projects Mortgage Provisions § 200.83 Interest rate. (a) The mortgage shall bear interest at the rate agreed upon by the mortgagee and the mortgagor. (b) Interest shall be...

78 FR 37839 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-24

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning July 1, 2013, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3 percent...

77 FR 18256 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-03-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning April 1, 2012, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3...

76 FR 41283 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning July 1, 2011, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and 4 percent...

78 FR 63238 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-23

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning October 1, 2013, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3...

75 FR 37823 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-30

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning July 1, 2010, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and 4 percent...

77 FR 59411 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning October 1, 2012, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3...

77 FR 2308 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-17

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning January 1, 2012, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3...

78 FR 20349 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-04

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning April 1, 2013, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3...

75 FR 419 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-05

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning January 1, 2010, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and 4...

77 FR 38076 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-06-26

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning July 1, 2012, the interest rates for overpayments will be 2 percent for corporations and 3 percent...

76 FR 20697 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-13

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning April 1, 2011, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations and 4...

Great hammerhead sharks swim on their side to reduce transport costs.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Nicholas L; Iosilevskii, Gil; Barnett, Adam; Fischer, Chris; Graham, Rachel T; Gleiss, Adrian C; Watanabe, Yuuki Y

2016-07-26

Animals exhibit various physiological and behavioural strategies for minimizing travel costs. Fins of aquatic animals play key roles in efficient travel and, for sharks, the functions of dorsal and pectoral fins are considered well divided: the former assists propulsion and generates lateral hydrodynamic forces during turns and the latter generates vertical forces that offset sharks' negative buoyancy. Here we show that great hammerhead sharks drastically reconfigure the function of these structures, using an exaggerated dorsal fin to generate lift by swimming rolled on their side. Tagged wild sharks spend up to 90% of time swimming at roll angles between 50° and 75°, and hydrodynamic modelling shows that doing so reduces drag-and in turn, the cost of transport-by around 10% compared with traditional upright swimming. Employment of such a strongly selected feature for such a unique purpose raises interesting questions about evolutionary pathways to hydrodynamic adaptations, and our perception of form and function.

Money, management, and manipulation: Environmental mobilization in the Great Lakes basin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gould, K.A.

1991-01-01

This document examines variations in the responses of communities to local pollution problems affecting Great Lakes water quality. The study is based on research conducted at six such communities, at sites that have been designated as 'Areas of Concern' by the International Joint Commission. The roles of economic dependency or diversity, access to scientific and political resources, community size, social visibility of pollution, and consciousness- and unconsciousness-making activities are examined as they relate to grass roots political mobilization in response to local, lake-related environmental issues. Of particular interest is the participation of national and regional environmental social movement organizations, Federal, State/Provincial and local governments, and local industry. National and regional environmental social movement organizations appear to have a greater mobilizing impact on communities that are closest to the urban centers in which these organizations are based. State and Provincial environmental agencies play a centrist role in promoting minimal remediation. Local governments typically oppose the definition of local environmental disorganization as a problem

Great Lakes Research Review, 1982. Appendices.

Science.gov (United States)

1982-11-01

7D-i53 28 GREAT LAKES RESEARCH REVIEW 1982 PPENDICES (U) / PETROLEUM REFINERY PO INT SOURCE TASK FORCE WINDSOR (ONTARIO) NOV 82UNCLASSIFIED F/G 8...C7 U. 3 X 7 45 1 2 0. ODm C of. C.’ WC.’ L. LI 7 R-Ri53 62B GREAT LKES RESEARCH REVIEW 1982 PPENDICES (U) 2/3 PETROLEUM REFINERY POINT SOURCE TASK...NUMBER ORGANIZATION* TITLE OF PROJECT 001 A** 0300 ERL-D Acute and Early Life Stage Toxicity Testing of Priority Pollutant Chemicals 002 A 0302 ERL-D

46 CFR 30.10-33 - Great Lakes-TB/L.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Great Lakes-TB/L. 30.10-33 Section 30.10-33 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY TANK VESSELS GENERAL PROVISIONS Definitions § 30.10-33 Great Lakes—TB/L. Under this designation shall be included all tank vessels navigating the Great Lakes. ...

Organisational patient management, as shown by the radiology department of a hospital

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schluechtermann, J.

1990-01-01

For years now, rationalization has been the prime goal that put hospitals under pressure to establish appropriate procedures. Work scheduling is of great significance in this context, especially in the light of modified framework conditions of the hospital's financing terms. The book in hand comprehensively discusses the problem of patient flow control, which has to serve two somewhat contradictory purposes, namely to achieve best possible capacity utilization in terms of equipment and personnel, and shortest possible waiting time for patients. The contributions offered by methods of the quantitative operations analysis for problem solving are set forth, as well as the role of computerized information systems in patient-related work scheduling. As both approaches reveal considerable weak points, a concept is presented that aims at integrating patient-related appointment methods into hospital information systems. The concept is explained by the example of a radiology department. Some scheduling heuristics are set up and are verified by empirical data. (orig./HSCH) [de

Development Of The Social Interest Index

Science.gov (United States)

Greever, K. B.; And Others

1973-01-01

A Social Interest Index was developed to measure the level of social interest an individual has attained. Social interest was viewed as the willingness to contribute and cooperate within the areas of four life tasks (works, friendship, love, and self-significance). Findings relate the level of social interest to the variables of sex, socioeconomic…

7 CFR 1980.320 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 14 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Interest rate. 1980.320 Section 1980.320 Agriculture... REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) GENERAL Rural Housing Loans § 1980.320 Interest rate. The interest rate must not... interest rate over the life of the loan. The rate shall be agreed upon by the borrower and the Lender and...

"Do Latin@ Interests Always Have to 'Converge' with White Interests?"': (Re)claiming Racial Realism and Interest-Convergence in Critical Race Theory Praxis

Science.gov (United States)

Aleman, Enrique, Jr.; Aleman, Sonya M.

2010-01-01

The interest-convergence principle proposes that change benefitting people and communities of color only occurs when those interests also benefit Whites. As newly transplanted Chicano/a residents of a state facing exponential growth of its Latino immigrant population, we have attempted to counter the efforts criminalizing members of our Latino/a…

7 CFR 4279.125 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 4279.125 Section 4279.125 Agriculture... Interest rates. The interest rate for the guaranteed loan will be negotiated between the lender and the applicant and may be either fixed or variable as long as it is a legal rate. Interest rates will not be more...

7 CFR 4274.325 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 4274.325 Section 4274.325 Agriculture... (IRP) § 4274.325 Interest rates. (a) Loans made by the Agency pursuant to this subpart shall bear interest at a fixed rate of 1 percent per annum over the term of the loan. (b) Interest rates charged by...

Does Sympathy Motivate Prosocial Behaviour in Great Apes?

Science.gov (United States)

Liebal, Katja; Vaish, Amrisha; Haun, Daniel; Tomasello, Michael

2014-01-01

Prosocial behaviours such as helping, comforting, or sharing are central to human social life. Because they emerge early in ontogeny, it has been proposed that humans are prosocial by nature and that from early on empathy and sympathy motivate such behaviours. The emerging question is whether humans share these abilities to feel with and for someone with our closest relatives, the great apes. Although several studies demonstrated that great apes help others, little is known about their underlying motivations. This study addresses this issue and investigates whether four species of great apes (Pongo pygmaeus, Gorilla gorilla, Pan troglodytes, Pan paniscus) help a conspecific more after observing the conspecific being harmed (a human experimenter steals the conspecific’s food) compared to a condition where no harming occurred. Results showed that in regard to the occurrence of prosocial behaviours, only orangutans, but not the African great apes, help others when help is needed, contrasting prior findings on chimpanzees. However, with the exception of one population of orangutans that helped significantly more after a conspecific was harmed than when no harm occurred, prosocial behaviour in great apes was not motivated by concern for others. PMID:24416212

Second-Generation Outcomes of the Great Migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, J Trent; Leibbrand, Christine; Massey, Catherine; Tolnay, Stewart

2017-12-01

The mass migration of African Americans out of the South during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century represents one of the most significant internal migration flows in U.S. Those undertaking the Great Migration left the South in search of a better life, and their move transformed the cultural, social, and political dynamics of African American life specifically and U.S. society more generally. Recent research offers conflicting evidence regarding the migrants' success in translating their geographic mobility into economic mobility. Due in part to the lack of a large body of longitudinal data, almost all studies of the Great Migration have focused on the migrants themselves, usually over short periods of their working lives. Using longitudinally linked census data, we take a broader view, investigating the long-term economic and social effects of the Great Migration on the migrants' children. Our results reveal modest but statistically significant advantages in education, income, and poverty status for the African American children of the Great Migration relative to the children of southerners who remained in the South. In contrast, second-generation white migrants experienced few benefits from migrating relative to southern or northern stayers.

Professor Witold Nowicki - a greatly spirited pathologist.

Science.gov (United States)

Wincewicz, A; Szepietowska, A; Sulkowski, S

2016-06-01

This paper presents a complete overview of the scientific, professional and social activity of a great Polish pathologist, Witold Nowicki (1878-1941), from mainly Polish-written, original sources with a major impact on mostly his own publications. The biographical commemoration of this eminent professor is not only due to the fact that he provided a profound microscopic characterization of pneumatosis cystoides in 1909 and 1924. Nowicki greatly influenced the development of anatomical pathology in Poland, having authored over 82 publications, with special reference to tuberculosis, lung cancer, sarcomatous carcinomas, scleroma and others. However, the first of all his merits for the readership of Polish pathologists was his textbook titled Anatomical Pathology, which was a basic pathology manual in pre-war Poland. Witold Nowicki - as the head of the academic pathological anatomy department and former dean of the medical faculty - was shot with other professors by Nazi Germans in the Wuleckie hills in Lvov during World War Two. Professor Nowicki was described as being "small in size but great in spirit" by one of his associates, and remains an outstanding example of a meticulous pathologist, a patient tutor and a great social activist to follow.

Structure of Vocational Interests for Diverse Groups on the 2005 Strong Interest Inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Kantamneni, Neeta; Fouad, Nadya

2011-01-01

This study was designed to examine the structure of vocational interests in a diverse sample of individuals who completed the 2005 revision of the Strong Interest Inventory. We examined the fit of three racial/ethnic groups (African American, Caucasian, and Latino/a), both genders, and three levels of professional status (GRS participant, student,…

OF THE GREAT TEMPLE OF BEL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Denker

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The Great Temple of Bel in Palmyra was a unique edifice which had blended the well established lines of Greco-Roman architecture with the art and taste of the Orient. With the gilded bronze capitals of its 41 Corinthian columns it was the product of enormous effort and budget. It was the gem of a remarkable epoch of wealthy Palmyra and mighty Roma. With its splendidly decorated adyta ceilings it became a source of inspiration and imagination for Western architecture and decorative arts. While continuing to captivate the World, it was leveled and vanished as a grim result of conflict based vandalism. The aim of this work is to piece together this, the most eloquent and stupendous monument of the Roman East, from its ruins and reconstruct it as it was once extant. Its loss is irreplacable, but its photo-realistic reconstruction can offer some solace by waking the memories of the great temple as in the past. The lost reality of the Great Temple of Bel is revived here by digitally constructing its “ghost images".

8 CFR 293.1 - Computation of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... simple interest table in § 293.3 shall be utilized in the computation of interest under this part. ... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Computation of interest. 293.1 Section 293... INTEREST ON CASH RECEIVED TO SECURE IMMIGRATION BONDS § 293.1 Computation of interest. Interest shall be...

The Precautionary Principle Has Not Been Shown to Be Incoherent: A Reply to Peterson.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyer-Kassem, Thomas

2017-11-01

In this journal, I have objected to Peterson's 2006 claim that the precautionary principle is an incoherent decision rule. I defend my objections to Peterson's recent replies, and I still claim that the precautionary principle has not been shown to be incoherent. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

STEM field courses that increase interest, opinions and confidence in conservation- related fields

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, B. A.; Freeman, A. S.; Donovan, C.; Cooperstein, D.; Foellmer, M.; Ward, A.

2016-12-01

Students in the Environmental Studies and Biology programs at Adelphi University, situated in the NYC metropolitan area, have had little exposure to the outdoors or nature and are often reluctant to engage in field activities. We developed three courses to provide outdoor experiences at different levels of intensity, financial and travel/ time commitments. Adelphi in Australia is a three-week field course taught mostly at a marine station that includes day and night hikes, snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and independent research. Adelphi in the U.S. Virgin Islands is a one-week field `starter course' focusing on snorkeling and hiking. Observing Nature is an on-campus, once a week course with nature-based readings, weekend hikes and camping. It was developed after Hurricane Sandy revealed a lack of experience and confidence living without some modern infrastructure. We evaluated student opinions, interests and career goals in a survey administered at the start and at the end of the course that focused on knowledge, skills, opinion, and interest in STEM. Opinion questions addressed confidence, awareness of conservation issues, and interest in outdoor activities. The survey confirmed most of our students have a limited relationship with the outdoors when they start our field classes. More than half had never camped. Most had learned about nature through school trips and family. When asked to rank hiking against other activities, the majority regularly placed hiking below `going to the beach' and 'watching a movie'. The post-survey asked how students would apply what they had learned (interest in the environment; staying in the sciences). The generally positive results indicate the courses play an important role in connecting our students with the outdoors, and may have a lasting impact if they in turn connect others or get involved with local conservation programs.

Family interests and medical decisions for children.

Science.gov (United States)

Baines, Paul

2017-10-01

Medical decisions for children are usually justified by the claim that they are in a child's best interests. More recently, following criticisms of the best interests standard, some advocate that the family's interests should influence medical decisions for children, although what is meant by family interests is often not made clear. I argue that at least two senses of family interests may be discerned. There is a 'weak' sense (as the amalgamated interests of family members) of family interests and a 'strong' sense (that the family itself has interests over and above the interests of individuals). I contend that there are problems with both approaches in making medical decisions for children but that the weak sense is more plausible. Despite this, I argue that claims for family interests are not helpful in making medical decisions for children. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

78 FR 5474 - Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-25

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY Coast Guard [USCG-2013-0029] Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory... Meeting. SUMMARY: The Great Lakes Pilotage Advisory Committee (GLPAC) will meet on February 11, 2013, in..., 2013, after the committee completes its work on the agenda given under SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION...

Grass carp in the Great Lakes region: establishment potential, expert perceptions, and re-evaluation of experimental evidence of ecological impact

Science.gov (United States)

Wittmann, Marion E.; Jerde, Christopher L.; Howeth, Jennifer G.; Maher, Sean P.; Deines, Andrew M.; Jenkins, Jill A.; Whitledge, Gregory W.; Burbank, Sarah B.; Chadderton, William L.; Mahon, Andrew R.; Tyson, Jeffrey T.; Gantz, Crysta A.; Keller, Reuben P.; Drake, John M.; Lodge, David M.

2014-01-01

Intentional introductions of nonindigenous fishes are increasing globally. While benefits of these introductions are easily quantified, assessments to understand the negative impacts to ecosystems are often difficult, incomplete, or absent. Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) was originally introduced to the United States as a biocontrol agent, and recent observations of wild, diploid individuals in the Great Lakes basin have spurred interest in re-evaluating its ecological risk. Here, we evaluate the ecological impact of grass carp using expert opinion and a suite of the most up-to-date analytical tools and data (ploidy assessment, eDNA surveillance, species distribution models (SDMs), and meta-analysis). The perceived ecological impact of grass carp by fisheries experts was variable, ranging from unknown to very high. Wild-caught triploid and diploid individuals occurred in multiple Great Lakes waterways, and eDNA surveillance suggests that grass carp are abundant in a major tributary of Lake Michigan. SDMs predicted suitable grass carp climate occurs in all Great Lakes. Meta-analysis showed that grass carp introductions impact both water quality and biota. Novel findings based on updated ecological impact assessment tools indicate that iterative risk assessment of introduced fishes may be warranted.

Are Predators Limiting Zebra Mussel Colonization of Unionid Mussels in Great Lake Coastal Wetlands?

Science.gov (United States)

de Szalay, F. A.; Bowers, R.

2005-05-01

Although many native mollusc populations have been eliminated in the Laurentian Great Lakes by the exotic zebra mussel, recent surveys have found abundant unionid (Bivalvia: Unionidae) populations in some coastal wetlands. Unionid burrowing in soft sediments and predation by fish have been shown to reduce numbers of attached zebra mussels, and we tested these factors in a Lake Erie coastal wetland. In 2002, we held live unionids (Leptodea fragilis, Quadrula quadrula) and Pyganodon grandis shells in exclosures with wire mesh bottoms that were buried to sediment depths of either 5, 10, or 20 cm. After 2 months, numbers of attached dreissenids on unionids were significantly higher inside all exclosure treatments than outside exclosures. This indicated that either unionid burrowing was prevented in all sediment depth treatments or molluscivores were excluded by exclosures. In 2004, we measured dreissenid colonization on Q. quadrula and PVC plates in bottomless exclosures with different mesh sizes. After 6 months, dreissenid numbers on PVC plates and on Q. quadrula in 2.5 cm X 2.5 cm and 5 cm X 10 cm mesh exclosures were significantly higher than in open exclosures. These data suggest that molluscivores are important in limiting dreissenids in Great Lake coastal wetlands.

River Activism, “Levees-Only” and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ned Randolph

2018-02-01

Full Text Available This article investigates media coverage of 19th and early 20th century river activism and its effect on federal policy to control the Mississippi River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ “levees-only” policy—which joined disparate navigation and flood control interests—is largely blamed for the Great Flood of 1927, called the largest peacetime disaster in American history. River activists organized annual conventions, and later, professional lobbies organized media campaigns up and down the Mississippi River to sway public opinion and pressure Congress to fund flood control and river navigation projects. Annual river conventions drew thousands of delegates such as plantation owners, shippers, bankers, chambers of commerce, governors, congressmen, mayors and cabinet members with interests on the Mississippi River. Public pressure on Congress successfully captured millions of federal dollars to protect property, drain swamps for development, subsidize local levee districts and influence river policy.

Birth Order and Vocational Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Gandy, Gerald L.

1973-01-01

Investigated birth order differences and the vocational interests of 150 male college students, making use of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank. Sibling sex and interaction effects were also investigated. (DP)

Diplomatic History of the Great Patriotic War and the New World Order

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Y. Borisov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available From ancient times, war was called "the creator of all things". And winners created the postwar world order. The article reveals the backstage, the diplomatic history of the Great Patriotic War, which make the picture of the main events of the war, that culminated in victory May 1945 in the capital of the defeated Third Reich, complete. The decisive role of the Soviet Union and its armed forces in the defeat of Nazi Germany and its allies was the strong foundation on which to build the strategy and tactics of Soviet diplomacy during the war. It was implemented in the course of negotiations with the Western Allies - the United States and Britain, led by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill. World history teaches, large and small wars have been fought on Earth for centuries for specific political interests. In this context, the Second World War has been a shining example not only to curb the aggressor states, the liberation of peoples from the Nazi tyranny, but also an attempt by the victor to organize a new, better postwar world order to guarantee a durable and lasting peace based on the cooperation of the allied states. But the allies in the war did not become allies in the organization of the postwar world. Their collaboration briefly survived the end of hostilities and was overshadowed start turning to the Cold War. It was largely due to the US desire to realize their material advantages to the detriment of the Soviet Union after the war and build a system that would be a one-sided expression of the interests of Washington. Americans, especially after the death of President Roosevelt, and during his successor Truman understood international cooperation as an assertion of its global leadership while ignoring the interests of the Soviet Union, which bore the brunt of the war.

Arthroscopy of the great toe

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Frey, C.; van Dijk, C. N.

1999-01-01

The few available reports of arthroscopic treatment of the first MTP joint in the literature indicate favorable outcome. However, arthroscopy of the great toe is an advanced technique and should only be undertaken by experienced surgeons

Study of dissolved oxygen content in the Eastern Bosporus Strait (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan)

Science.gov (United States)

Grigoryeva, N. I.

2017-09-01

Seasonal changes in the dissolved oxygen (DO) content in water were analyzed based on long-term observations (2006-2013) in the Eastern Bosporus Strait (Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan). It was found that the monthly average DO concentrations at the bottom of the strait were significantly lower in summer than the average annual long-term data. The minimum DO contents were recorded during four months, from July to October. It was shown that the DO content in water depended on changes in current directions in the strait: lower DO contents resulted from hypoxic water inflow, mostly from Amur Bay.

Are You Interested? A Meta-Analysis of Relations between Vocational Interests and Employee Performance and Turnover

Science.gov (United States)

Van Iddekinge, Chad H.; Roth, Philip L.; Putka, Dan J.; Lanivich, Stephen E.

2011-01-01

A common belief among researchers is that vocational interests have limited value for personnel selection. However, no comprehensive quantitative summaries of interests validity research have been conducted to substantiate claims for or against the use of interests. To help address this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of relations between…

Gaps in Political Interest

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Robison, Joshua

2015-01-01

Political interest fundamentally influences political behavior, knowledge, and persuasion (Brady, Verba, & Schlozman, 1995; Delli Carpini & Keeter, 1996; Luskin, 1990; Zukin, Andolina, Keeter, Jenkins, & Delli Carpini, 2006). Since the early 1960s, the American National Election Studies (ANES) has...... sought to measure respondents’ general interest in politics by asking them how often they follow public affairs. In this article, we uncover novel sources of measurement error concerning this question. We first show that other nationally representative surveys that frequently use this item deliver...... drastically higher estimates of mass interest. We then use a survey experiment included on a wave of the ANES’ Evaluating Government and Society Surveys (EGSS) to explore the influence of question order in explaining this systemic gap in survey results. We show that placing batteries of political...

Great software debates

CERN Document Server

Davis, A

2004-01-01

The industry’s most outspoken and insightful critic explains how the software industry REALLY works. In Great Software Debates, Al Davis, shares what he has learned about the difference between the theory and the realities of business and encourages you to question and think about software engineering in ways that will help you succeed where others fail. In short, provocative essays, Davis fearlessly reveals the truth about process improvement, productivity, software quality, metrics, agile development, requirements documentation, modeling, software marketing and sales, empiricism, start-up financing, software research, requirements triage, software estimation, and entrepreneurship.

The Great Kanto earthquake and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Science.gov (United States)

Kawakatsu, Hitoshi; Bina, Craig R.

How many recall the following striking sentence from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which appears on the second page of the novel, where Fitzgerald first introduces Gatsby? “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away.”This line may have failed to focus our attention when we first read the book in our younger days. Now, however, as a Japanese seismologist and an American geophysicist (and student of Japanese culture), we would be greatly remiss for failing to take greater note of this statement. Indeed, as The Great Gatsby was published in 1925, it occurred to us that the earthquake Fitzgerald might have been thinking of was the Great Kanto earthquake, which occurred on September 1, 1923 and devastated the Tokyo metropolitan area.

7 CFR 4280.106 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 4280.106 Section 4280.106... Efficiency Improvements Program § 4280.106 Conflict of interest. No conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest will be allowed. For purposes of this subpart, conflict of interest includes, but is...

What Caused the Great Recession?

OpenAIRE

Homburg, Stefan

2014-01-01

This paper examines five possible explanations for the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, using data for the United States and the eurozone. Of these five hypotheses, four are not supported by the data, while the fifth appears reasonable.

75 FR 17453 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-06

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may [[Page 17454

Ambient Response Analysis of the Great Belt Bridge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brincker, Rune; Frandsen, Jeanette B.; Andersen, Palle

2000-01-01

In this paper an ambient response analysis of the Great Belt Bridge is presented. The Great Belt Bridge is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world, and the analysis was carried out in order to investigate the possibilities of estimating reliable damping values from the ambient response...

Observing Semi-Arid Ecoclimates across Mountain Gradients in the Great Basin, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Strachan, Scotty

Observation of climate and ecohydrological variables in mountain systems is a necessary (if challenging) endeavor for modern society. Water resources are often intimately tied to mountains, and high elevation environments are frequently home to unique landscapes and biota with limited geographical distributions. This is especially true in the temperate and semi-arid mountains of the western United States, and specifically the Great Basin. Stark contrasts in annual water balance and ecological populations are visible across steep elevational gradients in the region; and yet the bulk of our historical knowledge of climate and related processes comes from lowland observations. Interpolative models that strive to estimate conditions in mountains using existing datasets are often found to be inaccurate, making future projections of mountain climate and ecosystem response suspect. This study details the results of high-resolution topographically-diverse ecohydrological monitoring, and describes the character and seasonality of basic climatic variables such as temperature and precipitation as well as their impact on soil moisture and vegetation during the 2012-2015 drought sequence. Relationships of topography (elevation/aspect) to daily and seasonal temperatures are shown. Tests of the PRISM temperature model are performed at the large watershed scale, revealing magnitudes, modes, and potential sources of bias that could dramatically affect derivative scientific conclusions. A new method of precipitation phase partitioning to detect and quantify frozen precipitation on a sub-daily basis is described. Character of precipitation from sub-daily to annual scales is quantified across all major Great Basin vegetation/elevation zones, and the relationship of elevation to precipitation phase, intensity, and amount is explored. Water-stress responses of Great Basin conifers including Pinus flexilis, Pinus longaeva, and Pinus ponderosa are directly observed, showing potential

Interest Organizations across Economic Sectors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Berkhout, Joost; Carroll, Brendan; Braun, Caelesta

2015-01-01

of collective action of businesses. In contrast, we do not find consistent evidence that political institutions produce ‘demand’ for interest organizations by making laws, developing public policy or spending money. This is in contrast to the extensive evidence that such factors affect lobbying practices...... on the basis of political and economic institutional factors. Focusing on business interest representation, we show that economic institutions structure the ‘supply’ of interest organizations by affecting the number of potential constituents, the resources available for lobbying and the geographical level...

Extracting factors for interest rate scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Molgedey, L.; Galic, E.

2001-04-01

Factor based interest rate models are widely used for risk managing purposes, for option pricing and for identifying and capturing yield curve anomalies. The movements of a term structure of interest rates are commonly assumed to be driven by a small number of orthogonal factors such as SHIFT, TWIST and BUTTERFLY (BOW). These factors are usually obtained by a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of historical bond prices (interest rates). Although PCA diagonalizes the covariance matrix of either the interest rates or the interest rate changes, it does not use both covariance matrices simultaneously. Furthermore higher linear and nonlinear correlations are neglected. These correlations as well as the mean reverting properties of the interest rates become crucial, if one is interested in a longer time horizon (infrequent hedging or trading). We will show that Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a more appropriate tool than PCA, since ICA uses the covariance matrix of the interest rates as well as the covariance matrix of the interest rate changes simultaneously. Additionally higher linear and nonlinear correlations may be easily incorporated. The resulting factors are uncorrelated for various time delays, approximately independent but nonorthogonal. This is in contrast to the factors obtained from the PCA, which are orthogonal and uncorrelated for identical times only. Although factors from the ICA are nonorthogonal, it is sufficient to consider only a few factors in order to explain most of the variation in the original data. Finally we will present examples that ICA based hedges outperforms PCA based hedges specifically if the portfolio is sensitive to structural changes of the yield curve.

Economic feasibility of sail power devices on Great Lakes bulk carriers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1982-09-22

Three ships were examined, the ED RYERSON, the ST. CLAIR, and the STEWART CORT to determine if retro-fitting these ships with a 3000 sq ft soft sail cat rig is economically feasible. By using existing weather data taken from recorded observations on Lake Michigan and Lake Superior and known performance characteristics of both the sailplan and hull, a computer program was written to model the problem. Three cases for each ship were estimated. The first was the average fuel savings, second was an optimistic estimate of fuel savings, and the third was a pessimistic estimate of fuel savings. Several considerations had to be taken into account that had serious consequences for the economic viability of the idea. One was the fact that all of the aforementioned ships have self unloading equipment that require about 80% of the deck space to be clear. This limited the choice of sailplans to one per ship. Another consideration is that due to bridge clearance problems an air draft of less than 125' was required. These two factors limited the size and efficiency of the sail plan. The third consideration is that due to the very tight shipping channels on the Great Lakes, there is no provision for altering course to take advantage of prevailing winds in order to maximize the usefulness of the sail device. The sail device on the ED RYERSON does not seem to be economically feasible. Even at the lowest interest rate investigated in this study (8%) the average annual cost improves only in the optimistic estimates. At 12% interest even this slight advantage disappears. The sail devices on the STEWART CORT and ST. CLAIR seem to be marginally feasible at low interest rates and the present cost of fuel. The STEWART CORT seems to benefit most from the fitting of a sail device. A modest increase in fuel prices, perhaps possible, will make both of these ships look substantially better.

The Great Plains IDEA Gerontology Program: An Online, Interinstitutional Graduate Degree

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Gregory F.

2011-01-01

The Great-Plains IDEA Gerontology Program is a graduate program developed and implemented by the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (Great Plains IDEA). The Great Plains IDEA (Alliance) originated as a consortium of Colleges of Human Sciences ranging across the central United States. This Alliance's accomplishments have included…

The Great Depression: An ERIC/ChESS Sample.

Science.gov (United States)

Kulczak, Carrie

2001-01-01

Provides citations with abstracts from the ERIC database focusing on the Great Depression. Includes both background information and teaching materials on such topics as an overview of the New Deal, the arts and the Great Depression, and information on the Civilian Conservation Corps. Offers directions for accessing the materials. (CMK)

76 FR 59767 - Interest Rates; Notice

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates; Notice AGENCY: Small Business Administration. The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120... fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will be 3.125 (3\\1/8\\) percent for the October-December quarter...

Understanding Great Earthquakes in Japan's Kanto Region

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Reiji; Curewitz, Daniel

2008-10-01

Third International Workshop on the Kanto Asperity Project; Chiba, Japan, 16-19 February 2008; The 1703 (Genroku) and 1923 (Taisho) earthquakes in Japan's Kanto region (M 8.2 and M 7.9, respectively) caused severe damage in the Tokyo metropolitan area. These great earthquakes occurred along the Sagami Trough, where the Philippine Sea slab is subducting beneath Japan. Historical records, paleoseismological research, and geophysical/geodetic monitoring in the region indicate that such great earthquakes will repeat in the future.

Making working in retailing interesting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Esbjerg, Lars; Buck, Nuka; Grunert, Klaus G.

2010-01-01

This paper is about how five retail chains in the Danish grocery industry attempt to make low-wage, low-status store-level retail jobs as checkout operators and sales assistants interesting from the perspective of both retailers and employees. Following analysis of the social and institutional...... and make store-level retail jobs interesting to them. Although retailers mainly focus their attention on career seekers, we find that working in retailing is interesting for all employee types because the retailers are currently able to meet their respective motivations and aspirations. Nevertheless, we...

Emergence of scaling in human-interest dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Zhi-Dan; Yang, Zimo; Zhang, Zike; Zhou, Tao; Huang, Zi-Gang; Lai, Ying-Cheng

2013-01-01

Human behaviors are often driven by human interests. Despite intense recent efforts in exploring the dynamics of human behaviors, little is known about human-interest dynamics, partly due to the extreme difficulty in accessing the human mind from observations. However, the availability of large-scale data, such as those from e-commerce and smart-phone communications, makes it possible to probe into and quantify the dynamics of human interest. Using three prototypical “Big Data” sets, we investigate the scaling behaviors associated with human-interest dynamics. In particular, from the data sets we uncover fat-tailed (possibly power-law) distributions associated with the three basic quantities: (1) the length of continuous interest, (2) the return time of visiting certain interest, and (3) interest ranking and transition. We argue that there are three basic ingredients underlying human-interest dynamics: preferential return to previously visited interests, inertial effect, and exploration of new interests. We develop a biased random-walk model, incorporating the three ingredients, to account for the observed fat-tailed distributions. Our study represents the first attempt to understand the dynamical processes underlying human interest, which has significant applications in science and engineering, commerce, as well as defense, in terms of specific tasks such as recommendation and human-behavior prediction. PMID:24326949

Using Music to Teach about the Great Depression

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Robert L.; Fogel, Jared A.

2007-01-01

The Great Depression is typically taught through history textbooks, but the music of this time allows students to learn about this era through different perspectives. The Great Depression witnessed many musical styles--from the light heartedness of popular music to the sadness of the blues, gospel, which offered inspiration, to the tension between…

7 CFR 1779.33 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 12 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 1779.33 Section 1779.33 Agriculture... (CONTINUED) WATER AND WASTE DISPOSAL PROGRAMS GUARANTEED LOANS § 1779.33 Interest rates. (a) General. Rates.... Interest rates will be those rates customarily charged borrowers in similar circumstances in the ordinary...

27 CFR 6.27 - Proprietary interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail License § 6.27 Proprietary interest. (a) Complete ownership. Outright ownership of a retail business by an industry member is.... Less than complete ownership of a retail business by an industry member constitutes an interest in a...

27 CFR 6.33 - Proprietary interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail Property § 6.33 Proprietary interest. (a) Complete ownership. Outright ownership of a retail business by an industry member is.... Less than complete ownership of a retail business by an industry member constitutes an interest in...

Advances in magnetic resonance imaging: how they are changing the management of prostate cancer

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sciarra, A.; Barentsz, J.O.; Bjartell, A.; Eastham, J.; Hricak, H.; Panebianco, V.; Witjes, J.A.

2011-01-01

CONTEXT: Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is emerging as the most commonly used imaging modality for prostate cancer (PCa) detection, treatment planning, and follow-up, its acceptance has not been uniform. Recently, great interest has been shown in multiparametric MRI, which combines

A latent model for collaborative filtering

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Langseth, Helge; Nielsen, Thomas Dyhre

2012-01-01

Recommender systems based on collaborative filtering have received a great deal of interest over the last two decades. In particular, recently proposed methods based on dimensionality reduction techniques and using a symmetrical representation of users and items have shown promising results. Foll...

Rheumabuddy, a smartphone app, used to empower patients with rheumatoid arthritis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rickmann, J.; Schiottz-Christensen, B.; Dam, A.

2015-01-01

. In general, patients in Denmark have shown great interest in the app, and it has empowered the patient association itself. Conclusions: There is a potential to leverage smartphone technology to empower patients themselves, enabling better communication with the healthcare professionals and to foster...

Child Poverty and the Great Recession in the United States

OpenAIRE

Marianne Bitler; Hilary Hoynes; Elira Kuka

2014-01-01

In the midst of the Great Recession, median real household income fell from $61,597 in 2007 to $57,025 in 2010 and $51,007 in 2012. Given that the effects of the Great Recession on unemployment were greater for less skilled workers the authors expect the effects of the Great Recession on household incomes to be larger in relative terms for individuals in the lower end of the income distribution. To explore this issue, in this paper, they comprehensively examine the effects of the Great Recess...

75 FR 59279 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used In Calculating Interest On Overdue Accounts and Refunds On...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-27

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... notice advises the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate... quarter beginning October 1, 2010, the interest rates for overpayments will be 3 percent for corporations...

Using Land Surface Phenology to Detect Land Use Change in the Northern Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, L. H.; Henebry, G. M.

2017-12-01

The Northern Great Plains of the US have been undergoing many types of land cover / land use change over the past two decades, including expansion of irrigation, conversion of grassland to cropland, biofuels production, urbanization, and fossil fuel mining. Much of the literature on these changes has relied on post-classification change detection based on a limited number of observations per year. Here we demonstrate an approach to characterize land dynamics through land surface phenology (LSP) by synergistic use of image time series at two scales. Our study areas include regions of interest (ROIs) across the Northern Great Plains located within Landsat path overlap zones to boost the number of valid observations (free of clouds or snow) each year. We first compute accumulated growing degree-days (AGDD) from MODIS 8-day composites of land surface temperature (MOD11A2 and MYD11A2). Using Landsat Collection 1 surface reflectance-derived vegetation indices (NDVI, EVI), we then fit at each pixel a downward convex quadratic model linking the vegetation index to each year's progression of AGDD. This quadratic equation exhibits linearity in a mathematical sense; thus, the fitted models can be linearly mixed and unmixed using a set of LSP endmembers (defined by the fitted parameter coefficients of the quadratic model) that represent "pure" land cover types with distinct seasonal patterns found within the region, such as winter wheat, spring wheat, maize, soybean, sunflower, hay/pasture/grassland, developed/built-up, among others. Information about land cover corresponding to each endmember are provided by the NLCD (National Land Cover Dataset) and CDL (Cropland Data Layer). We use linear unmixing to estimate the likely proportion of each LSP endmember within particular areas stratified by latitude. By tracking the proportions over the 2001-2011 period, we can quantify various types of land transitions in the Northern Great Plains.

Thymic Carcinoma Management Patterns among International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG) Physicians with Consensus from the Thymic Carcinoma Working Group.

Science.gov (United States)

Shepherd, Annemarie; Riely, Gregory; Detterbeck, Frank; Simone, Charles B; Ahmad, Usman; Huang, James; Korst, Robert; Rajan, Arun; Rimner, Andreas

2017-04-01

Thymic carcinomas are rare epithelial malignancies with limited data to guide management. To identify areas of agreement and variability in current clinical practice, a 16-question electronic survey was given to members of the International Thymic Malignancy Interest Group (ITMIG). Areas of controversy were discussed with the Thymic Carcinoma Working Group and consensus was achieved, as described. A total of 100 ITMIG members responded. There was general agreement regarding the role for multimodality therapy with definitive surgical resection in physically fit patients with advanced but resectable disease. Areas of controversy included the need for histologic confirmation before surgery, the role of adjuvant therapy, the optimal first-line chemotherapy regimen, and the recommended treatment course for marginally resectable disease with invasion into the great vessels, pericardium, and lungs. The results of the questionnaire provide a description of the management of thymic carcinoma by 100 ITMIG members with a specific interest or expertise in thymic malignancies. Although there was agreement in some areas, clinical practice appears to vary significantly. There is a great need for collaborative research to identify optimal evaluation and treatment strategies. Given the need for multimodality therapy in many cases, a multidisciplinary discussion of the management of patients with thymic carcinoma is critical. Copyright © 2016 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

7 CFR 3550.66 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rate. 3550.66 Section 3550.66 Agriculture... DIRECT SINGLE FAMILY HOUSING LOANS AND GRANTS Section 502 Origination § 3550.66 Interest rate. Loans will be written using the applicable RHS interest rate in effect at loan approval or loan closing...

7 CFR 3575.33 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 3575.33 Section 3575.33 Agriculture... GENERAL Community Programs Guaranteed Loans § 3575.33 Interest rates. (a) General. Rates will be negotiated between the lender and the borrower. They may be either fixed or variable rates. Interest rates...

5 CFR 1655.7 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rate. 1655.7 Section 1655.7 Administrative Personnel FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD LOAN PROGRAM § 1655.7 Interest rate. (a... interest rate established by the Department of the Treasury in effect on the date the TSP record keeper...

13 CFR 120.932 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rate. 120.932 Section 120.932 Business Credit and Assistance SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION BUSINESS LOANS Development Company Loan Program (504) 504 Loans and Debentures § 120.932 Interest rate. The interest rate of the 504 Loan...

7 CFR 1980.423 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 14 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Interest rates. 1980.423 Section 1980.423 Agriculture... REGULATIONS (CONTINUED) GENERAL Business and Industrial Loan Program § 1980.423 Interest rates. (a) Guaranteed... variable as long as they are legal. Interest rates will be those rates customarily charged borrowers in...

[Assisted suicide in the movies - what is (not) shown?

Science.gov (United States)

Schmidt, Kurt W

2017-01-01

Whereas changes to the existing legal situation regarding assisted suicide have been a topic of controversial debate in Germany for the last few years, this issue has long been of interest for international film-makers. Since the mid-1980s, the theme of assisted suicide has repeatedly been taken up by cinema, predominantly as central to a relationship drama. A sick person asks somebody close to them for help. Often this somebody is a physician or a nurse, ultimately an obvious way of solving the practical problem of how the assistant is to gain access to a lethal substance. At the same time, this constellation enables a physician or nurse to be forced into a dramatic conflict between professional ethics and a personal obligation towards a loved one.Alongside more classic clinical pictures such as terminal cancer, recent films about assisted suicide have featured neurodegenerative diseases and physical disabilities. Another new development is that elderly patients are no longer alone in requesting assistance; films also and increasingly portray young adults. Besides a fear of unbearable pain, more recent films have also increasingly addressed the worry that permanent nursing might be required, as well as the subjectively experienced loss of dignity. The possibilities offered by palliative care hardly play a role in feature films. However, we should not forget, that movies are fictional and orchestrated, or, in other words, they are neither educational nor documental. They neither need nor want to portray reality, although they do wish to draw upon real experiences. They exploit highly emotional and ethically controversial themes to create tensions and stir up emotions in the audience, but ultimately they seek to entertain. Movies about death and dying are always "die-tainment".

Rescheduling the special interest group.

Science.gov (United States)

Peace, Helen

1993-06-09

The committee members of the RCN Social Interest Group for Nurses Working Within Day Hospitals/Day Care for Older People would like to apologise to the large number of people who were interested in attending our conference, which unfortunately had to be postponed.

Interest Rates and Coupon Bonds in Quantum Finance

Science.gov (United States)

Baaquie, Belal E.

2009-09-01

1. Synopsis; 2. Interest rates and coupon bonds; 3. Options and option theory; 4. Interest rate and coupon bond options; 5. Quantum field theory of bond forward interest rates; 6. Libor Market Model of interest rates; 7. Empirical analysis of forward interest rates; 8. Libor Market Model of interest rate options; 9. Numeraires for bond forward interest rates; 10. Empirical analysis of interest rate caps; 11. Coupon bond European and Asian options; 12. Empirical analysis of interest rate swaptions; 13. Correlation of coupon bond options; 14. Hedging interest rate options; 15. Interest rate Hamiltonian and option theory; 16. American options for coupon bonds and interest rates; 17. Hamiltonian derivation of coupon bond options; Appendixes; Glossaries; List of symbols; Reference; Index.

Learning Hierarchical User Interest Models from Web Pages

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2006-01-01

We propose an algorithm for learning hierarchical user interest models according to the Web pages users have browsed. In this algorithm, the interests of a user are represented into a tree which is called a user interest tree, the content and the structure of which can change simultaneously to adapt to the changes in a user's interests. This expression represents a user's specific and general interests as a continuum. In some sense, specific interests correspond to short-term interests, while general interests correspond to long-term interests. So this representation more really reflects the users' interests. The algorithm can automatically model a user's multiple interest domains, dynamically generate the interest models and prune a user interest tree when the number of the nodes in it exceeds given value. Finally, we show the experiment results in a Chinese Web Site.

The diverse impacts of the great recession

OpenAIRE

Makoto Nakajima

2013-01-01

The Great Recession had a large negative impact on the U.S. economy. Asset prices, most notably stock and house prices, declined substantially, resulting in a loss in wealth for many American households. In this article, Makoto Nakajima documents how diverse households were affected in a variety of dimensions during the Great Recession, in particular between 2007 and 2009, using newly available data from the 2007-2009 Survey of Consumer Finances. He discusses why it is important to look at th...

7 CFR 1714.4 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 1714.4 Section 1714.4 Agriculture... PRE-LOAN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR INSURED ELECTRIC LOANS General § 1714.4 Interest rates. (a) Municipal rate loans. Each advance of funds on a municipal rate loan shall bear interest at a single rate...

7 CFR 1767.23 - Interest charges.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... charges. The interest charges accounts identified in this section shall be used by all RUS borrowers... Charges 427Interest on Long-Term Debt A. This account shall include the amount of interest on outstanding long-term debt issued or assumed by the utility, the liability for which included in Account 221, Bonds...

Object interest in autism spectrum disorder

Science.gov (United States)

MCDUFFIE, ANDREA S.; LIEBERMAN, REBECCA G.; YODER, PAUL J.

2014-01-01

A randomized control trial comparing two social communication treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder examined the effect of treatment on object interest. Thirty-two children, 18–60 months, were randomly assigned to the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) or Responsive Education and Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (RPMT) condition. Assessment of object interest was conducted in an unstructured play session with different toys, activities, adult, and location than experienced in treatment. Results indicated children in the RPMT condition showed greater increases in object interest as compared to children in the PECS condition. Because child characteristics such as interest in objects may influence response to interventions using object play as contexts for treatment, it is important to improve our understanding of whether intervention can affect object interest. PMID:22133872

Situational interest in engineering design activities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dohn, Niels Bonderup

2013-01-01

The aim of the present mixed-method study was to investigate task-based situational interest of sixth grade students (n=46), between 12 and 14 years old, during an eight-week engineering design programme in a Science & Technology-class. Students’ interests were investigated by means...... of a descriptive interpretative analysis of qualitative data from classroom observations and informal interviews. The analysis was complemented by a self-report survey to validate findings and determine prevalence. The analysis revealed four main sources of interest: designing inventions, trial......-and-error experimentation, achieved functionality of invention, and collaboration. These sources differ in terms of stimuli factors, such as novelty, autonomy (choice), social involvement, self-generation of interest, and task goal orientation. The study shows that design tasks stimulated interest, but only to the extent...

Public interests and corporate obligations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frederiksen, Claus Strue

2016-01-01

In this chapter, I discuss the division of labour between private enterprises and the state. According to stakeholder theorists, a state should take into account the interests of all of its citizens, whereas a company should focus on the interests of its stakeholders. I focus on a challenge......, and corporations) should try to promote the good, seen from an impartial perspective, meaning that everybody’s interest should be taken into account (Kagan 1989). I conclude that stakeholder theorists are unable to meet the challenge presented by consequentialism by traditional means, i.e. by referring to social...

Religious Groups as Interest Groups: The United States Catholic Bishops in the Welfare Reform Debate of 1995–1996 and the Health Care Reform Debate of 2009–20101

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Marie Cammisa

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The United States has a long history of religious influence on public policy: the anti-slavery movement, progressivism, prohibition, civil rights, abortion, school vouchers, school prayer and nuclear disarmament are all issues that have involved religion and religious groups in policymaking. In recent decades, the number of religious interest groups (as well as interest groups in general has greatly expanded, but the role that the religious organizations play as interest groups in the policy arena has received relatively little attention. How are they similar to and different from other interest groups? What tactics do they use? How successful are they? Under what conditions is success or failure more likely? This article examines Roman Catholic religious groups as interest groups in the congressional policymaking process. First, it places Catholic interest groups in the context of the interest group literature, and second, it examines Catholic interest groups’ activity in the passage of welfare reform in 1996 and in the passage of health care reform in 2010. In both cases, they played a greater role in context-setting than in actually changing provisions.

E1-forbidden transition rates in ions of astrophysical interest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Träbert, E

2014-01-01

Transition rates in atomic systems may appear to be of little importance in steady-state plasmas that are observed at great distances from Earth. However, some of the transition rates compete with collision rates, and in these cases certain line intensity ratios are affected and can serve as remote indicators of density. In the low-density environments of stellar coronae and planetary nebulae, the transition rates of interest are mostly spin-forbidden E1 decays, higher-multipole order transitions (M1, E2, M2, M3), and hyperfine-induced transitions. On Earth, measurements of the long upper level lifetimes of these atomic systems require the use of ion traps. A fair number of test cases with lifetimes in the range from nanoseconds to many seconds have been treated successfully, and the evolution of calculations along with the experimental progress is notable. A new generation of cold ion traps is expected to extend the atomic lifetime measurements on multiply charged ions into the range of many minutes. (paper)

8 CFR 293.2 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rate. 293.2 Section 293.2 Aliens... CASH RECEIVED TO SECURE IMMIGRATION BONDS § 293.2 Interest rate. The Secretary of the Treasury has determined that effective from date of deposit occurring after April 27, 1966, the interest rate shall be 3...

7 CFR 1950.105 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 14 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true Interest rate. 1950.105 Section 1950.105 Agriculture... rate. (a) The Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act requires that the effective interest rate charged a... Supervisor will send the borrower a letter which states that the interest rate on the borrower's FmHA or its...

A robust automated left ventricle region of interest localization technique using a cardiac cine MRI atlas

Science.gov (United States)

Ben-Zikri, Yehuda Kfir; Linte, Cristian A.

2016-03-01

Region of interest detection is a precursor to many medical image processing and analysis applications, including segmentation, registration and other image manipulation techniques. The optimal region of interest is often selected manually, based on empirical knowledge and features of the image dataset. However, if inconsistently identified, the selected region of interest may greatly affect the subsequent image analysis or interpretation steps, in turn leading to incomplete assessment during computer-aided diagnosis or incomplete visualization or identification of the surgical targets, if employed in the context of pre-procedural planning or image-guided interventions. Therefore, the need for robust, accurate and computationally efficient region of interest localization techniques is prevalent in many modern computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy applications. Here we propose a fully automated, robust, a priori learning-based approach that provides reliable estimates of the left and right ventricle features from cine cardiac MR images. The proposed approach leverages the temporal frame-to-frame motion extracted across a range of short axis left ventricle slice images with small training set generated from les than 10% of the population. This approach is based on histogram of oriented gradients features weighted by local intensities to first identify an initial region of interest depicting the left and right ventricles that exhibits the greatest extent of cardiac motion. This region is correlated with the homologous region that belongs to the training dataset that best matches the test image using feature vector correlation techniques. Lastly, the optimal left ventricle region of interest of the test image is identified based on the correlation of known ground truth segmentations associated with the training dataset deemed closest to the test image. The proposed approach was tested on a population of 100 patient datasets and was validated against the ground truth

The Precautionary Principle Has Not Been Shown to Be Incoherent: A Reply to Peterson : Response

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boyer-Kassem, Thomas

2017-01-01

In this journal, I have objected to Peterson's 2006 claim that the precautionary principle is an incoherent decision rule. I defend my objections to Peterson's recent replies, and I still claim that the precautionary principle has not been shown to be incoherent.

The Great Books and Economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Hartley, James E.

2001-01-01

Describes an introductory economics course in which all of the reading material is drawn from the Great Books of Western Civilization. Explains the rationale and mechanics of the course. Includes an annotated course syllabus that details how the reading material relates to the lecture material. (RLH)

48 CFR 32.407 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... REQUIREMENTS CONTRACT FINANCING Advance Payments for Non-Commercial Items 32.407 Interest. (a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) below, the contracting officer shall charge interest on the daily unliquidated... institution (depository) in which the special account (see 32.409-3) is established; or (2) The rate...

Medication interest in pregnant women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rok Antolič

2011-12-01

Medication interest is comparable to literature data: relatively high for acute problems, relatively low for iron supplementation and extremely low for preventative folic acid intake. As to our knowledge, we were the ones to introduce the term »medication interest« into professional literature in Slovenia.

12 CFR 614.4155 - Interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rates. 614.4155 Section 614.4155 Banks... Policies for Banks and Associations § 614.4155 Interest rates. Loans made by each bank and direct lender association shall bear interest at a rate or rates as may be determined by the institution board. The board...

Self-interest, deregulation and trust

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Salvör Nordal

2009-11-01

Full Text Available In this paper I will discuss Milton Friedman’s thesis that the social responsibilityof business is to maximize the shareholders’ profit. I examine the underlyingassumption of self-interest and argue, contrary to the neoliberal thesis ofderegulation, that the profit motive must be constrained by strong state regulations.Furthermore it facilitates keeping the division between business andgovernment intact. The financial crisis shows that the emphasis on a profitmotive without the external constraints of tight regulations has serious implicationsfor the trustworthiness of business. In the latter part of the paper I willdiscuss trust in relation to self-interest. The overemphasis on self-interest isparticularly unfortunate in connection with business, and not least the financialsector, as this institution is grounded in trust, without which it cannot survive.Seen from this angle, it can be claimed that a business model, celebratingprimarily self-interest, profit-motive and deregulation, is not going to be sustainablein the long run.http://dx.doi.org/10.5324/eip.v3i2.1719

Self-interest and the theory of action.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbalet, Jack

2012-09-01

The concept of self-interest remains underdeveloped in sociology although central to economics. Recent methodological and social trends render sociological indifference to the concept untenable. The term has enjoyed historical predominance in the West since the sixteenth century. While it is seen in modern economics as a singular motivating force, Adam Smith regarded self-interest in economic action as necessarily moderated by sympathy. In addition to its problematic economic conceptualization self-interest has an experiential basis in unequal power relations. An alternative to the concept of self-interest is presented by Amartya Sen in his account of commitment; its inconsistencies, however, render Sen's statement unsatisfactory. Differences between present and future interests indicate that the distinction between self-interested and other-interested action is not sustainable. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2012.

12 CFR 619.9130 - Differential interest rates.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Differential interest rates. 619.9130 Section 619.9130 Banks and Banking FARM CREDIT ADMINISTRATION FARM CREDIT SYSTEM DEFINITIONS § 619.9130 Differential interest rates. An interest rate program under which different rates of interest may be made...

Remarks on Interest Rate Risk Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena-Violeta DRAGOI

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Bank interest and interest rate risk management is a contemporary subject and for socio-economic environment of Romania cause serious consequences in the level of economic development. The purpose of this research is to highlight the main indicator that measures the total cost of a loan, namely the annual percentage rate (APR, because if we refer to an interest rate lower, at first glance that loan seems more advantageous, but at a closer look, taking into account the commissions charged by the bank, we see that the loan is more expensive compared to another, whose interest rate is higher.

Debenture Interest Rates

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Housing and Urban Development — Interest rates to be paid on debentures issued with respect to a loan or mortgage insured by the Federal Housing Commissioner under the provisions of the National...

Working Stiff(s on Reality Television during the Great Recession

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sean Brayton

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This essay traces some of the narratives and cultural politics of work on reality television after the economic crash of 2008. Specifically, it discusses the emergence of paid labor shows like Ax Men, Black Gold and Coal and a resurgent interest in working bodies at a time when the working class in the US seems all but consigned to the dustbin of history. As an implicit response to the crisis of masculinity during the Great Recession these programs present an imagined revival of manliness through the valorization of muscle work, which can be read in dialectical ways that pivot around the white male body in peril. In Ax Men, Black Gold and Coal, we find not only the return of labor but, moreover, the re-embodiment of value as loggers, roughnecks and miners risk both life and limb to reach company quotas. Paid labor shows, in other words, present a complicated popular pedagogy of late capitalism and the body, one that relies on anachronistic narratives of white masculinity in the workplace to provide an acute critique of expendability of the body and the hardships of physical labor.

Regional gray matter correlates of vocational interests.

Science.gov (United States)

Schroeder, David H; Haier, Richard J; Tang, Cheuk Ying

2012-05-16

Previous studies have identified brain areas related to cognitive abilities and personality, respectively. In this exploratory study, we extend the application of modern neuroimaging techniques to another area of individual differences, vocational interests, and relate the results to an earlier study of cognitive abilities salient for vocations. First, we examined the psychometric relationships between vocational interests and abilities in a large sample. The primary relationships between those domains were between Investigative (scientific) interests and general intelligence and between Realistic ("blue-collar") interests and spatial ability. Then, using MRI and voxel-based morphometry, we investigated the relationships between regional gray matter volume and vocational interests. Specific clusters of gray matter were found to be correlated with Investigative and Realistic interests. Overlap analyses indicated some common brain areas between the correlates of Investigative interests and general intelligence and between the correlates of Realistic interests and spatial ability. Two of six vocational-interest scales show substantial relationships with regional gray matter volume. The overlap between the brain correlates of these scales and cognitive-ability factors suggest there are relationships between individual differences in brain structure and vocations.

Situational Interest in Engineering Design Activities

Science.gov (United States)

Bonderup Dohn, Niels

2013-08-01

The aim of the present mixed-method study was to investigate task-based situational interest of sixth grade students (n = 46), between 12 and 14 years old, during an eight-week engineering design programme in a Science & Technology-class. Students' interests were investigated by means of a descriptive interpretative analysis of qualitative data from classroom observations and informal interviews. The analysis was complemented by a self-report survey to validate findings and determine prevalence. The analysis revealed four main sources of interest: designing inventions, trial-and-error experimentation, achieved functionality of invention, and collaboration. These sources differ in terms of stimuli factors, such as novelty, autonomy (choice), social involvement, self-generation of interest, and task goal orientation. The study shows that design tasks stimulated interest, but only to the extent that students were able to self-regulate their learning strategies.

12 CFR 360.7 - Post-insolvency interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... becomes proven. (4) Post-insolvency interest shall be determined using a simple interest method of... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Post-insolvency interest. 360.7 Section 360.7... RESOLUTION AND RECEIVERSHIP RULES § 360.7 Post-insolvency interest. (a) Purpose and scope. This section...

8 CFR 293.3 - Simple interest table.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 8 Aliens and Nationality 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Simple interest table. 293.3 Section 293.3 Aliens and Nationality DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY IMMIGRATION REGULATIONS DEPOSIT OF AND INTEREST ON CASH RECEIVED TO SECURE IMMIGRATION BONDS § 293.3 Simple interest table. Following is a simple interest...

5 CFR 841.603 - Rate of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rate of interest. 841.603 Section 841.603... EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM-GENERAL ADMINISTRATION Computation of Interest § 841.603 Rate of interest. For... to notify the public of the interest rate that will be in effect during that calendar year. ...

25 CFR 700.515 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conflicts of interest. 700.515 Section 700.515 Indians... Employee Responsibility and Conduct § 700.515 Conflicts of interest. (a) A conflict of interest may exist... or herself, close friends, relatives, or business associates. A conflict of interest may also exist...

12 CFR 908.73 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 908.73 Section 908.73... Board § 908.73 Conflicts of interest. (a) Conflict of interest in representation. No representative... to cure a conflict of interest in representation, including the issuance of an order limiting the...

Region of Interest Selection Interface for Wide-Angle Arthroscope

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jung Kyunghwa

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We have proposed a new interface for an wide-angle endoscope for solo surgery. The wide-angle arthroscopic view and magnified region of interest (ROI within the wide view were shown simultaneously. With a camera affixed to surgical instruments, the position of the ROI could be determined by manipulating the surgical instrument. Image features acquired by the A-KAZE approach were used to estimate the change of position of the surgical instrument by tracking the features every time the camera moved. We examined the accuracy of ROI selection using three different images, which were different-sized square arrays and tested phantom experiments. When the number of ROIs was twelve, the success rate was best, and the rate diminished as the size of ROIs decreased. The experimental results showed that the method of using a camera without additional sensors satisfied the appropriate accuracy required for ROI selection, and this interface was helpful in performing surgery with fewer assistants.

Individual Educational Paths in the Universities of Russia and Great Britain (Theoretical Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalya Yu. Shaposhnikova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The author highlights the necessity for higher education institutions to form and realize students' individual educational paths in the learning process, which is stated in the Federal Law on Education and FSES HPE of the third generation. The article presents an overview of the different approaches to the definition of the term «individual educational path» (IEP. It also gives a brief overview of the existing terms in the Russian terminological system, which are close in meaning to the term above. The author formulates her own tentative definition of the term «IEP» which is based on the analysis made. The article further addresses the solution to the problem of the individualization of higher education learning process in Great Britain, which is described through the term «Personal Development Planning». The meaning of the term is shown through the set of actions: planning, doing things, recording of the self experience, reviewing and evaluating, using the personal knowledge derived from reflection and self understanding as well as own learning abilities to plan future actions. In conclusion, the meanings of the terms «IEP» and «PDP» are compared. The author emphasires the importance of studying Great Britain's experience - the practice of solving problems connected with the individualization of the university learning process and the possibilities to use it to facilitate the implementation of students' individual educational paths in Russian higher education institutions.

The great scientific revolutions of the 20. century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Parrochia, D.

1997-01-01

Three great physical revolutions are studied here: the theory of relativity (general and restricted); the quantum mechanics (and its different interpretations); the theory of the determinist chaos (its pre-history as its applications). These three theories contribute to modify the answers that it is possible to bring to great metaphysical questions and to give a hint of a new philosophical landscape. (N.C.)

Exploring the glycans of Euglena gracilis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

O’Neill, Ellis C.; Kuhaudomlarp, Sakonwan; Rejzek, Martin

2017-01-01

Euglena gracilis is an alga of great biotechnological interest and extensive metabolic capacity, able to make high levels of bioactive compounds, such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and β-glucan. Previous work has shown that Euglena expresses a wide range of carbohydrate-active enzymes,...

24 CFR 203.405 - Debenture interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Debenture interest rate. 203.405... Debenture interest rate. (a) Debentures shall bear interest from the date of issue, payable semiannually on... claim is paid in cash, the debenture interest rate for purposes of calculating such a claim shall be the...

24 CFR 203.20 - Agreed interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Agreed interest rate. 203.20... § 203.20 Agreed interest rate. (a) The mortgage shall bear interest at the rate agreed upon by the mortgagee and the mortgagor. (b) Interest shall be payable in monthly installments on the principal amount...

12 CFR 747.8 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 6 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 747.8 Section 747.8... of Practice and Procedure § 747.8 Conflicts of interest. (a) Conflict of interest in representation... any stage of a proceeding to cure a conflict of interest in representation, including the issuance of...

12 CFR 1780.73 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 1780.73 Section 1780.73... Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight § 1780.73 Conflicts of interest. (a) Conflict of interest... corrective measures at any stage of a proceeding to cure a conflict of interest in representation, including...

Achievement Level and Sex Differences in Levels of Interests and the Interest-Educational Choice Relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Schmitt, Neal

1978-01-01

The prediction of level of post-high-school educational choice was investigated using the theme scores of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank, sex and achievement level as predictors. Results indicated significant relationships between interests and educational choice, moderated in some cases by sex and achievement level. (Author)

24 CFR 203.479 - Debenture interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Debenture interest rate. 203.479... interest rate. (a) Debentures shall bear interest from the date of issue, payable semiannually on the first... applicable rates of interest will be published twice each year as a notice in the Federal Register. (b) For...

24 CFR 241.560 - Agreed interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Agreed interest rate. 241.560... § 241.560 Agreed interest rate. (a) The mortgage shall bear interest at the rate agreed upon by the lender and the borrower. (b) Interest shall be payable in monthly installments on the principal amount of...

24 CFR 982.161 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conflict of interest. 982.161... and PHA Administration of Program § 982.161 Conflict of interest. (a) Neither the PHA nor any of its... prospective interest to the PHA and HUD. (c) The conflict of interest prohibition under this section may be...

12 CFR 19.8 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 19.8 Section 19.8 Banks... Uniform Rules of Practice and Procedure § 19.8 Conflicts of interest. (a) Conflict of interest in... measures at any stage of a proceeding to cure a conflict of interest in representation, including the...

Unemployment of Non-western Immigrants in the Great Recession

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cervený, J.; van Ours, J.C.

2013-01-01

Abstract: This paper examines whether unemployment of non-western immigrant workers in the Netherlands was disproportionally affected by the Great Recession. We analyze unemployment data covering the period November 2007 to February 2013 finding that the Great Recession affected unemployment rates

Monitoring Financial Conflict of Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Hickson, Lorraine

2016-01-01

Conflict of interest is heavily intertwined with research. The purpose of this study was to examine the literature and regulations in order to describe efforts required to properly monitor and disclose conflict of interest as researchers become steadily involved in innovation and discovery. The public assumes that when a conflict is disclosed, it…

26 CFR 301.6621-1 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... March 1, 1983. Such interest is computed at the rate of 12 percent per annum, simple interest from April 15, 1981, to January 31, 1982, and at the rate of 20 percent per annum, simple interest from January... December 31, 1982, to March 1, 1983. The total simple interest accrued but unpaid at the end of December 31...

29 CFR 20.58 - Rate of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Rate of interest. 20.58 Section 20.58 Labor Office of the Secretary of Labor FEDERAL CLAIMS COLLECTION Interest, Penalties and Administrative Costs § 20.58 Rate of interest. (a) The rate of interest assessed shall be the rate of the current value of funds to the United...

Great tit hatchling sex ratios

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lessells, C.M.; Mateman, A.C.; Visser, J.

1996-01-01

The sex of Great Tit Parus major nestlings was determined using PCR RAPDs. Because this technique requires minute amounts of DNA, chicks could be sampled soon (0-2d) after hatching, before any nestling mortality occurred. The proportion of males among 752 chicks hatching in 102 broods (98.9% of

Lack of proportionality. Seven specifications of public interest that override post-approval commercial interests on limited access to clinical data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Strech Daniel

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract For the protection of commercial interests, licensing bodies such as the EMA and health technology assessment institutions such as NICE restrict full access to unpublished evidence. Their respective policies on data transparency, however, lack a systematic account of (1 what kinds of commercial interests remain relevant after market approval has been granted, (2 what the specific types of public interest are that may override these commercial interests post approval, and, most importantly, (3 what criteria guide the trade-off between public interest and legitimate measures for the protection of commercial interest. Comparing potential commercial interests with seven specifications of relevant public interest reveals the lack of proportionality inherent in the current practices of EMA and NICE.

The Great Wall in the CfA survey - Its origin and imprint on the microwave background radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Atrio-Barandela, F.; Kashlinsky, A.

1992-01-01

The paper models the evolution of the Great Wall (GW) after recombination and the influence of its time-dependent gravitational potential on the MBR. It is shown that within the framework of the Zel'dovich approximation the (pre)GW region can be treated as an ellipsoid. The GW is approximated as an oblate ellipsoid that started at recombination with an almost spherical shape, but with initial density contrast, delta-i, much smaller than it had to be in the spherical model in order to reach the observed density contrast of beta-f of 5. The resultant delta-i is compatible with the rms value of delta-rho/rho on the GW scale at recombination for models with the n less than 0 power spectrum of the primordial density field. It is shown that the time-dependent potential of the GW will induce a detectable fluctuation in MBR. The possibility of similar structures located at higher redshifts producing measurable and perhaps dominant statistical MBR anisotropies by this effect is also discussed.

26 CFR 20.7520-1 - Valuation of annuities, unitrust interests, interests for life or terms of years, and remainder...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... § 1.664-4 of this chapter with respect to the valuation of the remainder interest in property... 26 Internal Revenue 14 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Valuation of annuities, unitrust interests... Valuations § 20.7520-1 Valuation of annuities, unitrust interests, interests for life or terms of years, and...

Locating the Great Red Spot: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Science.gov (United States)

Lesniak, Michael V.; Stapleton, J. C.

2014-01-01

The Great Red Spot, a persistent storm in Jupiter's atmosphere, is the most prominent feature of that planet's disk as viewed from Earth. Combined with the fact that Jupiter is a gas giant planet and has no visible surface with discernible landmarks, this means that following the passage of the Great Red Spot is the primary method of observing the planet's rotation. Therefore, it is paramount for any program which generates synthetic images of the planet to accurately place the feature. The U.S. Naval Observatory's "Apparent Disk of a Solar System Object" online web service (http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/diskmap.php) is such a program. The Great Red Spot's planetary latitude is locked between two of Jupiter's striated atmospheric layers at 22 °S. However, its planetary longitude is not constant; over time it migrates east and west along the atmospheric layer boundary it is trapped within. Observing and recording its longitude is made difficult because Jupiter's atmosphere is subject to differential rotation and the Great Red Spot slowly migrates with respect to the surrounding atmospheric layers. Furthermore, the Great Red Spot does not move at a uniform rate. Currently its relative motion is approximately 0°.051 per day. Since its first recorded observation in 1831, the Great Red Spot has made almost three complete laps around the planet at the 22nd parallel. "Apparent Disk of a Solar System Object" operates over any requested date between 1700 and 2100 A.D. Therefore, our treatment of the Great Red Spot needs to take into account both historical positions and future predicted motion. Based on researching past observations of the spot's position on the disk, we find that its behavior prior to 2009 is best represented by a 10-part piecewise function. Each component of the piecewise function is a 2nd order polynomial. Observations from 2009-present are better fit with a linear function; this function is used for future years by extrapolation. Using these fits

The Role Of Transparency In Tenders In Order To Maintain The Public Interest And The Rights Of Suppliers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reza Tajarlou

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The public tenders are very important instrument which the public sector uses to the allocation of great part of public expenditure for Welfare of citizens. Due to the the lack of resources and the optimal use of it in line with the public interest and the rights of tenderers tenders play a key role in the public sector operations they can be defined as an instrument to increase the effectiveness of the public sector as a whole. But with the conflict of interests of the public and private sector there needs to be transparency so that the rights of the parties to maintain and public confidence in the state increase. Transparency in Tenders cause the Suppliers that win the bids are those with the best product at the best price targeted at achieving the best outcome. This paper examines the concept and types of tenders for the effects of transparency in government tenders.

Unemployment of non-western immigrants in the Great Recession

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cervený, J.; van Ours, J.C.

2013-01-01

This paper examines whether unemployment of non-western immigrant workers in the Netherlands was disproportionally affected by the Great Recession. We analyze unemployment data covering the period November 2007–February 2013 finding that the Great Recession affected unemployment rates of non-western

Vocational Interests and Basic Values.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagiv, Lilach

2002-01-01

Study 1 (n=97) provided evidence of the correlation of Holland's model of vocational interests with Schwartz' theory of basic values. Realistic career interests did not correlate with values. Study 2 (n=545) replicated these findings, showing a better match for individuals who had reached a career decision in counseling than for the undecided.…

Diagnosing Conflict-of-Interest Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Cosgrove, Lisa

2010-01-01

In June 2010, the Association of American Medical Colleges issued the third and final portion of its conflict-of-interest policy initiatives. The task force on "Conflicts of Interest in Clinical Care" did not mince words when it described the impetus for these initiatives: "It is imperative that the possibility or perception of [financial conflict…

Band selection method based on spectrum difference in targets of interest in hyperspectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiaohan; Yang, Guang; Yang, Yongbo; Huang, Junhua

2016-10-01

While hyperspectral data shares rich spectrum information, it has numbers of bands with high correlation coefficients, causing great data redundancy. A reasonable band selection is important for subsequent processing. Bands with large amount of information and low correlation should be selected. On this basis, according to the needs of target detection applications, the spectral characteristics of the objects of interest are taken into consideration in this paper, and a new method based on spectrum difference is proposed. Firstly, according to the spectrum differences of targets of interest, a difference matrix which represents the different spectral reflectance of different targets in different bands is structured. By setting a threshold, the bands satisfying the conditions would be left, constituting a subset of bands. Then, the correlation coefficients between bands are calculated and correlation matrix is given. According to the size of the correlation coefficient, the bands can be set into several groups. At last, the conception of normalized variance is used on behalf of the information content of each band. The bands are sorted by the value of its normalized variance. Set needing number of bands, and the optimum band combination solution can be get by these three steps. This method retains the greatest degree of difference between the target of interest and is easy to achieve by computer automatically. Besides, false color image synthesis experiment is carried out using the bands selected by this method as well as other 3 methods to show the performance of method in this paper.

The Making of a Great Captain

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Weibel, Theodore G

2006-01-01

... judgement. This paper examines the hypothesis that Great Captains are a product of their families, are highly educated from an early age, possess the qualities of a genius, encounter grand life experiences...

26 CFR 19.3-1 - Interest on certain deferred payments; interest rate for use in determining whether there is...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... annum simple interest shall be used. As an illustration of the meaning of simple interest, if a contract provides for payments of $6,000 in 3 equal installments of $2,000 plus 4 percent per annum simple interest... provides for discounting payments at a 4 percent per annum simple interest rate, shall be used for...

Great Images in NASA

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — GRIN is a collection of over a thousand images of significant historical interest scanned at high-resolution in several sizes. This collection is intended for the...

Great Lakes Energy Institute

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Alexander, J. Iwan [Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States)

2012-11-18

The vision of the Great Lakes Energy Institute is to enable the transition to advanced, sustainable energy generation, storage, distribution and utilization through coordinated research, development, and education. The Institute will place emphasis on translating leading edge research into next generation energy technology. The Institute’s research thrusts focus on coordinated research in decentralized power generation devices (e.g. fuel cells, wind turbines, solar photovoltaic devices), management of electrical power transmission and distribution, energy storage, and energy efficiency.

Great Basin wildlife disease concerns

Science.gov (United States)

Russ Mason

2008-01-01

In the Great Basin, wildlife diseases have always represented a significant challenge to wildlife managers, agricultural production, and human health and safety. One of the first priorities of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Fish and Wildlife Services was Congressionally directed action to eradicate vectors for zoonotic disease, particularly rabies, in...

Fostering Children's Interests in Gardening

Science.gov (United States)

Lekies, Kristi S.; Sheavly, Marcia Eames

2007-01-01

Despite the rapidly growing interest in children's gardens and attention to the positive benefits of gardening for children, little is known about the ways in which young people actually form interests in gardening. Using a sample of 9- and 10-year-old children at a school garden site in New York State, this study examined the ways in which…

Interest - “Loan Cost” or “Sin”?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Violeta ISAI

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Interest has appeared from the people need to borrow main agricultural products. Over the time, it has been the subject for many theories - for interest, and against interest- all of them having various reasons. Church has, in general, forbidden interest, but the economic reasons have won, considering fair to reward the creditor for the time passed from the moment of loaning, for the monetary devaluation because of inflation, and for the reason that money is a good which must produce profit. Nowadays, the interest rate and the way haw it modifies the report between demand and supply, is a very debated subject. The interest rate is an instrument in the hand of Governments and International Financial Organisms, and interest is used in the conventional banks from the entire world. But, in the system of Islamic Economy, interest is considered “a sin”, and the appearance of Islamic Banks is a proof for the efforts to introduce in the banking system of Muslim countries, a modality of financing which respects, from the religious point of view, what is allowed and what is forbidden.

Great Basin Factsheet Series 2016 - Information and tools to restore and conserve Great Basin ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Jeanne C. Chambers

2016-01-01

Land managers are responsible for developing effective strategies for conserving and restoring Great Basin ecosystems in the face of invasive species, conifer expansion, and altered fire regimes. A warming climate is magnifying the effects of these threats and adding urgency to implementation of management practices that will maintain or improve ecosystem...

American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Heejung; Twenge, Jean M; Greenfield, Patricia M

2017-02-01

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate-level data to investigate (a) population-level value changes between the pre-recession (2004-2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008-2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population-level values with national economic climates over long-term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate-level values across 1966-2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual-level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self-views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

The Role of Achievement Goals in the Development of Interest: Reciprocal Relations between Achievement Goals, Interest, and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Harackiewicz, Judith M.; Durik, Amanda M.; Barron, Kenneth E.; Linnenbrink-Garcia, Lisa; Tauer, John M.

2008-01-01

The dynamics of individual and situational interest and academic performance were examined in the college classroom and 7 semesters later in conjunction with achievement goals. At the beginning of an introductory psychology course, participants reported their initial interest in psychology, achievement goals, and situational interest in course…

Individual predictors of adolescents’ vocational interest stabilities

OpenAIRE

Hirschi, Andreas

2010-01-01

The study investigated the predictive utility of interest profile differentiation, coherence, elevation, congruence, and vocational identity commitment and career maturity (career planning and exploration) on the 10-month interest stability of 292 Swiss eighth-grade students: profile, rank, and level stabilities were assessed. Controlling for socio-demographic and vocational interest type variables, measures of differentiated and coherent vocational interests were significant predictors of pr...

Estimating Spring Condensation on the Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, A.; Welp, L.

2017-12-01

The Laurentian Great Lakes region provides opportunities for shipping, recreation, and consumptive water use to a large part of the United States and Canada. Water levels in the lakes fluctuate yearly, but attempts to model the system are inadequate because the water and energy budgets are still not fully understood. For example, water levels in the Great Lakes experienced a 15-year low period ending in 2013, the recovery of which has been attributed partially to decreased evaporation and increased precipitation and runoff. Unlike precipitation, the exchange of water vapor between the lake and the atmosphere through evaporation or condensation is difficult to measure directly. However, estimates have been constructed using off-shore eddy covariance direct measurements of latent heat fluxes, remote sensing observations, and a small network of monitoring buoys. When the lake surface temperature is colder than air temperature as it is in spring, condensation is larger than evaporation. This is a relatively small component of the net annual water budget of the lakes, but the total amount of condensation may be important for seasonal energy fluxes and atmospheric deposition of pollutants and nutrients to the lakes. Seasonal energy fluxes determine, and are influenced by, ice cover, water and air temperatures, and evaporation in the Great Lakes. We aim to quantify the amount of spring condensation on the Great Lakes using the National Center for Atmospheric Prediction North American Regional Reanalysis (NCEP NARR) Data for Winter 2013 to Spring 2017 and compare the condensation values of spring seasons following high volume, high duration and low volume, low duration ice cover.

Precipitation Dynamical Downscaling Over the Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Xiao-Ming; Xue, Ming; McPherson, Renee A.; Martin, Elinor; Rosendahl, Derek H.; Qiao, Lei

2018-02-01

Detailed, regional climate projections, particularly for precipitation, are critical for many applications. Accurate precipitation downscaling in the United States Great Plains remains a great challenge for most Regional Climate Models, particularly for warm months. Most previous dynamic downscaling simulations significantly underestimate warm-season precipitation in the region. This study aims to achieve a better precipitation downscaling in the Great Plains with the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model. To this end, WRF simulations with different physics schemes and nudging strategies are first conducted for a representative warm season. Results show that different cumulus schemes lead to more pronounced difference in simulated precipitation than other tested physics schemes. Simply choosing different physics schemes is not enough to alleviate the dry bias over the southern Great Plains, which is related to an anticyclonic circulation anomaly over the central and western parts of continental U.S. in the simulations. Spectral nudging emerges as an effective solution for alleviating the precipitation bias. Spectral nudging ensures that large and synoptic-scale circulations are faithfully reproduced while still allowing WRF to develop small-scale dynamics, thus effectively suppressing the large-scale circulation anomaly in the downscaling. As a result, a better precipitation downscaling is achieved. With the carefully validated configurations, WRF downscaling is conducted for 1980-2015. The downscaling captures well the spatial distribution of monthly climatology precipitation and the monthly/yearly variability, showing improvement over at least two previously published precipitation downscaling studies. With the improved precipitation downscaling, a better hydrological simulation over the trans-state Oologah watershed is also achieved.

Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching Mathematics at the Senior Secondary Level in Fiji

Science.gov (United States)

Dayal, Hem Chand

2013-01-01

In recent times, there has been considerable interest shown in the affective domain of mathematics education with research findings pointing out that affective variables have profound impact on classroom practices of mathematics teachers. In other words, teachers' conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching are greatly influenced by…

Using Augmented Reality and Knowledge-Building Scaffolds to Improve Learning in a Science Museum

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Susan A.; Elinich, Karen; Wang, Joyce; Steinmeier, Christopher; Tucker, Sean

2012-01-01

Although learning science in informal non-school environments has shown great promise in terms of increasing interest and engagement, few studies have systematically investigated and produced evidence of improved conceptual knowledge and cognitive skills. Furthermore, little is known about how digital technologies that are increasingly being used…

The use of stereolithographic hand held models for evaluation of congenital anomalies of the great arteries.

Science.gov (United States)

Vranicar, Mark; Gregory, William; Douglas, William I; Di Sessa, Peter; Di Sessa, Thomas G

2008-01-01

Imaging anomalies of the great vessels has traditionally been accomplished using conventional biplane modalities as well as three-dimensional (3D) video displays. Our aim was to review the use of stereolithography to create 3D models to assess coarctation of the aorta and vascular rings. Twelve patients had high-resolution CT scans to evaluate anomalies of the great arteries (coarctation: 9, vascular ring: 3). Ages were 19 days to 29 years and weights were 3.3 to 139 kg. Digital dicom data from each scan were converted by a commercially available software package into a 3D digital image. The area of interest was selected and the image was exported to a 3D stereolithographic printer to create a 3D model. The models were then evaluated and the results compared to catheterization and surgical findings. All models accurately displayed the pathology investigated. All 3 of the vascular ring models correlated with surgical findings (double arch: 2, pulmonary sling: 1). Models of aortic coarctation allowed clear depictions of discrete narrowing as well as arch hypoplasia and tortuosity. Stereolithography can create realistic 3D models that accurately display aortic pathology and add important additional information, which may have implications regarding surgical and transcatheter interventions and may also be useful teaching tools for parents and students.

Analisis Balance of Interest pada Aliansi Tiongkok dan Rusia dalam Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO Periode 2001-2007

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Candini Candanila

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Interaksi Cina dan Rusia di kawasan Asia Tengah, khususnya dalam kerangka kerjasama Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO, merupakan fenomena yang menarik untuk dikaji mengingat kedua negara tersebut tergolong sebagai great power, memiliki kepentingan yang hampir serupa di bidang energi dalam kawasan tersebut, namun memiliki political goals yang cukup berbeda. Tulisan ini mencoba mengkaji secara mendalam tentang bagaimana kesetimbangan kepentingan (balance of interest dari Cina dan Rusia di bidang energi beserta besarnya kapabilitas nasional dari kedua negara tersebut menjadi faktor penentu dalam pembentukan SCO bersama Kazakstan, Kirgistan, Tajikistan, dan Uzbekistan. Tulisan ini juga menunjukkan bagaimana political goals yang berbeda dapat dikesampingkan oleh negara-negara demi tercapainya kepentingan nasional mereka.

Great Basin paleoenvironmental studies project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

Project goals, project tasks, progress on tasks, and problems encountered are described and discussed for each of the studies that make up the Great Basin Paleoenvironmental Studies Project for Yucca Mountain. These studies are: Paleobotany, Paleofauna, Geomorphology, and Transportation. Budget summaries are also given for each of the studies and for the overall project

The power mix in Great-Britain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trebuchet, Charlotte

2012-11-01

This study addresses a new reform of the electric power sector in Great Britain: RIIO (Revenue = Incentives + Innovations + Outputs). The author discusses aspects related to market organisation and aspects related to the grid. First, she gives an overview of the situation of the electricity sector in Great-Britain by describing its evolution from the start of the liberalisation policy until our days, and by presenting the regulation of the electric power transport network. In a second part, she analyses which changes will be introduced by RIIO. She comments the general principles of this reform and discusses its implications for the sector. Appendices describe the LCN Fund (Low carbon network Fund) mechanism which is a specific bidding and selection process, and briefly indicate the projects selected by this fund in 2010 and 2011

Alexander the Great's relationship with alcohol.

Science.gov (United States)

Liappas, J A; Lascaratos, J; Fafouti, S; Christodoulou, G N

2003-05-01

This study sought to clarify if Alexander the Great indulged pathologically in alcohol and whether it contributed to his death. The texts of the historians Diodorus of Sicily, Plutarch, Arrian, Curtius Rufus, Athenaeus, Aelian and Justin were studied, with their information concerning wine consumption by Macedonians, and especially Alexander, and were evaluated. The surviving historical texts, all later than Alexander's epoch, are based on a series of contemporary histories and especially on the 'Royal Journals', an official diary written in the imperial court. Alexander consumed large quantities of undiluted wine periodically, reaching pathological intoxication. However, the existing data do not provide convincing evidence that Alexander the Great manifested abuse of or dependence on alcohol according to DSM-IV or ICD-10 criteria and it seems unlikely that alcohol was involved in his untimely death.

The Social Construction of the Great Belt Fixed Link

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munch, Birgitte

1994-01-01

Working paper in Technology Management. Actor Network theory (ANT) used upon the process of negotiating legislation and constructing the Great Belt fixed link.......Working paper in Technology Management. Actor Network theory (ANT) used upon the process of negotiating legislation and constructing the Great Belt fixed link....

Interest point detection for hyperspectral imagery

Science.gov (United States)

Dorado-Muñoz, Leidy P.; Vélez-Reyes, Miguel; Roysam, Badrinath; Mukherjee, Amit

2009-05-01

This paper presents an algorithm for automated extraction of interest points (IPs)in multispectral and hyperspectral images. Interest points are features of the image that capture information from its neighbours and they are distinctive and stable under transformations such as translation and rotation. Interest-point operators for monochromatic images were proposed more than a decade ago and have since been studied extensively. IPs have been applied to diverse problems in computer vision, including image matching, recognition, registration, 3D reconstruction, change detection, and content-based image retrieval. Interest points are helpful in data reduction, and reduce the computational burden of various algorithms (like registration, object detection, 3D reconstruction etc) by replacing an exhaustive search over the entire image domain by a probe into a concise set of highly informative points. An interest operator seeks out points in an image that are structurally distinct, invariant to imaging conditions, stable under geometric transformation, and interpretable which are good candidates for interest points. Our approach extends ideas from Lowe's keypoint operator that uses local extrema of Difference of Gaussian (DoG) operator at multiple scales to detect interest point in gray level images. The proposed approach extends Lowe's method by direct conversion of scalar operations such as scale-space generation, and extreme point detection into operations that take the vector nature of the image into consideration. Experimental results with RGB and hyperspectral images which demonstrate the potential of the method for this application and the potential improvements of a fully vectorial approach over band-by-band approaches described in the literature.

Great Importance Attached to Intangible Cultural Heritage

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2005-01-01

@@ Intangible Cultural Heritage on Verge of Extinction? With the acceleration of globalization and modernization, dramatic changes have taken place in China's cultural ecology: intangible cultural heritage is confronted with great challenges and a lot of orally and behaviorally transmitted cultural heritage disappear one after another; a great deal of traditional craftsmanship is on the verge of extinction; a large number of precious objects and materials of historical and cultural values are destroyed,deserted or lost in foreign countries; arbitrary misuse and excessive exploitation of intangible cultural heritage occur from time to time. Therefore, the protection of intangible cultural heritage brooks no delay.

Mycobacteria of clinical interest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Casal, M.

1986-01-01

This book is based upon a symposium on mycobacteria of clinical interest. Due to the multidisciplinary participation of, among others, microbiologists, clinicians, immunologists and epidemiologists, a very wide and thorough presentation of the present state of clinical research in this field is ensured. Topics of particular interest included in this volume were the new antimicrobial agents active against mycobacteria; new therapeutic possibilities; a system of rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis and mycobacteriosis; mycobacteriosis in AIDS; progress in immunopathology of tuberculosis and leprosy; progress in bacteriology and vaccination in leprosy; progress in immunological diagnosis and new epidemiological biovars of M. tuberculosis. (Auth.)

Interests and attitudes of engineering students

Science.gov (United States)

Rutherford, Brian

2007-12-01

Engineering programs have been less successful than other professions in achieving gender equity. Analyses of gender differences in the attitudes and interests of engineering students may help illuminate ways to combat the underrepresentation of women in engineering. This study examined data collected from 863 engineering students who attended 15 American universities from fall 2005 through spring 2006 using an online survey. The survey was designed to understand the backgrounds, academic preparation, motivation, interests, and attitudes of engineering students. To determine whether males and females received different academic preparation prior to entering engineering, the survey examined participants' mathematics, science, and technical coursework taken in high school. The questions probed students' comfort and interest level in mathematics, science, and technology/engineering and investigated student interest in the three fundamental engineering activities by asking 49 design, build, and analyze questions on topics covering a variety of engineering disciplines. A combination of question formats was used including pre-categorized demographic information, 5-point Likert scales, and open-ended responses. Gender similarities and differences were identified and their implications were considered for the recruitment and retention of engineers. Female engineering students in this study were equally or better prepared than males to major in engineering based on the number and types of science and mathematics classes taken in high school. However, statistically significant gender differences were found in the attitudes and interests of engineering students. The difference in the comfort level, interest in learning, being able to demonstrate, or in performing stem skills depended on the question topic rather than gender. The areas with the highest comfort and interest level were often different for females and males. Several topics and curriculum areas of high interest to

Theodosius Dohzhansky: A Great Inspirer 1

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

the direct personal influence of some of these great scientists on their peers and successors is re~atively small. A very small number of scientists ... studying the evolutionary genetics of speciation in Drosophila. --------~--------43. RESONANCE I ...

Making a Great First Impression

Science.gov (United States)

Evenson, Renee

2007-01-01

Managers and business owners often base hiring decisions on first impressions. That is why it is so important to teach students to make a great first impression--before they go on that first job interview. Managers do not have unrealistic expectations, they just want to hire people who they believe can develop into valuable employees. A nice…

The Great Gatsby. [Lesson Plan].

Science.gov (United States)

Zelasko, Ken

Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel "The Great Gatsby," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that adapting part of a novel into a dramatic reading makes students more intimate with the author's intentions and craft; and that a part of a novel may lend itself to various oral interpretations. The main activity…

Terahertz hot electron bolometer waveguide mixers for GREAT

OpenAIRE

Pütz, P.; Honingh, C. E.; Jacobs, K.; Justen, M.; Schultz, M.; Stutzki, J.

2012-01-01

Supplementing the publications based on the first-light observations with the German Receiver for Astronomy at Terahertz frequencies (GREAT) on SOFIA, we present background information on the underlying heterodyne detector technology. We describe the superconducting hot electron bolometer (HEB) detectors that are used as frequency mixers in the L1 (1400 GHz), L2 (1900 GHz), and M (2500 GHz) channels of GREAT. Measured performance of the detectors is presented and background information on the...

Conflict of interest: nurses at risk!

Science.gov (United States)

Erlen, Judith A

2008-01-01

Conflict of interest as it relates to healthcare is gaining increasing attention. Pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers that produce medical devices are coming under greater scrutiny because of the influence that their marketing practices may have on the patient management decisions made by healthcare professionals. The result is that healthcare agency administrators are developing conflict of interest policies and procedures for their professional employees. The driving force behind many of these policies is the need to maintain the trust of the public by refraining from questionable professional conduct. This article presents 2 hypothetical cases to provide nurses with an understanding of the concept of conflict of interest and the ethical considerations this issue raises, and describes the subtle and not-so-subtle influences on professional practice decisions. Recommendations are offered to help nurses avoid conflict of interest and preserve their professional integrity. It is incumbent upon nurses to become cognizant of the types of situations that may present a conflict of interest for them and to take the necessary steps to avoid such professional impropriety.

Spanish media in a new digital world: The great bonfire of the vanities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José María Álvarez Monzoncillo

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The mass media in Spain has carried out major adjustments in recent years in order to adapt to the Great Recession and to disruptive or ground-breaking technology such as Internet. This has underpinned the drop in advertising revenues and government subsidies, as well as a decline in sales and subscriptions. In the boom years, promises of Internet and easy access to global financial markets at interest rates below inflation encouraged media groups to design vertical and horizontal expansion strategies aimed at positioning themselves in the domestic market whilst expanding overseas: particularly in Latam and Europe. Moreover, consumers have been able to access contents more easily and cheaply via the Internet and using a broad range of devices. The poor economic situation of traditional media (caused, mainly, by their high financial gearing prevents them from successfully facing new challenges requiring them to change whilst new digital companies are managing to get by in spite of the highly precarious economic scenario.

RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY - INTERESTS VECTORS AND ECONOMIC IMPACT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ANDREEA – EMANUELA DRǍGOI

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In recent decades, Russia's foreign policy was shaped by both a number of internal factors (government strategy, political elites, culture, economics and demography and external ones (international treaties, changes in the structure of the international power balance. In the post-soviet era Russian foreign policy was radically different from that of other major economic powers. One of the factors that influenced decisively Russia’s external strategies was the collapse of the USSR as a superpower (phenomenon described by the president Vladimir Putin as "the most powerful geo-political catastrophe of the XXst century". The shift from the former communist regime (a totalitarian one to an authoritarian oligarchy (the current regime was followed by the transition to a market economy, a phenomenon that coincided with Russia’s military and political diminished influence in the international arena. Our research aims to assess the main interest vectors that shaped Russian Foreign Policy considering the main events that constitute milestones: Russia’s emerging as a great energy power, the Crimean crisis and Western international economic sanctions that followed. Our paper will base the main assumption on a joint analysis both qualitative and quantitative, using main international economic indicators (GDP, FDI flows, trade flows, general government balance and general gross debt and the most relevant approaches in the literature in the field.

Seasonal effects on great ape health: a case study of wild chimpanzees and Western gorillas.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shelly Masi

Full Text Available Among factors affecting animal health, environmental influences may directly or indirectly impact host nutritional condition, fecundity, and their degree of parasitism. Our closest relatives, the great apes, are all endangered and particularly sensitive to infectious diseases. Both chimpanzees and western gorillas experience large seasonal variations in fruit availability but only western gorillas accordingly show large changes in their degree of frugivory. The aim of this study is to investigate and compare factors affecting health (through records of clinical signs, urine, and faecal samples of habituated wild ape populations: a community (N = 46 individuals of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes in Kanyawara, Kibale National Park (Uganda, and a western gorilla (G. gorilla group (N = 13 in Bai Hokou in the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park (Central African Republic. Ape health monitoring was carried out in the wet and dry seasons (chimpanzees: July-December 2006; gorillas: April-July 2008 and December 2008-February 2009. Compared to chimpanzees, western gorillas were shown to have marginally greater parasite diversity, higher prevalence and intensity of both parasite and urine infections, and lower occurrence of diarrhea and wounds. Parasite infections (prevalence and load, but not abnormal urine parameters, were significantly higher during the dry season of the study period for western gorillas, who thus appeared more affected by the large temporal changes in the environment in comparison to chimpanzees. Infant gorillas were the most susceptible among all the age/sex classes (of both apes having much more intense infections and urine blood concentrations, again during the dry season. Long term studies are needed to confirm the influence of seasonal factors on health and parasitism of these great apes. However, this study suggest climate change and forest fragmentation leading to potentially larger seasonal fluctuations of the environment may affect

Characteristics and Future Changes of Great Mississippi Flood Events in a Global Coupled Climate Model

Science.gov (United States)

van der Wiel, K.; Kapnick, S. B.; Vecchi, G.; Smith, J. A.

2017-12-01

The Mississippi-Missouri river catchment houses millions of people and much of the U.S. national agricultural production. Severe flooding events can therefore have large negative societal, natural and economic impacts. GFDL FLOR, a global coupled climate model (atmosphere, ocean, land, sea ice with integrated river routing module) is used to investigate the characteristics of great Mississippi floods with an average return period of 100 years. Model experiments under pre-industrial greenhouse gas forcing were conducted for 3400 years, such that the most extreme flooding events were explicitly modeled and the land and/or atmospheric causes could be investigated. It is shown that melt of snow pack and frozen sub-surface water in the Missouri and Upper Mississippi basins prime the river system, subsequently sensitizing it to above average precipitation in the Ohio and Tennessee basins. The months preceding the greatest flooding events are above average wet, leading to moist sub-surface conditions. Anomalous melt depends on the availability of frozen water in the catchment, therefore anomalous amounts of sub-surface frozen water and anomalous large snow pack in winter (Nov-Feb) make the river system susceptible for these great flooding events in spring (Feb-Apr). An additional experiment of 1200 years under transient greenhouse gas forcing (RCP4.5, 5 members) was done to investigate potential future change in flood risk. Based on a peak-over-threshold method, it is found that the number of great flooding events decreases in a warmer future. This decrease coincides with decreasing occurrence of large melt events, but is despite increasing numbers of large precipitation events. Though the model results indicate a decreasing risk for the greatest flooding events, the predictability of events might decrease in a warmer future given the changing characters of melt and precipitation.

Pyometra in a Great Dane: A Clinical Case Report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Malik Abu Rafee

2015-04-01

Full Text Available A 4-year-old Great Dane was admitted with continuous sanguino-purulent vaginal discharge, distended abdomen, and cachexia. The dog was clinically diagnosed with pyometra and successfully cured by ovario-hysterectomy. This is the first case report of pyometra seen in as Great Dane in Bareilly, India.

Public Interest vs. Interest Groups: Allowance Allocation in the EU Emission Trading Scheme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anger, Niels; Oberndorfer, Ulrich (Centre for European Economic Research, Mannheim (Germany)); Boehringer, Christoph (Carl von Ossietzky Univ., Oldenburg (Germany))

2008-07-01

We assess the political-economy determinants of allowance allocation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). A common-agency model suggests that the government considers the preferences of sectoral interest groups when allocating emissions permits, so that industries with a more powerful lobby face a lower regulatory burden. An empirical analysis of the first trading phase of the EU ETS corroborates our theoretical prediction, but also reveals that the political-economy determinants of permit allocation are more complex. Employing instrumental-variable estimation technique, we find that large carbon emitters that were represented by powerful interest groups received higher levels of emissions allowances

The Rule of Saint Basil the Great

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Piotr Pietrow

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The rules of monasticism were collected and published in a single work entitled Asketikon by Saint Basil the Great. It is arranged in the form of questions and answers to create one coherent work. It has two different publications.The first publication named The Small Asketikon dates to 370-370. It is the fruit of the Saint’s work among Pontic communities and consists of 203 questions and answers. The orignial Greek manuscript has not survived and it is available only in two translations: the Latin Rufin and fragments in Syrian language. The second publication named The Great Asketikon appeard in about 377 and presents the most mature step of cenobitic monasticismin Basil’s elaboration. The Great Asketikon was created by adding new questions to The Small Asketikon and consists of two parts called the The Longer Rules and The Shorter Rules. The Longer Rules are primarily a set of questions and answers. It includes a wide range of rules and norms of the overall life in community. It refers to the fundamental rules of spirituality, such as love, sacrifice, obedience and rudimental problems connected withcommunity organization, cenobitic monasticism and the role of the superior, work and prayer. The second part of The Great Asketikon consists of shorter rules. Two publications are known: the first one originated in Pont andincludes 286 questions and answers and second arose in Cezarei and includes 318 questions and answers. In this work, the Hierarch explains in detail issues regarding community life and solves difficult problems connected with conscience. He writes about behavior towards brothers and explains the significance of weaknesses and virtues.

Off-great-circle paths in transequatorial propagation: 2. Nonmagnetic-field-aligned reflections

Science.gov (United States)

Tsunoda, Roland T.; Maruyama, Takashi; Tsugawa, Takuya; Yokoyama, Tatsuhiro; Ishii, Mamoru; Nguyen, Trang T.; Ogawa, Tadahiko; Nishioka, Michi

2016-11-01

There is considerable evidence that plasma structure in nighttime equatorial F layer develops from large-scale wave structure (LSWS) in bottomside F layer. However, crucial details of how this process proceeds, from LSWS to equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs), remain to be sorted out. A major obstacle to success is the paucity of measurements that provide a space-time description of the bottomside F layer over a broad geographical region. The transequatorial propagation (TEP) experiment is one of few methods that can do so. New findings using a TEP experiment, between Shepparton (SHP), Australia, and Oarai (ORI), Japan, are presented in two companion papers. In Paper 1 (P1), (1) off-great-circle (OGC) paths are described in terms of discrete and diffuse types, (2) descriptions of OGC paths are generalized from a single-reflection to a multiple-reflection process, and (3) discrete type is shown to be associated with an unstructured but distorted upwelling, whereas the diffuse type is shown to be associated with EPBs. In Paper 2 (P2), attention is placed on differences in east-west (EW) asymmetry, found between OGC paths from the SHP-ORI experiment and those from another near-identical TEP experiment. Differences are reconciled by allowing three distinct sources for the EW asymmetries: (1) reflection properties within an upwelling (see P1), (2) OGC paths that depend on magnetic declination of geomagnetic field (B), and (3) OGC paths supported by non-B-aligned reflectors at latitudes where inclination of B is finite.

Interest Free Banking in Nigeria - Welcome Islamic Banking ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Interest Free Banking in Nigeria - Welcome Islamic Banking; Welcome Christian Banking. ... banks pay interest on deposits, and charge interest on loans and advances, ... However, the literature on interest rates, in relation to Commercial Bank ...

24 CFR 241.1070 - Agreed interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Agreed interest rate. 241.1070...-Eligibility Requirements § 241.1070 Agreed interest rate. The equity or acquisition loan shall bear interest at the rate agreed upon by the borrower and the lender. ...

12 CFR 1291.10 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 1291.10 Section 1291.10...' AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAM § 1291.10 Conflicts of interest. (a) Bank directors and employees. (1) Each Bank's... conflict of interest policies required by this section. ...

Dreissenid mussels from the Great Lakes contain elevated thiaminase activity

Science.gov (United States)

Tillitt, D.E.; Riley, S.C.; Evans, A.N.; Nichols, S.J.; Zajicek, J.L.; Rinchard, J.; Richter, C.A.; Krueger, C.C.

2009-01-01

We examined thiaminase activity in dreissenid mussels collected at different depths and seasons, and from various locations in Lakes Michigan, Ontario, and Huron. Here we present evidence that two dreissenid mussel species (Dreissena bugensis and D. polymorpha) contain thiaminase activity that is 5-100 fold greater than observed in Great Lakes fishes. Thiaminase activity in zebra mussels ranged from 10,600 to 47,900??pmol g- 1??min- 1 and activities in quagga mussels ranged from 19,500 to 223,800??pmol g- 1??min- 1. Activity in the mussels was greatest in spring, less in summer, and least in fall. Additionally, we observed greater thiaminase activity in dreissenid mussels collected at shallow depths compared to mussels collected at deeper depths. Dreissenids constitute a significant and previously unknown pool of thiaminase in the Great Lakes food web compared to other known sources of this thiamine (vitamin B1)-degrading enzyme. Thiaminase in forage fish of the Great Lakes has been causally linked to thiamine deficiency in salmonines. We currently do not know whether linkages exist between thiaminase activities observed in dreissenids and the thiaminase activities in higher trophic levels of the Great Lakes food web. However, the extreme thiaminase activities observed in dreissenids from the Great Lakes may represent a serious unanticipated negative effect of these exotic species on Great Lakes ecosystems.

Sex Differences in Cerebral Laterality of Language and Visuospatial Processing

Science.gov (United States)

Clements, A. M.; Rimrodt, S. L.; Abel, J. R.; Blankner, J. G.; Mostofsky, S. H.; Pekar, J. J.; Denckla, M. B.; Cutting, L. E.

2006-01-01

Sex differences on language and visuospatial tasks are of great interest, with differences in hemispheric laterality hypothesized to exist between males and females. Some functional imaging studies examining sex differences have shown that males are more left lateralized on language tasks and females are more right lateralized on visuospatial…

Tracking Multiple Topics for Finding Interesting Articles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pon, R K; Cardenas, A F; Buttler, D J; Critchlow, T J

2008-01-03

We introduce multiple topic tracking (MTT) for iScore to better recommend news articles for users with multiple interests and to address changes in user interests over time. As an extension of the basic Rocchio algorithm, traditional topic detection and tracking, and single-pass clustering, MTT maintains multiple interest profiles to identify interesting articles for a specific user given user-feedback. Focusing on only interesting topics enables iScore to discard useless profiles to address changes in user interests and to achieve a balance between resource consumption and classification accuracy. iScore is able to achieve higher quality results than traditional methods such as the Rocchio algorithm. We identify several operating parameters that work well for MTT. Using the same parameters, we show that MTT alone yields high quality results for recommending interesting articles from several corpora. The inclusion of MTT improves iScore's performance by 25% in recommending news articles from the Yahoo! News RSS feeds and the TREC11 adaptive filter article collection. And through a small user study, we show that iScore can still perform well when only provided with little user feedback.

COMPENSATORY INTEREST SETTLEMENT AND CREDIT BANKING MORATORIUM

OpenAIRE

Avelino Sánchez, Esteban Marino

2014-01-01

First is explained the reasons for this article, it mentions the specific legal rules that support the settlement of interest on the credit operations of companies in the financial system with end users, and then presents the average interest rates of some operations credit. Then we present the formula for calculating interest, and illustrates its application with examples 1 and 2 (the simplest). The following is, in examples 3 and 4, the calculation of interest with imputation of partial pay...

42 CFR 455.238 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Conflict of interest. 455.238 Section 455.238... Conflict of interest. (a) Offerors for Medicaid integrity audit program contracts, and Medicaid integrity audit program contractors, are subject to the following requirements: (1) The conflict of interest...

7 CFR 761.4 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 761.4 Section 761.4 Agriculture... SPECIAL PROGRAMS GENERAL PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION General Provisions § 761.4 Conflict of interest. The Agency enforces conflict of interest policies to maintain high standards of honesty, integrity, and...

Trace element analysis of Alexander the Great's silver tetradrachms minted in Macedonia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kallithrakas-Kontos, N.; Katsanos, A.A.; Touratsoglou, J.

2000-01-01

The coinage of Alexander the Great presents a special interest because of its international character in the frame of the ancient times. At least 31 mints (from Aigai to Babylon and from Pella to Alexandreia) operated in the vast state, which was created by Alexander in just over 10 years (334-323 BC). Impressive quantities of tetradrachms were consequently minted for the economic affairs of an expanding state. The mints continued to be active and after the premature death of the Macedonian king, producing among others and tetradrachms in his name. The elemental chemical composition of silver tetradrachms minted in Amphipolis as well as in other Macedonian Greek cities was analysed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF), and 12 elements were determined. The problem of the patina (silver corrosion layer) effects on the results was examined by analysis before and after the corrosion product removal. From the results of the chemical composition, a similar numismatic policy is deduced for all the analysed coin as well as metal provenance indications for some of the coins

Strategic Plan for Coordinating Rural Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Transit Development in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Truett, L.F.

2002-12-19

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, located along the border between North Carolina and Tennessee, is the most visited national park in the United States. This rugged, mountainous area presents many transportation challenges. The immense popularity of the Smokies and the fact that the primary mode of transportation within the park is the personal vehicle have resulted in congestion, damage to the environment, impacts on safety, and a degraded visitor experience. Access to some of the Smokies historical, cultural, and recreational attractions via a mass transit system could alleviate many of the transportation issues. Although quite a few organizations are proponents of a mass transit system for the Smokies, there is a lack of coordination among all parties. In addition, many local residents are not completely comfortable with the idea of transit in the Smokies. This document provides a brief overview of the current transportation needs and limitations in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, identifies agencies and groups with particular interests in the Smokies, and offers insights into the benefits of using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies in the Smokies. Recommendations for the use of rural ITS transit to solve two major transportation issues are presented.

Special Interest Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Degi, Bruce J.

1999-01-01

Offers a reflection on the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Notes how every special-interest group has used the tragedy to support its own point of view, and concludes that teachers have become bystanders in the education of America's children. (SR)

Novel and simple alternative to create nanofibrillar matrices of interest for tissue engineering.

Science.gov (United States)

Sohier, Jérôme; Corre, Pierre; Perret, Christophe; Pilet, Paul; Weiss, Pierre

2014-04-01

Synthetic analogs to natural extracellular matrix (ECM) at the nanometer level are of great potential for regenerative medicine. This study introduces a novel and simple method to produce polymer nanofibers and evaluates the properties of the resulting structures, as well as their suitability to support cells and their potential interest for bone and vascular applications. The devised approach diffracts a polymer solution by means of a spraying apparatus and of an airstream as sole driving force. The resulting nanofibers were produced in an effective fashion and a factorial design allowed isolating the processing parameters that control nanofiber size and distribution. The nanofibrillar matrices revealed to be of very high porosity and were effectively colonized by human bone marrow mesenchymal cells, while allowing ECM production and osteoblastic differentiation. In vivo, the matrices provided support for new bone formation and provided a good patency as small diameter vessel grafts.

In pursuit of common interests: struggles and crisis of merchant conglomerate of Santafé de Bogotá at late colonial period

OpenAIRE

Luis Fernando Franco Rodríguez

2016-01-01

This article aims to show the existence in the city of Bogotá in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century of an important group of traders with great social, political and economic power that, acting as a body, ensured defending their interests before the viceregal authorities and the Consulado de Cartagena, and how that group broke up as a result of the political situation created by the crisis of the Spanish monarchy in 1808 and the independence of the Nuevo Reino de Granada.

Montana Advanced Biofuels Great Falls Approval

Science.gov (United States)

This November 20, 2015 letter from EPA approves the petition from Montana Advanced Biofuels, LLC, Great Falls facility, regarding ethanol produced through a dry mill process, qualifying under the Clean Air Act for advanced biofuel (D-code 5) and renewable

Ecosystem services in the Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

A comprehensive inventory of ecosystem services across the entire Great Lakes basin is currently lacking and is needed to make informed management decisions. A greater appreciation and understanding of ecosystem services, including both use and non-use services, may have avoided ...

Analytical study of the effects of the Low-Level Jet on moisture convergence and vertical motion fields at the Southern Great Plains Cloud and Radiation Testbed site

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bian, X.; Zhong, S.; Whiteman, C.D.; Stage, S.A. [Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States)

1996-04-01

The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Cloud and Radiation Testbed (CART) is located in a region that is strongly affected by a prominent meteorological phenomenon--the Great Plains Low-Level Jet (LLJ). Observations have shown that the LLJ plays a vital role in spring and summertime cloud formation and precipitation over the Great Plains. An improved understanding of the LLJ characteristics and its impact on the environment is necessary for addressing the fundamental issue of development and testing of radiational transfer and cloud parameterization schemes for the general circulation models (GCMs) using data from the SGP CART site. A climatological analysis of the summertime LLJ over the SGP has been carried out using hourly observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Wind Profiler Demonstration Network and from the ARM June 1993 Intensive Observation Period (IOP). The hourly data provide an enhanced temporal and spatial resolution relative to earlier studies which used 6- and 12-hourly rawinsonde observations at fewer stations.

A filtering method for signal equalization in region-of-interest fluoroscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robert, Normand; Komljenovic, Philip T; Rowlands, J. A.

2002-01-01

A method to significantly reduce the exposure area product in fluoroscopy using a pre-patient region-of-interest (ROI) attenuator is presented. The attenuator has a thin central region and a gradually increasing thickness away from the center. It is shown that the unwanted brightening artifact caused by the attenuator can be eliminated by attenuating the low spatial frequencies in the detected image using digital image processing techniques. An investigation of the best image processing method to correct for the presence of the attenuator is undertaken. The correction procedure selected is suitable for use with real-time image processors and the ROI attenuator can be permitted to move during image acquisition. Images of an anthropomorphic chest phantom acquired in the presence of the ROI attenuator using an x-ray image intensifier/video chain are corrected to illustrate the clinical feasibility of our approach

Herbicides: A new threat to the Great Barrier Reef

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, Stephen E.; Brodie, Jon E.; Bainbridge, Zoe T.; Rohde, Ken W.; Davis, Aaron M.; Masters, Bronwyn L.; Maughan, Mirjam; Devlin, Michelle J.; Mueller, Jochen F.; Schaffelke, Britta

2009-01-01

The runoff of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides and fungicides) from agricultural lands is a key concern for the health of the iconic Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Relatively low levels of herbicide residues can reduce the productivity of marine plants and corals. However, the risk of these residues to Great Barrier Reef ecosystems has been poorly quantified due to a lack of large-scale datasets. Here we present results of a study tracing pesticide residues from rivers and creeks in three catchment regions to the adjacent marine environment. Several pesticides (mainly herbicides) were detected in both freshwater and coastal marine waters and were attributed to specific land uses in the catchment. Elevated herbicide concentrations were particularly associated with sugar cane cultivation in the adjacent catchment. We demonstrate that herbicides reach the Great Barrier Reef lagoon and may disturb sensitive marine ecosystems already affected by other pressures such as climate change. - Herbicide residues have been detected in Great Barrier Reef catchment waterways and river water plumes which may affect marine ecosystems.

7 CFR 4287.112 - Interest rate adjustments.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest rate adjustments. 4287.112 Section 4287.112... Loans § 4287.112 Interest rate adjustments. (a) Reductions. The borrower, lender, and holder (if any) may collectively initiate a permanent or temporary reduction in the interest rate of the guaranteed...

16 CFR 1018.34 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 1018.34 Section 1018... Administration of Advisory Committees § 1018.34 Conflict of interest. Members of the Commission's statutory advisory committees are not legally subject to the standards of conduct and conflict of interest statutes...

24 CFR 1006.360 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 4 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conflict of interest. 1006.360... DEVELOPMENT NATIVE HAWAIIAN HOUSING BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM Program Requirements § 1006.360 Conflict of interest. In the procurement of property and services by the DHHL and contractors, the conflict of interest...

7 CFR 1218.3 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 1218.3 Section 1218.3 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (MARKETING... Conflict of interest. Conflict of interest means a situation in which a member or employee of the U.S...

13 CFR 313.10 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 13 Business Credit and Assistance 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 313.10... COMMUNITY TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE Administrative Provisions § 313.10 Conflicts of interest. Communities that receive assistance under this part are subject to the conflicts of interest provisions as set out...

7 CFR 761.53 - Interest bearing accounts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 7 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest bearing accounts. 761.53 Section 761.53... AGRICULTURE SPECIAL PROGRAMS GENERAL PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION Supervised Bank Accounts § 761.53 Interest bearing accounts. (a) A supervised bank account, if possible, will be established as an interest bearing deposit...

Synthesis and characterization of Ho3+ doped hafnium oxide TLD for radiation dosimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sekar, Nandakumar; Ganesan, Bharanidharan; Sahib, Hajee Reyaz Ali; Aruna, Prakasarao; Ganesan, Singaravelu; Thamilkumar, P.; Rai, R.R.

2017-01-01

Cancer is a dreaded disease which is treated by Radiotherapy, Chemotherapy and Surgery. Radiotherapy plays a vital role in treatment of cancer and recently measurements of invivo radiation dosimetric in patient is of great interest due to high dose gradients in advanced technology like IMRT, IGRT etc. Hence, for the last few decades, a great degree of interest has been shown for the hafnium oxide for radiation dosimetric applications, due to its high dielectric constant, wide band gap and better interface properties such as chemical stability, conduction band offset and thermodynamic stability. In the present study, Synthesis and characterization of Ho 3+ doped Hafnium oxide were carried out and its applications towards radiation dosimeter were investigated

GLERL Great Lakes Air Temperature/Degree Day Climatology, 1897-1983

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Daily maximum and minimum temperatures for 25 stations around the Great Lakes, 1897 to 1983, were given to NSIDC by the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research...

Best Practices for Wind Energy Development in the Great Lakes Region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pebbles, Victoria; Hummer, John; Haven, Celia

2011-07-19

This report offers a menu of 18 different, yet complementary, preferred practices and policies. The best practices cover all phases of the wind energy development process - from the policies that allow for wind development, to the sustainable operation of a wind project, to the best practices for decommissioning a spent turbine - including applications for offshore wind. Each best practice describes the opportunities and challenges (pros and cons), and offers a case example that illustrates how that best practice is being utilized by a particular jurisdiction or wind project. The practices described in this publication were selected by a diverse group of interests from the Great Lakes Wind Collaborative that included environmental groups, industry, academia, and federal, state and local government regulators. The practices were identified through a year-long process that included a literature review, online survey and interviews with individuals from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Optimally, a suite of these best practices would be applied in an appropriate combination to fit the conditions of a particular wind project or a set of wind projects within a given locality or region.

Financial markets and interest rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dudić Zdenka

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The paper 'Financial Markets and Interest Rate' originated from the thesis paper. This topic is very interesting and more and more present in the recent few years. Various changes in the market, increased competition, the development of information technologies, application of innovations, all these contribute to the rapid expansion of scope and use of financial derivatives. Therefore, under these influences, oscillations in various markets are present on a daily basis, so that the vast expansion of financial contracts is present, which is mainly related to interest rates. What are the world's best-known stock markets? What are the instruments most actively traded on stock exchanges? The words LIBOR and BBA LIBOR are frequently heard in today's media. What is LIBOR? What is BBA LIBOR? How and when is it determined? Where is LIBOR used?.

7 CFR 3565.210 - Maximum interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Maximum interest rate. 3565.210 Section 3565.210... AGRICULTURE GUARANTEED RURAL RENTAL HOUSING PROGRAM Loan Requirements § 3565.210 Maximum interest rate. The interest rate for a guaranteed loan must not exceed the maximum allowable rate specified by the Agency in...

20 CFR 632.116 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 20 Employees' Benefits 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conflict of interest. 632.116 Section 632.116... EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAMS Prevention of Fraud and Program Abuse § 632.116 Conflict of interest. (a) No... contractor shall avoid personal and organizational conflict of interest in awarding financial assistance and...

7 CFR 3560.10 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 3560.10 Section 3560.10... AGRICULTURE DIRECT MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING LOANS AND GRANTS General Provisions and Definitions § 3560.10 Conflict of interest. To reduce the potential for employee conflict of interest, all RHS activities will be...

29 CFR 4002.8 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 9 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Conflict of interest. 4002.8 Section 4002.8 Labor... BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION § 4002.8 Conflict of interest. Any Board Member may disqualify himself or... have a conflict of interest. The Board Member shall notify the other Board Members of a...

7 CFR 1219.3 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 10 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflict of interest. 1219.3 Section 1219.3..., AND INFORMATION Hass Avocado Promotion, Research, and Information Order Definitions § 1219.3 Conflict of interest. Conflict of interest means a situation in which a Board member or employee has a direct...

7 CFR 3411.12 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Conflicts of interest. 3411.12 Section 3411.12... PROGRAM Scientific Peer Review of Research Grant Applications § 3411.12 Conflicts of interest. (a) Members... which they have an interest. For the purposes of determining whether such a conflict exists, an...

42 CFR 51.26 - Conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Conflicts of interest. 51.26 Section 51.26 Public... Priorities § 51.26 Conflicts of interest. The P&A system must develop appropriate policies and procedures to avoid actual or apparent conflict of interest involving clients, employees, contractors and...

Interest in medical therapy for celiac disease

Science.gov (United States)

Tennyson, Christina A.; Simpson, Suzanne; Lebwohl, Benjamin; Lewis, Suzanne

2013-01-01

Objectives: A gluten-free diet is the treatment for celiac disease, but pharmaceutical agents are being developed. The level of interest amongst patients in using a medication to treat celiac disease is unknown. This study examined the level of interest amongst patients in medication to treat celiac disease. Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to celiac disease patients and data were collected on demographics, presentation, and interest in medication. Three validated celiac disease-specific instruments were incorporated: Celiac Disease Associated Quality of Life, the Celiac Symptom Index, and the Celiac Dietary Adherence Test. Results: Responses were received from 365 individuals with biopsy-proven celiac disease. Respondents were 78% (n = 276) female, 48% (n = 170) over 50 years of age, and experienced a classical (diarrhea predominant) presentation in 44% (n = 154). Of the 339 individuals answering the question regarding use of a medication to treat celiac disease, 66% were interested. Interest was greatest in older individuals (71% >50 years of age versus 60% symptoms with gluten exposure did not demonstrate any effect. Interest in medication was associated with a worse quality of life (CD-QOL 69.4 versus 80.1, p celiac disease are interested in using a medication. Interest was highest among men, older individuals, frequent restaurant customers, individuals dissatisfied with their weight or concerned with the cost of a gluten-free diet, and those with a worse quality of life. PMID:24003336

Making Psychotherapy Great Again?

Science.gov (United States)

Plakun, Eric M

2017-05-01

Psychotherapy never stopped being as "great" as other treatments. This column explores the evidence base for both psychotherapy and medications, using depression as a specific example. The limitations are comparable for psychotherapy and medication, with much of the evidence based on small degrees of "statistically significant" rather than "clinically meaningful" change. Our field's biomedical emphasis leads to a false assumption that most patients present with single disorders, when comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception. This false assumption contributes to limitations in the evidence base and in our ability to treat patients optimally.

The motivation for special interests in individuals with autism and controls: Development and validation of the special interest motivation scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Grove, Rachel; Roth, Ilona; Hoekstra, Rosa A

2016-06-01

Clinical observations and first person accounts of living with autism suggest that individuals with autism are highly motivated to engage in special interests, and that these interests remain important throughout life. Previous research assessing special interests has mainly focused on parental reports of children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). To better understand the significance of and motivations for engaging in special interests it is essential to use self-report ratings. This paper aims to systematically explore the motivations for engagement in special interests, and whether these differ in adults with ASC, first-degree relatives and general population controls. The Special Interest Motivation Scale (SIMS) was developed to assess motivation to engage in special interests. The internal structure of this scale was evaluated using factor analysis, and mean scores on the SIMS factors were subsequently compared across individuals with autism, parents and general population controls. Factor analysis indicated a 20-item SIMS containing five factors assessing Personal life values and goals; Intrinsic interest and knowledge; Prestige; Engagement and "flow" and Achievement. Individuals with autism were more motivated by Intrinsic interest and knowledge and by Engagement and flow than controls. The 20-item SIMS is a quick to administer measure that provides a reliable description of motivation to engage in special interests. This study indicates that individuals with ASC are highly motivated to engage in their special interest, and are more motivated than controls by intrinsic motivational factors, some of which are associated with positive affect. This has implications for research and clinical practice. Autism Res 2016, 9: 677-688. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Global nursing management. Avoiding conflicts of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Willers, Lisa

2004-01-01

Traditionally, the healthcare industry has been no stranger to some conflicts of interest. However, as healthcare responds to demands to contain costs and adapts business models that resemble those of the corporate world, new conflicts of interest arise. Nurse executives operating in healthcare systems today must have an understanding of conflicts of interest in order to promptly identify actual as well as potential conflicts. It is imperative that strategies are set in place to prevent or handle conflicts of interest as they occur in order to build trusting relationships with patients, suppliers, and communities.

Hypothyroidism presenting as reversible renal impairment: an interesting case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Vikrant, Sanjay; Chander, Subhash; Kumar, Satish; Gupta, Dalip

2013-10-01

We describe an interesting case of reversible renal impairment secondary to hypothyroidism. A 57-years-old man was referred from peripheral institution for evaluation of elevated serum creatinine. He had vague complaints of weakness, lethargy and muscle ache but no urinary symptoms. He was found to have hypothyroidism, and thyroid hormone replacement therapy (THRT) was started which resulted in reversal of the renal dysfunction. There was marked improvement in estimated glomerular filtration rate. 99mTc DTPA renal scans done before and after THRT suggested hypothyroidism responsible for this reversible renal impairment. Several studies have described the pathophysiology of diminished renal function in hypothyroidism. Few studies or case reports have shown total amelioration of renal impairment as seen in our patient. The etiology is presumed to be multifactorial, in which hemodynamic effects and a direct effect of thyroid hormone on the kidney play an important role. We suggest that patients with renal impairment of unknown cause have thyroid function tests undertaken as part of routine investigation.

Utilization of a Marketing Strategy at Naval Regional Medical Center Great Lakes, Great Lakes, Illinois

Science.gov (United States)

1983-06-01

22 Analysis of the Mare.....................22 Development of the Marketing Mix .. .......... 29 A Marketing Mix --Recommendations...problem. Marketing strategy, marketing mix and ultimately the marketing orientation will allow hospitals to persevere and possibly thrive in a somewhat...market are currently being met at Naval Regional Medical Center Great Lakes. The fourth objective is to demonstrate an appropriate marketing mix for

Financial Strain, Parental Smoking, and the Great Recession: An Analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

Science.gov (United States)

McKenna, Caoimhe S; Law, Catherine; Pearce, Anna

2017-11-07

During the recent "Great Recession," many families in the United Kingdom experienced increased financial strain (FS). The aim of this study was to determine if increases in FS, occurring over the period of the "Great Recession," were associated with increased risks of persistent and relapsed tobacco use among parents. We analyzed the Millennium Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of 18819 children born in the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2002. Surveys at 7 (T1, 2008) and 11 years (T2, 2012) spanned the "Great Recession." Three measures of increased FS were defined; "became income poor" (self-reported household income dropped below the "poverty line" between T1 and T2); "developed difficulty managing" (parental report of being "financially comfortable" at T1 and finding it "difficult to manage" at T2); "felt worse off" (parental report of feeling financially "worse off" at T2, compared to T1). Poisson regression was used to estimate risk ratios (RR), adjusted RRs (aRR), and 95% confidence intervals for three outcomes: "persistent tobacco use," "new reported tobacco use," and "relapsed tobacco use." Parents in households which "became income poor" over the period of the "Great Recession" were significantly more likely to report "persistent tobacco use" (aRR = 2.17 [1.83-2.57]) or "new reported tobacco use" (aRR = 1.72 [1.04-2.83]). Ninety-five percent of "new reported tobacco users" had evidence of prior tobacco use suggesting the majority were "relapsed tobacco users." Similar patterns were seen for those who "developed difficulty managing" and "felt worse off." Increased tobacco use among financially strained families has the potential to widen inequalities and undermine the public health policies that have had positive impacts on tobacco consumption in the United Kingdom. While several studies have shown that FS is associated with a higher prevalence of tobacco use, heavier smoking, and relapsed tobacco use, most of this work used cross-sectional data and none

Predicting Great Lakes fish yields: tools and constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, C.A.; Schupp, D.H.; Taylor, W.W.; Collins, J.J.; Hatch, Richard W.

1987-01-01

Prediction of yield is a critical component of fisheries management. The development of sound yield prediction methodology and the application of the results of yield prediction are central to the evolution of strategies to achieve stated goals for Great Lakes fisheries and to the measurement of progress toward those goals. Despite general availability of species yield models, yield prediction for many Great Lakes fisheries has been poor due to the instability of the fish communities and the inadequacy of available data. A host of biological, institutional, and societal factors constrain both the development of sound predictions and their application to management. Improved predictive capability requires increased stability of Great Lakes fisheries through rehabilitation of well-integrated communities, improvement of data collection, data standardization and information-sharing mechanisms, and further development of the methodology for yield prediction. Most important is the creation of a better-informed public that will in turn establish the political will to do what is required.

24 CFR 572.415 - Conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... considered only after the applicant or recipient has provided a disclosure of the nature of the conflict... 24 Housing and Urban Development 3 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Conflict of interest. 572.415...) Other Federal Requirements § 572.415 Conflict of interest. (a) Conflict of interest. In addition to the...

48 CFR 33.208 - Interest on claims.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... otherwise would be due, if that date is later, until the date of payment. (b) Simple interest on claims... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Interest on claims. 33.208... REQUIREMENTS PROTESTS, DISPUTES, AND APPEALS Disputes and Appeals 33.208 Interest on claims. (a) The Government...