The Golden Age? What the 100 Most Cited Articles in Terrorism Studies Tell Us

ln a context where widespread failings in the nature of terrorism research are well recognised - yet where the quantity of work is still enormous - is it possible to fairly assess whether the field is progressing or if it has become mired in mediocre research? Citation analysis is widely used to reveal the evolution and extent of progress in fields of study and to provide valuable insight into major trends and achievements. This study identifies and analyses the current 100 most cited journal articles in terrorism studies. A search was performed using Google Scholar for peer reviewed journal articles on subjects related to terrorism and counter-terrorism. The most cited papers were published across 62 journals which reflected the interdisciplinary nature of terrorism studies. Compared to other articles, the most cited papers were more likely to be the result of colloborative research and were also more likely to provide new data. 63 of the top 1-00 articles have been published since 2001. The findings are discussed in relation to the evolution of terrorism research and current debates on progress in the field.

Solid-state NMR and powder XRD studies of the structure of SAPO-40 upon hydration-dehydration cycles

It is well known that after the removal of the template many porous aluminophosphates and related materials are very sensitive to water.' Depending on the type of structure, reversible or irreversible phase transitions, loss of crystallinity and changes in the coordination of some framework A1 upon rehydration are observed. For example, solid-state NMR shows that the rehydration of SAPO-5 leads to the formation of octahedral Al. Subsequent dehydration restores the initial tetrahedral coordination of Al. Template-free SAPO-37 becomes totally amorphous to X-rays after exposure to water and stays so after subsequent thermal treatment^.,,^ In contrast, Barthomeuf and co-workers have shown recently, that, on hydration, template-free SAPO-34, an analogue of chabasite, shows the opening of some Si-0-A1 bonds, the effect being reversible upon dehydrati~n.T~h e hydrated distorted structure was found to be stable for months with no further modifications and the ordered material could be regenerated by removal of water. Here we wish to report that the structure of template-free SAPO-40 undergoes a similar reversible modification.

Enseigner la lecture au primaire : un aperçu des pratiques d’enseignants des 2e et 3e cycles du primaire

Apprendre à lire exige de développer un ensemble de stratégies et, dans un contexte d’enseignement-apprentissage, il s’avère nécessaire que les stratégies de lecture soient enseignées (Fisher, Frey et Lapp, 2008). Toutefois, il semble que les enseignants se sentent peu à l’aise avec l’enseignement des stratégies de lecture par la modélisation (Martel et Lévesque, 2010; Pressley et Afflerbach, 1995). Au Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, des enseignants des 2e et 3e cycles du primaire ont exprimé le besoin de réfléchir sur leurs pratiques d’enseignement des stratégies de lecture afin d’apporter les ajustements nécessaires à un apprentissage de la lecture plus accompli chez leurs élèves. Pour y parvenir, douze enseignantes, un enseignant, deux conseillères pédagogiques et une chercheure se sont engagés dans une recherche-action (Dolbec et Clément, 2004) visant l’amélioration des pratiques relatives à l’enseignement de la lecture. Comme le suggère Couture (2011), le portrait des pratiques déjà mises en place par les enseignants a été dressé dans un premier temps afin d’ancrer le processus de changement à même le travail et les besoins des enseignants. Les résultats indiquent que ce sont les stratégies utiles avant la lecture qui seraient les plus enseignées, que cet enseignement s’effectuerait principalement à l’aide du matériel didactique, et ce, avec l’ensemble du groupe classe.

Sendung, Leidenschaft, Schicksal : zum 100. Geburtstag Erwin Ackerknechts

Kritische Auseinandersetzung mit dem Leben und Wirken Erwin Ackerknechts.

The Influence of Performance Level, Age and Gender on Pacing Strategy During a 100-km Ultramarathon

The aim of this study is to analyse the influence of performance level, age and gender on pacing during a 100-km ultramarathon. Results of a 100-km race incorporating the World Masters Championships were used to identify differences in relative speeds in each 10-km segment between participants finishing in the first, second, third and fourth quartiles of overall positions (Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively). Similar analyses were performed between the top and bottom 50% of finishers in each age category, as well as within male and female categories. Pacing varied between athletes achieving different absolute performance levels. Group 1 ran at significantly lower relative speeds than all other groups in the first three 10-km segments (all P < 0.01), and significantly higher relative speeds than Group 4 in the 6th and 10th (both P < 0.01), and Group 2 in the 8th (P = 0.04). Group 4 displayed significantly higher relative speeds than Group 2 and 3 in the first three segments (all P < 0.01). Overall strategies remained consistent across age categories, although a similar phenomenon was observed within each category whereby ‘top’ competitors displayed lower relative speeds than ‘bottom’ competitors in the early stages, but higher relative speeds in the later stages. Females showed lower relative starting speeds and higher finishing speeds than males. ‘Top’ and ‘bottom’ finishing males displayed differing strategies, but this was not the case within females. Although pacing remained consistent across age categories, it differed with level of performance within each, possibly suggesting strategies are anchored on direct competitors. Strategy differs between genders and differs depending on performance level achieved in males but not females.

Serum estradiol: oocyte ratio as a predictor of reproductive outcome: an analysis of data from >9000 IVF cycles in the Republic of Ireland

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum estradiol (E2) per oocyte ratio (EOR) as a function of selected embryology events and reproductive outcomes with IVF. Methods This retrospective analysis included all IVF cycles where oocyte collection and fresh transfer occurred between January 2001 and November 2012 at a single institution. Patients were divided by three age groups (<35, 35–39, and ≥40 years) and further stratified into nine groups based on EOR (measured in pmol/L/oocyte). Terminal serum E2 (pmol/mL) was recorded on day of hCG trigger administration, and fertilization rate, cleavage rate, number of good quality embryos, and reproductive outcomes were recorded for each IVF cycle. Results During the study interval, 9109 oocyte retrievals were performed for 5499 IVF patients (mean = 1.7 cycles/patient). A total of 63.4 % of transfers were performed on day 3 (n = 4926), while 36.6 % were carried out on day 5 (n = 2843). Clinical pregnancy rates were highest in patients with EOR of 250–750 and declined as this ratio increased, independent of patient age. While the odds ratio (OR) for clinical pregnancy where EOR = 250–750 vs. EOR > 1500 was 3.4 (p < 0.001; 95 % CI 2.67–4.34), no statistically significant correlation was seen in fertilization, cleavage rates or number of good quality embryos as a function of EOR. Conclusions Predicting reproductive outcomes with IVF has great utility both for patients and providers. The former have the opportunity to build realistic expectations, and the latter are better able to counsel according to measured clinical parameters. A better understanding of follicular dynamics and ovarian response to gonadotropin stimulation could optimize IVF treatments going forward.

O Sistema custeio baseado em atividades e a melhor afetação dos recursos

Orientada pela Prof. Doutora Cláudia Lopes

Comparative study of amine solutions used in CO2 absorption/desorption cycles

Trabalho Final de Mestrado para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Química

Algorithm-oriented design of efficient many-core architectures applied to dense matrix multiplication

Recent integrated circuit technologies have opened the possibility to design parallel architectures with hundreds of cores on a single chip. The design space of these parallel architectures is huge with many architectural options. Exploring the design space gets even more difficult if, beyond performance and area, we also consider extra metrics like performance and area efficiency, where the designer tries to design the architecture with the best performance per chip area and the best sustainable performance. In this paper we present an algorithm-oriented approach to design a many-core architecture. Instead of doing the design space exploration of the many core architecture based on the experimental execution results of a particular benchmark of algorithms, our approach is to make a formal analysis of the algorithms considering the main architectural aspects and to determine how each particular architectural aspect is related to the performance of the architecture when running an algorithm or set of algorithms. The architectural aspects considered include the number of cores, the local memory available in each core, the communication bandwidth between the many-core architecture and the external memory and the memory hierarchy. To exemplify the approach we did a theoretical analysis of a dense matrix multiplication algorithm and determined an equation that relates the number of execution cycles with the architectural parameters. Based on this equation a many-core architecture has been designed. The results obtained indicate that a 100 mm(2) integrated circuit design of the proposed architecture, using a 65 nm technology, is able to achieve 464 GFLOPs (double precision floating-point) for a memory bandwidth of 16 GB/s. This corresponds to a performance efficiency of 71 %. Considering a 45 nm technology, a 100 mm(2) chip attains 833 GFLOPs which corresponds to 84 % of peak performance These figures are better than those obtained by previous many-core architectures, except for the area efficiency which is limited by the lower memory bandwidth considered. The results achieved are also better than those of previous state-of-the-art many-cores architectures designed specifically to achieve high performance for matrix multiplication.

Desenvolvimento de padrão gravimétrico de medição de caudal de fluidos entre 10 mL/min e 100 nL/min

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Mecânica

THE U.S. and European M&A cycles: A Markov switching and state space approach

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Finance from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Liquidity, business cycles and monetary policy: A simulation

A Masters Thesis, presented as part of the requirements for the award of a Research Masters Degree in Economics from NOVA – School of Business and Economics

The tectonically controlled emplacement of a vertically sheeted gabbro-pyroxenite intrusion: Feeder-zone of an ocean-island volcano (Fuerteventura, Canary Islands)

The Miocene PX1 gabbro-pyroxenite pluton, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, is a 3.5 x 5.5 km shallow-level intrusion (0.15-0.2 GPa and 1100-1120 degrees C), interpreted as the feeder-zone to an ocean-island volcano. It displays a vertical magmatic banding expressed in five 50 to 100 metre-wide NNE-SSW trending alkaline gabbro sequences alternating with pyroxenites. This emplacement geometry was controlled by brittle to ductile shear zones, generated by a regional E-W extensional tectonic setting that affected Fuerteventura during the Miocene. At a smaller scale, the PX1 gabbro and pyroxenite bands consist of metre-thick differentiation units, which suggest emplacement by periodic injection of magma pulses as vertical dykes that amalgamated, similarly to a sub-volcanic sheeted dyke complex. Individual dykes underwent internal differentiation following a solidification front parallel to the dyke edges. This solidification front may have been favoured by a significant lateral/horizontal thermal gradient, expressed by the vertical banding in the gabbros, the fractionation asymmetry within individual dykes and the migmatisation of the wall rocks. Pyroxenitic layers result from the fractionation and accumulation of clinopyroxene +/- olivine +/- plagioclase crystals from a mildly alkaline basaltic liquid. They are interpreted as truncated differentiation sequences, from which residual melts were extracted at various stages of their chemical evolution by subsequent dyke intrusions, either next to or within the crystallising unit. Compaction and squeezing of the crystal mush is ascribed to the incoming and inflating magma pulses. The expelled interstitial liquid was likely collected and erupted along with the magma flowing through the newly injected dykes. Clinopyroxene mineral orientation - as evidenced by EBSD and micro X-ray tomography investigations - displays a marked pure-shear component, supporting the interpretation of the role of compaction in the generation of the pyroxenites. Conversely, gabbro sequences underwent minor melt extraction and are believed to represent crystallised coalesced magma batches emplaced at lower rates at the end of eruptive cycles. Clinopyroxene orientations in gabbros record a simple shear component suggesting syn-magmatic deformation parallel to observed NNE-SSW trending shear zones induced by the regional tensional stress field. This emplacement model implies a crystallisation time of 1 to 5 years for individual dykes, consistent with PX1 emplacement over less than 0.5 My. A minimum amount of approximately 150 km(3) of magma is needed to generate the pluton, part of it having been erupted through the Central Volcanic Centre of Fuerteventura. If the regional extensional tectonic regime controls the PX1 feeder-zone initiation and overall geometry, rates and volumes of magma depend on other, source-related factors. High injection rates are likely to induce intrusion growth rates larger than could be accommodated by the regional extension. In this case, dyke intrusion by propagation of a weak tip, combined with the inability of magma to circulate through previously emplaced and crystallised dykes could result in an increase of non-lithostatic pressure on previously emplaced mushy dyke walls; thus generating strong pure-shear compaction within the pluton feeder-zone and interstitial melt expulsion. These compaction-dominated processes are recorded by the cumulitic pyroxenite bands. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.