China's new Government: Priorities, Programs, Reform Signals. Asia Policy Brief 2013/02, May 2013

Never before has any change of leadership in China drawn this much international attention. The composition of the new party and state leadership in China is the result of many years of probing and negotiating within the top levels of the Communist Party. New priorities and leadership styles may cause fundamental shifts in the mechanisms of governance during the decade that China’s new leadership will be in control. Thus, the installation of a new government in China has potentially stronger long-term effects than most government turnovers in Western Democracies.

The EU power sector needs long-term price signals. CEPS Special Report No. 135/April 2016

By 2030, half of the EU’s electricity demand will be covered by renewables and will need to be accompanied by flexible conventional back-up resources. Due to the high upfront costs inherent to renewables and the progressively lower running times associated with back-up capacity, the cost of capital will have a proportionately greater impact on total costs than today. This report examines how electricity markets can be designed to provide long-term price signals, thereby reducing the cost of capital for these technologies and allowing for a more efficient transition. It finds that current market arrangements are unable to provide long-term price signals. To address this issue, we argue that a system for long-term contracts with a regulated counterparty could be implemented. A centralised system where capacity or energy or a combination of both is contracted, could be introduced for conventional and renewable capacity, based on a regional adequacy assessment and with a competitive bidding system in place to ensure cost-effectiveness. Member states face a number of legislative barriers while implementing these types of systems, however, which could be reduced by merging legislation and setting EU framework rules for the design of these contractual agreements.

Opposing RA and FGF signals control proximodistal vertebrate limb development through regulation of Meis genes.

Vertebrate limbs develop in a temporal proximodistal sequence, with proximal regions specified and generated earlier than distal ones. Whereas considerable information is available on the mechanisms promoting limb growth, those involved in determining the proximodistal identity of limb parts remain largely unknown. We show here that retinoic acid (RA) is an upstream activator of the proximal determinant genes Meis1 and Meis2. RA promotes proximalization of limb cells and endogenous RA signaling is required to maintain the proximal Meis domain in the limb. RA synthesis and signaling range, which initially span the entire lateral plate mesoderm, become restricted to proximal limb domains by the apical ectodermal ridge (AER) activity following limb initiation. We identify fibroblast growth factor (FGF) as the main molecule responsible for this AER activity and propose a model integrating the role of FGF in limb cell proliferation, with a specific function in promoting distalization through inhibition of RA production and signaling.

Identity construction through phonetic crossing among young Capetonian gang members

Uncountable gangs operate in post-Apartheid South Africa, particularly in greater Cape Town, competing over turf and controlling the drug trade. Consequently, gang violence is rife in Western Cape and especially widespread in urban areas. In this paper young Capetonians’ narratives of gang violence are analyzed. In the narratives of attacks on Black or White South Africans by Coloured gang members, the Coloured narrators make use of their victims’ varieties of English, more precisely, of phonetic features. Hence, the aggressors do language crossing towards their targets when narrating their feats. Rampton (1995a:485) considers language crossing a ‘code alternation by people who are not accepted members of the group associated with the second language that they are using (code switching into varieties that are not generally thought to belong to them)’. This switching involves a transgression of social or ethnic boundaries that allows the young gangsters to construct, negotiate, uphold and manage their social identities, as language still functions as an utterly important identity marker in post-Apartheid South Africa.

Putting Up a Big Front: Car Design and Size Affect Road-Crossing Behaviour

Previous research suggests that people tend to see faces in car fronts and that they attribute personality characteristics to car faces. In the present study we investigated whether car design influences pedestrian road-crossing behaviour. An immersive virtual reality environment with a zebra crossing scenario was used to determine a) whether the minimum accepted distance for crossing the street is larger for cars with a dominant appearance than for cars with a friendly appearance and b) whether the speed of dominant-looking cars is overestimated as compared to friendly-looking cars. Participants completed both tasks while either standing on the pavement or on the centre island. We found that people started to cross the road later in front of friendly-looking low-power cars compared to dominant-looking high-power cars, but only if the cars were relatively large in size. For small cars we found no effect of power. The speed of smaller cars was estimated to be higher compared to large cars (size-speed bias). Furthermore, there was an effect of starting position: From the centre island, participants entered the road significantly later (i. e. closer to the approaching car) and left the road later than when starting from the pavement. Similarly, the speed of the cars was estimated significantly lower when standing on the centre island compared to the pavement. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that car fronts elicit responses on a behavioural level.

Changes Measurement in Biological Signals Based on Dynamic Time Warping Procedure on the Example of Repolarization Part of HeartbeatCycle

Master thesis discusses the analysis of changes in biological signals on time based on dynamic time warping algorithm (DTW). Special attention is paid to problems of tiny changes analysis incomplex nonstationary biological signals. Electrocardiographic (ECG) signals are used as an example inthis study; in particular, repolarization segments of heart beat cycles. The aim of the research is studyingthe possibility of applying DTW algorithm for the analysis of small changes in the repolarization segments of heart beat cycles. The research has the following tasks:- Studying repolarization segments of heart beat cycles, andmethods of their analysis;- Studying DTW algorithm and its modifications, finding the most appropriate modification for analyzing changes in biological signals;- Development of methods for analyzing the warping path(output parameter of DTW algorithm).

Similarity Measurement of Biological Signals Using Dynamic Time Warping Algorithm

The problem of similarity measurement of biological signals is considered on this article. The dynamic time warping algorithm is used as a possible solution. A short overview of this algorithm and its modifications are given. Testing procedure for different modifications of DTW, which are based on artificial test signals, are presented.

Students crossing State St. in front of Michigan Union. Taken for the Michigan Alumnus, April, 1947

On negative sleeve: A suggestion of warmer days ahead for winter-weary Michiganders is contained in this early spring picture, taken from the Michigan Union looking across to Alumni Memorial Hall just as students leave classes at the noon hour

Left turn signals for Arizona. Final report.

Arizona Department of Transportation, Phoenix

The development of an improved railroad-highway grade crossing risk factor. Executive summry report.

Ohio Department of Transportation, Columbus

The development of an improved railroad-highway grade crossing risk factor. Final report.

Ohio Department of Transportation, Columbus

Driver understanding of work zone flagger signals and signaling devices. Interim report.

Texas State Department of Highways and Public Transportation, Transportation Planning Division, Austin