Author(s): Zoerb, Matthew Cody | Advisor(s): Harris, Charles B | Abstract: Vibrational spectroscopy is one of the most powerful techniques in chemistry due to its ability to report direct information on the geometries and nuclear motions of complex molecules. At thermal equilibrium, rearrangements between different, or equivalent, molecular structures help to define the reactivity of the system. On the ultrafast timescale, these chemical exchange reactions may cause features in the vibrational spectrum to become averaged. The Bloch equations have been used previously to quantitatively predict the rates of such reactions. This approach has been quite successful in NMR spectroscopy where exchange on the microsecond timescale is often sufficient to cause peak coalescence. The application of the Bloch equations to IR spectroscopy has been debated due to the presence of other contributions to the vibrational lineshape that may prevent an accurate description of the relevant dynamics. Two dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2D-IR) is a time resolved ultrafast technique that is capable of directly measuring the kinetics of chemical exchange at thermal equilibrium where there is no net change in the populations of reactants and products. This work examines two model systems that display dynamic IR peak coalescence. A group of mixed valence dimers of trinuclear ruthenium clusters have exhibited a wide range of IR coalescence that is sensitive to solvent, temperature, and ligand substitution. No electron exchange was observed by 2D-IR during the timescale required for peak coalescence. The two isomers of a square pyramidal ruthenium dithiolene compound also result in highly coalesced spectra. The equilibrium populations, as well as the extent of peak coalescence, are strongly dependent on temperature and solvent. The experimental results of this second project were largely inconconclusive; however, future work with density functional theory calculations looks promising for revealing more information on these dynamics. Ultimately, the application of the Bloch equations to IR spectra is not generally reliable. While this type of analysis may still yield accurate results in some special cases, it is very difficult to distinguish legitimate exchange induced coalescence from similar broadened lineshape features, and this approach should be avoided.


The rise in drug trafficking and the growth of organized crime in Africa has become an increasing national security threat for the European Union [EU]. South American drug trafficking networks have integrated with African and European buyers and distributors, and these organized criminal groups are exploiting governmental weakness, ill-equipped law enforcement agencies, and corruption prevalent in many African nations. Africa is a strategic geographic location to be used as a transit base and storage location for various drugs destined for European markets. The question is what strategies the EU should utilize in order to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug, chemical, money laundering, and narco-terrorism organizations in West Africa. This Article argues that West Africa has become Europe's "Mexico," and that the EU should consider prosecuting and requesting the extraditions of top organized crime leaders in West Africa to stem the flow of drug trafficking. Extradition is a powerful tool which can strike fear in drug traffickers who typically believe they are immune from the long arm of the law. The United States has had various successes combating the drug war in Mexico through the Merida Initiative, providing training and equipment to Mexican law enforcement and prosecutors, and through requests for extraditions and eventual prosecutions of Mexican cartel leaders in the United States. The EU should consider utilizing some of the tools the United States uses successfully in a number of its international narcotics trafficking cases.


This paper presents the concept of a model of database skeleton which is used to represent user's knowledge on the meaning of the data. The logical database synthesis pfoblem is then formulated as a problem of convetting a partially specified database skeleton to a completely specified-one, which corresponds to one of several data models. Approaches to optimal logical database synthesis for the relational database are then considered.


The W. M. Keck Observatory is a joint project of the University of California and the California Institute of Technology to build and operate a new ground-based astronomical telescope. The telescope will be used for observations at both visible and infrared wavelengths. One innovative feature of the telescope is the ten meter diameter primary, mirror (76m2). The mirror is a mosaic of thirty-six hexagonal segments. The fabrication of this large mirror requires 1) fabrication of the individual segments, 2) support of the segments, and 3) active control of the pistons and tilts of the segments. The glass-ceramic segments are 75mm thick and 1.8m in diameter. They will be polished using the technique of Stressed Mirror Polishing. First forces and moments are applied around the edge of the blank to deform the surface. Next a sphere is polished into the stressed blank. Finally the forces and moments are released and the blank elastically deforms to the desired off-axis section of a paraboloid. In the telescope, the segments are supported by whiffietrees which take axial loads and by a post attached to the center of mass with a thin diaphragm which takes radial loads. The relative pistons and tilts of the segments are electronically stabilized by an active servo system. We describe the status of the design and development work and the plans for fabrication.


Research in natural language processing commonly assumes that approaches that work well for English and and other widely-used languages are "language agnostic". In high-resource languages, especially those that are analytic, a common approach is to treat morphologically-distinct variants of a common root as completely independent word types. This assumes, that there are limited morphological inflections per root, and that the majority will appear in a large enough corpus, so that the model can adequately learn statistics about each form. Approaches like stemming, lemmatization, or subword segmentation are often used when either of those assumptions do not hold, particularly in the case of synthetic languages like Spanish or Russian that have more inflection than English.
In the literature, languages like Finnish or Turkish are held up as extreme examples of complexity that challenge common modelling assumptions. Yet, when considering all of the world's languages, Finnish and Turkish are closer to the average case. When we consider polysynthetic languages (those at the extreme of morphological complexity), approaches like stemming, lemmatization, or subword modelling may not suffice. These languages have very high numbers of hapax legomena, showing the need for appropriate morphological handling of words, without which it is not possible for a model to capture enough word statistics.
We examine the current state-of-the-art in language modelling, machine translation, and text prediction for four polysynthetic languages: Guarani, St. Lawrence Island Yupik, Central Alaskan Yupik, and Inuktitut. We then propose a novel framework for language modelling that combines knowledge representations from finite-state morphological analyzers with Tensor Product Representations in order to enable neural language models capable of handling the full range of typologically variant languages.


The formation of B lymphocytes is abnormal in autoimmune NZB and (NZB x NZW)F1 mice. With age, the proportion of sIg- Ly-5(220)+ pre-B cells and less mature B cell progenitors in the bone marrow progressively declines, reaching only approximately one-third of normal levels in 20-wk-old NZ mice. To determine the mechanisms responsible for the deficiency of NZ B lineage precursors, the mitotic activity of sIg- Ly-5(220)+ bone marrow cells in vivo was determined in NZ and conventional inbred mice as a function of age. The proportion of sIg- Ly-5(220)+ B cell precursors in (S + G2/M) stages of the cell cycle steadily decreased with age in NZ autoimmune mice. Furthermore, upon metaphase arrest, the rate of entry of sIg- Ly-5(220)+ bone marrow cells into G2/M also decreased with age in NZ mice. Therefore, the mitotic activity of sIg- Ly-5(220)+ B cell precursors is substantially decreased in NZ mice greater than or equal to 20 wk of age. The capacity of the bone marrow stromal microenvironment of NZ mice to support B lineage precursor growth was tested in two ways: 1) the capacity of preformed NZ bone marrow stroma to support B lineage cell growth in long term bone marrow cell culture under lymphopoietic conditions was assessed and 2) the capacity of NZ bone marrow B lineage precursors to expand in vivo after sublethal (200 rad) whole body irradiation was determined. Stroma derived from adult NZ mice supported the growth and development of B lineage lymphocytes in long term bone marrow cell culture to a greater extent than did age-matched conventional murine stroma. Furthermore, sublethal irradiation of older adult NZ mice resulted in some expansion of bone marrow sIg- Ly-5(220)+ B cell precursors in vivo. Therefore, the deficiency of B cell progenitors in the bone marrow of older NZ autoimmune mice is associated with diminished mitotic activity. However, this does not result from defects in the capacity of NZ bone marrow stroma to permit B lineage cell expansion as determined by both in vitro and in vivo experiments. In the absence of a detectable stromal cell defect, it is possible that an active inhibitory process within the bone marrow influences the mitotic activity of B cell precursors in NZ mice.


Nepal has entered into multiparty democracy in 1951. From begging to till dates of these seven decades, three decades were practiced party-less Panchayat system where political parties were outlawed. Within the remaining four decades Nepal has conducted seven national elections held in accordance to democratic norms and values. Many political parties fielded their candidates in these elections. They got various positions as per the cast of votes by Nepalese citizens. Results of elections show that Nepal has implemented the multiparty system. That was not the single or bi-party system. This article tries to analyze the participation of political parties in the elections and their position after the elections. It is based on reports published by the election commission after each election of Nepal. It analyzes only data of national elections. Nepali Congress (NC) a rightist party is a popular party of Nepal; results of elections proved it. Similarly, communists are also popular among Nepalese voters. They obtained higher votes in some national elections of Nepal. Other some rightist and leftist parties have also appeared in a significant position in the scenario of national politics of Nepal.


To assess the effects of aging on glucose-mediated glucose disposal and glucose transport, glucose disposal rates were measured in 10 nonelderly (32 +/- 4 yr) and 11 elderly (64 +/- 4 yr) subjects at five different plasma glucose concentrations. Glucose disposal was decreased by 30-35% in the elderly at each level of glycemia (100-350 mg/dl) in the presence of similar levels of hyperinsulinemia (approximately 100 microU/ml), and the 50% effective concentration (EC50) was similar in both the nonelderly (100 +/- 9) and elderly (103 +/- 5 mg/dl). The Michaelis constant (Km) of 3-O-methyl glucose transport in adipocytes was unchanged with aging (3.8 +/- 0.5 vs. 3.2 +/- 0.2 mM) while the maximum velocity of insulin stimulated transport was reduced by 34% in the elderly (8.3 +/- 1.3 vs. 12.6 +/- 1.5 pmol/5 X 10(4) cells per s, P less than 0.05). The insulin resistance of aging is therefore due to a reduction in the capacity of the glucose uptake system, while the affinity of glucose utilization (EC50 and Km) is unchanged. This supports the hypothesis that a reduction in the number of glucose transport and metabolic units occurs with aging, but that each unit functions normally.


The atmospheric pressure Penning ionization was applied to the analysis of atmospheric-pressure ambient gaseous samples. The metastable rare gas atoms (Rg*) were produced by a negative-mode corona discharge of reagent rare gas (Rg). The rare gas containing Rg* in the discharge cell flowed out into the ion source cell through a nozzle with an inner diameter of 1 mm as a jet stream. The jet stream acts as a gas-jet pump and the pressure of the ion source cell becomes somewhat lower than the atmospheric pressure. The sample gas at ambient atmospheric pressure was sucked into the reduced-pressure ion source cell through the stainless steel tube (10 cm in length, 1 mm in diameter). The sample gases introduced in the ion source cell are ionized by Penning ionization. This technique was found to be applicable to various gaseous samples such as aromatic compounds, oxygen- and nitrogen-containing compounds, etc. However, no ion signal could be detected for aliphatic hydrocarbons. This may be due to the much smaller ionization cross sections for these compounds than N2 and O2 molecules which are introduced into the ion source together with sample gases.


The classical and folk theory view on metaphor and figurative language assumes that metaphor is a rare occurrence, restricted to the realms of poetry and rhetoric. Recent results have, however, unarguably shown that figurative language of various complexity exhibits great systematicity and is pervasive in everyday language and texts. If the ubiquity of figurative language cannot be disputed, however, any natural language processing (NLP) system aiming at processing text beyond a restricted scope has to be able to deal with figurative language. This is particularly true if the processing is to be based on deep techniques, where a deep analysis of the input is performed. The LOLITA NLP system employs deep techniques and, therefore, must be capable of dealing with figurative input. The task of natural language (NL) generation is affected by the naturalness of figurative language, too. For if metaphors are frequent and natural, NL generation not capable of handling figurative language will seem restricted and its output unnatural. This thesis describes the work undertaken to examine the options for extending the LOLITA system in the direction of figurative language processing and the results of this project. The work critically examines previous approaches and their contribution to the field, before outlining a solution which follows the principles of natural language engineering.


Today, the Ukrainian education system is undergoing important large-scale transformations. Students of modern schools are required, as the main result of education, to master a set of universal learning activities that allow them to set and solve the most important life tasks that they may face directly in adult life. So, for example, in relation to different sections of biology, students must understand: what the subject teaches them, why they need biology, how the studied concepts are related to practical tasks and everyday life.
In this regard, a new approach to the construction of the content of education, as well as to the use of modern educational technologies of learning, is envisaged. As you know, one of such effective technologies is life-situational learning using the case-study method. Active use of case-study in education began relatively recently, and now this approach has become one of the most effective learning technologies. This method confirms the didactic significance and relevance of the use of case technology in the process of teaching biology as an effective means of increasing students' biological knowledge. Teachers highlight a number of advantages of the case-study compared to traditional teaching methods: practical orientation, interactive format, development of soft skills of students. Scientists have developed several classifications of cases. But, despite the variety of cases, they all have a typical structure, which includes: a plot part, a methodological part, and an informational part.
The article examines the features of the case-study and the possibilities of its application at biology lessons. Samples of cases from the "Human Anatomy" course are also offered.


Conventional method of identifying areas to be inundated for issuing flood alert require inputs like discharge data, fine resolution digital elevation model (DEM), software for modelling and technically trained manpower to interpret the results meaningfully. Due to poor availability of these inputs, including good network of historical hydrological observations and limitation of time, quick flood early warning becomes a difficult task. Presently, based on the daily river water level and forecasted water level for major river systems in India, flood alerts are provided which are non-spatial in nature and does not help in understanding the inundation (spatial dimension) which may be caused at various water levels. In the present paper a concept for developing a series of flood-inundation map libraries two approaches are adopted one by correlating inundation extent derived from historical satellite data analysis with the corresponding water level recorded by the gauge station and the other simulation of inundation using digital elevation model (DEM's) is demonstrated for a part of Godavari Basin. The approach explained can be one of quick and cost-effective method for building a library of flood inundation extents, which can be utilized during flood disaster for alerting population and taking the relief and rescue operations. This layer can be visualized from a spatial dimension together with other spatial information like administrative boundaries, transport network, land use and land cover, digital elevation data and satellite images for better understanding and visualization of areas to be inundated spatially on free web based earth visualization portals like ISRO's Bhuvan portal ( http://bhuvan.nrsc.gov.in ). This can help decision makers in taking quick appropriate measures for warning, planning relief and rescue operations for the population to get affected under that river stage.


In the academic and policy debates over the merits of charter schools, two things are clear: First, they are here to stay and, second, their quality varies widely. Policy makers therefore need to understand how to design charter laws that promote the creation of high-performing schools. Crucial to this discussion is the charter authorizing process, which varies across the nation. In some states, authorizing power is held exclusively by local school districts, whereas other states allow a range of authorizers that may include not only local districts, but also nonprofit organizations, counties, higher educational institutions, or a state agency. In this paper we use individual student-level data from Ohio, which permits a wide range of organizations to authorize charter schools, to examine the relationship between type of authorizer and charter-school effectiveness as measured by students' achievement trajectories.


The current hydrogen generation technologies, especially biomass gasification using fluidized bed reactors (FBRs), were rigorously reviewed. There are involute operational parameters in a fluidized bed gasifier that determine the anticipated outcomes for hydrogen production purposes. However, limited reviews are present that link these parametric conditions with the corresponding performances based on experimental data collection. Using the constructed artificial neural networks (ANNs) as the supervised machine learning algorithm for data training, the operational parameters from 52 literature reports were utilized to perform both the qualitative and quantitative assessments of the performance, such as the hydrogen yield (HY), hydrogen content (HC) and carbon conversion efficiency (CCE). Seven types of operational parameters, including the steam-to-biomass ratio (SBR), equivalent ratio (ER), temperature, particle size of the feedstock, residence time, lower heating value (LHV) and carbon content (CC), were closely investigated. Six binary parameters have been identified to be statistically significant to the performance parameters (hydrogen yield (HY)), hydrogen content (HC) and carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) by analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimal operational conditions derived from the machine leaning were recommended according to the needs of the outcomes. This review may provide helpful insights for researchers to comprehensively consider the operational conditions in order to achieve high hydrogen production using fluidized bed reactors during biomass gasification.


Latin America is one of the most violent regions in the world, and this is particularly evident in its many cities. While urban violence scholars and policymakers generally rely on homicide rates to measure levels of violence in urban environments, these objective indicators often do not capture its realities. By drawing from over six months of fieldwork in the Latin American city of Medellín, Colombia, this paper shows how Medellín has experienced a significant reduction in homicides, but both real and perceived violence continues to have a significant effect on residents' lives. The article contributes to the urban violence debate by highlighting its complexity in Latin America and how it is not fully quantifiable.
The article has been kindly translated into Spanish by the author and can be viewed in both English and Spanish


In this study, Nb-Cr binary mixtures were prepared by mechanical alloying. And mechanical alloying process of mixed Nb-Cr(1:2) powders was studied, and the phases of milling powders analyzed by XRD and SEM. It has been found that the powders form solid solution first, then amorphous phase appeared gradually and crystallization of amorphous takes place with the different milling time. A thermodynamic model of MA of Nb-Cr system was developed based on Miedema Semi-experimental theory to explain the phase transformations of Nb-Cr system during milling. Using Miedema semi-empirical model the free energies of the ordered Laves-phase NbCr2 intermetallics, solid solution and amorphous alloy were calculated. From XRD and SEM analysis of Nb/2Cr powders prepared by mechanical alloying in a planetary ball milling, it was found that the calculated results were in accordance with the experiments.


Abstract. In this paper we describe learning of a descriptor based on the Siamese Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture and evaluate our results on a standard patch comparison dataset. The descriptor learning architecture is composed of an input module, a Siamese CNN descriptor module and a cost computation module that is based on the L2 Norm. The cost function we use pulls the descriptors of matching patches close to each other in feature space while pushing the descriptors for non-matching pairs away from each other. Compared to related work, we optimize the training parameters by combining a moving average strategy for gradients and Nesterov's Accelerated Gradient. Experiments show that our learned descriptor reaches a good performance and achieves state-of-art results in terms of the false positive rate at a 95 % recall rate on standard benchmark datasets.


When do militant organizations transition to political parties? Once reaching the productive limits of political violence, militant organizations sometimes seek to adopt party politics in order to continue pursuing their political ends or "outcome" goals. However, most militant organizations remain incapable of transitioning due to two common constraints: the base constituency's preference for violence and credibility deficiencies vis-a-vis the adversary. Analyzing an original dataset of 406 organizations, I find evidence that partial outcome-goal achievement and state supporters help militant organizations overcome the obstacles preventing transition. Crucially, whereas the complete achievement of militant outcome goals absorbs the chief organizational incentive to transition, partial achievement of outcome goals fosters transition to the party format more than any other factor


The paper describes a generalized fuzzy learning machine, which is a generalised and modified type of the neo-fuzzy-neuron presented by the authors in 1992. This machine can well grasp the nonlinear correlation of each input. It has a very high nonlinear mapping ability compared with the conventional neural network and it guarantees the global minimum. Furthermore, learning speed and its accuracy are improved drastically. It was successfully applied to the identification of the nonlinear dynamical system, e.g. two dimensional Lorenz chaotic model, and to the automatic detection of landmark location in the roentgenographic cephalogram for orthodontic treatment. The results were promising.


xii British Columbia, Canada's most westerly province, has a bounty of biological diversity. British Columbia's snowclad peaks, rain-drenched forests, arid grasslands, all sizes of rivers, lakes, and wetlands, and a long and rugged coast provide habitats for more species of living organisms than are found anywhere else in Canada. However, this very diversity means that there is much to be discovered about these organisms — their distribution, abundance, habitat requirements, and interrelationships with their environment. Increasing our knowledge of this biodiversity will help us with the complex task of sustainably managing our land and waters. was received for a biodiversity research extension proposal. One goal of the original research program, and more recently the FRBC extension project, is to extend information to scientists, resource managers, and the public through biodiversity publications. These publications are intended to increase awareness and understanding of biodiversity, promote the concepts and importance of conserving biodiversity, and communicate provincial government initiatives related to biodiversity. We hope that they will be used as tools for the conservation of British Columbia's rich, living legacy. ii " Wildlife Bulletins frequently contain preliminary data, so conclusions based on these may be subject to change. Bulletins receive some review and may be cited in publications. Copies may be obtained, depending upon supply, from the


When the 'boundary' of border-violators' literature is seen from a parallax view, it turns out that the 'neutrality' of the diasporic 'discourse of boundary' was an ideology. In literature by Korean residents in Japan, let us say, the 'mother land,' the 'nation,' and 'North Korea' individually are landscapes (im)possibly connected by opposite two viewpoints. For example, when a first view of North Korea (North Korea as a strange place) is folded by its opposite view (North Korea as a republic), the symmetric distance is lost that will make a neutrality between South and North Korea. In this case, a story about South Korea is a kind of Narcissism occurring when it is captured from the view of North Korea by Korean residents in Japan. The appeal to 'national amity' ignited within this view also functions as an ideology of neutrality injected by the republic. Given that it was the places of the subjectivity ideology where a non-ideological appeal to nation was intense, the novel border & landscape of literature by Korean residents in Japan are observed at the point where two impossible views of a subject are compatible. Because of this, this boundedness cannot appear in the space of 'intersection' where views of South and North are buffed as well as in the space of 'difference' where things are embraced from the view of reciprocity. This requires the discussion so far to be reviewed that has tried to place the poems' boundedness in the post-ideological space between South and North. This article, which propose re-reading 'boundary' as 'parallax boundary', will give help in mid-examination of research in this theme.


Ultrasonic velocity, density and viscosity of the ternary mixture of 1, 4dioxane + chloroform + cyclohexane, were measured at 303.15, 308.15 and 313.15 K. The thermodynamical parameters such as adiabatic compressibility (β), intermolecular free length (Lf), free volume (Vf), internal pressure (πi), acoustic impedance (Z), molar sound velocity (R) and molar compressibility (W) have been obtained from the experimental data for all the mixtures, with a view to investigate the exact nature of molecular interaction. Adiabatic compressibility and intermolecular free length decrease with increase in concentration and temperature. The other parameters show almost increasing concentration of solutes. These parameters have been further used to interpret the molecular interaction part of the solute and solvent in the mixtures.


Context: Urological complications are inevitable in renal transplantation; however, their occurrence and brunt on graft survival can be downsized. The aim of our study was to analyze and review the literature on various urological complications and their management in renal transplant patients. Materials and Methods: We reviewed all cases of urological complications in renal transplantation managed at our institution from January 2010 to March 2017. Results: Urological complications arose in 29 renal transplant patients amidst the study period with median identification time of 24 days (range 0–1500 days). Ten (34.5%) patients developed complications pertaining to ureteric handling and reimplantation followed by significant lymphocele in 9 (31%) patients. Four (13.8%) cases succumbed to vascular anastomosis-related complications. Out of 29 patients, 45% of these complications manifested within a month posttransplant. Complications were tackled individually. Sixteen (55%) cases were treated with either endoscopic or minimally invasive methods, whereas 13 (45%) cases required open surgery. Two grafts were lost as a consequence of vascular complications and a fatality which was directly or indirectly linked with urological complication. Remaining all treated patients improved on follow-up. Conclusion: Comprehensive preoperative recipient evaluation, meticulous organ procurement, and integrated multidisciplinary teamwork are helpful in achieving optimal outcome of transplant. Endourological and minimally invasive procedures are emerging as main modality in the management of these complications; however, many cases still requires contemporary surgical management.


This paper describes the implementation of Hawk Eye Technology. Hawk Eye Technology is a complex computer system used in cricket, tennis and other sports to visually track the path of the ball and display a record of its most statistically likely path as a moving image. It is also used in some instances to predict the future path of a ball in cricket.


We reported that breast density (BD) was inversely correlated with the plasma level of DHA in postmenopausal obese, but not in non-obese, women given Lovaza (n-3FA). To identify protein biomarkers for the possible differential effect of n-3FA on BD between obese and non-obese women, an iTRAQ method was performed to analyze plasma from obese and lean women at each time point (baseline, 12 and 24-months, n=10 per group); 173 proteins with >95% confidence (Unuses Score >1.3 and local false discovery rate estimation <5%) was identified. Comparative analysis between various groups identified several differentially expressed proteins (hemopexin precursor, vitamin D binding protein isoform 1 precursor [VDBP], fibronectin isoform 10 precursor [FN] and alpha-2 macroglobulin precursor [A2M]). Western blot analysis was performed to verify the differential expression of proteins in the iTRAQ study and those found to be altered in a tumor protective fashion by an n-3FA rich diet in our previous preclinical study; gelsolin, VDBP and FN were altered by n-3FA in a manner consistent with reduction in inflammation in obese women. To test the impact of our findings on breast cancer risk reduction by n-3FA, a post-hoc analysis revealed that n-3FA administration reduced BD selectively in obese postmenopausal women.


The seventh annual report of the South African Renal Registry summarises the 2018 data on kidney replacement therapy (KRT) for patients with kidney failure in South Africa. In December 2018, the number of patients who were being treated with chronic dialysis or transplantation stood at 10 730, a prevalence of 186 per million population (pmp). Most patients are treated with haemodialysis in the private healthcare sector, where the prevalence was 839 pmp. In the public sector, which serves 85% of the South African population, the prevalence of KRT (67 pmp) remained below the level reported for 1994. Limpopo and Mpumalanga remain the most under-served provinces and Blacks the most under-served population group. The Western Cape province had the highest public sector treatment rates by a large margin and was also where most of the country's public sector kidney transplants were performed.


In 2004 the country witnessed the first presidential election since the passage of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA). A major purpose of BCRA was to end two of the worst abuses of the federal campaign finance law-sham issue ads and soft money raised by political party committees. The BCRA amendments, like existing federal campaign finance law, were designed first and foremost to prevent corruption or the appearance of corruption resulting from large contributors' requesting favors from or gaining influence with the public officials whose campaigns their contributions benefited, regardless of whether the contributor or the lawmaker initiated the mutually beneficial process. As many foresaw at the time of BCRA's passage, individuals and groups with considerable assets would seek and probably find new campaign finance vehicles for achieving most of the benefits of the system prior to BCRA. Nonetheless, the swiftness with which 527 groups have threatened to replace political parties as the soft-money middlemen in federal campaigns surprised and angered many - from members of Congress to ordinary citizens. Since the 2004 election saw one of the most polarized campaigns on record and since 527 groups, both Democratic and Republican, were especially active in funding attack ads and other highly visible forms of campaign activity, they emerged as the arch villains of the process. Bills have been introduced in Congress to compel almost all 527 groups engaged in federal campaigns to register as political committees subject to federal campaign finance law (FECA). In addition, lawsuits have been filed to force the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to impose sanctions on 527 groups that failed to register as political committees in the last election. Lawsuits were also filed challenging some of the FEC's regulations on the grounds that they emasculated the provisions of BCRA, thereby contributing to the failure of reform efforts the agency is charge with implementing. As a result, some of the regulations were invalidated, some rewritten, and some are being appealed. In short, campaign finance reform is still in flux. The purpose of this Article is to analyze the legal issues that must be resolved before the validity of efforts to rein in 527 groups can be established. Most of these issues are constitutional because, by its nature, campaign finance regulation intrudes upon political speech, part of the core of First Amendment speech entitled to the most vigorous protection by the courts. My contribution to an area of the law where so many others have preceded me is to integrate the constitutional election law analysis with a technical analysis of what 527 groups really are and how they actually operate under the Internal Revenue Code. I also develop a new paradigm for understanding the conceptual foundations of specific constitutional doctrines that can and, in my view, do reveal a relatively coherent election law jurisprudence across the Supreme Court's campaign finance decisions, even taking into account the recent decision in McConnell v. FEC, which most commentators agree broke new ground. I divide the constitutional issues at stake into different categories and conclude that in some areas the precedents are difficult to square with the 527 reform proposals, whereas in other areas mainstream Court precedents tend to support the validity of the reform proposals. In conclusion, I raise some policy questions that, if faced squarely, should give lawmakers pause before painting all 527 organizations with the same legislative brush.


The depigmenting action of corticosteroids was studied on the black skin of the guinea-pig by cutaneous applications followed by repeated histological sections. These experiments demonstrated the depigmenting action of triamcinolone acetonide and betamethasone 17-valerate. The results of this study show the influence of concentration and chemical formula of the corticosteroids on the process of depigmentation. The histological study did not reveal any particular morphological aspect of melanocytes capable of suggesting a mechanism of action by these chemical compounds at the cellular level.


This paper deals with an important problem in the last phase of manufacturing in the textile industry. This involves cutting large lengths of fabric into smaller pieces, which are then wrapped around rolls. The quality of cloth rolls transported to the customer is specified by the quality of fabric pieces that make up the roll. A piece of fabric falls within a given quality category if some of its characteristics, such as, piece length, the number of critical defects per metre, and the defective score per metre, are compatible with the corresponding quality specifications. Naturally, the selling price per metre of fabric is proportional to the quality category. Thus, it becomes necessary to determine an optimal cutting strategy of very long woven fabric (e.g. 2000 m) into smaller pieces (e.g. each 130 m long at most), which involves a difficult continuous assignment problem of identifying the optimal cutting locations of pieces overlapping with defects of known lengths and locations. Not only must the scrap be minimized but the overall profit per metre fabric should be maximized. The two objectives may not always support each other due to relative unit selling prices of various quality categories. The solution to this problem has an immediate impact on company profit. The mathematical formulation of the problem involves numerous binary variables as well as continuous variables. A Mutative Simulated Annealing approach is proposed here to solve this problem. The solution technique is tested both on real data obtained from a textile manufacturer and hypothetical data. Results are compared against upper bounds calculated for each objective defined, as well as with a sequential heuristic designed for this problem.


This study aims at identifying the problems encountering the eighth semester student-teachers at the Education Sciences Faculty "UNRWA" during their practical application at the cooperative schools. In addition, it aims to identify, if there are significant differences between the female and male student-teachers with respect to the severity of encountered problems throughout application.
It aims also at identifying of there are significant differences between the specialization of class teacher students and the specialization of Arabic domain student-teachers with respect to the severity of the problems encountered in their application.
The responses of the subjects of the sample, on the 5- dimension questionnaire and (95) items, have revealed a group of severe problems encountering the student-teachers during practical application, also that the most severe problems are that ones associated with the supervisor of the practical application programme, practical problems related to the fifth the cooperation of schools, and
the class visit supervisors.
The results of the study have also revealed that the problems related to the first dimension the practical education course have not caused any severe problems to the student-teachers (under study) practical application. The results of the study has also revealed that there are significant differences between male and female with oc = 0.074 for the favor of females.
The results of the study have revealed that there are no significant differences between the class-teacher students and the Arabic domain student-teachers with respect to the severity of the problems encountering them during practical application.


In the modern world, which has undergone an extensive technological revolution, the plurality of digital devices and electronic contents available, as well as a massive digitisation of information, knowledge and everyday communication have caused the convergence of communication and computing technologies. On this view, the paper aims at exploring how and why the digital resources can play a crucial role in assuming the new perspectives of Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL). Since the denial of the advent of new ways for knowledge transmission is a failing classroom strategy in the long run, Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) should be embedded purposefully into the modern foreign languages classroom, with Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) being the new imperative of the good TEFL practice. By providing rich learning environment, CALL can increase the digital native students' interest and motivation. In this regard, the paper elaborates on the types of CALL applications in the EFL classrooms.


Neuroevolution [i.e., evolving artificial neural networks (ANNs) through evolutionary algorithms] has shown promise in evolving agents and robot controllers, which display complex behaviors and can adapt to their environments. These properties are also relevant to video games, since they can increase their longevity and replayability. However, the design of most current games precludes the use of any techniques which might yield unpredictable or even open-ended results. This paper describes the game EvoCommander, with the goal to further demonstrate the potential of neuroevolution in games. In EvoCommander the player incrementally evolves an arsenal of ANN-controlled behaviors (e.g., ranged attack, flee, etc.) for a simple robot that has to battle other player and computer controlled robots. The game introduces the novel game mechanic of "brain switching," selecting which evolved neural network is active at any point during battle. Results from playtests indicate that brain switching is a promising new game mechanic, leading to players employing interesting different strategies when training their robots and when controlling them in battle.


Asymmetric cell division is of fundamental importance in biology as it allows for the establishment of separate cell lineages during the development of multicellular organisms. Although microbial systems, including the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are excellent models of asymmetric cell division, this phenotype occurs in all cell divisions; consequently, models of lineage-specific segregation patterns in these systems do not exist. Here, we report the first example of lineage-specific asymmetric division in yeast. We used fluorescent tags to show that components of the yeast kinetochore, the protein complex that anchors chromosomes to the mitotic spindle, divide asymmetrically in a single postmeiotic lineage. This phenotype is not seen in vegetatively dividing haploid or diploid cells. This kinetochore asymmetry suggests a mechanism for the selective segregation of sister centromeres to daughter cells to establish different cell lineages or fates. These results provide a mechanistic link between lineage-defining asymmetry of metazoa with unicellular eukaryotes.


The regularly heated debate on personal status issues, especially for its connection, with a broader discussion about Shari'a or Islamic law, and its relation to positive laws and legal practice usually run in a vicious cycle between two conflicting tendencies, the first sees Shari'a as a major impediment to modernizing family laws, according to the stander of gender equality, while the other rejects the reform of these laws under any consideration except in the context of maintaining the legal and moral particularism, which is reflected in the principles of Shari'a, or at least its peremptory provisions. Certainly, the committee of "Individual Freedoms and Equality Report" (IFER), sponsored by the Republic of Tunisia President, where is charged with examining the legal reforms related to the most controversial issue, the equality of inheritance between women and men opens a broad horizon for readdressing the issue of gender equality in Arab countries, particular Tunisia and Egypt. Indeed, the conflicting two tendencies on the content and the border of legal reforms, ignore together the importance of social facts in determining the validity of laws, in favor of focusing on the one hand, stander of natural rights and the insistence on the relationship between ethics and Islamic law, from another hand. This trend in western academic circles represented by e.g. Wael Hallaq and Talal Asad. On the contrary, I attempt to reconsider the relationship between the Islamic Law and the legal positivism i.e. the thesis that law existence and content reflect in one way or another the social facts. And discuss the evolution of the contemporary Arab laws between attempts to revive Islamic law and receive Western/European laws. Finally, defend the basic hypothesis in this paper; that the validity of the laws, regardless of their moral sources, are linked to their suitability to the degree of development of social facts, noting that this relationship between laws and facts is not a compatible, but rather a matter of dialectic and emancipation.


Georgian, a South Caucasian language belonging to the Kartvelian family, is characterised by the ability of its consonants to combine in extensive clusters. Among the possible combinations are a series of two-member clusters which are argued to behave phonologically as single segments (Tschenkeli 1958, Vogt 1958, 1971, Aronson 1982, 1991, Deprez 1988 and others). They are known as 'harmonic' clusters, because the laryngeal quality is constant across the cluster. Its two members are both voiced ([dg bg dγ bγ]), both aspirated ([thkh tshkh thχ tshχ]) or both ejective ([t'k' ts'k' p'k' t'q' ts'q']). They can occur either word-initially or in word-medial position. Harmonic clusters do not contrast with identical sequences of segments, except for sequences formed at the junction of two words. There is no evidence that across word boundaries harmonic clusters are derived by some sort of restructuring. The purpose of the present study is to review the phonological arguments brought in the literature in favour of treating harmonic clusters as single segments, and to look for acoustic evidence that would motivate the distinction made between harmonic clusters behaving as single segments, on the one hand, and simple sequences of consonants, on the other hand. The study uses phonetic data to address the issue of phonological representation. If the difference between a harmonic cluster and a simple sequence of segments is present in the phonology, then it should ideally also be visible in the acoustic signal, for example in the presence or absence of a release burst, or in timing differences, as suggested by previous studies of complex vs. simple segments in various languages (Maddieson & Ladefoged 1989, Maddieson 1989, 1990). The results show that the treatment of Georgian harmonic clusters as complex segments is not supported by the acoustic data. The paper is organised as follows: § 2 presents the phonological behaviour of consonant clusters in Georgian, § 3 reviews phonetic evidence for complex segments, and spells out the predictions made by the present study. The acoustic study is described in § 4, followed by the presentation and discussion of results in § 5. The conclusions and areas for further study are presented in § 6.


Abstract
 Breeding population abundance such as colony size of seabirds is not generally considered to be particularly sensitive to the annual dynamics of the food conditions because of the long life-span and high adult survival rate. However, in seabird species in which adults decide to breed or not depending on the food conditions, population abundance can respond sensitively to the annual variation in the food conditions. Here, we examine the effects of the regional annual stock abundance of Japanese Sand Lance Ammodytes personatus, and their local temporal availability during the egg-laying period on the size of a Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris and Slaty-backed Gull L. schistisagus, breeding colony over 12 years on Rishiri Island, northern Japan. The total number of nests of both gull species increased significantly with the regional annual stock abundance, but not with the local temporal availability of the sand lance. The number of Black-tailed Gull nests without eggs was significantly higher in the year with lower local temporal availability indicating that more Black-tailed Gull parents gave up egg-laying after nest building. Colony size in these species can be a useful indicator reflecting local food conditions.


In 2013, Illinois employed over 5 million people in various industries and occupations throughout the state. It is well known that working conditions can negatively impact health. However, state health data systems often lack information regarding occupation and industry, thus limiting opportunities to develop targeted health interventions in workplaces. Recently, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) added industry and occupation questions to the 2013 Illinois Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey. Overall, 2,962 respondents (53%) sampled reported having been employed within the last year. Occupation and industry codes based on the U.S. Census Occupation and Industry Classification System were assigned for 2,467 (83%) and 2,533 (86%) of employed respondents, respectively. Coded responses were categorised into 23 occupation and 21 industry groups and compared to 2013 state employment estimates from the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Estimated BRFSS distributions were similar to the Illinois workforce. Weighted SAS survey procedures were used to assess prevalence of smoking, seatbelt use, binge drinking, adequate sleep, and immunisation for each industry and occupation group. Prevalence of smoking, flu shots, and binge drinking varied by industry (p-values=0.0001–0.006) and occupation (p-values=0.0001–0.008). After adjusting for confounders (e.g., age, sex, education, race) using logistic regression, increased prevalence of binge drinking was observed among computer workers (prevalence ratio (PR) = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.1–6.9) and increased prevalence of non-adherence to flu immunisation was observed among construction workers (PR = 3.8, 95% CI: 1.4–10.2). Significant adherence to flu immunisation recommendations was observed among healthcare, education and transportation workers (PR = 0.25–0.56, p = 0.0001–0.0453). Compared to the public administration industry, increased prevalence of binge drinking in the healthcare industry was observed (PR = 2.6, 95% CI: 1.3–5.5), and non-adherence to flu immunizations was observed within the agricultural industry (PR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.1–5.7). Overall, the BRFSS can identify workplaces in need of targeted interventions to protect worker health.


It has been claimed that translation universals are really "mediation universals" (Chesterman 2004; Ulrych & Murphy 2008), pertaining to the more general cognitive activity of mediating a text rather than specifically translating it. Among those linguistic activities that share the alleged mediation effect with translating are editing and revising. In this chapter, I critically examine the theory of "mediation universals" by comparing unedited translations with edited translations and with edited non-translations. The focus is on explicitation, normalisation/ conservatism and simplification. The operationalisations are partly adopted from a similar study on English by Kruger (2012), which the present study seeks to replicate for German management and business articles. The results do not support the notion of mediation universals for the present corpus but rather show that translated texts are recognisable as such even after the editing process. Editorial influence on translated language in this genre is shown to be strongest in terms of sentence length and lexical diversity, where unedited and edited translations differ significantly from each other. Here, editors approximate the language to that of the non-translations, though the unedited translations have a greater average sentence length than the non-translations. That finding does not support the usual observation that translated texts have shorter sentences than non-translations, but highlights the importance of studying editorial influence in translation. That translations are hybrid texts, influenced bymany agents other than the translator is now trivial knowledge. Yet corpus research in translation studies still relies mainly on published translations. The findings in this chapter argue for including unedited manuscripts in corpus-based studies of translated language to avoid missing phenomena of translated language that may be removed at the editing stage and to be able to differentiate which features really pertain to the translation act and which are affected by editorial influence.


The anomaly or outlier detection is one of the applications of data mining. The major use of anomaly or outlier detection is fraud detection. Health care fraud leads to substantial losses of money each year in many countries. Effective fraud detection is important for reducing the cost of Health care system. This paper reviews the various approaches used for detecting the fraudulent activities in Health insurance claim data. The approaches reviewed in this paper are Hierarchical Hidden Markov Models and Non Negative Matrix Factorization. The data mining goals achieved and functions performed in these approaches have given in this paper.


. Measuring the mass of internal organs and calculating their mass coeffi cients relative to body weight is a mandatory manipulation in the analysis of the toxic effects of drugs in preclinical studies. However, the assessment of the clinical signifi cance of changes in the mass coeffi cients of organs can be complicated by the absence of correct intra-laboratory reference intervals that refl ect normal values for the population of animals used in the research center. The aim of this work was to generalize the results of morphometric indicators of organs obtained in previous studies on outbred rats conducted in the Research and manufacturing company «Home оf Pharmacy», from 2018 to 2020 to derive reference values of organ mass indicators of outbred rats. A retrospective analysis of data on 9 main organs used for calculating mass coeffi cients in toxicological studies was carried out. Analysis on a large sample of 1000 outbred rats (534 males and 466 females), with body mass ranges for males of 200 – 400 g and females of 180 – 300 g. Reference intervals were established taking into account the recommendations of the Clinical and Laborarory Standards Institute (CLSI) for the mass coeffi cients of the heart, lungs, thymus, liver, spleen, kidneys, adrenal glands, brain, testes and ovaries. It was found that in male and female rats, statistical outliers were most often observed among mass coeffi cients of such internal organs as the spleen (0.82 – 8.87%), adrenal glands (0 – 6.45%), lungs (0 – 5.44%), testes (0 – 4.69%) and ovaries (0 – 3.12%), outliers of other indicators were signifi cantly less frequent. This fact should be taken into account when assessing the clinical signifi cance of changes in these indicators. to the absolute masses of organs, since in toxicological studies with signifi cant changes in body weight, these indicators can provide more objective information. It is expedient to form reference intervals based on mass coeffi cients for each span of animal body weights separately, using at least 120 animals for each span and gender. To meet these conditions, it is preferable to use an indirect method of obtaining data in a retrospective analysis in order to comply with bioethical rules.


2S-O aluminum was extruded at room temperature in an inverted extrusion process from a 4.3-in-diam cylindrical billet, into a 1.5-in-diam solid cylindrical bar. Steady-state particle-velocity vectors were determined from gridded, split billets during incremental extrusion steps. These velocity patterns were compared with those obtained previously for lead extrusions having the same billet and die geometry and the same high degree of lubrication; it was found that the patterns for these two metals were identical. The aluminum velocity pattern appeared not to be affected by extrusion load, but the extrusion load was a strong function of the extent of deformation. It was estimated that the extrusion load becomes constant after a reduction of billet length by approximately 2.4 in., the distance the plastic zone of the metal extends upstream from the orifice. The axial-stress distribution in the billet, determined front strain rates and natural strains, taking into account work hardening, had the same shape as that determined with lead. The wall pressure or radial stress in the plastic zone was found to be lower than the average pressure, but both pressures tend to approach each other beyond the plastic zone.


Organic agriculture is still inexpressive in Brazil. Its relevance, however, has been growing signii¬ cantly, following international trends. This study analyzes basic characteristics of organic producers, contribut-ing to the present level of knowledge on this matter in Brazil. Using pri-mary data on organic farmers of a region close to Curitiba, in the southern state of ParanAi, we identify their main personal, technical and economic characteristics. Our sample farmers were divided into two groups: farm-ers in the stage of conversion toward organic agriculture and farmers already certii¬ ed as organic producers. Results indicate the ini¬'uence of the education level and of other professional experiences as key elements to characterize organic producers. Other relevant aspects are labor avail-ability and integration of farming, livestock and forest activities.


We provide a simple discussion of our results on the backreaction effects of density inhomogeneities in cosmology without mentioning one-parameter families or weak limits. Emphasis is placed on the manner in which 'averaging' is done and the fact that one is solving Einstein's equation. The key assumptions and results that we rigorously derived within our original mathematical framework are thereby explained in a heuristic way.


Abstract Several complications, resulting from drainage, are discussed. These include severe tissue reactions, leakage from bowel anastomoses, obstruction and perforation of small or large bowel, herniation, leaving behind a foreign body, severe bleeding and the induction of infection. Several of these complications are illustrated with case histories. Moreover a review of the literature on the subject is given. In view of these complications, the author warns against too liberal or too long drainage procedures.


The problem presented in this paper is the development and formulation of an investment formula plan for common stocks in the low price ranges which will eliminate human judgments in the buying and selling of stocks, and which will enable the investor to realize a substantial profit. Common stocks ranging in price from one-sixteenth of a dollar to five dollars were used. In order to be included in the study, a stock had to have a record of high percentages of fluctuation and a cyclic price action from low to high to low prices. The proof of the hypothesis rests on documentary research of past price fluctuations and past cyclic price movements. The future price movements of the stocks cannot be foretold. However, it is a reasonable assumption that those factors which caused previous price changes continue to exist and will cause most if not all included stocks to fluctuate in price in the future in patterns resembling past movement patterns. Prices of individual stocks were determined from financial source materials and computations were made according to the formula set forth in the plan. The derived buying and selling prices were checked against the records of each stock to determine whether profitable investments would have resulted had the formula investment plan been applied during the past seven years. These applications revealed that substantial profits would have been realized through the use of the proposed formula plan for investment.


Some results are presented of a study into the medical and pharmacological practices in Sao Pedro de Uberabinha, Minas Gerais state, (today Uberlândia), between the 1890s and the 1920s. The basic hypothesis is that during the period in question, there existed a health service market that was marked and to some extent constituted by conflicts and disputes headed by physicians and pharmacists. Based on this hypothesis, I attempt to identify the reasons and resources used by these subjects to demarcate their spaces and healing practices.


Presently, in the category of sandy soils we find those soils that in the control section (2 m) present a coarse and/or a middle coarse texture, hence those that contain less than 12% sand under 0.002 mm and a small quantity of organic matter. In Romania, the sandy soils cover a surface of over 439.000 ha, out of which 272.000 ha are of Aeolian nature, grouped in 18 perimeters. In the case of the tabular soils, one can notice the presence, into their profile, of some shallow layers (frequently of 1-8 cm in thickness) of finer material, in which the clay under 0.002 mm appears a little bit increased (2-7%) compared to the interlayer. The layers-interlayers sequence is specific only to the soils formed on Aeolian sandy sediments.


A main feature of complex strip - ribbed strip is the significant local residual deformation on a flat strip, resulting in the pulling down of rib height. The interesting issue in this paper shows a developed three-dimensional finite element model of the complex strip rolling, coupling the use of an extremely thin array of elements which is equivalent to the calculation of the additional shear deformation work rate occurred by the velocity discontinuity in the deformation zone. The 3D finite element modelling includes the consideration of the special rib inclined contact surface boundary condition has been carried out on a computer. An examination of the equivalent stress field, forward slip and rib height demonstrates the effectiveness of the developed model. The computed forward slip and rib height are in good agreement with the measured values. The effect of the rib inclined angle on the pulling down of rib height is also discussed.


List of Figures and Tables. Series Editors' Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Introduction. Prologue. Aerial Life. Powering Up Aerial Geographies. The Organization of the Book. Part I: Becoming Aerial. 2. Birth of the Aerial Body. Introduction. Beginnings. 'Handsome Is as Handsome Does': Disassembling the Aerial Body. The Flesh of the Aerial Youth. Simulation. Conclusion. 3. The Projection and Performance of Airspace. Introduction. Building a Political Space: Identity, Boundedness and the Sanctity of Territory. Undoing Aerial Space: Post-nationalism and Projective Power. Conclusion. Part II: Governing Aerial Life. 4. Aerial Views: Bodies, Borders and Biopolitics. Introduction. Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Targeting, Administering and Managing Populations. Techniques of the Observer/Observed. Three-Dimensional Vision. Conclusion. 5. Profiling Machines. Introduction. Imagining the Pilot/Passenger. Sorting. Modifying. Conclusion. Part III: Aerial Aggression. 6. Aerial Environments. Introduction. The Emergence of a Target. Systems, Circulations and Ecological Warfare. Air Conditioning. Conclusion. 7. Subjects under Siege. Warning. Introduction. The Anatomy of Panic. Imaginations and Urgencies. Vigilance and the Social as Circuit. Entrainment. Conclusion. 8. Conclusion. Environments. Futures. Aerial Turns. Notes. Bibliography. Index.


the centre of ihe Infirmary than the Small-pox Hospital was from Kennoul, Causey, the Infirmary proper would then'be infected also. The directors, however, determined to follow Dr. Stirling's advice, and against this I got my dissent minuted in the record of the meeting. A few weeks had scarcely elapsed before the surgical and medical w6rdg became infected. There were three deaths from small-poxone a surgical, one a medical case, and one a fever nurse. In 1876 the directors were again face to face, with the small-pox difficulty. The cases were again treated in the wooden erection mentioned before, and with similar results ; again the neighbouring street became infected. A largely-signed petition was handed from the re. sidents in Kennoul Causey, requesting the removal of the wooden building in which the small-pox cases were being treated. At the first monthly meeting of the directors I took an opportunity of raising the whole question de novo, with the result that the directors passed a resolution that henceforth no small-pox cases would be received into the Perth Infirmary. In this successful effort I obtained no help from Dr. Stirling. The local authorities were then informed of the determination of the directors, now backed up by a letter signed by Drs. Frew,. Stirling, and myself approving of their decision. The result of this was the building of the Perth Small-pox Hospital a mile from the city.-I am, etc,, JAMES P. BRAMWELL, M.D., L.R.C.S., And formerly Senior Visiting Surgeon to the Perth Infirmary.


Risk prediction scores are important for early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of type 2 diabetes, but the early diagnosis is challenging. This study developed a risk prediction model for DPN based on modifiable risk factors.

The study included 315 type 2 diabetes patients with and without DPN. Demographic, biochemical, and diagnostic data were collected. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for DPN.

Hemoglobin% and total red blood cells were identified as independent risk factors for DPN, used to develop a risk prediction score.

The risk prediction score developed in this study can be used by physicians to quickly assess a patient's risk of DPN and select appropriate therapeutic options. Routine monitoring of modifiable risk factors can improve DPN prognosis. Patients stratified by risk scores can better understand their risk and seek appropriate care.


Distribution of hepatitis B serological markers according to people's birthplaces and area of residence (urban/rural) was studied as a part of a field epidemiological research project carried out in Cássia dos Coqueiros, a small rural community of S. Paulo State, Brazil. The total prevalence of HBV markers was 7.7%, with rural showing a higher risk than urban inhabitants (9.8% as against 4.9%, respectively). Analysis of prevalence according to people's birthplaces revealed the highest value among those from other Brazilian states (15.8%), followed by people from other municipalities of the State of S. Paulo (9.2%). Those born in Cássia dos Coqueiros and particularly in Ribeirão Preto (the main city of the area, located 80 kilometers away), showed the lowest values of prevalence (5.2% and 2.5%, respectively). The importance of studying people's birthplaces when field epidemiological studies on hepatitis B are carried out is stressed. This variable is considered to be capable of exercising an influence on the natural history of the disease in a community, and may even explain differences in the distribution of markers in apparently similar populations.


BACKGROUND:
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has now replaced open cholecystectomy for the treatment of gallbladder pathologies (stones, polyps) , However, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy may be considered 'difficult' by various problems encountered during surgery, such as difficulties in accessing the peritoneal cavity, creating a pneumoperitoneum, dissecting the calot's triangle, extracting the gall bladder from the liver bed, or the excised gall bladder removal from the port.
OBJECTIVE:
This study was cond ucted to identify and evaluate whether preoperative clinical parameters in patient undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy for cholelithiasis can predict the levels of intra- operative difficulties.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
100 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. All the patients were with symptomatic gallstone disease. Detailed clinical history, examination and Investigations were taken. Prospective analyses of different preoperative (patient-related) clinical parameters contributing to difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy were performed. The study was performed in Al-Imamain                          Al-Kadhimain Medical City between October 2015 to October 2016.
RESULTS:
OF 100 patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy, 33 patients (33%) developed difficulties during operation. Factors associating difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy included; male gender, wall thickness more than 4 mm, previous upper abdominal surgery and BMI more than 35 and the most common (specific) type of intraoperative difficulties was bile leak due to gall bladder perforation and liver bed affecting 10 patients out of the 33 difficult cases (10%) from the total cases and the least difficulty was conversion to open cholecystectomy occurred in 2 patients  (2%).
CONCLUSION:
The prediction of difficult laparoscopic cholecystectomy by the use of clinical parameters showed that male gender, wall thickness above 4mm, and history of previous upper abdominal surgery are statistically significant predictive factors.
Knowledge of these predictive factors preoperatively may help in improving patient safety with
involvement of experienced laparoscopic surgeon who could better anticipate intraoperative risk & technical difficulty encountered while operating on these patients.


Purpose – Ubiquitous web applications (UWA) are a new type of web applications which are accessed in various contexts, i.e. through different devices, by users with various interests, at anytime from anyplace around the globe. For such full-fledged, complex software systems, a methodologically sound engineering approach in terms of model-driven engineering (MDE) is crucial. Several modeling approaches have already been proposed that capture the ubiquitous nature of web applications, each of them having different origins, pursuing different goals and providing a pantheon of concepts. This paper aims to give an in-depth comparison of seven modeling approaches supporting the development of UWAs. Design/methodology/approach – This methodology is conducted by applying a detailed set of evaluation criteria and by demonstrating its applicability on basis of an exemplary tourism web application. In particular, five commonly found ubiquitous scenarios are investigated, thus providing initial insight into the modeling concepts of each approach as well as to facilitate their comparability. Findings – The results gained indicate that many modeling approaches lack a proper MDE foundation in terms of meta-models and tool support. The proposed modeling mechanisms for ubiquity are often limited, since they neither cover all relevant context factors in an explicit, self-contained, and extensible way, nor allow for a wide spectrum of extensible adaptation operations. The provided modeling concepts frequently do not allow dealing with all different parts of a web application in terms of its content, hypertext, and presentation levels as well as their structural and behavioral features. Finally, current modeling approaches do not reflect the crosscutting nature of ubiquity but rather intermingle context and adaptation issues with the core parts of a web application, thus hampering maintainability and extensibility. Originality/value – Different from other surveys in the area of modeling web applications, this paper specifically considers modeling concepts for their ubiquitous nature, together with an investigation of available support for MDD in a comprehensive way, using a well-defined as well as fine-grained catalogue of more than 30 evaluation criteria.


The glycolytic fermentation of molluscs is rather complex. Multiple end products accumulate (lactate, alanine, octopine, succinate, propionate, acetate and CO2), which are partly formed in the cytoplasm and partly in the mitochondrion. Various schemes have been presented to account for these end products as well as for the maintenance of the redox balance. With respect to the role of alanine there are two opinions: (1) alanine accumulation is continuous and is essential for the generation of the mitochondrial NADH required in the reduction of fumarate and (2) succinate and alanine (initial end products) accumulate in different compartments and their accumulation occurs independently. Both statements are evaluated in the light of the latest experimental observations including the regulatory properties at the phosphoenolpyruvate branchpoint and the effect of pH and 'energy charge'. For nervous tissue the function of oxygen can be replaced by the lipochrome pigment, which enables carbohydrates to be totally oxidized to CO2 and water. The simultaneous mobilization of carbohydrates and amino acids is not supported by the experimental data. Various advantages of the glycolytic fermentation in molluscs as compared with classical glycolysis in skeletal muscle are discussed.


In the 1940s color photography became available and within a few years, extremely popular. As people switched from black and white photographs made with the old metallic silver process to the new color films, pictures taken to record their lives and families began a slow disappearing act. The various color processes, coupled with the substrates they were printed on, affected their longevity, but many color photographs taken from the late 1950s through the 1970s, and even into the 1980s, faded not only when exposed to the light, but also when stored in the dark. Henry Wilhelm's excellent book 'The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs' documents this history in detail. Today we are making another transition in the storage of pictures and information. There are questions about the longevity of different types of digital storage, and also of the images printed by various types of inkjet printers, or by laser printers using colored toners. Very expensive and very beautiful works of art produced on Iris printers are appearing in art exhibitions. Some of these are referred to as Giclee prints and are offered on excellent papers. Artists are told the prints will last a lifetime; and if by change they don't it is only necessary to make another print. Henry Wilhelm has begun to test and rate these images for lightfastness; however, his test method was developed for examining longevity in colored photographs. It is of interest to find out how these prints will hold up in the tests required for fine art materials. Thus far companies producing digital inks and printers have not invested the time and money necessary to develop an American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard method for evaluating the lightfastness of digital prints. However, it is possible to use ASTM D 5383, Standard Practice for Visual Determination of the Lightfastness of Art Materials by Art Technologists, to pinpoint colors that will fade in a short time, even though the test is not as severe as ASTM D 4303, which is used to rate the lightfastness of artists's paint.


Human-computer/machine interface research benefits from accurate human arm models for stability analysis, control, and system design. The current study developed models for human arm dynamics and variability specific to stylus-based kinesthetic haptic interfaces. Data from nine human subjects (5 male, 4 female, ages 20–30) were collected using a three degree-of-freedom haptic device in the X, Y, and Z axes along with a range of grip forces (1–3N) for parametric system identification of the human arm and hand. Variability models that accounted for subject and grip force variation were also identified. The arm and hand model structure consisted of a third-order linear parametric transfer function that was paired with a previously derived second-order model for the haptic robot. The variability was modeled as multiplicative unstructured uncertainty using transfer functions. All of the model parameters were identified in the frequency domain and have force as input and position as output.


We have studied the lateral diffusion of acetylcholine (ACh) receptors in the extrajunctional region of developing myotomal muscle cell membrane of Xenopus tadpoles by a technique of local inactivation. The myotomal muscle cell surfaces of Xenopus tadpoles were exposed to external solution by gently removing the skin of the tail. The density of ACh receptors was monitored by membrane depolarizations in response to iontophoretically applied pulses of ACh. A pulse of alpha- bungarotoxin was pressure ejected onto the exposed fiber surface, resulting in a rapid local inactivation of the ACh receptors. With time, the functional ACh receptors diffused into the region of inactivation, producing a recovery of ACh response. That the observed recovery of ACh sensitivity is due to diffusion of ACh receptors from the unexposed undersurface of the fiber to the inactivated region was evidenced by the following: (1) no recovery was observed following prolonged toxin application; (2) pretreatment of the muscle cells with concanavalin A, which cross-links and immobilizes ACh receptors, prevented recovery; (3) mapping of ACh response along the muscle cell axis showed that the recovery cannot be accounted for by diffusion along the longitudinal axis of the fiber; and (4) the diffusion coefficients observed after scaling the recovery rate with fiber radius fell within a small range (1.5 to 4.0 X 10(-9) cm2/sec), consistent with diffusion of ACh receptors around the fiber circumference. This finding of rapid lateral diffusion within developing tadpole myotomal muscle membrane supports the notion that the localization of ACh receptors induced by innervation could be achieved by a "diffusion- trap" mechanism where the nerve contact region serves as a trap for rapidly diffusing receptors in the membrane.


towards any therapeutic advance. Nevertheless, the possibility should not be lightly discarded and people would do well to examine the work described here. Thereasons for these national differences in the pathway, and volume, of research on injury are probably related to differences in the character of trauma in the two countries. Here it is mainly musculoskeletal, whereas in the USA the greater level of severe violence leads to many more gunshot and other penetrating wounds with their septic complications. In such an environment it is understandable that there should be a heightened interest in haemorrhage and the effects of bacterial products.


Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in pregnant women in their characteristics do not differ from general population, unless they had operations on the pelvic organs. Women with a first pregnancy, regardless of the activity of IBD have an increased risk of adverse pregnancy and high risk births. Most treatment methods are compatible with pregnancy and breastfeeding. Women affected by IBD should discuss their plans for pregnancy with the doctor first in order to know the possible dangers. Every patient in the IBD during pregnancy must be observed by a gastroenterologist, accoucheur and pediatrician to ensure peace of mother and child.


Long-term air monitoring data sets are needed for persistent organic pollutants (POPs), to assess the effectiveness of source abatement measures and the factors controlling ambient levels. The Toxic Organic Micro-Pollutants (TOMPS) program in the United Kingdom started in 1991, generating a data set for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The history and volumes of production, usage, and subsequent restrictions on PCBs in the UK are well-characterized relative to many countries, providing a valuable case study on the effectiveness of controls and the factors influencing ambient levels and trends of these "model POPs". PCB air concentrations (congeners PCB 28, 52, 90/101, 118, 138, 153, and 180) from six rural and urban monitoring sites are presented. Most show a statistically significant decrease in PCBs levels over time, consistent with estimates of emissions, helping to validate emissions inventories. Times for a 50% decline in concentrations (sometimes called clearance rates) averaged 4.7 ± 1.6 years for all congeners at all sites. The trends at different sites and for different congeners were not statistically different from each other. Concentration differences between sites are correlated with local population density (i.e., the degree of urbanization), which supports approaches to modeling of primary emissions on the national and regional scale. The data set indicates that ambient levels and underlying trends of PCBs continue to reflect the controlling influence of diffuse primary sources from the ongoing stock of PCBs in urban environments. Production and use restrictions came into force in the UK over 40 years ago; trends since monitoring began in the early 1990s should be seen as part of a continuing decline in ambient levels since that time.


In this paper, I explore how histories of colonialism are integral to the Euro-Western idea of wilderness at the heart of much outdoor environmental education. In the context of canoe tripping, I speculate about why the politics of land rarely enters into teaching on the land. Finally, because learning from difficult knowledge often troubles the learner, I consider the pedagogical value of emotional responses to curricula that address colonial implication.


This report describes a case of spontaneous fibroblastic osteosarcoma in the humerus of a lion from a private park in Perugia, Italy. The tumor had an irregular, smooth, brown surface and a generally firm, rubbery consistence with gritty to hard areas interspersed. The mass was poorly vascularized with areas of necrosis at the periphery. The cut surface showed a multilobulated mass that had breached the humeral cortex, with periosteal production of reactive bone. The mass invaded the epiphysis, the synovial membrane, the joint capsule and ligaments. A mild hemorrhagic effusion appeared in the joint space. Clinical signs, gross and histopathologic findings are described in this rare case of a malignant bone tumor.


Context. In the current era of large spectroscopic surveys of the Milky Way, reference stars for calibrating astrophysical parameters and chemical abundances are of paramount importance. Aims. We determine elemental abundances of Mg, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Co, and Ni for our predefined set of Gaia FGK benchmark stars. Methods. By analysing high-resolution spectra with a high signal-to-noise ratio taken from several archive datasets, we combined results of eight different methods to determine abundances on a line-by-line basis. We performed a detailed homogeneous analysis of the systematic uncertainties, such as differential versus absolute abundance analysis. We also assessed errors that are due to non-local thermal equilibrium and the stellar parameters in our final abundances. Results. Our results are provided by listing final abundances and the different sources of uncertainties, as well as line-by-line and method-by-method abundances. Conclusions. The atmospheric parameters of the Gaia FGK benchmark stars are already being widely used for calibration of several pipelines that are applied to different surveys. With the added reference abundances of ten elements, this set is very suitable for calibrating the chemical abundances obtained by these pipelines.


Abstract This article analyzes and highlights the security perspective of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices and their communication challenges, as IoT is considered one of the key emerging fields in Industry 4.0. The IoT architectures can consist of physical systems, virtual ones or even hybrids, combining a collection of different physically active things, sensors, cloud services, specific IoT protocols, communication layers, users and developers. On top of all, it is the business layer, because the scope of the entire IoT environment is to deliver data, to monitor and to facilitate the management of complex processes. In order to facilitate the data exchange between the IoT layers, there have been developed a series of protocols particular to the IoT domain. As in many IT related fields, the solutions are not perfect from the data security and privacy perspectives, many challenges being still open research issues. As the two concepts of IoT and Cloud of Things are connected, bringing real world data into the Cloud to process it, raises Cloud Computing security concerns regarding the privacy and security of data. Although in recent years, many efforts have been made to improve Cloud Computing security, there are risks that need to be taken into consideration. From the Web of Data's point of view, things are even more prone to security risks. Because privacy is one of the fundamental right of digital users, it is extremely important for new technologies to comply with privacy regulations and policies, such as the new European data protection and privacy frameworks. In this context, companies must take into account standards, challenges and new trends in IoT. In the absence of specific measures, raw or processed data can be easily stolen from the Web of Data. In this paper we analyze and present the main protocols of communication in the IoT field from a data security perspective. Also, we do a review of the main architectures that can improve the security of the communication between IoT devices and the Cloud data storage.


Climate change, tidal flooding risks and breeding shorebirds Bird populations are declining in the Wadden Sea. The contribution of climate change has been understudied, but recent evidence suggests that increased flooding frequencies during the breeding season are already affecting bird populations that breed on salt marshes. These effects are expected to get worse in the near future if birds do not adapt their nest-site selection, suggesting that the importance of low-lying breeding areas for shorebirds could decline substantially in the coming decades. The crucial question now is to what extent birds may adapt their habitat selection to the changing environment. Although several studies suggest that the adaptive potential of birds to more frequent flooding events is limited, this is based on anecdotal evidence and systematic long-term studies are now needed. Furthermore, such studies will inform us about the factors that constrain birds from selecting higher nest sites (vegetation, food, predators), such that efficient management strategies may be identified.


Ecologists are increasingly confronted by questions that can be addressed only by integrating data from numerous sources, often across large geographic areas and broad time periods. The supply of ecological big data is increasing at a rapid pace as researchers are publishing their data sets and large, public science and data infrastructures (such as NEON, DataONE, LTER, & NCEAS) are producing and curating extensive volumes of complex data and metadata. While supply of, and demand for, ecological data is on the rise, many ecologists now face a new challenge in locating and synthesizing the data relevant for their particular question. Here we highlight selected popular big data products applicable to ecological research available from the NASA Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).


Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis is a recently recognized tick-borne infectious disease, and to date >600 patients have been identified in the United States and Europe. Most patients have presented with a non-specific febrile illness occurring within 4 weeks after tick exposure or tick bite. The risk for serious illness or death increases with advancing age and delayed onset of therapy. Routine laboratory testing may reveal reduced white blood cell and platelet concentrations and mildly elevated hepatic transaminase activity in peripheral blood. A high index of suspicion is necessary to arrive at a timely clinical diagnosis. Patients suspected of having human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) should be treated with a tetracycline-class antibiotic while awaiting the outcome of confirmatory laboratory testing.


In the field of content-based retrieval of multimedia documents, 3D models have recently gained increasing attention for a number of reasons: advancements in 3D hardware and software technologies; their ever decreasing prices and increasing availability; affordable 3D authoring tools; the establishment of such open standards for 3D data interchange as VRML and X3D. We present a solution for content-based retrieval of 3D models that relies on a description of each model by means of a curvature map. After an initial preprocessing of the model, differential properties of points on the surface of the 3D object are evaluated; the model surface is then warped into an ellipsoid, and is mapped onto a 2D image, retaining the curvature information of the original model. Matching is performed by comparing the map of the query against the maps of database models. In particular, this approach exploits weighted walkthroughs to describe curvature maps. Experimental results reveal that this technique, initially developed to describe images, can be successfully applied to curvature maps.


The evolution of microstructure during a simulation of the thin slab direct rolling process has been studied on two low carbon steels, microalloyed with V-N and V-Ti-N. The steels were examined using optical microscopy, analytical transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDAX). After the 4th rolling pass, in a five pass schedule, the initial coarse austenite grain size (≈1 mm) was reduced to about 50 μm in Steel V-N and 22μm in Steel V-Ti-N. The average ferrite grain size in the final strip was slightly smaller in Steel V-Ti-N (4.8-6.6 μm) than in Steel V-N (5.3-7.2 μm). For Steel V-N, VN was only observed after 1 050°C equalization, but it was not found after 1 200°C and 1 100°C equalisation. For Steel V-Ti-N, V-Ti(N) particles formed during casting and during equalization for all the equalization temperatures (1 200°C, 1 100°C and 1 050°C). AlN particles precipitated in Steel V-N only during 1 050°C equalization and were often associated with MnS or MnS and VN. No AlN was detected in Steel V-Ti-N. Fine V containing precipitates (<10 nm) were observed in the final strip for both of the steels, but the frequency of the fine particles was lower in Steel V-Ti-N than in Steel V-N. The fine precipitates in the final strip make a major contribution to dispersion strengthening. High strength (LYS≈460-560 MPa) with good toughness and good ductility were achieved in the steels, which are competitive to similar products made by conventional controlled rolling. However, the addition of Ti to the V-N steel decreased the yield strength due to formation of V-Ti(N) particles in austenite, which reduced the amounts of V and N available for subsequent V rich fine particle precipitation in ferrite.


A research report submitted to the Faculty of Education, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1995.


ABSTRACT Detailed analysis of recent literature on glaucony and selected case studies (Eocene, Isle of Wight; Miocene, northern Apennines) shows that the presence of glaucony alone is not diagnostic of a specific systems tract of a depositional sequence. A reliable sequence stratigraphic interpretation of glaucony-bearing units requires additional information on glaucony, including: (1) spatial distribution, (2) maturity (distinction between nascent, slightly evolved, evolved, and highly evolved glaucony), and (3) genetic attributes (differentiation of autochtonous from allochthonous, and intrasequential from extrasequential glaucony). Autochthonous glaucony is common at various stratigraphic levels in the transgressive systems tract (TST) and the lower highstand systems tract (HST), showing an upward increase (TST) and then decrease (HST) in abundance and maturity. The condensed section can be distinguished from the overlying and underlying deposits by the higher concentration and maturity of glaucony. Allochthonous intrasequential (parautochthonous) glaucony can be present in the entire TST, HST, and lowstand systems tract (LST), generally showing lower concentration and maturity than its autochthonous counterpart. Allochthonous extrasequential (detrital) glaucony is present mainly in the LST, its concentration and composition depending on the characteristics of the source horizon. The associa ion between autochthonous and allochthonous (intrasequential and extrasequential) glaucony commonly exists in the LST and in the lower TST.


Electron impact ionization cross sections EIICS of 30 L-shell targets, with openand closed-shell configurations in the isoelectronic sequences ranging from Li to Ne, are evaluated using the generalized parameters of our recent modification of BELL formula MBELL Haque et al., Phys. Rev. A 73, 012708 2006 . Three sets of parameters, one each for the 1s, 2s, and 2p orbits, provide an excellent account of the experimental EIICS data of atomic targets, neutral and ionic, up to the atomic number Z=92 and incident energies up to about 250 MeV. In comparison with the quantum mechanical predictions, it is found that the present MBELL cross sections are in better agreement with the experimental results.


Strenuous exercise abruptly increases oxygen consumption aggravating oxidative stress by generation of free radicals. In healthy individuals, the antioxidant system defends tissues against free radical attack and superoxide dismutase (SOD) is one of the major antioxidant enzymes. Recently an effective oral preparation of SOD was developed and we evaluated its influence on exercise-related change of blood antioxidants and lactate. Forty -four healthy volunteers participated in this study and a daily dose of 1500 IU oral SOD (Glisodin®) was administered to each participant for 4 weeks. Before and after the 4 week SOD treatment, they performed the same quantity of acute cycling or treadmill exercise. Shortly before and after the exercise serum total antioxidant status (TAS), erythrocytic SOD, whole blood glutathione peroxidase (GPx), serum glutathione reductase (GR), and plasma lactate (Lac) of each participant were measured. Based on the degree of initial exercise-induced lactate increase, subjects were classified into severe exercise group (n=27) and moderate exercise group (n=17). After 4 week adminitration of oral SOD, baseline TAS and GR were significantly decreased (p<0.01) while SOD, GPx and Lac showed no significant change. In severe exercise group, s ignificant exercise-induced increases in TAS, SOD, GR and Lac were observed before SOD treatment (p<0.01). After 4 w eek SOD administration, this group showed significantly decreased amount of exercise-induced increases i n TAS, SOD (p<0.05) and Lac (p<0.01). These results suggest that exhausting exercise is responsible for a significant increase in blood TAS, SOD, GR and Lac and a 4-week administration of the newly developed oral SOD induces a significant change in oxidative status and a significant decrease in exercise-induced lactate release.


In this paper, I will argue that Lieber's (1992, 2004, 2005) theory of conversion as 'relisting' of lexical items meets several empirical problems in languages such as English, German and Dutch. We will show that conversion is subject to several grammatical constraints which is unexpected, if conversion would be a matter of relisting of lexical items. We will present an alternative in which conversion is considered to be an instantiation of derivation, and argue that the phonological, semantic and morphological constraints that pertain to conversion can be explained under this view. 0. Introduction Lieber in her chapter on English word-formation processes (Lieber 2005) gives an excellent overview of a huge literature on this subject. Commenting on such an overview could easily become a boring and rather uninteresting placing of footnotes. Moreover, putting oneself in such a commenting position could easily be misinterpreted as suggesting that one has a similar grasp of the literature. I would not dare to claim such a thing. Far from it. So, rather than risking the qualification 'boring', I would like to go for the qualification 'bold'. That is, I would like to go into the word-formation process of conversion (the fourth word-formation process discussed by Lieber), discuss the proposal by Lieber and present my own analysis as an alternative. The phenomenon of morphological conversion, also often referred to as zero-derivation or implicit transposition has received quite some attention in the literature (see a.o. Lieber 1981, Don 1993, Beard 1995). The general approach taken in the analyses of conversion is that it involves a base, which is lexically stored with its categorial information, and that this base can be used, either or not after some morphological zero-operation, in a different category. Some authors argue for a derivational relationship between the base and the derivative; others, most prominently Lieber (1981, 1992, 2004, 2005), argue for a 'relisting' analysis, which roughly entails that the same linguistic form is listed in the lexicon again, but with different categorial information than it originally (i.e. lexically) had. This analysis considers conversion not as a morphological, or even a grammatical process, but rather as the result of coinage, a process belonging to the domain of language use and involving pragmatic information. I have tried to catch this idea in a picture under (1). (1) Lieber's 'relisting':