Objective Variety of processes including circadian rhythm and systemic factors affect expression of many genes in skeletal muscle during a day. Therefore, post-exercise gene expression depends on many factors: contractile activity per seas well as circadian rhythm, nerve activity, concentration of different substances in blood, feeding and fasting. In our study, we investigated specific for contractile activity changes in the transcriptome in untrained and trained (after an aerobic training programme) human skeletal muscle. The second goal was to examine effect of aerobic training on gene expression in muscle in basal state.
Methods Seven untrained males performed the one-legged knee extension exercise (for 60 min) with the same relative intensity before and after a 2 month aerobic training programme (1 h/day, 5/week). Biopsy samples were taken at rest (basal state, 48 h after the previous exercise), 1 and 4 h after one-legged exercise from m. vastus lateralisof either leg. This approach allowed us to evaluate specific changes in the transcriptome associated with contractile activity. RNAsequencing (84 samples in total; ~42 million reads/sample) was performed by HiSeq 2500 (Illumina).
Results Two months aerobic training increased the aerobic capacity of the knee-extensor muscles (power at anaerobic threshold in incremental one-legged and cycling tests), the maximum rate of ADP-stimulated mitochondrial respiration in permeabilized muscle fibres and amounts of oxidative phosphorylation proteins. After one-legged exercise, expression of many genes was changed in exercised muscle (~1500) as well as in non-exercised muscle (~400). Pronounced changes in gene expression in non-exercised muscle may be associated with many factors, including circadian rhythm (result of GO analysis).
To examine transcriptome changes specific for contractile activity, the difference in gene expression between legs was examined. In untrained muscle, one-legged exercise changed expression of ~1200 genes specific for contractile activity at each time point. Despite the same relative intensity of one-legged exercise, transcriptomic response in trained muscle was markedly lower (~300 genes) compare to untrained.
We observed a strong overlap between transcriptomic responses (~250 genes) and particularly between enriched transcription factor binding sites in promoters of these genes in untrained and trained muscles. These sets of genes and transcription factors play the key role in adaptation of muscle to contractile activity independently on the level of muscular fitness.
Surprisingly, 2 months aerobic training changed the expression of more than 1500 genes in basal state. Noteworthy, these genes demonstrated a small overlap (~200 genes) with genes related to specific response to acute exercise. Moreover, these genes were associated with significantly different biological processes than genes related to specific response to acute exercise.
Conclusions Specific for contractile activity changes in the transcriptome in untrained and trained human skeletal muscle were revealed for the first time. After 2 month aerobic training, the specific transcriptome response to acute exercise become much less pronounced. A computational approach reveals common transcription factors important for adaptation of both untrained and trained muscle. We found out that adaptation of muscle to aerobic training associates not only with the transitory changes in gene expression after each exercise, but also with the marked changes in transcriptome in basal state.
This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (141500768).


Heterogeneous ice freezing points of aqueous so- lutions containing various immersed solid dicarboxylic acids (oxalic, adipic, succinic, phthalic and fumaric) have been measured with a differential scanning calorimeter. The re- sults show that only the dihydrate of oxalic acid (OAD) acts as a heterogeneous ice nucleus, with an increase in freezing temperature between 2 and 5 K depending on solution com- position. In several field campaigns, oxalic acid enriched particles have been detected in the upper troposphere with single particle aerosol mass spectrometry. Simulations with a microphysical box model indicate that the presence of OAD may reduce the ice particle number density in cirrus clouds by up to 50% when compared to exclusively homogeneous cirrus formation without OAD. Using the ECHAM4 climate model we estimate the global net radiative effect caused by this heterogeneous freezing to result in a cooling as high as 0.3 Wm 2 .


The "Use and Abuse of Crop Simulation Models" special issue of Agronomy Journal published in 1996 ended with the myth of the universal crop model. Sinclair and Seligman consequently recommended tailoring models to specific problems. This paper reviews the fate of the idea of such ad hoc approaches to crop simulation modeling during the past 15 yr. Most crop modelers have since adhered to the principles formulated by Sinclair and Seligman, but yet their practice faces two major issues: (i) how to define the structure of the model as depending on the question to be addressed (model conceptualization) and (ii) how to minimize efforts in software development (model computerization). Progress in model conceptualization as reported in the literature concerns (i) inferring a conceptual model from what is known of the problem to address, (ii) deriving summary models from comprehensive ones, and (iii) using multivariate methods to analyze the hierarchy of drivers of variability in the variable to be predicted. Considerable effort has been invested in the development of frameworks to facilitate model computerization, and the commercial modeling software is constantly improving. But there are limits in the flexibility permitted by these tools. Acquiring basic skills in coding a model using a scientific programming language is preferred by scientists wishing to keep the fullest understanding and control on their crop models. Connecting the model to commercial database software may facilitate this strategy. However, the computerization issue may still lead to tensions between modeling teams concerning the legitimacy to develop their own model.


From the outset, Argentine cinema has played a significant role in the question of
argentinidad
. The historical account of how Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe settled in the Argentine interior and became Argentines rooted in the land has not escaped Argentine film. Although period films portray Jewish female characters as nation builders alongside their male counterparts, the study of Jewish women in Argentine cinema has received little scholarly attention. In an attempt to remedy that, this article shows that the examination of the Jewish female onscreen can shed light on the controversial question of
argentinidad
. It examines the representation of two cinematic Jewish women in the Jewish agricultural colonies of the north-eastern province of Entre Rios, Argentina, in the early twentieth century.
Through the analysis of Miriam's story in Juan Jose Jusid's
Los gauchos judios
 [The Jewish gauchos] (1975)
and Gertrudis'
s story in
Maria Victoria Menis'
s
La camara oscura
 [Camera obscura] (2008), the article argues that Argentine cinema advocates the acculturation of the Jewish woman in Argentine society, and asserts that national cinema is on the side of the integration of different ethnicities as a desirable development for Argentine society. However, the stories of these women demonstrate that integration provokes a clash between tradition and assimilation. Placing the Jewish woman at the centre of the study reveals that these women have to break with their identity groups in order to integrate into their host country, a process that comes at a considerable cost.
The article concludes that these cinematic females' agency
 mirrors the proactive roles which Jewish women have had in building their host nation, and thereby,
argentinidad.


The internationalization is an important strategy for small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) that want to expand their business in
foreign markets. Franchising, as a strategy of internationalization of
SMEs, is still insufficiently researched topic, especially in the
Republic of Serbia. Therefore, the main aim of the research is
ТНОntТПТМatТon oП tСО sТtuatТon anН opportunТtТОs Пor SMEs'
internationalization and the implementation of franchising as one of
the internationalization strategies.
After defining the theoretical framework, the empirical research was
conducted, with the aim of contributing to the understanding and
encouragement of franchising as the strategy of internationalization of
SMEs in the Republic of Serbia. The empirical verification of defined
hypothesis was performed by statistical analysis of primary data
collected through on-line questionnaires. The implementation period
of the field research was from May to July 2016. The research was
focused on franchise SMEs in the Republic of Serbia. The realization
of sample was 32 franchise SMEs. Hypothesis testing was conducted
using a set of statistical methods.
The research results indicate that franchise SMEs in the Republic of
Serbia implement franchising less frequent than other
internationalization strategies. In addition, the results show that
internal and external factors, and factors from the domain of modern
ICT and the Internet can have an impact on the implementation of
franchising as a strategy of internationalization. In the final, the
results indicate the existence of differences in the size and character
of the impact of certain internal and external factors between the
franchise SMEs which implement franchising and franchise SMEs
which implement other strategies of internationalization.
After analyzing the obtained results, the relevant recommendations
are given in terms of raising awareness of SME owners about the
benefits of franchising as a strategy of internationalization and
promoting the franchising as a business concept. The practical
implications of the research are related to the recommendations for
greater institutional support for existing franchise SMEs and SMEs
that are planning to develop its franchise system in the future.


The syntheses and properties of four magnetically-supramolecular oligomers of triangular Mn3 units are reported: dimeric [Mn6O2(O2CMe)8(CH3OH)2(pdpd)2] (3) and [Mn6O2(O2CMe)8(py)2(pdpd)2](ClO4)2 (4), and tetrameric [Mn12O4(O2CR)12(pdpd)6](ClO4)4 (R = Me (5), tBu (6)). They were all obtained employing 3-phenyl-1,5-di(pyridin-2-yl)pentane-1,5-dione dioxime (pdpdH2), either in direct synthesis reactions involving oxidation of MnII salts or in metathesis reactions with the preformed complex [Mn3O(O2CMe)6(py)3](ClO4) (1); complex 6 was then obtained by carboxylate substitution on complex 5. Complexes 3 and 4 contain two [MnIII2MnII(μ3-O)]6+ and [MnIII3(μ3-O)]7+ units, respectively, linked by two pdpd2− groups. Complexes 5 and 6 contain four [MnIII3(μ3-O)]7+ units linked by six pdpd2− groups into a rectangular tetramer [MnIII3]4. Solid-state dc magnetic susceptibility studies showed that the Mn3 subunits in 3 and 4 have a ground-state spin of S = 3/2 and S = 2, respectively, while the Mn3 subunits in 5 and 6 possess an S = 6 ground state. Complexes 5 and 6 exhibit frequency-dependent out-of-phase (χ′′M) ac susceptibility signals indicating 5 and 6 to be tetramers of Mn3 single-molecule magnets (SMMs). High-frequency EPR studies of a microcrystalline powder sample of 5·2CH2Cl2 provided precise spin Hamiltonian parameters of D = −0.33 cm−1, |E| = 0.03 cm−1, B04 = −8.0 × 10−5 cm−1, and g = 2.0. Magnetization vs. dc field sweeps on a single crystal of 5·xCH2Cl2 gave hysteresis loops below 1 K that exhibit exchange-biased quantum tunneling of magnetization (QTM) steps with a bias field of 0.19 T. Simulation of the loops determined that each Mn3 unit is exchange-coupled to the two neighbors linked to it by the pdpd2− linkers, with an antiferromagnetic inter-Mn3 exchange interaction of J/kB = −0.011 K (Ĥ = −2JŜi·Ŝj convention). The work demonstrates a rational approach to synthesizing magnetically-supramolecular aggregates of SMMs as potential multi-qubit systems for quantum computing.


Previous research with female athletes has yielded equivocal findings when comparing disordered eating rates to nonathlete populations, but the rates differ for athletes in leanness and nonleanness sports (Sherman & Thompson, 2009). The purpose of the current study was to develop a measure to assess sport-specific weight pressures for female athletes. Secondly, this study identified frequencies of weight, size, and appearance pressures across sports. Participants (N =204) were female Division I athletes from three universities who represented 17 sports. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a 4-factor solution for the 16-item Weight Pressures in Sport for Females (WPS-F) scale with strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.90). The most frequently reported pressures among female college athletes were teammates (36.8%), uniform (34.3%), and coach (33.8%). These findings are discussed in comparison with previous research along with clinical and research implications for using the WPS-F in sport psych...


Received: 30 April 2008 Revised: 12 February 2009 Accepted: 21 February 2009 Online publication date: 9 July 2009 Abstract In recent years, venture capital firms have increasingly turned to foreign countries in search of investment opportunities. The cross-border expansion of venture capital firms presents an interesting case of internationalization, because they are at variance with both conventional portfolio and direct investment models. Given the specific nature of venture capital investing, a new theoretical perspective is needed to understand foreign venture capital investments. This paper contributes to international business research by examining the features of the institutional environment that influence venture capital firms' foreign market entry decisions, and how their effect changes as firms acquire experience. We report results on 216 American venture capital firms potentially investing in 95 countries during the 1990–2002 period. We find that venture capital firms invest in host countries characterized by technological, legal, financial, and political institutions that create innovative opportunities, protect investors' rights, facilitate exit, and guarantee regulatory stability, respectively. We also find that as firms gain more international experience, they are more likely to overcome constraints related to these institutions. Journal of International Business Studies (2010) 41, 185–205. doi:10.1057/jibs.2009.35


Volume 6A Welding Fundamentals and Processesis a focused revision of the welding process information in the 1993 Vol. 6 Welding, Brazing, and Soldering. The new volume expands on the fundamental principles of welding, including heat transfer, solidification, residual stress and distortion, and has an all-new section on modeling and simulation of welding processes. Articles cover all welding processes, from the workhorse methods of arc and resistance welding, to newer methods like friction stir welding and laser beam welding, to specialty methods like explosive welding and ultrasonic welding. One-third of the articles are all-new, and welding articles from the 1993 edition have been updated and expanded, making this volume the most complete reference source anywhere on welding fundamentals and processes. All articles are expert-written and peer reviewed. From theory to practice, the book is a comprehensive resource for evaluating and selecting welding methods, working with vendors, understanding how processing variables affect welding outcomes, and more. Because welding is used across a broad range of industries, materials, and applications, this book will be valuable to plant and construction engineers, welding practitioners, managers, sales professionals, professors, students, welding artists, and hobbyists.


Should the Supreme Court have the last word when it comes to interpreting the Constitution? The justices on the Supreme Court certainly seem to think so - and their critics say that this position threatens democracy. But Keith Whittington argues that the Court's justices have not simply seized power and circumvented politics. The justices have had power thrust upon them - by politicians, for the benefit of politicians. In this sweeping political history of judicial supremacy in America, Whittington shows that presidents and political leaders of all stripes have worked to put the Court on a pedestal and have encouraged its justices to accept the role of ultimate interpreters of the Constitution. Whittington examines why presidents have often found judicial supremacy to be in their best interest, why they have rarely assumed responsibility for interpreting the Constitution, and why constitutional leadership has often been passed to the courts. The unprecedented assertiveness of the Rehnquist Court in striking down acts of Congress is only the most recent example of a development that began with the founding generation itself. Presidential bids for constitutional leadership have been rare, but reflect the temporary political advantage in doing so. Far more often, presidents have cooperated in increasing the Court's power and encouraging its activism. Challenging the conventional wisdom that judges have usurped democracy, Whittington shows that judicial supremacy is the product of democratic politics.


J. D. Salinger was an author in 1951 when he published The Catcher in the Rye. Is he one now? Was Henry Roth an author during the sixty years that separated Call It Sleep, his literary debut, from his second novel, Mercy of a Rude Stream? To show us how silence can be produced and consumed as a literary text, Myles Weber takes a provocative look at four revered authors who battled writer's block or simply ceased publishing. The careers of Tillie Olsen, Henry Roth, J. D. Salinger, and Ralph Ellison suggest that an unproductive twentieth-century author could command serious critical attention and remain a literary celebrity by offering the public volumes of silence, which became read and admired like any other text. Weber sees periods of nonpublication as texts that are consumed by the literary public - and sometimes produced deliberately by inactive writers and their handlers. However, his aim is not to criticize individual authors but to reveal connections between literature as a commodity and authorship as a profession. As Weber looks at the particular circumstances of each author's silence, he brings to them an understanding of such topics as the cult of celebrity, intellectual property law, the complicity of the media and the academy in engendering and then maintaining an author's silence, and mass production and distribution. By helping us to look in new ways at authorial silence not just as a biographical fact or a creative problem but also as a marketing opportunity, Consuming Silences injects energy into debates about the nature of literary production and the cultural place of authors who do not publish.


The electron liquid paradigm is at the basis of most of our current understanding of the physical properties of electronic systems. Quite remarkably, the latter are nowadays at the intersection of the most exciting areas of science: materials science, quantum chemistry, nano-electronics, biology, and quantum computation. Accordingly, its importance can hardly be overestimated. During the past 20 years the field has witnessed momentous developments, which are partly covered in this new volume. Advances in semiconductor technology have allowed the realizations of ultra-pure electron liquids whose density, unlike that of the ones spontaneously occurring in nature, can be tuned by electrical means, allowing a systematic exploration of both strongly and weakly correlated regimes. Most of these system are two- or even one-dimensional, and can be coupled together in the form of multi-layers or multi-wires, opening vast observational possibilities. On the theoretical side, quantum Monte Carlo methods have allowed an essentially exact determination of the ground-state energy of the electron liquid, and have provided partial answers to the still open question of the structure of its phase diagram. Starting from the 1980s some truly revolutionary concepts have emerged, which are well represented in this volume.


This volume provides a global vision of the art of Africa through a host of colourful images of the finest known objects from the continent's cultural heritage. It examines African art geographically in a "grand tour" that divides the continent into seven areas. Beginning with ancient Egypt and Nubia, it moves down the eastern coast through Ethiopia and the Sudan - including the island of Madagascar - to Southern Africa, then up through the Congo and Central Africa to the Guinea Coast and the countries of the Sahara. Finally, it moves to North Africa, before returning to Egypt in its later Christian and Islamic periods. Within each of these seven chapters, objects are illustrated in chronological order, demonstrating the extraordinary range of styles inspired by different religions and cultures realized in a variety of materials from dung to gold. The artifacts comprise ornaments and jewellery, textiles, snuff bottles, Tutsi basketry from Rwanda, and sculpture, including the finest bronzes, terracottas and wood carvings from all periods. The book details the archaeological, historical and cultural background of every illustrated object and relates individual pieces to the people who made them. From ancient Egypt comes the Battleground Palette from 5000 B.C. This ceremonial palette depicts a battle on one side and an elegantly carved scene of grazing animals on the other. The book pictures a lyre from the southern Sudan that is over three feet high and profusely decorated with coins, beads, and shells. Also included is the oldest human artifact found on Earth - a handmade stone tool 1.6 million years old from Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. If the scope of the book spans a whole continent, the source of the objects is transcontinental. Works of art from the finest public and private collections in Europe, America and the rest of the world are juxtaposed with the best from Africa itself. This book is published to coincide with "Africa 95", the first nationwide celebration of the arts of Africa ever to be held in Great Britain. Patrons of "Africa 95" are Her Majesty The Queen, President Nelson Mandela, and President Leopold Sedar Senghor. As the birthplace of the human race, Africa has a cultural history of unparalleled length; the book reflects this vast time span and the diversity of the art of the continent. Contributors to this book include Tom Phillips, John Mack, Anthony Appiah, Daniel Biebuyck, Rene Bravmann, Patricia Davison, Nadia Erzini, Peter Garlake, John Picton, Edna R. Russman, Wole Soyinka, Laslo Torok, Rachel Ward and Cornel West.


A new regulation has been proposed that would lower the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water from the current standard of 50 ppb. Therefore, research into effective arsenic removal treatment is important, especially for hard to treat waters with high concentrations of silica. The first phase of research was designed to determine if sand ballasted coagulation is a viable means of removing arsenic from drinking water, and if so, to identify the water qualities in which the technology performs best. A jar test protocol was developed and tested on a wide range of waters to compare microsand ballasted coagulation and other coagulation based treatment processes in terms of arsenic removal. Secondary impacts of the microsand process such as residual turbidity, iron, posttreatment membrane filter run length, and TOC removal were also considered as part of this evaluation. Microsand ballasted coagulation provided promising results for many of the simulated groundwater test conditions in which more than 80% of the arsenic regulation costs will be incurred. However, like conventional coagulation/sedimentation, microsand ballasted coagulation performed poorly in waters with high silica and high pH. Thereafter, a second phase of research more closely examined the kinetic behavior of arsenic sorption to amorphous and granular oxides in the presence of silica and calcium. At pH 8.5, calcium dramatically improved arsenic sorption to amorphous iron hydroxide in the presence of silica over short reaction times, but had no long-term advantage. This result could have considerable applications for treatment in that it suggests water quality controls the required reaction times. Additionally, batch tests indicated that activated alumina granular media was more sensitive to water quality than granular ferric hydroxide; however, calcium eliminated silica interference to arsenic sorption onto activated alumina.


From farm to table, multidisciplinary research is needed to improve the economic benefit of food production in the developing world. Food value chains (FVCs) comprise all activities required to bring farm products to consumers, including agricultural production, processing, storage, marketing, distribution, and consumption. FVCs are changing rapidly in developing countries (DCs), because of population and income growth; urbanization; and the expansion, globally and domestically, of modern food retailing, distribution, and wholesaling firms (1, 2). One such change is that consumers and regulators increasingly demand product-specific characteristics beyond price—including nutrient content; food safety certification; and indicators of impacts on natural resources, greenhouse gas emissions, and farmworkers. To accommodate these multidimensional demands, regulators and firms are developing new multiattribute product labeling and production standards. We outline below ways in which scientists must integrate existing disciplinary evidence into rigorous models and must develop measures and methods to evaluate the multidimensional performance of FVCs.


Attending to an object can strongly modulate the neural processing of this object. Using average EEG, it was shown that small differences in the focus of attention yield large and long lasting changes in brain dynamics (Plomp et al, 2009). Here, we show that these changes can successfully be decoded on the single-trial level by combining Fisher linear discriminant (FLD) analysis with principal component analysis (PCA). We presented two expanding streams of lines originating at one central element. In each trial, a cue indicated to which stream observers had to attend. The last elements of the two streams were only half a degree of visual angle apart from each other, so that the attention shift was within a quarter degree. Still, we could decode the focus of attention (left or right stream attended) with an average precision of 72% (ranging from 57% to 84% depending on observer). For classifiers based on single time points of the data, highest precision was obtained between 100 and 150 ms after stimulus onset. Because the stimulus was identical in both cueing conditions, we show that it is possible to decode internally generated attention signals from single-trial EEG.


Cold expanding holes in metal components is widely used throughout the aerospace industry to extend fatigue life and damage tolerance. The beneficial residual stresses induced by hole cold expansion arrest or significantly retard the growth of fatigue cracks, and in doing so make fatigue or crack growth life prediction more difficult. Under low stress level/high cycle fatigue testing, residual compressive stresses have been shown to increase the fatigue strength of the material leading to an "infinite life" and consequent "run-out" of test coupons at the test hole or changing the location of failure away from the test hole. While advantageous to aircraft operators, it makes statistical life prediction difficult because the incomplete data have to be censored, leading to a knock-down of the beneficial life attained. Conversely, increasing stress levels toward material yield stress; life improvement factors are more definitive and tend toward unity. This paper reviews the derivation of residual stresses induced by hole cold expansion and discusses benefits to the structure/test coupon and how the residual stress field impacts fatigue life and damage tolerance/durability under cyclic load conditions. Challenges observed when testing coupons that have been processed using hole cold expansion including modification of the crack behavior and its effect on material microstructure, relocation of crack initiation, dynamics of the redistribution of stress and the crack growth mechanism as well as scatter of results, are also discussed with a focus on aluminum materials.


This study examined the relationship between mental toughness and failure attributions in high level swimmers. Participants were 80, (Mage=21.64, S.D: 4.96 years) regional and national level swimmers who were currently competing. Participants were asked to recall a perceived failure in the previous four weeks, fill in the controllability, stability, globality and universality attribution measure (CSGU) and eight weeks later complete the mental toughness questionnaire-48 (MTQ48). Multiple regression analysis found a significant effect of mental toughness and stability on controllability (ΔR2 = 0.042, p = 0.021) when the generalizability dimensions were added to the model. Separate multiple regression analysis for both genders, revealed that males mental toughness and stability predicted controllability (ΔR2 = 0.200, p = 0.029) compared to females mental toughness and universality (ΔR2 = 0.080, p = 0.027) predicting controllability. In conclusion the present study found evidence for mental toughness predicting controllability attributions following competitive failure for a group of high level male and female swimmers. Gender differences were found in how the generalizability attributions predicting controllability. Findings are discussed in terms of mental toughness and the generalizability dimensions predicting controllability attributions in response to competitive failure and suggestions to examine the relationship further.


How should scholars approach the study of the developmental uses of rural radio? What is the theoretical framework within which to locate the study of rural radio formats employed as development communication? To answer these questions, this brief critique develops a theoretical matrix to be used as an analytical framework for positioning any discussion of rural radio as a development communication pathway. Building on rural radio case studies from the world over, the discussion propounds three trajectories encompassing linear-external, shared-bottom up and self-bottom up approaches, which formulate a matrix for understanding the use of rural radio in development.


Rapid advances in communication and information technologies have made available the clinical data of diverse ethnic and cultural populations around the world, lending them clinical relevance in neurology practice. Despite the growing need to understand clinical and epidemiological differences among various populations, competition among journals to increase citation and impact factor has hindered the publication of diverse regional data, which usually lags behind the publication of novel findings. As its aim and scope, the Journal of Movement Disorders is interested in publishing clinical studies of Parkinson's disease and other movement and neurodegenerative disorders in Asian-Oceanian populations. It is our mission to serve as a platform to broaden the knowledge of these fields and to enhance patient care by sharing clinical and epidemiological data from various regions with the global health care community. An article reporting the genotypes and phenotypes of Korean patients affected by neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA), published in the current issue, is of interest in this regard. NBIA is a group of inherited disorders that share clinical features such as extrapyramidal movement disorders, varying degrees of intellectual disability, and abnormal iron deposition in the basal ganglia [1]. At present, causative genes for ten forms of NBIA have been identified. Lee et al. [2] analyzed genetically confirmed cases of NBIA from 12 referral hospitals in Korea and reported clinical findings for patients with atypical pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN). The data of Korean patients with atypical PKAN differ from those of the Caucasian population in terms of clinical manifestations and mutation hot spots. These researchers found considerable phenotypic heterogeneity ranging from isolated freezing of the gait to generalized dystonia with concurrent parkinsonism. The age of onset tended to affect the presentation of extrapyramidal symptoms in atypical PKAN.

Translational research transfers knowledge from basic research to clinical research, and transfers findings from clinical studies or clinical trials to practice settings and communities, with the goal of improving health [3]. In this issue, Journal of Movement Disorders is launching a new section entitled "Translational Research Review". This section will cover current translational research on interesting topics in Parkinson's disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Diverse new disciplines in clinical neurology and neuroscience such as molecular neuroimaging, magnetic resonance imaging techniques, bioinformatics, and systems biology will also be covered. In this issue, Lee and Lee [4] provide an article entitled "The mechanism of anti-α-synuclein immunotherapy". This article provides up-to-date information regarding our pathogenic and therapeutic understanding of α-synuclein.

Over the past two years, the editorial team at Journal of Movement Disorders has tried improve the quality and stature of the publication. One of our missions is to make our articles readily available worldwide free of charge. Pursuing this mission has been expedited by indexing the Journal of Movement Disorders in PubMed Central. As a result, the citation of articles published in our journal has been on the rise. Moreover, our policy of maintaining an open access journal without article processing fees or page charges will facilitate the dissemination of knowledge published in the Journal of Movement Disorders. Our efforts to index the Journal of Movement Disorders in other journal databases, such as SCOPUS and Web of Science, are ongoing.

We would like to thank our sponsoring organization, the Korean Movement Disorders Society, for providing financial support to continue pursuing our mission. We hope that readers of the Journal of Movement Disorders find our articles informative and valuable.


Using information on a panel of multinational firms operating in the United Kingdom from 1996 to 2005, we find that labour demand in domestic multinationals is less sensitive to own labour costs changes than in foreign multinationals. This difference in wage elasticity of labour demand persists even if we allow for a distinct labour elasticity in multinational firms according to their level of skill intensity or their intangible assets. This suggests that the provision of headquarter services in domestic multinational firms shields against strong fluctuations in labour demand. In terms of labour demand elasticity reduction, the estimated shielding role of headquarter services is about 40 percent.


The Flood Estimation Handbook (FEH) was published in 1999 and has effectively become the national standard for flood frequency estimation in the UK. The FEH, which encompasses a suite of methods for statistical frequency analysis of rainfall and floods, was innovative both in its use of digital catchment information and in the way that data from a number of sites can be pooled together to improve the quality of estimates at gauged and ungauged sites. The major benefits of the FEH have been seen in improved risk management and policy implementation, and have had a considerable impact on the UK economy.

This paper considers each of the three key components of the FEH, the rainfall frequency model, the statistical approach to flood frequency estimation and the rainfall-runoff method, and describes how recent and ongoing research is leading to methodological improvements. In the case of rainfall frequency, research related to reservoir safety assessment funded by Defra is currently revising the FEH depth-duration-frequency model for return periods of 100 to over 10,000 years. An Environment Agency-funded project to update the FEH statistical flood frequency procedures has built on theoretical developments together with the availability of flood peak data from HiFlows-UK, resulting in substantial improvements to the predictive capability of the method. Finally, the rainfall-runoff method, which was originally developed as part of the 1975 Flood Studies Report, has been replaced by the ReFH model for design hydrograph analysis.

Other related aspects of the FEH are also being explored, for example the development of new flood risk maps based on the revised methods together with high resolution digital terrain models. Current research is focusing on comparisons with the results of so-called next generation methods based on a continuous simulation approach.

An important aspect of the development of FEH methods is putting the theory into practice and the paper highlights how this is being managed through the development of new FEH software products, as well as allowing the algorithms to be implemented within other widely used packages.

While some key improvements have been made to the existing methods, a number of challenges remain, particularly to improve flood estimation in urban areas and in permeable catchments. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly urgent to consider the likely impacts of climate change on flood and rainfall frequency in the UK and to develop new methods for frequency estimation in a non-stationary environment.


Humans resolve the spatial alignment between two visual stimuli at a resolution that is substantially finer than the spacing between the foveal cones. In this paper, we analyze the factors that limit the information at the cone photoreceptors that is available to make these acuity judgments (Vernier acuity). We use open-source software, ISETBIO1 to quantify the stimulus and encoding stages in the front-end of the human visual system, starting with a description of the stimulus spectral radiance and a computational model that includes the physiological optics, inert ocular pigments, eye movements, photoreceptor sampling and absorptions. The simulations suggest that the visual system extracts the information available within the spatiotemporal pattern of photoreceptor absorptions within a small spatial (0.12 deg) and temporal (200 ms) regime. At typical display luminance levels, the variance arising from the Poisson absorptions and small eye movements (tremors and microsaccades) both appear to be critical limiting factors for Vernier acuity.


Grateful patient fundraising, defined as the solicitation of philanthropic donations by health care providers from current and former patients, raises a number of legal and ethical issues. Elsewhere, I detailed the confidentiality issues raised by the use and disclosure of patient identifiable information by hospital development officers, major gifts officers, institutionally-related foundations, and commercial fundraisers, and proposed corrections to federal health information confidentiality regulations to better balance the competing aims of health care philanthropy and health information confidentiality.2 In this Article, I analyze several outstanding issues raised by physician involvement in grateful patient fundraising. That is, physicians who solicit philanthropic donations from their own patients risk conflicted health care decision making, health care resource allocation injustices, financial exploitation, and breach of privacy. To lessen these risks, this Article proposes new ethical guidelines governing physician involvement in grateful patient fundraising. This Article is also the first piece of legal scholarship to identify and reconcile two bioethical catch-22s associated with grateful patient fundraising.


For various reasons a number of discoveries in the field of Southern African malacology has now reached a point where there is no need for further delay in publication. In the course of a long term project, the revision of the Streptaxidae of Southern Africa, three new taxa have come to light which are described below. Mr. C. C. Appleton (Bilharzia Research Unit, Nelspruit, South Africa) during an extended period of research in Tongaland (NE. Zululand, South Africa) has found a remarkable new form of the genus Gulella L. Pfeiffer, 1856. This is seemingly closely related to a recently described extinct species from Aldabra Island in the western Indian Ocean (Van Bruggen, 1975). It is an unfortunate consequence of the rules of zoological nomenclature that the extinct form on Aldabra, G. p. peakei Van Bruggen, 1975, is the nominate subspecies, while the extant, continental form, G. p. continentalis n. subsp., undoubtedly the ancestor of the island subspecies, now has to be described as a subspecies of the island form instead of the other way round. It is convenient to add the description of two new species of Gulella as it is unlikely that further material of these will be forthcoming in the near future. One of the species was already discovered in the Transvaal in 1966 by the present author, but the availability of only two specimens of this otherwise quite distinct species was the reason for delay here. The second species is another discovery in Tongaland by Mr. Appleton and, although founded on a singleton, was deemed sufficiently characteristic to warrant description. This has become necessary in view of the preparation of a forthcoming joint paper with Mr. Appleton on the terrestrial molluscs of


In this paper, the relationship between the in-degree and out-degree of World-Wide Web is studies. At each time step, a new node with out-degree kout is added, where kout obeys the power-law distribution and its mean value is m. The analytical and simulation results suggest that the exponent of in-degree distribution would be ?i=2+1/m, depending on the average out-degree. This finding is supported by the empirical data, which has not been emphasized by the previous studies on directed networks.


How we know what we know is complex and multifaceted. In both the humanities and sciences there are instances where the objective and subjective overlap and sometimes merge. This is the terrain of my research. My thesis employs Gaston Bachelard's phenomenology and philosophies of the imagination to investigate the material, poetic and dynamic imaginations as they relate to the sciences, the visual arts and specifically to my work and practice as a visual artist. I argue that the seemingly paradoxical blending of the objective and the subjective, the two ways of knowing, creates a dynamic space that allows for innovative contemplation, reflection, and deeper understanding. The strictly rational generation of scientific knowledge is often initiated out of human curiosity and the capacity to imagine, wonder and formulate interesting questions. By attending to the material reality of the world, poeticized and dynamic images can reveal themselves, providing opportunity for insight and an alignment with the spiritual function of the human imagination and will. In this body of work, I argue that art, like poems, function as phenomenological agents having the potential to activate the human imagination, the creative impulse and a revelatory connection with both life and the material world. The human imagination uses tools such as poetry and the arts to point to that which is beyond the realm of definable knowledge or to give voice to ideas that are beyond the current capacity of human understanding. The ideas and images in my body of work are informed by the reflection on and investigation of the nature of consciousness and contemplation of experiences present in acts of consciousness including everyday experiences as well as reveries, imagination, oneiric experiences and the recognition of patterns. An investigation of the impact of Bachelard's phenomenology and philosophies of the imagination on diverse fields of inquiry will provide a better understanding and deeper appreciation for his influence on the visual arts and in particular my own practice as an artist. Bachelard's essays on painters and sculptors from his vast writings including his book The Right to Dream, describe the phenomenological aspect of the creative processes of specific artist. Reason and imagination both determine how we perceive reality and while the sciences and arts are vastly distinct from one another in method and construct they are both distinctly human endeavors. The human experience is itself both objective and subjective in nature. Bachelard's deep respect for the pre-perceptive nature of the image, and the dynamic function of the human imagination apply to both rational and subjective endeavors. Bachelard's philosophy of the imagination is a phenomenologically based methodology that intersects and expands the potential of both ways of knowing.


The article is one of this year's Meador Lectures, which were dedicated to Rationality. Its central thesis is that a central but somewhat unnoticed feature of both rationality and the legal system is the struggle to tame complexity. Indeed, the struggle to tame complexity may be one of the most general explanatory features of the legal system. As I will attempt to show, viewing the legal system through such a lens is clarifying in a large number of way; the taming of complexity is a unifying perspective that uncovers similarities in otherwise disparate phenomena. Viewed from such a perspective, for example, the law's difficulty with both questions of law and questions of fact come into better focus. The taming of complexity explains more aspects of the trial of disputes specifically, and dispute resolution more generally, than any other hypothesis, as it also enlightens disparate practical and philosophical debates about the meaning of law, the significance of discretion, and even sheds light on perennial issues such as the distinction between rules and standards or rules and principles.


When circularly polarized light interacts with chiral molecules or nanoscale particles powerful symmetry principles determine the possibility of achieving chiral discrimination, and the detailed form of electrodynamic mechanisms dictate the types of interaction that can be involved. The optical trapping of molecules and nanoscale particles can be described in terms of a forward-Rayleigh scattering mechanism, with trapping forces being dependent on the positioning within the commonly non-uniform intensity beam profile. In such a scheme, nanoparticles are commonly attracted to local potential energy minima, ordinarily towards the centre of the beam. For achiral particles the pertinent material response property usually entails an electronic polarizability involving transition electric dipole moments. However, in the case of chiral molecules, additional effects arise through the engagement of magnetic counterpart transition dipoles. It emerges that, when circularly polarized light is used for the trapping, a discriminatory response can be identified between left- and right-handed polarizations. Developing a quantum framework to accurately describe this phenomenon, with a tensor formulation to correctly represent the relevant molecular properties, the theory leads to exact analytical expressions for the associated energy landscape contributions. Specific results are identified for liquids and solutions, both for isotropic media and also where partial alignment arises due to a static electric field. The paper concludes with a pragmatic analysis of the scope for achieving enantiomer separation by such methods.


Mixed surfactants of SDS-SCA at weight ratio of 2:3 in SDS-SCAI
CJI130HlH20 system gives the largest inverse micelle region. This system is used
for further construction of the wlo microemulsion phase diagram where n-decane is
added into the system The SDS-SCA-CJI130HlCuJlnlH20 system shows a larger
w/o microemulsion region than the pure surfactants in surfactant/l-hexanollndecane/
water system Maximum water solubility is found at 65.0 weight percent of
n-decane and 35.0 weight percent of SDS-SCA-CJI130H. Polymers, mPEG2,000
and PEG8,000 are then added into the line above in the solution. The SDS-SCACJI130H-
CIOH221H20/mPEG2,000 system is observed to have a bigger isotropic
region than the SDS-SCA-CJI130H-CIOH2 20IPEG8,000 system These two systems are sensitive to temperature where the isotropic region change dramatically
as temperature is increased.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is used to detect the interaction and the degree
of freedom of the molecules in the isotropic solution which consist of SDS, SCA,
CJI130H, ClOH22 aDd H20. This instrument is able to detect the formation of the
inverse micelle and the w/o microemulsion in the SDS-SCAlCJI130HlH20 and
SDS-SCA-CJI130HlClOH2:zIH20 systems. The only interaction between the
molecules are found in the SDS- SCA-CJI130H-Cl(JI2:zIH20ItnPEG2,OOO and the
SDS- SCA-CJI130H-C1oH221H20fPEG8,OOO systems. The viscosity of the solution confirms that the inverse micelle and the w/o
microemulsion are formed m the SDS-SCAlCJI130HlH20 and
SDS-SCA-CJI130HlCloH..20 systems. It is observed that the aggregations are
not geometrically packed together. The presence of the polymers, mPEG2,OOO and
PEG8,OOO in the SDS-SCA-CJI130HlC1oH2:zIH20 system can break the w/o
microemulsion.


An animal health monitoring system for monitoring the physiological parameters, such as rumination, body temperature, and heart rate with surrounding temperature and humidity, has been developed. The developed system can also analyze the stress level corresponding to thermal humidity index. The IEEE802.15.4 and IEEE1451.2 standards-based sensor module has been developed successfully. The Zigbee device and PIC18F4550 microcontroller are used in the implementation of sensor module. The graphical user interface (GUI) is implemented in LabVIEW 9 according to the IEEE1451.1 standard. The real-time monitoring of physiological and behavioral parameters can be present on the GUI PC. The device is very helpful for inexpensive health care of livestock. A prototype model is developed and tested with high accuracy results.


ABSTRACT Agnostid trilobites are relatively abundant and taxonomically diverse in outer shelf facies of the Yangtze Platform and Jiangnan Transitional Belt regions of the South China Plate. Nine Arenig and Llanvirn species, representing at least five genera or subgenera in the Agnostidae, Diplagnostidae and Metagnostidae, are treated in a taxonomic review of the South Chinese Agnostida, based on new material from the Dawan and Kuniutan formations of W Hubei and the Zitai and Jiuxi formations of N Hunan. The new genus Han is established to incorporate the globally youngest known diplagnostid species. The new species Han solo, Geragnostus (Geragnostus) balanolobus and G. (G.) waldorfstatleri are established. G. carinatus is recognised as being based on inaccurately interpreted material, and is only tentatively retained within Geragnostus. Three further taxa represented by poorly preserved material are left in open nomenclature. The geographic distributions of different agnostid species across the South China Plate, and the endemicity to the palaeoplate displayed by all Arenig–Llanvirn South Chinese species, suggest that these agnostids at least were either benthic or epibenthic.


By enabling connections between individuals, Social Networking Sites, such as Facebook, promise to create significant individual as well as social value. Encouraging connections between users is also crucial for service providers who increasingly rely on social advertising and viral marketing campaigns as important sources of their revenue. Consequently, understanding user's network construction behavior becomes critical. However, previous studies offer only few scattered insights into this research question. In order to fill this gap, we employ Grounded Theory methodology to derive a comprehensive model of network construction behavior on social networking sites. In the following step we assess two Structural Equation Models to gain refined insights into the motivation to send and accept friendship requests – two network expansion strategies. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations for social network providers.


Pisum sativum (Family: Fabaceae), as known as green pea or garden pea, has long been important in diet due to its content of fiber, protein, starch, trace elements, and many phytochemical substances. It has been shown to possess antibacterial, antidiabetic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antihypercholesterolemia, and antioxidant activities and also shown anticancer property. Its nonnutritive biologically active components include alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, isoflavones, phenols, phytosterols, phytic acid, protease inhibitors, saponins, and tannins. This plant is rich in apigenin, hydroxybenzoic, hydroxycinnamic, luteolin, and quercetin, all of which have been reported to contribute to its remedial properties including anticarcinogenesis property. Based on established literature on the anticancer property of P. sativum and possible mode of action, this review article has focused to demonstrate that P. sativum could be further explored for the development of anticancer treatment.


Introduces a computation model for developing and analyzing parallel algorithms on distributed memory machines. The model allows the design of algorithms using a single address space and does not assume any particular interconnection topology. We capture performance by incorporating a cost measure for interprocessor communication induced by remote memory accesses. The cost measure includes parameters reflecting memory latency, communication bandwidth, and spatial locality. Our model allows the initial placement of the input data and pipelined prefetching. We use our model to develop parallel algorithms for various data rearrangement problems, load balancing, sorting, FFT, and matrix multiplication. We show that most of these algorithms achieve optimal or near optimal communication complexity while simultaneously guaranteeing an optimal speed-up in computational complexity.<<ETX>>


1 Introduction Research methods dealing with textual data (Krippendorf 2004; Roberts 2000) enjoy increasing popularity in the field of political science research. Both the magnitude of quantitative (see for instance King/Lowe 2003; Klingemann et al. 2006; Laver et al. 2003) and qualitative methods (see for instance Fairclough 2003; Keller et al. 2008; Wodak/Krzyzanowski 2008; Wodak 2009) applied to the analysis of political text and their scope of application have been mounting in recent years. While this is especially the case with regard to the inquiry into political claims (claims analysis, Gerhards et al. 2007; Koopmans/Statham 2010a) and the deconstruction of interpretative frames (frame analysis, Gerhards et al. 1998; Snow/Benford 1992), the proposed contribution focuses on an aspect that has so far been rather neglected: That of political valuation analysis. Political valuations play a significant role in politics. Wherever a state of societal affairs is subject of political debate we can witness valuing utterances. The issue at stake will be valuated as 'inacceptable', 'problematic', 'shocking', 'unsatisfactory' or as a 'big step towards a better society'. The situation is considered a result of 'ongoing injustice', 'a further political victory of the pharmaceutical industry', an outcome of 'corruption', or an expression of 'pure campaign strategy'. Valuations are a very familiar part of our everyday and political language. They function as the first step in the formulation of political claims, proposals, and programs. A specific situation is only likely to be subjected to political regulation if it is evaluated as 'problematic'. In light of such significance and universality of evaluative utterances in public life, political science has to be interested in a method which explicitly addresses political valuations in textual data. However, in the literature of political science methods, we find only very specific and restricted contributions to a systematic analysis of political valuations. 2 Why we do not have political valuation research The philosopher Donald Davidson - who died in 2003 - included in his essay collection "Problems of Rationality" a lecture titled "Expressing Evaluations" (2004: 19-38). He picked the title to emphasize that evaluations do not constitute a speech act but are rather to be interpreted as an evaluative attitude. Although it is possible to express such attitudes linguistically, Davidson argued that the analysis of explicitly evaluative utterances does not yield meaningful insights into valuations and values. Until today, most empirical political science research is marked by this focus on attitudes and the concurrent contempt of evaluative language. Consequently, research on political regime support is predominantly characterized by survey-based public opinion research (most recently for Germany: Westle/Gabriel 2009). In this branch of research - developed and advanced by Almond and Verba (1963) and David Easton's theoretical considerations (1965; 1975) - data on public opinion is generated in a reactive way. Citizens' assessments activated and gauged by means of surveys are declared to depict public opinion on political regimes, the current government, or some particular policy (Dalton 2004; Kaase/Newton 1995; Westle 2007). Accordingly, public opinion is based on what citizens have put on record in representative surveys. This approach is, however, not only prone to systematic bias resulting from particular framings of survey items and nuances in the linguistic context (Thaler/Sunstein 2008) but also to the more fundamental issue of whether survey-based research can capture all dimensions of public opinion. This topic surfaces because private valuations covered by survey research do not become public until they are aggregated by the research method itself. Only if poll ratings are published in the mass media they can become part of public debates on political regimes. …


Laser-induced fluorescence has been shown to be a very sensitive technique for trace analysis. The problem of scattered light, i.e., radiation coming from unvaporized particles in the flame, has been considered a major problem in the use of resonance fluorescence as an analytical technique. Various methods have been developed for eliminating or at least accounting for scattering, and these methods have been reviewed in detail. One of the most recent of these techniques is that of polarization spectroscopy, developed by Wieman and Hansch for Doppler-free, high-resolution studies. Tong and Yeung applied the technique to a flame for the first time, obtaining limits of detection of 0.03 and 37 ng/L for Na and Ba, respectively. The work, however, required the use of a frequency-stabilized, Ar-ion, pumped, ring dye laser. For the technique to be analytically useful, i.e., applicable to a wide range of elements, it should be possible to use a pulsed dye laser. We report here the first application of a pulsed dye laser to this technique.


Abstract Through a critical analysis of a course entitled "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia," this article discusses the use of educational games, which are set in the past and assign students specific roles and tasks informed by primary sources, as an interactive pedagogy in teaching history. It argues that incorporating games into history courses with international, cross-cultural and comparative foci can not only arouse students' interest in the subject matter, but also make them aware of the contingency of history. Introduction The wars of the twentieth century and, thus far, of the twenty-first have been "total wars," exhausting huge amounts of resources, killing more civilians than soldiers and devastating the environment. The question of how to replace violent with nonviolent means of conflict resolution has now become extremely urgent (Lee, 2003; Weaver and Biesecher-Mask, 2003). Exploring this issue from interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives, this article reflects on the experience of teaching "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia" through the use of educational games at Pace University in New York. International in scope and interdisciplinary in approach, this course examines several well-known cases of nonviolent protests in relation to the history of Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism in Asia. It challenges students to appreciate the dynamics of nonviolent activism from historical and comparative perspectives. At the pedagogical level, incorporating games into history course is known to expand the student-centered aspect of the learning process. Set in particular political and social settings, these innovative games assign students specific roles and tasks informed by primary sources. The games usually have winners and losers, and the roles are clearly structured and well-defined. While playing characters in history, students can relive the past and gain personal perspectives on the subject matter (Adams, 1973; van Ments, 1989). Because of the opportunity for greater student participation and reflective inquiry, the games create a dynamic learning environment that transforms students into active learners. The content to be learnt and discussed is acted out by students before it is assimilated. Students find out the complexity of the subject matter and the ways in which they can relate to certain historical characters in the games (Barab and Kirshner, 2001; Erwin, 2005). What is more important is that the games encourage students to use trial-and-error strategies in the learning process. Students can test their ideas, understand their mistakes and benefit from watching others solve problems. The competitive nature of the games also allows students to develop such skills as attention to task, cooperation with others, leadership and communicative skills, and self-assessment (Landsberg, 2004; Shaftel, Pass and Schnabel, 2005). The combination of educational games, role-playing, and friendly competition is the main reason for increased student participation and performance. While the professor can observe what students know or do not know about the subject matter, students can assess their own progress (Lawrence, 2004). With the emphasis on creative group work and individual responsibility, students gain confidence to trust their judgments and show more interest in learning than in traditional classroom instruction (Roach and Gunn, 2002). This study proposes that educational games can and should be used as an interactive and reflective pedagogy in history courses with international, cross-cultural and comparative foci. This pedagogy makes students aware of the contingency of history. Instead of subscribing to a pre-deterministic view of the past, students recognize that all events are unique and that any major change in history is dependent on everything that happened before. Contingency is a major principle of all historical interpretations. Whatever happens in the past is not random, but it is contingent on multiple factors, including the vagaries of individual acts (Windschuttle, 2000; Wineburg, 2001). …


Control requirements were determined from calculated engine performance maps for a fixed-geometry ram jet of a configuration suitable for strategic supersonic missile propulsion. Several control schemes for attaining desired engine performance and for stabilizing missile flight velocity during cruise are presented. The advantages and disadvantages of each system are discussed.


This paper describes Saramaccan prenasalized consonants. We demonstrate that a phonetic analysis of consonant duration, and the duration of vowels preceding prenasalized consonants confirms phonological descriptions that characterize these units as monophonemic. We also provide evidence that, for some speakers, these have nasal allophones but, nevertheless, they are not "fortis nasals" (Voorhoeve 1959: 440). Our data show that Saramaccan has not only monophonemic onsets with complex melodies but also one biphonemic onset (/st/) of decreasing sonority. This study deals with the phonological interpretation of these consonants, and also provides a phonetic and phonological description of a Creole with a dominant CV syllable structure.


Study Design. Compression biomechanical tests using fresh cadaveric thoracolumbar motion segments. Objective. The purpose of this study was to determine if the combination of bone texture parameters using bone microarchitecture, and bone mineral density (BMD) measurement by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry provided a better prediction of vertebral fracture than BMD evaluation alone. Summary of Background Data. Bone strength is routinely evaluated using BMD, as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Currently, there is an ongoing debate about the strengths and limitations of bone densitometry in clinical practice. To assess the fracture risk properly, other factors are important to be taken into account such as the macro- and microarchitecture of the bone. Recently, a new high-resolution x-ray device with direct digitization, named bone microarchitecture (BMA, D3A Medical Systems), has been developed to provide a better precision of texture parameters than those previously obtained on digitized films. Methods. Twenty-seven 3-level thoracolumbar motion segments (T11, T12, L1, and L2, L3, L4) of excised spines, obtained at the Anatomy Department of Marseille, were studied using bone microarchitecture to estimate 3 textural parameters: fractal parameter Hmean, co-occurrence matrix, and run-length matrix, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry to measure BMD, and mechanical compression tests to failure. All specimens were examined by computed tomography before and after compression. The prediction of the vertebral failure load was evaluated using multiple regression analyses. Results. Twenty-seven vertebral fractures were observed with a mean failure load of 2636.3 N (standard deviation, 996 N). Fractal parameter Hmean, co-occurrence matrix, and run-length matrix were each significantly correlated with BMD (P< 0.01) and bone strength (P< 0.01). Combining bone texture parameters and BMD significantly improved the fracture load prediction from adjusted r2 = 0.701 to adjusted r2 = 0.806 (P< 0.01). Conclusion. In these excised vertebrae, the combination of bone texture parameters with BMD demonstrated a better performance in the failure load prediction than that of BMD alone. Level of Evidence: N/A


The Philippines is the texting capital of the world with over one billion messages exchanged every day. With the increasing ubiquity of cellphones in this country, it becomes a popular tool for accessing many types of information. This study aims to determine the usefulness of short messaging system (SMS) for accessing the bottom line of articles in MEDLINE. Two groups of residents at one of the largest tertiary government hospitals in the country were trained on the SMS interface for txt2MEDLINE. After four weeks of interactions, their responses were analysed and they were given survey on the usability of the interface as well as their ability to comprehend the abridged text-speak of txt2MEDLINE. Results showed that residents did not find additional usefulness with txt2MEDLINE over SMS but cited convenience of access from any point of care as one of its benefits.


The application of alcohol blended fuel is one of effective methods to control the exhaust emissions of diesel engines. But the combustion characteristics of this fuel is not so clearly analyzed.This paper shows the behavior of this droplet in a constant volume chamber by using of a laser speckle interferometer. First, we noted about the application for measurement of the temperature field owing to a Bunsen burner flame by a two-exposure system, and then we noted about the application to the analysis of a droplet combustion. The weak point of this system was difficulty to get clear speckle photographs, because the speckle fringes are obstructed by the strong illumination from the combustion flame.


Dispersed water drops in oils can cause detrimental effects. For example in refining and cracking of crude oil, poisoning of catalysts and equipment corrosion can be major problems due to the presence of water. Therefore there is a need to develop more efficient and cost-effective separators. The work in this thesis covers an investigation of the underlying electrostatic phenomena (i.e. drop-drop and drop-interface coalescence and drop deformation and break-up) leading to the development of compact electrocoalescer-separators. Using novel two-dimensional electrode systems, it is shown here that coalescence readily occurs when the electric field is applied in the same direction as the line joining the centres of the two drops, in line with the previous theoretical prediction of the maximum attractive force induced in this way. An adaptive Finite Element Method, incorporating automatic error and mesh generator programmes, has been used to quantify the electric-induced forces of charged spheres in an insulating medium, for short distances that are much smaller than the drop radius, where analytical solutions are no longer reliable. Moreover, drop-drop attraction can also occur when the angle is 125.3° from the electric field direction. Previous work suggests that pulsed d.c. fields are effective for low-aqueous-content systems, and this has been further investigated here. The applied electric field and pulse frequency can be optimised to achieve the highest coalescence rate. High electric fields (> 3.5 kV/cm) are shown to deform and break up aqueous drops when the electric field-induced stresses overcome the interfacial tension. A critical electrostatic Weber number, corresponding to the onset of drop break-up, has been evaluated to be about 0.49 for several aqueous-oil systems. For the separation of dispersed aqueous drops from an oil phase, it is advantageous to incorporate an aqueous layer to induce drop-interface coalescence. A suitably applied electric field is shown to give efficient drop-interface coalescence. The above investigations have led to the design and development of two compact electrocoalescer-separators. The first separator combines the effects of electrocoalescence and gravitational settling. The second separator, which utilises the electrocoalescence and centrifugal effects, can handle larger throughputs with reasonable separation efficiency. Both devices significantly enhance the separation and are good examples of how the fundamental understanding gained in this studies can be applied to realistic practical situations.


Unfortunately, there is no metric, nor set of metrics, that are both general enough to encompass all possible types of applications yet specific enough to capture the application and attack specific details. As a result we are left with ad-hoc methods for generating evaluations of the security of our systems. Current state of the art methods for evaluating the security of systems include penetration testing and cyber evaluation tests. For these evaluations, security professionals simulate an attack from malicious outsiders and malicious insiders. These evaluations are very productive and are able to discover potential vulnerabilities resulting from improper system configuration, hardware and software flaws, or operational weaknesses. We therefore propose the index of cyber integrity (ICI), which is modeled after the index of biological integrity (IBI) to provide a holistic measure of the health of a system under test in a cyber-environment. The ICI provides a broad base measure through a collection of application and system specific metrics. In this paper, following the example of the IBI, we demonstrate how a multi-metric index may be used as a holistic measure of the health of a system under test in a cyber-environment.


textabstractThe main objective of this dissertation is to generate more insight into the dynamics of sustainability transitions, more specifically it deals with the question of which kind of social structures are changing during a transition and how these transformative changes come about.
Using insights from resilience theory and social theories, this research indicates that in order to understand and explain transitions we should shift our attention towards the regime concept. The regime is often treated as a black box, not explicitly clarifying which elements constitute the regime nor addressing the internal dynamics. The regime conceptualization suggested in this dissertation is a first step into this direction. A new transition analysis approach is developed which enables researchers to analyze which regime structures are changing during a transition and how these changes come about (i.e. the underlying transformation patterns).
The research presents an in-depth analysis of the dynamics of the transition of Dutch water management, starting around the 1970s and is still unfolding towards a new regime adapting to and anticipating climate change. Our analysis suggests that niches and the regimes may be more cooperative than suggested in the literature and that even the regime is actively involved in creating niches. The regime creates niches through the formation of new structures. The niche initiates transformation leading to new regime structures, which in turn trigger niches.
Scientifically, this dissertation triggers intriguing questions as to when societal change may be classified as transition. Practically, it provides leverages for systems analysis and transition management.


Bluetooth Angle of Arrival (AoA) and Angle of Departure (AoD) are new technologies that establish a standardized framework for indoor locationing. With these technologies, the fundamental problem of locationing comes down to solving the arrival and departure angles of radio frequency signals. In this paper, we explain the basics of these technologies and give some theory for estimating direction of arrival.


This study examines the market reactions to share repurchase announcements made by companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from the years 2003 to 2012. The authors use an event study methodology and the Capital Asset Pricing Model to determine if there was an announcement effect when a share repurchase announcement is made. The analyses reveal that consistent with signalling theory and the announcement effect, share repurchase announcements are associated with positive abnormal returns. The average abnormal return and cumulative average abnormal return noted was 0.46% and 3.81%, respectively, for the event period (t-20, t+20). There was an observable trend of declining share prices before the share repurchase announcement. The authors also found no significant evidence that repurchasing firms have market timing ability when executing a share repurchase announcement. From a value investor's perspective, a share repurchase program conveys a very strong signal of a healthy company.


Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication is considered as a key technology in fifth generation (5G) wireless communication standard to meet the skyrocketing demand of traffic by enabling its huge bandwidth. However, channel model is still complex in case of mmWave communication due to its high weather sensitivity and stringent line-of-sight (LOS) requirement for a short range. In this paper, we simulate the characteristics of a spatial channel modeling for 5G mmWave for several mmWave bands (28, 38, 60, and 73 GHz) using by NYUSIM. This simulator can handle a large span of carrier frequencies up to 100 GHz and radio frequency (RF) bandwidth up to 800 MHz for different environment conditions including urban macrocell, urban microcell, and rural macrocell. Simulation results present 3D channel characteristics and various power delay profiles while considering time cluster-spatial lobe approach for different mmWave bands.


The silent cinema was America's first modern entertainment industry, a complex social, cultural, and technological phenomenon that swept the country in the early years of the twentieth century. Richard Koszarski examines the underlying structures that made the silent-movie era work, from the operations of eastern bankers to the problems of neighborhood theater musicians. He offers a new perspective on the development of this major new industry and art form and the public's response to it.


Software Defined Radios can provide significant benefits as backend gateways or base stations for sensor networks, which do not face the stringent resource constraints of innetwork nodes. We extended GNU Radio with two physical layer implementations of IEEE 802.15.4 and an FSK modulation, and use the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) to interoperate with the Chipcon CC1000 and CC2420 radios found on the popular Mica2, MicaZ and Telos B motes. The wideband nature of the USRP makes it feasible for a single SDR base station to simultaneously communicate on multiple independent channels, and provide network bridging across incompatible radio standards. The demo will show a software defined radio base station talking simultaniously to Mica2 and MicaZ nodes and will relay messages coming from the Mica2 to the MicaZ, and vice versa. Additionally, we will present a unified design and modeling environment for Software Defined Radio systems, which aims to bridge the diverse set of design abstractions and software tools used by engineers specializing in communication, networking, and embedded systems. Our environment extends Berkeley's Ptolemy II, a heterogeneous modeling and simulation environment, which provides an overall framework and graphical interface. We provide a Ptolemy interface to GNU Radio for physical layer design, and the Click modular router from MIT, for network level design. This approach allows designers to work at their preferred design abstraction, while permitting integrated system modeling, access to rich libraries of existing system components, and efficient code generation for implementation on real targets.


In this paper, we establish closed-form formulas for key probabilistic properties of the cone-constrained optimal mean-variance strategy, in a continuous market model driven by a multidimensional Brownian motion and deterministic coefficients. In particular, we compute the probability to obtain to a point, during the investment horizon, where the accumulated wealth is large enough to be fully reinvested in the money market, and safely grow there to meet the investor's financial goal at terminal time. We conclude that the result of Li and Zhou [Ann. Appl. Prob., v.16, pp.1751-1763, 2006] in the unconstrained case carries over when conic constraints are present: the former probability is lower bounded by 80% no matter the market coefficients, trading constraints, and investment goal. We also compute the expected terminal wealth given that the investor's goal is underachieved, for both the mean-variance strategy and the aforementioned hybrid strategy where transfer to the money market occurs if it allows to safely achieve the goal. The former probabilities and expectations are also provided in the case where all risky assets held are liquidated if financial distress is encountered. These results provide investors with novel practical tools to support portfolio decision-making and analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Musical expression requires control of both what notes are played, and how they are performed. Conventional audio synthesizers provide detailed expressive controls, but at the cost of realism. Black-box neural audio synthesis and concatenative samplers can produce realistic audio, but have few mechanisms for control. In this work, we introduce MIDI-DDSP a hierarchical model of musical instruments that enables both realistic neural audio synthesis and detailed user control. Starting from interpretable Differentiable Digital Signal Processing (DDSP) synthesis parameters, we infer musical notes and high-level properties of their expressive performance (such as timbre, vibrato, dynamics, and articulation). This creates a 3-level hierarchy (notes, performance, synthesis) that affords individuals the option to intervene at each level, or utilize trained priors (performance given notes, synthesis given performance) for creative assistance. Through quantitative experiments and listening tests, we demonstrate that this hierarchy can reconstruct high-fidelity audio, accurately predict performance attributes for a note sequence, independently manipulate the attributes of a given performance, and as a complete system, generate realistic audio from a novel note sequence. By utilizing an interpretable hierarchy, with multiple levels of granularity, MIDI-DDSP opens the door to assistive tools to empower individuals across a diverse range of musical experience.


In the study of female migration and housing acquisition, little has been elaborated about the magnitude and the direction of female migrants in South African context. Furthermore, housing tenure status is still under researched. Hence, the determinants of housing ownership, and how this differs across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas is not sufficiently documented in migration and housing literature. This paper aims at identifying the factors contributing towards housing ownership among internal female migrants, and the differentials in comparing metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in South Africa. This study makes use of the 2007 Community Survey data requested from Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis was performed to highlight the relationship between female migration and housing ownership across areas. The key findings indicate that age, duration of residence, housing type, and household size are the factors contributing towards housing ownership among female migrants. The study found, further, that female migrants living in non-metropolitan areas are more likely to own housing in relation to metropolitan areas.


This paper addresses the problem of streaming packetized media over a lossy packet network, with sender-driven (re)transmission using acknowledgement feedback. The different transmission scenarios associated to a group of interdependent media data units are abstracted in terms of a finite alphabet of policies, for each single data unit. A rate-distortion optimized markovian framework is proposed, which supports the use of comprehensive feedback information. Contrarily to previous works in rate-distortion optimized streaming, whose transmission policies definitions do not take into account the feedback expected for other data units, our framework considers all the acknowledgment packets in defining the streaming policy of a single data unit. More specifically, the notion of master and slave data unit is introduced, to define dependent streaming policies between media packets; the policy adopted to transmit a slave data unit becomes dependent on the acknowledgments received about its masters. One of the main contributions of our work is to propose a methodology that limits the space of dependent policies for the RD optimized streaming strategy. A number of rules are formulated to select a set of relevant master/slave relationships, defined as the dependencies that are likely to bring RD performance gain in the streaming system. These rules provide a limited complexity solution to the rate-distortion optimized streaming problem, with comprehensive use of feedback information. Based on extensive simulations, we conclude that (i) the proposed set of relevant dependent policies achieves close to optimal performance, while being computationally tractable, and (ii) the benefit of dependent policies is driven by the relative sizes and importance of interdependent data units. Our simulations demonstrate that dependent streaming policies can perform significantly better than independent streaming strategies, especially for cases where some media data units bring a relatively large gain in distortion, in comparison with other data units they depend on for correct decoding. We observe however that the benefit becomes marginal when the gain in distortion per unit of rate decreases along the media decoding dependency path. Since such a trend characterizes most conventional scalable coders, the implementation of dependent policies can reasonably be ruled out in these specific cases.


Title of Thesis: Agitation Requirements for Complete Dispersion of Emulsions Dun-Huang Tsai, Master of Science, 1988 Thesis directed by: Piero M. Armenante Asistant Professor Department of Chemical Engineering An investigation on the minimum agitation speed required to achieve complete dispersion in liquid-liquid systems has been carried out. A model based on the momentum balance for a droplet and on Kolmogoroff's theory of isotropic turbulence was used for the prediction of the role of the most important variables on the minimum agitation speed. The equation so derived can be expressed in terms of a number of nondimensional groups (such as Re, Ar, and Su). For geometrically similar systems the equation contains only one adjustable parameter ( to be determined experimentally) in the form of the proportionality constant correlating Re with the other non-dimensional groups. The equation was tested against the experimental results previously reported in the literature by several investigators. The agreement between predicted and experimental values appears to be good. In addition, only one numerical value of the correlating parameter is required to explain all the different experimental results which were reported in previous investigations, and tested here. The overall correlation coefficient is equal to 0.98. Even better agreement is found if single sets of consistent data are considered. Experiments were also conducted to further test the validity of the equation, using five different impellers, four tank sizes, and three impeller sizes. In addition, the effect of impeller clearance off the dispersed phase, liquid height, phase volume ratio, and fluid properties were also investigated. These results were correlated using regression methods, but this introduced a second constant in the equation. A novel method to determine the minimum agitation speed for dispersing an organic phase in water was also used. A comparison between our data and the model appears favorable and is also provided.


It is well known that countries tend to diversify their exports by entering products that are related to their current exports. Yet this average behavior is not representative of every diversification path. In this paper, we introduce a method to identify periods when countries enter relatively more unrelated products. We analyze the economic diversification paths of 93 countries between 1970 and 2010 and find that countries enter unrelated products in only about 7.2% of all observations. Then, we show that countries enter more unrelated products when they are at an intermediate level of economic development, and when they have higher levels of human capital. Finally, we ask whether countries entering more unrelated products grow faster than those entering only related products. The data shows that countries that enter more unrelated activities experience an increase in short-term economic growth of 0.5% per annum compared to those with similar levels of income, human capital, capital stock per worker, and economic complexity.


At the present time, technology has been expanding considerably. Technology was born from the blessing of a result of human being creation. Technology can expand in society because of the desire to fulfill the requirement of human being in their life. Technological inventor is true predominated by west people (developed countries) that have the better human resource than the developing countries. But the impact of the technological invention has also felt by the developing countries. Everything which is emerged and assumed recently in society surely will generate both a social change movement, and also technology. This matter will generate a movement in society as technological appearance impact as adjustment form. The following clarification will be studied or learned to hit the technological growth for discovering of technology of mass media, technology of communications, and technology of transportations.


Over the years, one of the ways that have been identified as pivotal in building sustainable organisations is the manpower development component of any organisation. Such manpower development through capacity building can be gained by training and retraining to retool the workforce into having the relevant and up to date skill set that spurs competitiveness and growth. For the Nigerian space industry, this human capacity development component has been embraced, encouraged and adopted into a working model for sustainability. The Nigerian Space Industry has leveraged on its potential to harness its intellectual capital through a collaborative culture with national and international partners to provide sustainable growth in attaining technological competence in Space Science and Technology (SST). In this chapter, we present a capacity building context as a model by which Nigeria's Space Industry mobilises its intellectual resources and collaborative efforts towards achieving sustainable development.


Title of Document: EFFECTS OF PCB EXPOSURE ON HEPATIC GENE EXPRESSION AND ENZYME ACTIVITY IN AVIAN SPECIES Meredith E. Bohannon, Doctor of Philosophy, 2014 Directed By: Professor M.A. Ottinger, Department of Animal and Avian Sciences Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of anthropogenic chemical compounds used by industry from the 1940s until the 1970s. Two General Electric plants at Fort Edward and Hudson Falls, NY contaminated the Hudson River by disposing roughly 604,500 kg of PCBs into the waterway during that time. This research focused on using whole-genome screening to find novel biochemical responses in laboratory and wild birds that are exposed to PCB mixtures relevant to the Hudson River. We used two PCB congener profiles, found in spotted sandpiper eggs and in tree swallow eggs from the Hudson River area of concern. We also tested PCB 126 and PCB 77 singly, since both have very high avian TEQs compared to other PCB congeners. Microarray technology was used to assess the spotted sandpiper mixture in Japanese quail. Pathways of interest were identified and qPCR was performed on a suite of genes to assess the response levels of Japanese quail that were exposed to both mixtures as well as the single congeners. Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) was assessed in Japanese quail with all treatments, and in tree swallow and bluebird populations at the Hudson River site, and at three reference sites. Major findings from the microarray study revealed that the pathways for xenobiotic metabolism, oxidative damage, endocrine disruption, and energy balance were all impacted with PCB exposure. For the four compounds tested with both sexes, EROD activity increased in laboratory birds for seven of those eight sex/compound combinations. Cytochrome P450 1A4 and cytochrome P450 1A5 were the most consistently responsive genes for all sex/compound combinations. All other genes showed varied responses that changed with concentration, compound, and sex, however there were few differences seen at the level of significance (p<0.05). EROD exhibited mild response to PCB exposure in wild birds, with significant (p<0.05) differential expression in environmentally exposed birds at the Hudson River across years, 2006-2008. In summary, this research demonstrates that xenobiotic metabolism remains a highly responsive pathway with PCB exposure and that this pathway responds to PCB mixtures in a manner that does not mirror the toxic equivalency of the component PCBs. EFFECTS OF PCB EXPOSURE ON HEPATIC GENE EXPRESSION AND ENZYME ACTIVITY IN AVIAN SPECIES


One end of an axle shaft containing the integral spur pinion was submitted for examination, along with the report of a tooth pitting failure. The spur pinion, integral to the axle shaft, operated in a medium-size, off-highway truck at an open-pit mine, for "a relatively short time." Only the pinion head had been returned. The shaft portion had been torch-cut away. Chemical analysis along with the microstructure confirmed the specified material was SAE 43BV12 Ni-Cr-Mo alloy steel. The mode of failure was surface contact fatigue through the shear plane subsurface at the lowest point of single-tooth contact. The cause of failure was tooth-tip interference from the mating gear teeth. Because the mating parts within the assembly had not been returned or examined, unanswered questions remained.


OBJECTIVE Previous studies of a cohort of 100 patients with IDDM have shown that a history of recurrent severe hypoglycemia is associated with a modest impairment of cognitive function. The aim of the present study was to determine whether IDDM patients with and without a history of severe hypoglycemia have lesions in the brain that are identifiable by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and to investigate the putative relationship of any structural brain abnormalities with cognitive function. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS MRI and MRS of the brain were performed in 22 patients from the original cohort. Eleven IDDM patients with no history of severe hypoglycemia (group A) were compared with 11 IDDM patients who had a history of five or more episodes of severe hypoglycemia (group B). RESULTS Nine patients (41%) had abnormal scans. Two types of abnormalities were observed: high-intensity rounded lesions, > 3 mm in diameters, distributed in the periventricular white matter (leukoaraiosis) in four patients; and cortical atrophy in five patients. Five patients in group B had cortical atrophy, whereas no patient in group A demonstrated this feature (P < 0.05). MRS of the frontal and parietal lobes showed no differences in the N-acetyl aspartate/creatine or N-acetyl aspartate/choline ratios between groups A and B. Patients with cortical atrophy showed a nonsignificant trend toward reduced performance on Rapid Visual Information Processing. CONCLUSIONS Brain abnormalities demonstrated by MRI are common in patients with IDDM of long duration and are suggestive of premature aging of the brain. IDDM per se may be an important pathogenic factor, but a significant association was observed between a history of recurrent severe hypoglycemia and cortical atrophy, which may be related to the modest impairment of cognitive function that has been reported previously.


In the early 50's, Feller characterized fully the analytical structure of one dimensional diffusion processes. In particular, he constructed their Green functions in terms of the two positive fundamental solutions of a second order differential equations. He also characterized completely the Laplace transform of their first exit times from an interval in terms of these two fundamental solutions. In this work, we aim to pursue Feller's program for the class of one dimensional completely asymmetric Markov processes, that is strong Markov processes having jumps only in one direction. We will present an original methodology based mostly on potential theoretical arguments to characterize the Laplace of their first exit times from an interval which may occur by a jump. We will also describe their resolvent densities whose existence of a nice version is provided. We illustrate our approach by recovering easily the well-known fluctuations identities for spectrally negative Lévy processes.


This paper studies how targeted cash transfers to women affect their empowerment. We use a novel identification strategy to measure women's willingness to pay to receive cash transfers instead of their partner receiving it. We apply this among women living in poor households in urban Macedonia. We match experimental data with a unique policy intervention (CCT) in Macedonia offering poor households cash transfers conditional on having their children attending secondary school. The program randomized whether the transfer was offered to household heads or mothers at municipality level, providing us with an exogenous source of variation in (offered) transfers. We show that women who were offered the transfer reveal a lower willingness to pay, and we show that this is in line with theoretical predictions.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out on a blend of 50 unit, pearl-necklace chains with the object of examining the effect of intermolecular attractions on the blend structure and thermodynamics. Repulsive interactions were imposed between intermolecular sites so that the effective hard core diameter of B type chains was 1.2 times that of the A type chains. Simulations were performed for a series of runs in which the attractive interactions were systematically varied from zero to the full Lennard-Jones value. Examination of the radial distribution functions revealed that the attractive interactions had very little effect on the blend structure up to the point of phase separation. Furthermore, we found that perturbation theory accurately predicted the changes in pressure associated with the variations in the attractive strengths.


Today, human beings are venturing into deep space. As questioning beings who continuously seek to transcend ourselves, and as the scientific quest for extraterrestrials continues, we are prompted to philosophise about extraterrestrials in the event of detection. The search for extraterrestrials is also a search for ourselves. What is it to be human? This question is highlighted in arguments for and against this quest and in the discussion about communication with extraterrestrials. Constraints and convergence in our evolutionary context and a galaxy with so many similarities make a too different alien science unlikely. Aliens cannot be too alien. Strict protocols are in place before sightings can be confirmed. Some results seem very promising, others not. The detection of cosmic companions in our galaxy will bring humans together like never before.