Although Stevenson criticism has almost ignored his early travel works, these books offer valuable insights into his identity as a writer. His journeys in France and Belgium allowed him temporarily to escape the cultural constraints of home and to use this estrangement to experiment with new, though evanescent, forms of selfhood. His journeys were propitious occasions for writing because he inscribed himself thereby in mobile, aleatory narratives that eschewed purpose. His journeys and his writing united in being undertaken for their own sake. Both were "pure, dispassionate adventures" that accepted the instability of world and self, thus opening a space in which he could imagine that they were new again. Although he knew that this sense of originality might be illusory, he preferred his illusion to others' reality because it permitted him to write. ********** The two books by Robert Louis Stevenson that I wish to focus on here are among his earliest published works: An Inland Voyage (1878) and Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes (1879). Standing at the beginning of his literary career, these travel books (especially the latter) have been read by many, frequently reprinted and anthologized and quoted, and yet attended by relative critical silence. Favorable contemporary reviewers like Grant Allen settled on the double-edged word "charming" as the most appropriate descriptor (Maixner 64-66). They found in these modest travel narratives a welcome relief from mid-century earnestness and responded to their vagabond air, admiring them as much for what they did not attempt as for what they did: Neither book had a doctrinal axe to grind and both eschewed weighty disquisitions on national character and history. In his Preface to Inland Voyage, Stevenson announced to his readers this lack of seriousness: I wonder, would a negative be found enticing? for, from the negative point of view, I flatter myself this volume has a certain stamp. Although it runs to considerably upwards of two hundred pages, it contains not a single reference to the imbecility of God's universe, nor so much as a single hint that I could have made a better one myself.... 'Tis an omission that renders the book philosophically unimportant; but I am in hopes the eccentricity may please in frivolous circles. (xv-xvi) (1) Since then, "charm" has lost its value as a term of critical approval, although the word has stuck (see, for example, Fussell 416). Stevenson's most recent biographer makes nothing of them as literary productions (McLynn 106-110, 134-137) and shares Daiches' view that critical discourse is justifiably silent before them because they are superficial and immature works (World 44). With the exception of some positive remarks in Bell's 1992 biography and Saposnik's astute, but brief, discussion of Stevenson's travel writing, this dismissive silence constitutes something of a critical consensus. (2) Thus, a general aim of this essay is to find a way of speaking about Inland Voyage and Travels with a Donkey, and to attempt a description of what they are and what they do as a way of restoring their energy as writing. This will allow us to understand how these "dulcet experiments" (Furnas 439) really matter to the development of Stevenson's identity as a writer. We might call the narratives nonteleological, to distinguish them from travel reports that originate in some specific purpose, whether that is a destination or an intellectual discovery that makes the journey meaningful. The term nonteleological is cumbersome, but it is useful because it may be applied to both journeys and texts as a way of naming this absence of a drive towards a goal or destination or conclusion. A much-quoted passage from Travels with a Donkey specifies this intransitive spirit: Why anyone should wish to visit Luc or Cheylard is more than my much-inventing spirit can suppose. For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. …


This research involves a study of the questions, "what is considered safe", how are safety levels defined or decided, and according to whom. Tolerable or acceptable risk questions raise various issues: about values and assumptions inherent in such levels; about decision-making frameworks at the highest level of policy making as well as on the individual level; and about the suitability and competency of decision-makers to decide and to communicate their decisions. The wide-ranging topics covering philosophical and practical concerns examined in the literature review reveal the multi-disciplined scope of this research. To support this theoretical study empirical research was undertaken at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) of the European Space Agency (ESA). ESTEC is a large, multi-nationality, high technology organisation which presented an ideal case study for exploring how decisions are made with respect to safety from a personal as well as organisational aspect. A qualitative methodology was employed to gather, analyse and report the findings of this research. Significant findings reveal how experts perceive risks and the prevalence of informal decision-making processes partly due to the inadequacy of formal methods for deciding risk tolerability. In the field of occupational health and safety, this research has highlighted the importance and need for criteria to decide whether a risk is great enough to warrant attention in setting standards and priorities for risk control and resources. From a wider perspective and with the recognition that risk is an inherent part of life, the establishment of tolerability risk levels can be viewed as cornerstones indicating our progress, expectations and values, of life and work, in an increasingly litigious, knowledgeable and global society.


Existing proposals to escape from a liquidity trap and deflation, including my Foolproof Way,' are discussed in the light of the optimal way to escape. The optimal way involves three elements: (1) an explicit central-bank commitment to a higher future price level; (2) a concrete action that demonstrates the central bank's commitment, induces expectations of a higher future price level and jump-starts the economy; and (3) an exit strategy that specifies when and how to get back to normal. A currency depreciation is a direct consequence of expectations of a higher future price level and hence an excellent indicator of those expectations. Furthermore, an intentional currency depreciation and a crawling peg, as in the Foolproof Way, can implement the optimal way and, in particular, induce the desired expectations of a higher future price level. I conclude that the Foolproof Way is likely to work well for Japan, which is in a liquidity trap now, as well as for the euro area and the United States, in case either would fall into a liquidity trap in the future.


The generation times of our recent ancestors can tell us about both the biology and social organization of prehistoric humans, placing human evolution on an absolute timescale. We present a method for predicting historic male and female generation times based on changes in the mutation spectrum. Our analyses of whole-genome data reveal an average generation time of 26.9 years across the past 250,000 years, with fathers consistently older (30.7 years) than mothers (23.2 years). Shifts in sex-averaged generation times have been driven primarily by changes to the age of paternity rather than maternity, though we report a disproportionate increase in female generation times over the past several thousand years. We also find a large difference in generation times among populations, with samples from current African populations showing longer ancestral generation times than non-Africans for over a hundred thousand years, reaching back to a time when all humans occupied Africa.


Identification of host genes involved in defense responses is one of most critical steps leading to the elucidation of disease resistance mechanisms in plants. In this study, two different cloning strategies were employed to identify defense-related genes from a tropical japonica rice cultivar (Oryza sativa cv. Drew). With the use of bacterial colony arrays, differential screening of a blast fungus (Pyricularia grisea)-induced rice cDNA library led to the isolation of 22 distinct rice genes that are expressed differentially in response to blast infection. Sequence analysis indicates that most of them are full-length cDNAs encoding pathogenesis-related proteins or other relatively abundant proteins. In combination with treatments of cycloheximide plus jasmonic acid (JA) or benzothiadiazole (BTH) in rice seedlings, the polymerase chain reaction-based suppression subtractive hybridization also was conducted to search for immediate early (IE) defense-related genes whose transcription is independent of de novo protein synthesis. The initial screening of only 768 subtracted clones resulted in the identification of 34 distinct IE genes that are induced by JA, BTH, and/or blast infection. Database searches revealed that these IE genes encode putative mitogen-activated protein kinase, diacylglycerol kinase, zinc finger protein, RelA-SpoT protein, ankyrin-containing protein, ABC transporter, beta-ketoacyl-CoA synthase, and other potential defense-signaling components. Further characterization of these novel IE genes will likely facilitate the elucidation of defense signal transduction in rice plants.


Without prohibitive and laborious 3D annotations, weakly-supervised 3D human pose methods mainly employ the model regularization with geometric projection consistency or geometry estimation from multi-view images. Nevertheless, those approaches explicitly need known parameters of calibrated cameras, exhibiting a limited model generalization in various realistic scenarios. To mitigate this issue, in this paper, we propose a Deductive Weakly-Supervised Learning (DWSL) for 3D human pose machine. Our DWSL firstly learns latent representations on depth and camera pose for 3D pose reconstruction. Since weak supervision usually causes ill-conditioned learning or inferior estimation, our DWSL introduces deductive reasoning to make an inference for the human pose from a view to another and develops a reconstruction loss to demonstrate what the model learns and infers is reliable.
This learning by deduction strategy employs the view-transform demonstration and structural rules derived from depth, geometry and angle constraints, which improves the reliability of the model training with weak supervision. On three 3D human pose benchmarks, we conduct extensive experiments to evaluate our proposed method, which achieves superior performance in comparison with state-of-the-art weak-supervised methods. Particularly, our model shows an appealing potential for learning from 2D data captured in dynamic outdoor scenes, which demonstrates promising robustness and generalization in realistic scenarios. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/Xipeng-Chen/DWSL-3D-pose.


Property theorists have long deemed the right to exclude fundamental and essential for the efficient use and allocation of property. Recently, however, proponents of the progressive property movement have called into question the centrality of the right to exclude, suggesting that it should be scaled back to allow the advancement of more socially beneficial uses of property. Surprisingly, the debate between the opponents and detractors of the right to exclude is devoid of any empirical evidence. The actual value of the right to exclude remains unknown.In this Article, we set out to fill this void by measuring, for the first time, the value of the right to exclude. To that end, we use the passage of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in England and Wales in 2000 as a natural experiment to provide some empirical insight on this issue. We show that the Act's passage led to statistically significant and substantively large declines in property values in areas of England and Wales that were more intensively affected by the Act relative to areas where less land was designated for increased access. While property prices may not capture all social value, our findings provide a critical input to the debate regarding access to private property. Given that the access rights provided by the "right to roam" included in the Act represent seemingly minimal intrusions on private property, our findings indicate that property owners view even small restrictions on their right to exclude very negatively.We believe that our findings are of significant importance to lawmakers in the U.S. as they provide an empirical basis for policymaking in the realms of property and land use. In the U.S., private property rights enjoy constitutional protection under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Hence, any attempt to formalize a general right to roam or other intrusions on the right to exclude may require the government to pay just compensation to affected property owners. Our study suggests what the compensation amounts are likely to be. This information would allow law-makers to make better decisions about the social desirability of various land use measures. We would like to emphasize that our findings should not be read as a call against the adoption of a right to roam, or any other public privilege. Our only goal is to furnish a much needed empirical foundation that would permit law-makers to conduct a more precise cost-benefit analysis of different policies.


The current volume supplements Volume 1 and 2 of The Construction of a Humanized International Law, which contains a selection of the Individual Opinions of Judge Antonio A. Cancado Trindade (1991-2013), former Judge and President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and since 2008 a Judge of the International Court of Justice. Volume 3 brings these texts up to date till 2015. Many dwell on aspects of the increased humanization of international law. Elevating this body of norms, which have traditionally focused on purely inter-State relations, to a level where individuals and their suffering (projected in time) become a primary concern, is without doubt Antonio A. Cancado Trindade´s major doctrinal contribution. His great achievement at the International Court of Justice has been to draw attention to this dimension, and to further its development in the international case-law, in the light of the universal juridical conscience and stressing the relevance of general principles of international law. In a significant number of cases the World Court acts today as a human rights court, dealing increasingly, albeit under the traditional umbrella of inter-State disputes, with situations that involve human suffering and lead it to find human rights violations. We also offer this title as part of a 3 volume set (isbn 9789004375048).


In the late 1960s a new Jewish religious movement challenged the current conventional assumptions on the relationship between Judaism and the sexual revolution, as well as the women9s movement. The neo-hasids were members of the counterculture who became observant Jews and sought inspiration in Hasidic forms of Jewish spirituality. While to many the hippie culture seemed far removed from an observant form of Judaism, to the neo-hasids such a hybrid seemed possible and even desirable. Calling their center the House of Love and Prayer, the group negotiated between Jewish tradition and hippie culture in an attempt to create a new Jewish environment. A major challenge for the group was accommodating hippie modes of sexuality with Jewish laws governing personal and matrimonial behavior. The group interpreted Jewish laws dictating gender roles and sexual behavior in light of the new expectations of female members, as well as the new norms in sexual conduct promoted by the counterculture and the emerging women9s movement. Likewise, the neo-hasids gave new meanings and forms to Jewish rites, reinterpreting them in light of their new understanding of the relationship between the sexes. The compromise the group cut in the realm of sexuality and gender has become the de facto attitude of turnof-the-twenty-first-century traditionalist Jews and has permitted thousands of young women and men to become "returnees to tradition" and join the ranks of observant Jewish communities.


Author(s): Kim, Soo Hyon; Saenkhum, Tanita | Abstract: Little research has been conducted on the professional identities of L2 writing scholars despite the increasing number of researchers, teachers, and graduate students identifying themselves as L2 writing specialists. While the (re)construction of L2 writing scholars' professional identities have real consequences for their career, the challenges and opportunities resulting from their work, situated in several related disciplines, have neither been explicitly nor adequately discussed. Through an analytic autoethnography (Anderson, 2006), this study examines the cases of two L2 writing faculty as they (re)construct their professional identities within their institutions and broader academic communities. Using identity in practice as its theoretical framework, the study provides a rich, in-depth account of how the focal L2 writing scholars continue to negotiate and reconcile their professional identities among adjacent fields such as applied linguistics, TESOL, composition, and education. Results reveal that L2 writing scholars (re)construct their professional identities by negotiating their identity positions within their institutional and disciplinary contexts, by defining the boundaries of their professional identities through community membership, and by participating in multiple academic communities. Drawing on these results, the study considers how L2 writing scholars' professional identity (re)construction reflects the development of L2 writing as a field/profession.


We present Dynamic Dragging, a virtual reality (VR) technique for input of smooth 3D trajectories with varying curvature. Users "drag" a virtual pen behind a hand-held tracked stylus to sweep out curving 3D paths in the air. Previous explorations of dragging-style input have established its utility for producing controlled, smooth inputs relative to freehand alternatives. However, a limitation of previous techniques is the reliance on a fixed-length drag line, biasing input toward trajectories of a particular curvature range. Dynamic Dragging explores the design space of techniques utilizing an adaptive drag line that adjusts length dynamically based on the local properties of the input, such as curvature and drawing speed. Finding the right mapping from these local properties to drag line length proves to be critical and challenging. Three potential mappings have been explored, and results of informal evaluations are reported. Initial findings indicate that Dynamic Dragging makes input of many styles of 3D curves easier than traditional drag-style input, allowing drag techniques to approach the flexibility for varied input of more sophisticated and much harder to learn techniques, such as two-handed tape drawing.


We examined structural changes in bovine kidney tubular basement membrane (TBM) following In vitro nonenzymatic glycosylation (NEG). Isolated TBM was incubated for 2 wks at 37° C in the absence of sugar or in the presence of either glucose or ribitol under conditions which minimized degradation and oxidative damage. NEG and crosslink formation in glycated TBM were confirmed by increased specific fluorescence compared to controls. Morphological analysis using high resolution, low voltage scanning electron microscopy (LV-SEM) revealed a complex three-dimensional meshwork of interconnecting strands with intervening openings. Glycated TBM underwent distinct morphological changes including a 58% increase in the amount of image surface area occupied by openings. This was due to an apparent increase in the number of large openings (diameters >12.5nm), whereas the number of small openings (diameters <12.5nm) remained unchanged. These findings corroborate earlier physiological studies which established that the loss of glomerular permselectivity seen in patients with diabetic nephropathy is due to the formation of large pores in the kidney filtration barrier of which the BM is a major component. We conclude that NEG and crosslink formation among BM components lead to modifications of BM ultrastructure which could play a role in loss of barrier function in diabetic microangiopathy and nephropathy.


This essay explores the restorative implications of anarchist communities through an analysis of processes such as norm formation, sanctioning, conflict resolution, and economic exchange. The study explores ways in which anarchist communities employ various restorative measures to maintain group cohesion and achieve a modicum of social control through the application of natural phenomena such as diffuse power, fluid authority, community consensus and mutual aid. Drawing upon studies of communities manifesting anarchist tendencies--Aincluding utopian experiments, indigenous cultures, and the unique case of the Rainbow Family of Living Light--a picture begins to emerge wherein conceptions of property and the social dynamics that inhere within a community are inextricably linked, suggesting the propensity of anarchist communities to promote an organic synthesis of self, society, and nature. In the end, by exploring tenets associated with the nascent restorative justice paradigm, it is observed that anarchist communities manifest principles that challenge the dominant conceptions of criminality and legality, providing a framework for envisioning models of justice-in-practice that appear on the horizon of possibility and potentiality.


Grounded in ethnographic research, this paper is a case study that follows a television documentary film from its inception by the subject, a woman with breast cancer, through its production and on to its reception by a focus group. Examining in turn the views of the subject, producer and audience, the study considers how events filmed as they actually occurred in real life can, by editing, be treated in such a way as to persuade the audience to a specific conclusion. Analysis reveals evidence of editorial manipulation to make the content more acceptable to the general public. What is more significant is that it would seem that these films comply with contemporary popular ideology on how death should be rather than presenting the actual truth of the lived experience. The paper questions the extent to which current cultural responses, which shape how death is medically managed, extend to influence mainstream society via the media.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences and reflections of one woman's journey towards well-being.

Design/methodology/approach
A narrative approach has been taken to structure reflections based on lived experience.

Findings
Reflections are offered based on a personal journey towards well-being.

Originality/value
This paper adds to the accounts of lived experience of the journey towards well-being, and as such contributes to the understanding of the process of rebuilding a life.


A Nd:YAG master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system, pumped by a pulse flash-lamps as the pump source of optical parametric oscillator (OPO), is employed to improve the pump beam quality of OPO pump source. A back amplifying configuration with stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) phase conjugation mirror is used. OPO pump laser energy of 611 mJ/pulse with 30-ns pulse duration is obtained, and near diffraction limited beam quality is achieved. Based on the type Ⅱ degenerate non-critically phase-matched KTP crystal, the OPO is used to convert pump beam from 1.064μm to 1.57μm, eye-safe near infrared laser range source. 1.57-μm output energy of 209 mJ/pulse with 18-ns pulse duration is attained with a short cavity KTP OPO, when pump laser energy is approximately 611 mJ. OPO conversion efficiency is up to 38.7% when pump laser energy is approximately 200 mJ.


The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of anticipatory nausea and vomiting in a sample of pediatric patients with cancer who were receiving outpatient chemotherapy. Forty male and female patients representing a broad range of diagnoses were interviewed with their parents concerning nausea and vomiting before and after chemotherapy. Anticipatory nausea was reported by 28.8% of the sample; anticipatory vomiting was present in 20% of the sample. An additional 9% had experienced anticipatory nausea and vomiting in the past but not currently. Anticipatory nausea and vomiting was positively correlated with the emetic potential of chemotherapeutic regimens and the severity of nausea and vomiting after chemotherapy; anticipatory nausea and vomiting most often developed within the first 4 months of treatment. Onset of anticipatory nausea and vomiting usually occurred two to four hours before treatment and was most severe at the actual time of drug administration. Considerable interpatient variability was observed, with treatment-related factors accounting for only 22% of the variance in the occurrence of anticipatory nausea and vomiting. These findings are considered within a behavioral framework for understanding conditioned aversions in pediatric patients with cancer. Implications for patient education, future research on the prediction of children at risk, and intervention are discussed.


Transposable elements (TEs) are discrete genetic units that have the ability to change their location within chromosomal DNA, and constitute a major and rapidly evolving component of eukaryotic genomes. They can be subdivided into 2 distinct types: retrotransposons, which use an RNA intermediate for transposition, and DNA transposons, which move only as DNA. Rapid advances in genome sequencing significantly improved our understanding of TE roles in genome shaping and restructuring, and studies of transcriptomes and epigenomes shed light on the previously unknown molecular mechanisms underlying genetic and epigenetic TE controls. Knowledge of these control systems may be important for better understanding of reticulate evolution and speciation in the context of bringing different genomes together by hybridization and perturbing the established regulatory balance by ploidy changes. See also sister article focusing on plants by Bento et al. in this themed issue.


Hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is a well-known cause of acute hepatitis in developing countries. However, autochthonous (locally acquired) HEV infection is also emerging in industrialized countries. Neurologic signs and symptoms are an emerging extrahepatic manifestation of HEV infection. An association between neurologic manifestations (e.g., Guillain-Barre syndrome, neuralgic amyotrophy, and acute transverse myelitis) and acute HEV infection has been suggested. We present a case of a 26-year-old Hispanic female who presented with lower extremity weakness and elevated liver enzymes who was found to be positive for hepatitis E IgM antibodies. We recommend that clinicians strongly consider the possibility of HEV infection in patients with neurologic disorders, especially those with peripheral nerve involvement and liver abnormalities indicated by blood tests. Patients with unexplained hepatitis should be tested for hepatitis E, whatever their age or travel history. J Med Cases. 2015;6(1):6-7 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc1843w


The choreographies of Bill T. Jones, Cleveland Ballet Dancing Wheels, Zab Maboungou, David Dorfman, Marie Chouinard, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, and others, have helped establish dance as a crucial discourse of the 90s. These dancers, Ann Cooper Albright argues, are asking the audience to see the body as a source of cultural identity a physical presence that moves with and through its gendered, racial, and social meanings. Through her articulate and nuanced analysis of contemporary choreography, Albright shows how the dancing body shifts conventions of representation and provides a critical example of the dialectical relationship between cultures and the bodies that inhabit them. As a dancer, feminist, and philosopher, Albright turns to the material experience of bodies, not just the body as a figure or metaphor, to understand how cultural representation becomes embedded in the body. In arguing for the intelligence of bodies, Choreographing Difference is itself a testimonial, giving voice to some important political, moral, and artistic questions of our time."


We assessed effects of bilberry and green tea diet in rat model of gentamicininduced
nephrotoxicity by monitoring functional and morphological changes
in kidneys. The study was conducted on six groups of rats: control group (C),
treated with only gentamicin (GM), treated with only green tea (GT), treated
with only bilberry (B), treatedwith both gentamicin and green tea (GT+GM)
and treated with both gentamicin and bilberry (B+GM). Kidney function,
oxidant and antioxidant parameters of renal tissue, as well as
histopathological studies were assessed. Morphometric analysis was used to
quantify these histopathological changes. Gentamicin caused significant
elevations in serum creatinine and urea and oxidative stress parameters (MDA
and AOPP), while antioxidative enzyme catalase was significantly decreased.
Histological sections of kidneys in GM group revealed necrosis of proximal
tubules, vacuolation of cytoplasm and massive mononuclear inflammatory
infiltrates in interstitium. Coadministration of green tea and bilberry with
gentamicin histologically showed renoprotective effect. Histological results
were confirmed and quantified by morphometric analysis. Also in GT+GM
and B+GM group we measured ameliorated parameters of renal functions and
antioxidative defense. Regenerative potential of green tea and bilberry after
renal injury induced by gentamicin could be explained through the decrease of
oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation. Green tea and bilberry are both natural
antioxidants, and could be beneficial in the reduction of oxidative stress and
changes caused by it primarily in renal tubules and interstitium.


drain" in recent years, no firm consensus has emerged as to whether or not one exists. Today we know much more about the international migration of professional manpower than we did five, four or even three years ago. But the "more" we know is mainly facts, and not all that many; men still have difficulty saying what the facts mean and deciding whether or not the brain drain constitutes a problem of "disturbing dimen sions"?as the Pearson Commission called it. Instead of mass movements of relatively unskilled and un tutored peoples into the world's empty spaces, international migration has increasingly become the movement of people with education seeking opportunities in more developed coun tries to use skills that education has given them. The dramatic increases in foreign study since World War II, the explosion of international communications and the decline in the cost of travel have combined to internationalize the market for edu cated manpower to a degree previously unknown. This widening of the market, combined with full employment in the West, has greatly increased competition for professional manpower, espe cially the competition for exceptional talent. For some em? ployers, this international competition has brought trouble; for many individuals it has brought opportunity. There can be no quarrel with the statement in the United Na tions Report1 that "highly trained personnel from many devel oping countries are emigrating to a few major developed coun tries, that the size of this flow is large and that it is increasing at a rapid rate." But there is great question whether this migration is seriously hurting the countries that are the net exporters of trained manpower. The surprising fact is that in most develop? ing countries the number of professionally trained people who are becoming available for home employment is rising, not fall ing, and in country after country the numbers are rising faster than their economies can absorb them. One certainly cannot make this statement about all countries, or even all underdevel


In order to solve problems, humans are able to synthesize apparently unrelated concepts, take advantage of serendipitous opportunities, hypothesize, invent, and engage in other similarly abstract and creative activities, primarily through the use of their visual systems. In Scenario Visualization, Robert Arp offers an evolutionary account of the unique human ability to solve nonroutine vision-related problems. He argues that by the close of the Pleistocene epoch, humans evolved a conscious creative problem-solving capacity, which he terms scenario visualization, that enabled them to outlive other hominid species and populate the planet. Arp shows that the evidence for scenario visualization -- by which images are selected, integrated, and then transformed and projected into visual scenarios -- can be found in the kinds of complex tools our hominid ancestors invented in order to survive in the ever-changing environments of the Pleistocene world. Arp also argues that this conscious capacity shares an analogous affinity with neurobiological processes of selectivity and integration in the visual system, and that similar processes can be found in the activities of organisms in general. The evolution of these processes, he writes, helps account for the modern-day conscious ability of humans to use visual information to solve nonroutine problems creatively in their environments. Arp's account of scenario visualization and its emergence in evolutionary history suggests an answer to two basic questions asked by philosophers and biologists concerning human nature: why we are unique; and how we got that way. Robert Arp is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the National Center for Biomedical Ontology. His areas of specialization include philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind. He is the author of numerous articles and the forthcoming An Integrated Approach to the Philosophy of Mind.


This paper investigates the impact of changes in the funding of higher education in England on students' choices and outcomes. Over the last two decades – through three major reforms in 1998, 2006 and 2012 – undergraduate university education in public universities moved from being free to students and state funded to charging substantial tuition fees to all students. This was done in conjunction with the government offering generous means-tested maintenance grants and loans. Using detailed longitudinal micro-data that follows all students attending state schools in England (more than 90 percent of all schoolaged children) from lower education to higher education, we document the socio-economic distributional effects of the 2006 and 2012 policy reforms on a comprehensive set of outcomes, including enrolment, relocation decisions, selection of institution, program of study, and performance within university. For a subset of students, we track them after completing higher education, allowing us to study the labour market effects of the policy reforms. Despite the substantial higher education funding reforms, we do not find large aggregate effect on student enrolment or on other margins. Moreover, the small negative impacts found on enrolment were largely borne on those in higher parts of the wealth distribution – reducing the enrolment gap across socioeconomic groups.


[1] We utilize the GISS Global Climate Middle Atmosphere Model and eight different climate change experiments, many of them focused on stratospheric climate forcings, to assess the relative influence of tropospheric and stratospheric climate change on the extratropical circulation indices (Arctic Oscillation, AO; North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO). The experiments are run in two different ways: with variable sea surface temperatures (SSTs) to allow for a full tropospheric climate response, and with specified SSTs to minimize the tropospheric change. The results show that experiments with tropospheric warming or stratospheric cooling produce more positive AO/NAO indices. Experiments with tropospheric cooling or stratospheric warming produce a negative AO/NAO response. For the typical magnitudes of tropospheric and stratospheric climate changes, the tropospheric response dominates; results are strongest when the tropospheric and stratospheric influences are producing similar phase changes. Both regions produce their effect primarily by altering wave propagation and angular momentum transports, but planetary wave energy changes accompanying tropospheric climate change are also important. Stratospheric forcing has a larger impact on the NAO than on the AO, and the angular momentum transport changes associated with it peak in the upper troposphere, affecting all wavenumbers. Tropospheric climate changes influence both the AO and NAO with effects that extend throughout the troposphere. For both forcings there is often vertical consistency in the sign of the momentum transport changes, obscuring the difference between direct and indirect mechanisms for influencing the surface circulation.


Feature extraction is essential in vibration-based Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). In this paper a special focus is on how features are extracted and conditioned. The first case is a numerical simulation study of a small test structure. The second case is an experimental case where two test subjects of a scaled wooden blade structure are investigated. In the experimental case the measurements are performed over a month in an environment with changing temperature and relative humidity. Two different damage types are made, with increasing severity of the damage. All methods dealing with vibration based SHM are using the changes in the dynamic behavior as an indicator for damage. In the test cases the modal parameters of the structure are used as features and are extracted using operational modal analysis (OMA) in a framework of modal tracking. This paper is part 1 of a series of 4 papers that present experimental SHM investigations with focus on value of detection and value of localization using statistical and physical methods for modal based SHM. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/184


Background: Mental workload is one of the factors that influence individuals performance in the work environment as well as their efficiency and productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Rating Scale Mental Effort (RSME) for mental workload in nurses. Materials and Methods: This study was descriptive and cross-sectional conducted on 75 nurses. For assessment of mental workload, first NASA task load index (NASA-TLX) and then RSME were measured. After from data gathering, the data were analyzed using SPSS, descriptive statistics, Students independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson correlation test. Results: The results of the assessment workload using RSME and NASA-TLX index of nurses showed that nurses' workload was high. Pearson correlation test regression coefficient showed a good correlation between scores of RSME and NASA-TLX index (r = 0.72) (r2 = 0.51). Also there was no significant association between age and work experience with mental workload score in RMSE (P = 0.09) (P = 0.08) and NASA-TLX index (P = 0.08) (P = 0.06). Students t-test showed that no significant relationship was observed between sex and scores of RMSE (P = 0.08) and NASA-TLX index (P = 0.07). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that RMSE is a good method for assessing mental workload and there was acceptable correlation with NASA-TLX valid indices. RMSE index can be used to assess the mental workload.


Abstract. This study examines the diurnal variation in precipitation over Hainan Island in the South China Sea using gauge observations from 1951 to 2012 and Climate Prediction Center MORPHing technique (CMORPH) satellite estimates from 2006 to 2015, as well as numerical simulations. The simulations are the first to use climatological mean initial and lateral boundary conditions to study the dynamic and thermodynamic processes (and the impacts of land–sea breeze circulations) that control the rainfall distribution and climatology. Precipitation is most significant from April to October and exhibits a strong diurnal cycle resulting from land–sea breeze circulations. More than 60 % of the total annual precipitation over the island is attributable to the diurnal cycle with a significant monthly variability. The CMORPH and gauge datasets agree well, except that the CMORPH data underestimate precipitation and have a 1 h peak delay. The diurnal cycle of the rainfall and the related land–sea breeze circulations during May and June were well captured by convection-permitting numerical simulations with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, which were initiated from a 10-year average ERA-Interim reanalysis. The simulations have a slight overestimation of rainfall amounts and a 1 h delay in peak rainfall time. The diurnal cycle of precipitation is driven by the occurrence of moist convection around noontime owing to low-level convergence associated with the sea-breeze circulations. The precipitation intensifies rapidly thereafter and peaks in the afternoon with the collisions of sea-breeze fronts from different sides of the island. Cold pools of the convective storms contribute to the inland propagation of the sea breeze. Generally, precipitation dissipates quickly in the evening due to the cooling and stabilization of the lower troposphere and decrease of boundary layer moisture. Interestingly, the rather high island orography is not a dominant factor in the diurnal variation in precipitation over the island.


Exploring high-performance electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is pivotal for renewable energy storage and conversion. The surface self-reconstruction during the OER is considered as the key of highly active catalysts, whereas identifying the local electronic and geometric structure of the reconstruction-derived components is challenging. Herein, an in situ exsolution method towards the typical LaCo0.8Fe0.2O3−δ perovskite is developed to obtain a new type of lanthana-anchored CoFe catalyst. The optimized catalyst exhibits a low overpotential of 293 mV to reach the current density of 10 mA cm−2 in 0.1 M KOH. Most importantly, operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) measurements demonstrate that the CoFe species in the catalyst are nearly transformed into unique (Co/Fe)O(OH) with a definite coordination-unsaturated structure under electrochemical conditions, which actually contributes to this superior performance. Moreover, the presence of the lanthana support promotes this transformation. Our work not only suggests a facile reconstructive strategy to dramatically enhance the OER activity of perovskite oxides in alkaline media, but also unravels the fine structure of true active sites through operando X-ray spectroscopic tracking.


Conservation photography has been practiced since the early 1800's by photographers who had the talent for photography, and passion for protecting our planets most precious resources. The photographical works of many photographers used their images as conservation tools to protect areas of land they intrinsically valued. Like these photographers, I have found a piece of land close to home that I intrinsically value, and this piece of land is Wilderness Park. Wilderness Park is 1,472 acres of riparian woodland and is part of the Salt Creek watershed, which is a tributary of the larger Platte River Basin. However, I am not the only one who finds this piece of land worth preserving. The Friends of Wilderness Park is a non-profit Organization that is committed to preserving the long-term sustainability and ecological integrity of Wilderness Park through proactive education, preservation, and community cooperation. The purpose of my project is to create a photobook for Wilderness Park, and donate any profits made from the book to the Friends of Wilderness Park organization. By dedicating my time, talent, and effort in creating this archive of images and donating the profits to this like-minded organization, I will be combining my love for photography and passion of preserving our natural resources. This paper will explore the effectiveness of using photography as a conservation tool, the history and importance of Wilderness Park, and the design process of creating this


The earliest decipherable Chinese history traces back to the Shang Dynasty (B.C. 1766 – 1154). This period was considered prehistory until the discovery of artifacts describing divination rites in this era, practices that forge a culture. Divination rites included patterns in nature (natural law, li) such as the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams were the first attempt at writing ancient philosophies. Eight symbols represent categories that are not static, but the changing patterns in nature are captured by organizing events and forms in nature relative to seven other influences. Later this idea expanded eight-fold, embracing the patterns of nature as well as human nature, thus creating Sixty-four Hexagrams. Such categories illuminating 'likeness' and 'kind' in nature originated in ritualistic practices and were the theoretical foundations of Chinese traditional art and medicine still in practice today. This thesis finds that ancient philosophies and rituals are the roots of Chinese culture, medicine and art. One ancient concept that is still prevalent in medical theories today is that of the body as a microcosm reflecting the macrocosmic universe. Medical concepts about the body illuminate a view of nature based on the concept of largeness in smallness. The technique of 'depicting things as they are' asks artists to capture the likeness of forms in nature. This is a time-honored aim of Chinese artists. Artists should strive to capture 'likeness' representing nature's complexity, such that there is largeness in the smallest forms (such as humans) and space in nothingness (such as


In a magnitude estimation experiment, twenty observers rated the brightness of several unrelated, self-luminous stimuli surrounded by a dark background. The performance of a number of existing vision models, color appearance models and models based on the concept of equivalent luminance in predicting brightness has been investigated. Due to a severe underestimation of the Helmholtz-Kohlrausch effect, none of the models performed acceptable. Increasing the weight of the colorfulness contribution to the brightness attribute in the CAM97u model results in a very good correlation between the model predictions and the visually perceived brightness. Finally the experimental results and the brightness prediction from the modified model CAM97u,m are verified through a matching experiment and a validation magnitude estimation experiment.


With the recent discovery of crude oil reserves along the Albertine Rift, Uganda is set to establish itself as an oil producer in the coming decade. Total oil reserves are believed to be 2 billion barrels, with recoverable reserves estimated at 0.8-1.2 billion barrels. At peak production, likely to be reached by 2017, oil output will range from 120,000-210,000 barrels per day, with a production period spanning up to 30 years. Depending on the exact production levels, the extraction period, the future oil price, and revenue sharing agreements with oil producers, the Ugandan government is set to earn revenue equal to 10-15 percent of GDP at peak production. The discovery of crude oil therefore has the potential to provide significant stimulus to the Ugandan economy and address its development objectives. However, this is subject to careful management of oil revenues to avoid the potential pitfall of a sudden influx of foreign exchange. Dominating the concerns is the potential appreciation in the real exchange rate and subsequent loss of competitiveness in the non-resource tradable goods sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing ('Dutch Disease'). These sectors are often major employers in developing countries and the engines of growth. Several mitigation measures can be employed by government to counter Dutch Disease, including measures that directly counter the real exchange rate appreciation or measures that offer direct support to traditional export sectors in the form of subsidies. With the aid of a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model this study evaluates the economic implications of the future oil boom in Uganda. We also consider various options open to the Ugandan government for saving, spending, or investing forecasted oil revenues with aim of promoting economic development and reducing poverty, but also countering possible Dutch Disease effects. We find that generally urban sectors and households will be better able to capture rents generated by the oil revenues leading to growing rural-urban and regional inequality. Yet, despite these potential risks, Uganda's oil economy presents an unparalleled opportunity for the agricultural sector and for poverty reduction in particular. On the one hand, domestic demand for food, such as cereals, root crops, pulses and matooke (cooking banana), but especially higher valued products, such as horticulture and livestock products, will increase as incomes rise. Moreover, higher urban income and urban consumer preferences will lead to increasing demand for processed foods and foods with greater domestic value-added, such as meat, fish, etc. Provided Uganda's tradable food sectors can remain competitive, this provides an opportunity for both farming and the food processing manufacturing sector. On the other hand, there is the immediate danger to lose market shares in agricultural export markets, which might be extremely hard to regain after the oil boom. As shown in this paper, the outcomes for agriculture, rural-urban income differentials and poverty reduction depend very much on whether government revenues for public investment in the agricultural sector will increase and help alleviate chronic under-investment in public goods that is constraining agricultural growth in Uganda.


This study examines aerosol properties in the vicinity of clouds by analyzing high‐resolution atmospheric correction parameters provided in the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) ocean color product. The study analyzes data from a 2 week long period of September in 10 years, covering a large area in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The results indicate that on the one hand, the Quality Assessment (QA) flags of the ocean color product successfully eliminate cloud‐related uncertainties in ocean parameters such as chlorophyll content, but on the other hand, using the flags introduces a sampling bias in atmospheric products such as aerosol optical thickness (AOT) and Angstrom exponent. Therefore, researchers need to select QA flags by balancing the risks of increased retrieval uncertainties and sampling biases. Using an optimal set of QA flags, the results reveal substantial increases in optical thickness near clouds—on average the increase is 50% for the roughly half of pixels within 5 km from clouds and is accompanied by a roughly matching increase in particle size. Theoretical simulations show that the 50% increase in 550 nm AOT changes instantaneous direct aerosol radiative forcing by up to 8 W/m2 and that the radiative impact is significantly larger if observed near‐cloud changes are attributed to aerosol particles as opposed to undetected cloud particles. These results underline that accounting for near‐cloud areas and understanding the causes of near‐cloud particle changes are critical for accurate calculations of direct aerosol radiative forcing.


This project aims at understanding how cell fate decision emerges from
the overall intracellular network connectivity and dynamics. To achieve this goal
both small paradigmatic signalling-gene regulatory networks and their
generalization to highdimensional space were tested. Particularly, we drew
special attention to the importance of the effects of time varying parameters in
the decision genetic switch with external stimulation. The most striking feature of
our findings is the clear and crucial impact of the rate with which the time-dependent
parameters are changed. In the presence of small asymmetries and
fluctuations, slow passage through the critical region increases substantially
specific attractor selection by external transient perturbations. This has strong
implications for the cell fate decision problem since cell phenotype in stem cell
differentiation, cell cycle progression, or apoptosis studies, has been successfully
identified as attractors of a whole network expression process induced by
signalling events. Moreover, asymmetry and noise naturally exist in any
integrative intracellular decision network. To further clarify the importance of the
rate of parameter sweeping, we also studied models from non-equilibrium
systems theory. These are traditional in the study of phase transitions in
statistical physics and stood as a fundamental tool to extrapolate key results to
intracellular network dynamics. Specifically, we analysed the effects of a time-dependent
asymmetry in the canonical supercritical pitchfork bifurcation model,
both by numerical simulations and analytical solutions. We complemented the
discussion of cell fate decision with a study of the effects of non-specific targets
of drugs on the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor pathway. Pathway output has
long been correlated with qualitative cell phenotype. Cancer network
multitargeting therapies were assessed in the context of whole network attractor
phenotypes and the importance of parameter sweeping speed.


We report a case of toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) in a young woman without prior history of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. She was referred to our clinic with a diagnosis of multiple metastases following cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealing multiple ring-enhanced mass lesions. She had suffered from headaches for four weeks and there had been new onset of confusion and left hemiparesis. Soon after hospitalization, her neurological status rapidly deteriorated and she was operated for decompression. Pathology examination revealed TE and her blood samples were found to be HIV positive. We conclude that TE should be considered in the differential diagnosis of multiple lesions in sexually active individuals including cases without a prior history of HIV infection.


Introduction While many epidemiological studies have shown that low outdoor temperatures are associated with increased rates of hospitalisation and mortality (especially for respiratory or cardiovascular disease), very few studies have looked at the association between indoor temperatures and health. Such studies are clearly warranted, as people have greater exposure to the indoor environment than the outdoor environment. Objectives To examine the relationship between various metrics of indoor temperature and lung function in children with asthma. Our specific research questions were: (1) In which room of the home is temperature most strongly associated with lung function? (2) Which exposure metric best describes the relationship between indoor temperature and lung function? (3) Over what lag/time period does indoor air temperature affect lung function most strongly? Methods The Heating Housing and Health Study was a randomised controlled trial that investigated the effect of installing heaters in the homes of children with asthma. This study collected measurements of lung function (daily) and indoor temperature (hourly). Lung function and indoor temperature were measured for 309 children over 12 049 child-days. Statistical models were fitted to identify the best measures and metrics. Results The strongest association with lung function was found for the severity of exposure to low bedroom temperatures averaged over the preceding periods of 0–7 to 0–12 days. A 1°C increase in temperature was associated with an average increase of 0.010, 0.008, 10.06, 12.06, in our four measures of lung function (peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) morning, PEFR evening, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) morning and FEV1 evening). Conclusions Indoor temperatures have a small, but significant, association with short-term variations in the lung function of children with asthma.


This Reader brings together selected papers from leading scholars to address the most significant recent development in educational policy and politics: the impact of globalisation. The papers discuss, document and analyse evidence of globalisation's effects on the new direction of education policies and practices, and in the production of globalised agendas for the redesign of state provision and the governance of education. The Reader is organised in two parts. The first part provides a selection of articles that interrogate globalisation and its effects from a variety of analytical perspectives, and explore what kind of politics are possible in the framing context of globalisation. The second part documents and discusses different types of engagement with politics and policy in a variety of settings and sectors, including numerous European and Pacific Rim policy contexts. This important collection underlines the need to approach globalisation, education policy and politics from numerous perspectives, and offers analytical, empirical and theoretical resources for the reframing of contemporary education politics. Students of educational policy and politics will find this Reader an invaluable resource for understanding, theorising and researching in these academic fields.


Lossy synthesis techniques are used to synthesize high performance filters using resonators with a finite Q. With these techniques a transmission response of a lossless filter with lowest possible roll-off is obtained, except for an overall constant additional insertion loss. The out-of band performance is not affected. These types of filters are useful in receiver architectures where the filter can be placed following an amplifying stage and some increase in insertion loss can be tolerated without affecting the noise figure. Due to the lower resonator Q that can be employed, low cost and compact filters (such as microstrip filters) can be realized.
Hence this work presents the synthesis and design of two planar lossy filters. Both filters have been designed using microstrip technology, with center frequencies of 1 GHz and 1.6 GHz, and bandwidth of 36 MHz and 80 MHz, respectively. Both filters exhibit a flat in-band response with an insertion loss of 10 dB and 7.5 dB, respectively. The topologies obtained from the synthesis result in a 4th and a 6th order filters at 1 GHz and 1.6 GHz, respectively. Both topologies present a uniform Q distribution throughout the networks, this is all the resonators of the filter are equal to 200 and 290, respectively. In contrast with conventional filter networks, where all the couplings are reactive, lossy filters require some of the couplings to be resistive. The main difference between the two filters presented is the type of frequency response. While the filter at 1 GHz synthesizes a response with a stopband 10 dB return loss, the filter at 1.6 GHz synthesizes a purely reflective response in the stopband.
The presentation will also show details of the software package that has been written to synthesize filters following various forms of pre-distortion, classical (no-loss considered in the synthesis) and lossy filter synthesis. This software obtains the coupling matrix of several network topologies for a given response and allows performing rotations on them to find the desired topology. Additionally, the software allows to evaluate the effect of loss in the networks resulting from the synthesis, even in those cases where the synthesis results in an ideal lossless network (i.e., classical and pre-distortion synthesis).


The animation shows a schematic representation of the assembly role of SH3 domain-containing proteins using Grb2 as an example. Growth factor stimulation leads to the activation of receptor tyrosine kinases and to the phosphorylation of the receptor tail and the stimulation of phosphorylation of related adaptor proteins (not shown). The resultant phosphotyrosines form docking sites for the adaptor protein Grb2 (through its SH2 domain). The Grb2 SH3 domains bind proline-rich motifs in SOS, the guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Ras, recruiting SOS to the membrane and colocalizing it with Ras. The resultant stimulation of Ras activates a mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade, leading to cell growth and differentiation. The animation could be useful in demonstrating how different protein domains allow dynamic regulation of protein activity, protein assembly, and protein recruitment, allowing cells to respond to signals from their extracellular environment. [Resource Details]


The optical theorem provides a powerful tool for calculating the extinction cross section of a particle from a solution to Maxwell's equations, relating the cross section to the scattering amplitude in the forward direction. The theorem has been generalized by a number of other workers to consider a particle near an interface between media with different refractive indices. Here we present a derivation of the generalized optical theorem that is valid for a particle embedded in the interface, as well as an incident beam undergoing total internal reflection. We also obtain an additional useful physical result: we show that the far-field scattered field must be zero in the direction parallel to the interface. Our results enable the verification of computations of scattering by particles embedded in interfaces and may be relevant to experiments on colloidal particles at fluid interfaces.


We present GURLS, a least squares, modular, easy-to-extend software library for efficient supervised learning. GURLS is targeted to machine learning practitioners, as well as non-specialists. It offers a number state-of-the-art training strategies for medium and large-scale learning, and routines for efficient model selection. The library is particularly well suited for multi-output problems (multi-category/multi-label). GURLS is currently available in two independent implementations: Matlab and C++. It takes advantage of the favorable properties of regularized least squares algorithm to exploit advanced tools in linear algebra. Routines to handle computations with very large matrices by means of memory-mapped storage and distributed task execution are available. The package is distributed under the BSD license and is available for download at https://github.com/LCSL/GURLS.


Ultrashort optical pulses have been amplified to 1.7 μJ of energy at a repetition rate of 250 kHz with a novel cw argon-pumped Ti:sapphire regenerative amplifier. Acousto-optic switching of the amplifier is used to achieve the high repetition rate. Chirped-pulse amplification is used to avoid nonlinear effects in the amplifier. After recompression, 1-μJ, 130-fs pulses are obtained and are used to generate a white-light continuum in an ethylene glycol jet.


Collaboration, where firms share skills and/or resources in order to fulfill a common goal is not a new concept. Firms have been collaborating since the beginning of time. Projects like the Great Pyramids of Giza and the Great Wall of China could not have been completed without the col-laboration of teams of people. However, while the objectives of those who engage in collabora-tive activities has hardly changed over time, the advent of the computer and the digital age has markedly changed how these firms engage with each other and how they cooperate to fulfill their objectives. This paper will take the reader through a journey of discovery to learn how collaboration has transformed to become eCollaboration. The paper will uncover the evolution of digital technolo-gies which has instigated this transformation and how essential these electronic tools have be-come for the enablement of successful and sustainable collaboration. Finally, the paper will present a suite of tools which are currently available to assist firms in their eCollaboration endeavors. This final element represents a unique contribution to this body of knowledge and enables a con-tribution to practice through a meta-analysis of tools, their utility and application.


This short article focuses on the moral politics associated with anti-social behaviour (ASB) and an assumed moral decline in Britain. The rhetoric and policy of Labour and the Conservatives are considered including talk of 'respect' and a 'broken society'. The 2010 General Election provides the context. It is contended that such civilising agendas are only meaningful if the government of the day can lead by example. Rather than focusing on an assumed moral decline by trying to enforce standards of behaviour, an alternative is suggested that acknowledges that not all youthful (mis)behaviour given the ASB badge is necessarily problematic. Policies that promote social connectedness, inter-group understanding and tolerance are suggested, and the sort of mutual respect originally put forward by Sennett (2003). The promotion of 'togetherness in difference' (Sandercock, 2003) that is characteristic of cosmopolitan urbanism is suggested as a more optimistic position to take than a focus on moral decline.


Abstract. Wind tunnel testing of large deformable soft kites for wind energy conversion
is expensive and in many cases practically not feasible. Computational
simulation of the coupled fluid–structure interaction problem is
scientifically challenging and of limited practical use for aerodynamic
characterization. In this paper we present a novel experimental method for
aerodynamic characterization of flexible membrane kites by in situ
measurement of the relative flow, while performing complex flight maneuvers.
We find that the measured aerodynamic coefficients agree well with the values
that are currently used for flight simulation of soft kites. For flight
operation in crosswind maneuvers during which the traction force is kept constant,
the angle of attack is inversely related to the relative flow velocity. For
entire pumping cycles, the measurements show considerable variations in the
aerodynamic coefficients, while the angle of attack of the kite varies
only in a narrow range. This finding questions the commonly used
representation of aerodynamic coefficients as sole functions of the angle of
attack and stresses the importance of aeroelastic deformation for this type
of wing. Considering the effect of the power setting (identical to the trim)
solely as a rigid-body pitch rotation does not adequately describe the
aero-structural behavior of the kite. We show that the aerodynamic
coefficients vary as functions of the power setting (trim) of the kite, the
steering commands and the flight direction.


The aim of this paper was to study the role of dose and rate of application, and the effect of concentration of fungicide in the spray solution resulted from the interaction of these factors, in the control of leaf rust and yellow spot of wheat. It was conducted two experiments, the first used the CD 104 cultivar (susceptible to lead rust and yellow spot). The experimental design was an factorial 3 x 3 + untreated control, that involve the factors dose (0,25, 0,30 and 0,35 L.ha-1) and application rate (143, 286 and 429 L.ha-1). The second experiment used the BRS 208 cultivar (resistant to leaf rust and moderately resistant to yellow spot). The experimental design was an factorial 2 x 2 + untreated control, consisting the factors dose (0,2 and 0,3 L.ha-1) and application rate (143 and 286 L.ha-1). The applications were made with a coastal sprayer by CO2, pressure of 250 kPa, XR 110-02 nozzle, which generated an application rate of 143 L.ha-1. The respective rates of each treatment were changed by the number of sprayers per area. It was also used a spore trap denominated Siga, associated with meteorological data and weather forecast, which detected spores of rust and yellow spot before the symptoms in the plants, helping in the identification of disease and in the timing of application. There wasn´t any interaction between dose and rate of application for any of the experiments, therefore, there wasn´t effect of concentration of fungicide in control. The dose and rate of application just influenced in the control of the yellow spot. Higher doses and rates were more effective. However, no difference was observed for yield and hectolitre weight among treatments, except untreated control.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study was to evaluate quality of life (QOL) in a group of elderly patients (> 65 years) with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) treated with chemotherapy regimens containing anthracyclines.

DESIGN AND METHODS
QOL was evaluated in a population of elderly patients with aggressive NHL enrolled in a phase III clinical trial run by the Intergruppo Italiano Linfomi (IIL) from 1996 to 1999 to compare two different anthracycline-containing regimens (mini-CEOP vs P-VEBEC). The EORTC-QLQ-C30 questionnaire, which has already been validated in oncology, was used. The questionnaire was administered at the time of diagnosis, half way through the chemotherapy and at the time of restaging.

RESULTS
Ninety-one patients completed pre-therapy and post-therapy questionnaires and they are the subject of this report. Baseline QOL assessment showed a strong correlation of poor values of QOL with anemia and high risk according to the International Prognostic Index (IPI). At the end of treatment no functional scales showed worse values. A significant improvement was observed for pain (p=0.003), appetite (p=0.006), sleep (p=0.015) and global health (p=0.027). Considering only the 50 patients who achieved a complete remission (CR), an improvement was also recorded for emotional state (p=0.10), role (p=0.05), constipation (p=0.04) and global QOL (p=0.05).

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
The EORTC-QLQ-C30 is feasible even in a population of elderly patients, in whom it had never been tested before. The improvement of QOL at the end of the treatment demonstrated that the symptoms of the disease have a greater negative influence on the patient's life than do the side effects of the therapy.


The paper considers a melodic type which has been recognized in three regions in Serbia: as a melodic pattern for two spring songs in the region of Crnorecje (Eastern Serbia); in a strižbajska, a službarska and in several wedding songs in the region of Presevo and Bujanovac (Southern Serbia); and in the old town of Prizren (Metohija region) where the same melodic type has been recorded as the first part of numerous wedding songs. These groups of variants are similar in the course of the melody, in their ritual function monophony and ceremonial character. They differ on the level of form, meter ornamentation and, partly, of metric organization (number of syllables) of the verse. The similarity of these melodies might be explained by the metanastic streams from the southern areas to the north. Migrations were permanent throughout the time of Turkish occupation (from the 15th century onwards). One of the oldest streams, which also led to the region of Crnorecje, had been formed in the regions of Kosovo and Metohija. The inhabitants from this region migrated both to the North - to different parts of North and East Serbia - and to the East - to the region of Presevo and Bujanovac. Also, the region of Presevo, together with two smaller river valleys (South Morava and Moravica), is considered to be a middle region between the two big river valleys of Morava and Vardar, significant as directions of migrations towards the North. It may be concluded that this melodic type was brought to the North by migrations as an important and still vital element of the old Southern Serbian ritual tradition. On the other hand, there is another group of variants within this melodic type diffused in other parts of Serbia, with the function of entertainment and in the physiognomy of the songs na bas - of newer rural Serbian vocal style. The trace of these variants should be investigated in the future.


Objective: In the North Dublin Population Stroke Study, we investigated the risk of recurrent stroke within the 14-day time window recommended for endarterectomy. Methods: In a population-based prospective cohort study, all ischemic stroke patients were identified over 1 year and categorized into those with (CS-positive) and without (CS-negative) ipsilateral carotid stenosis (CS) (≥50% lumen narrowing). Nonprocedural stroke recurrence was determined at 72 hours and 7 and 14 days. Results: Of 365 ischemic stroke patients with carotid imaging, 51 were excluded due to posterior circulation or nonlateralizing stroke, ipsilateral carotid occlusion, or intracranial stenosis, leaving 314 included for analysis (36 CS-positive and 278 CS-negative). Recurrent stroke occurred in 5.6% (2/36) CS-positive and 0.4% (1/278) CS-negative patients by 72 hours of symptom onset (p =0.003), 5.6% (2/36) CS-positive and 0.7% (2/278) CS-negative patients (p =0.01) by 7 days, and in 8.3% (3/36) CS-positive and 1.8% (5/278) CS-negative patients by 14 days (p =0.02). On multivariable Cox regression analysis, CS was the only independent predictor of recurrence at 72 hours (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 36.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.6–837.5, p =0.03), and 7 days (HR 9.1, 1.1–79.2, p =0.05), with a trend at 14 days (HR 4.6, 0.9–22.8, p =0.06). Conclusions: Although only a minority of patients with symptomatic CS had a recurrent stroke within 14 days, early recurrent stroke risk was high, particularly within the first 72 hours. Earlier carotid revascularization or improved acute medical treatment may reduce recurrence in this high-risk group. Neurology® 2011;77:738–743


We demonstrate quantitative phase imaging of a neutral atomic beam by using a noninterferometric technique. A collimated thermal atomic beam is phase shifted by an off-resonant traveling laser beam with both a Gaussian and a TEM01 profile and with both red and blue detuning of as much as 50 GHz. Phase variations of more than 1000 rad were recovered from velocity-selective measurements of the propagation of the atomic beam and were found to be in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions based on independently measured phase object intensity profiles and detunings.


Background—Black patients with acute myocardial infarction are less likely than whites to receive coronary interventions. It is unknown whether racial disparities exist for other treatments for non–ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE ACS) and how different treatments affect outcomes. Methods and Results—Using data from 400 US hospitals participating in the CRUSADE (Can Rapid Risk Stratification of Unstable Angina Patients Suppress Adverse Outcomes with Early Implementation of the ACC/AHA Guidelines?) National Quality Improvement Initiative, we identified black and white patients with high-risk NSTE ACS (positive cardiac markers and/or ischemic ST-segment changes). After adjustment for demographics and medical comorbidity, we compared the use of therapies recommended by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for NSTE ACS and outcomes by race. Our study included 37 813 (87.3%) white and 5504 (12.7%) black patients. Black patients were younger; were more likely to have hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, and renal insufficiency; and were less likely to have insurance coverage or primary cardiology care. Black patients had a similar or higher likelihood than whites of receiving older ACS treatments such as aspirin, &bgr;-blockers, or ACE inhibitors but were significantly less likely to receive newer ACS therapies, including acute glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, acute and discharge clopidogrel, and statin therapy at discharge. Blacks were also less likely to receive cardiac catheterization, revascularization procedures, or smoking cessation counseling. Acute risk-adjusted outcomes were similar between black and white patients. Conclusions—Black patients with NSTE ACS were less likely than whites to receive many evidence-based treatments, particularly those that are costly or newer. Longitudinal studies are needed to assess the long-term impact of these treatment disparities on clinical outcomes.


Putrescine and other polyamines are produced by two alternative pathways in plants. One pathway starts with the enzyme arginine decarboxylase (ADC; EC 220.127.116.11), the other with ornithine decarboxylase (ODC; EC 126.96.36.199). Metabolite profiling of nitrogen-fixing Lotus japonicus nodules, using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, revealed a two- to sixfold increase in putrescine levels in mature nodules compared with other organs. Genes involved in polyamine biosynthesis in L japonicus nodules were identified by isolating cDNA clones encoding ADC (LjADC1) and ODC (LjODC) from a nodule library. Searches of the public expressed sequence tag databases revealed the presence of a second gene encoding ADC (LjADC2). Real-time reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed that LjADC1 and LjADC2 were expressed throughout the plant, while LjODC transcripts were detected only in nodules and roots. Induction of LjODC and LjADC gene expression during nodule development preceded symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Transcripts accumulation was maximal at 10 days postinfection, when a 6.5-fold increase in the transcript levels of LjODC was observed in comparison with the uninfected roots, while a twofold increase in the transcript levels of LjADC1 and LjADC2 was detected. At later stages of nodule development, transcripts for ADC drastically declined, while in the case of ODC, transcript accumulation was higher than that in roots until after 21 days postinfection. The expression profile of genes involved in putrescine biosynthesis correlated well with the expression patterns of genes involved in cell division and expansion, including a L. japonicus Cyclin D3 and an alpha-expansin gene. Spatial localization of LjODC and LjADC1 gene transcripts in developing nodules revealed that both transcripts were expressed in nodule inner cortical cells and in the central tissue. High levels of LjADC1 transcripts were also observed in both nodule and connecting root vascular tissue, suggesting that putrescine and other polyamines may be subject to long-distance transport. Our results indicate that polyamines are primarily involved in physiological and cellular processes involved in nodule development, rather than in processes that support directly symbiotic nitrogen fixation and assimilation.


We present an open source tool, 3D Diff, that supports differencing and merging of 3D models. As modeling software grows in use, and as 3D models get more complex and require input from more users, there is an emerging problem of maintaining large scenes over time. A scene might be concurrently edited by different users and thus there is a need to merge different versions of a 3D model. We frame this problem in a way that is analogous to software merging: firstly, we automatically detect differences in 3D models by noting correspondences and discrepancies between them; secondly we provide an interactive tool to select between such changes in order to effect a merge. To achieve this we introduce the notions of explicit and implicit conflicts in 3D models and develop a prototype implementation to support the differencing and merging processes. We evaluate this tool with users and find the 3D Diff to be an effective way of merging 3D models. We claim that such tools have an important role to play in the maintenance of large models.


Condensed-phase mechanisms play a major role in fire-retardant polymers. Generations of development have followed the concept of charring to improve fire properties. Whereas the principal reactions are believed to be known, the specific description for multicomponent systems is lacking, as is the picture across different systems. A two-step approach is proposed in general, and also presented in greater detail. The second step covers the specific reactions controlling charring, whereas the actual reactants are provided in the preceding step. This model consistently incorporates the variety of structure–property relationships reported. A comprehensive case study is presented on seven phosphorus flame retardants in two epoxy resins to breathe life into the two-step approach.


Abstract. Continuous measurements of physical and chemical properties at the Mt. Cimone (Italy) GAW-WMO (Global Atmosphere Watch, World Meteorological Organization) Global Station (2165 m a.s.l.) have allowed the detection of the volcanic aerosol plume resulting from the Eyjafjallajokull (Iceland) eruption of spring 2010. The event affected the Mt. Cimone site after a transport over a distance of more than 3000 km. Two main transport episodes were detected during the eruption period, showing a volcanic fingerprint discernible against the free tropospheric background conditions typical of the site, the first from April 19 to 21 and the second from 18 to 20 May 2010. This paper reports the modification of aerosol characteristics observed during the two episodes, both characterised by an abrupt increase in fine and, especially, coarse mode particle number. Analysis of major, minor and trace elements by different analytical techniques (ionic chromatography, particle induced X-ray emission–particle induced gamma-ray emission (PIXE–PIGE) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)) were performed on aerosols collected by ground-level discrete sampling. The resulting database allows the characterisation of aerosol chemical composition during the volcanic plume transport and in background conditions. During the passage of the volcanic plume, the fine fraction was dominated by sulphates, denoting the secondary origin of this mode, mainly resulting from in-plume oxidation of volcanic SO2. By contrast, the coarse fraction was characterised by increased concentration of numerous elements of crustal origin, such as Fe, Ti, Mn, Ca, Na, and Mg, which enter the composition of silicate minerals. Data analysis of selected elements (Ti, Al, Fe, Mn) allowed the estimation of the volcanic plume's contribution to total PM10, resulting in a local enhancement of up to 9.5 μg m−3, i.e. 40% of total PM10 on 18 May, which was the most intense of the two episodes. These results appear significant, especially in light of the huge distance of Mt. Cimone from the source, confirming the widespread diffusion of the Eyjafjallajokull ashes over Europe.


Forecasts of how ecological systems respond to environmental change are increasingly 44 important. Sufficiently inaccurate forecasts will be of little use, however. For example, weather forecasts are for about one week into the future; after that they are too unreliable to be useful 46 (i.e., the forecast horizon is about one week). There is a general absence of knowledge about how far into the future (or other dimensions, e.g., space, temperature, phylogenetic distance) 48 useful ecological forecasts can be made, in part due to lack of appreciation of the value of ecological forecast horizons. The ecological forecast horizon is the distance into the future (or 50 other dimension) for which useful forecasts can be made. Five case studies illustrate the influence of various sources of uncertainty (e.g., parameter uncertainty, environmental and 52 demographic stochasticity, evolution), level of ecological organisation (e.g., population or community), organismal properties (e.g., body size or number of trophic links) on temporal, 54 spatial and phylogenetic forecast horizons. We propose that the ecological forecast horizon is a flexible and powerful tool for researching and communicating ecological predictability, and for 56 motivating and guiding agenda setting for ecological forecasting research and development.


Counsellors working with students or other young adults may encounter individuals who have self-harmed, either with suicidal or non-suicidal intent. Recent US studies reported rates of self-injury of up to 37% of the student population, but studies in the UK have focussed primarily on younger adolescents. This study examined reported self-harm incidents (scratching, cutting, poisoning, overdose etc) from a sample of 617 university students. A total of 27% reported at least one incident of self-harm, with almost 10% having harmed themselves while at university. Gender differences were not significant but psychology students reported significantly more self-harm than other students. Participants reporting self-harm scored significantly higher on maladaptive coping styles, rumination, and alexithymia (specifically difficulty in identifying emotions) and these differences were most marked for students reporting repetitive and recent self-harm. Rumination and Alexithymia factor 1 (difficulty identifying feelings) emerged as the most robust factors predicting self-harm status. Comments from students who self-harmed at university highlighted the importance of accessible services and academic staff support. The implications of these findings for counselling interventions are discussed, including challenging negative rumination tendencies and developing mindfulness skills.


Due to climate change, the built environment is facing increasingly strict environmental targets. Thus, architects are challenged to design evermore high-performing buildings, a task for which they can no longer depend solely on their experience and intuition. Building performance simulation (BPS) tools have become central in this context to support the design process. Yet, several studies show that such tools are still not widespread among practitioners at early design stages. Despite significant efforts made to deliver more "architect-friendly" tools, a gap remains between the expected use and the reality, highlighting the need to adapt the design-approach when developing such tools. A usercentred design approach seems promising for increasing the usability and acceptance of BPS tools, and should be fine-tuned through multiple iterations between BPS developers and potential users via usability assessments. However, as usability assessment has its origins in the domain of human-machine interaction, no methodology has been proposed yet specifically for BPS tools. This paper is the result of a first interdisciplinary pilot study, describing and evaluating a usability assessment method for a new BPS tool that supports the low carbon building design process. Usability, the reliability of the tool and its usefulness are amongst the dimensions that have been assessed with a selected population of future users. Moreover, recommendations and guidelines for the reproducibility of the test are provided. The study shows that both, the quantitative and qualitative results gathered through a usability assessment are insightful to develop a BPS tool that is efficient, satisfactory, pleasant to use and widely adopted by designers.


INTRODUCTION
Chairside surface alteration like grinding is often done by clinicians for adjustment of zirconia restorations. To restore the surface of the prostheses, either polishing or glazing is done. However, there is a controversy which of the surface restoration technique helps regain strength of the restoration.

AIM
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of chairside surface alteration on flexural strength of Monolithic zirconia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Rectangular zirconia samples (n=30) were prepared by CAD-CAM and divided into three groups. One was control group with no alteration (n=10), second was ground and polished (n=10) and third was ground and reglazed (n=10). Flexural strength testing was performed with a three-point bend test on a universal testing machine. The collected data was statistically analysed for normal distribution using D'Agostino and Pearson omnibus normality test, one-way ANOVA and Tukeys multiple comparison test (p<0.05).

RESULTS
The mean flexural strength of the reglazed group was significantly higher (648.7 MPa) as compared to the control (507 MPa) or the polished groups (588.5 MPa).

CONCLUSION
Statistically, reglazing increased the flexural strength as compared to polishing.


Endangered Brigalow (Acacia harpophylla F. Muell. ex Benth.) dominated ecosystems have been extensively cleared and modified for agricultural production throughout the Southern Brigalow Belt Bioregion of southern Queensland, Australia. Intensification of the agriculture in the region has resulted in significant fragmentation and disturbance of natural vegetation remnants. Rehabilitating previously cleared vegetation (regrowth) is an important conservation alternative where there is inadequate cover of intact remnants, that aims to ensure the persistence of Brigalow communities throughout highly modified landscapes. While legislation is now in place to restrict clearing of remnant and Brigalow regrowth in southern Queensland, little is known of the functioning and dynamics of regrowth communities in comparison to remnant vegetation. This research investigates patterns in floristic composition, stand structure and microenvironment of Brigalow remnants and a number of regrowth communities differing in time since clearing.

Thirty-eight sites in the Darling Downs region, southern Queensland, were sampled encompassing Brigalow remnant (two treatments: 'Remnant' (sites with an absence of clearing but continue to experience small disturbances such as grazing) and 'Reserve' (sites with an absence of disturbance within state and national reserves)) and different aged Brigalow regrowth ( 40 years). Floristic composition and projected cover of strata were recorded in a 500m2 quadrat at each site. Patch and surrounding landscape context (spatial) environmental data were also determined for each site. Soil chemical data (including soil, pH, organic content, cation exchange capacity and phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations) were determined from bulked soil samples. Landscape spatial data was derived from remotely sensed imagery. Un-weighted paired group arithmetic averaging (UPGMA), non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) ordination, analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to identify patterns in composition, functional group richness and stand structure between remnant and regrowth sites. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA), Kruskall Wallis correlations and linear step-wise regression were used to identify potential environmental drivers of vegetation responses (Appendix I).

Multivariate analyses (UPGMA and nMDS) showed general gradients from recent regrowth through older stages of regrowth to remnant and reserve sites for both floristic composition and stand structure data. There were no differences between remnant and old regrowth (>40 years) in terms of stand structure (ANOSIM, p 0.05).

These results suggest that stand structure in regrowth vegetation returns to that similar to remnant vegetation within 40 years of initial clearing, predominantly driven by the development of the overstorey trees and woody understorey species. However, Brigalow remnant and old regrowth (>40y) remain different in terms of floristic composition. The significance of this finding is discussed in relation to Alternate Stable State Theory.

The proportion of surrounding vegetation and landuse type, as well as patch factors, such as grazing intensity and soil properties, were highly correlated (CCA) with patterns in composition and stand structure observed across the Brigalow treatments. Regrowth sites exhibited higher proportion of regrowth vegetation as well as cropping and grazing in the surrounding landscape compared to remnant sites. Soil nutrients, such as phosphorus, potassium and cation exchange capacity, and stem density and grazing intensity were also higher within regrowth sites. These findings suggest an environmental influence may be responsible for the differential patterns in composition observed between remnant and regrowth communities in the region.

It is concluded that while structure of Brigalow regrowth returns to that of remnant Brigalow, the distinct floristic species composition of older regrowth may indicate a longer time period is needed for equivalence or a possible alternate stable state in these highly modified agricultural landscapes. These results are significant for the management of highly fragmented communities in production landscapes, where management actions may need to be directed towards a more active approach towards regeneration. To ensure the long-term persistence of Brigalow communities, further investigation of the development trajectory of old Brigalow regrowth is required.


This paper describes a unique set of apparatus created at NPO State Institute of Applied Optics for the investigation of complex molecules at high temperatures under vacuum and the results of a study of the fine-structure fluorescence spectra of complex molecules of aromatic compounds obtained using this apparatus. A comparative analysis is given of the quasiline spectra of the molecules of certain aromatic compounds at low temperatures, obtained under conditions of matrix isolation and jet-cooled gas flows. Starting from the concept of the formation and origin of the fine-structure spectra of complex molecules developed earlier by the authors, two groups of spectroscopic effects are considered that make it possible to determine the elementary processes that control the conversion of the photon absorbed by the molecule. The first group includes the regularities describing how the quasi-lines of the fine-structure spectra depend on the energy of the excitation quanta, while the second includes the regularities associated with the multiplet structure of the individual lines of the fine structure.


The debate surrounding the sustainability of urban areas and the need to reduce dependency upon the car as the primary mode of transportation has rekindled interest in the relationship between accessibility, price and location of owner occupied housing. Traditionally, attempts at quantification have used hedonic analysis employing straight-line distance measurements to focal points such as the CBD as an indicator of accessibility. This paper focuses upon factors affecting the price structure of residential property in the Belfast Urban Area, examining the relative influence of property characteristics, socio-economic factors and the impact of accessibility. The model employs an accessibility index computed for each of 182 traffic zones and uses transaction data for a sample of 2648 residential properties sold during 1996. Results indicate that accessibility is of little significance in explaining variation in house prices at a city-wide scale but at a sub-market level, particularly in lower-income areas, accessibility can be an important influence. The analysis highlights the importance of investigation at a sub-market level and draws conclusions regarding the complexity of relationships within an urban area.


We report on the design, first observing season, and analysis of data from a new prototype millimeter-wave interferometer, MINT. MINT consists of four 145 GHz SIS mixers operating in double-sideband mode in a compact heterogeneous configuration. The signal band is subdivided by a monolithic channelizer, after which the correlations between antennas are performed digitally. The typical receiver sensitivity in a 2 GHz band is 1.4 mK s1/2. The primary beams are 0.°45 and 0.°30 FWHM, with fringe spacing as small as 0.°1. MINT observed the cosmic microwave background (CMB) from Cerro Toco, in the Chilean Altiplano. The site quality at 145 GHz is good, with median nighttime atmospheric temperature of 9 K at zenith (exclusive of the CMB). Repeated observations of Mars, Jupiter, and a telescope-mounted calibration source establish the phase and magnitude stability of the system. MINT is the first interferometer dedicated to CMB studies to operate above 50 GHz. The same type of system can be used to probe the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in galaxy clusters near the SZ null at 217 GHz. We give the essential features of MINT and present an analysis of sideband-separated, digitally sampled data recorded by the array. Based on 215 hours of data taken in late 2001, we set an upper limit on the CMB anisotropy in a band of width Δℓ = 700 around ℓ = 1540 of δT < 105 μK (95% confidence). Increased sensitivity can be achieved with more integration time, greater bandwidth, and more elements.


Introduction Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea (OSAH) causes excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), impairs quality of life (Qol), and increases cardiovascular disease and road traffic accident risks. Continuous positive airway pressure therapy is effective but undermined by intolerance and cost effectiveness is borderline in milder cases. Mandibular Advancement Devices (MADs) are another treatment option but evidence is lacking regarding their effectiveness compared to no treatment in milder disease. This study compared clinical and cost effectiveness of a range of MADs and no treatment in these patients. Methods This 4-period, randomised, controlled, crossover trial was undertaken at a UK sleep centre. Adults with mild to moderate OSAH and EDS (Apnoea-Hypopnoea Index (AHI) 5-<30/hour; Epworth Sleepiness Scale score (ESS) > = 9) underwent 6 weeks of treatment with three non-adjustable MADs: self-moulded (SP1); semi-bespoke (SP2); fully-bespoke (bMAD); and 4 weeks no treatment. Primary outcome was AHI scored by a polysomnographer blinded to treatment and analysed by intention to treat. Secondary outcomes included ESS and QoL. Cost effectiveness was evaluated using validated tools, treatment costs and healthcare usage. Results Ninety patients were recruited. Sixteen withdrew before trial end. Seven did not complete any treatment and were excluded from analyses. All devices reduced AHI against no treatment, by 26% (95%CI 11%, 38%, p = 0.001) for SP1 to 36% (95%CI 24%, 45%, p < 0.001) for bMAD. ESS was 1.51 (SP1) to 2.37 (bMAD) lower versus no treatment (p < 0.001 for all). Compliance was lower for SP1 which was unpopular at trial exit. All devices were cost-effective compared with no treatment at a willingness to pay (WTP) of £20,000/quality-adjusted life year (QALY), based on mean costs and QALYs. SP2 was most cost-effective up to a WTP of £39,800/QALY after which, bMAD superseded it. Serious adverse events occurred in four patients (4%). Conclusions Mandibular Advancement Devices achieve clinically important improvements in mild to moderate OSAH syndrome and are cost effective. A semi-bespoke non-adjustable MAD would appear to be the appropriate first choice in most patients. Future work should explore whether adjustable MADs give additional clinical and cost benefits in this patient group. Funding NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme, UK.