of a thesis at the University of Miami Thesis supervised by Assistant Professor Jill Ehrenreich May No. of pages in text. (65) Although the prevalence rate of panic disorder (PD) among adolescents is relatively low, epidemiological research suggests that panic attacks and subclinical panic disorder symptoms occur in a substantial portion of the adolescent population. Retrospective and prospective studies also suggest that adolescence is a critical developmental period for the onset of PD symptoms. Given the negative academic, social, and emotional outcomes associated with undetected and untreated PD, effective prevention and intervention are warranted. Identifying adolescents with current PD or who may be at-risk for future PD is an important step in such treatment efforts. Among professionals working with youth, physicians and medical staff may be at a particularly advantageous position to screen for adolescent panic symptoms, given the high utilization of medical services among those experiencing such PD symptoms. Although limited time and resources within primary care settings frequently hinder effective mental health screening procedures, the use of time-and cost-effective screening instruments may aid professionals in detection efforts. With this in mind, the current study sought to validate a brief screening tool previously studied with adults for use with adolescents seen at pediatrics primary care practices. The screening instrument was evaluated both in terms of its ability to effectively detect adolescents with PD and in terms of the association between positive screen status and cognitive, symptom, and broader impairment variables associated with PD. Participants included 165 adolescents (57% male) ages 12 to 17 (M = 14.40;; SD = 1.77) recruited from two general pediatrics clinics in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The sample was 42.3% White, Non-Hispanic, 41.1% Hispanic, 7.9% Black (African- American and Caribbean American), 1.2% Asian American, 7.4% mixed ethnicity or other, and 1.2% unknown. At Time 1, while in the waiting room of a pediatrics clinic, participants completed the Autonomic Nervous System Questionnaire (ANS;; Stein et al., 1999), a five-item screening measure of panic symptoms. Of this larger sample, 45 participants (25 screening positive for potential panic disorder and 20 with negative screens, matched by age and gender to the positive screen group) completed telephone- administered follow-up measures at Time 2. Follow-up measures included a more comprehensive diagnostic assessment of PD and agoraphobia, as well as adolescent- report measures of anxiety sensitivity, interpretive biases, overall anxiety and depression, and functional impairment. At Time 1, 65 participants (39.4%) screened positive on the ANS, as indicated by endorsing the first and/or second item on the measure. Of those screening positive, roughly one-third of participants (33.84% of positive screens) endorsed moderate to severe anticipatory anxiety about future panic attacks. The ANS displayed excellent sensitivity (Se = 1.00), with two participants from the positive screen group meeting criteria for PD, and no control participants meeting criteria. However, as expected, specificity of the ANS was lower (Sp = .43), indicating a high degree of false positives (e.g., those screening positive but not meeting criteria for PD). In addition, as hypothesized, the ANS demonstrated good test-retest reliability (r = .74). Independent samples t-tests revealed that positive screen participants had significantly higher self-reported anxiety sensitivity, interpretive biases, anxious and depressive symptoms (including panic), and functional impairment than negative screen participants. This difference remained significant for overall symptom T-scores on the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scales (RCADS;; Chorpita et al., 2000), even after controlling for group differences in anxiety sensitivity and interpretive biases. Finally, further analyses revealed that participants endorsing both starter items on the ANS (n = 7) had higher elevations on self-reported anxiety sensitivity and panic symptoms, compared to those not endorsing either item or those endorsing the first item (e.g., "In the past six months, did you ever have a spell or an attack when all of a sudden you felt frightened, anxious, or very uneasy?"), but not higher than those endorsing only the second item ("In the past six months, did you ever have a spell or attack when for no reason your heart suddenly began to race, you felt faint, or you couldn't catch your breath?"). These findings offer preliminary validation for the ANS as a screening measure for PD in adolescence, given its high sensitivity and ability to adequately "catch" patients with PD (e.g., low false negative rate). Perhaps even more importantly, those screening positive on the ANS demonstrated higher scores on cognitive correlates of PD and elevated internalizing symptoms and functional impairment, compared to participants screening negative. Based on these analyses, current recommendations for physicians and medical staff are to monitor and follow-up with adolescents screening positive on the ANS for the development of anxiety and panic disorder symptoms, particularly among those who endorse both starter items. However, given the relatively small sample size, replication of these findings in a larger sample is needed to further validate these recommendations. Finally, implications for prevention and intervention within pediatrics settings are discussed.


We investigate the physical layer (PHY) security of a system with a base-station (BS), a legitimate user, and an eavesdropper, whose exact location is unknown but within a ring-shaped area around the BS. To this end, we present novel closed-form expressions for the secrecy outage probability, which take into consideration both the impact of fading, as well as the eavesdropper's location uncertainty. The derived expressions are validated through simulations, which reveal that the level of uncertainty should be seriously taken into account in the design and deployment of a wireless system with PHY security.


IT outsourcing strategy has the potential for substantial benefits, but also the likelihood of significant risks. The literature has not fully explored the probability of encountering IT outsourcing risks, and, conversely, the probability of success, leaving open the possibility that many decision-makers enter into IT outsourcing with unwarranted optimism. This paper reports on the experiences of 240 Australian organizations engaged in IT outsourcing taken from a survey of the largest 1000 sites in the country. The survey revealed some surprising findings. Certain widely promoted benefits of outsourcing were observed (access to skilled staff, positive vendor service and improved business flexibility), but a range of benefits that were similarly promoted were reported by only a minority of respondents. These included strategic benefits, cost savings, economies of scale, and technology benefits. Only around a third (36%) of respondents reported satisfaction with their outsourcing arrangement(s) and a range of risks were more prevalent, and less manageable than has previously been reported.


Community college curricula must address thinking, analytical skills, values clarification, and related thinking skills in order to ensure that graduates have the skills needed to successfully face the challenge of work of further education. This volume of "New Directions for Community Colleges" considers ways in which high-level thinking skills can be integrated with content and taught across institutional disciplines and means by which instructors and admnistrators can become involved in these efforts. The authors in this volume were selected because of their firsthand participation in the critical thinking movement and their expertise in teaching thinking skills. This is the 77th issue of New Directions for Community Colleges.


Six iso-energetic (352 kcal gross energy/100 g feed) and iso-nitrogenous (32% crude protein) experimental diets containing one of the four algae (Anabaena cylindrica, AN; Nostoc salbasa, NS; Spirulina platensis, SP; Westleopsis prolifica, WS) as the major dietary ingredient (40% of the total composition) or algal meal mixture with supplemental protein (AMM+PS) or only algal meal mixture (AMM) were tested against a control diet to find out the suitability of algal meal to develop practical diet for rohu fingerling. The experimental fish of average weight 2.0 ± 0.1 g were fed at a rate equaling 4% of body wt/day for 8 weeks at an experimental temperature of 28 ± 2°C. Significant (p<0.05) enhancement in growth rate was observed in the groups fed with WS (571%) followed by the groups fed with NS (517.6%) and SP (502.8%) as compared to that of the groundnut oil, rice bran and soybean meal based control diet (406.4%). Fingerlings fed with algal meal mixture (AMM) gained least (255.2%). Diet with WS performed well in terms of FCR, PER, HSI, MR and CF when AMM showed least efficiency. Fish fed with SP showed better protein utilization (ANPU%) as compared to the other dietary groups. Carcass protein was not affected by any diet. The MUFA and PUFA of liver and PUFA of muscle increased over the initial value fed with control and experimental diets. But the MUFA of muscle with these diets are less than the initial. The SFA content in all diets of both the tissues is either same or less than initial value except with AMM diet. The total n-3PUFA in liver increased with all diets over the initial value. But this increase in muscle was observed only with AN, NS, WS and AMM+PS diets. The n-6PUFA of liver and muscle remained either same or increased with all diets over initial value. This study showed that individual algal diets gave better result in growth performance and PUFA content. Among all the algal diets WS found to be the best.


Disaggregated Rack-Scale Data Centres have been proposed as the only promising avenue to brake the barrier of the fixed CPU-to-memory proportionality caused by maintray direct-attached conventional/traditional server-centric systems. However, memory disaggregation has stringent network requirements in terms of latency, energy efficiency, bandwidth and bandwidth density. This paper identifies all the requirements and key performance indicators (KPIs) of a network to disaggregate IT resources while summarizes the progress and importance of optical interconnects. Crutially, it proposes a rack and cluster scale architecture which supports the disaggregation of CPU, memory, storage and/or accelerators blocks. Optical circuit switching (OCS) forms the core of this architecture, whereas the end-points (IT resources) are equipped with onchip programmable hybrid electrical packet/circuit switches. This architecture offers dynamically reconfigurable physical topology to form virtual ones, each embedded with a set of functions. It analyses the latency overhead of disaggregated DDR4 (parallel) and the proposed HMC (serial) memory elements on the conventional and the proposed architecture. A set of resource allocation algorithms are introduced to a) optimally select disaggregated IT resources with lowest possible latency, b) pool them together by means of virtual network interconnect and c) compose virtual disaggregated servers. Simulation findings show up to 34% resource utilization increase over traditional data centres while highlighting the importance of the placement and locality between compute, memory and storage resources. In particular, the network-aware locality based (NALB) resource allocation algorithm achieves as low as 15 nsec, 95 nsec and 315 nsec memory transaction round-trip latency on 63%, 22% and 15% of the allocated VMs accordingly while utilizing 100% of the CPU resources. Furthermore, a formulation to parameterize and evaluate the additional financial costs endured by disaggregation is reported. It is shown that the more diverse the VM requests are the higher the net financial gain is. Finally an experiment was carried out using silicon photonic mid board optics and an optical circuit switch that demonstrates FEC-free 10-12 bit error rate performance on up to five tier scale-out network.


This tutorial describes the transmission, group delay time and quadratic dispersion properties of the four basic building blocs of optical filters built using ring resonators. These building blocs are single-ring resonators in either two-port (all-pass) or four-port (add/drop filter) configuration. The effect of waveguide and coupler loss is included throughout. Explicit expressions to compute the complex amplitude of the circulating wave in the ring, the Q factor, the finesse and the insertion loss are also given. Attention is drawn to the similarities between the ring resonator the Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot resonator and the Gires-Tournois interferometer. Material properties and fabrication technology are not reviewed.


Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) causes the most serious viral disease in soybean worldwide. Seven SMV strains, G1 G7, and three independent multi-allelic loci for SMV resistance, Rsv1, Rsv3, and Rsv4, have been identified. In the initial study, 299 soybean germplasm lines were genotyped for Rsv4 region, inoculated with SMV-G1 and G7 strains, and classified into several resistance groups. The Glyma.02g121400 locus was sequenced from ten soybean accessions, and alignment of the sequences revealed three SNPs displaying 100% polymorphic consistency when a soybean genotype carrying the Rsv4 gene was present. A cross between V94-5152 × Lee 68 was made to create linkage map revealing a distance of 3.6 cM between the Rsv4 and the closest SNP. Five Rsv4 candidate genes have been proposed in this region. In the second study, three SMV R-genes were pyramided by crossing J05 and V94-5152. The gene-pyramided line GP20, was crossed with Williams 82, F2 plants were genotyped and collated with phenotypic data of F2:3 lines inoculated with SMV-G1 and G7 strains. The results confirmed a successful incorporation of three genes into one soybean line. In the third study, soybean germplasm PI 438307 was crossed to Essex for the inheritance study, and to three differential parents for the allelism test. F2 population and F2:3 lines derived from all four cross combinations were screened with SMV-G7 strain. Additionally, F2 generation of PI 438307 x Essex were genotyped with two SSRs. The results revealed that resistance to SMV in PI 438307 is controlled by a single dominant gene at the Rsv4 locus. PI 438307 plants exhibited a unique symptoms; therefore, a new allele Rsv4-v was assigned to SMV resistance in PI 438307. In the final study, PI 96983 and York were crossed to evaluate allelomorphic relationship between Rsv1 and Rsv1-y. To break possible linkage, 3000 F2-plant population was phenotyped using the SMV-G1 strain. Occurrence of susceptible and segregating lines indicated tight linkage between two genes positioned in a distance of 2.2 cM. The Rsv2 symbol was proposed to be assigned instead of Rsv1-y. Results from this research may accelerate breeding efforts to develop multi-virus resistant crops.


This book speaks about a world of mute objects ranging from plant bulbs, divining rods, and archeological findings to drawn, painted, or printed images. It describes the functions of these objects as ambiguous and polyvalent carriers of knowledge, and it analyzes the ways in which networks of scholars, craftsmen, mathematicians, anatomy professors, or merchants active in the Low Countries attributed new meanings to them. The book examines a period in which cities like Antwerp and Amsterdam were nodal points in the international exchange of goods, news, and skills. (Series: Low Countries Studies on the Circulation of Natural Knowledge - Vol. 1)


USDA's release of the March Prospective Planting report indicated an increase in planted acreage for soybeans in 2017. At a record high of 89.5 million acres, the report shows approximately 6 million additional acres of soybeans planted above last year and presents a possibility of record production in soybeans in 2017. The expansion of soybean acreage in the Prospective Plantings reports consisted of increases in many areas of the country with record levels of soybean planting intentions in the Western Corn Belt and Plains states. The size of the prospective soybean production in 2017 depends on the average yield for the crop which consists of many factors that will unfold over the next few months. Yield expectations are typically based on trend yield analysis, but recent above-trend yields combined with expanded acreage in lower yielding states raises the possibility of additional yield uncertainty in 2017. To address this issue, we first estimate trend yields for soybeans in states measured by the USDA. We then calculate a national trend yield estimate by weighting each state trend yield estimate by the percentage of acreage in that state in both 2017 and 2016. The difference in the two national trend yield calculation for the two weightings gives an indication of the potential yield impact of the acreage shift in 2017.


Existence of a wafer axial dependency in the activation energy (Ea) for the dc-drift of LiNbO3 modulators has been experimentally found. The Ea for the x-cut modulators is derived to be 0.2~0.5 eV, and 1 eV for the z-cut ones.


Leafy lespedeza (Lespedeza cyrtobotrya Miq.) is a deciduous shrub in the pea family (Fabaceae) that occurs in areas of East Asia including Korea, China, and Japan. It has been commonly used as a fence plant and for sand control in Korea. In late October 2011, a powdery mildew disease was observed on leafy lespedeza in several areas near Gwangju River, Gwangju, Korea. Symptoms appeared late in October when temperature fluctuation was high. Major symptoms included scattered white powdery to cottony colonies on both surfaces of the leaves which spread to stems, causing a minor chlorosis and distortion. Conidia were formed singly on conidiophores with 2 to 4 (commonly 3) septa including basal septum, primary conidia ellipsoid, apex rounded to subtruncate, base truncate; and secondary conidia subcylindrical to oblong when mature, and ends truncate. The size was 26.4 to 43.2 (av. 35.1) × 11.2 to 13.2 (av. 11.3) μm. Conidiophores were erect, cylindrical, wider at apex than foot cell, and straight or slightly flexuous in foot cells. The size was 60.1 to 81.3 (av. 78.1) × 6.2 to 12.1 (av. 8.3) μm. Chasmothecia were not observed. Morphologically, the conidia and conidiophores of our strain (EML-LCPW1) were very similar to those of Erysiphe hypophylla (syn. Microsphaera hypophylla) (4). From extracted genomic DNA, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region inclusive of 5.8S and 28S rDNA were amplified with ITS1 (5'-TCCGTAGGTGAACCTGCGG-3'), LR5F (5'-GCTATCCTGAGGGAAAC-3'), LROR (5'-ACCCGCTGAACTTAAGC-3'), and LR5F primer sets, respectively. Based on the morphology and ITS rDNA sequence analysis, the fungus was identified as E. hypophylla. rDNA ITS and 28S homologies of the fungus (EML-LCPW1, GenBank Accession Nos. JX512557 and JX512558) represented 100% (771/771) and 100% (775/775) identity values with E. hypophylla (AB292712 and AB292716, respectively) via NCBI BLASTn search of each isolate. The rDNA ITS (JX512557) and 28S (JX512558) sequence analysis revealed that the causal fungus matched E. hypophylla, forming a HypophyllaAlphitoides clade as Takamatsu et al. suggested that E. hypophylla is conspecific to E. alphitoides (3). So far, it has been known that E. communis, E. glycines var. lespedezae, and E. lespedezae cause powdery mildews on Lespedeza plants in the world (1). In Korea, only one Erysiphe species, E. lespedezae (= E. pisi), has been reported to cause powdery mildew on Lespedeza plants including L. bicolor and L. cyrtobotrya (2). In addition, 10 records with respect to Oidium sp. have been found on Lespedeza spp., including L. cyrtobotrya from Japan and L. chinensis from China (1). However, powdery mildew on Lespedeza plants, including leafy lespedeza caused by E. hypophylla, has not been reported in Korea or elsewhere in the world. This fungus has been reported in association with numerous oak (Quercus) species in nearby countries such as China and Russia (Far East), showing that it may be a potential source of inoculum in Korea as well. To our knowledge, this is the first report of Oidium anamorph of E. hypophylla on leafy lespedeza (L. cyrtobotrya) in Korea. References: (1) D. F. Farr and A. Y. Rossman. Fungal Databases, Syst. Mycol. Microbiol. Lab., ARS, USDA. Retrieved from http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/ , October 9, 2012. (2) H. D. Shin. Page 320 in: Erysiphaceae of Korea. National Institute of Agricultural Science & Technology, Suwon, Korea, 2000. (3) S. Takamatsu et al. Mycoscience 47:367, 2006. (4) S. Takamatsu et al. Mycol. Res. 111:809, 2007.


Two different experiments utilizing the motor imagery of nger movement were conducted. We attempted to reveal the difference in corticospinal excitability between tonic contraction (TC) and rhythmic movement (RM) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The magnetic coil was placed over the subject's primary motor cortex to elicit motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) by TMS. We have previously shown that the MEP amplitude is modulated by the frequency of active and passive nger movements. We hypothesized that visual feedback affects the corticospinal excitability. In the present study, the subject observed both TCs and RMs, and the MEP amplitudes elicited by TMS during both tasks were analyzed to assess changes in corticospinal excitability in uenced by the motor imagery. A mirror box was used to show the subject the nger movement executed by a third person as if it were his own nger movement. For the TC task, the third person performed a pinching task consisting of TC of the index nger and thumb. The subject received visual feedback of the TC in the mirror. For the RM task, the subject observed the mirror while the third person performed RM of the index nger until TMS was applied. The frequencies of nger movement were 0.5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 Hz. The resulting MEP amplitudes for the RM task at movement frequencies of 2, 3, and 4 Hz were signi cantly lower than that for the TC task. These results indicate that corticospinal excitability is increased by visual feedback of TC but is modulated by that of RM.


ABSTRACT Exploiting positive labor market shocks from localized "fracking" booms, I estimate that fracking increased migration to impacted areas, but there is significant heterogeneity across both demographics and regions. Migrants to fracking areas were more likely to be male, unmarried, young, and less educated than movers more generally. These local booms increased in-migration rates to North Dakota fracking counties by nearly twice as much as other fracking areas. Differences across geography in labor market impacts, commuting behavior, initial population characteristics, or nonlinearities only partially explained this gap. There is evidence that heterogeneous information flows might be playing a role.


Studies reporting 'new' associations of food ingredients with diseases are common, and sensational headlines appear almost daily in the news media. Thus, in a recent provocative paper, Schoenfeld and Ioannidis,1 randomly selected 50 common ingredients from a cookbook, and reported that 40 were apparently associated with increased cancer risk in peer reviewed studies. Unsurprisingly, most of these associations disappeared in subsequent meta-analyses.1 The net result: increases in media profits, public anxiety and a number of confused politicians. Indeed, the current landscape in nutritional epidemiology research is blighted by an oversaturation of contradictory evidence which risks confusing policy makers, journalists and public about what aspects of the Western diet deserve attention and then intervention. Randomised controlled trails and meta-analyses offer an evidence 'gold standard' relatively free of biases. However, trials are simply not feasible, affordable or ethical for many of the most important dietary questions. We therefore fall back on analyses of long-term cohorts, at which point considerable cautions then need to be sounded. Thus, the populations under study may be highly selected (eg, US doctors or nurses), and the results may not be directly generalisable to the …


The aim of this study is to examine the cropping pattern in Kheri District, Uttar Pradesh, India. This paper also estimated the changing cropping pattern at the block level between 2009-10 and 2014-15, how the choices of the farmers are changing for the alteration of crops with the time motivated by modern technologies, land disintegration, frequent flash floods, deforestation, fluctuation on the market, etc. Kheri district has been considered as the study area for this research paper. The study has been carried out at the block level. The data has been derived from the district statistical handbooks. Field visits and personal interviews have been done to fathom the real situations and motivating factors for the changing crop pattern. The findings demonstrate that there is a net loss in the cropped area in the district during 2010 and 2015. The crop pattern changed in these five years. The area under cereal crops declined and sugarcane cultivation accelerated. Market and flash floods were the main factors to affect the acreage of the crops.


Rubin v. Islamic Rep. Of Iran, 709 F.3d 49 (1st Cir. 2013). The 2002 Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) provides an exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) rule that property of a foreign state is immune from attachment and execution in U. S. courts. (1) TRIA permits attachment and execution of foreign property that has been blocked by the United States and is owned by a designated state sponsor of terrorism. (2) In Rubin v. Islamic Republic of Iran, (3) the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit ruled against a group of judgment creditors attempting to utilize TRIA's exception to the FSIA, and in turn prevented a default judgment against Iran from being satisfied through attachment of Persian antiquities held in U.S. museums. (4) The First Circuit's decision to dissolve the creditors' attachment relied on the 1981 Algiers Accords which unblocked nearly all Iranian property in the United States; more notably, the court relied on the amicus brief filed by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). (5) On September 4, 1997, Hamas carried out a terrorist attack at the Ben Yehuda marketplace in Jerusalem, Israel. (6) Jenny Rubin and other American citizens seriously injured in the attack initiated a civil suit against Iran, alleging Iran was liable for the terrorist attacks based on its material support to Hamas. (7) In 2003, a default judgment was entered against Iran and the plaintiffs' were awarded USD71,500,000 in compensatory damages and USD37,500,000 in punitive damages. (8) This award prompted the plaintiffs to pursue Iranian property within the United States to satisfy the default judgment. (9) After identifying Persian antiquities housed at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Harvard University (collectively, museums), the plaintiffs registered the default judgment in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts and petitioned to attach the antiquities. (10) The museums moved to quash the attachment asserting Iran did not own the antiquities, and claiming even if the antiquities were property of Iran, the items were immune from attachment under FSIA. (11) The plaintiffs then sought partial summary judgment asserting, inter alia, that the antiquities were "blocked assets" and were exposed to attachment under section 201 (a) of TRIA. (12) The district court concentrated its review on Executive Order 12,170 (1979 Order) and the subsequent Executive Order 12,281 (1981 Order) issued in resolution of the Iranian hostage crisis and as part of the Algiers Accords. (13) The court found that the 1981 Order, which unblocked "uncontested" property interests of Iran, created a situation where TRIA's attachment power was triggered only where ownership of Iranian property was contested. (14) The district court held the museums had claimed ownership of the antiquities, thereby nullifying the unblocking effect of the 1981 Order, and bringing the property within the reach of TRIA. (15) Despite this favorable ruling for the plaintiffs, the district court dissolved the attachment, holding the plaintiffs had failed to show that Iran had an attachable interest in the antiquities in question. (16) On appeal, the First Circuit upheld the order to dissolve the plaintiffs' attachments. (17) The First Circuit, however, ruled ownership of the antiquities was not contested, and the antiquities remained unblocked per the 1981 Order and not attachable under TRIA. (18) In 2002, Congress enacted TRIA and added an exception to the FSIA allowing attachment of blocked assets of state sponsors of terrorist groups. (19) The goal of TRIA is not only to deter state sponsored terrorism through expanded authority to attach the property in the face of the FSIA, but also provide victims of terrorist attacks a means to satisfy judgments against the terrorist nations liable for their injuries. (20) Blocked assets under TRIA are those assets "seized or frozen by the United States . …


Developments in the theory of Knowledge Management have occurred in lock step with our understanding of the importance of capital and in particular the intangible elements of social capital of which "knowledge" and its production and reception are normally associated. Further elaboration of the concept of social capital has led to the development of neocapital, which has gained currency within the field of Human Resources for example. However, an examination of the factors that constitute the received definition of "neocapital" suggests that the theory building used to construct it has been in reaction to developments in other disciplines, rather than any fundamental unified theory that underpins these factors.Building on Scandinavian and European research into information systems using perspectives gained from the Organisational Semiotics (OS), Language Action Perspective (LAP), and Action Language Organisations and Information Systems (ALOIS) communities, we demonstrate how the adoption of communication-centric theory can provide a more unified approach to understanding the factors that comprise neocapital especially as it pertains to knowledge management definitions in organisational settings.Rethinking neocapital from a communication-theory perspective enables us to examine the structural, functional and semantic characteristics of community and coalition. We utilise a socio-semantic, contextual and functional model of language that has been gainfully employed within the information systems discipline to research organisations and apply it to theorise community and coalitions and their associated knowledge resources and processes. We focus our discussion on defining and exemplifying one set of communication resources known as the reference system. The reference system comprises the language resources social agents use to introduce and subsequent refer to different kinds of participants in communication (people, places and things) relevant to given situational and cultural contents. By selecting relevant completed acts of communication and analysing them for reference resources we can identify and describe the people, places and things that distinguish social groups and coalitions from one or another. By demonstrating how knowledge about communication enables us to identify communities and coalitions over time, we also demonstrate how communication constitutes knowledge within communities and coalitions


Community formation analysis of dynamic networks has been a hot topic in data mining which has attracted much attention. Recently, there are many studies which focus on discovering communities successively from consecutive snapshots by considering both the current and historical information. However, these methods cannot provide us with much historical or successive information related to the detected communities. Different from previous studies which focus on community detection in dynamic networks, we define a new problem of tracking the progression of the community strength-a novel measure that reflects the community robustness and coherence throughout the entire observation period. To achieve this goal, we propose a novel framework which formulates the problem as an optimization task. The proposed community strength analysis also provides foundation for a wide variety of related applications such as discovering how the strength of each detected community changes over the entire observation period. To demonstrate that the proposed method provides precise and meaningful evolutionary patterns of communities which are not directly obtainable from traditional methods, we perform extensive experimental studies on one synthetic and five real datasets: Social evolution, tweeting interaction, actor relationships, bibliography, and biological datasets. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is highly effective in discovering the progression of community strengths and detecting interesting communities.


Little is known of the sensitivities of deep seabed communities to anthropogenic disturbance. We collate and summarize the sparse data related to effects on the seabed of deep-sea trawling and provide a new analysis of potential impacts on the benthic community in this still largely pristine environment. We concentrate particularly on the northern European continental margin. Here, the upper continental slope is now being impacted by new demersal fisheries using aggressive trawling techniques. Direct effects are caused largely by the physical impact of the trawl, where emergent sessile epifauna, such as corals and massive sponges, are particularly vulnerable to damage. Damage to coldwater coral reefs in the northeastern Atlantic is irrecoverable at ecological time scales. Large, semi- buried glacial drop stones are uprooted in heavily trawled areas, impacting their rich covering of sessile epifauna. Seabed photographs suggest that trawl scour marks on soft sediment are widespread and persist longer than those in shallow sediments because of low rates of natural sedimentation. Loss of biogenic habitat complexity in the sediment and destruction or disruption of microhabitat provided by sessile epifaunal organisms caused by dragging trawls over infaunal communities disrupts sediment habitat structure. The scale of such physical impact, including possible smothering effects caused by sediment resuspended by the trawl, is unknown. Physical damage to sediment-rooted sessile epifauna, such as glass sponges, is inferred from seabed photographs, while removal of large motile epibenthic predators may alter community structure and ecosystem processes. Indirect effects on the deep seabed sediment community probably conform to disturbance effects seen in coastal benthos. High species diversity, rich in rare species, make it vulnerable to local-scale species loss. Effects of discards arriving as food falls to the bed are unknown and may cause a shift in the balance of ecological function through expansion of natural scavenger populations. We offer a unifying hypothesis from a deep-sea perspective. Coastal seas currently reflect stages in seabed community modification that predate rigorous scientific studies. Therefore, substantial habitat alteration and change in ecosystem function caused by loss of the most vulnerable, mainly sessile epibenthic species, probably occurred a long time ago. Deep-seabed areas off Europe are now starting to experience this early, probably most visible, stage from a previously pristine state.


Brackground Current treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have a limited clinical response and methods, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), are being studied as possible treatments for the clinical symptoms with positive results. However, there is still seldom information on the type of rTMS protocols that deliver the best clinical improvement in AD. Objetive To compare the clinical response between a simple stimulation protocol on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) against a complex protocol using six regions of interest. Methods 19 participants were randomized to receive any of the protocols. The analysis of repeated measures evaluated the change. Results Both protocols were equally proficient at improving cognitive function, behavior and functionality after 3 weeks of treatment, and the effects were maintained for 4 weeks more without treatment. Conclusion We suggest rTMS on the lDLPFC could be enough to provide a clinical response, and the underlying mechanisms should be studied.


The beta1-adrenoceptor plays a crucial role in the regulation of myocardial contractility and heart rate. A functionally important polymorphism at codon 389 has been associated with heart failure and hypertension. The conventional method of detecting this polymorphism is a PCR-assay followed by digestion with specific restriction enzyme (PCR-RFLP) polymorphism. We aimed to establish an alternative, fast genotyping method by real time PCR, which combines high speed DNA-amplification and real time fluorescence monitoring using fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Venous blood of 50 healthy volunteers was examined for the Arg389Gly polymorphism using both methods. The results from PCR-RFLP were compared to those obtained with real time fluorescence PCR and showed a 100% correlation. DNA sequencing confirmed a 100% concordance. This alternative technique is significantly less time consuming than traditional PCR-RFLP and facilitates the analysis of a large numbers of samples.


This study investigates whether a thermodynam- ically optimal hillslope structure can, if existent, serve as a first guess for uncalibrated predictions of rainfall-runoff. To this end we propose a thermodynamic framework to link rainfall-runoff processes and dynamics of potential energy, kinetic energy and capillary binding energy in catchments and hillslopes. The starting point is that hydraulic equilib- rium in soil corresponds to local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE), characterized by a local maximum entropy/minimum of free energy of soil water. Deviations from LTE occur ei- ther due to evaporative losses, which increase absolute val- ues of negative capillary binding energy of soil water and reduce its potential energy, or due to infiltration of rainfall, which increases potential energy of soil water and reduces the strength of capillary binding energy. The amplitude and relaxation time of these deviations depend on climate, veg- etation, soil hydraulic functions, topography and density of macropores. Based on this framework we analysed the free energy balance of hillslopes within numerical experiments that perturbed model structures with respect to the surface density of macropores. These model structures have been previously shown to allow successful long-term simulations of the water balances of the Weiherbach and the Malalc- ahuello catchments, which are located in distinctly different pedological and climatic settings. Our findings offer a new perspective on different functions of preferential flow paths depending on the pedological setting. Free energy dynamics of soil water in the cohesive soils of the Weiherbach is dom- inated by dynamics of capillary binding energy. Macropores act as dissipative wetting structures by enlarging water flows against steep gradients in soil water potential after long dry spells. This implies accelerated depletion of these gradients and faster relaxation back towards LTE. We found two local optima in macropore density that maximize reduction rates of free energy of soil water during rainfall-driven conditions. These two optima exist because reduction rates of free energy are, in this case, a second-order polynomial of the wetting rate, which implicitly depends on macroporosity. An uncali- brated long-term simulation of the water balance of the Wei- herbach catchment based on the first optimum macroporosity performed almost as well as the best fit when macroporos- ity was calibrated to match rainfall-runoff. In the Malalc- ahuello catchment we did not find an apparent optimum den- sity of macropores, because free energy dynamics of soil water during rainfall-driven conditions is dominated by in- creases of potential energy. Macropores act as dissipative drainage structures by enhancing export of potential energy. No optimum macropore density exists in this case because potential energy change rates scale linearly with the wetting rate. We found, however, a distinguished macroporosity that assures steady-state conditions of the potential energy bal- ance of the soil, in the sense that average storage of potential energy is compensated by average potential energy export. This distinguished macroporosity was close to the value that yielded the best fit of rainfall-runoff behaviour during a cal- ibration exercise and allowed a robust estimate of the annual runoff coefficient. Our findings are promising for predictions in ungauged catchments (PUB) as the optimal/distinguished


Administrative law has changed radically in its scope and breadth in recent decades. Old analytical frameworks have been cast aside and replaced by more open-textured concepts, such as "legality", "rationality" and "fairness." In demonstrating that administrative decisions are beyond the legal pale, lawyers have resort to various devices: mission statements, labels, terminological exactitude, metaphors and personification.Although language plays a useful descriptive role in administrative law, by setting out a landscape that can be comfortably viewed and usefully discussed from 20,000 feet, overreliance on these devices obfuscates the inevitably normative task judges have in judicial review cases: deciding and explaining whether intervention would be justifiable or not. Falling back on language may be a coping mechanism for judges, lawyers and academics deprived by the recent administrative law reformations of clear principles around which their work can be organized. In this paper, I demonstrate the limits of language in administrative law, with a view to understanding the role of judicial review more clearly. Descriptive language is often either useless – because it adds nothing but a conclusory label to a conclusion reached on other grounds – or downright dangerous – because it hides judicial value judgements. Administrative lawyers have to think and judges to justify themselves in normative terms. Mission statements, labels, terminological exactitude, metaphors and personification are descriptive devices better left to publishing houses. This is an early draft that will be published in a volume of the Canadian Bar Review in honour of former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Louis LeBel.


Various organizations offer online continuing dental education (CDE) courses. While previous investigations focused on objective measures to determine the quality of the courses, this exploratory study evaluates the participants' experience with them. We surveyed 436 past course participants from nine online CDE courses (courses provided by six organizations) regarding their experience with the courses taken. Our analysis of the 169 responses (38.8 percent response rate) focuses on how the participants of online CDE courses can be characterized; whether the participants' expectations were met by the courses; how the participants evaluated the content of the courses; why they enrolled; and the participants' experience of the online environment. The results suggest that online CDE courses partially meet the needs and expectations of dental professionals. The lack of communication with peers and instructors as well as the fact that courses appeared outdated were main reasons for dissatisfaction. Most of the participants accomplished their goals of gaining new knowledge and deepening their understanding of the subject. Based on this evaluation, future courses can be tailored to meet more closely the expectations and needs of dental professionals.


During the last decade of the nineteenth century, British colonisation in Southern Africa, in particular in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) had coincided with uneasy relations with the native black population. Partly because of continuing disillusionment over stringent policy regarding native livestock, hostilities between the colonial officials and Matabele and Mashona tribal groups resulted in devastating wars. Within these warring circumstances, Afrikaner settlers who had immigrated to Rhodesia since 1891 – mostly in search of better living opportunities – subsequently found themselves amidst the crossfire of these conflicts. Though subjugated to British colonial authority, the Afrikaner minority were regarded by native blacks as collaborators in maintaining white military and political power in Rhodesia. Consequently, the mere safety of Afrikaners were threatened by sporadic military attacks and skirmishes during the Anglo-Matabele war of 1893, and most of all, for the duration of the Matabele and Mashona rebellions of 1896 to 1897. During the Matabele rebellion, an Afrikander Volunteer Corps (known as the Afrikaner Korps) was established as a military unit, which provided substantial support in two decisive battles. This article seeks to address the role and history of the Afrikander Volunteer Corps, as well as the involvement of ordinary Afrikaners in the turbulent colonial wars in early Rhodesia.


We study the source characteristics of the 9 August 1912, Mw 7.4, Mürefte (Ganos) earthquake that ruptured the Ganos Fault in the westernmost segment of the North Anatolian Fault. We apply the stochastic method for finite-faults in order to simulate strong ground motion acceleration using different fault geometries in terms of the rupture initiation and the length of the fault. A first-order approximation of the site effect variation is achieved following an empirical approach based on the topography gradient as a proxy for site-effect. The simulated ground motions, which are calculated at phantom stations, over a grid covering the area of study, satisfactorily produce the regions which were more severely shaken during the 1912 event. We simulate ground motions using a conservative fault length of 50 km (one land segment) which is able to explain the location of the surface ruptures but is not able to reproduce the surface extent of strong shaking. We then use a longer fault of approximately 120 km, extending to Saros Bay in the west and to Marmara Sea in the east. The synthetic peak ground acceleration values, indicate a segmented nature of the fault, have at least two patches of strong shaking and significantly predict the observed macroseismic intensities of the 1912 earthquake. Further constrain in our modelling is posed by surface ruptures, with small releasing and restraining structures and 1.5–5.5 m right-lateral offsets, that have been previously measured by others, at 45 sites of the on-land ~50-km-long fault section.


A novel mononuclear platinum(II) complex, [PtL(DMSO)Cl]Cl (1, here L = danysl bis(2-benzothiazolylmethyl)amine), has been synthesized and characterized by ESI-MS, IR spectrum, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, molar conductivity, and elemental analysis. The results suggest that in the structure of complex 1, a platinum(II) ion is coordinated by a tertiary amine nitrogen, a benzothiazole nitrogen, a DMSO sulfur, and an exogenous chlorine ion to form one square mononuclear structure. Complex 1 exhibits a cytotoxicity comparable to that of cisplatin against HeLa cell line and more potent activities against A-549 and MCF-7 cell lines. Compared to those of L, the potent cytotoxicity of 1 should result from the coordination of Pt(II). DNA binding experiments demonstrate that 1 could strongly bind to calf thymus DNA (CT-DNA) by a groove binding mode accompanied with a moderate intercalation and induce a visible conformational variation of DNA. Investigation of the reaction of 1 with 5′-GMP by ESI-MS shows that complex 1 could first form a 1 : 1 adduct [PtL(DMSO)(GMP) − 2Na + H]+ with 5′-GMP and react further with a second equivalent of 5′-GMP to form a 1 : 2 adduct [PtL(DMSO)(GMP)2 − 4Na + 3H]+, which is similar to those of [Pt(en)(DMSO)Cl]Cl and cisplatin. Therefore, the anticancer mechanism of these compounds might well be related to each other. The evalution of the protein binding ability shows that complex 1 could bind to human serum albumin (HSA) with a moderate binding affinity, quench the intrinsic fluorescence of HSA, and destroy the tertiary structure of HSA.


Piagetian theory describes mathematical development as the construction and organization of mental operations within psychological structures. Research on student learning has identified the vital roles of two particular operations—splitting and units coordination—play in students' development of advanced fractions knowledge. Whereas Steffe and colleagues (e.g., Steffe, 2001; Steffe & Olive, 2010) describe these knowledge structures in terms of fractions schemes, Piaget introduced the possibility of modeling students' psychological structures with formal mathematical structures, such as algebraic groups. This paper demonstrates the utility of modeling students' development with a structure that is isomorphic to the positive rational numbers under multiplication—the splitting group. We use a quantitative analysis of written assessments from 58 eighth grade students to test hypotheses related to this development. Results affirm and refine an existing hypothetical learning trajectory for students' constructions of advanced fractions schemes by demonstrating that splitting is a necessary precursor to students' constructions of 3 levels of units coordination.


The volatile constituents of the aerial parts of Centaurea amanicola Hub.-Mor., Centaurea consanguinea DC. and Centaurea ptosimopappa Hayek were extracted by hydrodistillation and analysed by GC and GC–MS. Altogether 94 components were identified. Sesquiterpenoids, fatty acids and carbonylic compounds were the most abundant components in the oils. Hexadecanoic acid and (Z,Z )-9,12-octadecadienoic acid were the main fatty acids in all the examined samples, that showed different patterns of composition. The study on the biological activity of the oils showed an action mainly against the Gram-positive pathogens.


Ethnographic work in industry has spent two decades contributing to making products that matter in a range of industry contexts. This activity has accounted for important successes within industry. From the standpoint of ethnographic practice, however, the discursive infrastructure that has been developed to do our work within product development is now a limiting factor. For practice to evolve, we must look critically at the ways in which our current successes are indicators of a kind of stasis and that change is a matter of radically redefining the kinds of business problems ethnographic work should address and the values and behaviors associated with how we do our work.


These two ambitious volumes from one of the world's most celebrated political philosophers present a new kind of political and legal theory that James Tully calls a public philosophy, and a complementary new way of thinking about active citizenship, called civic freedom. Professor Tully takes the reader step-by-step through the principal debates in political theory and the major types of political struggle today. These volumes represent a genuine landmark in political theory from the author of Strange Multiplicity, one of the most influential and distinctive commentaries on politics and the contemporary world published in recent years. This first volume of Public Philosophy in a New Key consists of a presentation and defence of a contextual approach to public philosophy and civic freedom, and then goes on to study specific struggles over recognition and distribution within states.


The overall objective of this work was to compare the effect of pre-treatment and catalysts on the quality of liquid products from fast pyrolysis of biomass. This study investigated the upgrading of bio-oil in terms of its quality as a bio-fuel and/or source of chemicals. Bio-oil used directly as a biofuel for heat or power needs to be improved particularly in terms of temperature sensitivity, oxygen content, chemical instability, solid content, and heating values. Chemicals produced from bio-oil need to be able to meet product specifications for market acceptability. There were two main objectives in this research. The first was to examine the influence of pre-treatment of biomass on the fast pyrolysis process and liquid quality. The relationship between the method of pre-treatment of biomass feedstock to fast pyrolysis oil quality was studied. The thermal decomposition behaviour of untreated and pretreated feedstocks was studied by using a TGA (thermogravimetric analysis) and a Py-GC/MS (pyroprobe-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry). Laboratory scale reactors (100g/h, 300g/h, 1kg/h) were used to process untreated and pretreated feedstocks by fast pyrolysis. The second objective was to study the influence of numerous catalysts on fast pyrolysis liquids from wheat straw. The first step applied analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) to determine which catalysts had an effect on fast pyrolysis liquid, in order to select catalysts for further laboratory fast pyrolysis. The effect of activation, temperature, and biomass pre-treatment on catalysts were also investigated. Laboratory experiments were also conducted using the existing 300g/h fluidised bed reactor system with a secondary catalytic fixed bed reactor. The screening of catalysts showed that CoMo was a highly active catalyst, which particularly reduced the higher molecular weight products of fast pyrolysis. From these screening tests, CoMo catalyst was selected for larger scale laboratory experiments. With reference to the effect of pre-treatment work on fast pyrolysis process, a significant effect occurred on the thermal decomposition of biomass, as well as the pyrolysis products composition, and the proportion of key components in bio-oil. Torrefaction proved to have a mild influence on pyrolysis products, when compared to aquathermolysis and steam pre-treatment.


We quantitatively compare two template-based tracking algorithms, Hager's method and the hyperplane tracker, and three histogram-based methods, the mean-shift tracker, two trust-region trackers, and the CONDENSATION tracker. We perform systematic experiments on large test sequences available to the public. As a second contribution, we present an extension to the promising first two histogram-based trackers: a framework which uses a weighted combination of more than one feature histogram for tracking. We also suggest three weight adaptation mechanisms, which adjust the feature weights during tracking. The resulting new algorithms are included in the quantitative evaluation. All algorithms are able to track a moving object on moving background in real time on standard PC hardware.


The objective of the present study was to use selected RAPD markers (Primer UBC-122 and YNZ-22) in parental selection to the bacterial Vibrio alginolyticus resistance in Tiger groupers (Epinephelus fuscoguttatus).  Eighteen fish parent samples were challenged with Vibrio alginolyticus and parental selection was examined by a PCR-RAPD method.   The results showed that from 18 fish samples, primer YNZ-22 generated 18 fragments while primer UBC-122 generated 8 fragments only (KHP, KB, HB, PB, MKH, MH, K and MK).  In addition, the average number of fragments from each samples generated from primer-YNZ was higher (3,2) than from UBC-122 (2,3). This indicates that primer YNZ-22 is better than primer UBC-122 to use in parental selection to the Vibrio alginolyticus resistance in Tiger groupers.  From the parental selection, five fish parents (KHP, PB, MH, K and  MK) were selected for their high resistance to the bacterial Vibrio alginolyticus.


Our group previously described the activity of carboplatin plus paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) (given as a 24-hour infusion) in 51 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. To facilitate outpatient administration, the regimen was modified to infuse paclitaxel over 1 hour. Between February 1995 and August 1996, 63 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer were accrued by the Vanderbilt Cancer Center and its affiliate network. The first four patients received paclitaxel 175 mg/m2; all subsequent patients received paclitaxel 200 mg/m2. The carboplatin dose was determined using the Calvert formula, with a target area under the concentration-time curve of 6. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks, to a maximum of six cycles. The median age of the patients was 62 years. There were 43 men and 20 women. Ten patients were stage IIIB and 53 were stage IV. Patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status < or =2 were enrolled. There were three complete remissions and 13 partial remissions, for an overall response rate of 25%. Median survival was 32 weeks. This compares with a response rate of 27% and a median survival of 38 weeks observed in our previous study, using 24-hour paclitaxel plus the same dose of carboplatin. Grade 3/4 leukopenia occurred in 47% versus 3% of treatment cycles in the 24-hour versus 1-hour patient groups, respectively. Febrile neutropenia was similar and occurred in 7% versus 4% of treatment cycles. Grade 1 to 3 neurotoxicity occurred in 7% versus 41% of patients in the 24-hour versus 1-hour schedule groups, respectively. Likewise, the incidence of grade 1 to 3 arthralgia/myalgia was greater among patients receiving 1-hour infusion of paclitaxel (3.5% v 28%). Although not randomized, these data suggest that survival may be comparable whether paclitaxel is given by short or prolonged infusion in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Toxicity profiles differ, however, with greater myelosuppression following 24-hour paclitaxel, but a higher incidence of neurotoxicity and arthralgia/myalgia with the 1-hour infusion.


The +++ Wearable Player is a result of the application of the Rights through Making approach in designing wearables. This approach aims at designing systems, whose use empowers people towards the materialization of values (e.g. human rights). The +++ Wearable Player system elaborates on the previous project Sound Experience, and introduces the concept of viral music exchange as a motivating factor in the context of social health. This paper describes the morphological genesis, the functional aspects and how they have been implemented in a fully working experienceable prototype. The design process and its outcomes are illustrated, in the framework of the "changing behaviour" design trend.


Digital games and media are being harnessed for educational purposes, with some now being used to promote sustainable behaviour. Such approaches exploit current trends in technology use and the popularity of digital gaming to encourage new activities or to change people's behaviour. Mission:Explore is a project that taps into this new area, and is focussed on encouraging children and young people to get out and explore their local area through posting online challenges – which participants take part in to score points, earn rewards, and unlock achievements. The innovation was driven by a pro-social motivation to get people engaging with 'geography' in its widest sense, and to encourage local community participation as a way of addressing contemporary social issues. The social diffusion of Mission:Explore is based around developing a user community of participants.
This research has focussed upon the potential of expanding the locations of the challenges posed by Mission:Explore to incorporate parts of the National Cycle Network (NCN), with the rationale being that this could be a motivating factor in encouraging greater use of the network, and consequently help in promoting cycling and active travel more generally. The aim of this research has been to explore the different ways in which families engage in game-playing, understand their current cycling behaviours, and explain how bringing the two together might be a motivating factor in encouraging them to cycle more and make greater use of the NCN routes in their area.
The findings from the study show that in line with existing research, there are two main motivations for families to play games together: the first (and strongest) is simply for fun; the second is that playing games together gives them time together as a family, which can sometimes be difficult to find when different family members have busy and varied activity schedules and diverse interests.
When asked about the notion of setting challenges along the national cycle network, there were several interesting suggestions of what families would like:
i) Challenges structured around the activity of cycling itself (i.e. instructional activities related to skills riding the bike, using gears, etc...). This was suggested as a way of increasing both adults and children's confidence in using the bike, which was suggested as a significant barrier to families cycling more.
ii) Areas of cycle track engineered to be more physically exciting. Children and adults enjoyed the simple feeling of being on their bike, and the suggestion was that at points along a stretch of the route there could be the option to divert from the main, direct path and explore areas with ramps, berms, banked corners, chicanes, and other additions to make the experience more fun.
iii) Attractively landscaped areas at which to stop, rest, and explore along the route. Some of the participants enjoyed taking new routes for the adventure, however said that some structure to this would improve the experience. Areas that provide information about the route and challenges tailored to the local area would be welcomed. These should not be far off the track and should be clearly marked.
The key message to be taken from this research is that whilst playing games together was always seen as an enjoyable part of family life, there is a question as to how motivational adding a gaming element to the NCN would be in the context of encouraging greater use. The key barriers to greater use of the network identified were:
I) A lack of confidence on bikes (amongst adults, which could be passed to the children);
II) Concerns for safety linked to the fragmented nature of the network, and the need to cycle for a distance on-road to access car-free portions of the NCN (related to the previous point);
III) A lack of knowledge about how and where to cycle in the local area.
As such, it is unlikely that providing challenges alone will encourage families that do not cycle much (or at all) to get out there and use the NCN, because such an approach does not address these deeper-seated barriers.
However, for families that are already experienced and confident in cycling together, it was seen as a welcome addition to their more routine experiences of the NCN routes in the area. All parents that were interviewed were extremely enthusiastic about any efforts made to provide activities for them to do with their children, and from this perspective there is merit in improving NCN in the ways described above.
To summarise: Improving NCN routes through the addition of challenges or games en-route is not a quick-fix cure-all, however it could fit well into the current toolkit of approaches to improving cycling infrastructure, and further contribute to the NCN providing a more engaging, fun, and desirable cycling experience for users.


Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract. It is well known that activating mutations in the receptor tyrosine kinases KIT and platelet-derived growth factor receptor-α have essential roles in the pathogenesis of GISTs. The activation of these receptor protein kinases triggers multiple signaling pathways that promote cell proliferation and survival; however, the exact mechanism by which the activation of these kinases promotes the progression of GISTs remains uncertain. The aim of the present was to search for genes that are associated with the progression of GIST. The present study used reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction to demonstrate that adenosine monophosphate deaminase 3 (AMPD3) was highly expressed in GISTs. Furthermore, transfection of GIST-T1 cells with KIT-specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) demonstrated that the expression of AMPD3 was dependent on KIT expression, while the depletion of AMPD3 in human GIST‐T1 cells using AMPD3‐specific siRNA resulted in the suppression of cell migration and invasion. In addition, AMPD3 depletion sensitized GIST-T1 cells to the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib. The results of the present suggested that the combined inhibition of tyrosine kinases and AMPD3 may be effective for the treatment of GISTs.


The design and evaluation of off-takes
has traditionally focused on increasing ram
pressure recovery with little consideration
given to flow uniformity. Preliminary studies
on a proposed cooled cooling air system for a
large aero gas turbine indicated that the offtake
represented a weak point in the design
with the non-uniformities it generated
negatively affecting system performance. High
levels of diffusion and a uniform flow are
required to minimise loss and to maximise the
effectiveness of the downstream heat
exchanger. This paper presents a numerical
and experimental parametric study of parallel
wall flush off-takes with focus placed on the
quality of the downstream flow and its
uniformity. A realisable k-omega turbulence
closure was employed with a standard wall
function to examine the pressure recovery
and uniformity of flush off-takes. The
performance of the off-take was investigated
with different inflow boundary layer
thicknesses in conjunction with changes in
various design parameters. The current
investigation highlights that there exists a
direct trade-off between the diffusion and
uniformity that can be achieved by a flush offtake.
Nevertheless, the work provides an
improved understanding of how each
performance parameters can be maximised
with respect to uniformity and this knowledge
is currently being applied to the development
of an optimal off-take design.


Abstract Post-industrial societies impose new ecological challenges on urbanism. However, it is argued here that most approaches to sustainable urbanism still share the conception of the humans-environment relations that characterized modernism. The paper finds support in recent knowledge developments in social-ecological sustainability, spatial analysis and cognitive science to initiate a dialogue for an alternative framework. Urban form engages humans not only through physical activities, but also mentally through opportunities for learning and creation of meaning, thereby both reinforcing and impeding behaviours on a cognitive level. Against this background, it is proposed that what in cognition studies is termed 'cognitive affordances' could form the core of a new epistemological framework of the human-environment relation in sustainable urbanism.


The paper presents integral methods for simulating two-phase flow transients in complex cooling systems, such as those in nuclear power plants. The methods are designed to simplify presently prevailing thermohydraulics simulation methods without a loss in simulation fidelity. The paper describes the inherent, but unnecessary, complexity of currently used simulation models, explains their inherent shortcomings, and foretells the impact of current code development trends on future capabilities to resolve safety issues in light of growing code complexities and inflexibility. The purpose of the paper is to present simpler alternatives. Integral methods described in the paper facilitate flexibility via computer-automated modularity and simplicity. They provide transparency through analytical methods. Integral methods replace partial by ordinary differential equations and thereby simplify the mathematical model formulation and achieve numerical integration with minimal numerical damping. The models connect important physical characteristic response times with the time step for numerical integration. The mixture model of nonhomogeneous, nonequilibrium two-phase flow, the integral of the volumetric flux divergence equation, and the integrals of the system of coupled loop momentum balances for interconnected loops in complex thermohydraulic systems play central modeling roles. A new and compact formulation of these equations facilitates a computerized system assembly of component models, each one being judiciously selected from a model library to impose the minimum necessary complexity. The method of assembly is based on linear algebra and accommodates any combination of phasic flow directions anywhere in the hydraulic system and at any time.


From the Publisher:
For people who create and modify text files, sed and awk are power tools for editing. sed, awk, and regular expressions allow programmers and system administrators to automate editing tasks that need to be performed on one or more files, to simplify the task of performing the same edits on multiple files, and to write conversion programs.
The sed, awk, and Regular Expressions Pocket Reference is a companion volume to sed & awk, 2nd Edition, and Unix in a Nutshell. This small book is a handy reference guide to the information presented in the larger volumes, presenting a concise summary of regular expressions and pattern matching, and summaries of sed and awk.


Decentralization of provision of public services has been an important item in the agenda of developing countries. While some scholars and practitioners argue that decentralization is associated with improvements in provision due to higher accountability, others note its potential pitfalls. In particular, decentralization to local communities characterized by poverty, low levels of education, and inequality may lead to low accountability and higher susceptibility to political capture. This paper explores these dynamics empirically, taking advantage of the fact that in Brazilian municipalities primary education is provided by schools under municipal as well as under state management. The performance of these two types of school in the same municipalities is compared in terms of their levels of inputs and the efficiency of service delivery using non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA). The results suggest that there are indeed drawbacks to decentralization in municipalities where inequality is higher and education and political participation are lower.


Lakes of the Mackenzie Delta occur across a gradient that contains three clear end members: those that remain connected to river‐water channels throughout the summer; those that receive only brief inputs of river water during an annual spring flood but contain dense macrophyte stands; and those that experience significant permafrost thaw along their margins. We measured dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, dissolved organic matter (DOM) absorption and fluorescence, and stable isotopes of DOM, DOM precursor materials, and bacteria to elucidate the importance of river water, macrophytes, and thermokarst as DOM sources to Mackenzie Delta lakes. Despite standing stocks of macrophyte C that are sevenfold to 12‐fold greater than those of total DOC, stable isotopes indicated that autochthonous sources contributed less than 15% to overall DOM in macrophyte‐rich lakes. Instead, fluorescence and absorption indicated that the moderate summertime increase in DOC concentration in macrophyte‐rich lakes was the result of infrequent flushing, while bacterial δ13C indicated rapid bacterial removal of autochthonous DOC from the water column. In thermokarst lakes, summertime increases in DOC concentration were substantial, and stable isotopes indicated that much of this increase came from C released as a result of thermokarst‐related processes. Our results indicate that these distinct sources of DOM to neighboring arctic Delta lakes may drive between‐lake differences in C cycling and energy flow. Rapidly assimilated macrophyte DOM should be an important contributor to microbial food webs in our study lakes. In contrast, the accumulation of thermokarst‐origin DOM allows for a significant role in physico‐chemistry but indicates a lesser contribution of this DOM to higher trophic levels.


Collections librarians from academic libraries are often asked, on short notice, to evaluate whether their collections are able to support changes in their institutions' curricula, such as new programs or courses or revisions to existing programs or courses. With insufficient time to perform an exhaustive critique of the collection and a need to prepare a report for faculty external to the library, a selection of reliable but brief qualitative and quantitative tests is needed. In this study, materials-centered and use-centered methods were chosen to evaluate the toxicology collection of the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) Library. Strengths and weaknesses of the techniques are reviewed, along with examples of their use in evaluating the toxicology collection. The monograph portion of the collection was evaluated using list checking, citation analysis, and classified profile methods. Cost-effectiveness and impact factor data were compiled to rank journals from the collection. Use-centered methods such as circulation and interlibrary loan data identified highly used items that should be added to the collection. Finally, although the data were insufficient to evaluate the toxicology electronic journals at the U of S, a brief discussion of three initiatives that aim to assist librarians as they evaluate the use of networked electronic resources in their collections is presented.


This chapter proposes to analyze two configurations of neural networks to compose the expert set in the development of a multilevel speech signal pattern recognition system of 30 commands in the Brazilian Portuguese language. Then, multilayer perceptron (MLP) and learning vector quantization (LVQ) networks have their performances verified during the training, validation and test stages in the speech signal recognition, whose patterns are given by two-dimensional time matrices, result from mel-cepstral coefficients coding by the dis crete cosine transform (DCT). In order to avoid the pattern separability problem, the patterns are modified by a nonlinear transformation to a high-dimensional space through a suitable set of Gaussian radial base functions (GRBF). The performance of MLP and LVQ experts is improved and configurations are trained with few examples of each modified pattern. Several combinations were performed for the neural network topologies and algorithms previously established to determine the network structures with the best hit and generalization results.


Banana is the most consumed fruit in the world and Brazil is the second largest producer. Despite its global position, Brazil has an average of 40% losses during the post-harvest period. So, this experiment aimed at evaluating the efficiency of post-harvest treatments to improve the storage of banana cultivars cv. 'Prata', 'Maca' and 'Nanica'. The fruits were acquired at CEASA with green peel, and were submitted to six different treatments: T- immersion in drinking water for 3 minutes (control), H3 - hot water (50 °C for 3 minutes), H8 - hot water (50 °C for 8 minutes), HP - immersion in hypochlorite 0.2% for 3 minutes, OS - immersion in soybean oil 10% for 3 minutes, and OM - immersion in mineral oil 10% for 3 minutes. The fruits were stored at room temperature at about 21 °C for 14 days and evaluated in three periods (1, 7 and 14 days) comparing peel color, flesh/peel ratio, titratable acidity (TA), soluble solids (SS), SS/TA ratio, and pH. The fruits of cv. 'Prata' and 'Maca' submitted to the treatments H3, H8 and HP ripened at the same time as the control for peel color, which showed increased soluble solids, flesh/peel ratio, acidity and a decrease in pH. On the other hand, the cv. 'Nanica' did not respond significantly different when compared to the applied treatments and the control. The fruits treated with OM and OS were kept green for a longer time for the cultivars 'Prata' and 'Nanica', but there were some changes on peel color due dark spots in 'Prata' banana and a softening aspect in 'Nanica', indicating some level of toxicity of these treatments. Fruits of the 'Maca' cultivar continued green with the application of mineral oil, without toxicity symptoms. In conclusion, the treatments applied did not show any advantage for storage of these fruits.


The United States is facing accelerated growth in the number of older citizens due to the aging baby boomer generation. It is expected that this emerging cohort will have more licensed drivers who will drive longer distances more frequently and later into life than preceding generations. What are the risks from elderly drivers and how can we help them drive safely?


Current oral insulin formulations reported in the literature are often associated with an unpredictable burst release of insulin in the intestine, which may increase the risk for problematic hypoglycemia. The aim of the study was to develop a solution based on a nanolayer encapsulation of insulin-chitosan complexes to afford sustained release after oral administration. Chitosan/heparin multilayer coatings were deposited onto insulin-chitosan microparticulate cores in the presence of poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) in the precipitating and coating solutions. The addition of PEG improved insulin loading and minimized an undesirable loss of the protein resulting from redissolution. Nanolayer encapsulation and the formation of complexes enabled a superior loading capacity of insulin (>90%), as well as enhanced stability and 74% decreased solubility at acid pH in vitro, compared with nonencapsulated insulin. The capsulated insulin administered by oral gavage lowered fasting blood glucose levels by up to 50% in a sustained and dose-dependent manner and reduced postprandial glycemia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice without causing hypoglycemia. Nanolayer encapsulation reduced the possibility of rapid and erratic falls of blood glucose levels in animals. This technique represents a promising strategy to promote the intestinal absorption efficiency and release behavior of the hormone, potentially enabling an efficient and safe route for oral insulin delivery of insulin in diabetes management.


On the cusp of the 20th and 21st centuries it is extraordinary difficult to provide the stability of national economies due to globalisation effects. In fact, globalisation causes major interdependence between economies of different countries, therefore, their economic relations influence the world economic climate. Countries develop strong business ties with their counterparts; national economies are integrated due to such factors as division of labour, internationalisation of monetary funds, scientific and technological progress, increasing degree of national economies openness and free trade. As a result, economies of different countries integrate into the worldwide reproduction process. International economic integration indicates a high development level of global economy. However, since single countries become exposed and highly susceptible to changes in economies of other states, the external environment is implied to present a significant uncertainty for commercial operations in single countries. Hence, in order to provide a stable functioning of both individual businesses and national economies it is necessary to analyse macro- and microeconomic parameters carefully, identify consistent patterns and make relevant predictions aimed at preventive management. The present article will discuss these challenges.


Issues important for new ultrashort-pulse-measurement techniques include the generation of theoretical example traces for common pulses, validity ranges, ambiguities, coherent artifacts, device calibration sensitivity, iterative retrieval convergence, and feedback regarding measurement accuracy. Unfortunately, in the past, such issues have gone unconsidered, yielding long histories of unsatisfactory measurements. We review these issues here in the hope that future proposers of new techniques will consider them without delay, and, as an example, we address them for a relatively new technique: self-referenced spectral interferometry.


Introduction: The prevalence of hypertension in disadvantaged rural Indian populations is increasing, but the specific risk factors and factors associated with its awareness, treatment and control are largely unknown. In order to carry out effective control and preventive strategies for hypertension in these populations, it is important to understand the underlying risk factors and the factors associated with its awareness, treatment and control. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to determine novel risk factors for hypertension and identify factors associated with its awareness, treatment and control in a disadvantaged rural population of South India. Methods: This study employed case-control methods in which individuals with (cases) and without (controls) hypertension were matched in a 1:1 ratio by age, sex, and, where possible, hamlet. Data on clinical, biological and physical measurements; health status; socioeconomic and behavioural factors; as well as other hypertension related data such as self-reported knowledge, awareness and treatment were collected. Multivariable conditional logistic regression analysis was used to determine factors associated with hypertension while multivariable logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with its awareness, treatment and control. Results: This analysis comprises a partial sample of participants, being preliminary findings from 211 cases and 211 controls. Generally, our findings of the association between infection and hypertension were inconsistent. No association was detected between hypertension and exposure to bacterial contaminated water, history of infection or overcrowding. Interestingly, we found that compared to individuals who used a toilet, those who resided (odds ratio [OR] 3.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39 – 8.35, p=0.007) or drew water from a water supply (OR 2.84, 95% CI 1.21 – 6.66, p=0.02) that was within 50 metres of a field used for toilet purposes had greater odds of hypertension. A modest positive association was detected between hypertension and number of teeth lost while a modest negative association was detected between hypertension and gum disease. Individuals with high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels of 1–3 mg/L had a twofold increase in the risk of hypertension compared to those with hs-CRP levels 3 mg/L. Knowledge about risk factors for hypertension, as well as awareness, treatment and control of hypertension were very poor in this population. Importantly, older age, formal schooling, greater percent body fat, regular health check-up and proximity to health services were associated with better awareness of hypertension. Similar findings were observed for treatment with the exception of formal schooling and proximity to health services. Control of hypertension was poor in older individuals. Conclusion: Given the inconsistency and interim nature of our findings, the association between hypertension and infection or inflammation in this population is still equivocal. Further investigation of these factors in studies employing robust measures of infection or incorporating long-term follow up, such as longitudinal studies to ascertain whether the presence of infection is associated with development of hypertension, will further advance understanding of these potential risk factors for hypertension. Nevertheless, our findings are important for generation of new hypotheses and also provide a firm knowledge base from which to formulate preventive and intervention strategies tailored to specific needs of this community. This is important in reducing the burden of hypertension in disadvantaged rural populations in India and potentially in other poor regions of low- and middle-income countries.


We have typed 275 men from five populations in Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt with a set of 119 binary markers and 15 microsatellites from the Y chromosome, and we have analyzed the results together with published data from Moroccan populations. North African Y-chromosomal diversity is geographically structured and fits the pattern expected under an isolation-by-distance model. Autocorrelation analyses reveal an east-west cline of genetic variation that extends into the Middle East and is compatible with a hypothesis of demic expansion. This expansion must have involved relatively small numbers of Y chromosomes to account for the reduction in gene diversity towards the West that accompanied the frequency increase of Y haplogroup E3b2, but gene flow must have been maintained to explain the observed pattern of isolation-by-distance. Since the estimates of the times to the most recent common ancestor (TMRCAs) of the most common haplogroups are quite recent, we suggest that the North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation is largely of Neolithic origin. Thus, we propose that the Neolithic transition in this part of the world was accompanied by demic diffusion of Afro-Asiatic-speaking pastoralists from the Middle East.


Context. Asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars lose their envelopes by means of a stellar wind whose driving mechanism is not understood well. Characterizing the composition and thermal and dynamical structure of the outflow provides constraints that are essential for understanding AGB evolution, including the rate of mass loss and isotopic ratios. Aims. We characterize the CO emission from the wind of the low mass-loss rate oxygen-rich AGB star W Hya using data obtained by the HIFI, PACS, and SPIRE instruments on board the Herschel Space Observatory and ground-based telescopes. (CO)-C-12 and (CO)-C-13 lines are used to constrain the intrinsic C-12/C-13 ratio from resolved HIFI lines. Methods. We combined a state-of-the-art molecular line emission code and a dust continuum radiative transfer code to model the CO lines and the thermal dust continuum. Results. The acceleration of the outflow up to about 5.5 km s(-1) is quite slow and can be represented by a beta-type velocity law with index beta = 5. Beyond this point, acceleration up the terminal velocity of 7 km s(-1) is faster. Using the J = 10-9, 9-8, and 6-5 transitions, we find an intrinsic C-12/C-13 ratio of 18 +/- 10 for W Hya, where the error bar is mostly due to uncertainties in the (CO)-C-12 abundance and the stellar flux around 4.6 mu m. To match the low-excitation CO lines, these molecules need to be photo-dissociated at similar to 500 stellar radii. The radial dust emission intensity profile of our stellar wind model matches PACS images at 70 mu m out to 20 '' (or 800 stellar radii). For larger radii the observed emission is substantially stronger than our model predicts, indicating that at these locations there is extra material present. Conclusions. The initial slow acceleration of the wind may imply inefficient dust formation or dust driving in the lower part of the envelope. The final injection of momentum in the wind might be the result of an increase in the opacity thanks to the late condensation of dust species. The derived intrinsic isotopologue ratio for W Hya is consistent with values set by the first dredge-up and suggestive of an initial mass of 2 M-circle dot or more. However, the uncertainty in the isotopologic ratio is large, which makes it difficult to set reliable limits on W Hya's main-sequence mass.


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Breaking the time reversal symmetry of a topological insulator, for example by the presence of magnetic ions, is a prerequisite for spin-based electronic applications in the future. In this regard Mn-doped Bi2Te3 is a prototypical example that merits a systematic investigation of its magnetic properties. Unfortunately, Mn doping is challenging in many host materials—resulting in structural or chemical inhomogeneities affecting the magnetic properties. Here, we present a systematic study of the structural, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of Mn-doped Bi2Te3 single crystals using complimentary experimental techniques. These materials exhibit a ferromagnetic phase that is very sensitive to the structural details, with TC varying between 9 and 13 K (bulk values) and a saturation moment that reaches 4.4(5) μB per Mn in the ordered phase. Muon spin rotation suggests that the magnetism is homogeneous throughout the sample. Furthermore, torque measurements in fields up to 33 T reveal an easy axis magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to the ab-plane. The electrical transport data show an anomaly around TC that is easily suppressed by an applied magnetic field, and also anisotropic behavior due to the spin-dependent scattering in relation to the alignment of the Mn magnetic moment. Hall measurements on different crystals established that these systems are n-doped with carrier concentrations of ∼ 0.5–3.0 × 1020 cm−3. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) at the Mn L2,3 edge at 1.8 K reveals a large spin magnetic moment of 4.3(3) μB/Mn, and a small orbital magnetic moment of 0.18(2) μB/Mn. The results also indicate a ground state of mixed d4–d5–d6 character of a localized electronic nature, similar to the diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor Ga1−xMnxAs. XMCD measurements in a field of 6 T give a transition point at T ≈ 16 K, which is ascribed to short range magnetic order induced by the magnetic field. In the ferromagnetic state the easy direction of magnetization is along the c-axis, in agreement with bulk magnetization measurements. This could lead to gap opening at the Dirac point, providing a means to control the surface electric transport, which is of great importance for applications.


Autonomy Oriented Computing is a comprehensive reference for scientists, engineers, and other professionals concerned with this promising development in computer science. It can also be used as a text in graduate/undergraduate programs in a broad range of computer-related disciplines, including Robotics and Automation, Amorphous Computing, Image Processing, Programming Paradigms, Computational Biology, etc. Part One describes the basic concepts and characteristics of an AOC system and enumerates the critical design and engineering issues faced in AOC system development. Part Two gives detailed analyses of methodologies and case studies to evaluate AOC used in problem solving and complex system modeling. The final chapter outlines possibilities for future research and development. Numerous illustrative examples, experimental case studies, and exercises at the end of each chapter of Autonomy Oriented Computing help particularize and consolidate the methodologies and theories presented.


I argue for two modifications in Sunstein's definition of manipulation, designed to make the definition more compatible with a welfarist/utilitarian view of what manipulation is and why we should care about it. I think we need a clearer distinction between good and bad manipulation, and a distinction between good and bad reflection. Good reflection is actively open-minded and serves to achieve the decision maker's goals. Manipulation is designed to prevent such reflection, or prevent the choice that would be made if such reflection occurred, and this is why it is bad, even if it is consistent with reflection that merely bolsters a favored option.


This paper is an analysis of the final sermon of Billy Graham's 1973 Crusade in Seoul, South Korea, when he preached to a crowd estimated to exceed one million people. Next to Graham at the pulpit was Billy Jang Hwan Kim, a preacher who, in his capacity as interpreter, translated Graham's sermon verbally and peri-verbally—utterance by utterance, tone by tone, gesture by gesture—for the Korean-speaking audience. I examine the dynamic pragmatics (for example, chronotopic formulations, deictic calibrations, voicing and register effects, and indexical dimensions of entextualization) by which a sermonic copy across linguistic codes became an evangelical conduit between Cold War polities. In so doing, I demonstrate how the scope of intertextual analysis can be expanded productively from the narrow translation of denotation across codes to the broader indexical processes of semiotic "transduction" across domains of cultural semiosis.


BACKGROUND
Nursing care of pediatric patients after cardiac surgery consists of close hemodynamic monitoring, often through transthoracic intracardiac catheters, requiring patients to remain on bed rest and limiting holding and mobility.

OBJECTIVES
The primary aim of this quality improvement project was to determine the feasibility of safely mobilizing pediatric patients with transthoracic intracardiac catheters out of bed. Once feasibility was established, the secondary aim was to increase the number of days such patients were out of bed.

METHODS AND INTERVENTIONS
New standards and procedures were implemented in July 2015 for pediatric patients with transthoracic intracardiac catheters. After initiation of the new policies, complications were tracked prospectively. Nursing documentation of activity and positioning for all patients with transthoracic intracardiac catheters was extracted from electronic health records for 2 fiscal years before and 3 fiscal years after the new policies were implemented. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend was used to determine whether patterns of out-of-bed documentation changed over time.

RESULTS
A total of 1358 patients (approximately 250 to 300 patients each fiscal year) had activity and positioning documented while transthoracic intracardiac catheters were in place. The Cochran-Armitage test for trend revealed that out-of-bed documentation significantly increased after the new policies and procedures were initiated (P < .001). No major complications were noted resulting from patient mobility with transthoracic intracardiac catheters.

CONCLUSION
Pediatric patients with transthoracic intracardiac catheters can be safely held and mobilized out of bed.


Given a Galois cover of curves X to Y with Galois group G which is totally ramified at a point x and unramified elsewhere, restriction to the punctured formal neighborhood of x induces a Galois extension of Laurent series rings k((u))/k((t)). If we fix a base curve Y , we can ask when a Galois extension of Laurent series rings comes from a global cover of Y in this way. Harbater proved that over a separably closed field, this local-to-global principle holds for any base curve if G is a p-group, and gave a condition for the uniqueness of such an extension. Using a generalization of Artin-Schreier theory to non-abelian p-groups, we characterize the curves Y for which this lifting property holds and when it is unique, but over a more general ground field.


One of the major environmental problems facing the world today is the contamination of soil, water and air by toxic chemicals as a result of industrialization and extensive use of pesticides in agriculture. Incineration is currently the most effective and common remediation practice but is costly in terms of money and energy used. A rapid cost effective and ecologically responsible method of clean-up is "bioremediation" which utilizes micro-organisms to degrade toxic pollutants in an efficient economical approach. Toxic chemicals are degraded to less harmful forms. Although, bioremediation by bacteria agents has received attention of workers, the role of fungi has been inadequately studied. The ability of fungi to transform a wide variety of hazardous chemicals has aroused interest in using them for bioremediation. Mushroom forming fungi (mostly basidiomycetes), are amongst nature's most powerful decomposers, secreting strong extra cellular enzymes due to their aggressive growth and biomass production. These enzymes include lignin peroxidases (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP) and laccase, etc. Thus, carbon sources such as sawdust, straw and corn cob can be used to enhance degradation rates by these organisms at polluted sites. White rot fungi have been used for biotransformation of pesticides, degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons and lignocellulolytic wastes in the pulp and paper industry. Phanerochaete chrysosporium,Agaricus bisporus, Trametes versicolor and Pleurotus ostreatus amongst many mushrooms have been reported in the decontamination of polluted sites. In Nigeria, Lentinus squarrosulus,Pleurotus tuber-regium, P. ostreatus and P. pulmonarius have been employed in bioremediation of contaminated soils both in-situ and ex-situ. This paper highlights the use of fungal mycelia in bioremediation (myco-remediation) and studies on the uses of mushrooms for bioremediation.

 Key words: Bioremediation, mushrooms, polluted soils.


Seeds of Terror is a groundbreaking triumph of reporting, a book that changed U.S. policy toward the Afghan heroin trade and the fight against terror. In it, Gretchen Peters exposes the deepening relationship between the Taliban and drug traffickers, and traces decades of America's failure to disrupt the opium production that helps fund extremism. The Taliban earns as much as half a billion dollars annually from drugs and crime, and Peters argues that disrupting this flow of dirty money will be critical to stabilizing Afghanistan. Based on hundreds of interviews with fighters, smugglers, and government officials, Seeds of Terror is the essential story of the narco-terror nexus behind America's widening war in Afghanistan.