This paper is drawn from Mitchell (2015), which traced the origins of the Eurozone back to the desire in the immediate post-World War II period to end the destructive Franco-German rivalry that had caused several major military conflicts, which culminated in German aggression in 1939. Against this background, Mitchell (2015) also examines the way in which the discussions of European economic integration, which had initially begun with the general context of a Keynesian approach to economic policymaking, were transformed by the emergence of Monetarism in the 1970s. The flawed design of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) that was finally agreed on and formulated in the Maastricht Treaty in 1991 reflected both these elements. The dysfunctional response to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) is a direct result of the mistakes made in the lead up to Maastricht and reflect the dominance of what we might call neo-liberal Groupthink over sound macroeconomic management.


The world around us is getting more connected with each day passing by – new portable

devices employing wireless connections to various networks wherever one might be. Locationaware

computing has become an important bit of telecommunication services and industry. For

this reason, the research efforts on new and improved localisation algorithms are constantly

being performed. Thus far, the satellite positioning systems have achieved highest popularity

and penetration regarding the global position estimation. In spite the numerous investigations

aimed at enabling these systems to equally procure the position in both indoor and outdoor

environments, this is still a task to be completed.

This research work presented herein aimed at improving the state-of-the-art positioning

techniques through the use of two highly popular mobile communication systems: WLAN and

public land mobile networks. These systems already have widely deployed network structures

(coverage) and a vast number of (inexpensive) mobile clients, so using them for additional,

positioning purposes is rational and logical.

First, the positioning in WLAN systems was analysed and elaborated. The indoor test-bed,

used for verifying the models' performances, covered almost 10,000m2 area. It has been chosen

carefully so that the positioning could be thoroughly explored. The measurement campaigns

performed therein covered the whole of test-bed environment and gave insight into location

dependent parameters available in WLAN networks. Further analysis of the data lead to

developing of positioning models based on ANNs.

The best single ANN model obtained 9.26m average distance error and 7.75m median distance

error. The novel positioning model structure, consisting of cascade-connected ANNs, improved

those results to 8.14m and 4.57m, respectively. To adequately compare the proposed

techniques with other, well-known research techniques, the environment positioning error

parameter was introduced. This parameter enables to take the size of the test environment into

account when comparing the accuracy of the indoor positioning techniques.

Concerning the PLMN positioning, in-depth analysis of available system parameters and

signalling protocols produced a positioning algorithm, capable of fusing the system received

signal strength parameters received from multiple systems and multiple operators. Knowing

that most of the areas are covered by signals from more than one network operator and even

more than one system from one operator, it becomes easy to note the great practical value of

this novel algorithm. On the other hand, an extensive drive-test measurement campaign,

covering more than 600km in the central areas of Belgrade, was performed. Using this algorithm and applying the single ANN models to the recorded measurements, a 59m average

distance error and 50m median distance error were obtained. Moreover, the positioning in

indoor environment was verified and the degradation of performances, due to the crossenvironment

model use, was reported: 105m average distance error and 101m median distance

error.

When applying the new, cascade-connected ANN structure model, distance errors were

reduced to 26m and 2m, for the average and median distance errors, respectively.

The obtained positioning accuracy was shown to be good enough for the implementation of a

broad scope of location based services by using the existing and deployed, commonly

available, infrastructure.


ABSTRACT Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, we examine how work and family goals of young men and women changed from before to after the Great Recession and how these changes differed for those in rural and urban areas. We focus on Germany, where the overall labor market showed a uniquely mild response to the recession, but where young adults nonetheless experienced significant economic risk relative to other age groups and where rural areas saw greater erosion of opportunity than urban areas. Consequently, young men and women in urban and more deprived rural areas may proactively adjust their plans through the re-appraisal of both work and family goals. We found that work goals declined and family goals increased for both men and women and across all community types, and especially for those who moved across community types. However, family goals were consistently higher for women. Family goals were also higher for both men and women, as well as across community types, during the peak of the recession compared to the pre- and post-recession years. In times of economic strain, young adults may therefore place greater value on family goals because investments in family goals fulfill emotional needs.


Imported oil exacerabates our trade deficit and funds anti-American regimes. Nuclear Energy (NE) is a demonstrated technology with high efficiency. NE's two biggest political detriments are possible accidents and nuclear waste disposal. For NE policy, proliferation is the biggest obstacle. Nuclear waste can be reduced through reprocessing, where fuel rods are separated into various streams, some of which can be reused in reactors. Current process developed in the 1950s is dirty and expensive, U/Pu separation is the most critical. Fuel rods are sheared and dissolved in acid to extract fissile material in a centrifugal contactor. Plants have many contacts in series with other separations. We have taken a science and simulation-based approach to develop a modern reprocessing plant. Models of reprocessing plants are needed to support nuclear materials accountancy, nonproliferation, plant design, and plant scale-up.


Background: Endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide, is a broad-spectrum contact insecticide widely used in pest control. Aerial spraying of this pesticide was being carried out in the cashew plantations in the Kasaragod district of Kerala, India, for several years. Various reports have been published on the serious adverse effects of this chemical on human health. Data on the oral health of endosulfan victims are scarce in the literature. Aim: This study aimed to assess the oral health status and developmental disturbances of oral structures among endosulfan victims of Kasaragod district, Kerala. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the endosulfan victims of 12–60 years of age using World Health Organization Oral Health Survey pro forma 2013 and a separate form to record the developmental disturbances of oral structures at BUDS Special School for Endosulfan Victims and Primary Health Center, Perla, Kasaragod. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: There were a total of 25 subjects in the age range of 12–60 years. The mean DMFT score of the subjects aged below 15 years (n = 12) was 3 ± 2.94 and for the subjects aged above 15 years was 4.23 ± 3.81. Bleeding on probing was present in all the participants. Micrognathia, microglossia, and fissured tongue were the main features observed in the study. Conclusion: The overall oral health status was found to be unsatisfactory due to the disabilities of the endosulfan victims. The current study has set a milestone and calls for the need of the assessment of endosulfan victims of other parts of the state.


Abstract In recent years broad community of researchers has emerged, focusing on the original ambitious goals of the AI field - the creation and study of software or hardware systems with general intelligence comparable to, and ultimately perhaps greater than, that of human beings. This paper surveys this diverse community and its progress. Approaches to defining the concept of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) are reviewed including mathematical formalisms, engineering, and biology inspired perspectives. The spectrum of designs for AGI systems includes systems with symbolic, emergentist, hybrid and universalist characteristics. Metrics for general intelligence are evaluated, with a conclusion that, although metrics for assessing the achievement of human-level AGI may be relatively straightforward (e.g. the Turing Test, or a robot that can graduate from elementary school or university), metrics for assessing partial progress remain more controversial and problematic.


Nurture Groups are targeted, school based interventions, aimed at meeting the developmental needs of vulnerable children identified as having social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Staffed by two 'nurturing' adults, Nurture Groups provide a safe, containing, and highly structured environment to support children's social and emotional wellbeing, and their capacity to learn and achieve. Past research has focussed on the impact of Nurture Groups on children's outcomes, with some highlighting the importance of the relationship between the Nurture Group practitioner and child. This research aims to explore and explain the practitioner-child relationship, asking Nurture Group practitioners how they make sense of their relationship with the Nurture Group child. The purpose of this research is to identify what makes a successful nurture relationship, and identify factors which challenge it. A symbolic interactionist and critical realist ontological and epistemological position was taken, and a grounded theory methodology adopted. Five Nurture Group practitioners from three full-time, Key Stage 1 Nurture Groups were interviewed. Results revealed a 'relationship journey' between the Nurture Group practitioner and child, which develops into a 'close' relationship. As the practitioner and child get to know and understand one another, the practitioner becomes attuned to the child's needs and emotional experiences, enabling them to provide containment to the child and put appropriate support in place. The relationship journey contains a number of challenges, which the practitioner tries hard to overcome. These challenges place a significant emotional load on the practitioner, who in return, seeks containment. However, these challenges contribute towards the development of the relationship, where trust emerges, and a 'close' relationship forms. The relationship journey is discussed in relation to psychodynamic and attachment theories, and implications for Nurture Group practitioners, stakeholders and Educational Psychologists explored.


This study will explore the theme of transculturation in Francophone Mauritian writing through a critical reading of the metaphor of 'le voile' in Ananda Devi's Le Voile de Draupadi. At one level, the study will examine the myth of Draupadi's veil within the cultural context of Hindu mythology and its interpretation and contribution to the constitution of a Hindu identity in Mauritius. At another level the reading of the veil will be juxtaposed against the wider linguistic and literary context of Francophone literatures where the term 'voile' takes on a different religious, cultural and political significance. Ananda Devi's narrative is a site of creative contestation and exposes the complex and dynamic nature of exclusion and marginality in the multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious Mauritian society. The essay will argue that 'le voile', a metaphor for women's oppression in literary convention in Francophone writing, is translated by Ananda Devi into a metaphor for regenerative tension in the construction of a Hindu identity in Mauritius. This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol28/iss1/9


Positioning and Position Error of Petroleum Wells We present a new model for the estimation of positional uncertainty of petroleum wells. The model uses a heavy tailed normal inverse Gaussian distribution for the errors in Earth's magnetic field reference values. These references are required for calculating the position of a well using magnetic directional surveying. The results show that the normal inverse Gaussian distribution gives a more realistic fit to the Earth's magnetic field reference values than the normal distribution, which is the current state of art. Errors in surveying sensors and reference errors are propagated along the well path to obtain the positioning uncertainty. The positional uncertainty is important for the probability of collisions between wells and for drilling accurate relief wells when an eventual collision has resulted in a blow-out situation. We compare results of the normal model used in the petroleum industry with our proposed model. The comparison is made for anti-collision calculations between drilled wells and a planned well. The results indicate a higher risk of collisions for certain well geometries when using the normal distribution, while a collision is avoided in the normal inverse Gaussian situation. We find clear differences between an approximate normal test and a Monte Carlo test.


Abstract: The genus Ganonema was distinguished from the other genera in the Liagoraceae morphologically by several reproductive and vegetative features, including spermatangia formed in dense, dendroidal clusters; carpogonial branches remaining unfused after fertilisation, having compact gonimoblasts; and medullary filaments being relatively broad. In addition, the generitype G. farinosum was uniquely characterised by its carpogonial branches being borne on small, specialised branches arising from the basal part of assimilatory filaments, a feature not seen in other species of Ganonema. Our molecular analyses, incorporating several species currently attributed to Ganonema, showed that the genus was polyphyletic and represented in three independent lineages, one including the generitype G. farinosum, a second including 'G' dendroideum, and a third containing three 'Ganonema' ('G.' clavatum, 'G.' borowitzkae and 'G.' samaense) from the northwest Pacific Ocean. We have therefore proposed two segregate genera, Gloiocallis gen. nov. for 'G.' dendroideum and Hommersandiophycus gen. nov. for 'G.' clavatum, 'G.' borowitzkae and 'G.' samaense. Morphologically, Gloiocallis differed from Ganonema and Hommersandiophycus in having only a few involucral filaments produced from the cortical cells above the supporting cell and most cells of the gonimoblasts differentiating into carposporangia. Hommersandiophycus can be separated from related genera by a combination of unfused carpogonial branches, involucral filaments produced from the cortical cells above and below the supporting cell and its neighbouring cells, carposporangia differentiating sequentially in chains of two to three and gonimoblasts being hemispherical to spherical. The taxonomy of other species currently placed in Ganonema but not analysed in this study requires further work.


1. Benda, N.D.a, M.J. Carrolla & P.E.A. Teala – FALLEN FRUIT AS A PUTATIVE ALTERNATIVE FOOD SOURCE OF THE SMALL HIVE BEETLE The small hive beetle (Aethina tumida) (SHB) is reputed to occasionally use fallen fruit as an alternative food source in the absence of honey bee hives. However, attraction to fruit has not been adequately documented, nor has the effect of fruit age or microbial infection on attraction been considered. We first investigated the ability of fruits to support growth of the yeast Kodamaea ohmeri, a SHB symbiont that produces volatile cues that strongly attract SHB adults to beetleinfested honey bee comb. The yeast spread as a creamy white growth within 72 hours across the surface of inoculated oranges and blackberries, but not apples. We also evaluated the orientation responses of individual SHB adults to volatiles from exposed oranges 1) in various stages of senescence and 2) variably inoculated with K. ohmeri in a four-arm olfactometer bioassay. SHB adults were attracted more often to odors from oranges in advanced stages of senescence (15 days of ripening) over less senescent fruits. By contrast, SHB adults did not significantly differentiate between odors from yeast-inoculated and sham-inoculated oranges. Headspace volatile analysis revealed that apples, oranges and blackberries infected by K. ohmeri emit far lower amounts of isopentyl acetate (IPA) and 2-heptanone (two bee alarm pheromone mimics that are known to strongly attract SHB) than yeast-infested hive materials. Host preferences of SHB adults for honey bee hive materials over fruits may be driven by the low production of these important volatiles by its yeast symbiont. Use of fruit by SHB may be limited to older, more senescent fruit.


This research aims to assess the growth and the current status of foreign direct investment (FDI) in a sample of 16 Middle East and North African (MENA) countries over the period 1984–2011. Our goal is to give some insight on the importance of the different factors affecting foreign direct investment (FDI). To reach our goals, we will examine the growth of FDI over time in the MENA region as compared to that of other regions. Second, we will determine the most important factors that promote FDI to the region. Our empirical results reveal the instrumental factors that help to promote FDI in the area. We find that the lag in GDP, market size, and political risk have a positive and direct effect on FDI while financial risk has a negative effect on FDI. FDI motives, however, vary greatly among oil-rich resource countries and the non-rich resource countries in the MENA region.


Problem statement: This research study analyzed the impact of organiz ational justice as encompassed by two components, namely distributive justice and procedural justice on employee's job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnov er intention. This study revealed a positive and significant relationship showing that the foundatio n of an employee's job satisfaction and organizational commitment is within the application of both distributive and procedural justice, and this supports a significant negative relationship t o turnover intention. Approach: This study included the design and distribution of a self-administered questionnaire to 300 Malaysian employees working for small and middle size companies in the Malaysia , Klang Valley. The sample consisted of managerial and non-managerial employees who volunteered to participate in this study. The results supported the hypothesis that distributive and proc edural justice has significant relationship with employee's job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention. Result: This finding implied that the higher the level of employee's per ception towards fairness to the means used to determine outcomes (procedural justice) and fairnes s of the outcomes employees receive (distributive justice) tended to increase the level of employees' job satisfaction, organizational commitment while reduces turnover intention. Therefore, organization s that take a proactive approach to understand employee's perceptions of distributive and procedur al justice, and provide appropriate working environment can potentially reap benefits including cost associated to employee retentions. Conclusion: The findings in this study would help managers and business organization in Malaysia to formulate strategies that involved work factors such as distributive and procedural justice to improve the management of human resource development. These strategies would help in influencing positive behaviors among employees, and hence achieve effectiveness and high productivity in the organization. Therefore, it was worth the effort for the organization to train and educate their managers on the impact of perceptions of organizational justice on the motivation and commitment of their employees.


Practicum is a vital component of preservice teacher education but national and international reviews have raised concerns regarding the low quality and quantity of mentoring received by preservice teachers. Without adequate mentoring and guidance, the professional development of preservice teachers may not be maximised during these crucial real-world learning experiences. Mentoring of preservice teachers while on practicum is typically undertaken by classroom teachers, many of whom lack understanding of mentoring requirements and may not have the necessary skills for facilitating preservice teachers' development. Therefore, government reviews recommend that higher education institutions prepare mentor teachers for their roles and Australian universities have responded accordingly. Such recommendations are made under an assumption that professional development will develop current knowledge and skills on effective mentoring. However, while it is expected that professional development will be beneficial to new mentors, it is not as obvious how it will benefit experienced mentors. Hence, this paper addresses: How can professional development serve experienced and inexperienced mentors of preservice teachers? By examining a 10-hour professional development program that aims to prepare teachers for mentoring preservice teachers, we have identified potential rewards. Content analysis of interviews with ten mentor teachers and oral and written program reflections from 27 participants revealed that mentoring professional development can benefit mentors of all levels of experience because it acts as: (a) a professional information source, (b) a prompt, and (c) an affirmer. It can also: (d) initiate professional dialogue about mentoring of preservice teachers and (e) reinvigorate educational professionals in their work with preservice teachers. These rewards were attributable to the following: the professional development program was founded on a research-backed theoretical framework, it provided opportunities for more experienced mentors to share effective practices with newer mentors, and it necessitated discussions within individual schools towards school-wide approaches for mentoring preservice teachers.


To boost their research productivities, Chinese universities are putting great pressure on their research-active staff to publish in internationally indexed journals. However, the emerging publish-or-perish culture in China has seen little empirical investigation thus far. In the research reported in this article, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven young researchers in science and engineering disciplines at a research-centered university in central China. The study showed that these young scholars faced great pressure to publish papers in internationally indexed journals. Consequently, the participants were reluctant to spend time on other academic activities, including teaching training. They also reported considerable work time devoted to writing, which resulted in fatigue and negatively affected family relations. The participants admitted that they had to rush to publish, and therefore were less likely to produce papers of better quality or those with novel discoveries. The research contributes to our reflection upon Chinese universities' increasing use of the number of international publications as a major assessment and incentive measurement of their faculties' academic performance.


Fluctuations in the Arctic Ocean sea ice budget are not only a consequence of climate change; they also
contribute to shifts in regional (and even global) climate systems through the impact of the ice on oceanic and atmospheric feedback mechanisms. The uncertainty in a majority of numerical climate models to properly represent the current and recent sea ice coverage in the High Latitudes thus calls for an improvement of the respective climate simulations. Such an improvement may be achieved through comparison and cross-evaluation attempts between proxy-based palaeo sea ice reconstructions and model experiments. Besides sea ice related microfossil or sedimentological data, the novel sea ice biomarker IP25 - a direct indicator of past (spring) sea ice coverage - seems to provide a unique opportunity to satisfactorily track palaeo sea ice variations. In fact, this biomarker repeatedly has been applied to reconstruct the various sea ice conditions that characterised the Arctic Ocean during e.g. glacial, deglacial and Holocene times. With the further development of the PIP25 index even a quantitative assessment of palaeo sea ice coverage could be enabled. Ideally, these palaeo sea ice data may either serve for comparative purposes to validate palaeo sea ice models or they may even display boundary conditions for simulations of sea ice associated changes in oceanic and/or atmospheric circulation patterns. In this regard, major issues that require consideration and discussion are the understanding and the applicability of suitable proxies, the definition of model boundary
conditions, and the spatial and temporal resolution that may be covered by proxy and model attempts.


Femur shaft fractures constitute 21.9% of the orthopaedic fractures seen in our unit. The epidemiology is well described in literature from developed countries. To assess the epidemiology in a developing country and to identify socio-demographic risk factors, we did a retrospective study of 759 children with femur fractures treated over a 5-year period. We utilised the Census of 2011 to calculate the annual incidence. The socio-economic status was determined by means of a social deprivation category based on the parental occupation obtained from the Census as per the parental address. The mean annual incidence of 152 patients with femur fractures extrapolated to 0.25 per 1 000 children per year. The commonest mechanism of injury was a fall (39%) with a peak at 2 to 3 years of age, followed by motor vehicle accident (MVA) (33.7%), of which 88% were pedestrian (PVA). Ninety per cent of the patients were from the lowest two socioeconomic classes. The peak incidence at 4 to 5 years due to a PVA was younger than the ≥6 years reported from developed countries. Children at 4 to 5 years have not developed the cognitive and perceptuo-motor abilities to adapt to a traffic environment. The peak of 4 to 5 years due to PVAs is the result of lack of guided parental training, adequate supervision and play area in the lower socio-economic classes. In children <1 year of age, 59.3% were due to non-accidental injury (NAI) and 23.7% due to osteogenesis imperfecta.


We analyse the distribution of foreign trading volume of European stocks cross-listed on various stock exchanges and examine the factors that affect the distribution. We focus on the role of two sets of determinants: the stock exchange characteristics and the stock-specific factors. We find that a stock exchange's ability to attract order flow of foreign equity is positively associated with its organizational efficiency, market liquidity, the regulations pertinent to the quality of investor protection and insider trading. Regulated stock exchanges are found to be more successful in attracting order flow of foreign stocks than non-regulated markets, such as OTC and alternative markets and trading platforms. Among the stock-level factors, the share of trading on a foreign exchange is higher for companies that are smaller, riskier and have low return correlation with the host market returns. It is also evident that the share of foreign trading volume of stock is higher when the currencies of host and home markets are the same and the share increases with the duration of a listing.


Cu2O is an interesting semiconductor with extraordinary high exciton binding energy, however exhibiting weak room temperature excitonic luminescence. The issue was addressed in literature emphasizing a detrimental role of native point defects responsible for optical quenching. Resolving the problem, we propose a method to manipulate the Cu and O vacancies contents opening a gateway for optoelectronic applications of Cu2O. Specifically, applying oxygen lean conditions, we observe a remarkable suppression of VCu enabling strong room temperature exciton luminescence, while manipulating with VO reveals no impact on the signal. As a result, the excitonic signature was interpreted in terms of phonon assisted transitions.


PURPOSES: To analyze the sociodemographic and behavioral profile of sex partners, the proportion of those inadequately treated as well as to verify how many of them were inadequately treated and why some were not treated. METHODS: Quantitative study with data collected from May to October, 2008 at five public maternities in Fortaleza, Ceara. A survey was carried out with parturients who were hospitalized with syphilis and had a stable sex partner. We analyzed sociodemographic variables and those related to communication, diagnosis and treatment of sex partners. The data were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and were analyzed using frequency distributions, measures of central tendency and dispersion. RESULTS: The study included 56 pregnant women. Most sexual partners were young adults aged on average 29 years, 50% of them had studied for less than seven years, 82.1 worked and 46.4% had a family income of less than a minimum wage. Of all the partners, 92.9% were the child's father and 69.6% lived with the women. Fifty percent and 12% were alcohol and drug users, respectively. Most partners (75.0%) were told about the diagnosis by the women, and in 78.6% of cases they were aware of the VDRL result before or during the prenatal period. However, 25.0% of the women did not communicate the result to their partners for the following reasons: not knowing the importance of the partner's treatment (50.0%), not being together after the diagnosis (42.9%) and having a quarrel (7.1%). Of the partners who were informed about the result before or during the prenatal period, 56.0% were treated and six (42.8%) were considered to have been properly treated. Among the ones who did not receive treatment, 63.6% refused it because they did not feel sick, because they did not believe in the treatment and because they were afraid of injections. CONCLUSIONS: Partners are told about the syphilis diagnosis of the pregnant women; however, only a few are properly treated.


In the last issue of Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology (APJMT), editor-in-chief, Dr. Reza Afshari focused on an important contemporary issue of empowering toxicology in the Asia pacific region (1). The topic drew our attention and we would like to share the situation of Bangladesh in light of this editorial. Dr. Afshari correctly emphasized on forming national societies of medical toxicology in each country of Asia Pacific region (1). Bangladesh formed its own national society, 'Toxicology Society of Bangladesh (TSB)' in the year 2008 under the leadership of Prof. M. Abul Faiz (2). The society has its own website (http://www.tsbbd.org/index.php).
Although in small scale, the society is trying its best to disseminate knowledge of medical toxicology throughout the country. So far, we have arranged two successful national conferences in the year 2011 at Rangpur medical college (northwest of Bangladesh) and in 2013 at Chittagong medical college (southeast of Bangladesh). The society decided to arrange a national gathering at every two years interval, and hence, the next conference is scheduled to be held at Sylhet MAG Osmani medical college (northeast of Bangladesh) in coming 2015. TSB purposefully has arranged the national meetings outside capital (Dhaka), so that medical toxicology as a subject can be ventilated to the remote corners of Bangladesh. Around four hundreds domestic and international participants attended both the conferences and some of the foreign participants were policy makers of the Asia Pacific Association of Medical Toxicology (APAMT). Bangladeshi physicians started to participate APAMT congresses since 2006 (Colombo meeting) and so far TSB sent members to each meeting of the APAMT.
Dr. Afshari mentioned about travel grant as a strong step to motivate young investigators of this region (1). We also support his statement. So far, a number of participants from Bangladesh have received travel grants, and this surely encouraged them for future work. In fact, they are now the core members of the TSB.  Undoubtedly, the APAMT is the encouragement behind all of our activities. Introduction of APJMT is clearly a milestone event for us. The young researcher of this region especially those who cannot publish their paper for various technical and linguistic reasons got a hope to see the evolution of APJMT. At least, now they can try their paper for possible publication even though their work needs fine tunes. As a Scientific and publication secretary of the TSB, I specially highlighted the journal to all of the members of TSB and others throughout the country and the journal is now receiving regular papers from Bangladesh. We firmly believe that in the near future, the APJMT will become the representative of the research in medical toxicology in this region.


Abstract. The combined effects of elevated pCO2 and temperature were investigated
during an experimentally induced autumn phytoplankton bloom in vitro sampled from
the western English Channel (WEC). A full factorial 36-day microcosm
experiment was conducted under year 2100 predicted temperature (+4.5 ∘C)
and pCO2 levels (800 µatm). Over the
experimental period total phytoplankton biomass was significantly influenced
by elevated pCO2. At the end of the experiment, biomass increased
6.5-fold under elevated pCO2 and 4.6-fold under elevated temperature
relative to the ambient control. By contrast, the combined influence of
elevated pCO2 and temperature had little effect on biomass relative to
the control. Throughout the experiment in all treatments and in the control,
the phytoplankton community structure shifted from dinoflagellates to
nanophytoplankton . At the end of the experiment, under elevated pCO2
nanophytoplankton contributed 90 % of community biomass and was dominated
by Phaeocystis spp. Under elevated temperature, nanophytoplankton comprised 85 % of
the community biomass and was dominated by smaller nanoflagellates. In the
control, larger nanoflagellates dominated whilst the smallest
nanophytoplankton contribution was observed under combined elevated
pCO2 and temperature (∼ 40 %). Under elevated
pCO2, temperature and in the control there was a significant decrease
in dinoflagellate biomass. Under the combined effects of elevated pCO2
and temperature, dinoflagellate biomass increased and was dominated by the
harmful algal bloom (HAB) species, Prorocentrum cordatum. At the end of the experiment,
chlorophyll a (Chl a) normalised maximum photosynthetic rates (PmB) increased
> 6-fold under elevated pCO2 and > 3-fold under
elevated temperature while no effect on PmB was observed when
pCO2 and temperature were elevated simultaneously. The results suggest
that future increases in temperature and pCO2 simultaneously do not
appear to influence coastal phytoplankton productivity but significantly
influence community composition during autumn in the WEC.


Norne Field, in the southern part of the Nordland II area in the Norwegian Sea approximately 100 km north of Aasgard Field, is producing from an FPSO. The main field is a horst block approximately 9 × 3 km (Figure 1). The reservoir rocks are sandstones of Lower and Middle Jurassic age. The hydrocarbon reserves consist of a gas cap (75 m), mainly situated in Garn Formation, and an oil leg (110 m), mainly situated in Ile and Tofte formations. The sandstones are very good quality with porosities and permeabilities of 25–32% and 200–2000 mD, respectively. Net-to-gross is close to 1 for most reservoir zones. Oil production started in 1997. The first 4D seismic survey was acquired in 2001, and 4D information has been actively used in subsequent reservoir management.


A study of orphans carried out in Bucharest has been described as the best controlled—and most controversial—analysis of institutionalized child care. Led by Harvard Medical School neuroscientist Charles Nelson, the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) tracks children who were raised for a time with essentially no parenting. BEIP intervened in 2000 to offer high-quality foster care to a randomly selected group of these Romanian orphans; it also tracked a group who lived in institutions. (This was controversial; some critics thought that it was improper to study any children in institutions.) The researchers, who are now preparing to revisit these children in their 15th year, have published strong evidence showing that those who remained in institutional care after the age of 24 months had major delays in cognitive development (among other problems). The researchers found that if foster care began before 24 months, children were able to catch up with peers in many ways. For example, the early foster care group at age 8 scored in the normal range on IQ tests, whereas those in the institutional group did not. The evidence shows, according to BEIP, that an estimated 8 million children in institutions around the world would be much better off living with foster families.


In the present research I focus on identifying the variables that affect women's
perceptions of sexist humor. Previous research and theory have identified attitude toward
women as the critical predictor of amusement with sexist humor; I propose that the
degree of dis-identification with women as a social category is also an important
predictor. I conducted two studies to investigate the role that dis-identification with
women plays in predicting women's perceptions of sexist humor. In support of my
hypothesis, results of Study 1 showed that more dis-identification with women predicted
more amusement with sexist humor. Further, in addition to gender attitudes, degree of
dis-identification with women mediated the effect of gender on amusement with sexist
humor. In Study 2 I found that hostile sexism was related to dis-identification with
feminists to a greater degree than with women in general or housewives, and that insofar
as women are high in hostile sexism, they interpret the message of humor disparaging
feminists less critically than humor disparaging other subgroups of women. Overall, my
findings provide support for the hypothesis that women perceive sexist humor more
positively to the extent that they dis-identify with women as a social category.


The objective of this study was to determine the possible relationships between the morphological types of plaque revealed in silver and immunostained sections of Alzheimer's disease (AD) tissue. The density of cored and uncored senile plaques in Glees and Marsland preparations, and of diffuse, primitive, classic and compact beta/A4 deposits in immunostained preparations were estimated. A principal components analysis (PCA) of the data suggested that three uncorrelated principal components accounted for 80% of the variation in lesion density in the tissues. This suggested that thee processes lead independently to the formation of: (1) the uncored Glees plaques; (2) the primitive beta/A4 deposits and most of the classic beta/A4 deposits and (3) the compact beta/A4 deposits and the remaining classic deposits. Hence, the uncored plaques revealed by the Glees stain and the primitive beta/A4 deposits represented distinct plaque populations. In addition, the classic beta/A4 deposits did not appear to represent a uniform plaque population but to originate from at least two pathological processes. The uncored Glees plaques appeared to the only plaque population closely related to the diffuse beta/A4 deposits.


Recently, several authors have studied maps where a function, describing the local diffusion matrix of a diffusion process with a linear drift towards an attraction point, is mapped into the average of that function with respect to the unique invariant measure of the diffusion process, as a function of the attraction point. Such mappings arise in the analysis of infinite systems of diffusions indexed by the hierarchical group, with a linear attractive interaction between the components. In this context, the mappings are called renormalization transformations. We consider such maps for catalytic Wright-Fisher diffusions. These are diffusions on the unit square where the first component (the catalyst) performs an autonomous Wright-Fisher diffusion, while the second component (the reactant) performs a Wright-Fisher diffusion with a rate depending on the first component through a catalyzing function. We determine the limit of rescaled iterates of renormalization transformations acting on the diffusion matrices of such catalytic Wright-Fisher diffusions.


Over recent years the discipline of surface metrology has advanced greatly both in terms of instrumentation and in terms of techniques for surface characterisation. The advances in instrumentation have entailed the introduction, as an industrial tool, of the atomic force microscope and the widespread use of optical interferometry. Both of these techniques have allowed visualisation of the 3D surface texture of epi-wafers at the micro and nanometer scale. The clear advantage of interferometry is that it is contactless and fast whereas the AFM technique, although it has a better measurement resolution, is still contacting the surface even in tapping mode and could potentially damage or contaminate the surface. A drawback common to both of these instrument types is that despite the richness of the data collected it is usually only the average roughness Ra, root mean square roughness Rq or maximum peak to valley roughness Rt, values of the surface texture that are quoted. True surface areal texture information cannot be described by such parameters. Consequently these simple amplitude based roughness parameters are inadequate for describing anything more than very simple epi-structures and as a result differing textures can often yield similar roughness values. This paper outlines the recent advances in 3D surface characterisation and applies this to epi-wafer surface topography. (© 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The effect of preoperative donation of autologous blood on postoperative deep-vein thrombosis was retrospectively studied in men who had been managed consecutively with elective total joint replacement of the hip or knee because of osteoarthrosis. The patients had, on the average, two of nine considered risk factors for deep-vein thrombosis. Two hundred and thirty-seven patients were evaluated postoperatively with ascending venography, and they form the basis of this study. Fifty-four patients had venographic evidence of deep-vein thrombosis of the lower extremity, with most having asymptomatic clots distal to the knee. The prevalence of deep-vein thrombosis was nineteen (16 per cent) of 116 after total hip arthroplasty, compared with thirty-five (29 per cent) of 121 after total knee arthroplasty (chi square = 4.6, p = 0.03). Deep-vein thrombosis developed in twenty-eight (17 per cent) of the 161 patients who had donated blood preoperatively, compared with twenty-six (34 per cent) of the seventy-six patients who had not donated blood preoperatively (chi square = 7.7, p = 0.006). Through logistic regression analysis, the donation of autologous blood was shown to reduce significantly the development of postoperative deep-vein thrombosis for patients managed with total knee arthroplasty (p < 0.01) but not for patients managed with total hip arthroplasty. Additional neural network analysis showed the donation of autologous blood to be the most important prognostic factor in predicting the absence of postoperative deep-vein thrombosis. In addition to diminishing the need for transfusion of homologous blood after total joint arthroplasty, preoperative donation of autologous blood appears to protect against postoperative deep-vein thrombosis after total knee arthroplasty.


Tumor necrosis factor receptor-1 (TNFR-1) and CD95 (also called Fas or APO-1) are cytokine receptors that engage the apoptosis pathway through a region of intracellular homology, designated the "death domain." Another death domain-containing member of the TNFR family, death receptor 3 (DR3), was identified and was shown to induce both apoptosis and activation of nuclear factor κB. Expression of DR3 appears to be restricted to tissues enriched in lymphocytes. DR3 signal transduction is mediated by a complex of intracellular signaling molecules including TRADD, TRAF2, FADD, and FLICE. Thus, DR3 likely plays a role in regulating lymphocyte homeostasis.


Abstract At least 33 native species of marine mammals have been documented from the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR). For many of these species, the waters of the region serve as primary habitat for critical activities that include feeding, mating and calving. However, relatively little remains known about their biology, life history, distribution and behavior, particularly also around the windward Dutch islands (Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten). In this study we compiled 84 marine mammal records for the waters of these islands, comprising 9 previously published records and 75 new records. A total of eight distinct species are documented, six of which are cetaceans. In comparison to the leeward Dutch islands (Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire), documented strandings are few. Results suggest that whereas beaked whales and Bryde's whale are more common around the leeward Dutch islands, humpback whales are more common around the windward Dutch islands. This study concludes that more dedicated efforts are needed to better document and understand cetacean composition, seasonality and use of the both the windward and leeward Dutch Caribbean maritime territories. Such initiatives should help further clarify any potential regional differences as well the underlying causes thereof. Several nations, including the USA, the Dominican Republic and France, have established marine mammal sanctuaries in their Caribbean waters. Declaring the Dutch EEZ as a marine mammal sanctuary would be a valuable contribution to the conservation of marine mammals in the region.


Density dependent Markov population processes in large populations of size N were shown by Kurtz (1970), (1971) to be well approximated over finite time intervals by the solution of the differential equations that describe their average drift, and to exhibit stochastic fluctuations about this deterministic solution on the scale √N that can be approximated by a diffusion process. Here, motivated by an example from evolutionary biology, we are concerned with describing how such a process leaves an absorbing boundary. Initially, one or more of the populations is of size much smaller than N, and the length of time taken until all populations have sizes comparable to N then becomes infinite as N → ∞. Under suitable assumptions, we show that in the early stages of development, up to the time when all populations have sizes at least N 1-α for 1/3 < α < 1, the process can be accurately approximated in total variation by a Markov branching process. Thereafter, it is well approximated by the deterministic solution starting from the original initial point, but with a random time delay. Analogous behaviour is also established for a Markov process approaching an equilibrium on a boundary, where one or more of the populations become extinct.


The recent discovery of the plasmid-mediated mcr-1 gene conferring resistance to colistin is of clinical concern. The worldwide screening of this resistance mechanism among samples of different origins has highlighted the urgent need to improve the detection of colistin-resistant isolates in clinical microbiology laboratories. Currently, phenotypic methods used to detect colistin resistance are not necessarily suitable as the main characteristic of the mcr genes is the low level of resistance that they confer, close to the clinical breakpoint recommended jointly by the CLSI and EUCAST expert systems (S ≤ 2 mg/L and R > 2 mg/L). In this context, susceptibility testing recommendations for polymyxins have evolved and are becoming difficult to implement in routine laboratory work. The large number of mechanisms and genes involved in colistin resistance limits the access to rapid detection by molecular biology. It is therefore necessary to implement well-defined protocols using specific tools to detect all colistin-resistant bacteria. This review aims to summarize the current clinical microbiology diagnosis techniques and their ability to detect all colistin resistance mechanisms and describe new tools specifically developed to assess plasmid-mediated colistin resistance. Phenotyping, susceptibility testing, and genotyping methods are presented, including an update on recent studies related to the development of specific techniques.


We conducted 58 playback experiments with free-ranging African elephants in Etosha National Park, Namibia, to estimate the distance over which some of their low-frequency calls are audible to other elephants. We broadcast pre-recorded elephant calls to elephants that were 1.2 and 2.0 km from the speaker while making simultaneous video and audio recordings of their behavior. In order to reduce the risk of habituation, we used a variety of call types as stimuli. Elephants responded to playbacks at both 1.2 and 2.0 km, with a full response consisting of the elephant vocalizing, lifting and spreading its ears, remaining motionless in this position ('freezing'), moving the head from side to side ('scanning') and, in the case of males responding to female estrous calls, orienting to and finally walking 1 km or more towards the loudspeaker. We analyzed our data quantitatively for three of these responses. The occurrence of each behavior increased substantially immediately after playbacks. Owing to limitations of the loudspeaker, we were only able to broadcast calls at half the sound pressure level (i.e. −6dB) of the strongest calls we have recorded. Since sound at the frequencies of these calls is predicted to suffer from little, if any, attenuation in excess of that caused by spherical spreading, we estimate these calls to be audible to elephants at least 4 km from the source (twice the distance over which we documented responses). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the very low-frequency calls of elephants function in communication between individuals and groups of elephants separated by distances of several kilometers.


Five species of atherinid were collected monthly from the estuary of the Swan-Avon river system. Length-frequency data and gonadosomic indices showed that Atherinosoma presbyteroides, A. elongata, A. wallacei and Allanetta mugiloides typically have a 1-year life cycle and generally reach maturity at total lengths of 40-85 mm. The mean length of the mature females was significantly greater than that of the mature males in each Atherinosoma species, but not in Allanetta mugiloides. The fifth species, Pranesus ogilbyi, was often represented by many individuals with far greater total lengths (100-150 mm) than were found in the other four species, a feature that reflected the presence of two year classes. Length-frequency and gonadosomic data indicated that all five atherinid species breed over protracted periods during spring and summer. Values for the gonadosomic index and the absence of local marine populations of Atherinosoma elongata, Allanetta mugiloides and Atherinosoma wallacei confirmed that the populations of these species in the Swan-Avon are estuarine or estuarine-inland water sensu stricto. Gonadosomic values for the marine species A. presbyteroides and P. ogilbyi, allied with the times of disappearance of larger individuals from the estuary, suggested that only the former of these two species may breed to any extent in the estuary. Length-frequency histograms showed that the populations of A. presbyteroides and P. ogilbyi in the Swan-Avon are more heterogeneous than those of the same species in a nearby marine embayment.


Hafnium and neodymium isotope systematics in mafic volcanic rocks provide useful information about mantle source characteristics and processes. Hf and Nd isotope arrays are useful for identifying the types of subducted sediments involved in enriched mantles. The Tengchong volcanic field is located in Yunnan Province and is one of two active volcanic fields on the Tibetan Plateau. Although a great deal of geochemical and petrological research has been conducted to investigate the origin of these volcanoes, application of combined Hf and Nd isotopes to study their mantle source characteristics has not been accomplished previously. In this study, Hf and Nd isotopic compositions together with major and trace element concentrations are reported for the four active volcanoes in the Tengchong volcanic field, including Heikongshan, Dayingshan, Maanshan, and Laoguipo volcanoes. All studied samples have LREE enriched patterns. They are depleted in high field strength elements Ti, Nb, and Ta. Hf and Nd isotope results indicate that the Tengchong volcanics plot between the mantle igneous rock and seawater arrays. This implies that the enriched component in the mantle source for the Tengchong volcanic rocks was mature clay sediments or mudstones rather than other sediments such as sandstones. New constraints on the mantle source rocks from Hf-Nd isotope systematics in Tengchong can serve as a reference for interpreting the characteristics of the source rocks for older widespread post-collisional volcanism in other areas of the Tibetan Plateau.


BackgroundVentricular fibrillation has deleterious metabolic and functional consequences for the heart. This study had two purposes: first, to define the effects of ventricular fibrillation during hypoxia on energy metabolism and accumulation of intracellular Na+ and, second, to test whether the occurrence of ventricular fibrillation can be predicted from functional or metabolic parameters. Methods and ResulsIsolated isovolumic rat hearts were perfused with oxygenated Krebs-Henseleit buffer at 37°C. After a prehypoxic period, hearts were subjected to hypoxic perfusion (95% N2–5% CO2) for 30 minutes. High-energy phosphates and intracellular pH were determined by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and intracellular Na+ accumulation was followed by 23Na-NMR spectroscopy in combination with the shift reagent dysprosium triethylenetetraminehexa-acetate. Five of 10 (31P-NMR) and four of 10 (23Na-NMR) hearts developed spontaneous ventricular fibrillation at 19±2 minutes (31P-NMR) and 18±3 minutes (23Na-NMR) of hypoxia (ventricular fibrillation group), whereas other hearts (non-ventricular fibrillation group) remained beating throughout hypoxia. Cardiac function and high-energy phosphate content declined during hypoxia, and ventricular fibrillation exacerbated this decline significantly. Similarly, ventricular fibrillation exacerbated the accumulation of intracellular Na+ occurring during hypoxia. Statistical analysis showed that the event of ventricular fibrillation could be predicted from changes of end-diastolic pressure, rate-pressure product, and creatine phosphate content before ventricular fibrillation. However, the strongest predictor ofventricular fibrillation was intracellular Na+ accumulation, which occurred in ventricular fibrillation hearts throughout the hypoxic period long before ventricular fibrillation was initiated. ConclusionsLoss of systolic and diastolic functions, creatine phosphate depletion, and, in particular, intracellular Na+ accumulation may be causally related to induction of ventricular fibrillation during hypoxia, all of which are most likely linked to concomitant intracellular Ca2+ accumulation.


Objective: cutaneous reaction after BCG revaccination has been cause of concerns due its magnitude. Would it be intense enough to discourage its use in school-age children? The objective of this study is to describe the evolution of BCG vaccination site between 48 hours and 10 weeks post-revaccination. Methods: a descriptive cohort study was carried out involving 484 children between six and 11 years. The subjects were vaccinated with 0.1 mL of BCG-Moreau. Erythema, induration, pustule, ulcer, crust and final scar were measured within 48h, 72h and weekly until the tenth week, evaluated between July and December 1987. Epi Info 6.0 software was utilized to analyze frequencies, means, median and standard deviations. Results: induration was present in 99.1% and erythema in 91.6% of 438 children evaluated within 48h. Pustules were observed in the first week in 26.1% of 479 children. The first ulcers were seen during the second week. In the tenth week, 69.8% of 463 children showed crusts but only 29.2% completed the healing process. Conclusions: BCG revaccination in school-age children causes intense and early reaction that can be related to Koch phenomenon, even though it does not present the expected reduction in the healing period. The magnitude of the reaction is not enough to discourage its recommendation for school-age children. On the other hand, it is possible that the rapid inflammatory response is an indication of active immune response from the first vaccination.


We describe our recent results on some of the anomalous propagation properties of subdiffractive guided modes along plasmonic or metamaterial cylindrical waveguides with core-shell structures, with particular attention to the design of optical subwavelength nanodevices. In our analysis, we compare and contrast the azimuthally symmetric modes, on which the previous literature has concentrated, with polaritonic guided modes, which propagate in a different regime close to the plasmonic resonance of the waveguide. Forward and backward modes may be envisioned in this latter regime, traveling with subdiffraction cross section along the cylindrical interface between plasmonic and nonplasmonic materials. In general, two oppositely oriented power flows arise in the positive and negative permittivity regions, consistent with our previous results in the planar geometry. Our discussion applies to a various range of frequencies, from RF to optical and UV, even if we are mainly focused on optical and infrared propagation. At lower frequencies, artificially engineered plasmonic metamaterials or natural plasmas may be envisioned to obtain similar propagation characteristics.


The main objective of this research project was to assess the quality and feasibility of the guidelines for INSPIRE Network Services. The completeness, clarity, consistency and ease-of implementation of the guidelines were considered. Part of this assessment is also the question: how can INSPIRE compliance be tested and measured? The topic was tackled both from a theoretical and a practical point of view. The theoretical part of the project included a detailed investigation and assessment of the INSPIRE requirements and recommendations as regards: technical architecture of the services, functionality of the particular network services, quality of services, rights management issues, elements of spatial data and metadata models. This part of the project has been finalized with the synthesis of the guidelines derived from the INSPIRE documentation. The review of the INSPIRE documents showed that these guidelines are specific and clear enough in most points, however not yet complete. The status of work as regards the technical guidelines for particular INSPIRE Network Services is different. The topic which calls for particular attention is the adaptation of the INSPIRE services to SOAP bindings. Another item that is needed and that is currently missing in the guidelines is the provision of more strict rules for compliance testing (Abstract Test Suites (ATS) for INSPIRE services and data) and quality of service (QoS) testing. The practical part of the project was the implementation of some prototype View and Download services. For the implementation of the prototype services existing software was chosen, namely GeoServer, one of the spatial data server products implementing the OGC standards. The specific scenario chosen for the case study are web services for a national park. The spatial data for the prototype was acquired from the resources of the Narew National Park (Poland). The prototype was realized in order to validate and evaluate whether the Implementing Rules and other guidelines contained all necessary information to set up INSPIRE compliant web services, with special attention to the question how this 'compliance' can be measured using both manual and automated testing methods. First, the prototype has been evaluated for the compliance with INSPIRE guidelines by manual inspection of the prototype services. Secondly, the compliance test methodology proposed by OGC has been used to perform automated tests on the GeoServer instance. The evaluation of the prototype showed that the web services provided with GeoServer fulfill the majority of requirements for View/Download Services through the WMS/WFS functionalities (mandatory operation parameters, offered output formats etc.) Some elements need to be configured within GeoServer (e.g. the required spatial reference system, layer/feature type names that conform to the INSPIRE data specifications). Still, some INSPIRE-specific extensions to the functionality provided by GeoServer are needed for both services (support of the SOAP/POST methods for the service operations, solutions for multilingual aspects of services and rights management). Another requirement for the INSPIRE-conformant web services is that the spatial data and metadata are provided compliant with the data models required by INSPIRE. The study on compliance testing methodologies is followed by the recommendation that the standards and testing programs from ISO and OGC can be of particular relevance for the development of Abstract Test Suites for INSPIRE services. The reference framework for INSPIRE compliance testing can be partially based on the OGC Compliance & Interoperability Testing & Evaluation Initiative (CITE) testing program. The OGC tests are especially suitable as reference since the core technical specifications for implementation of the particular INSPIRE Network Services are the OGC web services specifications.


Code compression is a field where compression ratios between compiler-generated code and subsequent compressed code are highly dependent on decisions made at compile time. Most optimizations employed by compilers tend to focus on parameters such as program performance, minimizing resource dependencies and sometimes the option of reducing code size.This paper describes a post-compilation technique for the greedy reassignment of general purpose scratch registers to improve Hamming distance based code compression. The code translation renumbers registers based on the frequency of registers used by isomorphic instructions and employs a Gray coding scheme to reduce Hamming distances between similar instructions.Register reassignment has been successfully implemented in areas where the compiler optimizations do not include a particular metric, for example, power savings. Pro-gram values can be reassigned register numbers that reduce overall power consumption of the address bus and register file decoder, at no cost to code size or performance.The application of the register reassignment technique in this paper reduced the number of dictionary vectors required by a program on average by 9.74%. Code compression ratios of register-reassigned binaries were consistently around 3-4% (of original program size) lower than code compression applied to original binaries, with the highest such reduction at nearly 7%. General purpose register reassignment is a technique that allows for gains in compression efficiency with no penalty in hardware. Other techniques that could be trialed include commutative register switching, dead register detection and assignment and complete register re-allocation.


The formation of an allopolyploid species involves the merger of two genomes with separate evolutionary histories. In allopolyploids, genes derived from one progenitor species are often expressed at higher levels than those from the other progenitor. It has been suggested that this could be due to differences in transposable element (TE) content among progenitors, as silencing of TEs can affect expression of nearby genes. Here, we examine the role of TEs for expression biases in the widespread allotetraploid Capsella bursa-pastoris and in diploid F1 hybrids generated by crossing Capsella orientalis and Capsella rubella, two close relatives of the progenitors of C. bursa-pastoris. As C. rubella harbors more TEs than C. orientalis, we expect C. orientalis alleles to be expressed at higher levels if TE content is key for expression biases. To test this hypothesis, we quantified expression biases at approximately 5800 genes in flower buds and leaves, while correcting for read mapping biases using genomic data. While three of four C. bursa-pastoris accessions exhibited a shift toward higher relative expression of C. orientalis alleles, the fourth C. bursa-pastoris accession had the opposite direction of expression bias, as did diploid F1 hybrids. Associations between TE polymorphism and expression bias were weak, and the effect of TEs on expression bias was small. These results suggest that differences in TE content alone cannot fully explain expression biases in these species. Future studies should investigate the role of differences in TE silencing efficacy, as well as a broader set of other factors. Our results are important for a more general understanding of the role of TEs for cis-regulatory evolution in plants.


Teacher attrition is common in developed, developing and underdeveloped countries. School principals are tasked with a responsibility to oversee that teaching and learning takes place as smoothly and efficiently as possible and to handle whatever disturbance that takes place in a school including teacher. Teacher attrition affects them directly as it interferes with planning and daily routine in the school. There are many factors which influence teacher attrition such as poor working conditions, poor pay, stress, pursuit of "greener pastures" and many others. This study seeks to explore and document the experiences of school principals regarding teacher attrition. It is a case study of four school principals from Umlazi district. The main research question is: What are the experiences of school principals with regards to teacher attrition? The purpose is to document the experiences of school principals and; to identify factors which influence teacher attrition. I intend to examine challenges experienced by principals with regards to teacher attrition and to find out how principals manage these challenges. This is a qualitative study from an interpretive approach. It explores the experiences of school principals after a teacher transfers, resigns or even dies. Case study is used because of the nature of the study (small scale). Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. These recorded and transcriptions were done personally. Data was coded according to emerging themes during analysis then interpreted in order to make meaning. Sampling is purposeful and school principals both at Primary and Secondary school level are the respondents as I believed their experiences would not be the same. The findings revealed that the common experiences of school principals during teacher attrition were frustration and stress; disruption of learning and compromised student performance and lack of support of the Department of Education. Resignations were influenced by job dissatisfaction and jobrelated stress. These forced teachers to pursue "greener pastures" in the business sector as well as private sector. It also emerged that school principals were experiencing a lot of frustrating and stressful challenges during teacher attrition and most of them found it hard to cope with these challenges. They also complained about the lack of support from the education department. The findings are based only on data collected during interviews.


Purpose Adaptive optics scanning light ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) imaging in patients with achromatopsia (ACHM) and albinism is not always successful. Here, we tested whether optical coherence tomography (OCT) measures of foveal structure differed between patients for whom AOSLO images were either quantifiable or unquantifiable. Methods The study included 166 subjects (84 with ACHM; 82 with albinism) with previously acquired OCT scans, AOSLO images, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA, if available). Foveal OCT scans were assessed for outer retinal structure, outer nuclear layer thickness, and hypoplasia. AOSLO images were graded as quantifiable if a peak cone density could be measured and/or usable if the location of peak density could be identified and the parafoveal mosaic was quantifiable. Results Forty-nine percent of subjects with ACHM and 57% of subjects with albinism had quantifiable AOSLO images. Older age and better BCVA were found in subjects with quantifiable AOSLO images for both ACHM (P = 0.0214 and P = 0.0276, respectively) and albinism (P = 0.0073 and P < 0.0004, respectively). There was a significant trend between ellipsoid zone appearance and ability to quantify AOSLO (P = 0.0028). In albinism, OCT metrics of cone structure did not differ between groups. Conclusions Previously reported AOSLO-based cone density measures in ACHM may not necessarily reflect the degree of remnant cone structure in these patients. Translational Relevance Until AOSLO is successful in all patients with ACHM and albinism, the possibility of the reported data from a particular cohort not being representative of the entire population remains an important issue to consider when interpreting results from AOSLO studies.


It seems a travesty to reiterate exactly what we mean by 'Mesopotamia' . The tautological qualities of Greek mésos ('middle' , 'in between') and potamós ('stream' , 'river') often rule out further elaboration of its origins and the assumed self-evident nature of its current application. Yet regional concepts are not stable. Their delineation may be defined according to a complex set of attributes not related to physical borders alone. I consider here the changing meanings of 'Mesopotamia' as a name for the drainage of the Euphrates and Tigris from the 2nd millennium BCE until the present day. In conclusion, I argue that current notions of 'Mesopotamia' are a product of the First World War, and hence far from unproblematic references to a distant historical past to which they bear no inherent relation.


This paper investigates the potential improvement in signal reliability for outdoor wearable communications channels operating at 868 MHz using switched combining based macro-diversity. In this paper, a number of different macro-diversity configurations consisting of two and four base stations were considered to help mitigate the impact of body shadowing upon a wearable node, which was located on the central chest region of an adult male. During the field measurements, five different walking movements were performed, and then analyzed to investigate the efficacy of using macro-diversity. It was found that all of the considered switched combining schemes, including switch-and-stay combining, switch-and-examine combining (SEC) and SEC with post-examining selection (SECps) provided a worthwhile signal improvement when an appropriate switching threshold was adopted. The maximum diversity gain obtained in this paper was found to be 19.5 dB when using four-base station SECps. The diversity gain, the number of path examinations, and the number of path switches between base stations for the switched combiner output varied according to the determined switching threshold, highlighting the importance of the selection of an appropriate threshold level. Furthermore, the performance/complexity tradeoff is demonstrated. Finally, the fading behavior at the output of the switched diversity combiners was then characterized using the diversity specific equations developed under the assumption of independent and non-identically distributed Nakagami- $m$  fading channels. Over all of the measurement scenarios considered in this paper, the theoretical models provided an adequate fit to the fading observed at the output of the virtual switched combiner.


The growth–inequality nexus has long been debated by researchers, social commentators and politicians. Despite being controversial, there is growing evidence of multi-dimensional inequality in developing countries, including Pakistan. Oxfam has carried out research on multiple inequalities in Pakistan in collaboration with the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), the findings of which are presented in this report. The research focused on multi-dimensional inequality in Pakistan to highlight the nature and dimensions of inequality; identify the inequality traps that exacerbate multi-dimensional inequality; examine strategies for mitigating multi-dimensional inequality; and to discuss the policy implications of these findings. This is an effort to generate a sound knowledge base around multiple inequalities in Pakistan and to initiate a national discourse on the impact of inequalities on poverty reduction efforts.


In this paper we will present the permeability regimes: concepts conceived to contribute with the understanding of the new roles and necessary skills for the architect and designer to design performative and interactive spaces. This contribution, as will be shown here, is based on theoretical and empirical bases that will address a specific context: the methods for introducing and making tangible the relation between information, human and space for architecture students. Therefore, we will describe the dynamics of an interactive installation developed by undergraduate students, relating it to the permeability regimes.


Chronic pain is one of the most important problems in patients with spinal cord injury. The pain may occur for unknown reasons, but in most cases it is due to damage to the nerves due to spinal cord injury or musculoskeletal problems. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of pain syndromes in veterans of war and relationship between age, gender and severity of spinal cord injury with treatment response in such people. This was is a descriptive study on spinal cord injury victims in Yazd and Isfahan from May to November 2015. First, a questionnaire was prepared in which information such as age, duration of disease, pain, level of injury and the type of drug were included. The patients were examined individually to determine the level of damage properly. Finally, by statistical analysis of data obtained, their relationship was examined. In this study, 50 people with injured spinal cord in the provinces of Yazd and Isfahan (18 out of Yazd Province and 32 from the province) were evaluated, of which 13 complexities were in the cervical level (neck), 27 in the thoracic region and 10 in the lumbar region. The lowest age was 39 years and oldest age was 50 years. Statistical analysis of the relationship between pain and level of spinal cord injury showed that no significant relationship between severity of pain and level of spinal cord injury. Statistical analysis of the relationship between severity of pain and age suggested that older patients had complained of less pain than patients with lower ages. It seems that due to the problems facing patients with spinal defects, especially disabled veterans, comprehensive program must be carried out by relevant institutions to facilitate the treatment of these people and increase the quality of their life.


We investigate a fractional diffusion equation with a nonlocal reaction term by using the Green function approach. We also consider a modified spatial operator in order to cover situations characterized by a noninteger dimension. The results show a nonusual spreading of the initial condition which can be connected to a rich class of anomalous diffusive processes. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


This paper identifies a limit to arbitrage that arises from the fact that a firm's fundamental value is endogenous to the act of exploiting the arbitrage. Trading on private information reveals this information to managers and helps them improve their real decisions, in turn enhancing fundamental value. While this increases the profitability of a long position, it reduces the profitability of a short position -- selling on negative information reveals that firm prospects are poor, causing the manager to cancel investment. Optimal abandonment increases firm value and may cause the speculator to realize a loss on her initial sale. Thus, investors may strategically refrain from trading on negative information, and so bad news is incorporated more slowly into prices than good news. The effect has potentially important real consequences -- if negative information is not incorporated into stock prices, negative-NPV projects may not be abandoned, leading to overinvestment.


Abstract. Reduced cochlear blood flow (CoBF) is a main contributor to hearing loss. Studying CoBF has remained a challenge due to the lack of available tools. Doppler optical microangiography (DOMAG), a method to quantify single-vessel absolute blood flow, and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), a method for measuring the relative blood flow within a large volume of tissue, were used for determining the changes in CoBF due to systemic hypoxia in mice. DOMAG determined the change in blood flow in the apical turn (AT) with single-vessel resolution, while LDF averaged the change in the blood flow within a large volume of the cochlea (hemisphere with ∼1 to 1.5 mm radius). Hypoxia was induced by decreasing the concentration of oxygen-inspired gas, so that the oxygen saturation was reduced from >95% to ∼80%. DOMAG determined that during hypoxia the blood flow in two areas of the AT near and far from the helicotrema were increased and decreased, respectively. The LDF detected a decrease in blood flow within a larger volume of the cochlea (several turns averaged together). Therefore, the use of DOMAG as a tool for studying cochlear blood flow due to its ability to determine absolute flow values with single-vessel resolution was proposed.


Chlorpyrifos, an organophosphorous compound, is widely used to improve the yield of agricultural produce in India. Public concern over pesticide residues in foods has been increasing such that it has become a significant food safety issue. The present study was conducted to screen 254 buffalo meat samples collected from different slaughter houses for chlorpyrifos residues. The putative chlorpyrifos residues were extracted by homogenising and sonicating the samples with acetonitrile. The extract was cleaned up by performing alumina column chromatography. The cleaned up extract was subjected to high performance liquid chromatography. The residues were eluted in isocratic mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile:water (67:33) at the flow rate of 1 mlitre min−1 and run time of 18 min. The wavelength of detection was set at 202 nm with 360 nm as the reference wavelength. Chlorpyrifos residues were detected in 18 (7.08% of the total samples) samples. Of these positive samples, only 2 (0.78% of the total samples) exceeded codex maximum residue limit of chlorpyrifos in meat.


Addition of tunicamycin to the culture medium of growing Saccharom-yes cerevisiae protoplasts or cells resulted in the formation of a modified exo-1,3-P-~-glucanase which was detectable in both extracellular and intracellular fractions. This modified enzyme had a lower molecular weight than the native form and did not bind to concanavalin A. The activation energy and K, values of both enzyme forms were identical. Antibodies raised against the native protein readily precipitated the exo-l,3-l)-~-glucanase produced after tunicamycin treatment. The latter enzyme was comparable, in terms of molecular size and lack of affinity for concanavalin A , to the P-D-glucanase obtained by treatment of the native form with endoglycosidase H ; both lacked the carbohydrate moiety present in the native enzyme. The epo-l,3-l)-~-glucanase obtained in the presence of the antibiotic was more sensitive to variations in temperature and pH than both endoglycosidase H-treated and non-treated enzymes. Our results suggest that the carbohydrate moiety, if not necessary for exo-l,3-P-D-glucanase secretion, may play a role in the conformation of the protein and in stabilizing the enzymic activity.


The proportion of remote-living Indigenous people who lived in a household that ran out of food, and could not afford to purchase more, increased from 32.8% to 38.6% between 2012–2013 and 2018–2019. This paper outlines policy options to respond to the increasing prevalence of remote Indigenous food insecurity. We argue that while it may be possible to reduce the price of food in remote stores to some degree, the cost of commercial food provision in remote Indigenous communities is likely to remain high in comparison to larger Australian towns and cities. Accordingly, policy responses should look to other means for increasing food security beyond reducing prices. We suggest that increasing social security payments and removing barriers currently impeding Indigenous communities from pursuing food sovereignty are the most promising avenues for increasing Indigenous food security. Relaxing the mutual obligations requirements facing social security recipients and supporting social enterprises would assist Indigenous communities to engage in customary food provisioning. A version of this Topical Issue was provided to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs Inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities in June 2020.


The sizing process of a supercapacitive tank is today a well-known procedure. It enables the identification of the number of cells needed to match energy requirements. In some cases, this number must be increased, in order to match the power needs of the application with a given efficiency. Due to the internal resistance of supercapacitors, losses by joule effects are in some applications non-negligible. It is then imperative to identify the temperature increase of the cells, and then the processes to cool the tank. This contribution presents a complete sizing procedure of a supercapacitive tank, with a finite element approach to study the temperature constraints on supercapacitors thanks to a simplified thermal model. A complete procedure will be introduced as an illustration, where supercapacitors are used for a pushto-pass function in a racecar.


At a few universities in Sweden students can chose a preschool teacher education program with a music profile. At one of these universities a study is undertaken aimed to reach knowledge that can be useful in the developing process of such a profile, and also in the development of the regular preschool teacher program.MethodIn total 16 of 25 students in one course group have participated in focus group interviews and 30 of 32 in another course group have answered a questionnaire.AimThe purpose of the paper presentation is to, in light of the described study, discuss the extent to which the design of the current preschool teacher program with music profile contributes to affect students' perceptions of themselves in relation to knowledge and interest in music.ResultDespite the fact that the majority of students studying preschool teacher education with music profile not have selected the education due it was a music profile most of them say that music is an important part in their lives. Using Smalls (1996) concept musicking our interpretation is that they see themselves as musicking humans. But in relation to their education most of them express that they lack knowledge and competence. One interpretation is that within the framework of the education it have been possible to create motivation and interest, but the students perception of themselves as holder of knowledge associated to music appears more difficult to change.ConclusionsLearning based on experience from organized 'learning-by-doing-oriented' situations in course sessions do not automatically lead to that those experiences can be transformed into a future professional situation. So, how to support preschool teacher students in becoming musicking preschool teachers?


When a part of light emitted by a laser is back-reflected or back-scattered from an external target and re-enters the laser cavity, both the laser intensity and its wavelength can be modulated. This is so-called self-mixing effect (SME), the optical feedback interferometry (OFI) utilizes such effect in an LD developed various applications. In this paper, we use a dualcavity OFI system that operating in period one state, the laser intensity from this system exhibits an oscillation with its amplitude modulated by a traditional single cavity OFI signal. The dual-cavity OFI system has the same measurement resolution as the single cavity which is half laser wavelength. This paper developed a method to improve the resolution by using fringe subdivision. Our simulation result shows that this method can achieve subnanometer resolution.


Interest in the outcomes of a society's most able learners is a recurrent feature in educational discourse. 'Giftedness' however is a 'contested construct' which is heavily context-dependent and where meanings are individually shaped rather than collectively understood. This research examines the complexity of construals of giftedness for secondary school Modern Language teachers in the light of pedagogic and linguistic theorists and English government policymakers. These four perspectives play a role in understanding 'giftedness' within the subject domain, yet have not been previously considered in combination. The context of school-based second language learning in England is significant as the subject has undergone changes of curriculum status and purpose, possibly failing to meet the needs of gifted pupils. The context for MFL teachers in this research is further shaped by the ambient professional framework, which is influenced by instable and internally inconsistent policy construals of 'giftedness' and a tension between excellence and equity. Questionnaires and interviews are used to examine MFL teachers' beliefs surrounding 'giftedness' both generally and within their subject specialism, and the reported impact of working within the framework of externally imposed construals. Teachers' reactions to being asked to make public judgements about giftedness reveal uncertainties about identifying gifted linguists and their underlying views about the enactment of 'giftedness' policy. The findings are used to propose a more detailed model of the characteristics of gifted linguists, which distinguishes between 'enabling' features (which support the development of linguistic potential) and those which are 'core', and which lie at the heart of 'giftedness' within MFL. Findings also indicate the importance of agreeing terminology and listening to teachers, when seeking to impose external constructs in this contested arena. By understanding the complexity and instability of the construal, it is argued that MFL teachers may be better equipped to recognise and support gifted learners.


This study examined the influence of rater training and scoring context on training time, scoring time, qualifying rate, quality of ratings, and rater perceptions. 120 raters participated in the study and experienced one of three training contexts: (a) online training in a distributed scoring context, (b) online training in a regional scoring context, and (c) stand-up training in a regional context. After training, raters assigned scores to qualification sets, scored 400 student essays, and responded to a questionnaire that measured their perceptions of the effectiveness of, and satisfaction with, the training and scoring process, materials, and staff. The results suggest that the only clear difference on the outcomes for these three groups of raters concerned training time—online training was considerably faster. There were no clear differences between groups concerning qualification rate, rating quality, or rater perceptions.


The oxidn. of benzoic acid has been performed on boron doped diamond electrodes supported on silicon substrate. The voltammetric behavior has shown that during the oxidn. of benzoic acid at 2.7V (RHE), a polymeric film is formed on the electrode surface that is oxidized at higher potential values. Bulk electrolysis of benzoic acid in HClO4, under galvanostatic conditions results in an instantaneous current efficiency(ICE) near 100% at low current densities and high benzoic acid concns. Electrolysis at high current densities and low benzoic acid concns. results in a decrease of ICE due to mass transport limitations. [on SciFinder (R)]


This article presents an empirical user study that compares eight multidimensional projection techniques for supporting the estimation of the number of clusters, k , embedded in six multidimensional data sets. The selection of the techniques was based on their intended design, or use, for visually encoding data structures, that is, neighborhood relations between data points or groups of data points in a data set. Concretely, we study: the difference between the estimates of k as given by participants when using different multidimensional projections; the accuracy of user estimations with respect to the number of labels in the data sets; the perceived usability of each multidimensional projection; whether user estimates disagree with k values given by a set of cluster quality measures; and whether there is a difference between experienced and novice users in terms of estimates and perceived usability. The results show that: dendrograms (from Ward's hierarchical clustering) are likely to lead to estimates of k that are different from those given with other multidimensional projections, while Star Coordinates and Radial Visualizations are likely to lead to similar estimates; t-Stochastic Neighbor Embedding is likely to lead to estimates which are closer to the number of labels in a data set; cluster quality measures are likely to produce estimates which are different from those given by users using Ward and t-Stochastic Neighbor Embedding; U-Matrices and reachability plots will likely have a low perceived usability; and there is no statistically significant difference between the answers of experienced and novice users. Moreover, as data dimensionality increases, cluster quality measures are likely to produce estimates which are different from those perceived by users using any of the assessed multidimensional projections. It is also apparent that the inherent complexity of a data set, as well as the capability of each visual technique to disclose such complexity, has an influence on the perceived usability.


In the April 2015 issue of BJSM, Kirkwood et al 1 drew attention to concussion in youth rugby, concluding with four recommendations, most of which are well founded. One would agree there is a lack of medical personnel at youth games, a need for increased awareness of concussion management and a requirement for generalised data collection. However, suggesting rugby alone should 'never be compulsory' is highlighting that it might perhaps be an unsafe sport to play.

Concussion is a 'hot topic' and Kirkwood et al 1 highlight concussion as the most commonly reported rugby match injury. This is due to heightened concussion awareness and diagnosis with the introduction of the new pitch side assessment tools rather than an increase in true incidence.2 This is a good outcome, if we know about the injury and establishing it is now better recorded, it can be suitably managed.

A review in rugby league observed 470 concussions over seven seasons (2.65/1000 h). The odds of sustaining one concussion was 7%, whereas the chances of receiving …


The aquatic biodiversity of northern Australia is a very rich, highly distinctive and frequently economically important component of the Australian fauna and flora reflecting the distinctive nature of the landscape, soils and climate. More than one million gigalitres of rain falls over northern Australia every year in a dramatic seasonal cycle of short intense humid wet seasons followed by long extended dry seasons that may last for as long as nine months. This vast rainfall creates an equally vast tapestry of aquatic habitats across the landscape. However, the annual water budget of the region (rainfall minus evapotranspiration) is in deficit by more than 1000 mm per year and thus, the aquatic habitats seasonally vary in extent and quality. Vast floodplains dry out and most rivers cease to flow. The region's aquatic biodiversity must deal with this profound seasonal change. Water is a key element in all aspects of human development in northern Australia. This book provides an entry into the research, both past and present, concerning the aquatic biodiversity of northern Australia and more importantly, will help inform the continuing debate about the future of the region and especially of the distinctive biodiversity of its freshwater ecosystems.


Synovial sarcoma is an aggressive malignancy with no effective treatments for patients with metastasis. The synovial sarcoma fusion, SS18-SSX, which recruits the SWI/SNF-BAF chromatin remodeling and polycomb repressive complexes, results in epigenetic activation of FGFR signaling. In genetic FGFR knockout models, culture, and xenograft synovial sarcoma models treated with the FGFR inhibitor BGJ398, we show that FGFR1, FGFR2, and FGFR3 were crucial for tumor growth. Transcriptome analyses of BGJ398-treated cells, histological and expression analyses of mouse and human synovial sarcoma tumors revealed prevalent expression of two ETS factors and FGFR targets, ETV4 and ETV5. We further demonstrate that ETV4 and ETV5 acted as drivers of synovial sarcoma growth, most likely through control of the cell cycle. Upon ETV4 and ETV5 knockdown, we observed a striking upregulation of DUX4 and its transcriptional targets that activate the zygotic genome and drive the atrophy program in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD) patients. In addition to demonstrating the importance of inhibiting all three FGFR receptors, the current findings reveal potential nodes of attack for the cancer with the discovery of ETV4 and ETV5 as appropriate biomarkers and molecular targets, and activation of the embryonic DUX4 pathway as a promising approach to block synovial sarcoma tumors.


Urinary calculus is a common and recurrent condition that affects kidney function. The present study evaluated the use of digital tomosynthesis (DTS) and Kidneys-Ureters-Bladder (KUB) radiography as methods of diagnosing urinary calculi. Unenhanced multidetector computed tomography (UMDCT) was used in the diagnosis of calculi. KUB radiography and DTS procedures were conducted on patients prior to and following bowel preparation to detect kidney, ureteral and bladder calculi. Differences in diagnostic performance of KUB radiography and DTS imaging on prepared and unprepared bowel were evaluated using the χ2 test. The consistency of diagnostic results between two examining physicians was analyzed using the κ test. A total of 138 calculi from 80 patients were detected via UMDCT. The calculi detection rates of KUB prior to and following bowel preparation were 47.8 and 66.7% respectively, and the calculi detection rate of DTS prior to and following bowel preparation were 94.2 and 96.4%, respectively. The detection rates of calculi >5 mm via KUB prior to and following bowel preparation were 56.6 and 73.5% respectively, and in DTS they were 100% prior to and following bowel preparation. Economically, DTS performed on the unprepared bowel was the most cost effective, followed by DTS on the prepared bowel, KUB on the unprepared bowel and KUB on the prepared bowel. Therefore, the current study concluded that DTS may be an appropriate first-line imaging technique in patients with urinary calculi.


This book chapter looks into the design work produced in the OCEAN Design Research Association in relation to the subject of performance. Within OCEAN the notion of performance is used as an embodying definition for areas of research that focuses on the material, spatial organization and advanced design processes. Processes that use complex relations between structure, environment and the multi-layered effects when they interact with spatial experience and habitation patterns. The chapter specifically looks at an area of ongoing area of research by design into Membrane Morphologies. The chapter looks a three projects, the Barley installation in Oslo, the Membrane and Cable net system research, and the Membrella design competition proposal. Membrane Morphologies were written about due to the thinness and lightness of the material to which the possibilities and capacities for structural, environmental, habitational and architectural effects were directly related. This explores the structural use of the materials to produce a variety of geometric outcomes through there double curvature based on principles of form found in active tension systems. Re-examining the proposals with the notion of Performance raises discussions on the further development of such constructs. Such as the membrane systems are developed in order to offer differentiated and carefully modulated spatial and environmental conditions.


Muscle load can affect the performance of concurrent cognitive task. This effect is often explained by limited resources in the voluntary attention system. To examine whether earlier stages of cognitive information processing might be affected, we recorded the mismatch negativity component (MMN) of the auditory event-related brain potential before, during and after sustained handgrip at 7 and 30% of maximal voluntary contraction. MMN is an index of automatic detection of a deviating auditory event. MMN was not affected by force level. However, its amplitude at fronto-central sites decreased during the fatiguing 30% contraction, while it tended to increase during the light 7% work. Thus, muscle fatigue may affect auditory information processing at preattentive and preconscious stages, which could modify cognitive performance.