The prevalence of illicit drug use is higher among men than women, but new drug use occurs at twice the rate for females as for males. Recent data from emergency rooms and medical examiners support this pattern, but females were more likely than males to report use of tranquilizers, antidepressants, and some nonbarbiturate sedatives. Recent data show that men outnumbered women in drug treatment admissions for all drugs except tranquilizers. However, the 1984 National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area Survey shows drug abuse and dependence to be the second most commonly reported disorder for women. Smoking is the most common form of drug dependence in our society, and it has a major impact on women's health. Lung cancer is now the leading cause of cancer deaths among women. Smoking poses a special risk of coronary heart disease for women using oral contraceptives. The incidence of emphysema among women has also risen sharply. Smoking during pregnancy carries special, serious risks. Research strongly suggests that the use of marijuana during pregnancy carries significant risks, including low birth weights and fetal abnormalities. Opiate addiction among women is uncommon, but it carries disproportionate health risks for these women and their offspring; infants born of addicted mothers have much higher morbidity and mortality rates than infants in general. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a grave risk to women using intravenous drugs and to their children. There are a number of health problems associated with psychoactive drug use among elderly women. In addition to research, the National Institute on Drug Abuse has focused a number of its activities on the special problems and needs of women. The Institute is collaborating with the health care community to place increased emphasis on prevention and treatment services for women and is working with organizations in the public and private sector to ensure that current information about drug use is effectively disseminated.


Introduction: This in vitro study compared the apical sealing ability of three common root end filling materials namely mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), intermediate restorative material (IRM) and calcium-enriched mixture (CEM) cement using a bacterial leakage model. Methods and Materials: The study was conducted on 83 single-rooted human teeth. Tooth crowns were cut and root canals were prepared using the step-back technique. Apical 3 mm of the roots were cut and a three-mm-deep cavity was prepared using an ultrasonic instrument. The samples were divided into three groups (n=25) according to the root-end filling material including MTA, IRM and CEM cement. The roots were inserted into cut-end microtubes. After sterilization with ethylene oxide, microtubes were placed in sterile vials containing 10 mL of Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth and incubated at 37°C and 0.1 mL of Enterococcus faecalis suspension compatible with 0.5 McFarland standard (1.5×108 cell/ ml), which was refreshed daily. This procedure was continued for 70 days. The data were analyzed using the chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis and log rank tests. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: No significant difference was found in bacterial microleakage among three groups; MTA showed slightly (but not significantly) less microleakage than IRM and CEM. However, the difference in the mean time of microleakage was significant among the groups (P<0.04) and in MTA samples leakage occurred in a longer time than CEM (P<0.012). Conclusion: The three tested root end filling materials had equal sealing efficacy for preventing bacterial leakage.


Thomas Sowell's many writings on the history of economic thought have appeared in a number of scholarly journals and books, and these writings have been praised, reprinted, and translated in various countries around the world. The classical era in the history of economics is an important part of the history of ideas in general, and its implications reach beyond the bounds of the economics profession. On Classical Economics is a book from which students can learn both history and economics. It is not simply a Cook's tour of colorful personalities of the past but a study of how certain economic concepts and tools of analysis arose, and how their implications were revealed during the controversies that followed. In addition to a general understanding of classical macroeconomics and microeconomics, this book offers special insight into the neglected pioneering work of Sismondi--and why it was neglected--and a detailed look at John Stuart Mill's enigmatic role in the development of economics and the mysteries of Marxian economics. Clear, engaging, and very readable, without being either cute or condescending, On Classical Economics can enable a course on the history of economic thought to make a contribution to students' understanding of economics in general--whether in price theory, monetary theory, or international trade. In short, it is a book about analysis as well as history.


In the Central Pontides (Northern Turkey), south of Tosya, a tectonic unit consisting of non-metamorphic volcanic rocks and overlying sedimentary succession is exposed inside a fault-bounded elongated block. It is restrained within a wide shear zone, where the Intra-Pontide Suture zone, the Sakarya Terrane and the Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan Suture zone are juxtaposed as result of strike-slip activity of the North Anatolian Shear Zone. The volcanic rocks are mainly basalts and basaltic andesites (with their pyroclastic equivalents) associated with a volcaniclastic formation made up of breccias and sandstones that are stratigraphically overlain by a marly-calcareous turbidite formation. The calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy points to a late Santonian-middle Campanian age (CC17-CC21 Zones) for the sedimentary succession. The geochemistry of the volcanic rocks reveals an active continental margin setting as evidenced by the enrichment in Th and LREE over HFSE, and the Nb-enriched nature of these lavas relative to N-MORB. As highlighted by the performed arenite petrography, the occurrence of continent-derived clastics in the sedimentary succession supports the hypothesis of a continental arc-derived volcanic succession. Alternative geodynamic reconstructions are proposed, where this tectonic unit could represent a slice derived from the northern continental margin of the Intra-Pontide or Izmir-Ankara-Erzincan oceanic basins.


Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive form of cancer with 5-year survival rate and poor prognosis. Since patients` initial response to therapy is rapidly followed by a relapse with the drug-resistant disease, new therapies are required. The aim was to evaluate whether H146 cell line tumor was able to maintain the morphological pattern when grafted on the chicken embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). Also, to evaluate the morphological changes in the CAM after grafting the tumor without or with treatment with sodium valproate (NaVP). The cell culture of the commercial NCIH146 cell line was used for the formation of the tumor. The tumor of 1x106 cells and I type rat tail collagen was dropped onto the absordable sponge and instantly grafted on CAM. After 5 days of incubation chicken embryos were sacrificed and CAMs were cut out. Standard H&E staining and immunohistochemistry (CD56) were performed. The histomorphometrical analysis of non-treated (n=5), 4 mM NaVP-treated (n=5) and 8 mM (n=5) of NaVPtreated groups was performed. The thickness of the CAM was measured in all the investigated groups in the areas under the onplant and in the neighbouring sites. H146 cells are able to maintain morphological appearance on the CAM and retained the expression of specific profile for CD56. H146 cell tumor increased the thickness of the CAM under the tumor in the nontreated group (509.2±184μm). After treatment with 4 mM and 8 mM of NaVP CAM thickness decreased (362±232.6 μm and 147.8±98.4 μm respectively; p<0.0001). The effect of NaVP on CAM increased with increasing solution https://doi.org/10.12697/poa.2017.26.2.15 Papers on Anthropology XXVI/2, 2017, pp. 144–156 NCI-H146 cell line behaviour on CAM after NAVP treatment | 145 concentrations of 4 mM and 8 mM. CAM thickness in the non-treated group neighbouring to the tumor site was 139.1±138.4 μm, in 4 mM NaVP-treated group – 104.9±81 μm and in 8 mM NaVP-treated group CAM thickness reached only 70.8±51.5 μm. CAM thickness in the non-treated group significantly differs compared to 4 mM and 8 mM of NaVP – the treated groups (p<0.05, p<0.0001). Difference between both NaVP-treated groups is also significant (p<0.05). CAM is a suitable model for in vivo analysis of human H146 cell line formed tumor. Cells grafted on the CAM preserved their morphology and expressed characteristic immunohistochemical markers. CAM mesenchyme proliferation was suppressed under the influence of NaVP in concentration–dependent manner.


Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) form important signaling modules for a variety of cellular responses in eukaryotic cells. In plants, MAPKs play key roles in growth and development as well as in immunity/stress responses. Pollen-pistil interactions are critical early events regulating pollination and fertilization and involve many signaling events. Selfincompatibility (SI) is an important mechanism to prevent self-fertilization and inbreeding in higher plants and also is known to utilize signaling to achieve incompatible pollen rejection. Although several pollen-expressed MAPKs exist, very little is known about their function. We previously identified a pollen-expressed MAPK (p56) from Papaver rhoeas that was rapidly activated during SI; several studies implicated its role in signaling to SI-induced programmed cell death involving a DEVDase. However, to date, the identity of the MAPK involved has been unknown. Here, we have identified and cloned a pollen-expressed P. rhoeas threonine-aspartate-tyrosine (TDY) MAPK, PrMPK9-1. Rather few data relating to the function of TDY MAPKs in plants currently exist. We provide evidence that PrMPK9-1 has a cell type-specific function, with a distinct role from AtMPK9. To our knowledge, this is the first study implicating a function for a TDY MAPK in pollen. We show that PrMPK9-1 corresponds to p56 and demonstrate that it is functionally involved in mediating SI in P. rhoeas pollen: PrMPK9-1 is a key regulator for SI in pollen and acts upstream of programmed cell death involving actin and activation of a DEVDase. Our study provides an important advance in elucidating functional roles for this class of MAPKs.


Glaciers may be used as indicators of climatic change. This paper presents data from six glaciers with records of glacier length greater than 200 years. All show a strong retreat since 1850. The paper discusses past work to model these glaciers based on climatological time series from nearby station. Studies performed until now have not produced good results and have only partially described the retreats of the past 100 years.

A new, two-step modelling approach is presented here. The first component relates climate conditions to glacier mass balance followed by a second which calculates ice flow as a response to imposed mass balance.

The mass balance approach uses an energy balance on the glacier surface, explicitly accounting for turbulent fluxes in the atmospheric boundary layer above the glacier surface and for the changes in albedo in the modelling of radiation. Meteorological data needed to run the mass balance module are temperature and humidity, cloudiness, and precipitation.

A one-dimensional flow model based on equations of the continuity and motion is used to compute the dynamics of a glacier along the centerline down the surface slope. It takes into account varying lateral geometry, sliding and deformation of the glacier and changes in ice thickness.

The coupled, two-component model system is solved using an explicit scheme for time integration. Various numerical techniques to improve computational efficiency are discussed.

Preliminary results of this approach have been promising and will be discussed by a follow-up paper.


Background: Obesity is a major contributor to the overall burden of disease (also reducing life expectancy) and associated with high medical costs due to obesity-related diseases. However, obesity prevention, while reducing obesity-related morbidity and mortality, may not result in overall healthcare cost savings because of additional costs in life-years gained. Sector-specific financial consequences of preventing obesity are less well documented, for pharmaceutical spending as well as for other healthcare segments. Objective: To estimate the effect of obesity prevention on annual and lifetime drug spending as well as other sector-specific expenditures, i.e. the hospital segment, long-term care segment and primary healthcare. Methods: The RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) Chronic Disease Model and Dutch cost of illness data were used to simulate, using a Markov-type model approach, the lifetime expenditures in the pharmaceutical segment and three other healthcare segments for a hypothetical cohort of obese (body mass index [BMI] ‡30kg/m), non-smoking people with a starting age of 20 years. In order to assess the sector-specific consequences of obesity prevention, these costs were compared with the costs of two other similar cohorts, i.e. a 'healthy-living' cohort (non-smoking and a BMI ‡18.5 and <25kg/m) and a smoking cohort. To assert whether preventing obesity results in cost savings in any of the segments, net present values were estimated using different discount rates. Sensitivity analyses were conducted across key input values and using a broader definition of healthcare. Results: Lifetime drug expenditures are higher for obese people than for 'healthyliving' people, despite shorter life expectancy for the obese. Obesity prevention results in savings on drugs for obesity-related diseases until the age of 74 years, which outweigh additional drug costs for diseases unrelated to obesity in life-years gained. Furthermore, obesity prevention will increase long-term care expenditures substantially, while savings in the other healthcare segments are small or non-existent. Discounting costs more heavily or using lower relative mortality risks for obesity would make obesity prevention a relatively more attractive ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE Pharmacoeconomics 2009; 27 (12): 1031-1044 1170-7690/09/0012-1031/$49.95/0 a 2009 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.


Current video coding standards, and their reference implementations, are architected as large monolithic and sequential algorithms, in spite of the considerable overlap of functionality between standards, and the fact that they are frequently implemented on highly parallel computing platforms. The former leads to unnecessary complexity in the standardization process, while the latter implies that implementations have to be rebuilt from the ground up to reflect the parallel nature of the target.
 The upcoming Reconfigurable Video Coding (RVC) standard currently developed at MPEG attempts to address these issues by building a framework that supports the construction of video standards as libraries of coding tools. These libraries can be incrementally updated and extended, and the tools in them can be aggregated to form complete codecs using a streaming (or dataflow) programming model, which preserves the inherent parallelism of the coding algorithm. This paper presents the RVC framework and its underlying data flow programming model, along with the tool support and initial results.


Solar radiation is an important environmental factor influencing seed yield in soybean [Glycine max (L). Merr.]. Our objective was to analyze the response of soybean seed yield components to light enrichment initiated at different growth stages. Light enrichment was imposed on the indeterminate soybean cultivars Altona and Evans by installing wire mesh fencing on either side of the center row to push the adjacent rows aside at different growth stages. Fences prevented plants in the neighboring rows from encroaching on the growing space of the center row plants. Pod number per plant and to a lesser extent seed size accounted for variation in seed yield. Light enrichment initiated at late vegetative or early flowering stages increased seed yield 144 to 252%, mainly by increasing pod number, while light enrichment beginning at early pod formation increased seed size 8 to 23%, resulting in a 32 to 115% increase in seed yield. Responses to light enrichment occurred proportionately across all node positions despite the differences in the time (15-20 d) of development of yield components at the different node positions. Although maximum seed size may be under genetic control in soybean plants, our results suggested seed size can still be modified by the environment with some internal control moderating the final size of most seeds in all pods. It indicates that plants are able to redistribute the available resources to components not yet determined, in an attempt to maintain or improve yield.


In the aging society, elder people commonly suffer cancer, which is associated with increased rates of fractures due to osteoporosis from cancer. In the present study, the prevalence of prostatic cancer, so-called "latent adenocarcinoma", is investigated among forensic autopsy cases. Retrospective histo-pathology was performed on 114 subjects (61.8 ± 13.3 years old). Forth-four specimens (38.6%) harbored carcinomas with Gleason combined scores ranging from 3 to 9. The detection rate increased in accordance with age, in which the highest rate (8/13, 61.5%) was evident in the group of ≥ 80 years of age. However, no significant associations were apparent to age (P = 0.13) or body mass index (P = 0.36). Majority (34, 77.2%) displayed solitary lesions that were located mainly in the peripheral zone. Advanced capsular invasion was evident in five cases. The prostate that is not familiar to forensic pathologists should be examined in extrinsic fractures of the elderly because cancer might affect injury severity.

 Key words: Forensic pathology, prostate, gleason score, histopathology, elderly.


1. Fifty-four hypertensive, hyperuricaemic patients were pair-matched for age, sex and current therapy (diuretic, uric acid-lowering drug). 2. One member of each pair was randomly assigned to continue on the previous therapy and the other member to treatment with tienilic acid (ticrynafen). Routine potassium chloride supplements were given only to subjects who were or had previously been on uric acid-lowering drugs. 3. Blood pressure control was equally good in the tienilic acid-treated and control groups. Serum uric acid was significantly lower in patients treated with tienilic acid. 4. In patients (32) not given supplements of potassium chloride, mean serum K + did not fall but in four patients (three on tienilic acid, one on cyclopenthiazide) serum K + fell to 3·5 mmol/l or less and potassium chloride was added. 5. Liver-function tests changed from pretrial results in nine patients. In eight of these (four on tienilic acid and four in the control group) minor rises in alkaline phosphatase only occurred. In the ninth patient, who was also taking metoprolol, serum aspartate transaminase rose markedly after 2 months and fluctuated for 4 months. Eventually there were also rises in alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin; these reverted to normal after stopping tienilic acid.


The three aims of my interdisciplinary thesis are:

-To develop a conceptual framework for re-thinking the gestures of neuro-atypical young people, that is non-traditional and non-representational

-To develop qualitative analytical tools for the annotation and interpretation of gesture that can be applied inclusively to both neuro-atypical and neuro-typical young people

-To consider the conceptual framework in terms of its theoretical implications and practical applications

Learning to communicate and work with neuro-atypical young people provides the rationale and continued impetus for my work. My approach is influenced by the limited social, physical and communicative experiences of young people with severe speech and motor impairment, due to cerebral palsy (SSMI-CP). CP is described as: a range of non-progressive syndromes of posture and motor impairment. The aetiology is thought to result from damage to the developing central nervous system during gestation or in the neonate. Brain lesions involve the basal ganglia and the cerebellum; both these sites are known to support motor control and integration.

However, gaps in theoretical research and empirical data in the study of corporeal expression in young people with SSMI-CP necessitated the development of both an alternative theoretical framework and new tools. Biological Dynamic Systems Theory is proposed as the best candidate structure for the reconsideration of gesture. It encompasses the global, synthetic and embodied nature of gesture. Gesture is redefined and considered part of an emergent dynamic, complex, non-linear and self-organizing system.

My construct of Cognition-in-Action (C-i-A) is derived from the notion of knowing-as-doing influenced by socio-biological paradigms; it places the Action-Ready-Body centre stage. It is informed by a theoretical synthesis of knowledge from the domains of Philosophy, Science and Technology, including practices in the clinical, technology design and performance arts arenas. The C-i-A is a descriptive, non-computational feature-based framework. Its development centred around two key questions that served as operational starting points: What can gestures reveal about children's cognition-in-action? and Is there the potential to influence gestural capacity in children? These are supported by my research objectives.

Three case studies are presented that focus on the annotation and interpretative analyses of corporeal exemplars from two adolescent males aged 16.9 and 17.9 years, and one female girl aged 10.7 years. These exemplars were contributed to the Child Gesture Corpus by these young people with SSMI-CP. The Gesture-Action-Entity (GAE) is proposed as a unit of interest for the analysis of procedural, semantic and episodic aspects of our corporeal knowledge. A body-based-action-annotation-system (G-ABAS) and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis methodology is applied for the first time to gesture (G-IPA). These tools facilitate fine-grained corporeal dynamic and narrative gesture feature analyses.

Phenomenal data reveal that these young people have latent resources, capacities and capabilities that they can express corporeally. Iteration of these interpretative findings with the Cognition-in-Action framework allows for the inference of processes that may underlie the strategies they use to achieve such social-motor-cognitive functions. In summary, their Cognition-in-Action is brought-forth, carried forward and has the potential to be culturally embodied.

The utility of C-i-A framework lies in its explanatory power to contribute to a deeper understanding of child gesture. Furthermore, I discuss and illustrate its potential to influence practice in the domains of pedagogy, rehabilitation and the design of future intimate, assistive and perceptually sensitive technologies. Such technologies are increasingly mediating our social interactions. My work offers an ecologically valid alternative to tradition conceptualization of perception, cognition and action. My thesis contributes both new knowledge and carries implications across the domains of movement science, gesture studies and applied participatory performance arts and health practices.


Appropriate triaxial constitutive laws are the key for a realistic simulation of high speed dynamics of concrete. The strain rate effect is still an open issue within this context. In particular the question whether it is a material property - which can be covered by rate dependent stress strain relations - or mainly an effect of inertia is still under discussion. Experimental and theoretical investigations of spallation of concrete specimen in a Hopkinson Bar setup may bring some evidence into this question. For this purpose the paper describes the VERD model, a newly developed constitutive law for concrete based on a damage approach with included strain rate effects (1). In contrast to other approaches the dynamic strength increase is not directly coupled to strain rate values but related to physical mechanisms like the retarded movement of water in capillary systems and delayed microcracking. The constitutive law is fully triaxial and implemented into explicit finite element codes for the investigation of a wide range of concrete structures exposed to impact and explosions. The current setup models spallation experiments with concrete specimen (2). The results of such experiments are mainly related to the dynamic tensile strength and the crack energy of concrete which may be derived from, e.g., the velocity of spalled concrete fragments. The experimental results are compared to the VERD model and two further constitutive laws implemented in LS-Dyna. The results indicate that both viscosity and retarded damage are required for a realistic description of the material behaviour of concrete exposed to high strain effects (3).


Licia Fiol-Matta traces the careers of four iconic Puerto Rican singers—Myrta Silva, Ruth Fernandez, Ernestina Reyes, and Lucecita Benitez—to explore how their voices and performance style transform the possibilities for comprehending the figure of the woman singer. Fiol-Matta shows how these musicians, despite seemingly intractable demands to represent gender norms, exercised their artistic and political agency by challenging expectations of how they should look, sound, and act. Fiol-Matta also breaks with conceptualizations of the female pop voice as spontaneous and intuitive, interrogating the notion of "the great woman singer" to deploy her concept of the "thinking voice"—an event of music, voice, and listening that rewrites dominant narratives. Anchored in the work of Lacan, Foucault, and others, Fiol-Matta's theorization of voice and gender in The Great Woman Singer makes accessible the singing voice's conceptual dimensions while revealing a dynamic archive of Puerto Rican and Latin American popular music.


The study targets children in especially difficult circumstances from 8-14 years; and explores the importance of psychosocial needs for the PTSD and displaced children in schools. Out of 235 participants, descriptive statistics indicated that 63 children are traumatized. Based on ANOVA findings, the result revealed that there is significant effect of war on children from 10-14 years since N = 63; [F.bar] = 3.421; [p.bar] = .006. Psycho Therapy activities are used to identify and treat those maladjusted children under their noses. The main objective of this paper is to recognize and reduce the ill-effects and adverse consequences of trauma among the affected children and integrate them into social institutions to lead a normal life. ********** Psychosocial needs have been of pivotal concern to psychologists and educators to improve the mental health and learning situations of the traumatized and displaced child victims. The concepts of displaced and war-affected children refer to children affected by war or those who are socially marginalized and became traumatized. The main objective of this study is to recognize and reduce the ill-effects and adverse consequences of trauma and displacement among the affected children and eventually enabling them to integrate into the social institutions and lead a normal life. The protection of those children will be ensured through the Promotion of international human rights standards and through the offering of psychosocial needs. This situation may be eventually developed into Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) especially among children who have been victims of displacement. Examples of PTSD have been stated clearly by Thabet, and Vostanis (2000) that children experienced symptoms of PTSD more than adults such as recurrent fear, lack of emotional stability, poor concentration, avoidance of certain social situations, dropped out from schools, poor academic performance, and truancy are considered to be symptoms for identifying situations of trauma disorders. The EMDH organization (2000), emphasized that parental separation in most cases, is caused by war conflict, displacement, and environmental phenomena that is, natural disaster such as Tsunami/flood, desertion, earthquake, death, and so on. This in turn, would cause PTSD among the children who are left behind. Besides separation, there are other factors that contribute to PTSD like social factors for instance, Divorce, and Parental Deprivation. Over the past twenty years, PTSD events have become a global issue. Several studies have confirmed the increase in the rate of children who have suffered from psychological trauma that was caused by war and natural phenomena. Ackerman et al. (1998) also had cited some examples that caused psychological PTSD such as hurricanes, kidnappings, bombings, shootings, sexual and physical abuses. Regarding displacement, it is mainly caused by natural disaster and war conflict (Akhundov, 1999; Mayers, 1995). For example, as a result of displacement some children are also exposed to domestic problems linked to alcohol abuse by their parents, the loss of family members or acute illness and family separation as mentioned earlier by EMDH organization (2000). However, in any displaced and war torn areas, about two or three out of five children in a group, are found victims of PTSD in Wau town. The state of posttraumatic stress disorder is a well-established fact among children who are the victims of war and natural disasters. Research has shown some evidence of causes in their findings from observational studies regarding those children exposed to war and displacement. These children, in most cases, are difficult to be recognized, identified and understood. As a result, they give the impression of being not affected at all. War conflicts have been identified also as a major cause in casualties that has led to massive displacement of children. …


Peer-reviewing is a community-driven activity where volunteer researchers assess the work of other researchers. Peer-reviewing is an important and time-consuming activity that has very little recognition. This lack of incentive may lead to poor-quality reviews and frustration from researchers. In this paper, we envision ScienceMiles, a Blockchain-based platform to manage the incentivization of peer-reviewers through a crypto-currency.


The resonant modes of optic interferometer cavities are investigated in the angular spectrum domain. The investigation is based on an integral equation (governing the relation between the normal modes and cavity geometry) which is derived by using the self-consistent Rayleigh formulation for solving diffraction problems. For plane-parallel cavities this integral equation can be solved by means of a series expansion of orthogonal functions characteristic of the cavity geometry without making any assumption about the relative magnitudes of end reflector dimensions and separation. The solution also provides, in addition to a comparison with the solutions of the approximated Huygens' integral equation as found by other investigators, a direct way for obtaining the angular plane-wave spectrum (or the radiation pattern) of the beam emerging from the cavity. The particular cases of plane-parallel cavities with infinite-strip and circular end reflectors are considered in this paper.


Common Rules for Aviation Safety had been developed under the aegis of the Joint Aviation Authorities in the 1990s. In 2002 the Basic Regulation 1592/2002 was the founding document of a new entity, the European Aviation Safety Agency. Areas of activity were Certification and Maintenance of aircraft. On 18 March the new Basic Regulation 216/2008, repealing the original Basic Regulation was published and applicable from 08 April on. The included Essential Requirements extended the competencies of EASA inter alia to Pilot Licensing and Flight Operations. The future aeromedical requirements will be included as Annex II in another Implementing Regulation on Personnel Licensing. The detailed provisions will be published as guidance material. The proposals for these provisions have been published on 05 June 2008 as NPA 2008- 17c. After public consultation, processing of comments and final adoption the new proposals may be applicable form the second half of 2009 on. A transition period of four year will apply. Whereas the provisions are based on Joint Aviation Requirement-Flight Crew Licensing (JAR-FCL) 3, a new Light Aircraft Pilot Licence (LAPL) project and the details of the associated medical certification regarding general practitioners will be something new in aviation medicine. This paper consists of 6 sections. The introduction outlines the idea of international aviation safety. The second section describes the development of the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), the first step to common rules for aviation safety in Europe. The third section encompasses a major change as next step: the foundation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the development of its rules. In the following section provides an outline of the new medical requirements. Section five emphasizes the new concept of a Leisure Pilot Licence. The last section gives an outlook on ongoing rulemaking activities and the opportunities of the public to participate in them.


The problem of methodical preparation of students of pedagogical universities to the use of electronic educational resources (EER) in the educational process is considered in the article. The author made an overview of electronic resources to support the implementation of practice-oriented teaching mathematics in school, and characterized EER, which are possible to use in methodical preparation of teachers in this direction. With the purpose of organization of independent work of students, and for accumulation and transfer of methodological experience of creation of various educational products, including electronic resources, the article presents the topics developed by the author of the distance learning course «Practice-oriented teaching mathematics in school». This electronic resource is addressed to students of mathematical faculty of the Moscow state pedagogical University, and teachers of mathematics in secondary schools wishing to improve their skills.


Solar concentration is intended to decrease the cost of expensive solar cell material by replacing the solar cell with a focusing optical system as the initial receiving aperture. This reduces the amount of solar cell material needed but adds the need of tracking to the entire system in order to keep the smaller solar cell at the focal spot. In state of the art concentrators, precise tracking (less than 1°) is needed in two directions to cover diurnal and seasonal variations. This adds to the cost of the system, diminishing the savings from the smaller solar cell, and consumes energy which in turn decreases the overall system efficiency. A self-tracking concentrator has the potential to increases the tolerances of the system (less precise tracking needed) and cover seasonal variations (only tracking in one dimension remains). Self-tracking makes use of the energy of the spectrum that is typically not utilized in PV, thus self-tracking does not consume an outside surplus of energy. During the thesis such a self-tracking system was developed. This thesis describes two concepts for the realization of a self-tracking concentrator, one of which is then developed into a working demonstration device with an angular acceptance of 32° (±16°). The work covers both the development of these two different mechanisms as well as an analysis of their performance as a single element and a discussion of their performance as part of a much larger device. The first concept, the micro-fluidic concentrator, uses vapor bubbles to efficiently couple light into a liquid waveguide (chapter 3), while the second concept, based on a phase change actuation uses the thermal expansion of paraffin wax to create a coupling feature at a waveguide (chapter 4). Based on the findings, the phase-change concentrator was then expanded into a self-tracking concentrator with a possible effective concentration of 10x (chapter 5). As a result this thesis shows the feasibility of a self-tracking concentrator and describes in detail the processes and techniques for its realization. Future work based on the designs presented in this thesis can optimize the concepts. Simulations show that a system based on this approach can achieve 150x effective concentration by scaling the system collecting area to reasonable dimensions (30 x 1 cm²). An optimized optical system can then also increase the acceptance angle of the self-tracking concentrator to the ±23° needed in order to cover seasonal variations. In addition, the presented concept is based on earth abundant, inexpensive materials, making it technologically and economically viable to extend it to much larger formats.


This book addresses the question of how competition takes place in international manufacturing industries. It examines patterns of rivalry among firms from different countries across national boundaries and their influences on international trade and investment. By using various data on Japanese firms in manufacturing industries from the late 1950s through the early 2000s, the first part of this book presents a series of empirical analyses that examines effects of market structure on export pricing, linkages of domestic and foreign market structures on trade performance, and patterns of oligopolistic interactions among firms from different countries in exporting. The second part of this book deals with the impact of strategic interactions on foreign direct investment. In particular, the book examines 'bunching' in foreign direct investment, strategic interactions in intra-industry cross-market foreign direct investment, and their effects on entry patterns and post-entry performance.


Populations of an introduced woody weed, prickly acacia (Acacia nilotica (L.) Delile ssp. indica (Benth.) Brenan syn. Acacia arabica (Lam.) Willd. ssp. indica Benth.), were surveyed at 4 sites in central Queensland. There is a significantly lower frequency of plants of < 3 m in height within populations which have been grazed by sheep, indicating that browsing by sheep reduces regeneration. There were higher losses of seedlings at a sheep-grazed site than at cattle-grazed sites. These results support previous assertions that prickly acacia is regenerating more successfully on cattle properties, because cattle both disperse seeds and are less effective herbivores. In regions of low annual rainfall, prickly acacia is capable of forming dense stands (up to 2,700 shrubs ha(-1)) in lowland landscape types. Stands are less dense in upland landscapes (maximum of 718 shrubs ha(-1)). Of most concern is that in regions of high annual rainfall prickly acacia can form extremely dense thickets across most landscape types (up to 3,400 shrubs ha(-1)). We suggest that prickly acacia is most likely to become a management problem on cattle properties, and an extreme problem in high annual rainfall areas. The inclusion of sheep in livestock rotations may be an effective control measure in the Mitchell Grasslands, but this may not always be possible. A high priority is to prevent prickly acacia from expanding its range into equivalent high rainfall areas within Queensland, and also in the Northern Territory, northern New South Wales, and Western Australia. This could be achieved by quarantining livestock which have come from infested properties until seeds have passed through the digestive tract, after about 6 days. Management strategies at the property level should aim to prevent further spread of prickly acacia by controlling cattle movements between paddocks during periods when cattle are ingesting pods and seeds. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i4_tiver


It is well-documented that energy and energy systems have a central role in social and economic development and human welfare at all scales, from household and community to regional and national (41). Among its various welfare effects, energy is closely linked with people s health. Some of the effects of energy on health and welfare are direct. With abundant energy, more food or more frequent meals can be prepared; food can be refrigerated, increasing the types of food items that are consumed and reducing food contamination; water pumps can provide more water and eliminate the need for water storage leading to contamination or increased exposure to disease vectors such as mosquitoes or snails; water can be disinfected by boiling or using other technologies such as radiation. Other effects of energy on public health are mediated through more proximal determinants of health and disease. Abundant energy can lead to increased irrigation, agricultural productivity, and access to food and nutrition; access to energy can also increase small-scale income generation such as processing of agricultural commodities (e.g., producing refined oil from oil seeds, roasting coffee, drying and preserving fruits and meats) and production of crafts; ability to control lighting and heating allows education or economic activities to be shielded from daily or seasonal environmental constraints such as light, temperature, rainfall, or wind; time and other economic resources spent on collecting and/or transporting fuels can be used for other household needs if access to energy is facilitated; energy availability for transportation increases access to health and education facilities and allow increased economic activity by facilitating the transportation of goods and services to and from markets; energy for telecommunication technology (radio, television, telephone, or internet) provides increased access to information useful for health, education, or economic purposes; provision of energy to rural and urban health facilities allows increased delivery and coverage of 3 various health services and interventions such as tests and treatments, better storage of medicine and vaccines, disinfection of medical equipment by boiling or radiation, and more frequent and efficient health system encounters through mobile clinics or longer working hours; and so on. In fact, while the dominant view of development-energy-health linkages has been that improvements in energy and health are outcomes of the socioeconomic development process (e.g., the energy ladder framework discussed below), it has even been argued that access to higher quality energy sources and technologies can initiate a chain of demographic, health, and development outcomes by changing the household structure and socioeconomic relationships. For example, in addition to increased opportunities for food and income production, reduced infant mortality as a result of transition to cleaner fuels or increased coverage of vaccination with availability of refrigerators in rural clinics may initiate a process of demographic transition to low-mortality and low-fertility populations (14). Such a transition has historically been followed with further improvements in maternal and child health and increased female participation in the labor markets and other economic activities.


This paper explores an innovative assessment framework for measuring children's formal and informal mathematical knowledge. Many existing standardized measures, such as the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment, measure children's performance in early primary grade skills that have been identified by researchers and policy makers as foundational and predictive of later academic achievement (Platas, Ketterlin-Geller, & Sitabkhan, 2016; RTI International, 2014). However, these standardized assessments only provide information on children's mathematical ability as it pertains to skills and concepts that are a focus of school instruction, referred to as formal mathematics. While valuable, they leave unmeasured the mathematics that children use and develop as part of their everyday life, such as the strategies they use to solve simple arithmetical problems that arise as they move through their day (Khan, 1999; Saxe, 1991; Taylor, 2009).  In this article, we draw from mixed methods studies which focus on capturing the informal mathematical skills that children develop outside of school in various contexts (Guberman, 1996; Nasir, 2000; Sitabkhan, 2009; Sitabkhan, 2015). We describe how the use of observations of children's mathematical activities in natural settings and subsequent cognitive interviews using mathematical tasks derived from those observations can illuminate mathematical knowledge and skills that may otherwise remain hidden. We found that an assessment framework that focuses on both standardized measures of formal mathematical learning and contextualized measures of children's everyday mathematics can provide a more complete and nuanced picture of children's knowledge, and taken together can inform the development of curricular materials and teacher training focused on early learning.


Structural investigations reveal intense and heterogeneous deformation of the sedimentary cover attached to the basement complex of the southern Argentera and Barrot massifs (southernmost External Basement Massifs of the French Alps). Permian and early Triassic syn-depositional extensional tectonics imparted a tilted block pattern to the massifs. An early Miocene first stage of Alpine compression caused pervasive cleavage. This cleavage was controlled by the former pre-existing faults but is nevertheless consistent with NNE contraction. Where regional shortening is orthogonal to the trend of pre-existing faults the pervasive deformation produced either irrotational compressional strain (where no fault inversion occurred), or rotational compressional strain involving syn-cleavage shearing (where faults with favorable paleo-dip were inverted). Where the shortening direction is oblique to the paleo-fault trends, a component of strike-slip movement may locally prevail. A 22 %, N020o directed horizontal shortening, of 11 km, has been calculated based on deformed sedimentary markers in the Permian series and parallel folds in Lower Triassic quartzite. A shallower deformation as brittle reverse faults postdates the cleavage at the southwestern tip of the Argentera Massif and accounts for 4 km of extra shortening. Both types of deformation are connected at depth to a crustal blind thrust system and the Argentera Massif is over-thrust to the south-southwest. The observed strain indicates the Argentera Massif area underwent, from earliest Miocene to Present, a NNE to N rotating compression at distance from the left-lateral southwestern boundary of the Adria block.


Abstract. Growing evidence suggests that the size-resolved mixing state of carbon-containing particles is very critical in determining their optical properties, atmospheric lifetime, and impact on the environment. However, still little is known about the mixing state of particles in the urban area of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China. To investigate the mixing state of submicron carbon-containing particles, measurements were carried out during spring and fall periods of 2010 using a single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SPAMS). Approximately 700 000 particles for each period were detected. This is the first report on the size-resolved mixing state of carbon-containing particles by direct observations in the PRD region. Cluster analysis of single-particle mass spectra was applied to identify carbon-containing particle classes. These classes represented ~80% and ~90% of all the detected particles for spring and fall periods, respectively. Carbon-containing particle classes mainly consisted of biomass/biofuel burning particles (Biomass), organic carbon (OC), fresh elemental carbon (EC-fresh), internally mixed OC and EC (ECOC), internally mixed EC with sulfate (EC-Sulfate), vanadium-containing ECOC (V-ECOC), and amines-containing particles (Amine). In spring, the top three ranked carbon-containing particle classes were ECOC (26.1%), Biomass (23.6%) and OC (10%), respectively. However, the fraction of Biomass particles increased remarkably and predominated (61.0%), while the fraction of ECOC (3.0%) and V-ECOC (0.1%) significantly decreased in fall. To highlight the influence of monsoon on the properties of carbon-containing particles in urban Guangzhou, their size distributions, mixing state, and aerosol acidity were compared between spring and fall seasons. In addition, a case study was also performed to investigate how the formation of fog and haze influenced the mixing state of carbon-containing particles. These results could improve our understanding of the mixing state of carbon-containing particles, and may also be helpful in modeling the climate forcing of aerosol in the PRD region.


The textbook case for industrial policy is well understood. If some sectors are subject to external economies of scale, whereas others are not, a government should subsidize the first group of sectors at the expense of the second. The empirical relevance of this argument, however, remains unclear. In this paper we develop a strategy to estimate sector-level economies of scale and evaluate the gains from such policy interventions in an open economy. Our benchmark results point towards significant and heterogeneous economies of scale across manufacturing sectors, but only modest gains from industrial policy, below 1% of GDP on average. Though these gains can be larger in some of the alternative environments that we consider, they are always smaller than the gains from optimal trade policy.


Acknowledgements. Preface. 1.Introduction: Ageing, Disability and Spirituality. Elizabeth MacKinlay, Charled Sturt University, Australia. 2. Remembering the Person: Theological Reflections on God, Personhood and Dementia. John Swinton, University of Aberdeen, UK. 3. Ethics, Ageing and Disability Laurence McNamara, Catholic Theological College, Adelaide College of Divinity, Flinders University, Australia. 4. New and Old Challenges of Ageing: Disabilities, Spirituality and Pastoral Responses. Elizabeth MacKinlay. 5. The Particular Needs of Older People with Intellectual Disabilities and their Carers: A Perspective from the Experience of L'Arche. Eileen Glass, L'Arche Australia. 6. Better Dead than Disabled? When Ethics and Disability Meet: A Narrative of Ageing, Loss and Exclusion. Christopher Newell, University of Tasmania, Australia. 7. Disabled or Enabled: Ethical and Theological Issues for Dementia Care. Rosalie Hudson, University of Melbourne, Australia. 8. On Relationships Not Things: Exploring Disability and Spirituality. Lorna Hallahan, Flinders University, Australia. 9. Scriptural Reminiscence and Narrative Gerontology: Jacob's Wrestling with the Unknown (Genesis 32) . Matthew Anstey Charles Sturt University, Australia. 10. Tracing Rainbows Through the Rain: Addressing the Challenge of Dementia in Later Life. Malcolm Goldsmith, Dementia Services Development Centre, Stirling, UK. 11. Dementia: A Journey Inwards to a Spiritual Self. Christine Bryden, author and advocate for people with Alzheimer's, and Elizabeth MacKinlay. 12. Bodhi, KarunA and MettA: Buddhist Perspectives for a Theology of Pastoral Care for the Ageing and Persons with Disabilities. Ruwan Palapathwala, University of Melbourne, Australia. 13. 'Who is God in the pit of ashes?' The Interplay of Faith and Depression in Later Life. Dagmar Ceramidas, Charles Sturt University, Australia. 14. Hearing the Voice of the Elderly: The Potential for Choir Work to Reduce Depression and Meet Spiritual Needs. Kirstin Robertson-Gillam, Hammond Care Group, Australia. 15. Humour and its Link to Meaning and Spirituality in War. Carmen Moran, University of New South Wales, Australia. 16. Pastoral Rituals, Ageing and New Paths into Meaning. Alan Niven, Churches of Christ Theological College, Australia. 17. Ageing, Disability and Spirituality: The Possibilities for Well-being and Care. Elizabeth MacKinlay. References. Contributors. Subject Index. Author Index.


Agency in Archaeology is the first critical volume to scrutinise the concept of agency and to examine in-depth its potential to inform our understanding of the past. Theories of agency recognise that human beings make choices, hold intentions and take action. This offers archaeologists scope to move beyond looking at broad structural or environmental change and instead to consider the individual and the group Agency in Archaeology brings together nineteen internationally renowned scholars who have very different, and often conflicting, stances on the meaning and use of agency theory to archaeology. The volume is composed of five theoretically-based discussions and nine case studies, drawing on regions from North America and Mesoamerica to Western and central Europe, and ranging in subject from the late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers to the restructuring of gender relations in the north-eastern US.


Normal 0 21 false false false CS JA X-NONE This short essay will be an attempt to analyze the exchange of money and commodities in terms of framework offered by phenomenology. Marx's Capital is an utterly phenomenological work in the Hegelian sense of this notion. Marx conceptualizes phenomenology as a method of exposing the real-world phenomena that is prior to abstract philosophical inquiry. In the first volume of Capital Marx introduces explanatory categories of the German Idealism to "purely" economical and social issues. this sense his analysis is close to the one which can be found in Michel Foucault's The Order of Things . Foucault deals with the notion of wealth and elaborates changing relations between money and prices between 15 th and late 17 th century, as well as such issues as mercantilism, utility and creation of value. There are significant differences between Marx's and Foucault's approach. Whereas Foucault's  analysis is oriented towards the hermeneutics and deconstruction of the notion itself, Marx is mainly preoccupied with the description of the activity of exchanging and its consequences. However, even though conclusions of Capital and The Order of Things differ significantly, the method of analysis reveals many similarities. Thus, both texts operate with a structure of deeper understanding of exchange as a very a multi-layer process of signification, accumulation, and transformation. The essay is an attempt to briefly analyze all of these functions of the exchange process as well as to indicate a new interpretation that arises from the framework offered by both authors.


As we approach Justice Lionel Murphy's 100th birthday on 30 August 2022, this article explores and renews a significant aspect in the jurisprudence of this truly radical judge: the social relations or progressive view of property. Justice Murphy both identified and judicially expounded this view well before the American social relations or progressive schools. And rather than merely identifying it as some intellectual museum piece, the article also builds on it. The article contains five parts. Part I contextualises the jurisprudential debates surrounding property. Part II recounts Justice Murphy's judicial radicalism. Part III explores the elements of Murphy's progressive-relational view of property. Part IV applies the elements of Murphy's progressive-relational property to the High Court's recent native title decision in Northern Territory v Griffiths. Part V offers some concluding reflections on the bright future for property found in Murphy's conception.


•Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) powered by microtubular SOFCs (mSOFCs) are described for comparison with polymer fuel cells (PEFCs). Using propane as fuel, 7mm diameter mSOFCs have been tested in a 2m wingspan aircraft with a total weight of 6kg. The start-up time was 12 minutes to deliver 250W in a fuel cell/battery hybrid drive system. Tubes were YSZ cermet anode supported, with 10 µm YSZ electrolyte, 6µm SDC interlayer coated with 50µm LSCF cathode. Silver wires were used as interconnects. Pure propane fuel gas was mixed with air in a CPOX reactor using catalytic fuel processing mesh. A polymeric fuel inlet manifold gave cold sealing at the tube inlet ends which projected out of the hot box. Cathode air was provided in counterflow, preheated over an anode off-gas catalyst. The fuel utilization was 55%, output power of 250W. The fuel cell was incorporated in a hybrid electrical system with lithium polymer battery and inserted in a Skywalker X8 UAV with 500g of propane in an aluminum tank.


In this article, the author explores Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a) and standard of review choice to determine whether appellate judges can exploit its terms to pursue ideological goals. The author examines the operative terms of Rule 52(a), viz., findings of fact, clear error, and documentary evidence, and concludes that they are so malleable as to give appellate judges wide discretion in deciding whether clear error, de novo, or some other standard of review is to be applied. The article then goes on to identify fact typologies appellate courts invoke (historical, ultimate, constitutional, legislative, sociological, scientific, political, economic, jurisdictional), some which also enables them to circumvent Rule 52(a) and engage in de novo review of a trial court's factual findings The article concludes that standard of review choices can serve as a prism through which to view a judge's ideological predisposition, especially when those choices are made in an undisciplined, unprincipled manner. The author argues that appellate courts' treatment of Rule 52(a) and fact typology can impair decisional legitimacy, administrative efficiency, and comity between the trial and appellate courts. As Rule 52(a)'s malleable character and fact typology serve important jurisprudential functions, the author makes several recommendations to clarify decisional rules as they apply to standard of review, and to mitigate unwarranted perception of ideological bias in making judgments about the applicable standard of review.


In 2009, the author wrote an article on the Self-Incrimination Clause. In response to this article, Professors Cribari and Judges wrote a Response suggesting that the author was an abolitionist of the Self-Incrimination Clause. This article is intended to clarify the author's position on the Self-Incrimination Clause and on Griffin v. California. The article begins by explaining the purposes of the Self-Incrimination Clause and highlighting the differences between the right to testify and the right to remain silent. It then analyzes the "test the prosecution" reasoning for the Griffin rule, pointing out its shortcomings and lack of Constitutional basis. The article continues by critiquing the argument that Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, which describes the various values served by the Self-Incrimination Clause, gives several reasons to uphold the Griffin rule. The article concludes by summing up the policy reasons for abandoning the Griffin rule and attempting legal reform in another way.


This study tries to examine the brand concept consistency, the self-concept congruence and the resulting loyalty status of the consumers in order to evaluate whether a downward price-based line extensions in the luxury goods market has any negative or positive effect on them. By conducting focus group and in-depth interviews it was tried to filter out how brand concepts of luxury brands are perceived before and after a line extension. Results revealed that a crucial aspect for the evaluation of downward price-based line extensions is the exclusivity variable. Additionally, the research showed different modification to the brand concept consistency after an extension depending whether the brand is bought for pure hedonic or emotional reasons or actually for functional reasons. As practical implications brands appealing to hedonic/emotional motivations need to be crucially differentiated to those brands appealing to functional/rational motivations. In the case of a mixed concept an in-depth segmentation of the target markets is needed in order to successfully reach the consumers' needs.


Sport performers encounter various stressors as part of their involvement in competitive sport, and their ability to respond effectively to these demands is likely to dictate whether they thrive, manage, or succumb in competition. The purpose of this thesis was to provide the first systematic exploration of thriving in sport. To achieve this, extant thriving literature is first reviewed and a conceptualization of human thriving proposed. Namely, it is suggested that thriving is the joint experience of development and success, which can be realized through effective holistic functioning and observed through the experience of a high-level of well-being and a perceived high-level of performance. Four empirical studies are then presented which examined and compared the experiences of sport performers who thrived in competitive encounters to those who did not. In Studies 1 and 2, results of factor mixture analysis (see Chapter 3, N = 535) and latent class growth analysis (see Chapter 4, N = 175) supported the presence of a unique thriving group and identified possible relationships with personal enablers (e.g., resilient qualities) and process variables (e.g., basic psychological needs satisfaction; BPNS). Study 3 (see Chapter 5, N = 51) extended these findings using a diary study design, demonstrating that pre-game levels of BPNS and challenge appraisal positively predicted in-game functioning; although no evidence was found to support the presence of biomarkers for thriving. Study 4 (see Chapter 6, N = 18) utilized mixed methods and revealed that, although many of the themes were similar for sport performers in thriving and non-thriving groups, substantial differences existed in the expression of these codes and in the relationships between them. Overall, the findings in this thesis make a meaningful advancement to the human thriving literature, and provide psychologists with an initial foundation upon which they can develop interventions to facilitate thriving in sport performers.


The morphology of the organometal trihalide perovskite (OTP) plays a critical role in the performance of solar cell devices. Nevertheless it has been frequently reported that the morphology of OTP films tends to be different in different laboratories even with the same film preparation procedure, which makes it very difficult to compare and understand the material and device physics. Here, we unravel a critical role of the H3PO2 stabilizer in HI, which has been largely ignored, in controlling the morphology of the perovskite films. The H3PO2 stabilizer in HI solution introduces MAH2PO2 impurities into the synthesized MAI (non-purified MAI) by reacting with methylamine (MA) aqueous solution. MAH2PO2 impurities can slow down the overall crystallization process of perovskite by forming an intermediate phase of Pb(H2PO2)2. Both MAH2PO2 and Pb(H2PO2)2 impede the fast reaction of PbI2 and MAI, resulting in highly uniform and smooth perovskite films with larger grain sizes. The recrystallization of non-purified MAI can remove the MAH2PO2 impurity and form purified MAI, which however results in rough and non-uniform perovskite films. Uniform and smooth perovskite films can also be obtained by directly adding artificially synthesized MAH2PO2 into the purified MAI precursor. This study also suggests Pb(H2PO2)2 to be a new precursor to form high quality perovskite films.


This research effort focused on evaluating the toxicity of the saline waste water generated from washing of Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) deicing trucks and to study the feasibility of discharging it into wastewater treatment plants. Performance of activated sludge treating wastewater under varying levels of salt concentration was studied by measuring the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), activated sludge oxygen uptake rate (OUR) and Turbidity. For the COD tests, wastewater was tested with salt concentrations ranging from 0 mg/L – 1500 mg/L. Within this range there is no impact of salt on COD stabilization, suggesting that the microorganisms are not adversely impacted by salinity in this range. Turbidity tests were conducted for salt concentrations of 0 - 10,000 mg/L. Below a concentration of 3000 mg/ L salt did not have any significant impact on the turbidity. Concentrations above 3000 mg/L aided in flocculation of particles and resulted in faster settling of colloidal solids and reduction in turbidity. Another component of the study was to examine the fate and chemistry of ferric ferro/ferri cyanide, an anti-caking complex that is added to deicing salt. Although, the complex form of cyanide is harmless, in the presence of sunlight it can dissociate to form free cyanide that is highly toxic. Deicing salts collected from INDOT's West Lafayette and Lafayette Facilities were tested for total and amenable cyanide levels. Lafayette road salt had high levels of cyanide that could lead to violation of pretreatment standards on cyanide, if this salt wash water is discharged to wastewater treatment plant. Respirometry was used for the impact assessment of variable salt concentrations on the biological performance of a low strength activated sludge samples for a POTW using a static liquid – gas flow (GFS) respirometer with salt concentrations varying from 0 – 10% . Generally, positive effect in oxygen uptake rate (OUR) was noticed on low salt concentrations up to 2% and a sharp decrease thereafter. A salt concentration of 6% resulted in a 50% decrease in respiration rate of the tested activated sludge. Further studies should involve the effect of saline shock loads in the specific ammonia uptake rate (SAUR) and specific nitrate uptake rate (SNUR) in addition to the final effluent quality.


Freshwater lakes and ponds present an ecological interface between humans and a variety of host organisms. They are a habitat for the larval stage of many insects and may serve as a medium for intraspecies and interspecies transmission of viruses such as avian influenza A virus. Furthermore, freshwater bodies are already known repositories for disease-causing viruses such as Norwalk Virus, Coxsackievirus, Echovirus, and Adenovirus. While RNA virus populations have been studied in marine environments, to this date there has been very limited analysis of the viral community in freshwater. Here we present a survey of RNA viruses in Lake Needwood, a freshwater lake in Maryland, USA. Our results indicate that just as in studies of other aquatic environments, the majority of nucleic acid sequences recovered did not show any significant similarity to known sequences. The remaining sequences are mainly from viral types with significant similarity to approximately 30 viral families. We speculate that these novel viruses may infect a variety of hosts including plants, insects, fish, domestic animals and humans. Among these viruses we have discovered a previously unknown dsRNA virus closely related to Banna Virus which is responsible for a febrile illness and is endemic to Southeast Asia. Moreover we found multiple viral sequences distantly related to Israeli Acute Paralysis virus which has been implicated in honeybee colony collapse disorder. Our data suggests that due to their direct contact with humans, domestic and wild animals, freshwater ecosystems might serve as repositories of a wide range of viruses (both pathogenic and non-pathogenic) and possibly be involved in the spread of emerging and pandemic diseases.


BACKGROUND
It is not known whether the treatment recommendations presented in the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure are applicable to the Japanese elderly population.

METHODS
We followed up 588 cardiovascular disease-free residents of a Japanese community who were 60 years or older from November 1, 1961, through October 31, 1993. Treated hypertensive patients were excluded from the analysis. During this period, CVD occurred in 179 subjects. The incidences were estimated by the pooling of repeated observations method.

RESULTS
The age- and sex-adjusted incidences of cardiovascular disease significantly increased with elevated blood pressure levels. The hazard ratio for stage 3 hypertension was 5.34 (95% confidence interval, 2.66-10.71; P<.001) compared with optimal blood pressure after adjustment for other covariates. Among subjects aged 60 to 79 years, the incidences for stages 1 through 3 hypertension were significantly higher than for those with optimal and normal blood pressure. In comparison, among those 80 years or older, the incidence was significantly higher only in patients with stage 3 hypertension. We further estimated the incidences according to the risk stratification system. In the younger elderly subjects, the incidences increased with rising blood pressure levels in each risk stratum. Similar relationships were not observed among the older elderly subjects.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings demonstrate that the recommendations of the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure were potentially applicable to the Japanese elderly subjects 79 years or younger. Based on our findings, however, hypertension might not be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease among very old hypertensive patients with advanced atherosclerosis.


Inclusive momentum distributions of charged particles in restricted cones around jet axes were measured in dijet events with invariant dijet masses in the range 80 to 600 GeV/c(2). Events were produced at the Fermilab Tevatron in p (p) over bar collisions with a center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV and recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. The results were compared to perturbative QCD calculations carried out in the framework of the modified leading log approximation (MLLA) and assuming local parton-hadron duality. It was shown that the data follow theoretical predictions quite well over the whole range of the jet energies included in this analysis. We extracted the MLLA cutoff scale Q(eff) and found a value of 230+/-40 MeV. The theoretical prediction of E(jet)sin theta(c) scaling, where theta(c) is the cone opening angle, was experimentally observed for the first time. From the MLLA fits to the data, two more parameters were extracted: the ratio of parton multiplicities in gluon and quark jets, r=N-partons(g-jet)/N-partons(q- jet)=1.9+/-0.5, and the ratio of the number of charged hadrons to the number of predicted partons in a jet, K-LPHD(charged)=N- hadrons(charged)/N-partons=0.56+/-0.10.


Like all research in the corporate world, ethnographic research must move between different domains, translate between differently situated social actors and risk misinterpretation. In product development, this misinterpretation can result in gaps in the complex chain of information that comprises a product pipeline. This work shows how anthropologists' use of the concept of personhood to analyze and understand corporate clients and people that use pharmaceutical products, can minimize the risk of misinterpretation, allow ethnographic data to move more smoothly throughout the product development process and enhance possibilities for successful product use in the lives of those who use pharmaceutical products.


Accurate nitrogen (N) diagnosis early in the growing season across diverse soil, weather, and management conditions is challenging. Strategies using multi-source data are hypothesized to perform significantly better than approaches using crop sensing information alone. The objective of this study was to evaluate, across diverse environments, the potential for integrating genetic (e.g., comparative relative maturity and growing degree units to key developmental growth stages), environmental (e.g., soil and weather), and management (e.g., seeding rate, irrigation, previous crop, and preplant N rate) information with active canopy sensor data for improved corn N nutrition index (NNI) prediction using machine learning methods. Thirteen site-year corn (Zea mays L.) N rate experiments involving eight N treatments conducted in four US Midwest states in 2015 and 2016 were used for this study. A proximal RapidSCAN CS-45 active canopy sensor was used to collect corn canopy reflectance data around the V9 developmental growth stage. The utility of vegetation indices and ancillary data for predicting corn aboveground biomass, plant N concentration, plant N uptake, and NNI was evaluated using singular variable regression and machine learning methods. The results indicated that when the genetic, environmental, and management data were used together with the active canopy sensor data, corn N status indicators could be more reliably predicted either using support vector regression (R2 = 0.74–0.90 for prediction) or random forest regression models (R2 = 0.84–0.93 for prediction), as compared with using the best-performing single vegetation index or using a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized difference red edge (NDRE) together (R2 < 0.30). The N diagnostic accuracy based on the NNI was 87% using the data fusion approach with random forest regression (kappa statistic = 0.75), which was better than the result of a support vector regression model using the same inputs. The NDRE index was consistently ranked as the most important variable for predicting all the four corn N status indicators, followed by the preplant N rate. It is concluded that incorporating genetic, environmental, and management information with canopy sensing data can significantly improve in-season corn N status prediction and diagnosis across diverse soil and weather conditions.


Satellite observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) columns provide top-down constraints on emissions of highly reactive volatile organic compounds (HRVOCs). This approach has been used previously in the US to estimate isoprene emissions from vegetation, but application to anthropogenic emissions has been stymied by lack of a discernable HCHO signal. Here we show that temporal oversampling of HCHO data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) for 2005–2008 enables detection of urban and industrial plumes in eastern Texas including Houston, Port Arthur, and Dallas/Fort Worth. By spatially integrating the HCHO enhancement in the Houston plume observed by OMI we estimate an anthropogenic HCHO source of 250 ± 140 kmol h−1. This implies that anthropogenic HRVOC emissions in Houston are 4.8 ± 2.7 times higher than reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency inventory, and is consistent with field studies identifying large ethene and propene emissions from petrochemical industrial sources.


In classical mechanical engineering the predominant group of system analysis and identification tools relies on Linear Systems, where research have been carried out for over half a century. Usage of Linear Systems is most widely spread, often due to its simple mathematics and formulation for many engineering problems. Although linearizing is a means for simplifying a problem, it will introduce more or less severe modelling errors. In some cases the errors due to linearizing are too large to be practically acceptable, and therefore nonlinear structures and models are sometimes introduced. This thesis aims in implementing and evaluating some popular methods and algorithms for nonlinear structure analysis and identification, with emphasis on systems having nonlinear terms. Preferably the algorithms should be optimized in their computational load. The result are several algorithms for nonlinear analysis and identification. The ones giving best results were the frequency based methods Reverse Path and a Frequency Domain Structure Selection Method (FDSSA). The time domain based method, Nonlinear Autoregressive Moving Average with Exogenous Input (NARMAX), in which a lot of hope had been put, did perform very well in giving good system descriptions, but due to its nonphysical representation it was not suitable for usage in this thesis. The algorithms and methods were finally applied for two cases, a four system black-box case and an experimental test-rig case. The methods did perform well in three out of four systems in the first case, but the methods did not perform well for the second case, due to problems in applying correct levels of excitation force at the test-rig's resonance frequencies.


Abstract: Recently, the link between immigration, citizenship and national identity has emerged as a major political issue in Western Europe. During the last decade important changes have been implemented in the legislation concerning the attribution and acquisition of citizenship in several Western European countries. A trend of convergence, oberservable since the mid-1907s, was accelerated after 1990. Previously liberal regulations tended to become more restrictive, whereas traditionally restrictive regulations became more liberal. This article deals with the question whether these developments are due to the harmonization of widely diverging national approaches in the field of immigration and citizenship policies in Western Europe. The first part of the paper is concerned with the legal rules which regulate the naturalisation of immigrants and the intergenerational transmission of citizenship in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and in Australia, Canada, the United States of America. The second part delivers an overview of the long-term effects of different patterns of citizenship policies on the inclusion of immigrant populations as citizens. It will be argued that since the beginning of the 1990s one can observe a certain convergence of legal rules which regulate the transition from aliens to citizens. However, major differences in national approaches to immigrants' inclusion as citizens are likely to remain across Western Europe as well as between European and non-European countries immigration.;


This article is an introduction to and commentary on the contributions to a "Symposium on Negligence in the Courts: the Actual Practice." The contributors all conclude that the tests of negligence that are actually employed by the courts differ from the aggregate-risk-utility test that is generally assumed in the academic literature, including the Restatement of Torts. Patrick Kelley and Laurel Wendt's survey of all the standard jury instructions on negligence in the United States finds only one instruction, in Louisiana, that mentions a risk-utility or cost-benefit test of negligence, and that instruction merely suggests, as a discretionary option, the weighing of important societal (not purely private) benefits against the risk when applying the usual "ordinary prudence" standard. Stephen Gilles's investigation of British negligence cases demonstrates that British courts do not employ a literal cost-benefit balancing test, but rather typically employ a "disproportionate cost" test. I believe this test is better described as a "prohibitive cost" test, according to which the defendant's creation of a significant risk to others generally is reasonable only if the risk is significantly outweighed by the expected benefits to those being put at risk (either direct benefits to them as participants in the risky activity or indirect benefits that accrue to everyone in society) and has been reduced to the maximum extent possible without significantly impairing those expected benefits. Gilles also agrees that British courts apply different tests depending on the rights and relationships among the parties, and in particular depending on who is putting whom at risk for whose benefit - for example, depending on whether a person is putting herself at risk in order to benefit another, rather than vice versa, or whether the plaintiff is a trespasser on the defendant's land. Ron Allen and Ross Rosenberg's investigation of American negligence cases, which I supplement in my commentary with a discussion of some of my own previously unreported studies, discloses that American courts also rarely refer to the aggregate-risk-utility test and that, even in the two states (Louisiana and Illinois) in which the test is most often referenced, it is not actually applied by the courts. Indeed, Louisiana courts explicitly note that questions of reasonableness ultimately turn on considerations of justice and the rights and relationships among the parties. Anita Bernstein's contribution focuses on the perspective - objective or subjective - that is employed when analyzing persons' alleged negligence. She notes that, contrary to the position taken in the draft Restatement Third, a distinction is often made between plaintiffs and defendants, with a more subjective perspective being applied to the former, especially when the person has a significant mental disability. In an extended commentary, I discuss the different perspectives applied to both defendants and plaintiffs in various types of situations, and I demonstrate that these differences cannot be explained by the usual administrative-convenience rationale, but rather are based, as with the substantive criteria of reasonableness, on the rights and relationships among the parties.


The authors pooled data from 15 case-control studies of head and neck cancer (9,107 cases, 14,219 controls) to investigate the independent associations with consumption of beer, wine, and liquor. In particular, they calculated associations with different measures of beverage consumption separately for subjects who drank beer only (858 cases, 986 controls), for liquor-only drinkers (499 cases, 527 controls), and for wine-only drinkers (1,021 cases, 2,460 controls), with alcohol never drinkers (1,124 cases, 3,487 controls) used as a common reference group. The authors observed similar associations with ethanol-standardized consumption frequency for beer-only drinkers (odds ratios (ORs) = 1.6, 1.9, 2.2, and 5.4 for < or =5, 6-15, 16-30, and >30 drinks per week, respectively; P(trend) < 0.0001) and liquor-only drinkers (ORs = 1.6, 1.5, 2.3, and 3.6; P < 0.0001). Among wine-only drinkers, the odds ratios for moderate levels of consumption frequency approached the null, whereas those for higher consumption levels were comparable to those of drinkers of other beverage types (ORs = 1.1, 1.2, 1.9, and 6.3; P < 0.0001). Study findings suggest that the relative risks of head and neck cancer for beer and liquor are comparable. The authors observed weaker associations with moderate wine consumption, although they cannot rule out confounding from diet and other lifestyle factors as an explanation for this finding. Given the presence of heterogeneity in study-specific results, their findings should be interpreted with caution.


Voet and Pratt's 4th edition of Principles of Biochemistry, challenges readers to better understand the chemistry behind the biological structure and reactions occurring in living systems. The latest edition continues this tradition, and additionally incorporates coverage of recent research and an expanded focus on preparing and supporting students throughout the course. With the addition of new conceptual assessment content to WileyPLUS, providing the opportunity to assess conceptual understanding of key introductory biochemistry concepts and retrain themselves on their misconceptions WileyPLUS sold separately from text.


Students continue to demand and enroll in online courses, but are not always satisfied with their experiences. The purpose of this study was to determine if students' responses to evaluations for online courses could be used to predict faculty actions that could lead to improved evaluation scores in teaching effectiveness and overall course value. Controversy continues to exist over the validity of student evaluations to measure faculty effectiveness and overall course quality. Faculty seldom utilize the collected data for the improvement of teaching. Results indicate that stimulation of learning had the most effect on perceptions of teaching effectiveness and useful and relevant assignments had the highest correlation to overall course value.


In the article Bird, G.A., Quinton, M.L., & Cumming, J. (2021). Promoting athlete mental health: The role of emotion regulation. Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology, Advanced online publication, https://doi.org/10.1123/jcsp.2021-0022, there was an error in the reporting of the regressional analyses. Some of the beta values reported in the text did not match the values in the table. The online version of this article has been corrected. The authors apologize for this error.


As part of a continuing study using the American oystercatcher ( Haematopus palliatus), populations as biomonitors of coastal habitat quality 6 , foraging behavior was quantified, and primary food items obtained for nutritional analysis during June and July, 2002. Two southeastern US barrier island sites were sampled: St. Catherines Island (SCI), GA and Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, SC. Bivalves including blood ark clams (Anadara ovalis), Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), and false angel wings (Petricola pholadiformis) were identified as prey items, along with knob whelk (Busycon carica). These marine invertebrate species were subject to whole prey analysis including proximate composition (water, crude protein, crude fat, and ash), fat-soluble vitamins A and E, and mineral content. Water content of meat from the whelk (73.4 ± 1.7%) and larger bivalves (oysters and blood arks; 79.9 ± 0.3 to 83.8 ± 0.5%) was higher than that of tiny false angel wings (60.0 ± 2.0 to 62.9 ± 5.8%); the latter were consumed with the shell intact. Fat content ranged from 6.5 ± 0.1% in false angel wings to 14.7± 1.4% (dry matter, DM, basis) in Eastern oysters, and fat content was quite variable in oyster samples collected from SCI. C. virginica had the highest vitamin A and E values, while P. pholadiformis had the highest Ca. Foraging activity may be affected by height of tide, human disturbance, as well as seasonal food quality and availability. This summary of foraging and whole prey nutrition data establishes baseline values for future comparisons and guidelines for captive feeding programs.


Background: Generally breast cancer suffered will gain a neoadjuvant therapy. This therapy usually cause decreasing body mass index of patient Height and weight body are as indicator that use to measure patient's mass body index. This research aim is to prove the differences mass body index of ca mamae ductus infiltrative patient before and after gain neoadjuvant therapy.
Methods: This reaserch method was conducted with retrospektif' design with sample size of thirty two people of RSUP Dr. Kariadis' patient from januari 05 until des 09. This research methode was conducted by measuring the height and weight of the body from their medical record. In this study, the data analysis used descriptive analysis and 'analitik'. Two tail test with SPSS for windows. was conducted in this research.
Result: The result of two-tail test analysis shows no significant difference between before and after the neo-adjuvant therap.
Conclusion: On the ca mamae patients, there were no difference of body weight index between before an after therapy.

Keywords: body mass index,ductus infiltrate breast cancer neoadjuvant theraphy.


As the population ages, low and unequal social security coverage are among the most pressing challenges in the Latin American region. On average, only 45% of workers contribute to social security, and this figure is much lower for low-income and low-skilled individuals. There are many hypotheses for this limited and uneven coverage. This paper studies two of them: First, we test whether individuals do not contribute to social insurance because, due to myopia or limited information, they place little value in social insurance. Second, we test whether low-income, low-skilled individuals have a lower value of social insurance than higher-income or higher-skilled individuals. Using an indirect method to estimate individual social security valuation based on self-reported job satisfaction, we find that workers attain higher job satisfaction in formal than in informal jobs in Peru but not in the case of Mexico. In addition, we find little evidence that the value of social insurance increases with income or education. If anything, the opposite is the case, with lower-income or lower-education individuals deriving higher utility from having access to social insurance.


An epithelium in Dictyostelium discoideum suggests convergence between multicellular animals and slime molds. The identification of shared genes and derived characteristics among distantly related organisms helps us to understand how cells and tissues are organized and how this organization evolved. Dickinson et al. have discovered that unicellular organisms capable of social organization, such as the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, can differentiate cells into simple tissues. Dictyostelium epithelium is composed of a single layer of elongated polarized cells necessary for the formation of the fruiting body. The organization, morphology, and function of Dictyostelium epithelium are dependent on an ancestral signaling pathway that is composed of the functional orthologs of α- and β-catenins but that does not require Wnt signaling or cadherins. D. J. Dickinson, W. J. Nelson, W. I. Weis, A polarized epithelium organized by β- and α-catenin predates cadherin and metazoan origins. Science 331, 1336–1339 (2011). [Abstract] [Full Text]


This article argues that the crisis of 2007–2008 happened because of an explosive combination of agency problems, moral hazard, and "scientism." The authors analyze the varied behaviors, ideas and effects that in combination created a financial meltdown, and discuss the players responsible for the consequences. In formulating a set of expectations for future financial management, they suggest that financial agents need more "skin in the game" to prevent irresponsible risk-taking from continuing. This article argues that the crisis of 2007–2008 happened because of an explosive combination of agency problems, and "scientism"—the illusion that ostensibly scientific techniques would manage risks and predict rare events in spite of the stark empirical and theoretical realities that suggested otherwise. The authors analyze the varied behaviors, ideas and effects that in combination created a financial meltdown, and discuss the players responsible for the consequences. In formulating a set of expectations for future financial management, they suggest that financial agents need more "skin in the game" to prevent irresponsible risk-taking from continuing.


As Africa becomes the next frontier for consumer innovations, researchers and designers will be faces with a challenge: how can one get deep and meaningful insights on ever-accelerated project timetables? The following case study offers one such possibility. Drawing on work in rural Ghana, I describe my team used co-creation as a means to generate insight, as well as iterate on concepts. Particular attention is paid here to challenges that are unique to Africa (and the base of the pyramid in general), such as how to construct a 'third space' for co-creation when the participants may have no cultural referent for the roles and responsibilities inherent in a market research interaction. Once this third space was established; however, we were able to leverage storytelling and technology to rapidly and co-creatively generate actionable insights.


Human retrotransposons generate structural variation and genomic diversity through ongoing retrotransposition and non-allelic homologous recombination. Cell culture retrotransposition assays have provided great insight into the genomic impact of retrotransposons, in particular, LINE-1(L1) and Alu elements; however, no such assay exists for the youngest active human retrotransposon, SINE-VNTR-Alu (SVA). Here we report the development of an SVA cell culture retrotransposition assay. We marked several SVAs with either neomycin or EGFP retrotransposition indicator cassettes. Engineered SVAs retrotranspose using L1 proteins supplemented in trans in multiple cell lines, including U2OS osteosarcoma cells where SVA retrotransposition is equal to that of an engineered L1. Engineered SVAs retrotranspose at 1-54 times the frequency of a marked pseudogene in HeLa HA cells. Furthermore, our data suggest a variable requirement for L1 ORF1p for SVA retrotransposition. Recovered engineered SVA insertions display all the hallmarks of LINE-1 retrotransposition and some contain 5' and 3' transductions, which are common for genomic SVAs. Of particular interest is the fact that four out of five insertions recovered from one SVA are full-length, with the 5' end of these insertions beginning within 5 nt of the CMV promoter transcriptional start site. This assay demonstrates that SVA elements are indeed mobilized in trans by L1. Previously intractable questions regarding SVA biology can now be addressed.


Tom Dougherty has recently attacked what he calls the lenient view about sexual deception. The lenient view differentiates between different types of sexual deception, treating some as seriously wrong but excusing others. Dougherty instead claims that all deception about matters which would make a difference to whether consent is given invalidates consent, in part because doing so rejects inappropriate moralism about sexual behaviour. Dougherty's position generalizes. All deception about deal-breakers invalidates consent. This, I suggest, is particularly troubling, given the important role deception plays in smoothing social relations. There are powerful reasons for allowing at least some deception both in sexual relations and social life more generally. I counter Dougherty's two arguments. First, I provide an explanation of the seriousness of the wrongdoing involved in some sexual deceptions which does not turn either on consent to the sex involved or its harmfulness. This shows, contra Dougherty, that the lenient view can be defended without appeal to a moralized view about sexual consent. Second, I note that deception does not seem to invalidate necessary consent in a range of non-sexual cases. This can be explained without relying on a moralized account of the practice involved. Parallel explanations are available for why sexual deceit does not invalidate permissions necessary to make sex acceptable. This does not amount to a complete defence of the lenient view, which I agree is most probably wrong about at least some sexual deception. It does however give ample reason for scepticism about Dougherty's alternative.


The snake-eyed skink Ablepharus kitaibelii is one of the smallest European lizards, but despite its minute size it is able to feed on comparatively large prey. Here we investigate the diet of A. kitaibelii and the mechanisms that allow the skink to overpower relatively large and even noxious prey. High-speed cinematography showed that A. kitaibelii uses a series of shaking and battering movements to immobilise and kill prey prior to swallowing. During this process, the skinks rises up on the hind limbs and then whacks the prey sidewise on the substrate by twisting the trunk, neck and head laterally. Our analysis showed that the shaking kinematics is very uniform among the investigated specimens. The morphological investigation of the cranio-cervical system revealed that A. kitaibelii possesses a well-developed synovial joint between the odontoid process of the axis, the atlas, and the basioccipital. The odontoid process is cylindrical and slim and together with the atlas and the basioccipital it forms a highly specialised pivot joint for lateral head rotation. We propose that the occipito-atlanto-axial complex of A. kitaibelii represents a functional adaptation for additional stabilisation of the cranio-cervical complex during prey shaking. Digital data from morphological databases showed that specialised joints of this type are very rare, but do also occur in other squamate groups. Thus we hypothesise that specialised cranio-cervical joints have evolved parallel as functional adaptations to different feeding and locomotion patterns. Future studies that link feeding kinematics and locomotion to cranio-cervical morphology might elucidate the function of various specialised occipito-atlanto-axial systems of squamates.


Environmental statutes and regulations in the United States have largely failed to comprehensively control the human activities that cause climate change. This Note examines a novel approach to the matter in the form of an investigation led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to discover how ExxonMobil incorporates its climate change research into its corporate governance, accounting, and business planning. Schneiderman's investigation relies on the New York securities fraud statute, the Martin Act, to determine if the company has internally reached one conclusion about climate change in its research while promoting another to investors. ExxonMobil initially cooperated with the Attorney General's investigation, but the company has since struck back. The battle now involves two lawsuits, many crosssubpoenas, nearly half the country's Attorneys General, and at least one federal agency. This Note chronicles the history of the Martin Act, a parallel model of litigation in Attorneys' General attacks on Big Tobacco, and outlines the current status of Schneiderman's investigation and parallel litigation.


In this study we examined the anti-tick properties of the essential oil of Tagetes minuta L. (Asteraceae: Asterales) against Hyalomma rufipes ticks. We obtained the essential oil of T. minuta by hydro-distillation of a combination of fresh flowers, leaves and soft stems, and analysed these by using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-linked mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The oil had a high percentage of monoterpenes and the major compounds identified were cis-ocimene (28.5%), beta-ocimene (16.83%) and 3-methyl-2-(2-methyl-2-butenyl)-furan (11.94%). Hyalomma rufipes adults displayed a significant (P < 0.05) dose repellent response to the essential oil of T. minuta. Probit analysis indicated a repellent EC50 of T. minuta essential oil for male ticks to be 0.072 mL/mL (CI 0.053 mL/mL to 0.086 mL/mL) and 0.070 mL/mL (CI 0.052 mL/mL to 0.084 mL/mL) for female ticks. There were no significant differences in repellent responses between male and female ticks. The oil also significantly (P < 0.05) delayed moulting of 60% of H. rufipes engorged nymphs. These results suggest that T. minuta may be a potential source of anti-tick agents.