OBJECTIVE
JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway widely participates in cell proliferation and apoptosis. Suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) is a negative regulator of JAK-STAT3. SOCS3 downregulation is associated with drug resistance in breast cancer and leukemia. However, its role in bladder cancer drug resistance is still unclear. This study established ADM resistant bladder cancer cell model to investigate the role of SOCS3-JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway ADM resistance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
ADM drug resistant cell line T24/ADM was established. SOCS3, p-JAK2, p-JAK3, and Bcl-2 expressions in T24/ADM, T24, and HBEC cells were compared. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were evaluated by flow cytometry. T24/ADM cells were divided into five groups, including control, pSicoR-blank, pSicoR-SOCS3, FLLL32, and pSicoR-SOCS3 + FLLL32 groups. Cell proliferation was determined by EdU staining.

RESULTS
SOCS3 was reduced, while p-JAK2, p-STAT3, and Bcl-2 expressions upregulated in T24 cells compared with HBEC cells. T24/ADM cells exhibited lower SOCS3, higher p-JAK2, p-STAT3, and Bcl-2 levels than T24 cells. Cell apoptosis was higher, whereas cell proliferation was weaker in T24 cells compared with T24/ADM cells. SOCS3 overexpression and/or FLLL32 treatment significantly downregulated p-JAK2, p-STAT3, and Bcl-2 expressions, attenuated cell proliferation, and elevated sensitivity to ADM induced cell apoptosis.

CONCLUSIONS
SOCS3 reduction was associated with bladder cancer sensitivity to ADM. SOCS3 overexpression decreased JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway activity, declined Bcl-2 expression, inhibited cell proliferation, elevated cell apoptosis, and enhanced ADM sensitivity in T24 cells.


Some progress has been reported in continuing research on the use of anion-receptor compounds as electrolyte additives to increase the sustainable rates of discharge and, hence, the discharge capacities, of lithium-poly(carbon monofluoride) [Li-(CF)n, where n >1] primary electrochemical power cells. Some results of this research at a prior stage were summarized in Increasing Discharge Capacities of Li(CF)n Cells (NPO-42346), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 32, No. 2 (February 2008), page 37. A major difference between the present and previously reported results is that now there is some additional focus on improving performance at temperatures from ambient down to as low as 40 C. To recapitulate from the cited prior article: During the discharge of a Li-(CF)n cell, one of the electrochemical reactions causes LiF to precipitate at the cathode. LiF is almost completely insoluble in most non-aqueous solvents, including those used in the electrolyte solutions of Li- (CF)n cells. LiF is electrochemically inactive and can block the desired transport of electrons at the cathode, and, hence, the precipitation of LiF can form an ever-thickening film on the cathode that limits the rate of discharge. An anion-receptor electrolyte additive helps to increase the discharge capacity in two ways: It renders LiF somewhat soluble in the non-aqueous electrolyte solution, thereby delaying precipitation until a high concentration of LiF in solution has been reached. When precipitation occurs, it promotes the formation of large LiF grains that do not conformally coat the cathode. The net effect is to reduce the blockage caused by precipitation of LiF, thereby maintaining a greater degree of access of electrolyte to the cathode and greater electronic conductivity.


Abstract Prescribed burning of aboveground biomass in tallgrass prairie is common and may influence dynamics and magnitudes of carbon (C) movement between the surface and atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes were measured for 2 yr using conditional sampling systems on two adjacent watersheds in an ungrazed tallgrass prairie near Manhattan, Kansas. One watershed was burned annually (BA) and the other biennially (BB). Leaf and soil CO2 fluxes were measured in the source area. Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of CO2 reached a maximum daily gain of 26.4 g CO2 · m−2 · d−1 (flux toward surface is positive) in July 1998 (year when both sites were burned and precipitation was above normal); gains were similar between sites in 1998. The maximum daily NEE loss of CO2 was −21.8 g CO2 · m−2 · d−1 from BA in September 1997 (year when only BA was burned and precipitation was below normal). When data were integrated over the two years, both sites were net sources of atmospheric CO2; NEE was −389 g C · m−2 · 2 yr−1 on BA and −195 g C · m−2 · 2 yr−1 on BB. Burning increased canopy size and photosynthesis, but the greater photosynthesis was offset by corresponding increases in respiration (from canopy and soil). Carbon losses from fire represented 6–10% of annual CO2 emissions (bulk came from soil and canopy respiration). Data suggest that annual burning promotes C loss compared to less-frequently burned tallgrass prairie where prairie is not grazed by ungulates. Greater precipitation in 1998 caused large increases in biomass and a more positive growing season NEE, indicating that C sequestration appears more likely when precipitation is high. Because C inputs (photosynthesis) and losses (canopy and soil respiration) were large, small measurement or modeling errors could confound attempts to determine if the ecosystems are long-term CO2 sources or sinks.


System identification of a flexible mechanical system using decimated data is studied. It is illustrated how the use of decimated data can give erroneous results due to the inter-sample behavior of the signals, and an intuitive explanation to this phenomenon is proposed. The possible improvement by using alternative assumptions for the inter-sample behavior is investigated.


The National Planning Policy Framework was adopted in March
2012, promoting sustainable development as a 'golden thread'
running through the whole document. Since then, the concept of
sustainable development has been a key or sole consideration
in the determination of applications for planning permission.
This research is a detailed consideration of that concept within
and without the Framework.
The research begins by identifying the traditional
understandings of the term from its use in international and
national policy documents since 1972. It continues with an
examination of sustainable development in the Framework to
see if a meaning can be derived from analysing its language or
from a detailed review of decisions taken where it is applied as
a criterion. The research includes a comparative analysis of
relevant planning appeal decisions and court judgments in the
twenty months from formal adoption of the Framework.
Neither the appeal decisions nor the court rulings enable any
reliable conclusions to be drawn on what sustainable
development means within the Framework. They do show that
the Secretary of State has an almost unfettered discretion to
decide the meaning of sustainable development on a case by
case basis without regard to its interpretation and definitions
outside the Framework.
Sustainable development has no formally agreed or legally
enforceable definition. Unless and until such a definition is
secured, the Secretary of State and the courts will assign
mutating meanings to the term on a case by case basis.


Chlorofluorocarbon-11 inventories for the deep Southern Ocean appear to confirm physical oceanographic and geochemical studies in the Southern Ocean, which suggest that no more than 5 x 10(6) cubic meters per second of ventilated deep water is currently being produced. This result conflicts with conclusions based on the distributions of the carbon-14/carbon ratio and a quasi-conservative property, PO(4)(*), in the deep sea, which seem to require an average of about 15 x 10(6) cubic meters per second of Southern Ocean deep ventilation over about the past 800 years. A major reduction in Southern Ocean deep water production during the 20th century (from high rates during the Little Ice Age) may explain this apparent discordance. If this is true, a seesawing of deep water production between the northern Atlantic and Southern oceans may lie at the heart of the 1500-year ice-rafting cycle.


The FAIR principles, an acronym for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable, are recognised worldwide as key elements for good practice in all data management processes. To understand how the Brazilian scientific community is adhering to these principles, this article reports Brazilian adherence to the GO FAIR initiative through the creation of the GO FAIR Brazil Office and the manner in which they create their implementation networks. To contextualise this understanding, we provide a brief presentation of open data policies in Brazilian research and government, and finally, we describe a model that has been adopted for the GO FAIR Brazil implementation networks. The Brazilian Institute of Information in Science and Technology is responsible for the GO FAIR Brazil Office, which operates in all fields of knowledge and supports thematic implementation networks. Today, GO FAIR Brazil-Health is the first active implementation network in operation, which works in all health domains, serving as a model for other fields like agriculture, nuclear energy, and digital humanities, which are in the process of adherence negotiation. This report demonstrates the strong interest and effort from the Brazilian scientific communities in implementing the FAIR principles in their research data management practices.


Fritz Lang's classic 1927 film Metropolis has justifiably become an icon for the complexities of Weimar culture. Among the important general issues it also raises are the relation between ideology and art, the status and authorship of the film text in the entertainment market, the city, the construction of gender, the relation between the human body and the machine in modernity, and the relation between mass and high culture. This volume provides a broad range of materials and resources for the study of Lang's film, including both well-known, previously published critical essays and contributions appearing for the first time here. The editors provide a two-part introduction that furnishes context for what follows: Bachmann's part deals with the genesis, production, and contemporary reception of the film, while Minden's defines the problems posed by the text and reviews the solutions to these problems as proposed by later generations of critics. The first part of the book proper includes selected contemporary reviews, commentary by Fritz Lang and others involved in the making of the film, and extracts from Thea von Harbou's original novel.In the second part, eight modern scholars provide fresh essays on the genesis, promotion, and reception of the film. Approximately half of the material in the volume has never before appeared in print. The volume will appeal to students of German, film, cultural and intellectual history, and social theory. Michael Minden is University Lecturer in German at Cambridge University and a fellow of Jesus College. Holger Bachmann received his Ph.D. from Cambridge on Arthur Schnitzler and film.


We determine the underlying shapes of spiral and elliptical galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6) from the observed distribution of projected galaxy shapes, taking into account the effects of dust extinction and reddening. We assume that the underlying shapes of spirals and ellipticals are well approximated by triaxial ellipsoids. The elliptical galaxy data are consistent with oblate spheroids, with a correlation between luminosity and ellipticity: the mean values of minor to middle axis ratios are 0.41 ± 0.03 for M r ≈-18 ellipticals and 0.76 ± 0.04 for M r ≈-22.5 ellipticals. Ellipticals show almost no dependence of axial ratio on galaxy colour, implying a negligible dust optical depth. There is a strong variation of spiral galaxy shapes with colour indicating the presence of dust. The intrinsic shapes of spiral galaxies in the SDSS DR6 are consistent with flat discs with a mean and dispersion of thickness to diameter ratio of (21 ± 2) per cent, and a face-on ellipticity, e, of ln(e) = -2.33 ± 0.79. Not including the effects of dust in the model leads to discs that are systematically rounder by up to 60 per cent. More luminous spiral galaxies tend to have thicker and rounder discs than lower luminosity spirals. Both elliptical and spiral galaxies tend to be rounder for larger galaxies. The marginalized value of the edge-on r-band dust extinction E 0 in spiral galaxies is E 0 ≃ 0.45 mag for galaxies of median colours, increasing to E 0 = 1 mag for g - r > 0.9 and E 0 = 1.9 for the luminous and most compact galaxies, with half-light radii <2h -1 kpc.


The Kohistan-Ladakh block occupies the northwestern corner of the Himalayan mountains and has long been recognized to represent an island arc constructed on ocean floor during Jurassic and Cretaceous times. Because the Kohistan-Ladakh block now lies within the Asian continent, it is important to know how and when it became sandwiched between India and the rest of Asia. We have found from analysis of paleomagnetic data that in Late Cretaceous–early Paleocene times, the Kohistan-Ladakh island arc could not have been far from the equator. India was close to the equator, but the southern margin of Asia was more than 3000 km to the north. Our new U-Pb zircon age results from rocks of the Kohistan-Ladakh block show that calc-alkaline volcanic arc igneous activity ended in the Kohistan-Ladakh arc by 61 Ma. We interpret that cessation to date the collision of Kohistan with India. This new timing is confirmed by evidence that a Southern Hemisphere enriched DUPAL mantle source was involved in the generation of the latest Cretaceous Teru Volcanic Formation rocks of the Kohistan-Ladakh arc. Further confirmation of the collision of the Kohistan arc with India in early Paleocene times comes from evidence of the timing of obduction of ophiolites and from the unconformity of postcollisional sedimentary rocks onto the Indian continental margin in northwestern and western Pakistan. Final incorporation of India, now carrying the Kohistan-Ladakh block in its NW corner, into Asia took place at the Shyok suture. The best evidence for the timing of that suturing ca. 50 Ma comes from two postcollisional granites (ages 47 Ma and 41 Ma) in northern Kohistan, which show in their zircon isotopic compositions evidence of the involvement of ancient Asian continental crust that did not exist under Kohistan before the suture formed. The 50 Ma age for Shyok suturing against the then-active Karakoram Andean arc fits well with the extension of the suture beyond the eastern end of the Kohistan-Ladakh block to join the precisely dated ca. 51 Ma Yarlung–Tsang Po suture between India and the southern (Lhasa block) margin of Tibet, which at that time was also occupied by an Andean arc, the Gangdese arc.


The theme for this work is the development of fast numerical algorithms for sparse optimization as well as their applications in medical imaging and source localization using sensor array processing. Due to the recently proposed theory of Compressive Sensing (CS), the `1 minimization problem attracts more attention for its ability to exploit sparsity. Traditional interior point methods encounter difficulties in computation for solving the CS applications. In the first part of this work, a fast algorithm based on the augmented Lagrangian method for solving the large-scale TV-`1 regularized inverse problem is proposed. Specifically, by taking advantage of the separable structure, the original problem can be approximated via the sum of a series of simple functions with closed form solutions. A preconditioner for solving the block Toeplitz with Toeplitz block (BTTB) linear system is proposed to accelerate the computation. An in-depth discussion on the rate of convergence and the optimal parameter selection criteria is given. Numerical experiments are used to test the performance and the robustness of the proposed algorithm to a wide range of parameter values. Applications of the algorithm in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and a comparison with other existing methods are included. The second part of this work is the application of the TV-`1 model in source localization using sensor arrays. The array output is reformulated into a sparse waveform via an over-complete basis and study the `p-norm properties in detecting the sparsity. An algorithm is proposed for minimizing a non-convex problem. According to the results of numerical experiments, the proposed algorithm with the aid of the `p-norm can resolve closely distributed sources with higher accuracy than other existing methods.


China's Yangtze river dolphin (Lipotes vexillifer), was declared likely to be extinct in 2006, due to threats in the wild such as habitat loss, entanglement in fishing gear and ship strikes, which were not effectively dealt with using the management tools available prior to that time. Mexico's vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a porpoise found only in the Upper Gulf of California, will become extinct in the near future if the illegal fishery to obtain fish swim bladders for illicit international markets is not eliminated very soon. In both of these cases, it took only a short time for the population to decrease from hundreds to tens of animals. This highlights the urgency of gaining information and taking action to anticipate and prevent such rapid declines in other threatened species and populations of small cetaceans. A workshop, "Ex situ Options for Cetacean Conservation" (ESOCC) was held in Nuremberg, Germany, 14-18 December 2018, to start preparing such actions. This report contains the executive summary of the main report of the 2018 workshop in English, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese and Spanish.


Currently there is a research project being undertaken by Mr R.J Esdaile of Tamworth, New South Wales, in conjunction with the Australian Centre for International Agricul-
tural Research on the development of a No Tillage Seed Drill for uses in third world countries. This project involves the development of low-cost no tillage seed drills to be made available to farmers in South East Asia.

A prototype seed drill has been designed and manufactured. However there was no rigorous analysis of the structural integrity of the steel frame (toolbar) and tine design.
The aim of this research project is therefore to analyse the current design and to make recommendations that may improve the product as a whole.

In order to determine the forces that the toolbar may encounter, tractive force predictions were calculated, along with a sensitivity study of the impact of extra wheel
weights. It was found that when compared to the fundamental Bekker model, a more reasonable result is obtained by the empirical Gee Clough tractive force prediction
model. The predicted tractive force is approximately 1.5 kN. It was also found that the rake angle of the tine should be reduced from 55 to 30 degrees in order to minimise
the draft force being produced.

Using the predicted tractive force, analysis of key components of the toolbar was also undertaken using the Finite Element software COSMOSWorks. It was found that
the strength of original design is more than adequate for the designed purpose. It is therefore suggested to decrease the current wall thickness of the square hollow section
from 4mm to 3mm.


BACKGROUND
People with aphasia (PWA) use pantomime, gesture in absence of speech, differently from non-brain-damaged people (NBDP).

AIMS
To evaluate through an exploratory study the comprehensibility of PWA's pantomimes and to find out whether they can compensate for information PWA are unable to convey in speech.

METHODS & PROCEDURES
A total of 273 naïve observers participated in one of two judgement tasks: forced-choice and open-ended questions. These were used to determine the comprehensibility of pantomimes produced to depict objects by PWA as compared with NBDP. Furthermore, we compared the information conveyed in pantomime with the information in speech. We looked into factors influencing pantomime's comprehensibility: individual factors, manner of depiction and information needed to be depicted.

OUTCOME & RESULTS
Although comprehensibility scores for PWA's pantomimes were lower than for those produced by NBDP, all PWA were able to convey information in pantomime that they could not convey in speech. Comprehensibility of pantomimes was predicted by apraxia. The inability to use the right hand related to slightly lower comprehensibility scores. Objects for which individuals depicted its use were best understood.

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS
Our findings highlight the potential benefit of pantomime for clinical practice. Pantomimes, even though sometimes impaired, can convey information that PWA cannot convey in speech. Clinical implications are discussed.


The TED/AHRC funded Worn Again project (2005 – 2010) asked twelve designers to create recycled textile products that would have value added to them in the course of recirculation. All the research questions were concerned with exploring new approaches to the recycling of textiles; designing and producing artefacts with strong aesthetic appeal that were contemporary and innovative, and that had improved eco credentials. The project intended to explore both the 'hard' and 'soft' aspects of eco textile design, with the established principles of material and processes being considered, but also the technical and conceptual ideas. This paper reflects upon: the research questions; the research methodologies utilised and developed; and the concepts that were developed by the designers in order to arrive at a definition of the upcycling of textiles, and a set of guiding principles for best practice. The paper concludes with visions for future practice, including the Twice Upcycled work which explores forward recycling concepts for the polyester economy.

The research questions were:

•Ethical Production - How can designers work with ethical production values and systems to create a recycled textile product?

•Technology - How can new engineering technologies be used to create recycled textile products?

•Long Life / Short Life, or 'Fast' and 'Slow' Textiles - How can recycled materials help lengthen and shorten the life of a textile product thereby promoting resource efficiency?

•Design Systems and Services - How can new systems and services around textile recycling and recycled products be designed and implemented?

•Multifunction and Detachability – How can designers design textiles and textile products that have multiple uses and detachable elements, thereby promoting resource efficiency and product longevity?

•Design Activism – How can textile designers redefine and extend their role within the design community and consumer society?

The outcomes for the project included textile product prototypes which 'rethought' recycling textiles, through innovative practice and good design, often in collaboration with internal and external partners. Some of the prototypes and samples realised the importance of mono materiality, and the role that engineering technologies can have here. New laser applications eradicated the need for glue and adhesives, and achieved surface effects that cannot be created else where. Others realised and demonstrated that multiple lives and recycling can occur and be pre determined. The impacts of digital print, and over printing in sequential stages were also explored. Concepts relating to the ethical, emotional and systemic were integrated during a second 'redesign' stage of the project. The designers explored ideas about upcycling rather than recycling, and the project has been recognised as a leading influence in this field, recognising early on how important this approach is in terms of the economic viability of the reuse of textiles. The project explored how the designer is central to textiles 'upcycling'.

The guiding principles derived from the outcomes of the Worn Again project include: the consideration for the hierarchy of recycling; aesthetics and the design of upcycled textiles that are 'better' than the original; the generation of alternative and supporting actions; making enlightened material choices; understanding the different implications of using pre consumer and post consumer waste; the design for future recyclability, and if possible, future upcycling; the consideration of monomateriality, detachability, and the incorporation of the aging process; the design of textiles with zero waste; the design of textiles to maximise the benefits of the product; the consideration for scale - small is beautiful, and start local, but think global.

A final question emerged late on in the project from the research methodologies that had been developed through group workshops and tutorials for professional designers: How can designers combine eco-design principles, through workshop scenarios, to create new concepts for the creation of upcycled textile products and services? TED's TEN – design strategies and workshops that promote interconnected design thinking – were the answer, and continue to be a way for TED to communicate and inspire designers at all stages of their careers.


We present the first joint analysis of gamma-ray data from the MAGIC Cherenkov telescopes and the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) to search for gamma-ray signals from dark matter annihilation in dwarf satellite galaxies. We combine 158 hours of Segue 1 observations with MAGIC with 6-year observations of 15 dwarf satellite galaxies by the Fermi-LAT. We obtain limits on the annihilation cross-section for dark matter particle masses between 10 GeV and 100 TeV—the widest mass range ever explored by a single gamma-ray analysis. These limits improve on previously published Fermi-LAT and MAGIC results by up to a factor of two at certain masses. Our new inclusive analysis approach is completely generic and can be used to perform a global, sensitivity-optimized dark matter search by combining data from present and future gamma-ray and neutrino detectors.


Various types of Boussinesq model exist, including those that account for finite-depth aquifers and capillary effects. Such models are used to simulate propagation of groundwater waves (watertable fluctuations) due to, for example, tides. However, discrepancies remain between experimental data and theoretical results. We proposed a Boussinesq-type model that (i) accounts for combined saturated-unsaturated zone flow and (ii) considers both horizontal and vertical flow. The unsaturated zone flow was modeled using Gardner's hydraulic functions. The model, first solved numerically, provided predictions that improved agreement with experimental data on the propagation of tidal signals in a coastal aquifer. An approximate analytical solution to the model was also derived. The analytical approximation shows that the unsaturated zone's storage capacity permits watertable fluctuations to propagate more readily than predicted by previous models. This occurs because the exchange of water with the capillary fringe is minimal during the passage of groundwater table fluctuations. The propagation characteristics of the groundwater waves predicted by the new analytical solution were examined in detail with respect to amplitude damping, phase shift and over-height of the fluctuating watertable.


Capturing knowledge via learned latent vector representations of words, images and knowledge graph (KG) entities has shown state-of-the-art performance in computer vision, computational linguistics and KG tasks. Recent results demonstrate that the learning of such representations across modalities can be beneficial, since each modality captures complementary information. However, those approaches are limited to concepts with cross-modal alignments in the training data which are only available for just a few concepts. Especially for visual objects exist far fewer embeddings than for words or KG entities. We investigate whether a word embedding (e.g., for "apple") can still capture information from other modalities even if there is no matching concept within the other modalities (i.e., no images or KG entities of apples but of oranges as pictured in the title analogy). The empirical results of our knowledge transfer approach demonstrate that word embeddings do benefit from extrapolating information across modalities even for concepts that are not represented in the other modalities. Interestingly, this applies most to concrete concepts (e.g., dragonfly) while abstract concepts (e.g., animal) benefit most if aligned concepts are available in the other modalities.


Since its birth, the Internet has usually been considered as a threat to the traditional conception of sovereignty as power of a state to regulate the interactions taking place within its territory. The extra- territorial nature of the Internet has definitely contributed to the globalization of legal orders, by requiring them to develop a shared framework to address the problems arising from the relationships occurring on the Internet across various states. In the era of transnationalism, just some of the areas of law have been affected by the adoption of common legal standards, while others, closer to the national identity's heart, kept themselves aside from this process. Thus, almost paradoxically, the law of the Internet demonstrates that the advent of the era of transnationalism does not imply the end of the role of national law, but only implies it has to be rethought in the broader context of globalization of legal systems.


When academic researchers participate in commercialization using for-profit firms there is a potentially costly trade-off – their time and effort are diverted away from academic knowledge creation. This is a form of brain drain on the not-for-profit research sector which may reduce knowledge accumulation and adversely impact long-run economic growth. In this paper, we examine the economic significance of the brain drain phenomenon using scientist-level panel data. We identify life scientists who start or join for-profit firms using information from the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and analyze the research performance of these scientists relative to a control group of randomly selected research peers. Combining our statistical results with data on the number of university spin-offs in the U.S. from 1994 to 2004 we find the academic brain drain has a nontrivial impact on knowledge creation in the not-forprofit research sector.


Despite having ample possessions, many Western consumers continue to buy new things. Our central proposition in this research is that one approach to resist shopping temptations and stifle buying urges is to get consumers to reflect on, and evoke momentary desire for, recently used belongings. We contribute to the anti-consumption literature by theorizing that the desire to consume, like willpower, may function as a limited motivational resource, becoming depleted upon reflecting about favored personal possessions, leaving less desire for subsequent shopping urges. Across four studies, consumers who reflected on their recently used personal belongings experienced less desire for an unexpectedly encountered product, were less likely to buy impulsively and expressed a lower willingness-to-pay for new products. This research broadens the scope of anti-consumption theory. In addition to rejection, restriction, and reclaim, reflection is proposed as a fourth strategy for individuals to regulate purchasing activities. Reflection provides a practical intervention for policymakers, consumer advocates, and consumers to consume prudently.


As at the end of August 2020, the coronavirus disease outbreak has hit more than 50,000 across all the 36 states of Nigeria. Whilst the federal government declared contraception an essential service that can continue to be assessed from health facilities,


Strategic Insights are authored monthly by analysts with the Center for Contemporary Conflict (CCC). The CCC is the research arm of the National Security Affairs Department at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Naval Postgraduate School, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.


Since facial expressions are a key modality in human communication, the automated analysis of facial images for the estimation of the displayed expression is central in the design of intuitive and human friendly human computer interaction systems. In existing approaches, over-formalised description of knowledge concerning the human face and human expressions, as well as failures of the image and video processing components, often lead to misclassification. In this paper, we propose the utilisation of extended fuzzy rules for the more flexible description of knowledge, and the consideration of uncertainty and lack of confidence in the process of feature extraction from image and video. The two are combined using a flexible possibilistic rule evaluation structure, leading to more robust overall operation. The proposed approach has been implemented as an extension to an existing expression analysis system and conclusions from comparative study have been drawn.


Er3+-doped phosphor-tellurite glass for broadband short-length Er3+-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is fabricated and characterized. The differential value (Delta T) of onset crystalline temperature (Tx) and glass transition temperature (Tg) is 206 centigrade. The stimulated emission cross section of Er3+ is calculated from absorption spectrum by McCumber theory and is 0.87*10^(-20) cm^2 at 1532 nm. A broad 1.5-micron fluorescence spectrum with 54-nm full-width at half maximum (FWHM) is demonstrated. Especially, the maximum phonon energy of undoped phosphor-tellurite glass is 1100 cm^(-1), which restricts the upconversion luminescence. It is possible to pump efficiently at 980 nm. These results indicate Er3+-doped phosphor-tellurite glass is suitable for fabricating broadband short-length EDFA.


This study proposes a new approach for improving resource quality management, monitoring and treatment plant management, whatever the environmental and climatic stressors. First trend analysis of water quality at a river basin scale, based on historical water quality data and multivariate exploitation (principal component analysis, PCA), led to a classification of the monitoring stations with regard to the main pressures (land use, urbanization and hydroclimatic impacts). This method was applied to the Vilaine9s watershed, the largest river basin in Brittany, western France, and one which is under agricultural and urban pressure. A complementary research using a UV index was proposed for the evaluation of spatial and temporal variations of water quality. This approach may be considered as a useful and relevant tool to quickly assess the variation of water quality and the main explanatory factors. It also points out monitoring stations under specific stressors considered as outliers regarding UV parameters. Finally, PCA and UV index give complementary results. PCA allows factors influencing drinking water resource to be highlighted and the UV index allows global water quality under specific times and impacts to be reflected.


Privatization of toll roads is a new policy in the U.S. Although there has been much discussion on how high tolls might go on roads that have been leased under long-term agreements, little empirical work has been done to suggest how private operators might price road access and what effect these pricing policies might have on traffic, the public, and the highways system. This paper empirically demonstrates that tolls can be expected to rise quite significantly and that substantial diversion of trucks is likely to take place. Some of this traffic is likely to divert (as it did in Ohio) to two-lane roads that are inherently less safe than interstate highways. Additionally, the increased cost of freight transportation resulting from such toll increases is likely to have substantial negative effects on interstate commerce and the economy. The authors wish to thank Stephen Burks, Kristen Monaco, Gordon Proctor, Mike Simon, and Howard Wood for their help with this paper.


The thesis focuses on two case studies of the host galaxies of the quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) I Zw 1 and 3C 48. The studies are motivated by the hypothesis that ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) might represent the early stage of QSO evolution (Sanders et al. 1988). According to this hypothesis, galaxy mergers and interactions trigger gas inflow which is followed by starburst activity and by the formation of an active nucleus. As likely transitionary objects between the ultra-luminous infrared stage and the QSO stage, I Zw 1 and 3C 48 are promising candidates to investigate the active nucleus, the starburst, and the merger properties as the essential links between all stages of the proposed evolutionary sequence. The case study of I Zw 1 has an observational focus and is based on near-infrared (NIR) imaging and spectroscopy, carried out with ISAAC (Infrared Spectrometer and Array Camera) at the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Cerro Paranal in Chile. The two-armed spiral host galaxy of I Zw 1 shows two bright knots in the north and in the west of the optical disk region, respectively. Here, the new ISAAC spectra indicate that the northern object is a projected foreground star, as previously assumed but recently challenged. In the surroundings of the western source, the ISAAC J-band image displays tidal features. This gives further support for the scenario that I Zw 1 is presently in a minor merger process with this source. The new spectra and the NIR colors of the western source indicate an old stellar population. The host of I Zw 1 is analyzed in a one-dimensional structural decomposition into bulge, disk, and halo components, which results in mean J-band mass-to-light ratios. The latter indicate a young mean stellar population in the bulge component, while the disk ratios agree with those of normal spiral galaxies. Such a scenario of younger stellar populations in the central region of the I Zw 1 host is also plausible from a two-color analysis. The nuclear ISAAC spectrum of I Zw 1 basically confirms previous results, by showing hydrogen emission lines and indications of extremely blueshifted high-excitation lines. The case study of 3C 48 is the numerical focus of this thesis and based on simulations with multi-particle methods. The aim is to investigate the major merger scenario for 3C 48 by reproducing a 3C 48 model. Such a model is found for a certain projection angle during the inclined merger of two equal-mass spiral galaxies. It inspirits a new idea for the problem of the apparently missing second tidal tail in 3C 48. For the derived projection angle, this tidal tail is located in front of the main body of the modeled host galaxy and is likely to be missed in observations. In the model, both galaxy centers are still separated. This leaves room to interpret the known second luminosity peak, north-east of the QSO in 3C 48, as the center of the galaxy merging with 3C 48. A central gas accumulation and a complex system of gas lanes develop in the simulation with a non-gravitating gas component added. Both results qualitatively agree with the known distribution of molecular gas in 3C 48. The new results about I Zw 1 and 3C 48 complement the existing assumption that both are likely transitionary objects in the evolutionary sequence.


The Mantle Electromagnetic and Tomography (MELT) Experiment was designed to distinguish between competing models of magma generation beneath mid-ocean ridges. Seismological observations demonstrate that basaltic melt is present beneath the East Pacific Rise spreading center in a broad region several hundred kilometers across and extending to depths greater than 100 kilometers, not just in a narrow region of high melt concentration beneath the spreading center, as predicted by some models. The structure of the ridge system is strongly asymmetric: mantle densities and seismic velocities are lower and seismic anisotropy is stronger to the west of the rise axis.


Perennial grains hold promise, especially for marginal landscapes or with limited resources where annual versions struggle. Despite doubling of yields of major grain crops since the 1950s, more than one in seven people suffer from malnutrition (1). Global population is growing; demand for food, especially meat, is increasing; much land most suitable for annual crops is already in use; and production of nonfood goods (e.g., biofuels) increasingly competes with food production for land (2). The best lands have soils at low or moderate risk of degradation under annual grain production but make up only 12.6% of global land area (16.5 million km2) (3). Supporting more than 50% of world population is another 43.7 million km2 of marginal lands (33.5% of global land area), at high risk of degradation under annual grain production but otherwise capable of producing crops (3). Global food security depends on annual grains—cereals, oilseeds, and legumes—planted on almost 70% of croplands, which combined supply a similar portion of human calories (4, 5). Annual grain production, though, often compromises essential ecosystem services, pushing some beyond sustainable boundaries (5). To ensure food and ecosystem security, farmers need more options to produce grains under different, generally less favorable circumstances than those under which increases in food security were achieved this past century. Development of perennial versions of important grain crops could expand options.


Something weird is going on! It's Poetry Month! And Ms. Coco, who runs the gifted and talented program, is poetry crazy! She cries when she sees a sunset! She thinks boys should have feelings! She talks in rhyme! All the time! Will A.J.'s life ever be normal again?


We discuss the grammatical conditions that can be imposed between segmental content (features) and syllable structure (positions) and how a representational preference can influence diachronic development. The discussion centers on the co-distribution of two properties: occlusivity and bipositionality. The first is the phonological feature that induces occlusivity and reduces amplitude (that is: |ʔ|, which we will refer to as Edge(*) ), the second is the autosegmental structural property of belonging to multiple positions (which we refer to as 'C.C'). Edge(*) and bipositionality have a universal affinity but they are not reducible to each other. Instead, the inherent diachronic tendency to preserve Edge(*) in bipositional structures can become grammaticalised through licensing conditions that dictate the alignment of the two properties. This can be expressed bidirectionally, forming two major language types. Type A has the condition stated from the featural perspective ( Edge(*) must be found in C.C). While, Type B comes from the other direction (C.C must contain Edge(*) ). Crucially, the same structure is diachronically stable: ( Edge(*) -C.C). What varies is the distribution of those properties elsewhere (given the direction of licensing condition). Type A excludes Edge(*) from {#__,V_V}, while Type B excludes C.Cs without Edge(*) . Although there is variation on this point, there is a UG component, because there are no anti-Type A/B languages where Edge(*) repels bipositionality.


There has been growing interest in learning social structure underlying interaction data, especially when such data consist of both temporal and textual information. In this paper, we propose a novel nonparametric Bayesian model that incorporates senders and receivers of messages into a hierarchical structure that governs the content and reciprocity of communications. We bring the nested Chinese restaurant process from nonparametric Bayesian statistics to Hawkes process models of point pattern data. By modeling senders and receivers in such a hierarchical framework, we are better able to make inferences about the authorship and audience of communications, as well as individual behavior such as favorite collaborators and top-pick words. Empirical results show that our proposed model has improved predictions about event times and clusters. In addition, the latent structure revealed by our model provides a useful qualitative understanding of the data, facilitating interesting exploratory analyses.


Count Datasets contain relatively larger number of realizations of nonnegative integer-valued random variable. The nature necessitates application of regression models based on binomial probability distributions including Poisson, Zero-Inflated Poisson or Zero-Inflated Negative Binomial distributions to infer valid predictions. This paper will use micro-dataset from the British Household Panel Survey (Abbreviated and Well-known as BHPS) to identify factors determining the participation decisions to smoke at the individual level. It is evident from the results that the educated and married person's participation to smoke is lower than the participation of divorced and separated individuals. Congruent participation to smoke of unemployed or newly employed is higher. The empirical results persuade a more details investigation in a comparable theme to contribute to scarcity of research in health economics to determine causal factors of smoking and formulate more effective health policies.


Since the 1950s, the population of the Brown hare (Lepus europaeus) has dramatically decreased in Switzerland as well as in other European countries. According to the Swiss Ornithological Institute of Sempach, this animal is an adequate indicator of the state of the landscape. Its decrease is probably due to intensification of agricultural practices, extension of urbanism and development of transport networks (Pfister et al., 2002). Today, the Brown hare is on the Swiss Red list of species that must be protected. This thesis presents an analysis of the landscape dynamics of the North-Western part of Switzerland, from the 1950s to the 1990s, through an historical analysis of the state of the landscape as it is perceived by the hare. In particular, we identify the factors of the landscape that are relevant for this animal, determine their trend of evolution, and finally postulate hypotheses for the evolution over the next years and their consequences for the hare populations. For each decade, 936 communes are described, using 40 variables related to agricultural practices, land-use, morphology, urbanisation, climate and geography. This database is called "Landscape". These data, mainly extracted from communal statistics, were found to be adequate to describe the evolution of the composition of the landscape at a large scale. We studied the content, the quality and the organisation of this database "Landscape" with the help of descriptive statistical methods (data distribution, histograms and boxplots at each decade, dynamics of the statistical characteristic values) and using principal components analysis (PCA). The latter reveals two groups of communes: urban (belonging to an agglomeration) and rural. On average, it also shows a very definite evolution of the urban character of both groups, from the 1950s to the 1990s. The three first components of the PCA explain only 45% of the variance. Therefore, we decided not to simplify the database by replacing our variables by these agglomerated variables, as the loss of information would be important. Among the 40 variables, 16 key-variables for the hare were identified. For this, an "Index of abundance of hares" was calculated for a sub-set of 125 communes, defined as the mean number of hares hunted per total communal area between 1980 and 1985. The link between this index and the 40 variables, describing the state of 125 communes in the 1980s, was analysed with the use of correlation, linear multiple regression, the method Pegase (a multivariate hierarchical divisive procedure, based on information theory (Phipps, 1981)), and additional information from the Swiss Ornithological Institute of Sempach. These methods were found to be complementary and their use enables us to take into account several perspectives. It would be interesting to go further by calculating this index for a larger number of communes in order to optimise the use of Pegase. The main trends of evolution of these key-variables, observed on the 936 communes, between the 1950s and the 1990s, are: 1. Decrease in the fraction of agricultural area; 2. Intensification of agricultural practices, increase in the mean ownership unit area (mean parcel size), changes of the type of agriculture; 3. Urbanisation and increased private car use; 4. Slight increase in rainfall. Two scenarios of evolution of the landscape for the next years are defined. Presuming that the identified trends will continue (Scenario A), the situation of the population of the hare will rapidly become critical: 1. The slow decrease in agricultural area will induce a pressure on the potential habitat of the hare; 2. The strong increase in areas of road/rail will reduce the habitat of the hare and most of all induce a fragmentation of the landscape, as well as barriers that are often impassable for the hare; 3. The extremely rapid increase in the number of cars will lead to an increase in road kill; 4. The increase in mechanisation in the agricultural practices, shown by the increase in the mean parcel size, the decrease in the working force and the slight increase in the number of tractors, are three reasons of important disturbance of the hare's habitat. In addition, the increasing rainfall, even if small, makes it probably more difficult for the animal, as it doesn't appreciate wet soils. On the other hand, in case the areas with corn stay relatively stable, and the grants for land improvement keep on decreasing, gradually "replaced" by grants encouraging extensive agricultural practices like direct grants for ecological compensation measure, the situation of the hare could stop getting worse. This scenario corresponds to a management of the territory that would not take into account new constraints and needs appearing with time. In order to take this into account, a second scenario (B) is defined, which is less extreme. It is based on trends for the future discussed by the Federal Agency for Agriculture, in the proposal for a modification of the law in the canton Vaud on country planning and buildings, and in the monitoring of Swiss statistics of the country. Both scenarios are rather pessimistic: for more than half of the key-variables integrated in both scenarios, the evolution probably leads to a negative situation for the hare. As this species is a good indicator of the quality of the landscape (Pfister et al., 2002), we recommend to take into account the needs for this species in the future management of the territory. According to our results, it would be important for the hare population to remain stable or even increase: 1. To encourage extensive agricultural practices; 2. To slow down, or better stop, the extension of urban areas and road/rail networks; 3. To reduce private car use. As these two last recommendations seem quite unrealisable in the near future, we propose to extend the network of favourable structures for the hare: hedges, fallow land and other areas close to natural state. At the same time, a plan of observation has to be developed, in order to control the results of these measures. These measures would enable sustainable growth of hare population, and, at the same time, sustainable management of resources and our patrimony.


In this work, the persistent luminescence mechanisms of Tb3+ (in CdSiO3) and Eu2+ (in BaAl2O4) based on solid experimental data are compared. The photoluminescence spectroscopy shows the different nature of the inter- and intraconfigurational transitions for Eu2+ and Tb3+, respectively. The electron is the charge carrier in both mechanisms, implying the presence of electron acceptor defects. The preliminary structural analysis shows a free space in CdSiO3 able to accommodate interstitial oxide ions needed by charge compensation during the initial preparation. The subsequent annealing removes this oxide leaving behind an electron trap. Despite the low band gap energy for CdSiO3, determined with synchrotron radiation UV-VUV excitation spectroscopy of Tb3+, the persistent luminescence from Tb3+ is observed only with UV irradiation. The need of high excitation energy is due to the position of 7F6 level deep below the bottom of the conduction band, as determined with the 4f8→4f75d1 and the ligand-to-metal charge-transfer transitions. Finally, the persistent luminescence mechanisms are constructed and, despite the differences, the mechanisms for Tb3+ and Eu2+ proved to be rather similar. This similarity confirms the solidity of the interpretation of experimental data for the Eu2+ doped persistent luminescence materials and encourages the use of similar models for other persistent luminescence materials.


For the U.S. economy, the last quarter of the 19th century brought the closing of the Western frontier, agricultural hardship in the South, the rise of large corporations and trusts, and the emergence of a serious labor movement. The fledgling American economics profession struggled to document and prescribe for the confounding mix of industrialization, urbanization, and rural crisis. In 1900, the relatively small community of serious economic researchers focused on applied issues in public policy and industrial organization. The prominent institutionalist school, strongly influenced by the almost millennial theories of the social gospel movement, emphasized the inequities of the emerging economy and looked forward to a new, more cooperative system of production. On the eve of the 20th century, John Bates Clark published in 1899 The Distribution of Wealth: A Theory of Wages, Interest and Profit. With this volume, neoclassicism matured into a major intellectual force within American economic thought, with Clark as its defining figure. Clark's analytical approach and his normative purposes hardly went unchallenged. Moreover, the great majority of economists in the United States continued to work in the institutionalist vein up to World War II. Nevertheless, by viewing the American neoclassical advent in the context of its own time, we can gain a deeper understanding of both American economics at the turn of the 20th century and the early character of the school that came to dominate our discipline.


Patrizia Zeppegno Institute of Psychiatry, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, via Solaroli 17, 28100 Novara, Italy • Tel./Fax +39 0321 390163/+39 0321 3733121 • E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Summary The human body has a complex meaning and role in everybody's life and experience. Body image has two main components: body percept (the internal visual image of body shape and size) and body concept (the level of satisfaction with one's body), whose specific alterations may lead to different conditions, such as overestimation of one's own body dimensions, negative feelings and thoughts towards the body, body avoidance and body checking behavior. Moreover, body dissatisfaction can be associated with a variety of other mental health and psychosocial conditions, but only a few studies have explored the body image construct in orthorexia nervosa (ON). ON is a condition characterized by concern and fixation about healthy eating, with mixed results available in the literature about the presence of body image disorders. The aim of this manuscript is to present the main findings from the literature about the psychopathology of body image in ON. Summarizing, while theoretically the presence of body image disturbances should help clinicians to differentiate ON from eating disorders, further research is needed to confirm this finding. It is not clear whether the body image disorder in ON depends on an altered body percept or body concept, and the relationship between the disordered eating behavior and body image disorder still needs to be disentangled. Further studies regarding the relationship between ON and body image could be helpful to better understand the relevance of body image as a transdiagnostic factor and its potential value as target for treatment interventions.


In "I must save my life and not risk my family's safety!": Untold Stories of Syrian Women Surviving War , Alhayek provides several case studies of Syrian women whose lives were irreversibly changed as a result of the events that unfolded after March 2011. The stories of these women vividly illustrate how difficult it is to come up with a neat and easily accessible profile for the suffering of Syrian women. Yet, this is precisely what Western media, albeit sympathetic, has attempted to achieve. Stories on child brides being sold to wealthy old men from the Gulf, though on the surface highlighting the suffering that Syrian women have undergone, are shown by Alhayek to have grossly misrepresented not only Syrian women, who are in fact as complex and multi-faceted as their Western counterparts, but also Syrian families for being willing to take part in such arrangements in the first place. Through interviews with six Syrian women, Alhayek brings home the idea that our understanding of the Syrian Uprising must be based on stories that are collected from below rather than on stereotypes imposed from above. The case studies defy any simplified narrative that one may wish to impose on them. In one case study, for example, the army is directly responsible for killing civilians, while in the other the army is shown to have been very respectful of women, especially in the early phase of the Uprising.


Abstract New petrological and U–Pb zircon geochronological information has been obtained from intrusive plutonic rocks and migmatites from the Cap de Creus massif (Eastern Pyrenees) in order to constrain the timing of the thermal and tectonic evolution of this northeasternmost segment of Iberia during late Palaeozoic time. Zircons from a deformed syntectonic quartz diorite from the northern Cap de Creus Tudela migmatitic complex yield a mean age of 298.8±3.8 Ma. A syntectonic granodiorite from the Roses pluton in the southern area of lowest metamorphic grade of the massif has been dated at 290.8±2.9 Ma. All the analysed zircons from two samples of migmatitic rocks yield inherited ages from the Precambrian metasedimentary protolith (with two main age clusters at c. 730–542 Ma and c. 2.9–2.2 Ga). However, field structural relationships indicate that migmatization occurred synchronously with the emplacement of the quartz dioritic magmas at c. 299 Ma. Thus, the results of this study suggest that subduction-related calc-alkaline magmatic activity in the Cap de Creus was coeval and coupled with D2 dextral transpression involving NNW–SSE crustal shortening during Late Carboniferous – Early Permian time (c. 299–291 Ma). Since these age determinations are within the range of those obtained for undeformed (or slightly deformed) calc-alkaline igneous rocks from NE Iberia, it follows that the Cap de Creus massif would represent a zone of intense localization of D2 transpression and subsequent D3 ductile wrenching that extended into the Lower Permian during a transitional stage between the Variscan and Cimmerian cycles.


Briggsia leiophylla , a new species of Gesnericeae from southern Guizhou, China, is here described and illustrated. It is morphologically similar to B. longipes (Hemsl. ex Oliv.) Craib, but can be easily distinguished by only one flower per cyme (rare two), brightly yellow and nearly glabrous corolla, anthers thecae confluent.


Russian Language Abroad in the 19th century: The Gravestone of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev and the Knowledge of Russian in SwedenThe article contains an analysis of the inscription on the gravestone of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev (1769–1809), preserved in the church if Bygdea in Sweden. Initially, the author provides some information in the history if Russo-Swedish relations, mainly if the 18th and 19th centuries, and describes the role of interpreters in military conflicts. The author also points to the importance of some grammatical works on the Russian language published in Swedish. The author sketches a portrait of Major General S. S. Gotovtsev, a military leader during the Russo-Swedish war of 1808–1809. In the article, particular attention is paid to the palaeographic analysis of the text on the gravestone: stylistic features of the inscription, analysis of spelling and distortion. The paper ends with some tentative conclusions concerning the level of knowledge of Russian in Sweden in the early 19th century outside the central administration.


This thesis discusses the topic of Boolean algebras. In order to build intuitive understanding of the topic, research began with the investigation of Boolean algebras in the area of Abstract Algebra. The content of this initial research used a particular notation. The ideas of partially ordered sets, lattices, least upper bounds, and greatest lower bounds were used to define the structure of a Boolean algebra. From this fundamental understanding, we were able to study atoms, Boolean algebra isomorphisms, and Stone's Representation Theorem for finite Boolean algebras. We also verified and proved many properties involving Boolean algebras and related structures. We then expanded our study to more thoroughly developed theory. This comprehensive theory was more abstract and required the use of a different, more universal, notation. We continued examining least upper and greatest lower bounds but extended our knowledge to subalgebras and families of subsets. The notions of cardinality, cellularity, and pairwise disjoint families were investigated, defined, and then used to understand the Erdös-Tarski Theorem. Lastly, this study concluded with the investigation of denseness and incomparability as well as normal forms and the completion of Boolean algebras.


When a manufacturer contracts secretly with competing retailers he is subject to opportunism, and linear or non-linear tariffs may not allow the manufacturer to maintain monopoly prices. To analyse the effects of RPM, O'Brien-Shaffer (1992) use a concept of contract equilibrium which concentrates on pairwise deviations thereby questioning the robustness of the analysis. This paper emphasises the distinction between the contract equilibrium and standard non-cooperative concepts. We advocate for some caution in the use of the former concept, as if overlooks an inexistence problem. We then confirm the intuition that RPM can help solve the manufacturer's commitment problem. This confirms that O'Brien-Shaffer's insight is robust and validates the courts' reluctance against RPM.


The objective of the study was to establish hygiene and health-seeking practices most likely to be predictors of nutritional insecurity among children living in slums. A cross-sectional study was conducted from March to May 1997 comparing 192 households with and 192 without malnourished children. All the households with children in the 3 - 36-month age group were identified. Using underweight (weight-for-age) as an indicator of nutritional insecurity the households were classified into two groups namely nutritionally secure and insecure households. Subsequently sampling frames for each set of households were established and used to select the study households randomly. Four slums in Addis Ababa Ethiopia constituted the study sites. The results indicated that there was not a significant difference between secure and insecure households with regard to prevalence of immunisation and dietary (food withholding) habits during episodes of diarrhoea. After adjusting (by means of logistical regression) for covariates six household behaviours were established as having the power to predict exposure to childhood nutritional insecurity in urban slums of Ethiopia. The presence of childrens faeces inside the house failure to have diarrhoea treated at a health facility prolonged storage of cooked foods (beyond 24 hours) feeding children with unwashed hands and poor handling of drinking water and foods are risk factors that can predict nutritional insecurity. Advice with a view to achieving sustainable behaviour change in households namely good personal and household hygiene practices and increased utilisation of health facilities is recommended as being essential in addressing challenges to nutritional insecurity and in optimising the success of public health programmes. (authors)


Global food safety is a pressing and complex issue in the terrain of global governance and institutional design. However, the role of international law in food safety has not been satisfactorily appreciated by relevant international institutions and states at the multilateral level. The lack of scientific consensus, bottlenecks in WTO negotiations, and the WHO's reluctance to further engage in international food-safety lawmaking have arguably discouraged states from seeking multilateral solutions at this stage. When facing increasing public pressure in recent years, some states have gradually shifted to bilateral approaches pragmatic enough to address their imminent needs. This article examines bilateral agreements as such between China, the United States, the European Union, and Japan, and argues that "SPS-plus" elements have emerged as a common feature of such bilateral arrangements. This article further discusses the respective roles of multilateralism and bilateralism in tackling the global food-safety problem. Rather than provide an ultimate solution, the conclusion offers some recommendations and caveats on the search for optimal institutional designs for global food safety.


A circular argument has been developed and further propagated through a series of studies that link a major climate-modifying eruption in the 15 th century with Kuwae caldera in Vanuatu. Clear evidence in both N and S hemi- spheres suggests a major eruption with global atmospheric sulphur loading occurred in 1455-56. Concurrent 14 C determi- nations from pyroclastic units and estimations of caldera size have been used to link this event to Kuwae. The 1964 de- fined and 1994 relocated "Kuwae" caldera structures are both large, but our recent proximal mapping and earlier archaeo- logical studies reveal no evidence for a high intensity (VEI 6) eruption of this age from either centre. Instead, the mid 1400's strata record localised pyroclastic flow deposition from multiple events, with little evidence for fall deposits. De- positional and clast character imply a largely or wholly submarine nature of the eruptions, indicating they were unlikely to have generated global climate impacts.


Objective Determine the proportion of athletes who have a recurrence of concussion symptoms with exercise after being symptom free at rest. Design Prospective cohort studyProspective cohort study Setting Sport Concussion clinic Participants Patients diagnosed with a concussion and returned to the clinic after resuming exercise. Intervention Assessment of risk factors Outcome measures Our main outcome variable was recurrence of symptoms with exercise after being symptom free at rest while recovering from a sport-related concussion. Co-factors included age, gender, loss of consciousness with injury, prior concussions (diagnosed and undiagnosed), post-concussion symptom scale (PCSS) score, time until clinical presentation, and duration of symptoms. Main Results Of the 217 patients included, 25 (12%) experienced a return of symptoms. Losing consciousness at the time of injury (aOR=0.079, 95%CI=0.003–0.563) and a longer time period between injury and clinic presentation (aOR=0.936, 95%CI=0.877–0.984) were associated with a decreased risk of symptoms recurring with exercise, while those athletes that had sustained previous undiagnosed concussions (aOR=5.036, 95%CI=1.634–16.83), and had suffered a longer duration of symptoms at rest (aOR=1.006, 95%CI=1.002–1.010) were at increased risk of symptoms recurrence with exercise. Conclusions Relatively few athletes who are symptom free at rest after a concussion will have a recurrence of symptoms when they start exercising. The risk of symptoms recurring with exercise may be higher among those athletes who have sustained previous undiagnosed concussion and had a longer period of symptoms at re. Competing interests None. Dr. Meehan receives royalties from ABC-Clio publishing for the book, Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A guide for coaches and parents, from Springer International for the book, Head and Neck Injuries in Young Athletes, and from Wolters Kluwer for working as an author for UpToDate. He is under contract with ABC-Clio publishing for a future book entitled, Concussions. His research is funded, in part, by the Football Players Health Study at Harvard, which is funded by the National Football League Players Association and by philanthropic support from the National Hockey League Alumni Association through the Corey C. Griffin Pro-Am Tournament. Dr. O'Brien receives royalties from Wolters Kluwer for working as an author for UpToDate and from Springer International publishing for the book, Head and Neck Injuries in Young Athletes. Dr. Howell and Mr. Pepin have nothing to disclose.


Fossil Time: oil, art and the body in the cosmopolitics of the Anthropocene – An artistic and theoretical investigation on fossil fuels, industrial agencies in nature and their reflections on social structures and power systems. With the goal of inspecting the operation of the arts in the cosmopolitical battles of the present – especially in the new geological epoch called Anthropocene – the article analyses performance and sculpture as practices that could materialize crossings of temporalities and dimensions, reflecting on the encounter between the scales of the human and the planet. Bruno Latour's Actor-network theory is a departing point for conceptual speculations, developed with the freedom and experimentation that moves artistic research.


Musicians and nonmusicians synchronized drum-beating movements to sound sequences composed of 90 successive interonset intervals that increased or decreased continually by various amounts of time. After the end of a sequence, they continued to produce 30 beats without interruption. Synchronization appeared both smooth and accurate for all levels of changing tempo. In general, actions preceded sounds with increasing intervals and lagged behind sounds with decreasing intervals, indicating that the stimulus change was not fully predicted. There was a tendency for the continuation intervals to change in the reverse direction of the preceding synchronization intervals, suggesting that the system retains information about the tempo change. We discuss these results in terms of the demands tempo change makes on timing mechanisms, and what they reveal about participants' ability to create and sustain an internal nonisochronous periodic process.


This article discusses the Supreme Court's 2002 Hoffman Plastic Compounds opinion, normally considered in terms of its social justice ramifications, from the different perspective of NLRB attorneys tasked with pursuing enforcement of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) under the conceptually (and practically) odd rubric that some NLRA employees (unauthorized workers) have no remedy under the NLRA. The article focuses on three problems evincing paradox. First, NLRB attorneys prosecuting cases involving these workers will probably gain knowledge of unlawful background immigration conduct. To what extent must the attorneys disclose it, and to whom? Second, NLRB attorneys are extraordinarily reliant on the broad crediting of employee witnesses to establish unlawful employer conduct. How can NLRB attorneys win credibility-based cases heard before judges who may be predisposed to disbelieve witnesses based on the witnesses' unauthorized status? Third, after Hoffman bargaining units under the NLRA, which are certified when a union gains the support of a majority of employees in a work setting, can be severely impacted by the absence of a discharge remedy. How can the structural integrity of the NLRA be maintained if employers may simply discharge union-represented, unauthorized workers, without real remedial consequence, until the union's majority support, and with it the employer's obligation to bargain, is destroyed? Assessing the NLRB's peculiar, post-Hoffman investigative policy of assiduously avoiding immigration issues, the article contrarily recommends active engagement with the problems identified, and chides the agency's failure to embrace new paradox in the expanding immigrant workplace as a serious abdication of its mission.


The aim of this study was to determine the perception of the veterinary medicine (VM) students about the presence of stray dogs and their control strategies in Lima. Peru. For this purpose, a self-application questionnaire was designed with multiplechoice questions with one or more response options. It was anonymously applied to VM students from two universities in Lima, after validation of content by expert judges (Binomial distribution test) and a pilot test to students of VM from a third university to assess the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha statistical test). A total of 457 surveys were analyzed. Results showed that 36.5% (167) of the respondents perceived stray dogs on the streets had owner. Respondents felt that the main problems felt by these animals were malnutrition (86.7%) parasitism (62.8%) and accidents (54.9%), and the main problems stray dogs cause were unwanted reproduction (76.1%), zoonoses (47.9%) and breaking of garbage bags (40.7%). Students attribute responsibility to address the problem to district municipalities (86.4%) and the Ministry of Health (60.6%). To control the problem, students considered sterilizations (79.0%), adoptions (70.9%) and neutering (60.8%) as the most viable options.


Appendage patterning and evolution have been active areas of inquiry for the past two centuries. While most work has centered on the skeleton, particularly that of amniotes, the evolutionary origins and molecular underpinnings of the neuromuscular diversity of fish appendages have remained enigmatic. The fundamental pattern of segmentation in amniotes, for example, is that all muscle precursors and spinal nerves enter either the paired appendages or body wall at the same spinal level. The condition in finned vertebrates is not understood. To address this gap in knowledge, we investigated the development of muscles and nerves in unpaired and paired fins of skates and compared them to those of chain catsharks. During skate and shark embryogenesis, cell populations of muscle precursors and associated spinal nerves at the same axial level contribute to both appendages and body wall, perhaps representing an ancestral condition of gnathostome appendicular neuromuscular systems. Remarkably in skates, this neuromuscular bifurcation as well as colinear Hox expression extend posteriorly to pattern a broad paired fin domain. In addition, we identified migratory muscle precursors (MMPs), which are known to develop into paired appendage muscles with Pax3 and Lbx1 gene expression, in the dorsal fins of skates. Our results suggest that muscles of paired fins have evolved via redeployment of the genetic program of MMPs that were already involved in dorsal fin development. Appendicular neuromuscular systems most likely have emerged as side branches of body wall neuromusculature and have been modified to adapt to distinct aquatic and terrestrial habitats.


The piriform aperture is an anatomical structure generally pear-shaped, formed by some facial bones. The knowledge of its morphological presentation is of significant importance for performing a surgical procedure. This study aimed to analyze the morphometry and shape of the piriform aperture in human skulls, considering the sexual dimorphism of this structure. One hundre d (100) human skulls were evaluated. The measurements were made with a digital caliper rule. Two parameters were analyzed: the he ight of the piriform aperture (R-ANS) distance between the bottom edge of internasal suture to the anterior nasal spine; width (PA -W) t e longest distance in a transverse plane. Its form was evaluated according to seven types described in the literature and the sex differentiation (based on the Vanrell frame). For data analysis between sexes, we used the Student's t-test (p<0.05; CI: 95 %). In this study i t was observed that the height (R-ANS) of the piriform aperture in males (31.4 mm) was higher than in females (29.4 mm), without sign ifican differences. The width (PA-W) had equal means values for both sexes (25.7 mm). Regarding the shape of the pyriform aperture, it was found that the type I (pear) is the most common in males (43.6 %) and in women the type VII (rounded) is the predominant type ( 36 %). When sexes were evaluated in a combined manner, it was observed that the most common was the type I (pear 39.1 %) and the les s common were type III (diamond 0.0 %), type II (inverted heart 1.6 %) and type IV (inverted heart 3.1 %). Knowledge of the se morphometric data and piriform aperture formats is essential for surgical procedures involving this anatomical region. The resu lts, particularly those related to the shape of the piriform aperture in women, may contribute to future work related to this facial structure, leading to better surgical decisions.


Clustering accuracy of partitional clustering algorithm for categorical data primarily depends upon the choice of initial data points (modes) to instigate the clustering process. Traditionally initial modes are chosen randomly. As a consequence of that, the clustering results cannot be generated and repeated consistently. In this paper we present an approach to compute initial modes for K-mode clustering algorithm to cluster categorical data sets. Here, we utilize the idea of Evidence Accumulation for combining the results of multiple clusterings. Initially, n F - dimensional data is decomposed into a large number of compact clusters; the K-modes algorithm performs this decomposition, with several clusterings obtained by N random initializations of the K- modes algorithm. The modes thus obtained from every run of random initializations are stored in a Mode-Pool, PN. The objective is to investigate the contribution of those data objects/patterns that are less vulnerable to the choice of random selection of modes and to choose the most diverse set of modes from the available Mode-Pool that can be utilized as initial modes for the K-mode clustering algorithm. Experimentally we found that by this method we get initial modes that are very similar to the actual/desired modes and gives consistent and better clustering results with less variance of clustering error than the traditional method of choosing random modes.


We investigate in real space amplitude and phase distributions of light in photonic nanojets emerging from micrometer-sized dielectric spheres with a high-resolution interference microscope. Strong localization of light and a Gouy phase anomaly are witnessed. We show that the phase advance of photonic nanojets significantly deviates from a plane wave due to the sudden transition from a converging to a diverging wave front. Understanding such phase anomalies and verifying the presence of photonic nanojets promises to pave the way to prospective applications that may exploit the ability to localize light in spatial domains smaller than the usual resolution limit.


Fish is traditionally considered a healthy and pure food. However, with the development of modern aquaculture, a range of potentially controversial issues are emerging. These could significantly impact the future success of the industry. In the absence of in-depth data on lay perceptions on farmed fish and fish farming, this paper utilises media representations as a proxy for public opinion. Media representations of aquaculture were investigated in Germany, Norway and the UK over a five-year timeframe (May 2002 to May 2007). A total of 1049 articles from both broadsheet and tabloid newspapers were analyzed with the qualitative software Atlas/ti. We compare the article framings crossnationally, focusing in-depth on four major analytical themes which emerged: the environment, the economy, human health and trust/regulation. Despite general similarities, these themes are represented with different salience and foci across the countries of analysis. These divergent media representations of aquaculture are discussed in terms of their likely impacts on lay perceptions of farmed fish and fish farming. In turn, the understanding of consumer perceptions is a vital component for policy making about aquaculture.


Medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, is currently treated with nonspecific cytotoxic therapies including surgery, radiation, and aggressive chemotherapy. Despite enhancements in treatment strategies, the majority of medulloblastoma cancer patients are left with significant neurological, intellectual and physical disabilities secondary to the effects of these nonspecific cytotoxic therapies on the developing brain. Therefore, additional therapeutic possibilities need to be explored to minimize adverse effects and increase response rate in medulloblastoma patients. A major challenge of brain tumor surgery is removing all of the tumor tissues while preserving as much healthy brain tissue as possible. The extent of surgical resection can modulate 5-year survival potential by 30- 50%, far greater than the impact of any drug - yet there has never been a clinical trial focused on improving surgical outcomes. With the goal of improving detection of cancer foci during surgical resection, our lab developed NP-chitosan-Chlorotoxin-Cy5.5 nanoparticle, also known as tumor paint nanoparticle. In the first part of my thesis, I have shown simple near-infrared fluorescence based methodology to assess the pharmacokinetic properties of these nanoparticles. These data obtained can be incorporated into early nanoparticle synthesis decisions as well as more detailed documentation required for the FDA approval for human clinical trials. As medulloblastoma exhibits marked intertumor heterogeneity, with at least four distinct molecular variants, patients may require separate therapeutic strategies. The development of a targeted inhibitor of a pathway that is implicated in malignancy, together with identification of patient populations most likely to respond to these therapies may offer more effective therapeutic option than standard treatment strategies available in clinics. The second part of my dissertation work involves investigating the efficacy and pharmacodynamic effects of saridegib (IPI-926), one of the Sonic hedgehog (Shh) pathway inhibitors identified, in Shh-driven mouse model of medulloblastoma. Although saridegib has shown effectiveness in reducing and eliminating tumor cells in mice initially, drug resistance inevitably occurred. Understanding the mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapy and developing strategies to overcome them are critical for achieving long-term efficacy of targeted therapy in patients. Therefore, I further investigated mechanisms adopted by medulloblastoma cells during cancer progression. I found that overexpression of the Pgp drug transporter contributes to drug resistance in Shh-driven medulloblastoma and the combination of saridegib with Pgp inhibitor partially reversed the drug resistance. Our data provide a strong rationale for the use of a concurrent combination of Shh pathway inhibitors with Pgp inhibitors for the treatment of medulloblastoma and suggest that this approach may delay the development of resistance to Shh pathway inhibitors. The last part of my dissertation work involved engineering cysteine rich peptides toward the goal of producing Pgp-insensitive therapies for medulloblastoma. Toward this goal, I used a nature-derived knottin peptide as a scaffold and computationally designed variants that could specifically bind to glypican-2, which is overexpressed in medulloblastoma. My aim was to express only a fragment of midkine, a known ligand of glypican-2, that would bind to glypican-2 but not crosslink with growth factor signaling pathways, thereby inhibiting tumor growth. Our ultimate goal is to generate cysteine knot peptide variants capable of targeting and killing brain tumor initiating cells in medulloblastoma patients. This work may provide significant clinical benefit to human medulloblastoma patients, and may serve as an important step towards integrating knottin drugs into mainstream therapy.


Internal migration in South Africa has a strong gender dimension. Historically, the apartheid-era migrant labour system meant that predominantly black African men moved to urban areas without their families. After the abolition of influx controls in 1986, many women relocated, presumably to join their male partners. The period of migration feminization was also coupled with labour market feminization. However, existing research shows that increased female labour supply was poorly matched by labour market absorption, leading to rising unemployment among black African women. This paper studies incentives for female migration in this context, by building a gravity model of male and female inter-municipal migration. We find that neither men nor women move primarily for family reasons. Instead, they follow the traditional male migrant route to well-lit economic centres. Women also do not migrate primarily for increases in their own labour market opportunities, but tend to flock to regions where other fortunate groups have higher earnings potential. While this might signal that migrants base relocation decisions on incorrect information (and could in turn explain why many migrants have unfulfilled expectations), our results also show that women not only move for work, but for public services. The implications are twofold if migration is to alleviate poverty in the long run: firstly, in the short run, management of public resources must improve, as poor (women) place large emphasis on their effect; and secondly, labour market barriers – especially into the informal sector – should be better understood.


Purpose. To study the relationship of biometric parameters, visual acuity, eye refraction and intraocular pressure (IOP) with blood glucose levels and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) in patients with subcompensated insulin-requiring type II diabetes mellitus. Material and methods. Ophthalmic monitoring lasted 3 years, the experience of insulin therapy — 6 years. 32 patients (27 women and 5 men) with insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus and no severe general diabetic complications or concomitant eye pathology were monitored for 3 years. The patients' average age was 60.4 ± 5.3 years; average weight 94.3 ± 16.5 kg; average height 163.4 cm; average BMI (body mass index) was 29.93 kg/m2, all received insulin treatment for 6 years. Patients determined the level of blood glucose themselves on a daily basis using individual "Accu-Check" and/or "OneTouch select" glucometers, supplemented by endocrinologist checks on scheduled examinations once a month. The level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was determined once every 3–6 months. The 3-year ophthalmic monitoring involved both eyes and included biomicroscopy, autorefractometry, pneumotonometry, measurement of the anterior-posterior axis, the depth of the anterior chamber and lens thickness; pachymetry of the cornea in the central optical zone, and ophthalmoscopy. Visometry was performed according to ETDRS (Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study Research Group) requirements. Results. The impact of blood glucose level on visual acuity (Spearman R = 0.18/-0.23, t (N-2) = 1.07/-1.34, p = 0.1) is higher than that of HbA1c (Spearman R = 0.07/-0.15, t (N-2) = 0.4/-0.8, p = 0.65) The higher the glucose level, the lower the depth of the anterior chamber and the shorter the APA. In contrast, the higher the level of HbA1c, the thicker the cornea in the central optical zone. Both the glucose and the HbA1c levels reveal a similar positive correlations with IOP. A refraction shift toward myopia from 42 % to 55 % was shown to correlate to HbA1c, and a  corresponding reduction of hyperopia share was revealed. Conclusions. In patients with  subcompensated insulin-requiring diabetes mellitus type II, biometric parameters, refraction and intraocular pressure are determined by changes in the level of blood glycemia.


»Die Bedeutung des Blicks zurück in die Geschichte: Fertilität vor dem "Geburtenrückgang"«. In this paper, I argue that living with no or few children and low fertility was widespread in pre-industrial societies. After a critical discussion of demographic transition theory and the concept of "natural fertility", I investigate fertility in early modern Europe. In doing so, I follow the suggestion of "cultural demography" and combine quantitative and qualitative research. I show a great extent and many variations of deliberate birth control before the "fertility decline" took place. This finding should help to see the actual level of fertility as less exceptional and dramatic than it is often claimed.


Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes consist of granitic cores surrounded by, in an outward direction, mylonite, chloritic breccia, and microbreccia. These rocks are separated by a low-angle detachment fault from typically unmetamorphosed but normally faulted rocks. Rocks above the detachment fault have been transported, relative to the core rocks, in one consistent direction, giving a distinct lineation to rocks below the detachment fault. Dome-shaped metamorphic core-complex mountains show considerable structural control of landforms. Mylonitic rocks develop triangular dome facets around the margins and low relief areas in the central parts of the complexes. Chloritic breccia is much less resistant to erosion and has been almost completely removed from many complexes. Drainage patterns in metamorphic core complexes are mainly radial, but an older set of drainage lines parallel to mylonitic lineation, especially channels that drain down the crests of antiformal ridges, suggests that drainage developed on a ramp on the detachment fault and the underlying breccia prior to lineation-parallel arching.


Emerging distributed-ledger networks are changing the landscape for environments of low trust among participating entities. Implementing such technologies in transportation infrastructure communications and operations would enable, in a secure fashion, decentralized collaboration among entities who do not fully trust each other. This work models a transportation records and events data collection system enabled by a Hyperledger Fabric blockchain network and simulated using a transportation environment modeling tool. A distributed vehicle records management use case is shown with the capability to detect and prevent unauthorized vehicle odometer tampering. Another use case studied is that of vehicular data collected during the event of an accident. It relies on broadcast data collected from the Vehicle Ad-hoc Network (VANET) and submitted as witness reports from nearby vehicles or road-side units who observed the event taking place or detected misbehaving activity by vehicles involved in the accident. Mechanisms for the collection, validation, and corroboration of the reported data which may prove crucial for vehicle accident forensics are described and their implementation is discussed. A performance analysis of the network under various loads is conducted with results suggesting that tailored endorsement policies are an effective mechanism to improve overall network throughput for a given channel. The experimental testbed shows that Hyperledger Fabric and other distributed ledger technologies hold promise for the collection of transportation data and the collaboration of applications and services that consume it.


ABSTRACT This paper presents, for the first time, a complete list of Mesozoic radiolarian species (mainly Polycistina) described between 1867 and 2008. It records 6296 taxa names described originally as new species or subspecies. The list provides only an objective record without revision of taxonomic status, and thus includes invalid taxa, junior objective or subjective synonyms, nomina dubia and nomina nuda.


The virtuous cycle of integrated-circuit (IC) technology advancement has resulted in the proliferation of information and communication technology with revolutionary economic and social impact. Advancements in lithography have been critical to sustaining Moore's law over the past 50+ years. As the minimum feature size of an IC has been scaled down well below the wavelength of light used in the photolithographic process, however, the semiconductor industry has faced a growing challenge of continuing to increase the density of transistors at ever lower cost per transistor. This paper discusses a cost-effective method for defining sublithographic features that can help to extend the era of Moore's Law.


Objectives The aim of the study was to determine whether a decrease in sexual desire is more prevalent among women using hormonal contraception than among women using hormone-free contraception, and whether a decrease increases the risk of changing to another contraceptive method. Methods A validated questionnaire was posted to 3740 women (aged 22, 25 or 28 years) living in Sweden. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results; differences between groups were tested using χ2 analyses. A multiple logistic regression model was used for analysis of possible confounders. Results The response rate was 50%. The majority (81%) of respondents used some kind of contraception, and 88% were generally satisfied with the method used. Regardless of the type of method, 27% of hormonal contraceptive users reported a decrease in sexual desire that they attributed to their use of hormonal contraception, whereas only 12% of women using hormone-free contraception reported a decrease in sexual desire (p<0.01). This twofold risk of a decrease in sexual desire was shown in the multiple regression analysis to be independent of age group, depression, BMI, educational level and parity. However, having a partner was found to be a factor of equal importance: women with partners experienced reduced desire twice as often as women without partners. The observed odds ratio for planning to stop hormonal contraception or to change to a different type due to reduced desire was 8.16 (95% confidence interval 6.65-10.1) among women who had had the same experience during a previous period of hormonal contraceptive use. Conclusions Women using hormonal contraception were more likely to experience reduced sexual desire compared with women using hormone-free contraception. Experiencing reduced desire was a strong predictive factor for women to change contraceptive method.


This article provides a comprehensive theoretical model for analysing the influence of European party federations (Europarties) on their Central and Eastern European (CEE) partner parties. It draws on the concepts of Europeanization and party change and is, in principle, applicable to similar processes of party enlargement elsewhere. In the process of their Eastern enlargement, Europarties have searched for suitable CEE partner parties on which they have tried to exert influence. Thus far, little is known about the precise mechanisms involved and the actual impact of these processes. We argue that Europarty influence leads to party change on the side of the CEE partners, which brings about 'West-Europeanization'. Europarties are expected to apply a double strategy that consists of a process of political exchange based on a largely asymmetric power relationship in favour of Europarties and a socialization strategy in which Europarties try to socialize their partners and convince them of the appropriateness of change. We present the theoretical and analytical tools for the analysis of the arguably largest extension of transnational party organizations, which provides ample testing ground for more general theories on party change. Furthermore, we present preliminary empirical evidence on the two most important cases, namely the European People's Party and the Party of European Socialists, which indicates that Europarties played an important role in the development of CEE parties and party systems in general.