ABSTRACT Issues like police-community relations, violence—from neighborhood to global levels, economic inequality, and climate change have been only minimally addressed within behavior analysis, despite the oft repeated mantra that they are all at root behavioral. Disciplines determine the scope of their interests; behavior analysis and behavioral systems analysis have long claimed at least potential expertise in changing not only individual behavior, but also the collective and interlocking functioning of larger institutions and systems. In this paper we note that standard organizational behavior management (OBM) practices primarily emphasizing centralized leadership are unlikely to be adequate for such work. We therefore argue that collective leadership, a strategy that has not been emphasized in OBM, will be required to operationalize behavioral systems interventions in situations where centralized leadership is impossible or dangerous, and suggest circle processes as one behaviorally specifiable approach to constructing collective leadership, an approach that behavioral systems analysts are well-positioned to test and refine.


Subsea pipelines represent the most cost effective way of transporting oil and gas from the subsea field to the market. A large network of subsea pipelines has therefore been installed both at the Norwegian continental shelf an elsewhere. In the near-shore areas of Norway, the seabed is irregular and pipeline free-spans are unavoidable. This in combination with significant current action, may cause vortex induced vibration (VIV) and fatigue in the pipeline welds. This project focus on studying the fatigue performance of free-spanning pipelines using a combination of FEM analysis and the DnV recommended practices.


BACKGROUND
Despite their often weak evidence base, contraindications convey the unequivocally adverse risk-benefit profile of an intervention in a specific clinical context. However, some patients in that context may nonetheless prefer the contraindicated intervention (with its potential benefits and risks) to the available alternatives. The impact of contraindications on treatment decisions remains unexplored.

OBJECTIVE
To provide an estimate of the impact of the "contraindication" label on treatment decisions.

METHODS
We conducted an international 6-wave email/internet and fax survey of practicing clinicians who were members of the American Diabetes Association or the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and had available email addresses and fax numbers. Each participant considered one of two patient scenarios. In each scenario, the patient expressed a strong preference for use of a medication that carried a "contraindication" label despite weak evidence of harm. We designed these scenarios so that respondents who placed greater weight on patient preferences and research evidence than on the label "contraindication" would be ready to prescribe the contraindicated medication. We determined the frequency with which the label "contraindication" dominated participants' treatment decisions despite patient preferences and weak evidence of harm.

RESULTS
466 participants responded (22% response rate). Depending on the group and scenario, contraindications dominated the decisions of 47% to 89% of surveyed clinicians, superseding patient preferences and research evidence.

CONCLUSIONS
The label "contraindication" may often dominate clinicians' decisions about treatment and may compromise evidence-based, patient-centered clinical practice. Further research should elucidate the process that leads to the formulation of contraindications and its impact on treatment decision-making.


Before the Civil War, American writers such as Catharine Maria Sedgwick and Harriet Beecher Stowe had established authorship as a respectable profession for women. But though they had written some of the most popular and influential novels of the century, they accepted the taboo against female writers, regarding themselves as educators and businesswomen. During and after the Civil War, some women writers began to challenge this view, seeing themselves as artists writing for themselves and for posterity. Writing for Immortality studies the lives and works of four prominent members of the first generation of American women who strived for recognition as serious literary artists: Louisa May Alcott, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Elizabeth Stoddard, and Constance Fenimore Woolson. Combining literary criticism and cultural history, Anne E. Boyd examines how these authors negotiated the masculine connotation of "artist," imagining a space for themselves in the literary pantheon. Redrawing the boundaries between male and female literary spheres, and between American and British literary traditions, Boyd shows how these writers rejected the didacticism of the previous generation of women writers and instead drew their inspiration from the most prominent "literary" writers of their day: Emerson, James, Barrett Browning, and Eliot. Placing the works and experiences of Alcott, Phelps, Stoddard, and Woolson within contemporary discussions about "genius" and the "American artist," Boyd reaches a sobering conclusion. Although these women were encouraged by the democratic ideals implicit in such concepts, they were equally discouraged by lingering prejudices about their applicability to women.


A method for the measurement of the three-dimensional (3D) architecture of trees was applied to describe two 2O-year-old walnut trees, one of them is a timber tree while the other is a fruit tree. The method works at the shoot level and simultaneously describes the plant topology, the plant geometry and the shoot morphology. The method uses a 3D digitiser (3SPACE@ FASTRAK@, Polhemus Inc.) associated with software DiplAmi designqd for digitiser control and data acquisition management. Plant images may be reconstrxcted from the data set by using the ray tracing software FOV-Ray. Visual comparison between photographs of the walnut trees and images synthesised from digitising was satisfactory. Distribution of basal shoot diameter, as well as leaf area and fruit distributions for both the timber and the fruit tree were non-unifomly distributed in the crown volume. Gradients were likely to be related to the light distribution within the tree. This is in agreement with previous experimental results on several tree species, and also with the predictions of tree architecture models based on lightvegetation interactions.


This story begins and ends with Cotton Grove, a place where I have never lived, never even spent a night. Yet the magic of Cotton Grove has captured the imagination of my family for some 60 years following our removal from it, and the attempt to examine its role in our heritage seems likely to occupy my thoughts for many days to come. In part it is a search to discover the world of my ancestors, including my father, who was born there in 1913, his father born in 1887 and his grandfather, born in 1837. More than that, however, it has become a rediscovery of the love for learning and for history that has characterized my family for many generations.


In the past two decades brain tumor rates have risen in several industrialized countries, including the United States. During this time, brain tumor data have been gathered by the National Cancer Institute from catchment areas representing 10% of the United States population. In the present study, we analyzed these data from 197S to 1992 and found that the brain tumor increases in the United States occurred in two distinct phases, an early modest increase that may primarily reflect improved diagnostic technology, and a more recent sustained increase in the incidence and shift toward greater malignancy that must be explained by some other factor(s). Compared to other environmental factors putatively linked to brain tumors, the artificial sweetener aspartame is a promising candidate to explain the recent increase in incidence and degree of malignancy of brain tumors. Evidence potentially implicating aspartame includes an early animal study revealing an exceedingly high incidence of brain tumors in aspartame-fed rats compared to no brain tumors in concurrent controls, the recent finding that the aspartame molecule has mutagenic potential, and the close temporal association (aspartame was introduced into US food and beverage markets several years prior to the sharp increase in brain tumor incidence and malignancy). We conclude that there is need for reassessing the carcinogenic potential of aspartame.


This presentation was delivered to the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association in January 2020. It first briefly reviews important current tax policy issues, and shows that the income tax has plenty of headroom to accommodate higher tax revenues: "Personal Income," the government's broadest measure of household income, is $6 trillion higher than aggregate Adjusted Gross Incomes.

The presentation then pulls back its focus to poverty and middle class life. It argues that education is the engine of economic opportunity, but the United States dishonors the principle of equality of opportunity by its unique reliance on private (family) resources to fund education, particularly among the very young and post-secondary students. Doing more is feasible: the United States is a low-tax country to start, and investment in education yields "inclusive growth." Efficiency concerns are systematically overstated in many instances, because those analyses do not consider the returns on government investment in education and other programs financed by taxes. Taxes may be carried in leaky buckets, but even a leaky bucket can put out a fire.

Finally, the presentation pulls back still further to consider how one might reframe these issues around a unifying theme. It argues that existential bad luck — particularly, bad luck in the wealth of one's parents — casts a disproportionately long shadow on American lives, and that insurance — understood as both product and metaphor — is the unifying theme that can tie together our responses. In this, the presentation hints at the agenda of my forthcoming book, What's Luck Got To Do With It?


New ideas on how to design, build, and decorate a kitchen are always of essential value to architects, designers, and homeowners. This new addition to a successful series offers an extensive collection of both modern and traditional kitchen designs from all over the world, plans devised by distinguished international architects and designers who have worked to achieve practical, innovative, and stunning solutions adapted to the specific needs and particular tastes of their clients. An exciting compilation, "150 Best Kitchen Ideas" expresses the diversity of current trends in kitchen design focusing on decor - materials, lighting, colours, and windows - and specifics such as tables, wall units, flooring, appliances, and countertops. It is an inspirational source of ideas for those active in the field of design or interested in updating the focal point of their homes.


Qualified immunity protects officers from liability for damages unless they have violated clearly established rights, on the ground that it would be unfair and counterproductive to impose liability without notice of wrongdoing. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court has increasingly applied the doctrine to cases in which it serves little or no legitimate purpose. In Ziglar v. Abbasi, for example, the rights were clearly established but the Court held that the officers were immune due to lack of clarity on other issues in the case. Because holdings like Ziglar undermine the vindication of constitutional rights and the deterrence of violations, critics of immunity have called for its abolition. This article rejects both of these approaches. My thesis is that the availability of qualified immunity should depend on an assessment of costs and benefits, which vary depending on context. A better approach is to retain the basic doctrine but to identify categories of cases in which immunity should be denied, and others in which it should be strengthened.


This article assesses the significance of the Supreme Court's opinion in United States v. O'Hagan, 117 S.Ct. 2199 (1997). It reviews critically the history of the misappropriation theory of insider trading, highlighting the doctrinal tensions both between Santa Fe Industries v. Green and Chiarella v. U.S. and within Chiarella and Dirks v. SEC. The article then details how, in the course of arguing O'Hagan to the Court, the government developed an explanation ofhow misappropriation can involve informational fraud. One significant doctrinal aspect of O'Hagan was the Court's endorsement of the government's informational fraud theory, a move that also served to reconcile Santa Fe and Chiarella. More significantly, though, the Court resolved the doctrinal tensions within Chiarella and Dirks by explicitly relying on considerations of public policy to explain its support of the misappropriation theory. This, in the author's view, represented a welcome change from the more wooden modes of analysis the Court employed in two other recent decisions interpreting the federal securities laws.


From the outset global cities have been primarily seen as outcomes of changes in global economic capitalism. This has led to critical responses arguing for the need to consider more centrally the role of politics in global city formation, and in particular the need to critically analyse city-state relations in varying geographical contexts. Three dominant strands of critique have emerged: a literature on state rescaling (primarily based on experiences of North American and Western European cities), a literature on developmental states (on East Asian cities) and a literature on postcolonial urban theory (primarily on cities in the Global South). Although these approaches all argue for a re-focusing on the role of the political in global city formation, they do not easily fit other geographical and geopolitical contexts. This thesis aims to contribute to the debate by focusing on the case of Istanbul as Turkey s emerging global city. Based on semi-structured interviews, this research challenges some key assumptions of global cities research, state rescaling approach, developmental approach and postcolonial urban theory through the case of Istanbul. It also provides a critical conceptual understanding of Istanbul s globalisation, argues the role of actors in global city making and will demonstrate that contrary to what is generally claimed in the literature, the relationship between Istanbul (city) and Turkey (state) could be assessed as more harmonious rather than tension-filled. Furthermore, the research goes beyond revealing the points where Istanbul conforms or does not conform to the existing approaches, and addresses the very recent academic debates between those who believe that we need new theories to understand the dynamics and impacts of the actual global urbanisation and those who suggest that instead of calling for new theories there is a need to examine and improve the existing approaches. To do that, my research develops an alternative conceptualisation -- the in-between city - that might cover the cities located in the region spreading from Eastern Europe to Central Asia. The argument behind this concept is that owing to their intersectional positions between East and West, and the continual links between their imperial and global periods, cities such as Istanbul, Vienna, Budapest, St. Petersburg or Moscow, present more hybrid characteristics in comparison to the cities categorised by the existing approaches.


Dynamic software updating provides many benefits, e.g. in runtime monitoring, runtime adaptation to fix bugs in long running applications, etc. Although it has several advantages, no quantitative analysis of its costs and revenue are available to show its benefits or limitations especially in comparison with other software updating schemes. To address this limitation in evaluating software updating schemes, we contribute a quantitative cost/benefit analysis based on net option-value model, which stems from the analysis of financial options. Our model expresses the relation between added value and paid cost in mathematical forms. We have used this model to evaluate the revenue from dynamic updating in two case studies featuring Xerces and MobileMedia. These studies reveal the set of parameter values that render dynamic updating effective. We also compared two previously published dynamic updating schemes and observed how the perceived performance and coverage of different updating systems affects their relative gain.


This paper reviews recent economic research in tax compliance and enforcement. After briefly laying out the economics of tax evasion, it focuses on recent empirical contributions. It first discusses what methodologies and data have facilitated these contributions, and then presents critical summaries of what has been learned. It discusses a promising new development—the analysis of randomized controlled trials mostly delivered via letters from the tax authority—and then reviews recent research using various methods about the impact of the principal enforcement tax policy instruments: audits, information reporting, and remittance regimes. I also explore several understudied issues worthy of more research attention. The paper closes by outlining a normative framework based on the behavioral response elasticities now being credibly estimated that allow one to assess whether a given enforcement intervention is worth doing. (JEL H26, H30)


The Department of Commerce has determined the economy in the creative industry into 14 (fourteen) sectors: (1) advertising services, (2) architecture, (3) art and antiques market, (4) craft, (5) design, (6) fashion, (7) video, film and photography, (8) interactive games (9) music, (10) performing arts, (11) publishing and printing, (12) computer and software services, (13) television and radio, (14) research and development. Mapping of creative industrial areas is done so that the process of guidance and distribution of assistance from local and central government and the management of the creative industries from each region focused so that the regions have characteristics in producing the creative industry and can compete in the current era of globalization. Creative industry in Indonesia began to mushroom in 2007, but many people still do not understand what sectors are included into the creative industry and its development. With so many people's lack of understanding of the creative industry, it makes its own homework for the government to socialize the creative industries so that the government seeks to map the creative industries in Indonesia. Though the creative industry is able to contribute greatly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of an area and create jobs. This study aims to further understand the characteristics of creative industries, as well as to identify the constraints and opportunities faced by creative industry players in Indonesia. To identify and analyze the creative industries used 4 quadrant statistical methods Location Quadrant (LQ) and Dynamic Location Quotient (DLQ). This study uses secondary data of large and medium industry statistics as well as small and micro industries in 2010-2013 at Provincial level obtained from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS). The results of this mapping study will provide a general overview of the creative industries sector that has competitiveness in every region or province in Indonesia.


Soil erosion from agricultural areas is a large problem, because of off-site effects like the rapid filling of reservoirs. To mitigate the problem of sediments from agricultural areas reaching the channel, reservoirs and other surface waters, it is important to understand hillslope-channel connectivity and catchment connectivity. To determine the functioning of hillslope-channel connectivity and the continuation of transport of these sediments in the channel, it is necessary to obtain data on sediment transport from the hillslopes to the channels. Simultaneously, the factors that influence sediment export out of the catchment need to be studied. For measuring hillslope-channel sediment connectivity, Rare-Earth Oxide (REO) tracers were applied to a hillslope in an agricultural catchment in Navarre, Spain, preceding the winter of 2014-2015. The results showed that during the winter no sediment transport from the hillslope to the channel was detected. To test the implication of the REO results at the catchment scale, two contrasting conceptual models for sediment connectivity were assessed using a Random Forest (RF) machine learning method. The RF method was applied using a 15-year period of measured sediment output at the catchment scale. One model proposes that small events provide sediment for large events, while the other proposes that only large events cause sediment detachment and small events subsequently remove these sediments from near and in the channel. For sediment yield prediction of small events, variables related to large preceding events were the most important. The model for large events underperformed and, therefore, we could not draw any immediate conclusions whether small events influence the amount of sediment exported during large events. Both REO tracers and RF method showed that low intensity events do not contribute any sediments from the hillslopes to the channel in the Latxaga catchment. Sediment dynamics are dominated by sediment mobilisation during large (high intensity) events. Sediments are for a large part exported during those events, but the system shows a memory of the occurrence of these large events, suggesting that large amounts of sediments are deposited in and near the channel after these events. These sediments are gradually removed by small events. To better understand the delivery of sediments to the channel and how large and small events influence each other more field data on hillslope-channel connectivity and within-channel sediment dynamics is necessary.


INTRODUCTION
The Postpartum Dysgalaktie Syndrome (PPDS) also known as metritis agalactia mastitis (MMA), is considered the most common disease of the sow after farrowing. The reasons for PPDS are multifactorial and are to be found in the areas of management and hygiene, feeding, water supply and animal specific factors such as body condition and age of the sows. In this study a veterinary herd health management was carried out in 28 pig farms with PPDS, with the aim to reduce the PPDS prevalence and animal treatment incidence (TI). In 20 of 28 problem farms the PPDS-prevalence could be decreased from 37.4% (± 21.8%) to 24.5% (± 14.1%). The TI was not significantly reduced. The most effective procedures to reduce the PPDS-prevalence were the use of a prepartal transition feed, optimizing the PPDSdiagnostic and the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID) and oxytocin in the PPDS-treatment.


Wireless protocols in the unlicensed spectrum are developed for different requirements in terms of range and power, which makes them difficult to coexist in the same unlicensed spectrum. One such example is Zigbee and WiFi coexistence where low-power Zigbee nodes are frequently starved by WiFi nodes. Recent standardization efforts of short range IEEE 802.11af and long range IEEE 802.22 in the TV white spaces will make this problem more severe in the future. In this paper, we propose a novel PHY and MAC protocol for coexistence. Our protocol is decentralized and simple. The key building block is an adaptive preamble support at the PHY layer that allows high-power nodes to detect a low-power transmission even when the difference in transmit power constraints between the two groups of nodes is as high as 20dB. We show that this technique can prevent starvation of low-power nodes in almost all existing scenarios. We further propose a MAC protocol that builds on CSMA MAC and exploits the adaptive preambles functionality. We extensively evaluate our system in a test-bed and in simulations. We show that we can improve the data rates of low-power links by as much as 10x over existing MACs, without sacrificing more than 20%-40% of throughput of the rest of the system.


Cows detected in estrus around the time of fixed-time AI had increased pregnancy success and progesterone concentrations. Additionally, GnRH following onset of estrus influenced LH pulse frequency and CL formation/function. Therefore our objective was to determine steriodogenic enzyme expression within luteal tissue of cows that were or were not detected in standing estrus prior to an injection of GnRH. Cows were synchronized with the CO-Synch protocol (day -9 100 mg GnRH; day -2 25 mg PGF2α; day 0 100 mg GnRH). Estrus was detected with the HeatWatch system. Location and size of the ovulatory follicle was determined on day 0 at time of GnRH by transrectal ultrasonography; blood samples were collected on day 3,4,5,7, and 9; and luteal tissue was collected on d 10 (n = 3 estrus and n = 8 no estrus) from CL originating from similar sized follicles (13.5 to 16 mm). Total cellular RNA was extracted and relative mRNA levels were determined by real-time RT-PCR and corrected for GAPDH. There was no effect of estrus on CL weight (P = 0.83). There was no effect of estrus by time (P = 0.17) or estrus (P = 0.97) on progesterone concentrations, but there was an effect of time (P < 0.01). In addition, there was no effect of estrus, follicle size, or CL weight on LH receptor expression (P = 0.97, 0.94, and 0.85), StAR expression (P = 0.87, 0.92, and 0.86), CYP11A1 expression (P = 0.49, 0.27, and 0.99), or 3HSD expression (P = 0.49, 0.61, and 0.91). However, there was a correlation between follicle size and CL weight (P = 0.01; R = 0.51); for every increase of 1 mm in follicle size, CL weight increased by 1.1 g. In addition, there was an effect of CL weight by time (P = 0.01) on progesterone concentrations and an effect of time (P < 0.01) with a tendency for an effect of CL weight (P = 0.06). In summary, estrus did not influence CL weight, progesterone concentrations, or expression of steriodogenic enzymes. However, as follicle size increased, CL weight increased, and CL weight influenced progesterone concentrations.


This article refers to the main features of contemporary criminality in Lithuania. The period of analysis of those main features is 2004-2011. From 2004, a period of stable state registration of criminality, i.e. a period without significant changes in criminal laws commenced. The article deals with the analysis of spreading criminality in Lithuania, and the main socio-demographical features of persons charged with criminal offences. The registered number of criminal offences in 2011 decreased by about 15%, compared to 2004. The largest decrease was recorded in 2007. Yet during the economic crisis, after 2007, the number of registered criminal offences slightly increased, however, as has already been mentioned, the registered number of criminal offences in 2011 was 15% less. Nevertheless, we must bear in mind that the changes in criminality came two-three years after certain social changes, in this case – the economic crisis. The characteristic features of the contemporary criminality in Lithuania are: the tendency of decrease in violent crimes (homicides, rapes, serious bodily injuries). During the researched period, the number of homicides decreased by 39%, of serious bodily harms – by 56%; and of rapes and attempts – by 26.5%. Another tendency is the decrease in property crimes. The most widespread property crime is theft. The registered number of thefts decreased by 25%. Among them, the registered number of car thefts decreased the most – by 65%; and the decrease of domestic burglaries amounted to 55.5%. The registered number of robberies decreased by 53%. During the researched period, destruction of or damage to property and swindling – their registered number – increased by 80% and 92% respectively. In the countries with much more developed market economy than in Lithuania (e. g. in Scandinavian countries), the indicators of those crimes are 2 to 3 times higher. This means, firstly, that in future the number of those crimes in Lithuania will increase; secondly, the decrease in violent crimes and the increase of swindling means that market economy in Lithuania has become more developed than before. In Lithuania, the number of persons charged with criminal offences during the researched period tended to decrease, but not much, only by 12%. Some socio-demographic characteristics of persons charged with criminal offences are: juveniles make up 15%; traditionally, they are men, but in contemporary criminality in Lithuania we observe a small (only by 3%) increase of women; the increase in the number of persons aged from 18 to 24 is observed, and it seems that the socio-economic situation of this age group has become more complicated; during the economic crisis in Lithuania, the number of unemployed and not studying persons increased significantly (up to 60% in the structure of all registered persons charged with criminal offences) and almost reached a problematic situation that existed during the transitional period from socialist economy to market economy, from totalitarian society to democratic society (before 2000).


Abstract Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. One laboratory marker for cardiovascular risk assessment is high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP). Methods: This cross-sectional study attempted to analyze the association of hsCRP levels with insulin resistance, β-cell dysfunction and macrovascular disease in 4270 non-insulin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes [2146 male, 2124 female; mean age ±SD, 63.9±11.1years; body mass index (BMI) 30.1±5.5kg/m2; disease duration 5.4±5.6years; hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) 6.8±1.3%]. It consisted of a single morning visit with collection of a fasting blood sample. Observational parameters included several clinical scores and laboratory biomarkers. Results: Stratification into cardiovascular risk groups according to hsCRP levels revealed that 934 patients had low risk (hsCRP <1mg/L), 1369 patients had intermediate risk (hsCRP 1–3mg/L), 1352 patients had high risk (hsCRP >3–10mg/L), and 610 patients had unspecific hsCRP elevation (>10mg/L). Increased hsCRP levels were associated with other indicators of diabetes-related cardiovascular risk (homeostatic model assessment, intact proinsulin, insulin, BMI, β-cell dysfunction, all p<0.001), but showed no correlation with disease duration or glucose control. The majority of the patients were treated with diet (34.1%; hsCRP levels 2.85±2.39mg/L) or metformin monotherapy (21.1%; 2.95±2.50mg/L hsCRP). The highest hsCRP levels were observed in patients treated with sulfonylurea (17.0%; 3.00±2.43mg/L). Conclusions: Our results indicate that hsCRP may be used as a cardiovascular risk marker in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and should be evaluated in further prospective studies.


In limed cotton crops (Gossypium hirsutum), B deficiency is likely to appear. In Brazil, there are B fertilization recommendations based on results obtained with the cultivar 'IAC 20', which is not in use anymore. This experiment was conducted to study the response of the cotton cultivars 'IAC 22' and 'CNPA-ITA 90' (Deltapine) to B as compared to 'IAC 20', grown in nutrient solutions ranging from 0 to 28 mmol L-1 of B. The plants grown in solution without B were discarded, because there was no growth at all. Dry matter yield and B uptake were analyzed. All the three cultivars had a similar response to B levels in nutrient solution as regarding to dry matter yield, number of reproductive structures and B content in the tissues. The level of 21 mmol L-1 of B in the nutrient solution lead to the highest cotton yield, corresponding to 16 mg kg-1 of B in the 3rd and 4th leaves of the plant during blossom.


This study explores everyday lived experiences of sachet water consumption in Accra, Ghana with a particular attention to underserved areas. The aim of this focus article is twofold: to contribute to the emerging literature on sachet water by providing an account of its consumption in a city where the commodity is most ubiquitous, and to consider key research questions as the conversation around sachet water grapples with issues of regulation. The study examines the profound impact of sachet water on the municipal waterscape of Accra and focuses on the twined notions of access and equity. This study highlights how regulating the sachet water industry remains fraught with difficulties and argues that regulating the industry must begin with a commitment to universal access and must consider water needs beyond a narrow focus on drinking water. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1244. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1244


The comprehensive Encyclopedia features accessible, informative and provocative contributions by leading international scholars working in the tradition of Keynes. It brings together widely dispersed yet theoretically congruent ideas, presents concise biographies of economists who have contributed to the debate on Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution, and outlines the basic principles, models and tools used to discuss the economic consequences of The General Theory. Longer entries on specific topics associated with Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution analyse the principal factors that contributed to The General Theory, the economics of Keynes and the rise and apparent decline of Keynesian economics in greater detail.


This study tests a theoretical model where the social dimension of political orientation (acceptance vs. rejection of social change) is represented as acceptance vs. avoidance of uncertainty, and the economic dimension (acceptance vs. rejection of inequality) is represented as tough mindedness vs. empathy. The former axis corresponds to the conservation-openness to change dimension in the Schwartz's (1992) value model; the latter axis corresponds to the self-enhancement vs. self-transcendence dimension. {Schwartz, 1992 #322}Two secondary axes represent the possible combinations of the variables defining the primary axes. Tough mindedness in combination with uncertainty avoidance result in high system justification, whereas empathy in combination with uncertainty acceptance represents low system justification. This axis corresponds to the growth vs. self-protection dimension of the refined Schwartz et al. (2011) value model. Tough mindedness in combination with uncertainty acceptance results in preference for self-reliance, whereas the opposite combination represents preference for dependence on others. This axis corresponds to the social vs. personal focus of the Schwartz et al. (2011) value model. Participants (N = 287) completed measures of SDO, RWA, system justification, NFC, moral motives, values, dependence, and a number of political attitude measures. Multidimensional scaling supported the proposed model. The results show that the network of political beliefs and attitudes that represents individual political orientation can be largely reduced to the basic psychological variables of uncertainty avoidance and tough-mindedness, and that both dimensions of political orientation are separable, both theoretically and empirically. The model allows a deeper analysis of individual political orientation beyond a simple liberal-conservative division.


Being queer — like deviating from the norm in any way — can be socially disabling. So why not turn to disability law for redress? After a nationwide same-sex marriage ruling from the Supreme Court, many are devoting more attention to the current absence of uniform, federal employment discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. As Title VII has grown friendlier to claims made by LGBT individuals, people are debating the merits of cognizing anti-LGBT bias as sex discrimination in the law. Meanwhile, the Equality Act, introduced in Congress in 2015, would ban discrimination on the basis of LGBT status throughout the country. But while vital, Title VII and the Equality Act could leave a gap through which queer people whose identities are not legible within the gender binary and are not politically stable as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are left out. This Note argues that LGBT people should challenge their current exclusion from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) through constitutional litigation to fill this gap. Through its disavowal of traditional identity politics, the ADA offers an additional comparative advantage that has transformative potential for queer plaintiffs: Its foundation on the social model of disability topples the LGBT rights movement's historic emphasis on respectability to enable unrestrained self-determination.


Abstract According to an influential and intuitively appealing argument (the Continuity Argument), (1) morality is usually continuous, namely, a gradual change in one morally significant factor triggers a gradual change in another; (2) the law should usually track morality; (3) therefore, the law should often be continuous. This argument is illustrated by cases such as the following example: since the moral difference between a defensive action that is reasonable and one that is just short of being reasonable is small, the law should not impose a severe punishment when the action is almost reasonable and no punishment at all when the action is reasonable (as positive law sometimes does). In this Article, I consider two doubts regarding this argument. First, the premise that morality is continuous in such cases is incompatible with the common view that the moral status of actions is not continuous since there is an important difference between actions that are permissible and actions that are wrong— even if this difference is due to a difference that is very small, such as the one between an action whose consequences are the best and an action whose consequences are just slightly less good. This view extends also to the overall moral status of agents given the common assumption that it depends on the moral status of their actions. This is an important challenge that the Continuity Argument should confront. However, I argue that the best account of morality is more scalar than the common view in these respects. Therefore, I conclude that the first premise of the Continuity Argument is correct in this regard, although it is based on a minority view. The second doubt concerns the scope of the second premise: since there are reasons both in favor and against legal continuity, and the applicability and force of these reasons depend not only on various moral propositions but also on contingent non-moral facts, we often lack the evidence to determine the degree to which the law, at a certain place and time, should be continuous, and specifically that it should often be continuous.


Obesity is a complex disease with multiple features that has confounded efforts to unravel its pathophysiology. As a means of distinguishing primary from secondary characteristics, we compared levels of fasting plasma leptin and insulin in a cohort of weight-reduced obese women who have attained and maintained a normal BMI for more than 1 year with the levels in cohorts of never-obese and currently obese women. Weight-reduced obese women showed decreased plasma concentrations of leptin and insulin compared with obese women, but these levels remained significantly higher than those of never-obese women. Plasma leptin levels were highly correlated with plasma insulin levels (r = 0.60, P < 0.001). To further explore relationships with body composition, total body fat was determined by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and body fat distribution by computed tomography in subsets of these groups. Weight-reduced obese women had a significantly greater percent body fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat mass than did the never-obese women, and these were highly correlated with plasma leptin (r = 0.90, P < 0.001, and r = 0.52, P < 0.001, respectively). In these weight-reduced obese women, visceral fat mass was similar to that of the never-obese. The insulin sensitivity index and first-phase insulin response were also comparable. These results demonstrate that higher leptin levels in weight-reduced obese women are related to the higher total fat and particularly the subcutaneous fat masses. Normalization of visceral fat mass in the weight-reduced obese was accompanied by normalization of insulin sensitivity index and first-phase insulin response. This study suggests that increases in plasma leptin and insulin in obesity are secondary features of the obese state.


Poverty remains an urgent crisis worldwide. In the United States, 28.6 million children live in low-income families and 12.7 million children live in poor families. In nations belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 47 million children live below national poverty lines. These figures pertain to industrialized countries; rates of child poverty in some developing nations exceed 60 per cent. "Poverty and Brain Development During Childhood" examines how a range of early social and material deprivations affect structural and functional brain organization and cognitive and socioemotional development postnatally and throughout childhood. Do conceptual and operational definitions of poverty capture the true nature and complexity of the multidimensional problem and properly guide research? How does poverty affect physical and mental health? What do contemporary neuroimaging and behavioral studies reveal? Studying these and other equally compelling questions, the authors apply a suite of neuroscientific and cognitive frameworks to examine the cognitive performance of children living in poverty in different countries. Looking to the future and to the development of effective policy, the authors analyze the potential contributions of the neuroscientific disciplines to the design of early interventions aimed at optimizing the cognitive performance of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. This book is suitable for researchers, policymakers, neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, and students.


Rubella is a completely immunizing and mild infection in children. Understanding its behaviour is of considerable public health importance because of congenital rubella syndrome, which results from infection with rubella during early pregnancy and may entail a variety of birth defects. The recurrent dynamics of rubella are relatively poorly resolved, and appear to show considerable diversity globally. Here, we investigate the behaviour of a stochastic seasonally forced susceptible–infected–recovered model to characterize the determinants of these dynamics and illustrate patterns by comparison with measles. We perform a systematic analysis of spectra of stochastic fluctuations around stable attractors of the corresponding deterministic model and compare them with spectra from full stochastic simulations in large populations. This approach allows us to quantify the effects of demographic stochasticity and to give a coherent picture of measles and rubella dynamics, explaining essential differences in the recurrent patterns exhibited by these diseases. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of vaccination and changing birth rates as well as the persistence of these two childhood infections.


[1] This study examines the effects of surface sublimation and blowing snow on the surface mass balance on a global and basin scale using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA15) data at a resolution of 2.5° that span the years 1979–1993. The combined processes of surface and blowing snow sublimation are estimated to remove 29 mm yr−1 snow-water equivalent (swe) over Antarctica, disposing about 17 to 20% of its annual precipitation. In the Northern Hemisphere, these processes are generally less important in continental areas than over the frozen Arctic Ocean, where surface and blowing snow sublimation deplete upward of 100 mm yr−1 swe. Areas with frequent blowing snow episodes, such as the coastal regions of Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean, are prone to a mass transport >100 Mg m−1 yr−1. Although important locally, values of the divergence of mass through wind redistribution are generally 2 orders of magnitude less than surface and blowing snow sublimation when evaluated over large areas. For the entire Mackenzie River Basin of Canada, surface sublimation remains the dominant sink of mass as it removes 29 mm yr−1 swe, or about 7% of the watershed's annual precipitation. Although the first of its kind, this study provides only a first-order estimate of the contribution of surface sublimation and blowing snow to the surface mass balance because of limitations with the data set and some uncertainties in the blowing snow process.


Part I of this Article provides an overview of some of the key terms and provisions of Canada's Cannabis Act. Part II looks at the Cannabis Act in the context of the International Drug Conventions, examining how the various convention provisions might apply, looking first at the Single Convention and then at the 1988 Convention and how that convention fits with Canadian constitutional provisions. Part III focuses on the international human rights framework and how the Cannabis Act might be viewed as compatible with international human rights law even where incompatible with the International Drug Conventions. This Part also offers a look at some of the cannabis-related human rights jurisprudence that arose in various jurisdictions. Finally, Part IV analyzes the Cannabis Act in light of the international economic law framework, providing an in-depth overview of how various WTO provisions might affect the Cannabis Act as drafted.


In 2020, a coalition of citizens, organizers, legislators, and educators came together to commemorate the Fifteenth and Nineteenth Amendments by establishing a new monument in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This would be a memorial dedicated to the capital city's significant African American community and its historic struggle for the vote. The Commonwealth Monument, located on the Irvis Equality Circle on the South Lawn of Pennsylvania's State Capitol Grounds, features a bronze pedestal inscribed with one hundred names of change agents who pursued the power of suffrage and citizenship between 1850 and 1920. This book is a companion to this monument and tells the stories of those one hundred freedom seekers, abolitionists, activists, suffragists, moralists, policemen, masons, doctors, lawyers, musicians, poets, publishers, teachers, preachers, housekeepers, janitors, and business leaders, among many others. In their committed advocacy for freedom, equality, and justice, these inspiring men and women made unique and lasting contributions to the standing and life of African Americans—and, indeed, the political power of all Americans—within their local communities and across the country. Calobe Jackson, Jr., is an historian of Harrisburg African American studies, Katie Wingert McArdle is a writer and researcher currently serving as the head swim coach at Dickinson College, and David Pettegrew is a professor of history at Messiah University.


Although the minimal-model-based insulin sensitivity index (S1) can be estimated from the results of a simple 180-min intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT), its relationship to widely accepted but technically more difficult clamp-based techniques has not been resolved in humans. Therefore we measured S1 by standard IVGTT, modified IVGTT, and clamp methods in 10 nondiabetic men with %IBW of 109 ± 12 (mean ± SD). In the euglycemic clamp studies, insulin was infused to bring insulin levels (IRI) from basal, 8 ± 4 μU/ml, to plateaus of 21 ± 5 and 35 ± 6 μU/ml. S1[clamp], measured as the increase in glucose (G) clearance per increase in IRI [δINF/(δIRI × G)], averaged 0.29 ± 0.09 ml/kg·min per μU/ml. In the IVGTT studies, 300 mg/kg G was given as an i.v. bolus, and G and IRI were measured for 180 min; in the modified (mod) IVGTT, tolbutamide (300–500 mg) was given i.v. 20 min after the G to observe the effect of an IRI peak on G removal after G level was free of initial "mixing" effects. The S1 estimated by computer did not differ significantly between standard [(6.9 ± 3.4) × 1O−4 min−1 per μU/ml] and modified [(6.7 ± 3.5) × 10−4 min−1 per μU/ml] tests, indicating no bias due to the differing insulin patterns and levels. There was a strong positive correlation between S1 (mod IVGTT) and S1(clamp): r = 0.84; N = 10; P < 0.002. The correlation between S1(standard IVGTT) and S1(clamp) was 0.54, suggesting the modified test is less "noisy" Nonetheless, in eight euglycemic women with a wider range of adiposity, S1(standard IVGTT) has been significantly correlated with %IBW (r = −0.72) and basal IRI (r = −0.84). The correlation between S1 measures by clamp and IVGTT methods provides one step toward validation of the minimal model for studies of insulin action in man.


1. The metabolism of autologous 131 I-labelled IgG was studied in five patients after renal homotransplantation. Two patients had received grafts from related living donors and three from cadavers and all grafts were functioning. All five patients were on immunosuppressive therapy with prednisone and azathioprine. No episodes of rejection occurred during the study. 2. One patient had serum concentrations of IgG and IgA and IgM below normal; one had isolated IgM deficiency; one had isolated IgA deficiency; and two had increased serum IgM concentrations. 3. Plasma volume and distribution ratio were normal in all five patients; the plasma IgG pool was normal in four and significantly decreased in one. Fractional turnover rate was normal in four and increased in one; the plasma half life was normal in three and shortened in two. 4. The IgG synthesis rate was normal in two, at the lower limit of the normal range in two and decreased in one. There was no obvious correlation with the age of the patient, the dosage of prednisone or azathioprine, the incidence of infection, the survival and function of the graft or serum immunoglobulin concentrations.


This paper has been written in response to l i g h t o u c h (choreography: M. Man), a contemporary dance duet crafted through a phenomenological response to light. It specifically explores the affect of very low lighting states on performer and audience. It is written from both a dancer's and choreographer's perspective, and reveals some of the challenges and pleasures of creating and sharing choreographic processes in darkened spaces. The paper discusses how this practice-led research project aimed to unpick the experiences of moving and devising in the pseudo-darkness of a blackened studio space. It then explores the shift from those 'practised' experiences of imagined darkness, to the physically danced negotiation of moving in minimal intensity lighting states against a canvas of complete darkness achieved through the installation of a Deadman's Switch in a Black Box Studio Theatre.

By proposing a synaesthetically framed question: When sight stutters, how might the traces of movement be perceived? the paper problematizes what constitutes our connectivity with choreographies that dissolve into shadow, suggesting that accentuated darkness offers a fertile field of play, where the blurring of the boundaries between the real and the imagined, the visible and the invisible, may lend to an altered sensory response to the dance for both the performer and the spectator. By drawing on audience feedback from the first performance of l i g h t o u c h (September 2013) the paper underlines the indeterminate nature of our experiences within a staged phenomenology of darkness. Furthermore, it explores the possible philosophies that underlie choreographic decisions where "[m]ovement itself does not disappear, but the body that performs it does" (Gilpin, 2011:118), where, as Martin Welton suggests: "[s]eeing and being in the dark is to experience not so much absence as an imminent possibility"(2013:13).

Gilpin, H. 'Aberrations of Gravity', in H. Spier, S. (ed.), (2011) William Forsythe and the Practice of Choreography, It Start From Any Point. Oxon: Routledge.
Welton, M. (2013) 'The Possibility of Darkness: Blackout and Shadow in Chris Goode's Who You Are.' Theatre Research International, 38, pp4-19 doi.10.1017/S0307883312000958


This paper explores how Ha Jin's English fictions provide us with a platform to rethink modern Chinese literature in the global context. His fictions on Chinese experiences call us to imagine a new notion of national literature. Ha Jin may not only subvert the national framework of literary studies and challenge the assumption that a literary text exists in stable or consistently identifiable form, but also urge us to rethink the coherence of modern Chinese literature in the broadest sense. The paper asks, through the case of Ha Jin, if a literary work written in another language be called "Chinese" or "national" in the age of globalization or flexible accumulation, and if literature can go beyond the ethnic-based model of identity. In modern tradition, literature always functions as the imaginary realm for the construction of the nation-state and narrates the shared experiences by a common language. But a more internationally involved China should be more receptive to the changing and diversified meanings of its new identity. Chinese emigrant writers who publish their literary works about China in English or French would only enrich the contemporary Chinese culture and develop its global influence. Precisely, Ha Jin's English writing contributes an essential element for the development of a new imaginary Chinese nationalism in the global age, and offers new freedom to seek to redefine continuously the sense of Chineseness. The paper argues that the best contribution of Ha Jin works on the formal level rather than on the content of modern Chinese literature in the global context because the existence of his works circumscribes the limits and failure of the ideology of modern Chinese literature and lays bare its paradoxical mechanism.


This research represent result of case study at company of cocoa of PT. Twilight Conjugate Cocoa of Industries Surabaya with Title : Planning of Strategy Marketing to increase Profitability Company ( Study Case at PT. Teja Sekawan Cocoa Industries Surabaya ). The purpose of this research is to know management performance in applying marketing strategy weared by company and know result of profitability analysis to measure efficacy storey in using marketing strategy during the time and also from result of this research is expected as input for the decision making of company in making marketing strategy plan to the continuity of its company life of him. Analyzer used to know do applied marketing strategy can improve company profitability by using profitability analysis which consist of Gross ratio of Profit Margin ( GPM), Operating Profit Margin ( OPM), Net Profit Margin ( NPM), Return On Investment ( ROI) and of Return On Equity ( ROE), while for the planning of strategy by using SWOT matrik to yield four setting strategy alternative with process bring into contact between opportunity of environment of eksternal and is internal of company ably company at risk storey able to be accepted. The result of from profitability analysis during three natural period result of which is fluktuation but that way experience of increase of year 2003-2005 more or less 3,78 - 6,19% and experience of degradation which do not be drastic so more or less 1%-2 %. While result of SWOT matrik, strategy alternative the got is Product Development Strategy Of result both analysis in the condition of good enough company's finance not too ugly and result of from strategy alternative more beneficial company with according to condition and situation faced by moment and also as according to plan of long range do not find difficulties. Keyword : profitabilitas, strategi pemasaran Link Terkait : http://skripsi.umm.ac.id/files/disk1/271/jiptummpp-gdl-s1-2008-itayuliana-13516-pendahul-n.pdf


Given the heterogeneity of the data one can find on the Linked Data cloud, being able to trace back the provenance of query results is rapidly becoming a must-have feature of RDF systems. While provenance models have been extensively discussed in recent years, little attention has been given to the efficient implementation of provenance-enabled queries inside data stores. This paper introduces TripleProv: a new system extending a native RDF store to efficiently handle such queries. TripleProv implements two different storage models to physically co-locate lineage and instance data, and for each of them implements algorithms for tracing provenance at two granularity levels. In the following, we present the overall architecture of our system, its different lineage storage models, and the various query execution strategies we have implemented to efficiently answer provenance-enabled queries. In addition, we present the results of a comprehensive empirical evaluation of our system over two different datasets and workloads.


Bilateral single system ectopic ureter (BSSEU) is a rare congenital malformation. We report a case of BSSEU with a rare association of ectopic ureter with contralateral ectopic sphinctero-stenotic ureterocele with agenesis of one seminal vesicle with normal urinary continence and fertility presenting in adulthood as a case of chronic kidney disease. Diagnosis of ureterocele was missed even after detailed radiological investigations, so concurrent endoscopic evaluation is important for final diagnosis and operative intervention. As renal functions were markedly deranged, so transurethral incision of the right ureterocele with double J stenting was done as a preliminary procedure. Renal functions improved subsequently. Patient is planned for left nephroureterectomy and if necessary right ureteric reimplantation as a secondary major surgery in the follow-up period. World J Nephrol Urol. 2014;3(2):103-105 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740 /wjnu162w


Abstract With the rise of social media, understanding a person's sentiment, their mood and anxiety levels, has become just as important to law enforcement agencies as identifying online anonymous blog posts that aim to radicalize, promote terrorism, or criminal activity. Many of these mood and identity techniques rely on basic statistical correlations, word counts, collocated word groups, or keyword density. We claim that an alternative technique that uses word semantics reflecting personality or characteristics of self can provide a more accurate profile of a person. To test this we analyse Shakespeare's Sonnets, a collection of poems believed to contain a Dark Lady and two other 'voices'. We use an exploratory combinatorial data analysis technique called seriation in combination with RPAS, a multi-faceted text analysis approach that draws on a writer's personality, or self, to visualize the 154 sonnets and to investigate whether it is possible to identify subtle characteristics within a person's writing style from small texts when an author's identity is known. We find that RPAS, not only clusters the Dark Lady and other sonnets, but also has the potential to discriminate subtle shifts in personality from texts as small as 90 words.


Antarctic krill use a variety of strategies to cope with, and thrive in the highly variable Southern Ocean environment. Despite much detailed information on its basic biology produced so far, the linkages between krill populations and the environment are yet to be systematically investigated. There is a practical need to have standardised indicators to assess the 'condition' of krill in relation to seasonal cycles and shifts in physical regimes and this study has aimed to develop such indicators.

The level of nucleic acids in abdominal tissue was determined as an estimator of growth rates of individual krill that could otherwise only be obtained by on-board experiments. The dynamics of the major digestive organ, the digestive gland, in its size, protein and lipid content and enzyme activities, were examined in relation to changing food regimes. The potential of using eye diameter as a long-term starvation indicator was also examined.

The amount of RNA and RNA:DNA ratio in krill muscle exhibited a significant relationship with individual growth rates, although the predictability was only modest. This was the case with both field-caught specimens and experimental juveniles. RNA-based indices were clearly different between well-fed, high-growth krill and underfed low-growth krill, and the RNA content levelled off when the growth rates became negative. The moult cycle had no significant effect on nucleic acid content. Overall, the content of nucleic acids varied considerably between individuals. Starved krill also tended to have higher DNA per unit biomass, which implies shrinkage of cells rather than loss of cells. The experimental krill showed a rapid response to the food conditions in their growth rates, either in a positive or negative direction, well within a single moult cycle.

The digestive enzyme activities in the digestive gland of field-caught adults decreased considerably during one week of starvation. The size of the gland decreased substantially both in length and weight, accompanied by a loss of lipid and protein, with the former being more readily utilised. In a laboratory experiment where juvenile krill were alternately fed and starved, the digestive enzyme activities changed in response to the food regime. These changes largely mirrored the mass gain and loss of the digestive glands. The gland size-specific activities of digestive enzymes showed no consistent trends even after a long period of starvation. When the food supply was resumed, the gland regained its mass and enzyme activities. The digestive gland appears to serve as a reserve, which can provide against a few days' starvation and be rebuilt relatively quickly. Its size showed a prompt and steady response to short-term changes in feeding regime, proving a reliable indicator of recent feeding activities.

By tracking individuals over time and examining specimens sampled as groups, it was demonstrated that fed and starved krill are distinguishable by the relationship between the eye diameter and body length. The eye diameter of starved krill did not decrease even when the animals were shrinking in overall body length. The eye digmeter of well-fed krill continued to increase as overall length increased. This created a distinction between fed and starved krill while no simultaneous separation was detected in terms of the body length to weight relationship. It would take approximately 2 moult cycles of shrinkage or more at modest rates for the eye diameter to body length relationship to significantly change. Whether this feature is manifested in the wild would be best seen at the end of winter, after the most likely period of extended food limitation.

Nucleic acid content has only limited predictive power as an estimator of growth rates. Growth rates measured by the 'instantaneous growth rate' technique are still the best representation of in situ growth, which is determined by the condition during the period since the last moult. The size of the digestive gland of krill, a crucial short-term storage organ, was more responsive to food condition than enzyme activities. The gland size is a result of feeding activities over the past few weeks and will not be affected by immediate past events such as cod-end feeding. The digestive gland size should, at least, be a simple measure of whether krill have recently undergone severe, sustained food shortage. Long-term, seasonal starvation and the shrinkage it caused over a few moult cycles can be seen in the body length to eye diameter relationship more obviously than the traditional body length to weight relationship. This suite of measurements will provide a matrix of methods to determine the 'condition' of krill, in time scales from a week to a few months. These techniques are now ready for repeated measurements in the field over wider temporal and spatial extent to examine their applicability and to contribute to unravelling the outstanding questions in krill biology.


Congress enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) in response to the terrorism insurance industry contraction after the 9/11 attacks. With TRIA set to expire, this policy brief examines the federal spending implications of TRIA. The authors find that, in the absence of a terrorist attack, TRIA costs taxpayers relatively little, and in the event of an attack comparable to any experienced before, it is expected to save taxpayers money.


The paper develops a three-asset-portfolio model to analyse consequences of foreign exchange market operations by Asian central banks on the exchange rates between euro, dollar and an Asian currency. It is found that - contrary to public belief - the purchase of dollar assets by Asian central banks strengthens the dollar against both the euro and the Asian currency. A diversification of Asian central bank reserves from dollar into euro would weaken the dollar against both other currencies. Thus, such a diversification would be incompatible with Asian currency pegs. However, it is shown that Asian central banks could alter their relative portfolio composition while keeping the peg intact if they shifted from intervening against the dollar into intervening against the euro.


Knowledge flows within and across countries may have important consequences for both productivity and innovation. We use data on 1.5 million patents and 4.5 million citations to estimate knowledge flows at the frontier of technology across 147 subnational regions during 19751996 within the frame of a gravity-like equation. We estimate that only 20 of average knowledge is learned outside the average region of origin, and only 9 is learned outside the country of origin. However, knowledge in the computer sector flows substantially farther, as does knowledge generated by technological leaders. In comparison with trade flows, we see that knowledge flows reach much farther. External accessible R&D gained through these flows has a strong positive effect on innovative activity for a panel of 113 European and North American regions over 22 years.


. Atmospheric fronts are a widely used conceptual model in meteorology, most encountered as two-dimensional (2-D) front lines on surface analysis charts. The three-dimensional (3-D) dynamical structure of fronts has been studied in the literature by means of "standard" 2-D maps and cross-sections and is commonly sketched in 3-D illustrations of idealized weather systems in atmospheric science textbooks. However, only recently the feasibility of objective detection and visual 15 analysis of 3-D frontal structures and their dynamics within numerical weather prediction (NWP) data has been proposed, and such approaches are not yet widely known in the atmospheric science community. In this article, we investigate the benefit of objective 3-D front detection for case studies of extratropical cyclones and for comparison of frontal structures between different NWP models. We build on a recent gradient-based detection approach, combined with modern 3-D interactive visual analysis techniques, and adapt it to handle data from state-of-the-art NWP models including those run at convection-permitting 20 kilometer-scale resolution. The parameters of the detection method (including data smoothing and threshold parameters) are evaluated to yield physically meaningful structures. We illustrate the benefit of the method by presenting two case studies of frontal dynamics within mid-latitude cyclones. Examples include joint interactive visual analysis of 3-D fronts and warm conveyor belt (WCB) trajectories, and identification of the 3-D frontal structures characterising the different stages of a Shapiro-Keyser cyclogenesis event. The 3-D frontal structures show agreement with 2-D fronts from surface analysis charts 25 and augment the surface charts by providing additional pertinent information in the vertical dimension. A second application illustrates the relation between convection and 3-D cold front structure by comparing data from simulations with parameterised and explicit convection. Finally, we consider "secondary fronts" that commonly appear in UK Met Office surface analysis charts. Examination of a case study shows that for this event the secondary front is not a temperature-dominated but a humidity-dominated feature. We argue that the presented approach has great potential to be beneficial for more complex studies of 30 atmospheric dynamics and for operational weather forecasting.


INTRODUCTION Many research institutions have developed research data services in their libraries, often in anticipation of or in response to funder policy. However, policies at the institution level are either not well known or nonexistent. METHODS This study reviewed library data services efforts and institutional data policies of 206 American universities, drawn from the July 2014 Carnegie list of universities with "Very High" or "High" research activity designation. Twenty-four different characteristics relating to university type, library data services, policy type, and policy contents were examined. RESULTS The study has uncovered findings surrounding library data services, institutional data policies, and content within the policies. DISCUSSION Overall, there is a general trend toward the development and implementation of data services within the university libraries. Interestingly, just under half of the universities examined had a policy of some sort that either specified or mentioned research data. Many of these were standalone data policies, while others were intellectual property policies that included research data. When data policies were discoverable, not behind a log in, they focused on the definition of research data, data ownership, data retention, and terms surrounding the separation of a researcher from the institution. CONCLUSION By becoming well versed on research data policies, librarians can provide support for researchers by navigating the policies at their institutions, facilitating the activities needed to comply with the requirements of research funders and publishers. This puts academic libraries in a unique position to provide insight and guidance in the development and revisions of institutional data policies. External Data or Supplements: Briney, Kristin; Goben, Abigail; Zilinski, Lisa, 2015, "Data from: Do You Have an Institutional Data Policy? A Review of the Current Landscape of Library Data Services and Institutional Data Policies", http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GAZPAJ , Harvard Dataverse


Weather, climate, water and related environmental conditions, including air quality, all have profound effects on cities. A growing importance is being attached to understanding and predicting atmospheric conditions and their interactions with other components of the Earth System in cities, at multiple scales. We highlight the need for: (1) development of high-resolution coupled
environmental prediction models that include realistic city-specific processes, boundary conditions and fluxes; (2) enhanced observational systems to support (force, constrain, evaluate) these models to provide high quality forecasts for new urban services; (3) provision of meteorological and related environmental variables to aid protection of human health and the environment; (4) new targeted and customized delivery platforms using modern communication techniques, developed with users to ensure that services, advice and warnings result in appropriate action; and (5) development of new skill and capacity to make best use of technologies to deliver new services
in complex, challenging and evolving city environments. We highlight the importance of a coordinated and strategic approach that draws on, but does not replicate, past work to maximize benefits to stakeholders.


Speculation last week that Paul Keating and Peter Costello could nominate for the top job at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was a mere distraction, but the hoopla did manage to highlight a crucial issue: the need for reform at the top of the world's economic institutions. Since Dominique Strauss-Kahn's dramatic exit from his post as IMF managing director earlier this month, much of the debate around his replacement has focused the need for a non-European to take the reins. French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has emerged as the frontrunner, despite a significant – and warranted – push from the developing economies to see one of their own win the job. IMF has made it clear that the nomination process will be open and democratic, but if Lagarde's fast ascent is anything to go by, it seems that some long-standing conventions are proving difficult to break.


The stockpiling of scrap tyres is a significant threat to our environment and has been a hot topic amongst the engineering community which has been looking for long term viable solutions to the recycling and reuse of rubber. This paper proposes a new method of utilizing scrap tyres for applications in infrastructure protection forming part of the solution strategy. The method involves mixing scrap tyres with soil materials and placing the mixtures around building foundations, for vibration absorption. The potential of the proposed method will be demonstrated by numerical modelling to show its effectiveness and robustness as a means of protecting low-to-medium-rise buildings in an earthquake.


Emotion-sensitive artworks provide a challenging yet rewarding locus of activity. After a comparative review of the situation in art and music with respect to emotion research, three innovative, interactive and emotion-sensitive artworks are described. The Emotion Light (2009) is an interactive biofeedback sculpture in the shape of a light-emitting uterus that responds by changing color depending on the arousal level of the person holding it. In a State (2014) and BioCombat (2015) are generative, interactive live performance systems that detect emotion from audio or live biosignals, respectively, and create abstract animations and electroacoustic music in response.


ABSTRACT Salmonella encounters various stresses in the environment and in the host during infection. The effects of cold (5°C, 48 h), peroxide (5 mM H2O2, 5 h) and acid stress (pH 4.0, 90 min) were tested on pathogenicity of Salmonella. Prior exposure of Salmonella to cold stress significantly (P < 0.05) increased adhesion and invasion of cultured intestinal epithelial (Caco-2) cells. This increased Salmonella-host cell association was also correlated with significant induction of several virulence-associated genes, implying an increased potential of cold-stressed Salmonella to cause an infection. In Caco-2 cells infected with cold-stressed Salmonella, genes involved in the electron transfer chain were significantly induced, but no simultaneous significant increase in expression of antioxidant genes that neutralize the effect of superoxide radicals or reactive oxygen species was observed. Increased production of caspase 9 and caspase 3/7 was confirmed during host cell infection with cold-stressed Salmonella. Further, a prophage gene, STM2699, induced in cold-stressed Salmonella and a spectrin gene, SPTAN1, induced in Salmonella-infected intestinal epithelial cells were found to have a significant contribution in increased adhesion and invasion of cold-stressed Salmonella in epithelial cells.


Carbon nanofibers and nanotubes were produced by using a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process in which a hydrocarbon source was used over a metal based catalyst and the reaction conditions such as temperature and flow rate of the hydrocarbon source and inert gas were optimized. It is possible to find a lot of work in the literature which used approximately this system to produce nanofiber and nanotubes then characterized the products. Knowing that the key point was the catalyst in CVD process, our aim was to investigate the role of the catalyst in detail and relate the properties of the catalyst to the properties of the final product. For this reason, we had produced a series of transition metal catalysts by different methods and tested their success during the catalytic growth of carbon nanofiber and nanotubes and related the results with the properties of the catalysts such as the surface properties, stability and electronic properties.


A new approach is proposed for the optimum addressing of a metallic nano-antenna (NA) with a free space optical beam. This approach relies on the use of an intermediate resonator structure that provides the appropriate modal conversion of the incoming beam. More precisely, the intermediate resonator consists in a Photonic Crystal (PC) membrane resonant structure that takes benefit of surface addressable slow Bloch modes. First, a phenomenological approach including a deep physical understanding of the NA-PC coupling and its optimization is presented. In a second step, the main features of this analysis are confirmed by numerical simulations (FDTD).


Compilers use static analyses to justify program optimizations. As every optimization must preserve the semantics of the original program, static analysis typically fall-back to conservative approximations. Consequently, the set of states for which the optimization is invalid is overapproximated and potential optimization opportunities are missed. Instead of justifying the optimization statically, a compiler can also synthesize preconditions that imply the correctness of the optimizations and are checked at the runtime of the program. In this paper, we present a framework to collect, generalize, and simplify assumptions based on Presburger arithmetic. We introduce different assumptions necessary to enable a variety of complex loop transformations and derive a (close to) minimal set of preconditions to validate them at runtime. Our evaluation shows that the runtime verification introduces negligible overhead and that the assumptions we propose almost always hold true. On a large benchmark set including SPEC and NPB our technique increases the number of modeled non-trivial loop nests by a factor of 3.9x.


A parallel study of the radical-copper enzyme Galactose Oxidase (GOase) and a low mol. wt. analog of the active site (Wang et. al. , Science 279, 537 (1998)) was performed with dynamical d. functional and mixed quantum-classical (QM/MM) calcns. This combined approach enables a direct comparison of the properties of biomimetic and natural system throughout the course of the catalytic reaction. In both cases, five essential forms of the catalytic cycle have been investigated: the resting state in its semi reduced (catalytically inactive) and in its oxidized (catalytically active) form Asemi and Aox, resp.; a protonated intermediate B; the transition state for the rate detg. hydrogen abstraction step C, and its product D. For A and B the electronic properties of the biomimetic compd. are qual. very similar to the ones of the natural target. However, in agreement with the exptl. obsd. difference in catalytic activity, the calcd. activation energy for the hydrogen abstraction step is distinctly lower for GOase (16 kcal/mol)than for the mimetic compd. (21 kcal/mol). The enzymic transition state is stabilized by a delocalization of the unpaired spin d. over the sulfur-modified equatorial tyrosine Tyr272, an effect that due to geometric reasons, is essentially absent in the biomimetic compd. Further differences between the mimic and its natural target concern the structure of the product of the abstraction step which is characterized by a weakly coordinated aldehyde complex for the latter and by a tightly bound linear complex for the former. [on SciFinder (R)]


Para-phenylenediamine (PPD) is a common chromophoric ingredient in oxidative hair-dyes. In some African countries like Sudan, Egypt and Morocco but also in India this chemical is used alone or in combination with colouring extracts like Henna for dyeing of the hair or the skin. Excessive dermal exposure to PPD mainly leads to the N-mono- and N,N′-diacetylated products (MAPPD, DAPPD) by N-acetyltransferase 1 and 2 (NAT1 and 2) catalyzed reactions. Metabolites and PPD are mainly excreted via renal clearance. Despite a low risk of intoxication when used in due form, there are numerous cases of acute intoxication in those countries every year. At the ENT Hospital - Khartoum (Sudan) alone more than 300 cases are reported every year (∼10% fatal), mostly caused by either an accidental or intended (suicidal) high systemic exposure to pure PPD. Intoxication leads to a severe clinical syndrome including laryngeal edema, rhabdomyolysis and subsequent renal failure, neurotoxicity and acute toxic hepatitis. To date, there is no defined clinical treatment or antidote available and treatment is largely supportive. Herein, we show the development of a quick on-site identification assay to facilitate differential diagnosis in the clinic and, more importantly, the implementation of an advanced analytical platform for future in-depth investigations of PPD intoxication and metabolism is described. The current work shows a sensitive (∼25 µM) wet chemistry assay, a validated MALDI-MS/MS and HPLC-UV assay for the determination of PPD and its metabolites in human urine. We show the feasibility of the methods for measuring PPD over a range of 50–1000 µM. The validation criteria included linearity, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), accuracy and precision, recovery and stability. Finally, PPD concentrations were determined in clinical urine samples of cases of acute intoxication and the applied technique was expanded to identify MAPPD and DAPPD in the identical samples.


The efficiency and overall quality of a laser cutting operation is highly dependent on the assist gas parameters. The desire to cut thicker material has led to the observation of small process operating windows for thicker sections. The gas jet delivery and subsequent dynamical behaviour have significant effects on the cutting operation as the sample thickness increases. To date, few workers have examined the dynamical behaviour of the gas jet. This paper examines the characteristics of oxygen gas jets during CO2 laser cutting of steel. Particular emphasis is placed on the mass transfer effects that are operating within the kerf. Oxygen concentration levels within a model kerf are measured for various laser cutting set-ups. The results show a substantial reduction in oxygen concentration within the kerf. A system for oxygen concentration maintenance is described and cutting results from this system are compared with conventional techniques for cutting steels in the range 10 to 20mm thick. A theoretical analysis of turbulent mass transfer within a kerf is presented and compared with experiment.


The objective of the research is to analyze the auditors' perception regarding the measurement of the fair value of complex financial instruments level 3 in financial institutions. A questionnaire was applied with a sample of 62 independent auditors with technical qualification in financial institutions of large audit firms among partners, managers and senior auditors. The tools used were the Logistic Regression Test (LOGIT); The Kruskal- Wallis test, and the matching analysis test. Subjectivity was an implicit characteristic in the process where the auditors remained conservative. However, differences of values were identified that resulted in immaterial issues and an indication of divergences in the measurement of accounting estimates. As a suggestion of improvement in the audit processes, a more robust academic formation and the inclusion of a financial expert in the teams were identified. Opinions diverge as to the partners and managers, where they pointed out more agreement with the issues than the managers.


This Article closely examines civil defendants' use of evidence of a plaintiff's alleged current or prior psychiatric diagnosis or treatment by analyzing and critiquing the three primary rationales offered in support of the relevancy of such evidence: to suggest an alternative or underlying cause of the plaintiff's alleged psychological injuries; to impeach the plaintiff's credibility by asserting that a mental illness interferes with her ability to recount or to perceive events accurately; and to reveal certain propensities that inform how the plaintiff likely acted with respect to the events at issue in the litigation. I note that, while attaching a label of mental disorder can be a powerful means to discredit a person, its role as trial evidence goes largely unexamined, unquestioned, and unregulated by courts. Few courts carefully consider whether evidence of a plaintiff's mental illness is truly probative of the issues for which it is purportedly offered. I explain that evidence of a plaintiff's psychiatric history poses a significant risk of unfair prejudice to the plaintiff in light of the persistent and pervasive stigmatizing effects of psychiatric diagnoses. Regardless of the relevancy theory advanced by defendants in support of admissibility, fact finders likely use such evidence improperly to discount a plaintiff's credibility and to conclude that the plaintiff possesses certain behavioral propensities that weigh in favor of a finding for the defendant. I conclude by urging courts facing admissibility questions concerning such evidence to closely scrutinize the purported relevancy of the evidence and to exercise their discretion to guard against factual findings that are ultimately traceable to the stigmatizing effects of mental illness.


The paper reviews New Zealand's experience with light-handed regulation of gas and electricity lines networks. The regulations included provisions for quite detailed information disclosure, and analysis of the resulting data shows clear evidence of very high-realised rates of return, compared with a competitive benchmark cost of capital. Disclosure of these large monopoly rents did not, however, trigger any official response to protect consumers from monopoly pricing, nor any curb on companies' use of an officially-sanctioned set of accounting practices which, although ostensibly based on current-cost principles, failed to account for the accrual of asset revaluation gains when calculating warranted revenues. Both industries were left effectively unregulated for most of the 1990s, and recent policy adjustments have left untouched the consequences of their virtually unchecked exercise of market power in the decade following corportization and deregulation.


Organizations are increasingly investing in consulting capabilities to understand what changes they need to make to keep up the pace with the competition and future-proof their business. Consultancy, Organizational Development and Change is a guide for students and internal and external consultants needing to develop the necessary skills to consult in organizational settings where there is a great deal of complexity. It tackles the issues posing the greatest threat to the success of the change programme, including how to adapt to rapidly shifting needs, deal with the emotional and ethical issues that arise and ensure that the managers take full ownership for the change so that 'business as usual' is established.

 Complete with case studies from the 'Big Four' consultancy groups as well as boutique firms, Consultancy, Organizational Development and Change shows how to identify and execute interventions in a variety of organizational settings to deliver value. It provides guidance on how to develop a value proposition; define, write and present the business case for the proposed interventions; establish credibility and report on the results.


The aim of the conference was to contribute to moving forward the field of multimodal research and to help connect the diverse community of scholars working within it. 6ICOM is a place where we can explore the full range of different ways in which multimodality has been taken up and where we can recognize their points of connection.

The conference was organised with support from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council, who fund MODE. MODE is a node of the National Centre for Research Methods based in the Institute of Education and aims to develop and promote multimodal methods for researching digital data and environments.

6ICOM's programme includes an impressive set of paper presentations (125) and invited keynotes (5). The presenters engage with a wide range of disciplines, ideas and methods, reflecting the diverse character of multimodality and latest developments in the field. They speak to a range of contexts, theoretical and methodological approaches, technologies and types of data.


The presence of nitrate and other redox-active anionic contaminants in terrestrial ecosystems poses a significant risk to humans and other forms of life on Earth. The purpose of the present study was to test a potential in situ system, using poly-(D) glucosamine (chitosan) adsorbed to mineral surfaces under redox-active conditions in order to degrade nitrate to lower oxidation states. Chitosan is a linear polysaccharide derived from the chitin found in the shells of shrimp and other shellfish. Five different loadings of chitosan (0, 0.075, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0 g/L; labeled C0, C1, C2, C3, and C4, respectively) were adsorbed to ferruginous smectite (SWa-1) to form chitosan-SWa-1 composites (CSC) in the pH range 5.8–4. The CSC was then reduced by Na2S2O4 in a citrate-bicarbonate buffered dispersion and washed free of excess salts under inert-atmosphere conditions. Upon addition of the nitrate, the solution pH remained slightly acidic, ranging from 5.5 to 4.7. Samples were analyzed for Fe(II) content, reacted with a NaNO3 solution, and then re-analyzed for structural Fe(II) content. Supernatant solutions were analyzed for nitrate, nitrite, and ammonium. In samples C1 to C4, extensive concentrations of nitrite were observed in the supernatants with a corresponding increase in the reoxidation of structural Fe(II), proving that a coupled redox reaction had occurred between the nitrate and the structural Fe in the clay mineral. The most efficient loading, defined as the largest percentage of adsorbed nitrate reduced to nitrite, occurred in sample C1. The total amount of nitrate reduced and Fe(II) reoxidized followed the trend 0 = C0 < C2 < C3 < C4 ≈ C1. Chitosan showed the potential to reverse the surface charge of constituent clay minerals, thereby enabling the CSC to remove nitrate anions from aqueous mineral systems via redox reactions with structural Fe(II) in clay minerals.


Despite the accepted success of many restorative justice programs with youth and Indigenous offenders, debate still proliferates about the utility of adult restorative justice programs within the criminal justice system. Many important questions are raised about the efficacy and impact of such programs including: 'What can restorative justice offer adult offenders and victims of crime? What are some of the challenges of using restorative justice in this context? And what can we learn from emerging developments in practice?' (Bolitho et al, 2012). As will be discussed in this review, Russell Finch's BBC Radio 4 production of A Different Kind of Justice addresses each of these questions with vigour. Narrated by 'dialogue expert' Karl James, the documentary explores the impact of a restorative justice program from a deeply empirical perspective. In interviewing, and then facilitating discussion between a burglar and his victim, James provides an exquisitely emotional look into the cathartic and potentially transformative impact of one particular restorative justice encounter in Blackburn, UK. A Different Kind of Justice expertly uses the interlacing of articulated memories in three distinct movements to re-tell a crime story by weaving together victim and offender perspectives, and in the process reveals not only the profound transformative effects of restorative justice on those participants, but also the impact it can have on the listener.


The intertidal reef flat of Barang Lompo Island, Indonesia, is exposed to air for several hours per day on the days around spring tides. The time of exposure shows a seasonal pattern. In the period January-June, the reef flat only runs dry at night, whereas in the period July-December, exposure only occurs during daylight. During the low tide daylight exposure period of July-December 1993, the leaf and rhizome biomasses (g m(-2)) declined significantly by 61 and 37%, respectively. Total rhizome length remained unchanged. C- and P-concentrations (% of dry weight) of leaves showed no change, while the leaf N- concentration increased by 25%. C-, N- and P-contents of leaves showed a decline that was strongly correlated to leaf biomass decline. In the rhizomes, C-concentration declined by 8%, but the N- and P-concentrations increased by 111 and 25%, respectively. Rhizome C-content (g m(-2)) declined (43%), N- content increased (46%) and P-content did not change. Total C- and P-contents of the summed biomass of leaves and rhizomes declined by 46 and 34%, respectively, but N-content showed no change. Ammonium and phosphate concentrations in the water column and pore water phosphate were not significantly different during daylight exposure compared to during nocturnal exposure. Ammonium concentration in the pore water, however, was 1.6 times higher during daylight exposure. Results show that during a period of frequent daylight exposure, the nutrient status in the intertidal Thalassia hemprichii seagrass bed changed considerably. Despite biomass reduction, the total nitrogen content in leaves and rhizomes together was constant, which was achieved by an enhanced nitrogen accumulation in the rhizomes. Two theories possibly responsible for the stable sum of the total leaf and rhizome nitrogen content are discussed. The first theory describes the seagrass bed as a relatively closed system with respect to nutrient cycles: detached leaf fragments remain trapped within the meadow. The second theory postulates that the loss of part of the photosynthesising canopy due to daylight exposure has a series of consequences for microbial N-transformation processes in the sediment, which indirectly affects the plants' nitrogen status. This study shows that Thalassia hemprichii, covering the reef flat of an intertidal tropical offshore coral island, which is often considered as a nutrient-poor environment, is rather resilient to a significant canopy die-off and concomitant nutrient losses. [KEYWORDS: daylight exposure; seagrass; biomass redistribution; nutrient contents; Thalassia hemprichii; Indonesia South sulawesi indonesia; banks ex konig; cymodocea-nodosa; syringodium filiforme; terrigenous sediments; zostera capricorni; halodule-wrightii; leaf growth; testudinum; carbonate]


Intelligent analysis The BMJ's shortcuts (p 1327) are our look at the research papers in the other big general journals. From this week on we are offering another view through Richard Lehman's blog on bmj.com (bmj.com/cgi/content/full/332/7553/DC1). Richard Lehman is an Oxfordshire general practitioner who started writing a weekly review of JAMA, the Lancet, New England Journal of Medicine, and the BMJ for a few friends; the circulation then grew to the primary care department at Oxford University and beyond. We've been enjoying his review in the BMJ's office for some time, and we thought our readers might too. Richard puts in as many "tempters" for journal papers as he can manage on two sides of A4: "I regard them more as an illustration of my view of the medical humanities than evidence based medicine." And he tries to find space for a filler, often on plants, but he promises proverbs, poems, and recipes. When he comes to review this week's BMJ Richard will probably include the papers on the effectiveness of prehospital parenteral antibiotics for suspected meningitis. The first, a case-control study by Anthony Harnden and colleagues (p 1295), showed that administration of parenteral penicillin by general practitioners was associated with an increased odds ratio for death; the second, a systematic review of observational studies by Susan Hahné and colleagues (p 1299), showed that the association between parenteral antibiotics and outcome was inconsistent. All authors conclude that confounding by severity is the most likely explanation for these counterintuitive results. The strength of the first study, says editorialist Duncan Keeley (p 1283), is that it restricts the analysis to children in whom the diagnosis was made by the GP (the study's statistician explains what a difference that makes on p1297). Keeley concludes that GPs probably shouldn't change their practice with respect to prehospital parenteral penicillin, but he speculates that detecting and doing something about hypovolaemic shock while getting the child to hospital fast may be more important for improving survival. We might look back in 10 years' time and wonder what the fuss about COX 2 inhibitors was all about. The meta-analysis of randomised trials of COX 2 inhibitors and NSAIDs by Patricia Kearney and colleagues (p 1302) confirms that selective COX 2 inhibitors are associated with a moderately increased risk of vascular events (mainly due to myocardial infarction), as are high dose regimens of diclofenac and ibuprofen but not high dose naproxen. In their editorial on life without COX 2 inhibitors Shaughnessy and Gordon (p 1287) conclude that we probably haven't "lost a truly superior option." Elsewhere in this week's issue is evidence that cardiologists provide the best care for patients with myocardial infarction, though for less ill patients (p 1306), and that commercial weight loss programmes do work (p 1309). And readers who are stung by the accusation of Darwinist Richard Dawkins that they "are a bit undereducated in Darwinism" (p 1294) might learn something from Paul Brown's lighthearted letter on unintelligent design (p 1341).