EZ Inhibition Missense mutations in the core constituents of the genome packaging material, chromatin, have been implicated in several of human cancers. Nucleosomes are made up of histones, and a mutation of lysine 27 (K27) to methionine in the N-terminal tail of histone variants H3.3 and H3.1 has been identified in various pediatric gliomas. Lewis et al. (p. 857, published online 28 March; see the Perspective by Morgan and Shilatifard) show that the polycomb enzyme complex, which can epigenetically modify K27 by addition of a methyl group—and which is often a silencing signal—is itself potently inhibited by replacement of the H3.3/3.1 K27 by methionine. The inhibition of the EZH2 subunit causes an overall reduction of K27 methylation. Methionine mutants of other methylated lysine residues in histone H3 cause similar reductions in methylation levels of the cognate lysine, altering the epigenetic profiles of such cancer cells. Mutations of histones in some cancers result in inhibition of enzymes that lay down epigenetic marks on chromatin. [Also see Perspective by Morgan and Shilatifard] Sequencing of pediatric gliomas has identified missense mutations Lys27Met (K27M) and Gly34Arg/Val (G34R/V) in genes encoding histone H3.3 (H3F3A) and H3.1 (HIST3H1B). We report that human diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs) containing the K27M mutation display significantly lower overall amounts of H3 with trimethylated lysine 27 (H3K27me3) and that histone H3K27M transgenes are sufficient to reduce the amounts of H3K27me3 in vitro and in vivo. We find that H3K27M inhibits the enzymatic activity of the Polycomb repressive complex 2 through interaction with the EZH2 subunit. In addition, transgenes containing lysine-to-methionine substitutions at other known methylated lysines (H3K9 and H3K36) are sufficient to cause specific reduction in methylation through inhibition of SET-domain enzymes. We propose that K-to-M substitutions may represent a mechanism to alter epigenetic states in a variety of pathologies.


Structured peer-to-peer overlay networks provide a means for interconnecting a large set of computing nodes called peers in a distributed, scalable and self-organizing manner. Typically in such systems, each peer maintains contact information about a small subset of other peers called neighbors. These neighbors are often chosen to ensure that each lookup operation takes a logarithmic number of overlay hops under normal conditions. Relying solely on the number of overlay hops as the metric for the quality of the lookup operation is not sufficient both for the applications using the overlay network and, for the effective use of the underlying communication network which is typically the Internet. DKS [1] is a P2P middleware built upon the principle we called distributed K -- ary search, which ensures that any lookup takes O(logK(N)) overlay hops, where N is the number of nodes in the system and K is the search arity. In a DKS overlay network, proximity is not considered. As a result, end-to-end latencies could be significantly large. In this paper we present EPDKS, a novel structured peer-to-peer overlay network that is based on the distributed K -- ary search principle. EPDKS takes proximity into account by combining round-trip times and the number of IP hops for interconnecting peers, thereby reducing end-to-end latencies and making effective use of the underlying network. Furthermore, we propose improvements for some of the algorithms currently implemented in the DKS. Simulation results confirm our expectations that EPDKS ensures lower end-to-end latencies and smaller number of IP hops when compared to DKS.


Graphical user interfaces for mobile devices have several drawbacks in mobile situations. In this paper, we present Foogue, an eyes-free interface that utilizes spatial audio and gesture input. Foogue does not require visual attention and hence does not divert visual attention from the task at hand. Foogue has two modes, which are designed to fit the usage patterns of mobile users. For user input we designed a gesture language build of a limited number of simple but also easy to differentiate gesture elements.


An interview with Berek Rothenberg, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Levi Smith. Berek Rothenberg was born on Jan. 3, 1921 in Sandomierz, Poland. As a boy, he belonged to several Zionist organizations including the Betar, Macabbi, and Akiva. Following the German invasion of Poland, he was taken by the Germans for forced labor on the railroads, and when released, was sent out by the Judenrat to work on a road crew. In 1942, Berek was taken away to work at the ammunition factory in Skarzysko. In 1944 he was transferred to Buchenwald and assigned to work at Schlieben, a sub camp, where the Panzerfaust was being manufactured. Berek was then transferred to Theresienstadt, where he was liberated on May 8, 1945. After liberation, he traveled around Italy waiting for a chance to move to Palestine but in 1949, Berek moved to the United States to be with his extended family.


Estimating the price responsiveness of market shares during a period of structural transition requires a distinction to be made between responses to variables explicitly recognized in the model and those due to more general changes in the trading environment. Often the latter are minimally modelled as market penetration curves taking the form of a sigmoid trend. Broadly this is the approach followed in the present paper; however, the trend 'parameter' capturing ultimate market share at a fixed level of price competitiveness is itself made a logistic function of the relative price variable measuring such competitiveness. The application of the model is to quarterly data on the share of imports in Australian personal consumption over the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. Most of the signal relevant to price competition between domestic and imported consumer goods occurred over the four years 1985-1988. This coincided with sizeable movements in the real exchange rate; and therefore, presumably, with collinear movements in the prices of the components within the domestic and the imported aggregates, which would be favourable circumstances for the application of Hicks' composite commodity idea. The responses in aggregate market shares during this episode suggest a very long-run Armington elasticity in the range 3.4 to 4.8, with short-run (quarterly) values of 0.6 to 0.8.


Gaia16aye was a binary microlensing event discovered in the direction towards the northern Galactic disc and was one of the first microlensing events detected and alerted to by the Gaia space mission. Its light curve exhibited five distinct brightening episodes, reaching up to I = 12 mag, and it was covered in great detail with almost 25 000 data points gathered by a network of telescopes. We present the photometric and spectroscopic follow-up covering 500 days of the event evolution. We employed a full Keplerian binary orbit microlensing model combined with the motion of Earth and Gaia around the Sun to reproduce the complex light curve. The photometric data allowed us to solve the microlensing event entirely and to derive the complete and unique set of orbital parameters of the binary lensing system. We also report on the detection of the first-ever microlensing space-parallax between the Earth and Gaia located at L2. The properties of the binary system were derived from microlensing parameters, and we found that the system is composed of two main-sequence stars with masses 0.57 ± 0.05 M⊙ and 0.36 ± 0.03 M⊙ at 780 pc, with an orbital period of 2.88 years and an eccentricity of 0.30. We also predict the astrometric microlensing signal for this binary lens as it will be seen by Gaia as well as the radial velocity curve for the binary system. Events such as Gaia16aye indicate the potential for the microlensing method of probing the mass function of dark objects, including black holes, in directions other than that of the Galactic bulge. This case also emphasises the importance of long-term time-domain coordinated observations that can be made with a network of heterogeneous telescopes.


We theoretically demonstrate that nanocomposites made of colloidal semiconductor quantum dot monolayers placed between metal nanoparticle monolayers can function as multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials. Depending on the thickness of the spacer between the quantum dot and nanoparticle layers, the effective permittivity tensor of the nanocomposite is shown to become indefinite, resulting in increased photonic density of states and strong enhancement of quantum dot luminescence. This explains the results of recent experiments [T. Ozel et al., ACS Nano 5, 1328 (2011)] and confirms that hyperbolic metamaterials are capable of increasing the radiative decay rate of emission centers inside them. The proposed theoretical framework can also be used to design quantum-dot/nanoplasmonic composites with optimized luminescence enhancement.


Tubercular meningitis is a type of septic meningitis and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries like India due to lack of early and timely diagnosis and so the case of fatality remains higher. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) evaluation is single most important aspect of lab diagnosis in meningitis. Aims: 1. To evaluate the diagnostic significance of CSF adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity in tuberculous meningitis. 2. To compare the values of CSF ADA in different types of meningitis and with that of controls. Materials and Methods: It was clinical cross-sectional study of 25 cases of tuberculosis, 25 cases of pyogenic meningitis, and 25 cases of aseptic meningitis. Twenty five controls with age and sex matched individuals without evidence of any neurological diseases served as control for CSF ADA. Results: In this study of 100 patients, 25 (100%) patients of the tubercular group had CSF ADA levels of more than 10 IU/dL with a mean of 13.68 IU/dL with 80% of the patients having ADA levels between 11 and 15 IU/dL. Mean ADA levels of aseptic meningitis was 8.00 IU/dL, pyogenic was 5.76 IU/dL, and control group had mean ADA of 2.12 IU/dL. Conclusion: All patients with tuberculous meningitis had elevated CSF ADA activity. CSF ADA activity in tuberculous meningitis was significantly higher when compared with pyogenic meningitis, aseptic meningitis, and controls.


Information flow models are usually conceived in terms of requirements on system traces, while verification that a system satisfies information flow requirements is usually done in terms of a state machine specification. The necessary translation from one model to another may result in a loss of understandability and expressiveness. J. McLean (JACM, Vol.31, no.3, pp.600-627, July 1984) showed how a language based on traces of procedure calls may be used to reason about security, and how one may prove that a program satisfies a specification written in that language. The language that he uses, however, does not easily lend itself to specification of composition of communicating processes. The present work modifies the language so that it is possible to specify the composition of systems. Several different information flow properties analogous to properties that have been defined for other systems, along with their composability, are defined and discussed.<<ETX>>


Recurrent crises in emerging markets and in advanced economies in the last decades cast doubt about the ability of financial liberalization to meet the aims of sustainable economic growth and development. The increasing importance of financial markets and financial efficiency criterion over economic decisions and policies since the 1980s laid down the conditions of the development process of emerging market economies. Numerous crises experienced thereafter gave rise to flourishing work on the links between financialization and economic development. Several decades of observations and lessons can now be integrated into economic and econometric models to give more sophisticated and multivariable approaches to financial development with respect to growth and development issues. In the markets-based and private-enterprise dominated world economy, two conditions for a successful growth-enhancing financial evolution can at least be brought fore: macroeconomic stability and consistent supervision. But even after the 2007-2008 global crisis, economists do not agree on the meaning of those conditions. For liberal and equilibrium-market economists, good finance and supervision mean market-friendly structures while for institutionalists, post-Keynesian and Marxist economists, good finance and supervision must lie in collectively designed and managed public structures. Drawing heavily on the tumultuous crises of the 1990s-2000s, this book argues that those experiences can shed light on such a crucial issue and lead economic theory and policy to go beyond the blindness of efficient free markets doctrine to economic catastrophes. It also points to new challenges to global stability in the wake of reconfiguration of international financial arena under the weight of major emerging market economies.


This book shows how hermeneutic theory and practice theory can be brought together to analyze cultural, legal, and religious traditions. These ideas are developed through an analysis of the Islamic legal tradition, which examines both Islamic legal doctrine and religious education. In terms of disciplinary orientation, the book combines anthropology and Islamicist history, utilizing both ethnography and in-depth analysis of Arabic religious texts. The book focuses on higher religious learning in contemporary Egypt, examining its intellectual, ethical, and pedagogical dimensions. Data is drawn from over two years of fieldwork inside al-Azhar University, Cairo University's Dār al-ʿUlūm, and the network of traditional study circles associated with the al-Azhar mosque. Together these sites constitute the most important venue for the transmission of religious learning in the contemporary Muslim world. Although the book gives special attention to contemporary Egypt, it provides a broader analysis relevant to Islamic legal doctrine and religious education throughout history.


ABSTRACT Artificial Life artworks hold a unique place in the art world, one that has been largely mapped by the VIDA international competition through its annual recognition of outstanding works based on A-Life. Works that have received awards since the VIDA competition began in 1999 (25 prize-winning artworks and 56 honorary mentions) have gained viewer appreciation and popularity at the same level as any other kind of art. Yet these works define a territory of their own, delineated here through characteristics of A-Life art that arise from both the artist's studio and the research lab and that mark the 25 awarded artworks. Following this article, the Leonardo VIDA Gallery presents a selection of eight prize-winning works that show the breadth of the competition to date; each is discussed here.


The wave of mass protests in the Middle East and North Africa highlighted the crucial role of information communication technologies in mobilization and political change. Debate among scholars revolved around the Internet's potential for toppling authoritarian regimes. However, rather than seeing the Arab Spring as a direct result of social media, this study examines how the online and offline media strategies converged, interacted, or prevailed within the various socioeconomic and political contexts. It looks at the purposes and functions of each medium, with a discussion of the dialectical relationship between them. Drawing on interviews and fieldwork in Morocco, as well as a critical examination of the movement's communications, this study contributes to the debate about the role of social media and the Arab Spring. It analyzes an Arab Spring movement that did not call for regime change, investigates relationships between the activists' use of online and offline media, and examines the multiple forms of communication flows in meaning making and nation building within dominant and non-dominant Moroccan publics. Finally, the study explores how the February 20 movement's communication approaches functioned within the historical, cultural, and sociopolitical context of Morocco in the present day. The findings show that the activists generally relied on the online social platforms to respond to state allegations against the movement, counter hegemonic practices of the state, and to mobilize followers both locally and internationally. While the online environment helped set the agenda for political discussion, it was also, unable, on its own, to mobilize the Moroccan people to the streets. Online platforms simply could not substitute for traditional offline communication, with the result that the activists had to utilize both online and offline communication channels. Dismissing the notion that a homogenous Moroccan communication strategy prevailed in the February 20 movement, the demographic and political contexts in specific cities played a major role in the choice of communication platforms or messages. The study found the activists relied on offline communication strategies, with a particular focus on aesthetic practices to mobilize the subaltern publics. Through implentation of various cultural and linguistic practices, the movement worked to reformulate the traditional concepts of nation and state, create a shared history of oppression and resistance, and envision a new era of participatory politics. Index Words: social media, February 20 th movement, online media, offline media, dialectics, aesthetics, subaltern publics, aesthetic protests Communication Strategies of the Moroccan February 20 th Movement: Towards Participatory Politics


The Interconnected Society – a global ecosystem of limited rationality founded on the interdependence of systems and on the processing of information and knowledge (a new paradigm) (Dominici, 2014) – reveals itself, in fact, not only as the underlying structure of digital capitalism and of the sharing economy (Dominici, 1998), but above all, in relation to the issues considered in this essay, as the ideal communicative habitat for criminal and terrorist organizations. Here they can both plan and carry out propagandistic initiatives capable of deeply conditioning individual and collective perception, fears, uncertainty, risk awareness and the social acceptance of risk, and in general, public opinion and the collective imagination, exposed, as never before, to the emotional flare-ups of the global media system. Public opinion(s), which are more and more easily conditioned, are in turn capable of putting pressure on politics, which is expected, despite having itself become weaker and weaker with respect to financial and economic powers, to provide solutions and to make choices of transnational relevance. The network and the ecosystems of complex connectivity have been acting for some time as the main lever for bringing this conflict, which displays facets today which are completely different from those in the past, towards a strategic, not to say crucial praxis, both on a micro and a macro plane: a communication plan scattering in all directions, going viral in real time.


Switched reluctance machine proved to be an adequate variable speed drive suitable to different domestic and industrial applications. Its performance is still to be investigated in the generation mode, where it needs to be excited via the same single sided windings of the stator. In this paper, the operation of the switched reluctance generator will be laboratory tested and evaluated when the machine is driven by a variable speed DC shunt motor.


Principal component analysis (PCA) is a dimensionality reduction tool which captures the features of data set in low dimensional subspace. Traditional PCA uses L2-PCA and has much desired orthogonality properties, but is sensitive to outliers. PCA using L1 norm has been proposed as an alternative to counter the effect of outliers. The R environment for statistical computing already provides L2-PCA function prcomp(), but there are not many options for L1 norm PCA methods. The goal of the research was to create one R package with different options of PCA methods using L1 norm. So, we choose three different L1-PCA algorithms: PCA-L1 proposed by Kwak [10], L1-PCA∗ by Brooks et. al. [1], and L1-PCA by Ke and Kanade [9]; to create a package pcaL1 in R, interfacing with C implementation of these algorithms. An open source software for solving linear problems, CLP, is used to solve the optimization problems for L1-PCA∗ and L1-PCA. We use this package on human microbiome data to investigate the relationship between people based on colonizing bacteria.


"Rhizobium" sp. NGR234 establishes a symbiotic interaction with many legume plants. Regulatory cascade which is trigged by plant produced flavonoids is intricate and numerous factors participate including several transcriptional regulators to control the synthesis of Nod-factors, polysaccharides and T3SS. The striking effects of the NodV (sensor) and NodW (regulator) two-component system were observed on key symbiosis regulators of the regulatory cascade in the absence of flavonoids. The NodVW is repressor of main regulator to maintain the low expression level of symbiotic cascade. T3SS effector proteins generally alter cell signalling and thus host responses induced upon infection. In NGR234, the demonstration that NopM is an effector protein brings the total to five effector proteins which have been identified. The phenotype of the T3SS appears to be an equilibrium in the action of the individual effector proteins, and is also indicative that all five effectors are translocated into the target plant cells.


A key procedure for mixture analysis in self-modeling methods is to identify a pure wavelength (or pure variable) for each component in the mixture. A pure wavelength has intensity contributions from only one of the components in a mixture. In this paper, an interactive approach based on principal component analysis (IPCA) is presented for the pure wavelength selection. The approach is developed from a combination of key set factor analysis (KSFA) and SIMPLISMA (simple-to-use interactive self-modeling mixture analysis). Since all significant principal components are included and user interaction is available during the procedure of selecting pure wavelengths, this new approach effectively resolves complicated mixture data containing highly overlapping and nonlinear absorptivities. Moreover, the noise level of the original spectra is determined from secondary principal components and used in the scaling so that pure wavelength selection reflects the signal-to-noise ratio in the data. Simulated three-component mixture spectra are used to demonstrate the IPCA method; this is followed by a general approach for analyzing an esterification reaction using mid-infrared data. The KSFA, SIMPLISMA and IPCA methods are compared by analyzing a set of near-infrared spectra of methane, ethane, and propane mixtures. Results from the three pure wavelength methods are used as inputs to the method of alternating least-squares to produce predicted spectra very similar to the spectra of the pure components.


Laparoscopic splenectomy has universal acceptance due to less morbidity and decreased incidence of peroperative and postoperative complication. It is not a popular procedure in Pakistan due to technical challenges. Here, we are presenting our experience of laparoscopic splenectomy for haematological disorders at Aga Khan University Hospital. A total of seven cases, underwent elective laparoscopic splenectomy for haematological disorders. The operative time was less than 3 hours with minimal blood loss with rapid and uneventful recovery. There was no procedure related morbidity or mortality; however, one patient expired due to overwhelming post splenectomy sepsis. Our initial report highlights the safety of laparoscopic splenectomy and we propose it to be the procedure of choice in elective splenectomy.


For forty years the city of Berlin was a house divided against itself. Reminders of its division into east and west are still evident today. Parts of the Berlin Wall can still be seen in places, numerous museums and monuments focus on Berlin in the Cold War era, and tours of the city frequently center on these themes. In many ways, this past is also demonstrated by Berlin's only Anglican church, St. George's. The church traces its roots to 1834 when the London Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Jews began holding Anglican services in Berlin. That ministry, which evolved over time, came to a halt in 1939 when the church was closed at the outbreak of World War II. During the war the church building was completely destroyed. The ministry was revived by the Church of England under a series of military chaplains following the war, and in 1950 a new church building was constructed in the center of what was then die British sector of the city. The church's new location, which is significantly west of the city's current center, puts St. George's in the midst of one of Berlin's wealthier neighborhoods. The church's plot of land, large enough for a church building, a separate building for children's ministry, and a fenced-in yard, is surrounded by apartment buildings and even by houses, which are rare closer to the city's center. Since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the city has moved rapidly to make its nominal reunification a concrete reality. Buildings and other developments have shot up in areas where the wall once stood, and around the grey and dingy "Plattenbauen" of the German Democratic Republic era stand colorful modern art galleries and trendy shops. Reunification has also influenced St. George's. After the allies pulled out of Berlin, St. George's ceased being a military church, and it called its first civilian chaplain in 1994. It is now being served by its second civilian chaplain, whose ten years of work have provided stability to the church's ministry. A Sunday evening service in the city's center has been added to meet the needs of worshipers from other areas of Berlin, although the church still attracts a wide diversity of the city's English-speaking Christians to its 10:00 AM service in the city's west end. On 21 May, the 5th Sunday of Easter, 2006, a visitor exits the Neuwestend subway station and walks a few blocks to St. George's. The large wooden doors are open, and he steps into the narthex. A few bulletin boards offer information, and the visitor pauses to read them. The left wall announces recent and upcoming church activities, several of which relate to soccer (a theme with which the whole city is buzzing in anticipation of the upcoming World Cup). Posted here is a newspaper article prominently featuring a picture of a minister in clerical collar holding a soccer ball over his head. The article, which has several quotations from this priest, previews a soccer match (which by now has already taken place) between Christian clerics and Muslim imams, a competition intended to foster religious dialogue and reconciliation. An amusing section reports the group's discussions concerning the day of the week on which the match should be played and says that they are looking for a rabbi willing to referee on the Jewish sabbath. A bulletin board on the right side of the narthex highlights creations from the church's children's ministry. Another display case offers literature about the parish and the wider Anglican communion. As the visitor collects some copies of the literature, a man in a clerical collar walks in and pauses to greet the visitor. As the visitor had begun to suspect, the cleric in the article is indeed the church's priest; the title of the office he bears here is "pastor". The visitor then enters the main sanctuary, approximately ten minutes before the service is to begin. A few people are already seated and some are clustered in groups talking. At the back of the church the ushers are still trying to organize their materials, and it takes a minute for them to notice the visitor and hand him supplies for the worship service: Hymns Ancient and Modern (Norwich: The Canterbury Press) in red covers, a green worship booklet with the printed liturgy (without publication information), and a small packet of music for the sung prayers (Liturgical Setting IV from "A Parish Eucharist" by John Birch, Church of the Province of Southern Africa). …


Despite the general controversy regarding the existence and physiological relevance of Class A GPCR dimerization, there is substantial evidence for functional interactions between dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) and adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR). A2AR-D2R complexes have been detected in rodent brains by proximity ligation assay (PLA), but their existence in the human brain is yet to be demonstrated. In this study, we used brightfield PLA, combined with a systematic sampling and a parameter-free naïve Bayesian classifier, and demonstrated proximity between D2R and A2AR in the adult human ventral striatum, consistent with their colocalization within complexes and the possible existence of D2R-A2AR heteromers. These methods are applicable to the quantitative analysis of proximity of two proteins and the expression of individual proteins. Method Summary Brightfield proximity ligation assay (PLA) was used to assess the expression of G protein-coupled receptors and their proximity in postmortem adult human brains. A novel automated machine learning method (Bayesian Optimized PLA Signal Sorting) was developed to automatically quantify brightfield PLA data.


Abstract. Measurements of ULF electromagnetic disturbances were carried out in Japan before and during a seismic active period (1 February 2000 to 26 July 2000). A network consists of two groups of magnetic stations spaced apart at a distance of ≈140 km. Every group consists of three, 3-component high sensitive magnetic stations arranged in a triangle and spaced apart at a distance of 4–7 km. The results of the ULF magnetic field variation analysis in a frequency range of F = 0.002–0.5 Hz in connection with nearby earth-quakes are presented. Traditional Z/G ratios (Z is the vertical component, G is the total horizontal component), magnetic gradient vectors and phase velocities of ULF waves propagating along the Earth's surface were constructed in several frequency bands. It was shown that variations of the R(F) = Z/G parameter have a different character in three frequency ranges: F1 = 0.1 ± 0.005, F2 = 0.01 ± 0.005 and F3 = 0.005 ± 0.003 Hz. Ratio R(F3)/R(F1) sharply increases 1–3 days before strong seismic shocks. Defined in a frequency range of F2 = 0.01 ± 0.005 Hz during nighttime intervals (00:00–06:00 LT), the amplitudes of Z and G component variations and the Z/G ratio started to increase ≈ 1.5 months before the period of the seismic activity. The ULF emissions of higher frequency ranges sharply increased just after the seismic activity start. The magnetic gradient vectors (∇ B ≈ 1 – 5 pT/km), determined using horizontal component data (G ≈ 0.03 – 0.06 nT) of the magnetic stations of every group in the frequency range F = 0.05 ± 0.005 Hz, started to point to the future center of the seismic activity just before the seismoactive period; furthermore they continued following space displacements of the seismic activity center. The phase velocity vectors (V ≈ 20 km/s for F = 0.0067 Hz), determined using horizontal component data, were directed from the seismic activity center. Gradient vectors of the vertical component pointed to the closest seashore (known as the "sea shore" effect). The location of the seismic activity centers by two gradient vectors, constructed at every group of magnetic stations, gives an ≈ 10 km error in this experiment.


The academic literature analyzes the fiscality concern from all points of view, and the question which pressed upon the theoreticians and also the practitioners of the last decades remains: which is the adequate level of the fiscality? The difficulty in answering the question consists in opposite interests: on one hand, the government is willing to acquire the highest level due to the ascendant tendency of public expenses; on the other hand, the tax payers long for a much reduced level in order to dispose of more financial funds. Considering the theory of Arthur Laffer as well as the premise that the taxation structure (flat or progressive tax) is less important than the general level of taxation (tax burden), the purpose of this paper consists in the empirical analysis of the correlation between the tax pressure rate, GDP and the tax incomes flux within two States which adopt different tax systems: Romania and Turkey. For this purpose, we have described the methodology of creating the Laffer curve for Romania and Turkey and we have applied the methods concerning the analysis between the GDP and real tax systems, as well as those methods which estimate the empirical tendency of the fiscality rate within the two States, mentioned above, taking into account the parameters which determine it. The conclusion indicates the existence of a correlation between the real GDP and the real tax incomes, strongly manifested in Turkey (progressive tax system) as compared to Romania (flat tax system). Romania provides an optimistic position, based on standard tendencies which confirm the theory of Arthur Laffer within other countries in Eastern Europe.


Abstract Ascidians are known to accumulate vanadium in their blood cells (vanadocytes) at extremely high levels which correspond to about 106 to 107 times the levels of vanadium ions in seawater. The route for the accumulation of vanadium ions from the outside environment into the blood system in ascidians has not yet been discovered. In the present experiments, using a combined technique of anion exchange column and atomic absorption spectrometry, we first extracted a vanadium-associated protein (VAP) from the blood cells of the ascidian Ascidia sydneiensis samea. VAP was estimated to associate with vanadium at an approximate ratio of 1 mol: 16 mols. SDS-PAGE and a polyclonal antibody against VAP (anti-VAP) revealed that VAP is composed of at least two types of peptides estimated to be 12.5 kDa and 15 kDa with a minor peptide of 16 kDa and that VAP is localized in the cytoplasm of the vanadocytes.


The intent of convening the international symposium on circle hooks in research, management, and conservation was to yield a contemporary, science-based assessment of the management and conservation utility of circle hooks in commercial, recreational, and artisanal fisheries around the globe. The symposium objective was to provide a forum for individuals, organizations, and agencies to share relevant research results and perspectives. Based on the presentations, an examination of the literature, and the collective experience and knowledge of the authors, we provide a brief overview of the current status of circle hook research along with a list of research needs, with a particular focus on science that has the potential to inform managers and stakeholders. progress was made on the definition of a "true circle hook." There was strong recognition that circle hooks represent just one of the tools available to managers for reducing bycatch and release mortality. also defined was the need for an integrative approach that considers strategies that complement the use of circle hooks. some of the research needs identified include a greater emphasis on human dimension studies to identify those factors that may impede adoption of circle hook technology by stakeholders and comparative studies of circle hook performance relative to mouth morphology, dentition, and feeding behavior. While the literature on effective use of circle hooks is growing, there remains a number of unanswered questions that will require study before circle hooks are more widely adopted for conservation and management of aquatic living resources.


"From one point of view, this is doubtless the darkest fourth of July which has dawned on us since the commencement of our National existence. From another, we sincerely believe that it is the brightest ..." Horace Greeley, NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 18631 (1) IN THE ABOVE QUOTATION, written on July 4, 1863, ardent abolitionist Horace Greeley was referring to the ongoing Civil War in the United States. Greeley's statement ominously foreshadowed mounting socioeconomic and racial tensions, which, in the days after he penned those words, exploded into one of the most violent episodes in New York City's history--the Draft Riots of 1863. These have been called by one historian "the largest civil insurrection in American history other than the South's rebellion:" (2) During the New York City Draft Riots the city's own inhabitants unleashed a torrent of violence and destruction that chiefly targeted African Americans. What originated as a protest against the enforcement of the Conscription Act quickly escalated into a riot that erupted at the volatile nineteenth century crossroads of race, class, and economic competition. In a letter home, the great American poet Walt Whitman wrote: "So the mob has arisen at last in New York. It seems the passions of the people were only sleeping and burst forth with a terrible fury.... We are in the midst of strange and terrible times." (3) In the end, more than one hundred people were killed, hundreds more were injured, and dozens of buildings were destroyed in a rampage that lasted nearly a week. The 1863 New York City Draft Riots are much more than simply a long-ago or isolated disturbance. This historical event offers students a unique opportunity to analyze and understand how the interaction of complex social issues such as ethnicity, economic status, and immigration can be multifaceted and far-reaching. The Enrollment Act of Conscription: Opposition When the Civil War first broke out, no one envisioned a protracted battle. Many believed the war would last no longer than ninety days. At first, it was not difficult to find men to fight for either side. But while men rushed to enlist at the beginning of the war, as the conflict wore on, it became increasingly problematic to enlist willing soldiers. The Confederacy had already instituted a draft in April 1862. The Union introduced its draft in 1863; Congress passed the Conscription Act on March 3rd. Single men, aged twenty to forty-five and married men, aged twenty to thirty-five were eligible to be drafted. Some citizens supported the measure, believing that "The administration is acting wisely in ordering the immediate enforcement of the draft.... The conscription is necessary," according to a New York Times editorial. (4) However, as soon as the draft was declared, rumblings of dissent could be heard throughout the North. Some of the balking was a result of the commutation provision, that is, that drafted men could either pay $300 directly to the government, or they could hire a substitute to fight in their stead. Considering that $300 was more than the average laborer's annual salary, it was obvious that only wealthy men would be able to utilize that provision. Thus, the conflict came to be known as "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight." Opposition to the draft was made evident in several cities. In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a mob broke windows in the marshal's office and attacked police officers. (5) The state's governor, Joseph A. Gilmore, warned the federal government that if conscription quotas were to be enforced, Washington would have to send a regiment. (6) In Boston, there was immediate opposition to the Enrollment Act. At least 500 people rioted in protest. Swift action by city and state authorities resulted in minimum destruction of property and loss of life. Violence was indiscriminate; African Americans were not targeted in the Boston disturbances and no blacks were listed among the dead or wounded. …


The importance of newborn screening for sickle haemoglobinopathies is now recognised, and its use has been expanding worldwide in recent years. This crucial blood test, often administered shortly after birth, can accurately diagnose sickle cell disease, allowing early interventions. As more countries adopt sickle cell screening programmes, it becomes essential to have periodic data assessments to determine overall effectiveness and identify areas for improvement. In this context, two timely reviews of the nationwide England programme have now been conducted.

With the possible exception of childhood immunisations, newborn screening can be considered one of the most successful public health programmes ever developed for improving child health. Newborn screening provides the means for early detection of congenital diseases, typically through laboratory testing of blood collected soon after birth. Abnormal screening results should always be confirmed, and then followed by prompt intervention and early disease management, with the specific goal of preventing clinical complications, irreversible organ damage or death.

Over 50 years have passed since Dr Robert Guthrie discovered that dried blood spots could be used to detect phenylketonuria, an inherited metabolic disorder that leads to early mental retardation unless phenylalanine is excluded from the infant's diet. Soon after his eponymous technique was published, Guthrie recognised that dried blood spots could be used to identify other disorders, writing presciently, 'Using the phenylketonuria specimens to test also for haemoglobinopathies would therefore avoid the need for collecting specimens usually involved in initiating any large-scale screening programme'.1 At last count, newborn screening panels encompass over 50 genetic disorders, but sickle …


. We review the state of knowledge about offshore wind farm (OWF) development-related effects on hydrodynamics and their possible secondary effects on fishes derived from European studies. Theoretical, modeling, and observational studies of OWF developments are relatively advanced and identify potential impacts resulting from OWF changes to local or regional hydrodynamics through modification of (1) the wind fields, and (2) oceanographic parameters including turbulence, mixing, and vertical stratification. While limited, studies discuss local OWF (i.e., within the OWF footprint) impacts on fishes due to sediment resuspension or sedimentation, temperature change, nutrient transport, and substrate availability. These studies largely neglect possible effects further afield and generally conclude that any hydrodynamic impact of OWFs on fishes cannot be distinguished when compared to natural variability. To further understanding of the cumulative risk from extensive OWF developments requires additional research on OWF-related spillover effects on surrounding ecosystems and on natural oceanographic connectivity. The use of dynamic habitat or agent-based models coupled with refined hydrodynamic models can help quantify the scale of spatial and temporal effects of hydrodynamic cues on the movement of fishes and their habitats, which is not currently possible via conventional modeling, quantitative analysis approaches, or field-based observational studies and surveys.


Although the public extension system in India is known to be one of the largest in the world, it still lacks coordinated effort in managing the links between research, extension, and farmers, resulting in non-uniform distribution of agricultural knowledge and technology. A vast majority of the population earning their livelihood through agriculture remain small and marginal farmers. Lack of computerized networks in agricultural extension departments, inadequate skilled manpower for disseminating agricultural information, and increasingly diverse needs of farmers across the Indian sub-continent pose hurdles in effective information transfer to the farming community. The use of information and communication technology (ICT) tools exerts a positive impact on agriculture worldwide by aiding speedy and effective dissemination of agricultural information. An increased awareness of modern ICT tools and their usage will contribute substantially to strengthening the extension network and expand its scope. This study explored the ICT preferences of personnel from agricultural extension organizations employed in public extension organizations in the north-eastern region of India. It found that electronic media is ranked below the conventional extension contact modes of print media and personalized contact regarding its use for disseminating agricultural information by the extension personnel. Demographic characteristics of the personnel from agricultural extension organizations such as sex, age, education, specialization, designation, and work experience were significantly associated with the pattern of ICT use specifically experience with ICT, frequency of use, training, and voluntary use.


Superstitious thoughts or behaviors have been demonstrated to occur frequently and persistently in our current population. Typically, they are held or performed in the context of an important performance task with the aim to gain good luck or prevent bad luck. However, to date, little is known about the reason for the maintenance of this seemingly irrational phenomenon, its psychological functions, or its behavioral consequences. The current analysis suggests that superstitions exert a causal influence on subsequent task performance. In particular, I contend that superstitions associated with the concept of good luck that are activated prior to a performance task enhance performance. Furthermore, I argue that this influence is explained by the underlying mechanism of increased levels of perceived task-specific self-efficacy beliefs. Results of one explorative analysis and 5 experimental studies support these assumptions. Specifically, Study 1 demonstrates the widespread prevalence of superstitions within the present population of undergraduate students at the University of Cologne and explores several specific superstitions that appear to be particularly common. In each of the subsequent studies, these common superstitions such as �lucky charms�, �keeping fingers crossed�, or the plain superstitious constructs of good or bad luck are manipulated between participants prior to various motor or cognitive performance tasks using manifold empirical methods. Results of Studies 2 through 4 demonstrate that performance in a golf-putting task or a motor dexterity game indeed is enhanced subsequent to the implementation of a good luck superstition, compared to a bad luck superstition or no superstition at all. Studies 5 and 6 replicate the effect of superstition on superior performance in cognitive tasks such as a Tetris-game and a Memory-game. Additionally, the results of these latter studies provide empirical evidence for the notion of the mediating function of self-efficacy beliefs on the observed effect of superstition on performance. In this regard, the reported findings uniquely contribute to our understanding of superstitions and their effect on psychological as well as behavioral consequences. The present findings are in line with previous research on self-efficacy and performance factors in general. At the same time, these findings suggest new questions for future research on the subject of superstitions. Possible applications to the athletic or the educational field are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the results of an interactive curricular-based 3-month long pharmacy continuing professional education (CPE) program on short- and long-term learning outcomes and behavioral changes of current and potential preceptors.

METHODS
A CPE program was developed that covered specific disease states and teaching skills. The goals of the course were to provide knowledge and skills needed to precept the College's new advanced rotations, and to attract more pharmacists to serve as preceptors. The course included pre-readings and 3-hour long workshops over a 3-month period of time. Learning and behavior were assessed by a pretest and posttest and follow-up survey.

RESULTS
Ninety-nine pharmacists completed the course. Fifty participants completed the assessments and were included in the analysis, yielding a usable response rate of 52%. However, only 30 participants completed the follow-up survey instrument, resulting in a response rate of 30%. There was a significant increase in test scores between the pretest and posttest, but a significant decline in test scores between posttest and the follow-up survey.

CONCLUSIONS
An interactive, curricular-based pharmacy CPE program is effective in increasing learning, but participants may not maintain the acquired knowledge over time. The program was not an effective mechanism to attract pharmacists to serve as preceptors.


One component of wireless communications of increasing necessity in both civilian and military applications is the process of automatic modulation classification. Modulation of a detected signal of unknown origin requiring interpretation must first be determined before the signal can be demodulated. This thesis presents a novel architecture for a modulation classifier that determines the most likely modulation using Grey Relational Analysis with the extraction and combination of multiple signal features. An evaluation of data preprocessing methods is conducted and performance of the classifier is investigated with the addition of each new signal feature used for classification.


Recent neuroscience, in replacing the old model of the brain as a single centralized source of control, has emphasized plasticity,the quality by which our brains develop and change throughout the course of our lives. Our brains exist as historical products, developing in interaction with themselves and with their surroundings.Hence there is a thin line between the organization of the nervous system and the political and social organization that both conditions and is conditioned by human experience. Looking carefully at contemporary neuroscience, it is hard not to notice that the new way of talking about the brain mirrors the management discourse of the neo-liberal capitalist world in which we now live, with its talk of decentralization, networks, and flexibility. Consciously or unconsciously, science cannot but echo the world in which it takes place.In the neo-liberal world, plasticitycan be equated with flexibility-a term that has become a buzzword in economics and management theory. The plastic brain would thus represent just another style of power, which, although less centralized, is still a means of control. In this book, Catherine Malabou develops a second, more radical meaning for plasticity. Not only does plasticity allow our brains to adapt to existing circumstances, it opens a margin of freedom to intervene, to change those very circumstances. Such an understanding opens up a newly transformative aspect of the neurosciences.In insisting on this proximity between the neurosciences and the social sciences, Malabou applies to the brain Marx's well-known phrase about history: people make their own brains, but they do not know it. This book is a summons to such knowledge.


Most theorists maintain that social exclusion is a process, not only the condition reflecting the outcome of that process. Yet few, if any people ever reach the ultimate end of the imagined trajectory. There are no formal exclusion thresholds to cross, as exist for poverty. Rather, at any one time, people are situated on a multi-dimensional continuum and may be moving towards inclusion in one or another sense or towards a state of comprehensive, cumulative social rupture. This process has been labeled social disaffiliation or disqualification, among other terms, and encompasses humiliation as well as social isolation. Longitudinal and panel studies reviewed here document some of the mechanisms of individuals' downward spiral with the accumulation of dimensions of exclusion. At a more macro-level, groups, communities, and societies also may undergo a process of social exclusion from larger collectivities in which progressive isolation and a decline of solidarity give rise to new social boundaries - exclusion lines, so to speak -- between insiders and outsiders. The process of residential segregation is a notable example. Despite the EU's designation of common exclusion indicators, national differences in the meaning of social exclusion, in contrast to poverty, may impede comparative study. The concept and its measures are still evolving.


The Aim of Gift Shop

Gift Shop was a creative, arts-based engagement project run in Old Trafford by 42nd Street between May – June 2015. 42nd Street is a young person's mental health charity in Manchester with a 30 year track record of providing services and opportunities to young people under stress. It created the Gift Shop project as a way of engaging with young people and wider communities from Old Trafford.
The idea was to work with young people to enable them to set up their own shop, make their own products and to sell them to their local community. The Shop aimed to introduce young people to the idea of 'Gift Giving' and to the work of 42nd Street with any money raised from this venture to be re-invested into local activity. Further, it provided the opportunity for a diverse range of people from the local community to come together and appreciate the talents, time and efforts of young people who are often viewed as troublesome. The community was able to enjoy and benefit directly from the creative things that young people made and sold. Gift Shop thus demonstrated a potential for using this kind of project to break down the boundaries between local residents and young people.

Participants

The research findings are based on the experiences of 39 young people, 44 members of the public and 8 professionals who were involved in the Gift Shop project or visited the shop itself. They responded to the questions we posed either by interview or questionnaire.

Key Findings

Connecting Young People and the Community
Gift Shop presented an opportunity for young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to engage in creative activities and take a pride in what they were able to produce. The fact that these were displayed and sold by a small, temporary social enterprise and bought by the community was a mark of their value. The sense of achievement that the young people felt not only raised self-esteem and confidence but also gave them a sense of being part of the local community.
Countering Negative Perceptions of Young People in the Wider Community
The behaviour of many of these young people has at one time or another been regarded as challenging and disruptive of the public space. Gift shop countered such assumptions in a novel and useful way, showing that the young participants could be constructive and generous through the pleasure that they took in gift giving.
Improving Self-perception among Young People Themselves
Young people in difficult circumstances are often subject to labels such as 'service user', which position them as 'objects of concern' rather than 'agents of their own change processes'. Gift Shop provided a space in which a diverse group of young people found it possible to think of themselves in a positive and optimistic way, rather than as stigmatised casualties of institutions or systems
A space for Sociability, Relationships and support
 and The young people used the opportunity of making things with others in a sociable setting to form relationships with the project staff, and each other. They became aware of 42nd Street as a source of help and support in times of difficulty, and some of them took advantage of the forum created through Gift Shop to discuss what was important in their lives.
Developing skills for Life and Future Employability
The creative sessions in themselves demonstrated to the young people the pleasure to be gained in craft and artwork its potential as a means of self-expression. Together with the shop they began to learnt new skills which if further developed could enhance their future employability.

Key Outcomes

 As this was a pilot project we report here on achieved outcomes as well as indicative outcomes that could be achieved if the project were to be scaled up and/or of longer duration.
• The shop provided an accessible local interface between young people and residents that was greatly appreciated by all parties.
• The fact that the shop was organised around creative activity, helped to counter any perceptions that young people were merely a destructive nuisance in the area, and showed the potential for the further breaking down of boundaries between them and other residents in their community.
• The community setting helped the young people engage with, appreciate and feel part of their local community. They gained pleasure in contributing generously to the community through 'Gift Giving'.
• The young people's sense of connection to place was enhanced, through the location of the caravan and some of the activities such as map-making which explicitly focussed on this dimension. A more extensive project of this nature could help to build a sense of local identity and responsibility for the area in which they live.
• The young people learnt to work collaboratively with one another and enjoyed the sociability and co-operation of a shared enterprise.
• In the course of making things together positive relationships were formed by the young people both with one another and the professionals working with them. This extended the networks of friendship and suppsupport available to them, including their awareness of mental health support services provided by 42nd Street. The difficult life experiences of some of the young people, which manifested in challenging behaviour, were explored through the informal and convivial setting of Gift Shop.
• The young people learnt new skills around arts and craft, raising their own perceptions of what they could achieve. In a longer project and with sustained engagement this would appreciably enhance CVs. Experience of both creative activities and running a shop would translate into employability skills.
• Young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds experienced creative practice and through this medium, a forum to think, feel and discuss what was important in their lives.
• The groups of which the young people were a part benefitted from a share of the proceeds of the shop, and the young people took pride in this material outcome.

Conclusion

Gift Shop was a successful example of 42nd Street's model of combining mental health support with community based arts and creative activities. For the thirty nine young people who participated, there is compelling evidence that the project met the outcomes set by 42nd Street and also met with the overwhelming approval of the local residents who visited and enjoyed the project. Gift Shop was a small, innovative, non-threatening, enjoyable, sociable opportunity for young people to learn new skills with others in a creative setting where their contributions to the project could be recognised and appreciated. Through engaging in this project, they were able, for a short period, to gain new horizons and to contribute in a small, but significant way to their own community.
A larger project providing a consistent presence over a longer period of time could capitalise on the enthusiasm that was shown and make a more durable impact on community perceptions of young people. It would impact on young people's expectations of how they might productively spend their leisure time. A more sustained involvement in setting up and running a shop would build substantial employability skills of self-organisation, reliability and customer relations.


You Know My Steez is the culmination of nearly four years of direct study and hands-on experience by a teacher-researcher and active community member in the working-class suburb of Sunnyside, California. Focusing on the language and linguistic practices of students at Haven High School, an ethnically and linguistically diverse school, the author examines both the internal linguistic constraints and the external social constraints (race, gender, and cultural literacy, among others) that shape speech styles, particularly amongst Black male and female hip hoppers. Contributing to the development of a more refined methodological approach to the study of linguistic styleshifting, the author integrates the study of sociolinguistic variation, interactional analysis (the use of discourse analysis to examine the implicit rules and roles that govern social interaction), and ethnographic fieldwork to develop a deeper understanding of how, when, and why speakers shift their styles.


INTRODUCTION When President Barack Obama took office on January 20, 2009, the U.S. economy had been in recession for over a year, and the prospects for a quick recovery appeared bleak. The Federal Reserve had already lowered interest rates to zero, which implied that monetary policy was unlikely to provide further stimulus. (1) Thus, the Administration, along with many economists and pundits, turned to the other key pillar of stabilization policy: fiscal stimulus. The fiscal approach was immediately controversial, however, for two main reasons. First, academic economists have come to regard fiscal policy as less suitable than monetary policy for stabilization purposes, principally because monetary policy can act quickly, whereas fiscal policy can suffer significant delays in adoption, implementation, and impact. (2) Second, the U.S. was already facing a dismal long-term fiscal outlook because of programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the TARP bailout. This outlook made some economists wary of new measures that would increase the deficit, even if only temporarily. Yet the Administration apparently concluded that it had no alternative given the state of the economy, so it plowed ahead with a fiscal stimulus. Deciding to adopt a fiscal stimulus, however, did not resolve all of the issues. The other question was what combination of tax cuts and expenditure increases to include in the stimulus package. Strict Keynesian theory holds that any tax cut or spending increase can stimulate the economy, even if the tax cut is badly designed and even if the increased spending is for worthless junk. (3) If this perspective is right, quibbling about the exact composition of the package is neither necessary nor fruitful. I argue here, however, that the structure of a fiscal stimulus is crucially important and that the package Congress adopted was far from ideal, regardless of the merits of the Keynesian model. Whether countercyclical fiscal policy is beneficial is a more difficult question, but it is not the critical issue if a stimulus package is properly designed. In fact, the Administration could have created a package that stimulated the economy in the short term while improving economic performance in the long term. This package, moreover, would have been immune to criticism from Republicans. The stimulus adopted was a missed opportunity of colossal proportions. That the Administration and Congress chose the particular stimulus adopted suggests that stimulating the economy was not their only objective. Instead, the Administration used the recession and the financial crisis to redistribute resources to favored interest groups (unions, the green lobby, and public education) and to increase the size and scope of government. (4) This redistribution does not make every element of the package indefensible, but even the components with a plausible justification were designed in the least productive and most redistributionist way possible. The remainder of this Essay is organized as follows. Part I discusses the arguments for and against fiscal stimulus. Parts II-IV examine the main components of the stimulus (tax cuts, energy programs, and infrastructure spending, respectively). Part V addresses other miscellaneous components. Part VI considers the broader implications of the fiscal stimulus. I. THE KEYNESIAN MODEL The standard justification for a fiscal stimulus relies on the Keynesian model of the economy. This model has been taught to generations of college students in economics classes around the world, and economists widely--though not universally--accept it as the starting point for analyzing booms and recessions. (5) According to the Keynesian model, recessions occur because of a lack of aggregate demand, and government can remedy this shortfall by stimulating demand. On the one hand, government can increase its own demand for goods and services, for example by building more highways, purchasing more military aircraft, or funding additional research and development. …


IT MAY WELL INDICATE WE ARE LOST in a dark wood of idolatries and iconoclasms when two sophisticated and much-lauded scholars sketch, in the same year, opposite cartographies of these landscapes. In historian James Simpson's book Under the Hammer (Oxford 2010), the way of iconoclasm inevitably begets further image breaking, while anthropologist Bruno Latour insists in his book On the Modern Cult of the Factish Gods (Duke 2010) that the path of iconoclasm generates, despite itself, further image making. There are ways their stories converge, too, but such convergences occur largely over the ambiguities of iconoclasm. What makes iconoclasm so tangled and rough, so difficult to discern and describe? I suggest that, anesthetized for decades--centuries, even--to our own iconoclasm, we Westerners are still full of sleep as we grope toward a path through icons, images, and idols. My goal with this article is not to shine a beam of clarity onto iconoclasm. It is instead to do two things. First, I want to awaken us to the ways that it is more difficult than it may at first appear to identify iconoclasm. In doing this, I will dip briefly into historical and current events, not to offer definitive interpretations of them (should such a feat be possible), but to constellate them in ways that disturb prevailing notions of what and where iconoclasm is occurring. Second, I want to begin beating a path through this thicket by generating a typology of iconoclasms that distinguishes them by the kind of "breaking" they entail. I will begin with descriptions of contemporary image controversies, review the importance and limits of Simpson and Latour's theses about iconoclasm, and then propose my non-exhaustive taxonomic approach. Along the way, I hope to demonstrate that iconoclasm is deeply embedded in modern Western society, not because the modern West hates images, but because iconoclasm is intrinsic to iconophilia. Such work, I hope, will clear the way to ask more nuanced theological questions about iconoclasm--not questions of whether we should be iconoclastic or how we might avoid being iconoclastic, but questions about what kind of iconoclasm we should practice and under what conditions such iconoclasm might help us learn to love certain images better. I hope to display the way hating and loving images, making and breaking them, no longer present themselves as two poles on a spectrum, competing options we can and must choose between. More than ever before, iconoclasm and iconophilia come to us knotted together, so that iconoclasm needs to be reinterpreted for a new age. I To understand the ambiguities of the image in contemporary society, I take us back to the end of the eighteenth century and across the Atlantic to France, image-maker extraordinaire of the Western world.The French Revolution was a decisive moment in the history of images. The revolution began, as revolutions often do, by breaking images of the former religiopolitical order. Following the revolutionaries' assembly vote to destroy signs of the old regime, the summer of 1793 was hot with iconoclastic fervor. Enraged mobs dug up the ornamented tombs of kings, pulled down royal statues, and vandalized Notre Dame Cathedral as they sought to instantiate a new order of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Not all revolutionaries enthused over the destruction of old masterpieces, though. Those troubled by their fellow revolutionaries' image breaking found in the suggestion of Pierre Cambon an alternative to destroying images. They transformed the Louvre Palace into a museum where such masterpieces could exist comfortably, having had their role as signs of the old regime's power safely curtailed. (1) Did, then, the museum prevent further acts of iconoclasm? Or was creating the museum itself an iconoclastic gesture, one that silenced images even as it left them intact? Ensconced in the museum, images were politically and religiously neutralized. …


Applying non-linear transfer functions and look-up tables to procedural functions (such as noise), surface attributes, or even surface geometry are common strategies used to enhance visual detail. As with any textured or geometric detail, proper filtering is needed to reduce aliasing when viewed across a range of distances, but accurate and efficient transfer function filtering remains an open problem for several reasons: transfer functions are complex and non-linear, especially when mapped through procedural noise and/or geometry-dependent functions. We accurately solve this problem by computing and sampling from specialized filtering distributions on the fly, yielding very fast performance. We investigate the case where the transfer function to filter is a color map applied to surface textures, as well as color maps applied according to (microscale) geometric details. We introduce a novel representation of a (potentially modulated) color map's distribution over pixel footprints using Gaussian statistics and, in the more complex case of high-resolution color mapped microsurface details, our filtering is view- and light-dependent, and capable of correctly handling masking and occlusion effects. Our approach can be generalized to filter other physical-based rendering quantities. Our framework is also compatible with the case of transfer functions used to warp surface geometry.


The Triassic-Jurassic (T-J) boundary, ~200 Ma, is known as one of the 'big five' mass extinctions in Earth's history. The T-J transition is characterized by a major extinction in the marine realm but evidence for floral turnover is ambiguous. Palynological records across the T-J boundary are controversially discussed because of the paucity of sections with a sufficient time resolution and/or well established stratigraphic framework. The presence of both well-preserved palynomorphs and ammonites in the investigated key T-J boundary sections from the Northern Calcareous Alps in Austria, (Hochalplgraben and Kuhjoch) and southern UK (St. Audrie's Bay) allow for an integration of terrestrial microfloral events in a marine biostratigraphic framework. The high-resolution palynological records presented in this thesis were used to 1) obtain a firm palynostratigraphic framework for the T-J boundary interval, 2) make a reconstruction of past changes in vegetation and climate, and 3) understand the magnitude and nature of the floral turnover. The present study shows that the first occurrence of Cerebropollenites thiergartii is useful as a palynological marker to identify the approximate position of the base of the Jurassic. One particular event in the Eiberg Basin is the deposition of organic rich sediments during the end-Triassic, co-occurring with a major negative carbon isotope excursion (CIE), a prasinophyte mass occurrence, and vegetation changes. Increased terrestrial organic matter influx is related to enhanced seasonality and erosion of the hinterland. Stratification of the water column may have caused anoxic bottom water conditions and black shale deposition. The observed warming during the CIE is probably the result of CO2 outgassing from massive flood basalt volcanism, and additional marine methane release. Hochalplgraben shows a change from gymnosperms to spore producing plants and an increased diversification of spore types during the latest Rhaetian corresponding with a trend to wetter conditions across the T-J boundary. By contrast, in St. Audrie's Bay a mixed gymnosperm forest is replaced by a monotonous vegetation consisting of Cheirolepidiaceae, which corresponds to a diversity decrease and a change to a warmer and more arid climate. A compilation of T-J boundary sections across the world demonstrates the presence of Cheirolepidiaceae dominated forests in the Pangaean interior and an increase in spore producing plants near the Tethys Ocean in the earliest Jurassic. Stomatal frequency data from Germany indicates rising CO2 levels (up to 2750 ppmv) during the T-J transition. The increase in greenhouse gases caused a warmer climate and an enhanced thermal contrast between the continent and the seas. Consequently, the monsoon system got stronger and induced a drier continental interior and more intensive rainfall near the margins of the Tethys Ocean. Furthermore, St. Audrie's Bay contains an end-Triassic palynofloral transition interval with four pronounced spore peaks, which can be related to precession-induced variations in monsoon strength. There is no compelling evidence of a global end-Triassic spore spike related to a catastrophic mass extinction event. Climate change is a more plausible mechanism for explaining the increased amount of spores and the differences between T-J palynological datasets.


Cambodian officials pocketed money designated for specific aid programs, the World Bank alleges. Though Prime Minister Hun Sen denies there is any reason for suspicion, denials are not enough. He must actively prove his government's innocence. Only when Cambodia has agreed to let an impartial international commission investigate the way the nation spends all of its aid money can the government exonerate itself. Cambodia's recent history is notoriously fraught with corruption and violence. Despite the creation in 1990 of a republican government with a parliament and a constitution, Cambodia's violent past begot dependence on foreign aid money. Per capita income is increasing, but the country's economy is still weaker than its neighbors'. In 2003 the economy further declined when the World Bank first found the Cambodian government guilty of corruption. Money was being siphoned from funds intended to support a project for the demobilization of about 30,000 soldiers, and the Cambodian government agreed to pay back US$2.8 million after the World Bank threatened to withhold further aid. Since then, the World Bank and the rest of Cambodia's donors have kept a close eye on their aid money. In December 2004, official donors promised to give the nation US$504 million in 2005 if it attempted to eradicate corruption and could show its progress. According to the World Bank, Cambodia failed. In June 2006, the Bank again cited corruption and money grafting as the reasons for its withdrawal of funds from three key programs. It cancelled 43 contracts worth US$11.9 million, US$7.6 million of which was earmarked for major projects on infrastructure, water and sanitation, and government bureaucracy. The loss of these contracts is a devastating blow for the country. The programs would have provided employment and aid for thousands of impoverished people, as the World Bank acknowledged. But World Bank officials claimed they could not risk having the aid money end up in the hands of wealthy government officials, who apparently did not heed their lesson in 2003. As Khem Sokha, president of the Cambodian Human Rights Commission, explained, "The money received from the World Bank was intended for the many poor who lack sufficient food, water, shelter, and other most basic needs, not for the villas, land cruisers, and mistresses of some officials." The corruption of a few has led to a national crisis, and Cambodia's economic state is continuing to decline at a dangerous rate. …


Metadata applications have developed local controlled vocabulary to meet information needs of users, but little is known about what vocabularies users use in searching for information. This paper reports the findings from an analysis of a digital library's query log. The analysis addresses questions of to what extent users use controlled vocabulary in resource discovery and what non-controlled vocabulary users use in their resource discovery. The authors discuss what is missing between the controlled and non-controlled vocabulary and how we can integrate user query terms into a learning object vocabulary for improving learning object representation and discovery.


A range of stainless steels has been investigated for resistance to microbiologically influenced corrosion in seawater. The corrosion potential was monitored for stainless steel coupons exposed to sterilized seawater and to microbiologically active seawater, which showed the effect of the growth of microorganisms. Cyclic potentiodynamic polarization scans confirmed that 13%Cr stainless steel is very susceptible to localized corrosion under these conditions. 316L stainless steel was also quite susceptible to localized corrosion, whereas 2205 duplex stainless displayed good resistance to localized corrosion. Naturally occurring microorganisms in the seawater were shown to exacerbate the localized corrosion.


The winner of the 2013 Longman-History Today Book Prize is the gripping and largely untold story of the role of the intelligence services in Britain's retreat from empire. Against the background of the Cold War, and the looming spectre of Soviet-sponsored subversion in Britain's dwindling colonial possessions, the imperial intelligence service MI5 played a crucial but top secret role in passing power to newly independent national states across the globe. Mining recently declassified intelligence records, Calder Walton reveals this 'missing link' in Britain's post-war history. He sheds new light on everything from violent counter-insurgencies fought by British forces in the jungles of Malaya and Kenya, to urban warfare campaigns conducted in Palestine and the Arabian Peninsula. Drawing on a wealth of previously classified documents, as well as hitherto overlooked personal papers, this is also the first book to draw on records from the Foreign Office's secret archive at Hanslope Park, which contains some of the darkest and most shameful secrets from the last days of Britain's empire. Packed with incidents straight out of a John le Carre novel, Empire of Secrets is an exhilarating read by an exciting new voice in intelligence history.


Water plays an important role in human life and development. The evaluation, planning and management of water resources become important in sustaining human life, specially in arid and semi arid regions. This paper aims to develop a mathematical model to simulate the surface runoff for Ubaiyidh valley in the western Iraqi desert. The model also simulates the processes of interception storage, depression storage, infiltration percolation and inter flow. Two approaches are used for routing runoff. The first is time area curve which is applied to the wetted area, and the second is the Muskingum method for modeling the runoff in the main channel of the valley. The model contains ten parameters which have been optimized using Rosenbrcks method. The model parameters were calibrated by using available data.


The increasing power of computer technology does not dispense with the need to extract meaningful in-formation out of data sets of ever growing size, and indeed typically exacerbates the complexity of this task. To tackle this general problem, two methods have emerged, at chronologically different times, that are now commonly used in the scientific community: data mining and complex network theory. Not only do complex network analysis and data mining share the same general goal, that of extracting information from complex systems to ultimately create a new compact quantifiable representation, but they also often address similar problems too. In the face of that, a surprisingly low number of researchers turn out to resort to both methodologies. One may then be tempted to conclude that these two fields are either largely redundant or totally antithetic. The starting point of this review is that this state of affairs should be put down to contingent rather than conceptual differences, and that these two fields can in fact advantageously be used in a synergistic manner. An overview of both fields is first provided, some fundamental concepts of which are illustrated. A variety of contexts in which complex network theory and data mining have been used in a synergistic manner are then presented. Contexts in which the appropriate integration of complex network metrics can lead to improved classification rates with respect to classical data mining algorithms and, conversely, contexts in which data mining can be used to tackle important issues in complex network theory applications are illustrated. Finally, ways to achieve a tighter integration between complex networks and data mining, and open lines of research are discussed.


This work deals with radiochemistry and new approaches to develop novel PET tracers labelled with the radionuclide 11C.Two methods for the synthesis of 11C-labelled acrylamides have been explored. First, [1-11C]-acrylic acid was obtained from a palladium(0)-mediated 11C-carboxylation of acetylene with [11C]carbon monoxide; this could be converted to the corresponding acyl chloride and then combined with benzylamine to form N-benzyl[carbonyl-11C]acrylamide. In the second method, the palladium(0)-mediated carbonylation of vinyl halides with [11C]carbon monoxide was explored. This latter method, yielded labelled acrylamides in a single step with retention of configuration at the C=C double bond, and required less amine compared to the acetylene method.The vinyl halide method was used to synthesize a library of 11C-labelled EGFr-inhibitors in 7-61% decay corrected radiochemical yield via a combinatorial approach. The compounds were designed to target either the active or the inactive form of EGFr, following computational docking studies.The rhodium(I)-mediated carbonylative cross-coupling of an azide and an amine was shown to be a very general reaction and was used to synthesize a library of dual VEGFr-2/PDGFrβ inhibitors that were 11C-labelled at the urea position in 38-78% dc rcy.The angiotensin II AT1 receptor antagonist eprosartan was 11C-labelled at one of the carboxyl groups in one step using a palladium(0)-mediated carboxylation. Autoradiography shows specific binding in rat kidney, lung and adrenal cortex, and organ distribution shows a high accumulation in the intestines, kidneys and liver. Specific binding in frozen sections of human adrenal incidentalomas warrants further investigations of this tracer.Three angiotensin II AT2 ligands were 11C-labelled at the amide group in a palladium(0)-mediated aminocarbonylation in 16-36% dc rcy. One of the compounds was evaluated using in vitro using autoradiography, and in vivo using organ distribution and animal PET. The compound was metabolized fast and excreted via urine. High radioactivity was also found in the liver, meaning that more metabolically stable compounds are desirable for future development.


A brief overview of the principles behind the behavior of the recently reported distributed Josephson inductance phase shifter is given. Simulation results of a typical phase shifter are presented. A model for the mutual flux coupling between adjacent RF SQUID sections is derived and the results are used to predict the effect of the coupling on the phase shift of the device. Distortion of the output signal is related to the time variation of the dynamic inductance of the transmission line.<<ETX>>


Systems engineering (SE) theories and practices for effectively dealing with complex systems are still evolving. Principal stakeholders are integral to complex systems, so we cannot predict or prespecify how the system changes. Every systems engineer has his own professional viewpoint derived from cultural background, upbringing/education and experience/maturation. The author has decided how all this fits his career and current 'mindsight'. He encourages other systems' engineers to examine and share their thoughts to help attain a more collective and forward looking view of systems engineering to advance the field. This paper provides a frame work for system engineers to contemplate whether they are of the traditional system of systems; enterprise; or the complex type. Perspectives on SE attributes are offered to assist any systems engineer in characterizing his belief system, stylistic approach, and overall effectiveness in engineering complex systems. Systems engineers might reflect on what applies to them and to what relative extent. If a particular set of attributes dominates, is that appropriate? What changes in outlook, style, and emphasis might make a more effective systems engineer? Several existence categories are suggested and proportioned through each of life's stages. System engineers may contemplate how these trends have affected their past behaviors, and how possible re-directions might improve their future accomplishments. Thinking through what we have done, are doing, and want to do as systems' engineers is recommended. Anyone's chosen way is no better than any other possibility. It depends on a multitude of circumstances in each of our lives.


Many parts of the Holocene climate system (e.g. impacts of freshwater input on polar oceans) are not fully understood due to a paucity of data. These data gaps limit our ability to examine the drivers of Holocene climate variations, restricting the accuracy of climate projection models. Freshwater input to polar oceans may have significant impacts on the behaviour of the thermohaline circulation (THC). In particular, freshwater input to the North Atlantic sector of the THC may cause reduced salinity slowing water mass sinking which drives the THC. Currently, our understanding of Holocene salinity change is temporally restricted due to limited instrumental runoff and salinity records. One approach to extend the records is to use runoff proxies; environmental recorders of historic runoff.
The high temporal resolution, marine, red coralline algae (Lithothamnion glaciale), has been suggested as a potential solution to this problem. Coralline algae are long-lived with slow growth rates that display well developed annual growth bands at seasonal time-scales. In Greenland, they have been shown to record changes in water salinity and temperature at annual—5 year resolution. However, before L. glaciale, is used more widely to reconstruct freshwater runoff, we need to understand; 1) the water source that drives changes to salinity and 2) if the different water sources can be detected in the marine environment isotopically (δ18OVSMOW and δDVSMOW).
To achieve that, this thesis aims to understand the oxygen (δ18OVSMOW) and hydrogen (δDVSMOW) isotope compositions in the routing of freshwater, from its source into the marine environment. This will enable determination of the environmental conditions which L. glaciale is exposed to and thus recording. Isotopic composition of source and marine waters were determined at locations that have a terrestrial-fjord/loch system and locations that are influenced by snow and ice melt (Glencoe, Scotland and Kangerlussuaq, Greenland respectively). At both locations, snowmelt, ice melt, riverine, lacustrine and marine waters were sampled for δ18OVSMOW and δDVSMOW analysis to determine; 1) the starting source isotope compositions in areas of freshwater influences into the marine environment, 2) any processes influencing the oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition change from the source to ocean, 3) the extent to which the isotopic composition changes throughout the runoff season and 4) the consequences of 1)-3) for using L. glaciale as an in-situ palaeo-runoff indicator.
Similar results were found at both collection sites; 1) isotope compositions enriched from the main freshwater source, through a river system and into the marine environment, 2) δ18OVSMOW and δDVSMOW compositions could pinpoint the exact areas of freshwater input and mixing along the fjord/loch, 3) the fjord/loch have fast hydrological responses to changing runoff conditions, 4) additional freshwater inputs and changes in the source are the primary processes altered the isotopic composition of the freshwater surface layer, 5) established individual sources can be separated from the bulk water mass and can be detected 118 km (Sondre Stromfjord) and 20.4 km (Loch Etive) away from the main freshwater terminus and 6) a suitable collection site can be determined from the isotopic signal ensuring that the algae record the full runoff signal. Knowing the exact areas of freshwater input along with spatial mixing and tidal action within the surface layer of the fjord/loch has given insights into the environmental forcing acting on the algae at the time of growth.
To relate key findings of this thesis with the algal signals detected in previous studies; salinity-temperature-δ18OPDB relationships (within Sondre Stromfjord) were used to determine any considerations for the use of L. glaciale as a climate recorder if salinity-driven δ18O patterns are not accounted for. However, it is important to note that as algal samples were from other studies, the temporal miss-match between water (this study) and algal collection may drive some of the observations made. It was found that; 1) Isotopic compositions extracted from L. glaciale growth bands in previous studies are enriched by 8.7-10.72 ‰ compared to calculated δ18OVSMOW at the algae collection sites, 2) the δ18OVSMOW environmental signal is thus not directly incorporated into the algae's skeletal structure providing a consistent offset or enrichment of the freshwater signal, 3) calibrating algal δ18O with predicted sea surface temperatures (SST) at the algae collection site generates an algal-derived summer SST of ~4 °C which is comparable to instrumental records, 4) variations in the marine δ18OVSMOW composition due to a freshwater input can cause a δ18OPDB change within the algae and may influence the reconstructed temperature in areas of high freshwater input, 5) greater GrIS runoff corresponds to depleted δ18OPDB and cooler reconstructed temperatures and thus indicates that freshwater provides a temperature error in reconstructed temperatures. However, the runoff itself cools the water and this effect could be less than initially expected.
This investigation has suggested the optimal collection locations for algae to increase the likelihood of them having recorded freshwater discharge signals. This had made a major advance as in the past algal collection locations were largely chosen using chart assessments. A dedicated study, which uses Lithothamnion glaciale collected from the suggested optimal recording locations, is now needed. Overall, knowledge generated in this study will enable advances in reconstructions of runoff from ice sheets, glaciers and calibrations using marine proxies, enabling detailed reconstruction of Holocene climate variability.


In the present work, the temperature dependence of the scalar meson parameters is investigated in the framework of thermal QCD sum rules. We calculate the σ-pole and the non-resonant two-pion continuum contributions to the spectral density. Taking into account additional operators appearing at finite temperature, the thermal QCD sum rules are derived. The temperature dependence of the shifts in the mass and leptonic decay constant of the scalar σ(600) meson is calculated.


Clostridioides difficile is the primary infectious cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Local transmissions and international outbreaks of this pathogen have been previously elucidated by bacterial whole-genome sequencing, but comparative genomic analyses at the global scale were hampered by the lack of specific bioinformatic tools. Here we introduce EnteroBase, a publicly accessible database (http://enterobase.warwick.ac.uk) that automatically retrieves and assembles C. difficile short-reads from the public domain, and calls alleles for core-genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST). We demonstrate that the identification of highly related genomes is 89% consistent between cgMLST and single-nucleotide polymorphisms. EnteroBase currently contains 13,515 quality-controlled genomes which have been assigned to hierarchical sets of single-linkage clusters by cgMLST distances. Hierarchical clustering can be used to identify populations of C. difficile at all epidemiological levels, from recent transmission chains through to pandemic and endemic strains, and is largely compatible with prior ribotyping. Hierarchical clustering thus enables comparisons to earlier surveillance data and will facilitate communication among researchers, clinicians and public-health officials who are combatting disease caused by C. difficile.


Urban areas are nowadays seen as the engines of economic growth and thus politicians rivet on problems connected to urban development. Most importantly, the question of how projects, which enhance urban life should be funded raised concern. The European Commission reacted to this topic by the introduction of the JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) Initiative. Within this initiative, resources can be invested in so called Urban Development Funds (UDFs) which should pass the money on to projects eligible for funding. In contrast to traditional grant financing, the JESSICA instruments have a revolving character (loans, equity, guaranties). This raises the question of whether and when the employment of these new funding types is appropriate.In general, public authority interventions are a justified means to remedy market failures. We apply this idea in the context of urban development projects by analysing the three main market imperfections, namely external effects, imperfect competition and incomplete information. For combinations of these imperfections, we derive suitable types of funding. Depending on the sensitivity to the respective imperfections, we categorise a range of urban development projects which are suggested to be appropriate for Urban Development Funds under the JESSICA initiative. This reveals that projects related to culture, tourism, retail as well as public buildings and spaces should get grant funding as they are mainly prone to market failures arising from external effects. Otherwise, projects in the fields of transport, energy, communication, education, research, business parks, and start-ups are indeed suitable for JESSICA-type funding. This analysis contributes to existing remarks on the advantages of the JESSICA Initiative by going beyond practitioners' argumentations. It seems to be extremely important to understand the mechanisms behind market failure corrections, because the appropriate funding type is crucial to not distort normal market functioning. Thus, the connection between the omission of project initialisation and market failures should always be carefully investigated before the selection of funding instruments.


By introducing periodic thickness modulation of thin metal stripes embedded in a dielectric, compact and efficient Bragg gratings for long-range surface plasmon polaritons (LR-SPPs) operating around 1550 nm are realized. Reflection and transmission spectra of the gratings having different lengths (from 20 to 160 /spl mu/m), heights (tens of nanometers), and widths of the metal ridges forming the grating were measured, and the reflectivity of up to 60% and bandwidths ranging from 5 to 40 nm are demonstrated. By using a simple lossless-uniform-grating description, the effective refractive-index modulation in LR-SPP gratings is estimated to be of the order of 10/sup -2/, and two different approaches for these calculations are compared. The LR-SPP loss incurred in the investigated gratings is also discussed.


Summary

This study examined, through the problem-size effect, whether exact calculation and computational estimation are categorically different. In Experiment 1, 26 teacher candidates, most of whom were female, Caucasian, and in their early 20s, estimated 27 randomly generated double-digit multiplication problems. In Experiment 2, 44 similar participants estimated and calculated a common set of double-digit multiplication problems. Analysis of reaction times and error rates indicates that the problem-size effect holds true for exact calculation but not for estimation. In estimation, as problem size increases, reaction times do not increase, nor does the rate of unreasonable estimates. Instead, the difference between a factor's unit digit and the nearest ten to be rounded to was a primary contributor to the variance of reaction times. It is concluded that exact calculation and computational estimation are computationally, cognitively, and structurally different processes. Furthermore, it is suggested that estimation skills be given separate, dedicated attention in schools. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Human NK lymphocytes are involved in antitumor immunity. The therapeutic potential of this population against cancers has stimulated their study and led to the discovery of several NK cell subsets, each of which is endowed with different immunoregulatory functions. We have previously reported that NK cell functions are profoundly altered in advanced breast cancer patients. In this study, we show that these tumor-mediated alterations also variably affect NK cell subsets. We found that in addition to the known human CD56dimCD16+, CD56brightCD16−, and CD56−CD16+ NK cell subsets, two additional subsets, namely the CD56brightCD16+ and CD56dimCD16− subsets, were increased in the peripheral blood of patients with advanced invasive breast cancers. These subsets corresponded to the main two subsets found at the tumor site. The extensive phenotype of these subsets revealed an "à la carte" pattern of expression for the various NK receptors, functional molecules, adhesion molecules, and chemokine receptors, depending on the subset. We next compared these subsets to known NK cell populations endowed with specific phenotypic characteristics, but also with functional properties. Our data show that advanced breast cancer patients have an increased proportion of more immature and noncytotoxic NK cell subsets in their peripheral blood, which might account for at least part of the low cytotoxic functions observed in these patients. They reveal a major heterogeneity and plasticity of the NK cell compartment, which are both tightly linked to the microenvironment. The identification of NK cell subsets endowed with particular functional capabilities might help monitor residual antitumor NK cell-mediated responses in breast cancer patients.