Background: Lower extremity arterial disease (LEAD) is common and under Diagnosed in patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) . Risk persists even when LEAD is Subclinical. It is an important socio-economical and healthcare problem, due to its High incidence of morbidity, disability and mortality and its related cardiovascular events. Early detection of LEAD, before the onset of symptoms in patient with DM, is desirable and can lead to tighter, better control of risk factors for arterial disease. Present study is an effort to compare for the accuracy of Pulse Oximetry, the AnkleBrachial index (ABI) and the combination of the two to diagnose LEAD in Asymptomatic type 2 DM patients. Methods: Fifty type 2 DM patients who had no symptoms of LEAD attending OPD and IPD in Dr.B.R.Ambedkar medical college during recent 2 years were enrolled. Exclusions were age <40 years, known LEAD, or typical symptoms of LEAD. All patients had (1) ABI measurement and considered abnormal < 0.9 (2) pulse oximetry to measure SaO2 of their index fingers and big toes in the supine position and SaO2 of the toes was considered abnormal if the SaO2 was more than 2% lower from the finger. The combination was considered positive if either the ABI or pulse oximetry was positive for LEAD and negative if both were negative. And (3) Doppler waveform analysis of the lower extremity arteries used as standard comparison for above tests and defined LEAD as monophasic waveforms. Results: Of our 50 patients (100 legs examined), 31 (31%) had LEAD. Pulse Oximtery has a Sensitivity of 74.14%, Specificity of 97.10%, and Positive predictive value of 92% and Negative predictive value of 89.3%. ABI has a Sensitivity of 60.60%, Specificity of 97.12%, and Positive predictive value of 90.9% and Negative predictive value of 87.9%. Combination has a Sensitivity of 87%, Pulse Oximetry As The Potential Screening Tool For Lower Extremity Arterial Disease In Asymptomatic Patients With


Welding training is essential in the development of industrialization. A good welder will build robust workpieces that ensure the safety and stability of the product. However, training a welder requires lots of time and access professional welding equipment. Therefore, it is desirable to have a training system that is economical and easy to use. After decades development of computer graphics, sophisticated methodologies are developed in simulation fields, along the advanced hardware, enables the possibility of simulation welding with software. In this thesis, a novel prototype of welding training system is proposed. We use smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method to simulate fluid as well as heat transfer and phase changing. In order to accelerate the processing to reach the level of real-time, we adopt CUDA to implement the SPH solver on GPU. Plus, Leap Motion is utilized as the input device to control the welding gun. As the result, the simulation reaches decent frame rate that allows the user control the simulation system interactively. The input device permits the user to adapt to the system in less than 5 minutes. This prototype shows a new direction in the training system that combines VR, graphics, and physics simulation. The further development of VR output device like Oculus Rift will enable the training system to a more immersive level.


Polarization of various cell types depends on a complex containing the PDZ domain-containing scaffolding proteins Par-3 and Par-6 and atypical protein kinase C. Noting that phosphoinositides (PIPs) have also been implicated in cell polarization and that PDZ domains--although better known for mediating protein-protein interactions--can bind phosphatidylinositol (PI) lipids, Wu et al. investigated interactions between Par protein PDZ domains and PI lipids. The second Par-3 PDZ domain (PDZ2) bound to brain-derived liposomes with an affinity comparable to that of the PLCδ pleckstrin homology (PH) domain (a PI lipid-binding domain); strip-based assays and experiments with defined liposomes indicated that it bound directly to PIPs. Lipid-binding assays of 74 human PDZ domains and 14 PDZ tandems revealed that a subset bound PI lipids. Structural and biochemical analysis indicated that lipid binding by the Par-3 PDZ2 depended on a cluster of positively charged residues and that PDZ2 contained a PIP head group-binding pocket that overlapped its peptide ligand-binding site. In MDCK epithelial cells, Par-3 primarily localized to the cell membrane; mutational analysis indicated that membrane localization depended on PI lipid binding by PDZ2. Par-3 knockdown disrupted tight junction formation and reestablishment of polarization in MDCK cells. Epithelial repolarization was rescued by wild-type Par-3 or by a mutant in which the PLCδ PH domain replaced PDZ2 but not by mutants defective in lipid binding. The Par-3 PDZ3 domain bound to the lipid phosphatase PTEN. The authors conclude that lipid binding by the Par-3 PDZ2 domain is critical to its role in epithelial polarization and that the combination of PIP-binding by PDZ2 and PTEN-binding by PDZ3 could enable Par-3 to integrate PIP signaling. H. Wu, W. Feng, J. Chen, L.-N. Chan, S. Huang, M. Zhang, PDZ domains of Par-3 as potential phosphoinositide signaling integrators. Mol. Cell 28, 886-898 (2007). [PubMed]


We perform the first comprehensive fiscal incidence analyses in Brazil and the US, including direct cash and food transfers, targeted housing and heating subsidies, public spending on education and health, and personal income, payroll, corporate income, property, and expenditure taxes. In both countries, primary spending is close to 40 percent of GDP. The US achieves higher redistribution through direct taxes and transfers, primarily due to underutilization of the personal income tax in Brazil and the fact that Brazil's highly progressive cash and food transfer programs are small while larger transfer programs are less progressive. However, when health and non-tertiary education spending are added to income using the government cost approach, the two countries achieve similar levels of redistribution. This result may be a reflection of better-off households in Brazil opting out of public services due to quality concerns rather than a result of government effort to make spending more equitable.


This essay somehow arbitrarily freezes my ongoing attempt to grasp the present situation and future possibilities of higher education courses, programs, institutions and initiatives that are inspired by integral and likeminded approaches. The focus in this essay is on the European Higher Education Area and its specifics, whereas some implicit or explicit comparisons with the USA are made. My reflections are triggered by the recurrent observation that in Europe there seems to be i) more demand than offer of integrally oriented higher education programs, ii) an imbalance between overused but little successful and underused but potentially more promising strategies to implement such programs, iii) little or no learning from past failures, and iv) little mutual awareness, communication and collaboration between different activists and initiatives in this field. The context for this essay is i) the current societal macroshift, ii) the unfolding of academic level integral and likeminded research worldwide, and iii) the large scale reform of the European Higher Education systems brought about by the Bologna process, its (false) promises and the potential it nevertheless has for realizing examples of a more integral higher education. On this basis the consequences for attempts to overcome a relatively stagnant state of affairs in Europe are discussed. Given that; most past attempts to implement programs inspired by an integral worldview have failed from the start, or disappeared after a relatively short period, or are marginalised or becoming re- mainstreamed, this essay aims to devise a potentially more promising strategic corridor and describes the contours of the results that could be brought about when following a developmental trajectory within this corridor. This futurising exercise is inspired by principles shared by many integral and likeminded approaches, especially the reconsideration, integration and transcendence of premodern, modern and postmodern structures and practices of higher education. This essay is programmatic and thus deliberately combines facts and values, past and future, summaries of first person observations and third person factual information, without the burden of systematic referencing required by scholarly writing. It does not claim to replace empirical surveys which, however, are still lacking to date regarding the actual state of affairs of higher education inspired by integral and likeminded approaches in Europe. Accordingly, at this stage, the essay is an exercise of awareness-raising to stimulate more and better collaboration across streams, disciplines and countries between those scholars, students and activists who are already inspired by integral and likeminded


The transformation of the European energy system requires substantial investment in transmission capacity to facilitate cross-border trade and to efficiently integrate renewable energy sources. However, network planning in the EU is still mainly a national prerogative. In contrast to other studies aiming to identify the pan-European (continental) welfare-optimal transmission expansion, we investigate the impact of national regulators deciding on network investment strategically, with the aim of maximizing consumer surplus and generator profits in their jurisdiction. This reflects the inadequacy of current mechanisms to compensate for welfare re-allocations across national boundaries arising from network upgrades. We propose a three-stage equilibrium model to describe the Nash game between zonal planners (i.e., national governments, regulators, or system operators), each taking into account the impact of network expansion on the electricity spot market and the resulting welfare effects on the constituents within her jurisdiction. Using a four-node sample network, we identify several Nash equilibria of the game between the zonal planners, and illustrate the failure to reach the first-best welfare expansion in the absence of an effective compensation mechanism.


The avidity of antibodies (Abs) to diphtheria Toxin (DT), toxoids (DTo) and the DT binding site (DTBS) was investigated in sera from guinea bigs vaccinated with various DTo. Measurement of avidity by the thiocyanate procedure revealed that, the maturation patterns of Abs to the corresponding DTo were not much different whereas the maturation patterns of Abs to DT were different. Differences up to 20 folds were observed in the affinity to the DTBS as measured by the tissue culture procedure and expressed as equilibrium constant (K). The avidity of Abs to either the corresponding DTo or the DT could not be correlated to the vaccine efficacy, whereas the vaccine efficacy could be ranked according to its affinity to the DTBS. This may be explained in terms of the specificity of measurement in each procedure. The thiocyanate procedure measures the average avidity to complex antigens with several epitopes whereas the tissue culture procedure allows determination of the affinity of Abs to the DTBS. It is concluded that in assessment of new vaccines, attention should be given to including measurement of the avidity of Abs to known protective epitopes rather than to complex antigens or a mixture of antigens.


This paper considers a large multi-user time-division duplex (TDD) system, where the base station (BS) acquires channel state information via pilot signaling from the users. In the downlink the BS employs zero-forcing (ZF) and regularized zero-forcing (RZF) precoding. We derive the optimal sum rate maximizing amount of channel training using sum rate approximations from the large system analysis of MISO downlink channels under (R)ZF precoding. Moreover, in the regime of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), we derive approximate solutions of the optimal amount of training for both schemes that are of closed-form. By comparing the two schemes, we find that RZF requires less training than ZF, but the training interval of both schemes is equal for asymptotically high SNR. Furthermore, simulations are carried out which demonstrate the accuracy of our approximate solutions.


This paper discusses the relationship between education and crime from an economic perspective, developing a human capital-based model that sheds light on key ways in which early childhood programs and policies that encourage schooling may affect both juvenile and adult crime. The paper first discusses evidence on the effects of educational attainment, school quality, and school enrollment on crime. Next, the paper discusses evidence on the crime reduction effects of preschool programs like Perry Preschool and Head Start, school-age programs that emphasize social and emotional development, and job training programs for low-skill adolescents and young adults. Finally, the paper concludes with a broad discussion of education policy and its potential role as a crime-fighting strategy.


The impact of unmonitored contaminants, also known as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), on freshwater streams remains largely uncharacterized. Water samples from 31 streams representing urban, agricultural and undeveloped (i.e., open space) land use in Southern California (USA) were analyzed for in vitro and in vivo bioactivity. The extent and magnitude of bioactivity screened using endocrine-responsive cell bioassays and a fish embryo screening assay were low. In contrast, a wider gradient of responses for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) assay was observed, which was negatively correlated with a measure of benthic community structure. Both aromatic and non-aromatic CECs were tentatively identified in these samples, but polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), known AhR agonists in urban environments, were not present at detectable levels. These results suggest that a combination of in vitro and in vivo show potential as screening techniques for biological condition in situ, but that more advanced, comprehensive analytical methods are needed to identify bioactive contaminants.


New approaches are being studied for real-time interaction, and related supporting processes, with spacecraft and instruments in deep-space. Spacecraft are evolving, improving in many ways, and generally, becoming more robust. Operations are changing also. Operations will be more automated in the future. However, there is a challenge. Deep-space missions are not all alike. The Operations phases of discovery and exploration are an extension of the research that creates the mission; they are the time of obtaining results. This examines the historical role of flight operations, and its evolving processes, to develop an understanding of the operational methods that will be effective in the future. It takes people, equipment, software, space, and connectivity for Operations success. A balance has to be struck between improving technology, gaining knowledge, automation, and realistic expectations. Finally, the recommended methods to gain efficiency in Operations are system-wide services and shared resources. These common processes will meet the challenge of varied missions.


So far there is no conclusive evidence for water in the nucleus of 81P/comet Wild 2. Recently magnetite in collected Wild 2 samples was cited as proxy evidence for parent body aqueous alteration in this comet (Hicks et al. ). A potentional source for water of hydration would be layer silicates but unfortunately there is no record, neither texturally nor chemically, for hydrated layer silicates that survived hypervelocity impact in the Wild 2 samples. This paper reports large vesicles in the matrix of allocation C2044,2,41,2,5 from a volatile‐rich type B/C Stardust track. These vesicles were probably caused by boiling water that were generated when hydrated Wild 2 silicates impacted the near‐surface silica aerogel layer. Potential water sources were partially and fully hydrated GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulfides) and CI carbonaceous chondrite materials among the earliest dusts that experienced hydration and icy‐body formation and long‐range transport and mixing with materials from across the solar system.


Many AI problems can be modeled as constraint satisfaction problems (CSP), but many of them are actually dynamic: the set of constraints to consider evolves because of the environment, the user or other agents in the framework of a distributed system. In this context, computing a new solution from scratch after each problem change is possible, but has two important drawbacks: inefficiency and instability of the successive solutions. In this paper, we propose a method for reusing any previous solution and producing a new one by local changes on the previous one. First we give the key idea and the corresponding algorithm. Then we establish its properties: termination, correctness and completeness. We show how it can be used to produce a solution, either from an empty assignment, or from any previous assignment and how it can be improved using filtering or learning methods, such as forward-checking or nogood-recording. Experimental results related to efficiency and stability are given, with comparisons with well known algorithms such as backtrack, heuristic repair or dynamic backtracking.


ISO 4409 is the most important international standard for measuring the efficiency of hydraulic pumps and motors, the latest edition being 4409:2007. The standard describes methods for determining the steady-state performance in terms of overall efficiency. It also defines equations for calculating the volumetric efficiency of pumps and motors. The hydro-mechanical efficiency is only defined for motors, not for pumps.
 This paper analyses the efficiency and losses of pumps and motors in an alternative way. The preference is on loss analysis instead of efficiencies. Especially the effects of the bulk modulus are considered in a different and more inclusive manner. The new methodology results in a higher total loss for motor and a lower total loss for pumps than the current ISO 4409 standard. Furthermore, it results in significant changes of the hydro-mechanical and volumetric losses. The differences between the new methodology and ISO 4409 become larger for high load pressures.
 The new methodology demands knowledge about the minimum volume of the displacement chamber. The ratio between this volume and the full displacement of a single displacement chamber strongly influences the hydro-mechanical and volumetric losses of the pump or motor. The new methodology is valid for all positive displacement hydrostatic pumps and motors. The volumetric efficiency, as defined in ISO 4409, can still be used as a flow rate factor, but should not be regarded as an energy conversion efficiency.
 The importance of adopting the proposed methodology is further demonstrated by analyzing and comparing the measurement data about a fixed displacement pump and motor, showing the differences in the loss analysis by means of ISO 4409 and the new equations.
 The methodology, observations and validation results presented in this paper are significant and can pave the road for improving the current ISO 4409:2007 standard, which would ultimately benefit the industry.


We propose a novel information-theoretic approach for evaluating microphone arrays that relies on the array physics and geometry rather than the underlying beamforming algorithm. The analogy between Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) wireless communication channel and the acoustic channel of microphone arrays is exploited to define information measures of microphone arrays, which provide upper bounds of the information rate of the microphone array system.


I. INTRODUCTION Hydraulic fracturing, or "hydrofracking," describes the process wherein fluid is pumped underground at extremely high pressure to drive out oil or natural gas. (1) Although first developed in the 1940s, hydrofracking did not begin to revolutionize the U.S. energy-extraction industry until 1998, when, for the first time, it was used in conjunction with horizontal drilling. (2) This combination of technologies provided for resource extraction from previously uneconomical shale basins--dubbed "unconventional" reserves (3)--prompting a rapid proliferation in the number of natural gas wells constructed across the United States. (4) For example, in Pennsylvania's Marcellus shale formation alone, 196 wells were drilled in 2008, 763 in 2009, (5) 1,386 in 2010, (6) and an astronomical 3,500 are projected by 2020. (7) The practice of hydraulic fracturing is expanding so hurriedly that even residents of urbanized areas are subject to the possibility of "twenty-four hour drilling disrupting the tranquility" of their backyards. (8) Currently, a schism exists between energy lobbyists: one extreme believes that natural gas provides the key to America's energy future; the other clamors that hydrofracking should be completely eradicated because of its potential to cause environmental degradation. Because of America's increasing demand for energy, policymakers need to find a middle ground, allowing for increased energy production while minimizing environmental risk. This paper argues that the federal government is the best entity to govern this tension between increasing extraction and environmental protectionism. Part II provides a brief technical description of hydrofracking. Part III reviews the historical evolution of hydrofracking law in an effort to better frame the current state of energy policy. Part IV explores the environmental concerns associated with hydrofracking; Part V evaluates its economic benefits. Lastly, Part VI argues for a comprehensive, federal regulatory baseline to govern hydraulic-fracturing policy, supplemented by local rights that can extend beyond this baseline. II. WHAT IS HYDROFRACKING? Hydrofracking has revolutionized the energy industry by allowing drillers to reach previously inaccessible oil and gas deposits. (9) Using the coupling of hydrofracking and horizontal drilling, widely dispersed oil and gas reserves can be extracted from tight, low permeability geologic areas. (10) Fluid cocktails are injected into the subsurface at extremely high pressures, which causes the already-existing fracture networks to expand and also creates new fissures. This expanded fracture network gives previously trapped hydrocarbons an avenue to reach the wellbore. (11) The contents of the fluid cocktail differ depending upon the precise geology of the area and the hydrocarbon to be extracted, but water and sand are two primary ingredients for any given fracturing operation, and are usually supplemented by various solvents, including hydrochloric acid or diesel fuel. (12) The process of injecting the fracking fluid stimulates the cracking of the subsurface geology. Next, the sand (or a similar substance) flows into the cracks and props them open--the substance, when used in this way, is referred to as a "proppant" (13)--providing a longer duration for the desired hydrocarbon to reach the wellbore. (14) Approximately nine to thirty-five percent of the fracking fluid flows back up the wellbore--referred to as the "flowback"--for around two weeks after the initial fracturing. (15) The rest of the fracking fluid remains in the earth's subsurface. (16) III. AN OVERVIEW OF HYDROFRACKING LAW AND POLICY A. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the "Halliburton Loophole" (17) The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (18) exempted hydrofracking from the majority of the existing environmental regulatory framework. (19) Congress stated that the hydrofracking exemption would increase the country's potential to reach the goal of energy independence, (20) but critics remain skeptical as to the legislature's true motivation for the exemptions. …


A 74 year old woman is admitted to hospital with a subtrochanteric hip fracture after a fall in her home. The T score for the bone mineral density (BMD) in her femoral neck is −3.2. She had a wrist fracture seven years ago but is otherwise healthy. Her 10 year absolute risk of any major osteoporotic fracture is 23% (calculated with the online WHO FRAX tool, www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX). The patient is treated surgically with internal fixation of the fracture. She is advised that she has a high risk of having further fractures, and the benefits and risks of possible treatment options to reduce this risk are discussed using a decision aid (http://musculoskeletal.cochrane.org/decision-aids). It is agreed that she will take alendronate, 70 mg once weekly for five years.

Bisphosphonates are analogues of inorganic pyrophosphate. They inhibit bone resorption by inducing apoptosis of osteoclasts,1 thus preventing age related bone loss and deterioration of bone microarchitecture. Bisphosphonates that contain nitrogen (such as alendronate, risedronate, ibandronate, and zoledronic acid) have the most potent antiresorptive properties and are the most commonly used drugs in the treatment of osteoporosis. The bisphosphonate etidronate does not contain nitrogen, and although it is approved for treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, the evidence base is weaker and it is rarely prescribed nowadays.

Large phase III randomised controlled trials in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis have shown significant reduction in vertebral fractures after three years of treatment with alendronate,2 risedronate,3 4 ibandronate,5 and zoledronic acid,6 and in non-vertebral fractures and hip fractures with alendronate,2 risedronate,7 and zoledronic acid.6 In the Fracture Intervention Trial, the incidence of vertebral fracture in women treated for three years with alendronate 5 mg daily for 24 months followed by 10 mg daily for 12 months was 8%, compared with 15% in …


With the advent of network connectivity and complex software applications, life-critical systems like medical devices are subject to a plethora of security risks and vulnerabilities. Security threats and attacks exploiting these vulnerabilities have been shown to compromise patient safety by hampering essential functionality. This necessitates incorporating security from the very design of software. Isolation of software functionality into different modes and switching between them based on risk assessment, while maintaining a fail-safe mode ensuring device's essential functionality is a compelling design. Formal modeling is an essential ingredient for verification of such a design. Hence, in this paper, we formally model a trustworthy multi-modal framework for life-critical systems security and in turn safety. We formalize a multiple mode based software design approach of operation with a fail-safe mode that maintains critical functionality. We ensure trustworthyness by formalizing a composite risk model incorporated into the design for run-time risk assessment and management.


A major mid-1980s shift in ecological structure of significant portions of the Southern Ocean was partially due to the serial depletion of fish by intensive industrial fishing, rather than solely to climate factors as previously hypothesized. Over a brief period (1969‐1973), several finfish stocks were on average reduced to <50%, and finally (mid-1980s) to <20%, of original size. Despite management actions, few stocks have recovered and some are still declining. Most affected species exhibit K-selected life-history patterns, and before exploitation presumably fluctuated in accordance with infrequent strong year classes, as is true of such fish elsewhere. A climate regime, the Southern Annular Mode, once oscillated between two states, but has remained in its 'positive mode' since the time of the fish extraction. This may have increased finfish vulnerability to exploitation. As breeding stocks decreased, we hypothesize that availability of annually produced juvenile fish fed upon by upperlevel predators remained low. Correlations between predator populations and fish biomass in predator foraging areas indicate that southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina, Antarctic fur seal Arctocephalus gazella, gentoo penguin Pygoscelis papua, macaroni penguin Eudyptes chrysolphus and 'imperial' shag Phalacrocorax spp. ‐ all feeding extensively on these fish, and monitored at Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, South Georgia, South Orkney and South Shetland Islands, where fishing was concentrated ‐ declined simultaneously during the two periods of heavy fishing. These patterns indicate the past importance of demersal fish as prey in Antarctic marine systems, but determining these interactions' ecological mechanisms may now be impossible.


The recent shift to remote work raised the amenity value of employment. As compensation adjusts to share the amenity-value gains with employers, wage-growth pressures moderate. We find empirical support for this mechanism in the wage-setting behavior of U.S. employers, and we develop novel survey data to quantify its force. Our data imply a cumulative wage-growth moderation of 2.0 percentage points over two years. This moderation offsets more than half the real-wage catchup effect that Blanchard (2022) highlights in his analysis of near- term inflation pressures. The amenity-values gains associated with the recent rise of remote work also lower labor's share of national income by 1.1 percentage points. In addition, the "unexpected compression" of wages since early 2020 (Autor and Dube, 2022) is partly explained by the same amenity-value effect, which operates differentially across the earnings distribution.


For the first time since 1947, England is without a recognised strategic planning framework following the revocation of Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs). Articles in the June and July/August issues of this journal have variously criticised the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition Government for opening up a 'NIMBY charter' and inviting 'chaos' through an 'act now, think later' policy approach of 'rampaging through the English planning system'. By removing the layer of strategic planning in one fell swoop, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has left the planning fraternity to muddle through the mess. It is not our intent to retrace these arguments here. Instead we look, through a pragmatic lens, at the Coalition's new policy innovation – the Local Enterprise Partnership – and consider how far this may go to filling the strategic void. We argue that there is a strong case for 'the suggestion that Local Enterprise Partnerships may fulfil a planning function', as currently being examined by the Communities and Local Government Committee (CLG) Inquiry into the Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies. However, as we sketch out a role for planning in the Government's economic transition plan, we draw attention to several potential pitfalls along the way.


Trophic cascades illustrate the role of predation on ecological communities. In the absence of top-down control from apex predators, mid ranking species can drastically increase their abundance and foraging activity, creating stronger impacts on bottom prey populations. The consequences of such mesopredator release are difficult to predict, as intraguild predator-predator interactions can alter the impact of mesopredators on prey. Top-predators, through risk effects, can elicit antipredator responses that limit the behaviour and foraging activity of mesopredators. Moreover, positive (e.g., cooperative hunting) or negative behavioural interactions (e.g., interference) among mesopredators can modify each other's feeding rate, and hence any expected impact on prey. Although trophic cascades are of major concern for wildlife conservation and management purposes, there is limited understanding of the behavioural links in food webs and how they may influence ecosystem dynamics.

This thesis examined how behavioural interactions throughout the food web mediate the impacts (lethal and sub-lethal) of mesopredators on their prey. By using a model food chain of coral reef fishes [coral trout (Plectropomus leopardus) > dottybacks and groupers (Pseudochromis fuscus and Cephalopholis boenak, Epinephelus maculatus) > juvenile damselfish (Pomacentrus spp.)], this research provided key insights on the cascading consequences of top-predator loss on coral reefs. The thesis consists of several field and laboratory experiments that manipulated the lethal and sub-lethal effects of predation to examine the implications for the predators and their prey.

Fishes use visual and chemical stimuli to assess predation risk and develop antipredator responses. However, it remains unknown whether these cues in isolation are sufficient to induce behavioural changes in mesopredator-prey interactions. Hence, in Chapter 2, I examined how different combinations top-predator cues (visual, chemical, or both) alter mesopredator behaviour and modify their impact on juvenile damselfish prey. Laboratory results showed that even the independent sight or smell of a top-predator can strongly restrict the distance swum, area explored and foraging activity of mesopredators. In doing so, this mesopredator restriction indirectly triggered a behavioural release (e.g., increased their space use and activity) of their damselfish prey.

To further examine the impact of behavioural trophic cascades on juvenile fishes I tested the consequences of predation risk under natural field settings (Chapter 3). Using experimental patch reefs, I assessed the behaviour and survival of juvenile fishes placed on patches where cues from a top-predator fish (visual and chemical stimuli) or controls (PVC pipe or empty patch) had been deployed. After exposure to top-predator cues for 72 h, damselfishes from top-predator patches had significantly higher space use (46 %), feeding rate (95 %) and survival (67 %) than those from control patches. This study demonstrated that predation risk from large-sized predators can indirectly favour the persistence and behaviour of bottom level prey in the field.

In Chapter 4, I extended the results from Chapters 2 and 3 by examining whether cascading effects from top-predators could influence other phenotypic traits of bottom prey, such as physiology. Using intermittent-flow respirometry in a laboratory setting, I measured the oxygen (O2) uptake (a proxy for aerobic metabolism) of juvenile fish exposed to a combination of mesopredator and top-predator cues. Interestingly, results suggested that top-predators can benefit bottom prey physiologically by indirectly allowing them to maintain routine O2 uptake, minimising their metabolic stress. This study illustrated for the first time that top-predators can indirectly negate the effect of mesopredators on prey metabolic rates.

Each mesopredator species can impact prey differently. Moreover, their combined effects cannot typically be predicted by their independent contributions. Thus, in Chapter 5, I tested for multiple predator effects, exploring how intra- and inter-specific interactions among three mesopredator species influenced their combined lethal impact on bottom prey survival. By manipulating the density and diversity of mesopredators in a mesocosm experiment, I found that behavioral patterns within mesopredator pairs often matched those predicted from their hunting mode. However, the identity of the mesopredator species determined the strength of any positive or negative interactions (e.g., synergies, interference), and thus the nature and magnitude of MPEs on prey survival (i.e., risk-enhancing effects, risk-reducing effects, linear effects). Given the context-dependency of the predator-predator interactions, none of the mesopredators tested are expected to play identical functional roles on natural coral reefs.

The overarching aim of this thesis was to establish the importance of behavioural interactions in the control of mesopredators. This was achieved by conducting field and laboratory manipulations of a three-level food web of coral reef fishes. Results indicated that lethal and sub-lethal impacts of mesopredators on prey can be largely diminished by predation risk from top-predators (Chapters 2, 3, 4). However, intra- and inter-specific interactions with other mesopredators most often enhance prey mortality (Chapter 5). From a conservation perspective, these findings illustrate how a predatory-release of mid-ranking species could impair the replenishment, fitness, and development of newly-settled fish, and thus indirectly modify the structure and diversity of reef fish communities. From an ecological point of view, these findings highlight the role and importance of behavioural interactions in the balance of complex food webs.


This paper proposes an incremental approach to solving node weightings in a tree structure. The tree represents expertise used to quantify risks associated with mental health problems and it is incorporated within a web based decision support system called GRiST. The aim of the algorithm is to find the set of relative node weightings in the tree that helps GRiST simulate the clinical risk judgements given by mental health experts. This paper extends the solution presented in our earlier ARRIVE algorithm, to incorporate a larger pool of data and previous cases in the solution, hence producing better elicitation results. It is also useful in incorporating new cases into the GRiST tree parameters estimation process, one by one as they are encountered. The original ARRIVE algorithm showed that a very large number of nodes (several thousand for GRiST) can have their weights calculated from the clinical judgements associated with a few hundred cases (about 200 for GRiST). The new algorithm, iARRiVE, allows GRiST to learn by updating the node weightings to account for new cases. The results show that it can provide the best fit to an unlimited set of cases and thus ensure GRiST parameters provide the optimal solution for all the cases in its memory. Its solution can be applied to similar knowledge engineering domains where relative weightings of node siblings are part of the parameter space


Whether you're involved in a labor-management dispute or a landlord-tenant disagreement, considering a major purchase or overseeing a large commercial transaction, there are elements that are common to all negotiations. This book walks the reader through the world of negotiating in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step fashion, covering the macro and micro-process of negotiations, the importance of adequate preparation, knowledge of the rules, and the role and usefulness of a mediator.Written by a senior business policy analyst and former labor mediator for the U.S. government, the book focuses on labor-management negotiations; however, the concepts, skills, and insight it offers go well beyond labor-management disputes. The book is as useful for a first-time homebuyer or a business student as it is for a veteran union arbitrator or a busy executive.


In recent years, academic productivity as defined by number of papers published has been the preoccupation of Indonesian research policymakers. A number of policies have been introduced, the most prominent of which is assigning score to number of publications and citations through SINTA. These initiatives, however, have often ignored the complex and heavily bureaucratized Indonesian research and higher education sector. Recently, SINTA score has also perversely incentivized some researchers to illegally increase their Scopus score. This paper is a preliminary attempt at assessing policy alternatives to address the issue of low number of academic publications, asking if there are viable or even better policies than the current point system. Incorporating Indonesia's academic demography into our analysis, we find that giving monetary rewards for every published paper is the best policy option for lower-rank academics to "push" them into research. On the other hand, point rewards are most effective for upper-rank academics since they only need to be "nudged" into research activities. We also offer several recommendations about other policy alternatives (reforming research grants regime, providing international scholarships, and research collaboration) and the importance of detection and monitoring system to prevent the alternatives from becoming perverse incentives. JEL Classification: I23; I28


SentryGlas®(SG)-laminated reinforced glass beams are numerically investigated. This innovative structural typology consists of a composite section in which the typical brittle behaviour of glass is overcome by means of stainless steel sections able to provide significant post-cracked residual strength and ductility. The structural interaction between the components is then provided by thermoplastic SG-foils. Based on earlier studies, exploratory numerical investigations are performed by means of 2D and 3D FE-models and large series of parametric studies are discussed, in order to highlight the influence of various geometrical and mechanical parameters. As shown, although further extended studies and advanced numerical developments are required, interesting numerical predictions are found for the examined beams.


Some soil and crop science university programs undergo curricula revision to maintain relevancy with their profession and/or to attract the best students to such programs. The Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University completed a thorough data gathering process as part of its revision of the undergraduate curriculum and degree programs in 2010. The purpose of this study was to determine the scientific and technical knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by graduates for career success in 2015 and beyond. Data were collected from three expert panels (soils, crops, and turfgrass) using the Delphi method. Scientific and technical knowledge, skills, and abilities in water-related issues were indicated as a necessary curriculum item by all three panels. Soil science experts indicated that water studies should focus on movement of water in soils and the contribution of soils to water quality, whereas crop and turfgrass experts emphasized the management of water as a resource. Both the soil and crop panels specified a need for study in data collection and analysis, problem solving, and using scientific reasoning. Turfgrass experts emphasized the need for students to learn business principles and compliance with external regulations. All three groups designated the importance of including soft skills, such as communicating effectively, working collaboratively, and personal and social responsibility, as important curriculum components for students' career success. These data will serve as the foundation for constructing new curricula and potentially new degree programs in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Texas A&M University.


Agents that solve problems in unknown graphs are usually required to iteratively explore parts of the graph. In this paper we research the problem of finding a k-clique in an unknown graph while minimizing the number of required exploration actions. Two novel heuristics Known Degree and Clique* are proposed to reduce the required exploration cost by carefully choosing which part of the environment to explore. We further investigate the problem by adding probabilistic knowledge of the graph and propose an Markov Decision Process(MDP) and a Monte Carlo based heuristic (RClique*) that uses knowledge of edge probabilities to reduce the required exploration cost. We demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approaches on simulated random and scale free graphs as well as on real online web crawls.


of thesis The subject of this thesis is a study of Spain during the First World War. The Spanish case is analyzed as the regional version of the general crisis which engulfed the rest of Europe during these years. This crisis was produced by the ideological militancy and social struggle caused by four years of devastating international conflict. It heralded the arrival of mass politics which put an end to a previous era marked by hierarchical and clientelist politics. This thesis examines how the maintenance of strict neutrality did not save the existing regime in Spain from the impact of the conflict raging in Europe. Spain did not enter the war but the war entered the country and, ironically, a conflict in which Spain did not take part was to alter its contemporary history. The analysis explores the gradual disintegration of the foundations of the ruling system, the Liberal Monarchy restored in December 1874, during and as a consequence of the First World War. Considerable attention is paid to the impact and importance of the war in producing the decay of the Liberal Monarchy. This process is examined at two levels: the political polarization and subsequent division of the country which was provoked by the debate about belligerence or neutrality, and the social and economic transformations that Spain underwent as consequence a of its privileged position as a supplier to both sides. The result was galloping inflation, widespread social discontent and political turmoil. Under these pressures, the hegemonic system, based on electoral falsification, widespread patronage and mass apathy, collapsed and gave way to an inexorable process of growing working class and right-wing militancy which led to the military coup of 1923.


This paper examines the causes of the decline in black male teenage employment from 1950 to 1970. During this period, the employment-to-population ratio of black youth (age 16-19) declined from 46.8 percent to 27 percent. The white teenage employment ratio, in contrast, remained constant. The primary source of the decline is traced to the virtual demise of the market for low-skilled agricultural labor. All of the black teenage employment decline during this period occurs in the South. The employment ratio among those living outside the South actually increases. Within the South, the entire decline in employment is accounted for by a reduction in agricultural employment. This study argues that technological progress is the principal cause of the agricultural employment decline among black youths. Spurred by the rapid advance and adoption of labor-saving technology, southern agricultural production was transformed from a relatively labor intensive process to a highly capital intensive one. As a result, the demand for low-skilled agricultural labor plummeted. By 1970, a formerly important source of black youth employment virtually ceased to exist. Black teenagers who were displaced from agricultural work were not absorbed by the nonagricultural sector. An additional finding of this paper is that the federal minimum wage acted as an important barrier to nonagricultural employment in the South. The raw data reveal significant reductions in black teenage employment growth in precisely those industries where coverage of the minimum wage was increased : retail trade, construct ion, and the service sector. Regression estimates indicate a quantitatively large minimum wage effect.


This new analysis finds that women are far more likely than men to face financial hardship in retirement. Women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older.Shortchanged in Retirement, The Continuing Challenges to Women's Financial Future, finds that across all age groups, women have substantially less income in retirement than men.For women age 65 and older, the data indicate that their typical income is 25 percent lower than men. As men and women age, men's income advantage widens to 44 percent by age 80 and older. Consequently, women were 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older, while women age 75 to 79 were three times more likely to fall below the poverty level as compared to their males counterparts. The report also finds that in 2010, men received $17,856 in median retirement income from a pension, whereas women received $12,000 — or 33 percent less.There is also a gender gap in defined contribution or 401(k)-type retirement account assets. In 2014, the median amount accumulated in these savings accounts was $36,875 for men and $24,446 for women — or 34 percent less, according to Vanguard.The key findings of this report are as follows:1. Women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older, while women between the ages of 75 to 79 are three times more likely than men to be living in poverty. Widowed women are twice as likely to be living in poverty than their male counterparts. White and black women are almost twice as likely to be living in poverty than their male counterparts during retirement.2. Labor force participation among women aged 55 to 64 climbed from 53 percent in 2000, to 59 percent in 2015, with a peak of 61 percent in 2010. Women may be working longer in order to make up for lower retirement savings over their careers and to offset investment losses from the Great Recession.3. While women were somewhat more likely than men to work for employers that offered retirement plans in 2012, there is a gap in eligibility that limits women's participation in these plans. Since 2006, this gap has narrowed and now women and men have the same overall participation rates. Women's higher rates of part-time employment and shorter job tenure may make it more difficult to meet employers' eligibility requirements for retirement plans compared to men.4. The share of women working for employers that offered only defined contribution (DC) retirement plans shrank from 49 percent in 2009 to 46 percent in 2012. The median value in women's DC retirement accounts was one-third less than that of men.5. Even though the median household incomes of individuals aged 65 and older has increased, women have 26 percent less income than men. While both women and men have decreased their reliance on Social Security since 2009, the proportion of income from defined benefit (DB) pensions has remained steady, supplying about one-fifth of income for both women and men. Older men and women have increased their reliance upon earnings since 2009.6. Social Security is an important source of income for older households with incomes less than $80,000. Women who are widowed, divorced, and over age 70 rely on Social Security benefits for a majority of their income. Black women rely largely on Social Security, while women of other ethnic groups also rely on wages to a large extent.7. Women in the health care, education, and public administration fields, where DB pension plans are more prevalent, have higher incomes in retirement and lower rates of poverty than in other industries, due to their increased participation in DB pension plans.In addition to spotlighting the gender disparities, the report details public policy options that can help that reduce women's vulnerability to financial hardship as they age. These proposals to strengthen retirement security for women include:Strengthening Social Security benefits for women.Increasing retirement plan coverage through auto enrollment in individual retirement accounts (auto-IRA).Expanding utilization of the Saver's Credit. Increased development of state-sponsored savings plans.Increasing defined contribution plan eligibility for part-time workers.Providing spousal protections in defined contribution accounts.Expanding defined benefit pension plans.This report is based on the authors' analysis of the 2012 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) data from the United States Census. It examines the distinct challenges posed by the current retirement system of Social Security, pensions, and savings for working-age women, retirement-aged women, and retired women. A grant from BNY Mellon Investment helped make this report possible.


Japan is enthusiastic about developing and applying innovative technology in the context of health- and elderly care. Research and development in care robotics, sensor technology (mimamori sensā), or ICT applications are widely promoted by the government. Despite these manifold efforts and activities, many devices fall short of meeting the needs expressed by users. Therefore, this DIJ Forum raises the question, what is necessary to fulfil user's needs in healthcare? What needs to be done to improve user acceptance and usability of technology regarding innovation in health- and elderly care? Our two speakers are best suited to discuss these questions from a cross-disciplinary perspective:

Professor Cosentino is specialised in material science, humanoid robots, and patient rehabilitation, as well as sensor system development for elderly people. She will reflect on the challenges to enable user participation by drawing on insights from two research projects: one is the engineering of social robots at Takanishi Laboratory at Waseda University. The other is a collaboration with the University of Siegen on Active and Healthy Ageing by employing communication robots like Pepper in elderly care. On the other hand, Professor Ishiguro will discuss from the angle of social policy and healthcare by illuminating the discrepancy between user expectation, practicality and device acceptance. In addition, she will present data from a comparative analysis on participatory governance regarding elderly care policies in Denmark and Japan. Thus, this forum provides a valuable opportunity for discussing what is necessary for well-integrated innovation for good healthcare practice.


This thesis focuses on how location-based games can be used to experience places of cultural heritage in new ways. A prototype game was created in which players follow a day in the life of a sergeant while walking to different locations at Karlsborg fortress and unravel a plot about the plan to steal Sweden's gold reserve. To analyze how well a location-based game worked in this setting gameflow theory was used to measure the player experience, focusing on how concentration and immersion was handled. Since players will switch their focus a lot between the game and their surroundings it is important that the game helps them know what to concentrate on and stay immersed during the game. A small testing session was conducted at Karlsborg fortress which showed an indication that players were able to stay immersed while playing the game and that the social interaction between players played an important role in their experience.


In distributed systems shared by multiple tenants, effective resource management is an important pre-requisite to providing quality of service guarantees. Many systems deployed today lack performance isolation and experience contention, slowdown, and even outages caused by aggressive workloads or by improperly throttled maintenance tasks such as data replication. In this work we present Retro, a resource management framework for shared distributed systems. Retro monitors per-tenant resource usage both within and across distributed systems, and exposes this information to centralized resource management policies through a high-level API. A policy can shape the resources consumed by a tenant using Retro's control points, which enforce sharing and rate-limiting decisions. We demonstrate Retro through three policies providing bottleneck resource fairness, dominant resource fairness, and latency guarantees to high-priority tenants, and evaluate the system across five distributed systems: HBase, Yarn, MapReduce, HDFS, and Zookeeper. Our evaluation shows that Retro has low overhead, and achieves the policies' goals, accurately detecting contended resources, throttling tenants responsible for slowdown and overload, and fairly distributing the remaining cluster capacity.


Purpose - As one of the main purposes of financial statements is to provide relevant information for investors, relationships between share prices and accounting variables have been widely researched. Early studies focus mainly on earnings, but attention has turned in recent years to valuation models that include the book value of the equity. Many of these studies cite the residual income model as their theoretical base and, with the growing emphasis on shareholder value, residual income measures are more commonly used in the business community to track financial performance. Given such trends, the purpose of this paper is to review the theoretical background of the residual income model and discuss results of empirical studies that use it. Design/methodology/approach - The study seeks an understanding of how published accounting information relates to share prices in the developed market in Asia, outside Japan. More specifically, the study aims to extend the international literature in market based accounting research by examining empirical evidence on relationships between share prices and the two summary accounting variables of equity book value and earnings for firms listed on the stock exchange in Malaysia. Findings - The findings imply that, the two accounting variables summarising the balance sheet and the income statement, respectively, are significant factors in the valuation process, and that managers are justified in using the accounting system as a primary source of information for monitoring financial performance. Originality/value - These findings should be of interest to other researchers, and to managers and investors who currently use or are planning to use residual income to monitor business performance.


Under the tree of talking: leadership for change in Africa; edited by Onyekachi Wambu. London: Counterpoint, 2007, 291pp. ISBN: 0-86355-586-1; 978-0-86355-586-2. ?11-99. This collection of nineteen essays draws on the views of major African thinkers from inside and outside Africa. The driving force behind this initiative is the British Councils Counterpoint think-tank and its Interaction Project which is a Pan-African initiative run by Africans for Africans to identify, network, and support the next generation of leaders across nineteen African countries. In his foreword, John Githongo states that two common strands emerge from this collection - of self-determination and moral accountability, and that the days of non-interference in the internal affairs of African states are over. Ali A. Mazrui (who has two essays in this book) in his The Politics of War and the Culture of Violence: North-South essays, edited by Abdul S. Bemath and Seifudein Adem, (Africa World Press, 2008) elaborates on this intervention in faUed and conflict-ridden African states, providing solutions through regional integration and African re-colonisation, citing Nigeria's intervention in Liberia and Sierre Leone. The role that diaspora based Africans such as Mazrui can play is elaborated on in Chukwu-Emeka Chikezie's essay, 'African leadership for a transnational age'. Mazrui has suggested three solutions to the 2007 postelection crisis facing Kenya and these are the re-counting of votes in the most controversial of the provincial results, the creation of a post of Prime Minister answerable to Parliament and not to the Chief Executive (the President), and the appointment by the African Union of an independent commission of enquiry. This collection is divided into six sections exploring African leadership from a number of perspectives. Wambu in his introduction delves into examples of leadership and processes and, most importantly, choices people make in taking control of situations and becoming leaders. These six sections are: 1. From the beginning: The historian Chinweizu examines the evolution of the Egyptian state under pharonic rule. 2. From the top down. Consists of three essays focussing on how African leaders have dealt with the post-colonial state. Mazrui provides a comparative typology of African leaders: heroes and martyrs such as Kwame Nkrumah, Yakubu Gowon, Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko; the disciplinarian Murtala Muhammed; and technocrats such as Thabo Mbeki and Mwai Kibaki, to name a few. He categorises these leaders along nine styles of leadership drawing on four cultural traditions - the elder, monarchical, sage and warrior traditions. In his interview with Wambu, Chinua Achebe revisits his 1983 essay, 'The trouble with Nigeria'. An important change is that age no longer confers authority and the youth have inherited the power of leadership. William Gumede sheds light on leadership style in comparing Nelson Mandela to Thabo Mbeki. This essay provides one insight into reasons why Thabo Mbeki lost the leadership of the African National Congress during its December 2007 conference. As Mazrui queried in his April 2007 Witwatersrand University lecture, amongst his critics, Thabo Mbeki is a man of the world but not necessarily a man of the people, and too much of a technocrat to qualify as a man of the people. 3. From the bottom up: Consists of seven essays that move away from political leadership and the state and how ordinary people take control of the challenges facing them. Ordinary people such as a group of Christian women, the Mothers' Union give leadership in tackling HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe in the spirit of Ubuntu-hunhu, as described by Martha Chinouya. Wambu examines how rapid urbanisation has impacted on his own Nigerian village, and JeanBosco Butera the role the University of Rwanda can play in re-construction and its graduates in government. Ndidi Nwuneli shows how its LEAP Africa organisation can change mindsets and behaviour regarding the issue of time and Kimani Njogu, who was the event director of the Interaction program held in Naivasha, Kenya in February 2006, talks about issues discussed and the role of youth in development. …


BACKGROUND
Risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease is higher among adults with limited education, and the less educated perform poorer on cognitive function tests. This study determines whether the socioeconomic environment experienced during childhood has an impact on cognitive functioning in middle age.

METHODS
A population-based study of eastern Finnish men (n = 496) aged 58 and 64 for whom there were data on parent's socioeconomic position (SEP), their own education level, and performance on neuropsychological tests. Cognitive function was measured using the Trail Making Test, the Selective Reminding Test, the Verbal Fluency Test, the Visual Reproduction Test, and the Mini Mental State Exam.

RESULTS
We found a significant and graded association between parental SEP (combined as an index) and cognitive function both prior to and after adjustment for respondent's education. Those from more disadvantaged backgrounds exhibited the poorest performance. When the separate components of the parental SEP measure were used, father's occupation and mother's education were independently associated with the respondent's score for three and five of the tests, respectively (there was no association with father's education and mother's occupation). After adjustment for the respondent's education, father's occupation was no longer associated with respondent's test score, however, the results were essentially unchanged for mother's education.

CONCLUSIONS
Higher SEP during childhood and greater educational attainment are both associated with cognitive function in adulthood, with mothers and fathers each contributing to their offspring's formative cognitive development and later life cognitive ability (albeit in different ways). Improvements in both parental socioeconomic circumstances and the educational attainment of their offspring could possibly enhance cognitive function and decrease risk of dementia later in life.


Every historical film must contend with the possibility that its viewers will be scandalized by its mixture of fact and fiction, but no recent historical film has faced such pressure to justify its hybrid nature as Selma has, in large part because no recent film has taken on so momentous and controversial a historical subject: the civil rights marches from Selma to Montgomery that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. The renewed urgency of the issues Selma dramatizes, along with the film's own commitment to the "moral certainty" of the civil rights movement, helps explain why Selma wavers in a self-defense that links the fictionality of its historical reenactments to the purposely theatrical element of the marches themselves. But politics are not the only problem for fiction in Selma , and to show why, this essay compares Selma to an earlier historical film, The Westerner (1940), that openly flaunts the commercial nature of its fictionality.


The initial microglial responses that occur after brain injury and in various neurological diseases are characterized by microglial accumulation in the affected sites of brain that results from the migration and proliferation of these cells. The early-phase signal responsible for this accumulation is likely to be transduced by rapidly diffusible factors. In this study, the possibility of ATP released from injured neurons and nerve terminals affecting cell motility was determined in rat primary cultured microglia. Extracellular ATP and ADP induced membrane ruffling and markedly enhanced chemokinesis in Boyden chamber assay. Further analyses using the Dunn chemotaxis chamber assay, which allows direct observation of cell movement, revealed that both ATP and ADP induced chemotaxis of microglia. The elimination of extracellular calcium or treatment with pyridoxalphosphate-6-azophenyl-2′,4′-disulphonic acid, suramin, or adenosine-3′-phosphate-5′-phosphosulfate did not inhibit ATP- or ADP-induced membrane ruffling, whereas AR-C69931MX or pertussis toxin treatments clearly did so. As an intracellular signaling molecule underlying these phenomena, the small G-protein Rac was activated by ATP and ADP stimulation, and its activation was also inhibited by pretreatment with pertussis toxin. These results strongly suggest that membrane ruffling and chemotaxis of microglia induced by ATP or ADP are mediated by Gi/o-coupled P2Y receptors.


ALFALFA TRAP CROPPING INCREASES ABUNDANCE OF KEY ARACHNIDS IN AN ORGANIC STRAWBERRY AGROECOSYSTEM By Sutapa Biswas Eighty three percent of the strawberries consumed in North America are grown in California, where the widespread use of insecticides has become hazardous to public health. The intensive use of pesticides for growing strawberries causes serious health risks to farm workers, in addition to contaminating the soil and groundwater. The cost to the environment and public health in the United States is estimated at $12 billion annually. Finding effective nontoxic management strategies for insect pests has become essential for long term sustainability. One strategy strawberry producers can use to promote sustainability is to increase the effectiveness of biological control techniques. Field experiments in other crops suggest that arachnid diversity and abundance may provide such a role in controlling insect pests and that agroecosystem diversification can enhance arachnid populations. This study therefore evaluated the composition, abundance, and pest control potential of arachnid communities in an organic strawberry field in California. The study found that by integrating alfalfa trap crops into organic strawberries, arachnid populations were substantially increased. Results reflected substantial increases in both male and female arachnid populations in and near alfalfa strip crops, with spider and harvestman arachnid families increasing most dramatically. Preliminary data suggest that an increase in alfalfa trap crops may lead to a reduction of the primary strawberry insect pest, Lygus hesperus, which is consumed by arachnids. These results provide useful new information for California farmers.


The article highlights Meselson's unique position in science and society as an innovative scientist involved in several 'crucial experiments' in molecular biology; a policy analyst in the domain of biological and chemical weapons for US administrations in the 1960s and 1970s; and a public intellectual shaping the public opinion against the use of such weapons in both war and peace times. Meselson's role in the 'Meselson–Stahl experiment' (hereafter the 'M–S experiment') which established the semiconservative mode of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) replication for which both Meselson and Stahl remain best known, is highlighted.

Meselson's role as a public intellectual is discussed mainly in terms of his sustained refutation of the US claim in the 1970s that its East Asian enemies used chemical weapons on civilians in the form of 'yellow rain'. Meselson's association with Caltech in the 1950s and Harvard, since 1960, is discussed as a pertinent institutional context for his scientific and policy activities.

Keywords:

DNA replication;
density gradient;
analytical ultracentrifuge;
critical experiment;
messenger RNA ;
restriction enzymes;
biological weapons;
chemical weapons


This study reports a perceptual effect of a devoiced vowel in Japanese as an assimilative outcome of connected speech. A focus is placed on how such an effect changes its magnitude as the source and the recipient of the effect are separated. A devoiced vowel ki- has a strong effect of causing voiceless judgment in the following da-ta VOT variations with natural closure durations. However, such an effect is weakened as the closure interval is expanded beyond the original one for a voiceless stop. In this case, the original voicing judgment of the da-ta variations in isolation gradually returns. Also, the more voiced the da-ta variation itself, the earlier and farther it deviates from the influence of the devoiced vowel. Phonetic variation resulting from connected speech serves to aid segmental perception, but in turn the effect obtains in a 'connected' speech event.


Abstract Inferring the spatial expansion dynamics of invading species from molecular data is notoriously difficult due to the complexity of the processes involved. For these demographic scenarios, genetic data obtained from highly variable markers may be profitably combined with specific sampling schemes and information from other sources using a Bayesian approach. The geographic range of the introduced toad Bufo marinus is still expanding in eastern and northern Australia, in each case from isolates established around 1960. A large amount of demographic and historical information is available on both expansion areas. In each area, samples were collected along a transect representing populations of different ages and genotyped at 10 microsatellite loci. Five demographic models of expansion, differing in the dispersal pattern for migrants and founders and in the number of founders, were considered. Because the demographic history is complex, we used an approximate Bayesian method, based on a rejection-regression algorithm, to formally test the relative likelihoods of the five models of expansion and to infer demographic parameters. A stepwise migration-foundation model with founder events was statistically better supported than other four models in both expansion areas. Posterior distributions supported different dynamics of expansion in the studied areas. Populations in the eastern expansion area have a lower stable effective population size and have been founded by a smaller number of individuals than those in the northern expansion area. Once demographically stabilized, populations exchange a substantial number of effective migrants per generation in both expansion areas, and such exchanges are larger in northern than in eastern Australia. The effective number of migrants appears to be considerably lower than that of founders in both expansion areas. We found our inferences to be relatively robust to various assumptions on marker, demographic, and historical features. The method presented here is the only robust, model-based method available so far, which allows inferring complex population dynamics over a short time scale. It also provides the basis for investigating the interplay between population dynamics, drift, and selection in invasive species.


Modern psychology began with the adoption of experimental methods at the end of the nineteenth century: Wilhelm Wundt established the first formal laboratory in 1879; universities created independent chairs in psychology shortly thereafter; and William James published the landmark work Principles of Psychology in 1890. In A History of Modern Experimental Psychology, George Mandler traces the evolution of modern experimental and theoretical psychology from these beginnings to the "cognitive revolution" of the late twentieth century. Throughout, he emphasizes the social and cultural context, showing how different theoretical developments reflect the characteristics and values of the society in which they occurred. Thus, Gestalt psychology can be seen to mirror the changes in visual and intellectual culture at the turn of the century, behaviorism to embody the parochial and puritanical concerns of early twentieth-century America, and contemporary cognitive psychology as a product of the postwar revolution in information and communication. After discussing the meaning and history of the concept of mind, Mandler treats the history of the psychology of thought and memory from the late nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth, exploring, among other topics, the discovery of the unconscious, the destruction of psychology in Germany in the 1930s, and the relocation of the field's "center of gravity" to the United States. He then examines a more neglected part of the history of psychology--the emergence of a new and robust cognitive psychology under the umbrella of cognitive science.


As one important form of urban travel, business travel has played a more and more significant role in economic and social life. Business travel satisfaction can reflect the appeal and services of the tourism destination to a large extent. The paper carries out scientific demarcation on the concepts of business travel and connotation of business travel satisfaction. Through delivering questionnaires among business travelers, the paper conducts assessment on the perceived image of business travel and satisfaction in Jiangsu from the destination of business travel, business hotel, business travel agency and other aspects. Besides, the paper explores into the deficiencies in the development of business travel in Jiangsu and puts forward corresponding suggestions.


Soils in the Adirondack Mountains are relatively young, having formed in sediments deposited from the last major glacial episode that ended in the Adirondacks about 12,000 years ago. Most of the region is covered by an acidic, sandy, low-fertility soil called a Spodosol. Over time, Spodosols develop distinct colorful horizons that can be clearly distinguished in soil pits and road cuts. Because Spodosols are naturally acidic and contain marginal concentrations of some elements necessary to sustain a healthy forested ecosystem, they are somewhat fragile and susceptible to chemical changes. A century's worth of acid deposition ("acid rain") has depleted these soils of some important nutrients and has mobilized aluminum, an element linked to fish mortality and forest decline. Acid rain has declined over the past several decades, and lakes, streams, and soils are beginning to recover. How long it will take is still unknown.


To study the decreasing responsiveness of the immune system during aging, influenza virus specific cellular immunity was investigated in a cohort of healthy blood donors between 18 and 70 years of age. The percentage of influenza A virus specific T cells was determined by flow cytometry and found not to change during aging. After stimulation with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and ionomycin, an increase in the percentage of IFN-gamma and IL-4 producing CD8(+) T cells was observed during aging. In addition, the cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity was investigated in two additional groups of five donors, 18-20 and 68-70 years of age. The lytic capacity of purified CD8(+) T cells, after in vitro stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with influenza A virus, seemed lower in 68- to 70-year-old donors than in 18- to 20-year-old donors. Therefore we conclude that the reduced CTL activity in the elderly is not the result of a lower frequency of virus-specific T cells, but more likely the result of impaired antigen-specific proliferation or lower lytic capacity of these cells.


This week's articles highlight protein engineering, epigenetics, nuclear biology, and cellular responses that contribute to neurological disorders. NEUROSCIENCE Too much cleaning up The immune complement system also attacks brain synapses early in Alzheimer's disease mouse models. S. Hong, V. F. Beja-Glasser, B. M. Nfonoyim, A. Frouin, S. Li, S. Ramakrishnan, K. M. Merry, Q. Shi, A. Rosenthal, B. A. Barres, C. A. Lemere, D. J. Selkoe, B. Stevens, Complement and microglia mediate early synapse loss in Alzheimer mouse models. Science 352, 712–716 (2016). [Abstract] Faulty channels, not faulty synapses SHANK3 mutations linked to autism spectrum disorders disrupt neuronal ion balance. F. Yi, T. Danko, S. C. Botelho, C. Patzke, C. Pak, M. Wernig, T. C. Südhof, Autism-associated SHANK3 haploinsufficiency causes Ih channelopathy in human neurons. Science 352, aaf2669 (2016). [Abstract] PROTEIN DESIGN Building new proteins from the old A design strategy builds new protein structures by recombining pieces of existing protein domains. T. M. Jacobs, B. Williams, T. Williams, X. Xu, A. Eletsky, J. F. Federizon, T. Szyperski, B. Kuhlman, Design of structurally distinct proteins using strategies inspired by evolution. Science 352, 687–690 (2016). [Abstract] Building with designed proteins Protein oligomers with designed arrays of hydrogen bond networks enable programming of interaction specificity. S. E. Boyken, Z. Chen, B. Groves, R. A. Langan, G. Oberdorfer, A. Ford, J. M. Gilmore, C. Xu, F. DiMaio, J. H. Pereira, B. Sankaran, G. Seelig, P. H. Zwart, D. Baker, De novo design of protein homo-oligomers with modular hydrogen-bond network–mediated specificity. Science 352, 680–687 (2016). [Abstract] R. Netzer, S. J. Fleishman, Inspired by nature. Science 352, 657–658 (2016). [Abstract] NUCLEAR BIOLOGY Deciphering the histone code Determining the location and epigenetic modification state of individual nucleosomes will help unpick the "histone code." E. Shema, D. Jones, N. Shoresh, L. Donohue, O. Ram, B. E. Bernstein, Single-molecule decoding of combinatorially modified nucleosomes. Science 352, 717–721 (2016). [Abstract] The nongenetic roles of the nucleus M. Bustin, T. Misteli, Nongenetic functions of the genome. Science 352, aad6933 (2016). [Abstract]


Design thinking has become a popular notion in the field of innovation. What is design thinking really and—even more important—what could be its value in applying it in innovation practices? This paper presents four studies that together capture the value of design thinking in different early-stage innovation practices. Study 1 comprised a literature review on design thinking to form the basis of an agreed domain of discourse for design thinking in innovation. In Study 2, this shared domain of discourse was validated. This shared domain of discourse provided the input for Study 3, which investigated how innovators apply design thinking in early-stage innovation practices. It shows that the application of design thinking is dependent on the innovator's aim for the project, his or her vision on innovation, and the main challenge s/he is facing. This combination of characteristics is termed an image of design thinking. The images frame the application design activities in the context of the specific innovation project. Study 4 successfully validated the four images and shows that the combination of the images and the agreed domain of discourse can serve as a common language and a tool that allow capturing the value of design thinking in early-stage innovation.


Geriodontology refers to the field of dentistry that mainly encompasses diagnosis, treatment and prevention of oral diseases and conditions in the elderly individuals. With increasing life expectancy attributed to the developments in the field of medicine, there is concomitant increase in the comorbidities and complications in the older population. In the dental perspective, increased attrition of teeth, xerostomia induced dental caries, chronic periodontal diseases and partial edentulousness are the most frequently encountered problems. The management in these instances requires additional considerations, keeping in mind the presence or absence of other systemic diseases, age and the social and environmental factors. In order to provide efficient treatment and also to encourage their constant maintenance protocols,a multimodal treatment planning has to be designed and dentists must be specifically educated and specialised in dealing with the geriatric patients. This review paper highlights the various aspects on periodontal management of geriatric patients with few futuristic suggestions in order to improve their oral healthcare in this phase of life.


Background: to distinguish direct and indirect pathways to frailty phenotype, and quantify associations between two frailty components (i.e., sarcopenia and cachexia) regarding mortality and morbidity in older adults with cancer. Methods: all consecutive older outpatients with cancer were included in a prospective two-centre cohort study between 2013 and 2017 and had geriatric assessment. We used the frailty phenotype. Sarcopenia and cachexia were built as latent variables by including observed variables related to physical performances and related to nutrition and inflammation respectively. Structural equation modelling was used to distinguish between direct and indirect effects of the frailty parameters on the risk of death (Model 1) and the risk of morbidity (defined by unplanned hospitalization and/or disability and/or a fall; Model 2). The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the comparative fit index (CFI) were used to assess the model fit. Results: 603 older outpatients were included (mean age: 81.2 ± 6.1; women: 54%; frailty phenotype: 58%). The 6-month mortality and morbidity rates were 18% and 64%, respectively. The fit was good for both models (RMSEA and CFI = 0.029 [0.017–0.039] and 0.99 for Model 1, and 0.028 [0.017–0.039] and 0.99 for Model 2, respectively). Sarcopenia and cachexia were both directly and significantly associated with 6-month mortality (βsarcopenia = 0.18, p = 0.01; βcachexia = 0.52, p < 0.0001) and morbidity (βsarcopenia = 0.37, p < 0.0001; βcachexia = 0.19, p < 0.02). Conclusions: sarcopenia and cachexia had a direct pathway with 6-month mortality and morbidity in older cancer patients.


Different photocurable acrylates, including two hyperbranched monomers, are compared with an epoxy negative-tone photoresist (SU-8) with respect to their suitability for the fabrication of ultra-thick polymer microstructures in a photolithographic process. To this end, a resolution pattern was used and key parameters, such as the maximum attainable thickness and aspect ratio, the minimum resolution and the processing time were determined. Compared to SU-8, all acrylate materials allowed the fabrication of thicker layers with a fast single layer fabrication procedure. Microstructures with thicknesses of up to 850 µm, an aspect ratio of up to 7.7, a 5.5-fold reduction in internal stress and a 6-fold reduction in processing time compared to SU-8 were demonstrated using an acrylated hyperbranched polyether. The specific development process of the hyperbranched polymer combined with channel design moreover enabled us to produce a high-performance valve for micro-battery devices.


Summary A method of rapidly implanting tumors intracerebrally in large numbers of mice is described. Four tumors previously induced by carcinogen implantation into brains of mice were used. Histologically and biologically, they were gliomas (ependymoblastoma). The pathology of the tumors, their pathogenesis in the host brain, and the clinical course of tumor-bearing animals was evaluated. The average median day of death and the number of animals surviving longer than 60 days from failure of the tumor to take were determined and are presented. The advantages and disadvantages in the use of these animal systems in intracerebral tumor models are discussed.


A study was conducted in the Baynespruit, a small, highly-polluted, urban catchment in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa with 2 objectives: firstly, to develop an understanding of the views of stakeholders regarding the pollution problem and the relative importance of components of the problem; secondly, to identify and investigate non-statutory barriers and incentives to participation in multi-stakeholder processes aimed at integrated catchment management to create a healthy Baynespruit. The research methods embraced a number of different qualitative techniques, including a review of print media coverage, semi-structured interviews conducted with a cross-section of stakeholders, as well as participant and direct observation. The study identified the stakeholder groupings along with a number of non-statutory barriers and incentives to their participation in integrated activities to reduce pollution. These barriers and incentives were classed as economic, situational, developmental and socio-cultural in nature. For local residents, building a network of contacts and partnerships could address many of the economic, developmental and socio-cultural barriers they were found to face. Barriers to industry participation in pollution reduction were found to include problems such as a lack of consequences for polluting, and the feeling that it was 'not their problem'. Powerful economic and situational incentives, such as pressure from corporate customers and the public, seem to remain largely unexploited by stakeholders opposing pollution. A lack of resources in the form of time, staff and equipment, as well as unsuccessful past experiences which have created a reluctance to prosecute or release information, were found to be the major impediments preventing staff at government agencies and parastatals from motivating other stakeholders to participate.


ABSTRACT We explore the implications of a common market and academic practice which is known as 'freezing the drift' when dealing with swap interest rate dynamics. In mathematical terms this can be better understood as imposing a low variance martingale (LVM) assumption. We look into the LVM assumption implications, both on the shape and dynamics for default-free yield curves. We show that the LVM assumption is equivalent to consider future yield curves are nothing but deterministic translations of the initial curve. For the particular case of the Nelson–Siegel yield curve calibration, we show the LVM assumption requires a deterministic parameter's evolution and, thus, imposes the need to constantly recalibrate the model. Finally, based upon European Central Bank historical data on evolution of the default-free Euro area yield curve, we illustrate periods in which the LVM may be applicable and others in which is not.


CASE: A 28-year-old primigravida at 41 weeks of gestation, previously unregistered, presented to a tertiary care Labor and Delivery unit reporting painful uterine contractions 7 minutes apart. The patient, a recent immigrant from a Northeastern African country, was accompanied by her extended family. She promptly disclosed that as a 10-year-old she underwent genital cutting in her country of origin. CASE: Physical examination revealed the results of Type III female circumcision, or total removal of the clitoris and labia minora, and infibulation, or sewing together, of the labia majora. The prepuce and body of the clitoris were completely absent. In addition, the external urethral orifice was not visible due to extensive scar tissue overlying the infibulation. The scar tissue was pale gray, avascular, and extended almost the entire length of the labia majora, leaving a relatively small opening. As active labor continued, it became clear that the constricted opening would not allow for fetal descent. The obstetrician in attendance subsequently performed a midline episiotomy through the perineal body. A healthy male neonate was delivered. During the postpartum examination, the obstetrician identified extensive lacerations as well as an almost total separation of the previously fused labia majora. CASE: The obstetrician explained the reasoning for midline episiotomy repair to the patient and her sister, who was continuously at the bedside. The obstetrician also informed the patient that the infibulation separated. As the obstetrician began repairing the internal lacerations, the patient insisted that the labia majora be sewed back together (reinfibulation). Although the obstetrician explained the risks of poor wound healing and infection from suturing a devascularized tissue plane, the sister emphasized the importance of infibulation in their culture and the need to have the circumcised anatomy restored. After careful consideration, the obstetrician performed a repair of the lacerated tissue, including a partial reinfibulation.


Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping is useful for assessing genetic variation in germplasm collections, genetic map development and detection of alien chromosome substitutions. In this study, a diversity analysis using 1,301 SNPs on a set of 37 barley accessions was conducted. This analysis showed a high polymorphism rate between the malting barley cultivar 'Haruna Nijo' and the food barley cultivar 'Akashinriki'. Haruna Nijo and Akashinriki are donors of the barley expressed sequence tag (EST) collections. A doubled haploid (DH) population derived from the cross between Haruna Nijo and Akashinriki was genotyped with 1,448 SNPs. Of these 1,448 SNPs, 734 were polymorphic and distributed on barley linkage groups (chromosomes) as follows: 1H (86), 2H (125), 3H (120), 4H (100), 5H (127), 6H (88) and 7H (88). By using cMAP, we integrated the SNP markers across high-density maps. The SNPs were also used to genotype 98 BC(3)F(4) recombinant chromosome substitution lines (RCSLs) developed from the same cross (Haruna Nijo/Akashinriki). These data were used to create graphical genotypes for each line and thus estimate the location, extent and total number of introgressions from Akashinriki in the Haruna Nijo background. The 35 selected RCSLs sample most of the Akashinriki food barley genome, with only a few missing segments. These resources bring new alleles into the malting barley gene pool from food barley.


We would like to thank Cox and colleagues for their comments on our article (1). They assert that the only demonstration of value of MRI screening is in genetically high-risk populations, who develop early, aggressive cancers, presumably referring to patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. However, the American Cancer Society guidelines recommendMRI screening for women with a risk of greater than 20% based on family history, a much broader population than just BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. The intent of our study was to investigate the potential for using singlenucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data to refine estimates of risk forwomenwho are not BRCA1/2 carriers butwho are at intermediate to high risk based on the Gail test. Cox and colleagues also state thatMRI screening has been shown to have little benefit after the age of 60 years. This is in part due to the fact that youngerwomen tend tohavehigh breast density, so that mammograms are less effective in younger women. In fact, our model does include breast density as a function of age and includes a breast density effect on the sensitivity of mammography, so that the benefits of MRI screening are greater relative to mammography in younger women. Our base case analysis initiates genetic testing andMRI screening at the age 40 years, before menopause, when average breast density is still relatively high. In our sensitivity analysis, we varied the start age to 50 years, and found that in this case the results were much less favorable, indicating that much of the benefit is gained between the ages of 40 and 50 years. In light of this finding and the comments by Cox and colleagues, an interesting analysis for future work would be to evaluate the effect of discontinuing MRI screening at different ages. Finally, Cox and colleagues point out that while we only consider seven SNPs, more than 70 have now been published. We chose to focus on these seven SNPs because, at least at the time of our study, these were the only seven for which there was a commercially available genetic test. Our cost assumption was based on the real cost of this commercial test at the time of the study. Clearly, both the technology and the costs of genetic testing are rapidly advancing and we intend to continue to update our model with newer data as it becomes available.


According to the early evidence, privatization and consolidation of banks have a strong favorable impact on the advancement of ALM and risk management methods. This paper examines various approaches to ALM by commercial banks in Poland. It elaborates results of the empirical survey of ALM and risk management techniques applied by banks in Poland. The survey was conducted in Spring 1999. The analysis shows that privatization of banks contributes to the improvement of efficiency and to better risk management. It creates a favorable climate for implementation of more advanced risk management and measurement techniques. The size of the Polish private banks has also a positive effect on diverse methodology and sophistication of risk management. The analysis implies the need for a further consolidation of Polish financial institutions. Therefore, this paper reinforces arguments in support of accelerated privatization and consolidation of the Polish banking system.


Odorant cues play a critical role in premating isolation among many species. In mammals, they have been most well-studied in rodents, but only in a handful of species. The genus Rattus is one of the most species-rich genera of mammals, with a natural distribution from Asia to Australia and a nearly global distribution for a few species that spread through human commensalism. More than one-third of Rattus species are the result of a recent and rapid radiation on continental Australia (Sahul) centred on the island of New Guinea. The two most widespread species resulting from this radiation, Rattus fuscipes and Rattus leucopus, occur sympatrically in the Wet Tropics region of Queensland, Australia. Despite their recent divergence, morphological similarity, and ability to produce fertile offspring in captivity, hybrids of the two species have not been reported in the wild, suggesting that premating isolation mechanisms maintain the species' boundaries. Odorant cues are a plausible mechanism that these species could use to identify mates of the same species, but the chemical composition of their odours has not been characterized. With allozyme data from 166 specimens of the two species we confirmed the absence of gene flow between the species in sympatry. From chemical analysis of preputial glands of 32 males from sympatric and allopatric populations of the two species we identified 120 volatile organic compounds of which 80 were reliably quantitated for statistical analysis. Some of these chemicals have been indicated as signalling compounds in other species of mammals, including seven thiazolines. Among them two (2-sec-butylthiazoline and 2-isopropythiazoline) have been previously detected in a rodent, the House Mouse, Mus musculus, and are involved in social interactions including attracting females. We demonstrate that R. fuscipes and R. leucopus are quantitatively and qualitatively distinguishable by the chemical composition of their preputial gland secretions. In comparison to allopatric subspecies, sympatric species contained more unique chemical compounds and a higher abundance of compounds overall, suggesting that sympatric populations have more complex and concentrated odours. Together these results indicate that odorant chemistry has evolved rapidly in these two species, with substantial differences among species and subspecies, especially in sympatry. Ultimately, the rapid evolution of chemical signals involved in mate recognition may help to explain the exceptional diversity of species in the genus Rattus. Records of the Australian Museum a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Australian Museum, Sydney communicating knowledge derived from our collections ISSN 0067-1975 (print), 2201-4349 (online) 272 Records of the Australian Museum (2020) Vol. 72


Purpose In clinical settings, uncertainty is part of everyday practice. However, a lack of insight into how experts approach uncertainty limits the ability to explicitly teach and assess it in training. This study explored how experienced surgeons perceived and handled uncertainty during challenging intraoperative situations, to develop a theoretical language supporting both education and research. Method This constructivist qualitative study included observations and interviews during 26 surgical cases. The cases, drawn from seven staff surgeons from various specialties at a medical school, were purposively sampled after being preidentified by the surgeon as "likely challenging." The authors combined template and inductive analyses. In template analysis, an existing theory was used to identify instances of uncertainty in the dataset. Inductive analysis was used to elaborate and refine the concepts. Results Template analysis confirmed that existing theoretical concepts are relevant to surgery. However, inductive analysis revealed additional concepts and positioned existing concepts within new relationships. Two new theoretical themes were recognizing uncertainty and responding to uncertainty, each with corresponding subthemes. Factors such as the novelty of the situation, difficulty in predicting the outcome, and difficulty deciding the course of action mainly characterize an uncertain situation in surgery according to the participants. Conclusions The results offer a refined language for conceptualizing uncertainty in surgery. Although further research could elaborate and test the explanatory power of this language, the authors anticipate that it has implications both for current discussions of surgical safety and for future development of explicit training for effective management of surgical uncertainty.