PURPOSE
The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the evidence of the challenges and barriers to medication taking (adherence) and to summarize the interventions that improve medication taking in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

METHODS
PubMed, the Cochrane Collaborative, and the Health and Psychosocial Instruments databases were used to obtain articles identified by using the MeSH headings of diabetes, medication, oral hypoglycemic agents, oral antihyperglycemic agents, oral antidiabetic agents, insulin, adherence, medication taking, compliance, fears, treatment, and electronic monitoring. Only articles published in English between 1990 and May 7, 2007, and including individuals of all ages with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus were included. Retrospective and prospective studies reporting adherence to medications using self-report, pill counts, medication possession ratios, and electronic monitoring devices were included. Database analyses of prescription records from various organizations or countries were included only if adherence to pharmacologic therapy was stated. Surveys and questionnaires assessing medication taking were also included. The data from the selected literature was abstracted independently. The various studies were grouped together based on the type of study conducted. Studies were not included if a specific measure of adherence to medication was not used or stated. The studies are presented in 3 tables according to design.

CONCLUSIONS
Several barriers to medication taking have been suggested for those with diabetes mellitus, although well-controlled trials to confirm and resolve these barriers are limited. Diabetes educators should be aware of the common barriers to medication taking (regimen complexity of more than 1 diabetes mellitus drug or more than 1 dose daily, depression, and remembering doses and refills) and provide screening and support to their patients to resolve barriers if they exist. Further studies are needed to test specific interventions to improve medication taking in diabetes.


The presence of trace amounts of water or hyroxide ion can dramatically affect the response ofa mineral to radiation from both internal and external sources. In zircon, where radioactive decay of U causes structural damage (metamictization), water can enter the structure after a threshold of damage is reached and stabilize the metamict state by annealing local charge imbalance. Quartz crystals with both amethyst and citrine zones have molecular water in the citrine zones and dominantly hydroxide ion in the amethyst zones. This may be due to the reduction of the amethyst Fe(IV) color center by atomic H formed by radiolysis of the water. lntopaz, special hydroxide sites correlate with the formation of a brown color center. The crystallographically identified hydroxyl on the (OH,D site does not appear to be correlated with radiation damage. The mobility of H and the ease with which H-O species may be formed in silicates appear to explain much of the role of hydrous species in radiation-damage processes in minerals. These species occur in several charge states and may anneal local charge imbalance. The occurrence of trace amounts of water in even nominally anhydrous minerals makes this interaction common.


This paper examines methods of communicating and presenting information to individuals about transport and travel related carbon emissions for online journey planners and smartphone applications. As users may not be familiar with the magnitude of such emissions, many of these calculators employ techniques designed to help the user better understand their emissions and provide some context for the user. This study examines four different methods of communicating and contextualising trip related carbon emissions based upon methods already in used by a variety of carbon calculators. These methods included a simple numerical representation of emissions in the form of kilograms of CO 2 produced, a "lightbulb" method used to contextualize the emissions, a weekly carbon budget, and a graphical "traffic light system". Results indicate that while that there is a strong correlation between understanding of methods and likelihood of altering mode choice. Significant preferences exist for each of the methods, and age and gender appear to be indicators of personal preference.


Historically, urbanization has been a great force of economic transformation, modernization and social change in the developed world. On the flip side, migration has been blamed for the woes of modern cities overlooking the fact that urban planning and governance are equally responsible. Indian cities are a result of large scale migration over time-a fact which has often escaped urban planning and governance. Maharashtra is a glaring example of regional disparity and unequal urbanization. The grass root issues concerning these inequalities need to be addressed sincerely.


1543 saw the publication of one of the most significant scientific works ever written: De revolutionibus (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres), in which Nicolaus Copernicus presented a radically different structure of the cosmos by placing the sun, and not the earth, at the centre of the universe. But did anyone take notice? Harvard astrophysicist Owen Gingerich was intrigued by the bold claim made by Arthur Koestler in his bestselling The Sleepwalkers that sixteenth-century Europe paid little attention to the groundbreaking, but dense, masterpiece. Gingerich embarked on a thirty-year odyssey to examine every extant copy to prove Koestler wrong-Logging thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of miles Gingerich uncovered a treasure trove of material on the life of a book and the evolution of an idea. His quest led him to copies once owned by saints, heretics, and scallywags, by musicians and movie stars; some easily accessible, others almost lost to time, politics and the black market. Part biography of a book and a man, part bibliographic and bibliophilic quest, Gingerich's The Book Nobody Read is an utterly captivating piece of writing, a testament to the power both of books and the love of books.


Paclobutrazol applied as a soil drench at 0, 1, 10, 100, or 1000 μg a.i./g soil reduced photosynthetic CO 2 uptake rate of leaves formed before paclobutrazol treatment within 3 to 5 days of treatment and the reductions were maintained for 15 days after treatment. The percentage of recently assimilated 14 C exported from the source leaf was reduced only at the highest paclobutrazol dose, and there was little effect of treatment on the partitioning of exported 14 C between the various sinks. In response to increasing doses of paclobutrazol, particularly at the higher doses, an increasing proportion of recent photoassimilates was maintained in a soluble form in all plant components. Reduced demand for photoassimi- lates as a result of the inhibition of vegetative growth may have contributed to a reduction in photosynthetic CO 2 uptake rate, but this reduction in photosynthesis rate could not be attributed to a feedback inhibition caused by a buildup of starch in the leaves. Paclobutrazol had only a minor effect, if any, on photosynthetic electron transport. Chemical name used: β-((4-chlorophenyl) methyl)-α-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-ethanol (paclobutrazol).


The aim of the present study was to determine the phenotypic correlations of backfat thickness with meatiness traits and intramuscular fat, cholesterol and fatty acid composition in the longissimus muscle of pigs. For this study, 60 barrows and 60 gilts (Pietrain × Duroc boars and Polish Large White crossbred sows) were slaughtered at 100 kg bodyweight. Lean meat percentage (LMP), loin muscle area (LMA), backfat thickness measured at five locations and average backfat thickness (ABF), and intramuscular fat (IMF), cholesterol (CHLM) and fatty acid composition in the longissimus muscle were determined. Phenotypic correlations of individual backfat thickness measured at five locations and ABF with LMP, LMA and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), including C18 :2n-6, were negative and moderate to high, while with monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), including C16:1 and C18:1 were positive and very low. Correlations of individual backfat thickness and ABF with saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and C16:0 were positive (0.29 to 0.56), while for C18:0 were low (0.10 to 0.23). Correlations of IMF and CHLM with LMP, LMA and PUFAs, especially C18:2n-6, were negative and high, while with SFAs and MUFAs were positive and moderate to high. Correlation between IMF and CHLM was high (0.74). The results of the present study indicate that increased IMF content results a significant decrease in carcass meatiness (LMP and LMA) and of PUFAs content and an increase in backfat thickness and contents of SFAs, MUFAs and CHLM. Keywords: Intramuscular Chemical Compositions, Muscle, MUFA, PUFA, Swine


This guide will provide quick links to the resources you need to complete your initial assignment and to do further background research on food dyes and additives


Abstract Background Diabetes mellitus is a non-communicable disease with a rising prevalence worldwide. Most of the increase in prevalence is projected to be in the developing countries. As it is recognised that the onset of the disease and its complications predate the symptoms, it is expedient that screening procedures are undertaken to diagnose the disease in the individual as early as possible to minimise the risk of complications. Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease necessitating life-long therapy, usually with drugs. This creates a life-long financial burden on the family, especially in low socio-economic communities in West Africa, where the majority of the population still lives on less than one dollar a day. This affects the wellbeing of the entire family, hence the need for early detection, prompt and adequate management of the disease and avoidance of its complications. Methods The study is an incidental screening to determine the prevalence of diabetes mellitus, its risk factors and the clinical characteristics of diabetics in a Nigerian family practice population. Four hundred and twenty subjects aged 15 years or older were recruited by systematic random sampling in a family practice in South West Nigeria over a three-month period. Data collected include the subjects' socio-demographic data, family history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension, and history of tobacco and alcohol use. The subjects' weight and height were measured and their body mass index (BMI) calculated. Each subject was examined for peripheral neuropathy, lens opacity and hypertension. Fasting blood glucose was measured using a glucometer and urine was tested for albumin. Those with a fasting blood glucose of greater than 6.1 had a fasting blood glucose determination by the standard spectrophotometric method. Results Ten (2.38%) subjects were known diabetics, while 57 (13.6%) were known hypertensives. Ten (2.38%) new diabetics were identified, and 7.5% of the females compared to 5.8% of the males were diabetic. Alcohol intake, obesity, age above 44 years and a positive parental history of diabetes were the significant risk factors (p < 0.01) for diabetes in the study. Proteinuria and peripheral neuropathy were the significant complications (p < 0.01). Conclusions It is concluded that diabetes is a common problem in our practice, with a prevalence of 4.76%, half of which was previously undiagnosed. Alcohol intake, obesity, positive parental history and age over 44 years were the identified risk factors. Peripheral neuropathy, proteinuria and high blood pressure were the identified complications. It is recommended that routine screening of people at high risk of diabetes mellitus in family practice be commenced. The glucometer, a relatively cheap item of equipment in the practice, is a highly useful, sensitive and specific tool for this purpose.


Primary Immunodeficiency Disorders: A Historic and Scientific Perspective provides a complete historical context that is crucial for students and researchers concerned with primary immunodeficiency. When researchers have a poor understanding of the way we arrived where we are in research, they can miss important points about a disease, or miss out on how to approach new diseases. This historical knowledge of research can assist greatly by showing how it was done in the past, demonstrating the successes and failures, so that it can be done better in the future. This book provides an understanding of the process going from clinical problem to lab and back to the clinic, based on historical experiences. Its chapters proceed from the discovery of the T and B cell lineages through the first BMT for immunodeficiency disorder; lab investigation and gene therapy for PID; the discovery of the gene for AT and its function; understanding cytokine defects; and many other stops along the way. * Facilitates communication among physicians and other investigators concerned with immunological and inflammatory diseases* Summarizes for the first time all the known facts from 60 years of primary immunodeficiency research, and teaches how an important field in medicine was established* Provides stimulating discussions on developing new medical therapies Highlights the importance of studying humans to understand mechanisms of disease that affect humans


Because railroad crossties are the second most valuable railroad asset, it is critical that they be maintained and managed in a cost-effective manner. The direct expenses of track maintenance cost railroads billions of dollars each year, and additional millions are spent on recovery from track-caused derailments. Train delay costs further increase the con sequences of unplanned track outages. Additionally, maintenance activities often result in traffic disruptions and congestion that can propagate throughout the rail network; this effect is a concern especially on higher-density lines that are vulnerable to cascading train delay and longer postincident recovery times. Compared with timber crossties, concrete crossties offer several potential benefits but also have a greater initial cost. Economic analysis can show instances in which extra capital investment in premium components is justified. Such analysis can also aid in planning general tie maintenance by balancing the costs of added maintenance with the associated benefit of reduced accident risk. This paper presents a model for evaluating the life-cycle economics of tie types by comparing concrete and timber crossties. A sensitivity analysis demonstrates how various inputs affect the cost comparison between timber and concrete ties.


In a previous paper a geometric model for thermodynamics of porous media filled by a fluid flow was constructed, using a nonconventional model based on the extended irreversible thermodynamics with internal variables. The dynamical system for a simple material element of these defective solids, the expression of the entropy function and the relevant entropy 1-form were obtained. In this contribution we derive the linear morphism defined on the fibre bundle of the process, the transformation induced by the process and, applying the closure conditions for the entropy 1-form, we give the necessary conditions for the existence of the entropy function. The derivation of the entropy 1-form is the starting point to introduce and investigate an extended thermodynamical phase space. Furthermore, considering the necessary conditions for the existence of the entropy function the constitutive laws can be obtained.

[ DOI : 10.1685/CSC09328] About DOI


Structures deforming Llandovery turbidites of the Gala Group in the Southern Uplands terrane are spectacularly exposed in the Berwickshire coastal section, southeastern Scotland. The upward-facing, upright to NW-vergent folds and associated structures appear to record a single regional phase of subhorizontal NW–SE contractional deformation, with a steeply dipping direction of bulk finite extension. These structures are markedly different from those developed in rocks correlated with the Upper Llandovery Hawick Group exposed some 5 km to the south in the Eyemouth–Burnmouth coastal section. Here a highly domainal system of sinistral transpressional strain occurs, with zones of steeply plunging curvilinear folds, clockwise cleavage transection and bedding-parallel sinistral detachment faults. The markedly different bulk strain patterns in the Berwickshire coastal sections are thought to reflect the regionally diachronous nature of transpressional deformation in the Southern Uplands terrane. There are striking similarities in the structures recognized in the Berwickshire coastal sections and those developed in stratigraphically equivalent units along strike in southwestern Scotland and Northern Ireland. This confirms the lateral structural continuity and correlation of tracts and tract boundaries along the entire length of the Southern Uplands terrane. The regional structure suggests that a phase of top-to-the-NW backthrusting and backfolding associated with the southern margin of the Gala Group outcrop marks the transition from orthogonal contraction to sinistral transpression in the Southern Upland thrust wedge during late Llandovery times.


This paper compares the performance of Boosting and nonBoosting training algorithms in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition (LVCSR) using ensembles of acoustic models. Both algorithms demonstrated significant word error rate reduction on the CMU Communicator corpus. However, both algorithms produced comparable improvements, even though one would expect that the Boosting algorithm, which has a solid theoretic foundation, should work much better than the non-Boosting algorithm. Several voting schemes for hypothesis combining were evaluated, including weighted voting, un-weighted voting and ROVER.


The claims that psychoanalytic criticism in Shakespeare studies is waxing or on the wane have been constant, off and on, since Freud tried his hand with Hamlet at the turn of the twentieth century. What does this indicate about the shape that the academic study of Shakespeare can and has assumed? About the discipline's self-understanding? "'Want-wit' Discipline" takes Drew Daniel's "'Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will': Melancholy Epistemology and Masochistic Fantasy in The Merchant of Venice" as a way into describing the encrypted and defended fantasmatic identity that studies of Shakespeare have developed in the brave new globalized world of psychopharmacology, functional magnetic resonance brain imaging, a world market in bardolatrous commodities including films, and elective families. A return (again!) to Freud, and in particular to Freud's scandalous shuttling between system and revision, is perhaps the only way, Lezra argues, of coming to understand both the core fantasies of contemporary Shakespeare studies and the claims that psychoanalytic criticism no longer has much relevance to that discipline.


Studies of geographic variation in anhydrobiotic tolerance may increase our understanding of the population dynamics of terrestrial meiofauna and the relative importance of local adaptation and microhabitat niche separation. Although anhydrobiosis in tardigrades has been studied extensively, few studies have dealt with intraspecific variation in survival and none of these included genetic data to validate the intraspecific nature of the comparisons. Such data are necessary when working with meiofauna as cryptic species are common. We analysed the anhydrobiotic survival and genetic variation in cytochrome oxidase subunit I of two eutardigrades (Richtersius coronifer and Ramazzottius oberhaeuseri) from Italy and Sweden to detect possible local adaptation. Survival was analysed as a multidimensional contingency table and showed that anhydrobiotic survival was higher in Sweden for Ra. oberhaeuseri whereas no significant geographic variation was found for Ri. coronifer. Our genetic analysis indicated the coexistence of two cryptic species of Ra. oberhaeuseri in Italy, only one of which was found in Sweden. It could not be determined whether the variation in Ramazzottius is intra- or interspecific due to the presence of these cryptic species. We suggest that geographic variation in anhydrobiotic survival may be a general phenomenon in tardigrades but further research is necessary to determine the degree of intraspecific variation. The genetic analysis showed indications of long-term isolation of the individual populations of Ri. coronifer but recent dispersal in one of the cryptic species of Ramazzottius. We found higher survival in Ra. oberhaeuseri than in Ri. coronifer. These results indicate a possible coupling between anhydrobiotic survival and dispersal rate.


A guide to finding information on trademarks such as fees, forms, terms and searching techniques for both U.S. and International trademarks.


The principal purpose of a supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) is to ensure adequate post-retirement income for selected senior executives. Under these plans, they receive benefits beyond those provided by the employer's qualified retirement plan. SERPs are becoming increasingly popular--a recent survey of the Fortune 100 industrial companies showed 93% currently maintain SERPs. WHY A SERP? SERPs are beneficial to executives and employers for many reasons. For the executive, the principal benefits are the supplemental retirement income and survivor compensation in the event of the executive's premature death. The benefits usually are carefully defined and easily understood by the executive. Typically, SERPs do not require that performance goals be achieved but do require continued employment to a specified age for eligibility. As opposed to many other forms of compensation, the executive is able to defer tax on the earned benefits until they are paid, usually after retirement. A substantial disadvantage to the executives covered by a SERP is that the employer's obligation to pay the promised benefit is unsecured. Although certain techniques discussed below may provide limited security for the executive, the participant must rely on the employer's financial stability. This reliance is a disadvantage often overlooked by executives. Today's turbulent economic and legal climates have left major corporations unable to meet their legal obligations, including those owned to their employees. One prominent example is LTV Corporation, which has been in bankruptcy since 1986 and was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court decision. The Court ordered LTV to reassume responsibility for its pension plan, thereby relieving the Pension Beenfit Guaranty Corporation, but left it up to the bankruptcy court to set priorities for the company's obligations. Still, SERPs remain attractive to employers since they can provide benefits to a select group of executives without jeopardizing the preferred tax status of retirmenet benefits under qualified plans. What's more, the employer needn't provide the same benefits to a broad group of employees. If the company had to provide these benefits to a large group of employees, often it would not provide the benefit at all. A employer can use a SERP to * Facilitate early retirement for executives whose services are no longer desired. * Attract senior executives who otherwise would receive an inadequate pension due to short service. * Enhance the executive compensation package to motivate toplevel executives. * Protect selected executives against involuntary termination. * Create "golden handcuffs" by proportionately increasing benefits for additional years of service, thus providing a financial incentive for valued executives to remain with the company. WHY NOW? Changes in tax law have increased the popularity of nonqualified deferred compensation. Tax reform legislation has reduced the amount of benefits an executive can receive from qualified plans and increased the expense of providing a particular level of benefits to executives. In annual reports to Congress, the Office of Management and Budget consistently lists qualified employee benefit plans as the single greatest "tax expenditure" in the federal system. In an era of proclaimed fiscal responsibility and a mounting deficit, Congress is likely to continue to reduce benefits and tax advantages associated with qualified retirement plans, particularly those for highly paid executives. Accordingly, employers will continue to search for programs that supplement or replace qualified employee benefit plans for these executives. SERPs vs. EXCESS BENEFIT PLANS Employers can use two principal types of nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements to bypass the qualified plan rules: the excess benefit plan and the SERP. …


Cryptocurrencies are one of the greatest technological innovations. Cryptocurrencies are decentralized payment systems in which ownership is demonstrated cryptographically. An overview of ownership of payment units is stored in a data structure called blockchain. Of the thousands of cryptocurrencies, the best known are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, EOS, Cardano, NEO, Dash, and Monero. In the past, new cryptocurrencies were most often created by modifying the parameters of another cryptocurrency and by launching a new blockchain. Nowadays, new cryptocurrencies are most commonly created as applications on another existing cryptocurrency. Such cryptocurrencies are called tokens. Creating a new cryptocurrency is easy, but its value depends on users' willingness to pay for its units. If a cryptocurrency loses its users, it becomes worthless. In this article, we analyze over 2,500 cryptocurrencies that are or were previously traded on cryptocurrency exchanges. We have explored the probability that a cryptocurrency will not survive and will be delisted from exchanges. For the different categories of cryptocurrencies according to their previous trading time on exchanges, we have determined the conditional probability of delisting within 1 to 5 years. We found out that the new cryptocurrencies are the riskiest. With the increasing age of the cryptocurrency, the probability of its delisting decreases. TOPIC: Currency Key Findings • Cryptocurrencies constitute an expanding area for potential participation and investment. Since the first cryptocurrency was created in 2009 (Bitcoin) more than 2,500 cryptocurrencies have been listed on exchanges. • Consider waiting at least a year before buying a new cryptocurrency. More than 70% of cryptocurrencies that become delisted do so in the first year. • Consider waiting five years before buying a new cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrencies that have been trading for five years have a 9% chance of being delisted within one year..


Practical applications of lithium metal anodes are gravely impeded by inhomogeneous lithium deposition, which results in dendrite growth. Electrolyte additives are proven to be effective in improving performance but usually serve only a single function. Herein, nitrofullerene is introduced as a bifunctional additive with a smoothing effect and forms a protective solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer on stable lithium metal anodes. By design, nitro-C60 can gather on electrode protuberances via electrostatic interactions and then be reduced to NO2- and insoluble C60. Next, the C60 anchors on the uneven groove of the lithium surface, resulting in a homogeneous distribution of Li ions. Finally, NO2- anions can react with metallic Li to build a compact and stable SEI with high ion transport. With a 5 mM nitro-C60 additive, Li-Li symmetric cells show superior cycle stability in both carbonate and ether electrolytes, Li-sulfur batteries with a high cathode loading (10.6 mg cm-2, 6 mAh cm-2) can achieve improved cycle retention of 63.2% over 100 cycles in a carbonate electrolyte, and full cells paired with a high-areal-capacity LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2 cathode (3.6 mAh cm-2) exhibit a significantly enhanced cycle lifespan even under lean electrolyte conditions.


The rate of polymerization of hydrogen cyanide to aminomalononitrile and the tetramer, diaminomalonodinitrile, is quadratic in the total cyanide concentration. Since the reactions form part of a plausible prebiotic purine synthesis and since they compete with hydrolysis, concentration of cyanide may have been important. This may be achieved usefully by cooling to separate out ice.


Background: Recently, methods of quantifying total oxidant status (TOS) and total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) were developed to investigate periodontitis. This study was performed to evaluate the salivary TOS and TAOC levels of patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) and investigating the association between periodontal clinical parameters and these oxidative stress biomarkers.

Material and methods: 40 participants (23-65 years old) were classified into two groups of 20 each, namely the CP group (participants with CP) and the control group (periodontally healthy controls). Clinical periodontal parameters were monitored, and TOS and TAOC levels were measured using laboratory assays.

Results: TOS level increased in the saliva of patients with CP and the salivary TAOC in patients with CP was significantly lower than that of the control group. The TOS had a positive moderate correlation with the plaque index and clinical attachment loss (r=0.32 and 0.37, respectively) while TAOC was negatively and moderately correlated with clinical attachment loss (r=-0.35).

Conclusion: Salivary TOS and TAOC were distinguished in healthy and chronic PD patients. Further studies are required to comprehensively evaluate the potential role of these biomarkers in diagnosis and treatment evaluation of CP.


The aim of this paper is to test an indicator that can represent the process of decline of a specific type of urban area: the industrial estate. We use data on decline derived from fieldwork on industrial estates in the Netherlands to test whether the development of property values on these industrial estates is a reliable indicator to measure decline. The identification of a reliable indicator enables the systematic analysis of processes of decline of industrial estates, which has received little attention in the vast body of literature on urban decline. This paper comprises two parts. In the first part, a connection between urban decline literature with literature on the valuation of individual property is made. Urban decline at the level of individual urban areas, often referred to as neighbourhood decline or decay (Cheshire and Hay 1989) is much researched in urban literature. However, apart from inner city commercial areas, mostly residential neighbourhoods have been the topic of research in studies of urban area decline (see e.g. Broadway and Jesty (1998) and Medhurst and Lewis (1969)). Other parts of the city appear to be mostly neglected. Rather than adding to the already extensive literature on urban decline, the state of art on this literature is presented. Literature on the valuation of property is added to identify an indicator for decline of industrial estates. The second, empirical part of this paper, focuses on fieldwork that was conducted in the Netherlands. A study of the present quality of more than 600 industrial estates in the South of the Netherlands will be compared to the development of property values on the same industrial estates. By bringing this together the hypothesis whether the development of average property values could serve as an indicator for decline of industrial estates, is tested. A proper indicator for decline of industrial estates is expected to be useful in at least two ways. First, this indicator will enable further analysis, seeking to explain why the decline of industrial estates (or other urban areas) takes place. Second, the majority of governmental redevelopment schemes (in the Netherlands and elsewhere) are aimed at the level of the urban area. More knowledge on the actual causes of urban area decline will help the responsible government organisations to better target revitalisation subsidies to obsolete urban areas in general and industrial estates in specific. This paper is organised as follows. In section 2, obsolescence of urban areas will be defined and by studying property valuation literature, the factors that cause decline of industrial estates will be presented. This will lead to the conclusion that development of the average property value in a certain urban area can be an indicator for decline of that area. In section 3 the empirical work will be presented. The present quality of the sample of industrial estates will be compared to the development of average property value. Section 4 draws the main conclusions and discusses their implications.


Computer Forensics is mainly about investigating crime where computers have been involved. There are many tools available to aid the investigator with this task. We have created a prototype of a new type of tool called CyberForensic TimeLab where all evidence is indexed by their time variables and plotted on a timeline. We believed that this way of visualizing the evidence allows the investigators to find coherent evidence faster and more intuitively. We have performed a user test where a group of people has evaluated our prototype tool against a modern commercial computer forensic tool and the results of this preliminary test are very promising. The results show that users completed the task in shorter time, with greater accuracy and with less errors using CyberForensic TimeLab. The subjects also experienced that the prototype were more intuitive to use and that it allowed them to easier locate evidence that was coherent in time. a 2009 Digital Forensic Research Workshop. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


This work was performed in the frame of collaboration between the Laboratory on Plasma and Energy Conversion (LAPLACE), University of Toulouse, and the Second University of Naples (SUN). This work was supported by Rongxin Power Electronic Company (China) and concerns the use of multilevel converters in High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission. For more than one hundred years, the generation, the transmission, distribution and uses of electrical energy were principally based on AC systems. HVDC systems were considered some 50 years ago for technical and economic reasons. Nowadays, it is well known that HVDC is more convenient than AC for overhead transmission lines from 800 - 1000 km long. This break-even distance decreases up to 50 km for underground or submarine cables. Over the twenty-first century, HVDC transmissions will be a key point in green electric energy development. Due to the limitation in current capability of semiconductors and electrical cables, high power applications require high voltage converters. Thanks to the development of high voltage semiconductor devices, it is now possible to achieve high power converters for AC/DC conversion in the GW power range. For several years, multilevel voltage source converters allow working at high voltage level and draw a quasi-sinusoidal voltage waveform. Classical multilevel topologies such as NPC and Flying Capacitor VSIs were introduced twenty years ago and are nowadays widely used in Medium Power applications such as traction drives. In the scope of High Voltage AC/DC converters, the Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), proposed ten years ago by Professor R. Marquardt from the University of Munich (Germany), appeared particularly interesting for HVDC transmissions. On the base of the MMC principle, this thesis considers different topologies of elementary cells which make the High Voltage AC/DC converter more flexible and easy suitable respect to different voltage and current levels. The document is organized as follow. Firstly, HVDC power systems are introduced. Conventional configurations of Current Source Converters (CSCs) and Voltage Source Converters (VSCs) are shown. The most attractive topologies for VSC-HVDC systems are analyzed. The operating principle of the MMC is presented and the sizing of reactive devices is developed by considering an open loop and a closed loop control. Different topologies of elementary cells offer various properties in current or voltage reversibility on the DC side. To compare the different topologies, an analytical approach on the power losses evaluation is achieved which made the calculation very fast and direct. A HVDC link to connect an off-shore wind farm platform is considered as a case study. The nominal power level is 100 MW with a DC voltage of 160 kV. The MMC is rated considering press-packed IGBT and IGCT devices. Simulations validate the calculations and also allow analyzing fault conditions. The study is carried out by considering a classical PWM control with an interleaving of the cells. In order to validate calculation and the simulation results, a 10kW three-phase prototype was built. It includes 18 commutation cells and its control system is based on a DSP-FGPA platform.


Sulfotransferase (SULT) function has been well studied in healthy human subjects by quantifying mRNA and protein expression and determining enzyme activity with probe substrates. However, it is not well known if sulfotransferase activity changes in metabolic and liver disease, such as diabetes, steatosis, or cirrhosis. Sulfotransferases have significant roles in the regulation of hormones and excretion of xenobiotics. In the present study of normal subjects with nonfatty livers and patients with steatosis, diabetic cirrhosis, and alcoholic cirrhosis, we sought to determine SULT1A1, SULT2A1, SULT1E1, and SULT1A3 activity and mRNA and protein expression in human liver tissue. In general, sulfotransferase activity decreased significantly with severity of liver disease from steatosis to cirrhosis. Specifically, SULT1A1 and SULT1A3 activities were lower in disease states relative to nonfatty tissues. Alcoholic cirrhotic tissues further contained lower SULT1A1 and 1A3 activities than those affected by either of the two other disease states. SULT2A1, on the other hand, was only reduced in alcoholic cirrhotic tissues. SULT1E1 was reduced both in diabetic cirrhosis and in alcoholic cirrhosis tissues, relative to nonfatty liver tissues. In conclusion, the reduced levels of sulfotransferase expression and activity in diseased versus nondiseased liver tissue may alter the metabolism and disposition of xenobiotics and affect homeostasis of endobiotic sulfotransferase substrates.


All sociologists recognize that social constraints affect individuals' outcomes. These effects are sometimes relatively direct. Other times constraints affect outcomes indirectly, first influencing individuals' personal characteristics, which then affect their outcomes. In the latter case, the social becomes personal, and personal characteristics that are carried across situations (e.g., skills, habits, identities, worldviews, preferences, or values) affect individuals' outcomes. I argue here for the importance of both direct and indirect effects of constraints on outcomes. I disagree with the tendency among sociologists to avoid views highlighting the role of personal characteristics because of the perception—incorrect in my view—that these explanations "blame the victim" and ignore constraints. To illustrate the importance of both types of mechanisms, I explore two empirical cases involving how gender and class structure sexualities. First, I show that young men engage in same-sex relations less than women and have more heterosexist attitudes, and I ask why. Second, I provide evidence that people from disadvantaged class backgrounds are especially likely to have unintended pregnancies and nonmarital births, and I explore why. In each case, I provide evidence that both kinds of mechanisms are operating—mechanisms entailing direct effects of constraints on outcomes, and mechanisms in which constraints shape personal characteristics, which, in turn, affect outcomes.


The story of the Wilde family across seven generations is an epic saga of sensational triumphs and dreadful tragedies. By linking the generations a more complete picture emerges of Oscar Wilde, the brilliant Irishman whose wit and works still dazzle and whose tragic fall still breaks the reader's heart. Oscar's parents, the extraordinarily accomplished Sir William Wilde and the flamboyant Lady Wilde, themselves led glittering lives full of accomplishment and distinction but catastrophe stalked their paths as it did the lives of their children Isola, Willie and Oscar, and later their grandchildren Cyril, Vyvyan and the tragic Dolly Wilde. Sir William was an eminent eye and ear surgeon in Dublin and also an author, antiquarian and statistician but his personal life attracted much innuendo. His wife was the fiery nationalist poet 'Speranza' whose thumping verses helped fuel a revolution. Oscar Wilde's veiled roots in Ireland and beyond are explored as are the lives of his parents, his brother Willie, his wife Constance, sons Vyvyan and Cecil, and descendants still alive today. This fresh narrative, which includes new insights on Oscar's time in prison and recently discovered information on Sir William's cover-up of his illegitimate daughters' deaths in Monaghan, unfolds against a background of a country torn apart by rebellion and famine. The story is often heartbreaking but the cruel fates did not succeed in extinguishing Oscar's brilliance and the 'lord of language' has taken his rightful place among the great writers of the world.


Online multi-object tracking aims at producing complete tracks of multiple objects using the information accumulated up to the present moment. It still remains a difficult problem in complex scenes, because of frequent occlusion by clutter or other objects, similar appearances of different objects, and other factors. In this paper, we propose a robust online multi-object tracking method that can handle these difficulties effectively. We first propose the tracklet confidence using the detectability and continuity of a tracklet, and formulate a multi-object tracking problem based on the tracklet confidence. The multi-object tracking problem is then solved by associating tracklets in different ways according to their confidence values. Based on this strategy, tracklets sequentially grow with online-provided detections, and fragmented tracklets are linked up with others without any iterative and expensive associations. Here, for reliable association between tracklets and detections, we also propose a novel online learning method using an incremental linear discriminant analysis for discriminating the appearances of objects. By exploiting the proposed learning method, tracklet association can be successfully achieved even under severe occlusion. Experiments with challenging public datasets show distinct performance improvement over other batch and online tracking methods.


In several salars in the Andes Highlands in Chile, gypsum stromatolites have been described. Stromatolites are structures with organic origin and they are normally formed by carbonates. Field observations achieved in five salars in the Andes of northern Chile have permitted to recognize six stages during the gypsum stromatolites formation, from the growth of the organic mats to their almost disappearance by local erosive agents. The six stages are: 1) formation of the organic mat and start of the mineral structure development, 2) growth of the domes structure by trapping of gases in side of the organic mat, 3) development of the crystal gypsum wall , 4) death of the organic colony and exposition of the stromatolitic domes to the subaerial environment, 5) initial destruction of the dome structure and start of the central cavity filling and 6) final degradation of the structures and formation of the mounds with the gypsum crystals at the top.


Findings associated with the presented case study combined with subsequent additional cadaver dissections confirmed that the extensor digiti minimi is significantly more common as the sole extensor of the 5th digit and the extensor digitorum has minimal or no direct contribution to the extensor mechanism of the 5th digit. These findings are contrary to what most textbooks have discussed and therefore contrary to what is commonly taught in most anatomy curriculums. These cadaverific observations represent a more common dorsal extrinsic muscle tendon arrangement which is of particular importance when corrective surgical procedures are indicated.


In Australia, a significant number of students enrol in first-year university biology without the benefit of high school biology. In order to help students support each other, the authors of this paper (a central unit academic developer and a biology coordinator of first-year biology) created a classroom activity that facilitated the distribution of the more experienced students of biology throughout the practical work groups. An important feature of this creative design for forming groups, called the GLO Activity in this paper, was the embedding of two of the University's key teaching and learning priorities within the activity. These were the University's eight graduate learning outcomes (GLOs) and, inclusive education practice. We discuss creative pedagogies in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and their link to supporting students in their first year of university study. We explain our scholarly thinking behind the GLO Activity and evaluate its impact. Finally, we reflect on how we, the educators, found satisfaction in thinking deeply to create a new learning structure for a biology practical class that solved one teaching challenge but also met a number of the University's curriculum principles.


For many, markets are the most efficient way in general to organize production and distribution in a complex economy. But what about those markets we might label noxious--markets in addictive drugs, say, or in sex? In Why Some Things Should Not Be for Sale, philosopher Debra Satz takes a penetrating look at those commodity exchanges that strike most of us as problematic. What considerations, she asks, ought to guide the debates about such markets? Satz contends that categories previously used by philosophers and economists are of limited use in addressing such markets because they are assumed to be homogenous. Accordingly, she offers a broader and more nuanced view of markets--one that goes beyond the usual discussions of efficiency and distributional equality--to show how markets shape our culture, foster or thwart human development, and create and support structures of power. Nobel Laureate Kenneth J. Arrow calls this book "a work that will have to be studied and taken account of by all those concerned by the role of the market as compared with other social mechanisms." Available in OSO:


Abstract. Anthropogenic sources of mercury emissions have a significant impact on global pollution. Therefore, finding uncharacterised sources and assessing the emissions from these sources are important. However, limited data are available worldwide on mercury emissions from crematories. In Japan, 99.9% of dead bodies are cremated, which is the highest percentage in the world, and more than 1600 crematories are in operation. We thus focused on emissions from crematories in Japan. The number of targeted facilities was seven, and we used continuous emission monitoring to measure the mercury concentrations and investigate mercury behaviour. The total mercury concentrations in stack gases were a few μg/Nm3 (normal cubic meters). Considering the time profile of mercury and its species in cremations, the findings confirmed that the mercury in stack gas originated from dental amalgam. The amount of mercury emissions was calculated using the total concentration and gas flow rate. Furthermore, the annual amount of mercury emission from crematories in Japan was estimated by using the total number of corpses. The emission amount was considerably lower than that estimated in the United Kingdom. From statistical analyses on population demographics and measurements, future total emissions from crematories were also predicted. As a result, the amount of mercury emitted by crematories will likely increase by 2.6-fold from 2007 to 2037.


We synthesized epitaxial BTO-BFO heterostructure with decreased leakage and simultaneously improved the multiferroic properties. This study provides new direction for ferromagnetic resonance studies, in high quality BTO-BFO films grown on LSMO. We observed small Gilbert damping (α=0.004) and the absence of large inhomogeneous broadening, in a film with 80 nm thickness of BTO-BFO on LSMO (110). This fact offers opportunities for employing this material system for spin transfer in multifunctional materials where controlling magnetization by a flow of spin angular momentum, or spin current, is crucial toward developing nanoscale spin-based memory and devices. Magnetic insulators, such as BTO-BFO on LSMO, are potentially excellent candidates for pure spin current without the existence of charge current.


This paper presents an experimental study of the possibility of enhancing the response rate of a photoconductor-nematic-liquid-crystal structure. The contribution introduced by the inertia of the individual layers is analyzed for various structures and under various conditions. It is proven that, when the read-out is done with radiation from the mid-IR region, it is impossible in principle to achieve response rates higher than several hertz. This applies to all space-time light modulators of the given type, since the response rate depends not on the properties of the semiconductor but on the thickness of the liquid-crystal layer, which in turn is entirely determined by the wavelength of the readout radiation. © 2004 Optical Society of America


Land subsidence is a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the land surface from changes that take place underground. There are different causes of land subsidence; most notably, groundwater overdraft and severe weather conditions. Subsidence of the land surface due to ground water overdraft is caused by an increase in the intergranular pressure in unconsolidated aquifers, which results in a loss of buoyancy of solid particles in the zone dewatered by the falling water table and accordingly compaction of the aquifer. On the other hand, exploitation of underground water may result in significant changes in degree of saturation of soil layers above the water table, increasing the effective stress in these layers, and considerable soil settlements. This study focuses on estimation of soil moisture at surface using different methods. Specifically, different methods for the estimation of moisture content at the soil surface, as an important term to solve Richard's equation and estimate soil moisture profile are presented, and their results are discussed through comparison with field measurements obtained from Yanco1 station in south-eastern Australia. Surface soil moisture is not easy to measure at the spatial scale of a catchment. Due to the heterogeneity of soil type, land use, and topography, surface soil moisture may change considerably in space and time. Keywords—Artificial neural network, empirical method, remote sensing, surface soil moisture, unsaturated soil.


A social etiquette has emerged around the consumption of food in the West which
requires the use of cutlery – knife, fork and spoon. It is the spoon that is the subject of
this thesis, a utensil so familiar as to have become almost invisible. The significance of
the spoon should not be underestimated and it is employed in this study as a device to
offer insight into material practices, examine theoretical issues in relation to design and
explore the culture of representation that has developed around objects in the
contemporary field of visual and material culture. In this sense this thesis can be seen as
located in the blurred boundaries of art, craft and design and as constituting a text which
contextualises and supports a collection of artefacts developed in the course of a 'practice
led' Art and Design PhD.
The spoon exists not only as an object whose usefulness transcends time but also in terms
of a metaphorical singularity; as an idea with an infinite number of possible
interpretations and material manifestations. This thesis originates in the idea of a
reflective cross-disciplinary enquiry intended to explore fundamental questions around
what the author defines as "spoonness", articulating that which might otherwise be
articulated through (and subsumed in) the making of the object itself. Significantly, by
tracing the journey of the authors film "Emilie Eating Soup" together with the various
objects, exhibitions and catalogues developed in the course of this research, this thesis
also contributes to current critical discourse from the perspective of the practitioner - a
voice that in the past has often been absent from academic discourse. It opens up the
creative processes to scrutiny and further comment, and serves as a model of analysis to
others in the field of material culture to aid reflection upon their own practice and
generate new modes of innovation. A critical reflection upon the works subsequent
reception at a series of prestigious international exhibitions and events is made
throughout this thesis. These materials, together with this text, combine to represent the
broad arc of this author"s creative practice and collectively define the innovative nature
of this PhD.


Chickasaw, an endangered Western Muskogean language spoken in south-central Oklahoma, has SOV order, active verb agreement, nominative-accusative case marking, and a pervasive switch-reference system that is used in almost every non-finite clause. Chickasaw examples have appeared in many general discussions of switch-reference and other grammatical phenomena, but this paper presents the first comprehensive description of Chickasaw switch-reference, drawing on data and analyses in earlier work as well as original field data. Important questions for Chickasaw include what counts as a subject, which subordinate clauses are not marked for switch-reference, the interaction of switch-reference with the language's internally-headed relative clauses, and how switch-reference works in multi-clause sentences.


The project is focused on my interpretation of my workaday experience, my attempt
to navigate the many layers of the retail space of the supermarket, and the enigmatic
landscape of the suburban environment. My premise is that retail and suburban
environments can have a dehumanizing effect on the individual. Elements such as
alienation and dislocation move beyond their supermarket and suburban associations
to permeate my observations. My work is reflective of this process. The paint appears
bleached, having a sterile quality reflecting the effect of the supermarket and suburbs
on my emotional state. The fluorescent lights of the supermarket and the white
concrete of the suburbs reach out and become part of my imagination, sapping colour
and forcing me to rethink the relationship between the built environment and my self.
During my time as a worker in the retail environment of the supermarket, I began to
experience a questioning process that led me to this investigation. Mentally I had to
occupy an expressive space in parallel with my workaday experience. This dual
existence of working and observation and interpretation of my workplace, helped me
to make sense of the issues around alienation and desolation I experienced in the
supermarket. The project allowed me to occupy a point of observation. I realised I had
an opportunity to maximise my investigation by developing my ideas in an academic
context, and voice my experience and outcomes through painting and writing.
Through my art I attempt to make sense of environments that I perceive as being in
opposition to my sense of humanity. These spaces challenge my ideals around the
relationship between human beings and their environment and I therefore see them as
an ideal subject to develop my ideas around sense of place.
I believe contemporary urban spaces can affect a sense of dislocation from society.
The products of many modernist artist and writers such as Walter Benjamin's Arcades
Project, John Steinbeck's Hour of Pearl in Cannery Row and George Orwell's utopia
under Big Brother in 1984, Albert Camus' The Rebel and John Paul Sartre's Nausea
have been inspired by this experience of dislocation. I find parallels to these ideas in
the abstract expressionism of Mark Rothko, and the eerie, melancholic environments
of Paul Nash and Andrew Wyeth. The social commentary of Richard Hamilton and
Andy Warhol anticipate the absurdist turn to postmodernism, which is further filtered
through the social positioning of critics such as John Ralston Saul, Christopher Lasch
and Paul Virilio and mediated through Jacky Bowring's writing on melancholy. I
refer also to the social irony of artist Jeff Koons, selected enigmatic landscapes by
Bill Henson and the washed out paintings of Luc Tuymans, Fiona McMonagle and
Jon Cattapan. My own work is positioned in this reductionist style to comment on the
alienation I have experienced through contemporary consumerism and my transition
from passive worker to active observer.


Higgason, K. D., and Brown, M. 2009. Local solutions to manage the effects of global climate change on a marine ecosystem: a process guide for marine resource managers. - ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1640-1646.The marine environment plays an important role in controlling the amount of CO 2 that remains within the earth's atmosphere, but it has not received as much attention as the terrestrial environment regarding climate-change effects, mitigation programmes, and action plans. Potential physical effects of climate change within the marine environment, including ocean acidification, changes in winds that drive upwelling and ocean circulation patterns, increasing global sea surface temperatures, and sea level rise, can result in dramatic changes within marine and coastal ecosystems. Often, marine resource managers feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of this issue and are therefore uncertain how to begin to take action. It may seem that they do not have the time, funding, or staff to take on a challenge as large as climate change, and fail to act as a result. Using NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary as a case study, this paper outlines the need to act now and presents an easy-to-use process guide, providing managers options to incorporate effectively the influences of climate change into management strategies, as well as mitigate these influences through community outreach and a reduction in workplace emissions.


Historically, urban growth required enough development to grow and transport significant agricultural surpluses or a government effective enough to build an empire. But there has been an explosion of poor mega-cities over the last 30 years. A simple urban model illustrates that in closed economies, agricultural prosperity leads to more urbanization, but that in an open economy, urbanization increases with agricultural desperation. The challenge of developing world mega-cities is that poverty and weak governance reduce the ability to address the negative externalities that come with density. This paper models the connection between urban size and institutional failure, and shows that urban anonymity causes institutions to break down. For large cities with weak governments, draconian policies may be the only way to curb negative externalities, suggesting a painful trade-off between dictatorship and disorder. A simple model suggests that private provision of infrastructure to reduce negative externalities is less costly when city populations are low or institutions are strong, but that public provision can cost less in bigger cities.


Sentiment analysis is an important learning problem with a broad scope of applications. The meteoric rise of online social media and the increasing significance of public opinion expressed therein have opened doors to many challenges as well as opportunities for this research. The challenges have been articulated in the literature through a growing list of sentiment analysis problems and tasks, while the opportunities are constantly being availed with the introduction of new algorithms and techniques for solving them. However, these approaches often remain out of the direct reach of other researchers, who have to either rely on benchmark datasets, which are not always available, or be inventive with their comparisons. This thesis presents Sentiment Analysis Research Environment (SARE), an extendable and publicly-accessible system designed with the goal of integrating baseline and state of- the-art approaches to solving sentiment analysis problems. Since covering the entire breadth of the field is beyond the scope of this work, the usefulness of this environment is demonstrated by integrating solutions for certain facets of the aspect-based sentiment analysis problem. Currently, the system provides a semi-automatic method to support building gold-standard lexica, an automatic baseline method for extracting aspect expressions, and a pre-existing baseline sentiment analysis engine. Users are assisted in creating gold-standard lexica by applying our proposed set cover approximation algorithm, which finds a significantly reduced set of documents needed to create a lexicon. We also suggest a baseline semi-supervised aspect expression extraction algorithm based on a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to automatically extract aspect expressions.


The transmission and reflection properties of frequency-selective surfaces (FSSs) are evaluated through a simple and accurate first-order circuit approach. The approximate analysis, based on the parallel between real structure and a lumped-LC-network counterpart, is also useful for acquiring physical insights into the working principles of frequency-selective surfaces. The first part of the paper describes a technique for computing lumped parameters of the most common frequency-selective-surface elements. The L and C parameters representing a given frequency-selective-surface element are derived only one time, at normal incidence, and stored, so as to form a database. The second part of the paper deals with the derivation of simple relations allowing the generalization of the stored LC couples in the case where the frequency-selective surface is printed or embedded in arbitrarily thick dielectric slabs, when the incident angle is varied from normal incidence, or if a different periodicity with respect to the reference periodicity is adopted. The generalized lumped parameters are included in an equivalent transmission line for computing the response of generic frequency-selective-surface configurations with no additional computational effort. The results obtained through the simplified model presented here are verified by a careful comparison with MoM simulations.


We propose an algorithm for efficient threshold network synthesis of arbitrary multioutput Boolean functions. Many nanotechnologies, such as resonant tunneling diodes, quantum cellular automata, and single electron tunneling, are capable of implementing threshold logic efficiently. The main purpose of this work is to bridge the current wide gap between research on nanoscale devices and research on synthesis methodologies for generating optimized networks utilizing these devices. While functionally-correct threshold gates and circuits based on nanotechnologies have been successfully demonstrated, there exists no methodology or design automation tool for general multilevel threshold network synthesis. We have built the first such tool, threshold logic synthesizer (TELS), on top of an existing Boolean logic synthesis tool. Experiments with 56 multioutput benchmarks indicate that, compared to traditional logic synthesis, up to 80.0% and 70.6% reduction in gate count and interconnect count, respectively, is possible with the average being 22.7% and 12.6%, respectively. Furthermore, the synthesized networks are well-balanced structurally. The novelty of this work lies in the introduction of the first comprehensive synthesis methodology and tool for general multilevel threshold logic design.


Psychometric scale values for color differences are correlated with physically measured chromaticity differences by use of a formula which postulates that the scale values are proportional to some power, less than unity, of distance in a subjectively isotropic, projective transformation of the CIE chromaticity diagram. Exponents ranging from 0.38 to 0.80 are reported. Eleven to 37% smaller root-mean-square errors of fit to psychometric scale values are obtained with the nonlinear hypothesis than with a linear hypothesis.


The generalized form of a nonlinear equation modeling the evolution of femtosecond pulses in a wide range of laser media is derived. Together with auxiliary equations, it describes both amplitude and phase changes owing to a variety of linear and nonlinear effects. These effects include gain saturation, more than one kind of self-phase modulation, and both gain and phase dispersions. The model is applied to previous experiments of ultrashort-pulse amplification in a dye-laser amplifier and is found to describe quantitatively the observed strong spectral changes. We show that the spectral changes are due both to gain dispersion and to the interplay of various dispersive and nonlinear effects.


Clinical equipoise is widely regarded as an ethical requirement for the design and conduct of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Underlying clinical equipoise is the norm that no patient should be randomized to treatment known (or believed by the expert clinical community) to be inferior to the established standard of care. This implies that patient–subjects should not be exposed to net risks in control groups of randomized trials – risks that are not compensated by the prospect of direct medical benefits from the control intervention. However, proponents of clinical equipoise have no moral objections to permitting net risks for 'nontherapeutic' research procedures employed in clinical trials. This differential assessment makes risk–benefit assessment of randomized trials incoherent. In this article, I examine critically four arguments in defense of clinical equipoise as a requirement for risk–benefit assessment. Each of these arguments fails to support clinical equipoise, leading to the conclusion that we should dispense with this principle in risk–benefit assessment of RCTs.


The microfinance sectors of Argentina and Cambodia differ greatly, but can therefore offer insight into the effects of varying levels of regulation within the industry. By comparing data from the two markets and conducting interviews with organizations and individuals, this paper provides a case study, which can be interpreted as an example for other regional markets with similar structures. With a greater number of smaller microfinance institutions, it is challenging for governments to enforce regulation and prevent exploitation of consumers. On the other hand, with the consolidation of banks and NGOs comes stricter regulation for the decreased number of lenders in a microcredit market. Having a regulated microfinance market prevents exploitation of the rural poor, who are often uneducated on financial services and procedures. In addition, this study finds that civil society is essential for the social and financial protection of clients in a microfinance market.


It has been proposed that one key step for solving the mystery of consciousness is to locate the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC). The experimental paradigms for revealing the NCC have commonly applied the contrast between conditions with and without conscious perception. However, such contrast does not exclusively reveal the neural processes directly related to conscious experience of the target but also the prerequisites for and the consequences of conscious perception. Therefore, understanding the neural bases of conscious experience requires the NCC to be experimentally disentangled from these confounding processes. Here we review some recent experimental developments and suggest some new empirical approaches for distilling the neural basis of conscious perception.


This study examined the potential of pedagogical agents as learning companions (PALs) to build social relations with learners and, consequently, to motivate learning. The study investigated the impact of PAL affect (positive vs. negative vs. neutral), PAL gender (male vs. female), and learner gender (male vs. female) on learners' social judgments, motivation, and learning in a controlled experiment. Participants were 142 college students in a computer-literacy course. Overall, the results indicated the interaction effects of PAL affect, PAL gender, and learner gender on learners' social judgments (p <.001). PAL affect impacted learners' social judgments (p <.001) and motivation (p <.05). PAL gender influenced motivation (p <.01) and recall of learning (p <.05). Learner gender influenced recall of learning (p <.01). The implications of the findings are discussed.


ABSTRACTThis investigation focuses on the effects on emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PBDD/Fs) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)) from a diesel engine fuelled by 20 vol% waste cooking oil-based biodiesel (W20) blended with various fractions of dehydrate/hydrous butanol (B/B′) and acetone (A/A′). The emission concentrations of the POPs were in the order PBDE ≫ PBDD/F > PCB > PCDD/F, regardless of the blending fuel or engine load. The POP with highest concentration was PBDE, being 2–3 times that of the others. Conversely, the magnitude of emitted toxicity followed the order PCDD/F > PCB ≈ PBDD/F, while PCDD/F emissions had about 10 times the toxicity concentrations of PCBs and PBDD/Fs. Among the dioxin compounds, the emissions of PCDDs represented 46–73% (average 57%) and 50–72% (average 59%) of total PCDD/F mass and toxicity concentrations, respectively, and were which and were thus significantly higher than those of PCDFs. The non-ortho-PCB contributed almost all toxicity (~100%) of 14 dioxin-like-PCBs, even though its contribution in mass was only 9–32% (average 16%) among the congeners. Similarly, PBDFs accounted for ~100% of toxicity of PBDD/Fs. Additionally, deca-BDEs contributed to most of the mass emissions of PBDEs (47.0–90.5%, 82.4% in average), while nona-BDEs and tri- to octa-BDEs only contributed 10% and 8%, respectively. The reductions of the absolute mass concentrations of POPs from W20 were in the order PBDEs >> PBDD/Fs > PCDD/Fs ≈ PCBs for all multi-component diesel blends. The reduction fractions of POPs were in the order PCDD/F > PCB ≈ PBDD/F > PBDE, and those of TEQ were PCDD/F > PCB > PBDD/F. Thus, the addition of butanol and acetone, whether pure or hydrous, could further lower the POP emissions from W20.


In PNAS, Lister and Garcia (1) report declines in abundances of understory arthropods and lizards between 1976 and 2012 and claim similar declines in populations of arthropods, frogs, and insectivorous birds based on data from the Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research project (LUQ). Their conclusion, that increasing temperature has led to a collapse of the food web, has attracted considerable attention from public media, but this conclusion is not corroborated by empirical evidence from LUQ (see Supplementary Materials, https://luq.lter.network/pop-trends-yunque-luquillo). Also, the authors fail to consider the effects of hurricanes and subsequent changes during secondary succession. Lister and Garcia (1) interpret temporal changes in abundance of the walking stick (Lamponius portoricensis), canopy arthropods, frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui), and birds at El Verde to be a consequence of increasing annual mean maximum daily temperature. In many cases, abundance data are not adjusted to consider variation in sampling effort. Moreover, the authors combine data files that are not compatible to create the temperature record for analyses. Indeed, maximum temperature from this record evinces a significant linear decrease at El Verde (cooling) in the period during which Lister and Garcia analyzed demographic data, a pattern evident in figure 1A of ref. 1 (see figures 1 and 2 of Supplementary Materials). Using Lister and Garcia's (1) analytical approach for temporal trends, we found a significant decline in density of Lamponius from 1993 to 2011, but density was not statistically related to temperature during this period (figures 3 and 4 of Supplementary Materials). These results contradict those of Lister and Garcia and suggest a more complex interplay of factors affecting variation in abundance of Lamponius (2). Canopy arthropod density does not decline between 1994 and 2009 but does increase significantly with increasing temperature (figures 5 and 6 of Supplementary Materials), even for the 10 most abundant taxa (tables 1 and 2 of Supplementary Materials), which Lister and Garcia claimed to have used (3). Long-term data do not suggest a simple decline in adult frogs from 1987 to 2017 (figure 7 of Supplementary Materials) but do document an increase in numbers with increasing temperature (figure 8 of Supplementary Materials). Numbers vary in a consistent and nondirectional manner, except for short-term increases after Hurricanes Hugo and Georges, which modified habitat structure, followed by decreases to predisturbance levels (4) (figure S3B of ref. 1). Although prehurricane data exist for all 4 of Woolbright's (4) plots, Lister and Garcia (1) do not include these data (figure S3A, C, or D of ref. 1). Stewart's (5) data used by Lister and Garcia are consistent with this phenomenon [i.e., higher numbers after Hurricane David (1979)], followed by a decline to the typical range observed as recently as August 2017. Lister and Garcia (1) do not consider the effects of changing forest structure following Hurricane Hugo (1989), which inflated avian captures rates at the beginning of the sampling period (6, 7). Their conclusion that the abundance of the insectivorous Puerto Rican tody (Todus mexicanus) declined by 90% is not supported by mist-netting data (capture rates from 1980 are similar to those from 2005) or point-count data from the same period (figures 9–11 of Supplementary Materials). We found no evidence to support the conjecture that food webs are collapsing at LUQ as a result of warming. The narrow focus on temperature-related aspects of climate change as the causative agent does not address the multiple disturbances (e.g., hurricanes and droughts) that affect the forest (8).


Red cell pyruvate kinase deficiency is the most common glycolytic defect associated with congenital non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia. The disease, transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait, is caused by mutations in the PKLR gene and is characterized by molecular and clinical heterogeneity; anemia ranges from mild or fully compensated hemolysis to life-threatening forms necessitating neonatal exchange transfusions and/or subsequent regular transfusion support; complications include gallstones, pulmonary hypertension, extramedullary hematopoiesis and iron overload. Since identification of the first pathogenic variants responsible for PK deficiency in 1991, more than 300 different variants have been reported, and the study of molecular mechanisms and the existence of genotype-phenotype correlations have been investigated in-depth. In recent years, where progress in genetic analysis, next-generation sequencing technologies and personalized medicine have opened up important landscapes for diagnosis and study of molecular mechanisms of congenital hemolytic anemias, genotyping has become a prerequisite for accessing new treatments and for evaluating the disease state and progression. This review examines the extensive molecular heterogeneity of PK deficiency, focusing on the diagnostic impact of genotypes and new acquisition on pathogenic non-canonical variants. The recent progress and the weakness in understanding the genotype-phenotype correlation, and its practical usefulness in light of new therapeutic opportunities for PK deficiency is also discussed.


The interaction of light with multiple red blood cells was systematically investigated by the finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD). The simulations showed that the lateral multiple scattering between red blood cells is very weak and that the polarization has an almost insignificant influence on the distribution of the scattered light. The numerical results of the FDTD method were compared with the results from the Rytov approximation and the discrete dipole approximation (DDA). The agreement with the DDA was excellent.


LAX (the Los Angeles airport) had over two dozen contractors working on site to complete their $700 million improvement plan in time for the Olympics in July. They also came up with several innovative designs in constructing the elevated roadway and the international terminal. The international terminal building foundation partially consists of timber lagged soldier pile retaining wall with two levels of tiebacks, which is not a normal foundation for a permanent structure. It is covered with 10 in. to 18 in. of reinforced shotcrete and all the foundations are spread footings connected by tie beams and grade beams. The elevated roadway is supported by a combination pile/column that acts as one unit rather than being supported by the normal group of piles with a concrete cap on top and a column on top of that. The column piles were 5 ft. diam. columns, which became 5 ft. diam. piles going down 45 ft. to 65 ft. as one unit. The reinforcement that comes straight out of the pile when encased in concrete becomes the column to support the roadway deck. It also produced flexibility in the structure for seismic loading; conventional pile caps at ground level would have made the structure too rigid. The roadway has an 84 ft. span with 3 ft. 2 in. pre-cast girders plus a 10 in. slab cast on afterward. This is shallow by normal practice but the designer circumvented that by making the girders in trapezoidal boxes rather than I sections, using high strength concrete of 6,000 psi so that he could put in a large prestressing force. Skylighting was extensively used on the two new terminals to save on energy and also provide natural daylighting. New runway sections were built over the Sepulveda Blvd. vehicular tunnel that included a two-inch airspace to prevent weight transfer of jets to the tunnel. LAX also has the first cogeneration system in any U.S. airport.


The deflation of the Enlightenment worldview and rise of the post-modern mood over the last decades has altered the relation of Christian faith to culture. How, in this new situation, should the church confess Christ? "Above All Earthly Powers" paints a picture of the West in all its complexity, brilliance, and emptiness. As David F. Wells masterfully depicts it, the postmodern ethos is relativistic, individualistic, therapeutic, and yet remarkably spiritual. By placing a premium on marketing rather than truth, the evangelical church is in danger of selling authentic engagement with culture for worldly success. Christians need to confess Christ as the center in a society lacking a center, as the sovereign in a world seemingly ruled by chance, and as the one who can give meaning in a nihilistic culture. "Above All Earthly Powers" issues a prophetic call to the evangelical church that it cannot afford to ignore.


The introduction of Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) delivered through distance learning appears to be a major way out to upgrade a teaming mass of certificate 'A" teachers at the basic level of teaching in Ghana. However indications are that many of them are finding it difficult to sail through successfully. To help the learners there is the need to find out the root cause of the problem. Hence, 119 levels 300 Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) distance learners of the Winneba study centre of the University of Education, Winneba were sampled to find out the causes of the problems and how to solve them. The results showed that majority of respondents were between the ages of 30 and 49 years (approximately 80.67%); 56.30% of them were males whilst 43.70% were females. The major problems that prevented majority of them from entering the university before the introduction of the distance learning programme are financial problem, family problems, failed attempts and lack of the required grades, etc. Some of the challenges or problems the distance education students face are difficulty in combining teaching and learning due to lack of time, financial problems leading to inability to pay fees, family and marital problems, etc, and these result in poor academic performance. In all 68.91% of respondents find the courses being offered on the DBE programme to be too many and they proposed that the number is reduced. Forty-two respondents (35.29%) rated the science course being offered as too difficult and the methodology too theoretical (42.86%). They suggested the use of more practical methods of teaching the science and at a slower pace. IFE PsychologIA Vol. 14(2) 2006: 1-15


Abstract The essential value of antimicrobial prophylaxis is to defend the patient undergoing invasive diagnostic procedures or surgery against infectious complications by reducing the bacterial load. Escherichia coli remains the predominant uropathogen (70–80%) isolated in acute community-acquired uncomplicated infections, followed by Staphylococcus saprophyticus (10 to 15%). Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Proteus species, and enterococci infrequently cause uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis. The pathogens traditionally associated with UTI are altering many of their features, particularly because of antimicrobial resistance. Currently, only transurethral resection of prostate and prostate biopsy has been well studied and has high and moderately high levels of evidence in favor of using antibiotic prophylaxis. Other urological interventions have not been well studied. The moderate to low evidence suggests that there is no need for antibiotic prophylaxis in cystoscopy, urodynamic investigations, and extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy, whereas the low evidence favors the use of antibiotic prophylaxis for therapeutic ureterorenoscopy and percutaneous nephrolithotomy. The scarce data from studies on transurethral resection of bladder tumors cannot provide a definitive indication for antibiotic prophylaxis for this intervention.


When does a statute grant powers to the President as opposed to other officials? Prominent theories of presidential power argue or assume that any statute granting authority to an executive officer also implicitly confers that authority upon the President. This Article challenges that statutory construction. It argues that the President has statutory authority to direct the administration of the laws only under statutes which grant to the President in name. Congress's enduring practice of granting power to executive officers subject to express conditions of presidential control supports a strong negative inference that the President has no directive authority when a statute grants authority to an executive officer without any mention of presidential control. Such a construction also has significant institutional advantages: Not only is Congress generally ill equipped to police the validity of the President's assertions of statutory authority, but the President has strong incentives to claim that his actions are authorized by existing statutes. Limiting the occasions for the President to claim statutory power to those statutes in which Congress has expressly granted him authority helps to restrict the President's adventurous assertions of statutory power and provides a check on the President internal to the executive branch, while still recognizing Congress's important interests in placing certain matters in the President's own hands. This statutory conclusion further implies - contrary to the suggestion of Dean Elena Kagan - that presidential direction of administrative agency action may not qualify for judicial deference under Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. unless the statute expressly grants authority to the President. In the terms of Chevron, the President "administers" only those statutes. It also provides an account of the legal status of executive orders and other presidential directives that lack independent constitutional authorization: Those directives may legally bind the discretion of executive officials and the public only if the President acts under a statute granting power to the President in name.


Two main components must be estimated in order to estimate customer lifetime value. The first component is customer survival time (time from subscription to cancellation of the service) and the second is the customer monthly margin. While the customer monthly margin could be estimated directly from the accounting model, the challenge will be the estimation of time to cancellation. In this study 30000 customers were selected from a well established subscription-based company. The customers were classified (segmented) according to their demographic and usage related characteristics. The stratified Cox model was used to identify the significant variables and to calculate hazard ratios. Both nonparametric and parametric survival analysis techniques were used to estimate the mean survival time. The results showed that gender, age and direct marketing city are significant in predicting the hazard of cancellation of the service. Young customers (age less than 26 years) have significantly shorter mean survival time than other age groups. A large difference between the restricted and unrestricted mean survival time was found; this may be due to the extreme right censoring of 85% that exists.


Subsidence curves for 27 wells from the western continental margin of India show a characteristic late Oligocene to early Miocene (∼24±5 Ma) rapid increase in subsidence rate superposed on the long-lived, slow subsidence typical of the thermal subsidence phase of passive continental margins. By subtracting a best fit negative exponential subsidence from the observed subsidence curves, we obtain an estimate of the distribution and magnitude of the "excess" subsidence affecting the Neogene development of the west Indian margin. The magnitude of this excess subsidence increases seaward from the coast, ranging from a few meters to >2000 m near the shelf edge. We examine the following hypotheses to explain the distribution and timing of this excess subsidence: (1) modification of basin stratigraphy due to the effects of lithospheric in-plane compression, (2) creation of accommodation space on the margin by flexural effects associated with Indus fan loading, and (3) rapid growth of the continental margin and associated flexural effects. Of the three hypotheses tested, the least important mechanism to account for the observed excess subsidence is that of variations of lithospheric in-plane force, principally because maximum in-plane compression within the Indo-Australian plate was only achieved in the late Miocene. Because Indus fan sediment deposition began in the late Oligocene to early Miocene, we investigated three-dimensional flexural effects associated with fan loading as a cause of the excess subsidence beginning at ∼24 Ma. The distribution and magnitude of modeled flexural deflection, however, are not consistent with the observed excess subsidence. Interpretation of seismic reflection data indicates that the margin has aggraded and prograded by ≈100 km basin ward since the Oligocene. Therefore, we evaluate the flexural effects of this margin growth by estimating the amount of space infilled by margin progradation and aggradation since 24 Ma and computing the resulting deflection. This deflection matches the distribution and magnitude of observed excess subsidence along the margin. In addition, the distribution of the flexural bulge predicted from the combined deflections due to Indus fan and margin loading is spatially coincident with the distribution of exposed marine terraces and drainage divides in the Saurastra Peninsula and the regions surrounding the gulfs of Cambay and Kutch, respectively. Available gravity, seismic reflection, refraction, and well data are consistent with our prediction of a 4000 to 5000 m thick sediment load developed during the Neogene along the outer margin. We propose that flexural deformation due to sedimentary loading provides a potential tectonic feedback mechanism that affects coastal and fluvial depositional processes. As regions in close proximity to the load are depressed, regions farther from the load experience uplift (i.e., the peripheral bulge), which is sufficient to cause subaerial exposure of large portions of the shelf and to modify existing drainage networks. This feedback represents a mechanism for inducing relative sea level changes without invoking glacial eustasy.


Visible light photosensitization of metal oxides to create heterostructures for the conversion of solar-to-chemical energy is a promising approach to produce solar fuels and other valuable chemicals. Carbon dots have recently been considered as suitable candidates to sensitize wide bandgap metal oxide semiconductors due to their low cost and tunable optical properties. While photocatalytic systems using carbon dots as sensitizers have been reported, transformations involving the production of value-added chemicals as well as the electron transfer mechanisms underpinning photocatalysis within such heterostructures remain underexplored. Here we report the sensitization of zinc oxide nanowires with carbon dots for the α-heteroarylation of 1-phenylpyrrolidine with 2-chlorobenzothiazole under visible light illumination at room temperature. The carbon dots improve the light absorption of the nanowires in the visible region of the spectrum affording the use of white light to drive catalysis. From optical spectroscopy and electrochemistry investigations of the resulting nanohybrid material, the photocatalytic properties are explained by the band alignment at the zinc oxide-carbon dot junction where a series of single-electron transfers creates the necessary potential to oxidize 1-phenylpyrrolidine. The resulting cascade of electron transfers into and from the carbon dots drives the α-heteroarylation to a 97% yield after 24 hrs.


Using the Johansen procedure I test for cointegration between consumption, private disposable income and inflation for 20 OECD countries over the period 1955-1994. There is evidence of cointegration for all countries. Plausible long-run consumption functions are obtained for 18 countries, and feature heterogeneous parameter estimates across countries. Evidence against a unit-income elasticity is obtained for 11 countries suggesting that one would be unwise to assume consumption is homogenous of degree one in income. Inflation is statistically significant and negative for only 7 countries indicating that it is not a fundamental explanatory factor of consumption for many countries. Cross-country regressions for the income elasticity reveal a negative association with income growth, the loglevel of income and income inequality and a positive correlation with the fiscal surplus/deficit and the availability of credit. The cross-country regressions of the inflation elasticity are consistent with inflation acting as a proxy for asset effects.


Following the success enjoyed by goal-based allocation over the last several years, the author investigates what the focus away from traditional finance and toward behavioral finance may be costing, if anything, in terms of traditional investment efficiency. The author starts with a review of the modern portfolio theory framework and offers a hypothesis as to how the demonstrated inability of individuals to stick to a single optimal portfolio might be interpreted. He then goes on to review the behavioral solution of a hypothetical case study and compares the outcome with a traditional optimization. His analysis suggests that, once goal based allocation is re-formulated to allow some focus on the total portfolio trade-off between risk and return, the cost in terms of theoretical sub-optimality may be viewed as trivial. He does however concede that this experiment is unlikely to close the debate between the two branches of finance, as the analysis allows each side to claim some form of victory.


In the year to December 2013, emissions from Australia's transport sector increased by 53.5% compared to 1990 levels. The domestic transport sector now accounts for over 70% of liquid fuels consumed in this country, with passenger vehicles being the largest source of emission in this sector. Currently, the Australian Government has no fiscal instruments for mandatory fuel efficiency or carbon emission targets to reduce road transport emissions. Part 1 of the two-part series provided ex-post evidence that reforming vehicle purchase taxes/stamp duty differentiated on the basis of CO2 emissions was an effective measure to significantly reduce road transport emissions. In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) recommended that vehicles purchase taxes be reformed on the basis of new vehicles' "environmental performance", and proposed the Australian Capital Territory's (ACT's) vehicle purchase tax/stamp duty as one model for this approach. However, the 2010 Henry Report rejected COAG's recommendation. This article revisits the COAG's recommendations and provides an analysis for Australia's policy makers on whether the tax design and price signal of ACT's vehicle purchase tax provides a model to be adopted by the rest of Australia, or whether an alternative instrument is recommended. The literature review suggests that to achieve significant reductions in average CO2 emissions from new light vehicles will depend on the choice of tax design, a strong upfront price signal, level of tax differential, public acceptance, and the interaction of other complementary tax policy measures. The article will assist policy makers in designing tax policy measures for the proposed Energy White Paper in 2015. In turn, this proposal will meet the objectives outlined in the Issues Paper, that is, to encourage a behavioural change in buyers that could lead to their choosing fuel-efficient, low-carbon emitting new vehicles, as well as to help address the barriers and challenges to reforming vehicle purchase taxes/stamp duty.


The dispersion relation of inertial waves on inviscid cavitating vortices ('Kelvin waves') is reconsidered and extended to include the influence of a convection velocity and compressibility for acoustic analysis. Different aspects of the dispersion relation are discussed with emphasis on the variation of the frequency, the phase speed and the group speed for low frequency variations of the first three modes. A zero group speed criterion is used to derive a formulation for the resonance frequencies of the breathing mode. The obtained relation between the frequency and the cavitation number shows a reasonable correlation with experimental data. In addition some aspects are discussed of the radiated noise of cavitating vortex deformations without collapse.


Increases in the securitization and syndication of credit have led to a growing distance between borrowers and the ultimate lenders. As trends continue to encourage the efficient packaging and sale of loans, it has become important for lead lenders to convince fellow syndicate banks of the risk profile of the credit as quickly and effectively as possible. Likewise, having an understanding of how a firm's value has changed as a result of financial distress is invaluable during a restructuring process. A key element in understanding the impact of risk on firm values is the differential response of the managers (equity) and lenders (debt) toward volatility. This article develops a framework for using simulation analysis as a common platform from which to communicate about financing risks and capital structure. The methods outlined here can be used to optimize responses to restructuring scenarios by enabling a better match between expected cash flows and capital commitments.


The aim of the study was to identify serotypes of suspicious isolates of Salmonella spp from breeding guinea pigs in samples collected within the first week of parturition to detect animals carrying the bacteria. The guinea pigs were clinically normal and reared in a commercial farm in Pachacamac, Lima, Peru. The farm was free of Salmonella outbreaks in the last four years. A total of 272 paired samples consisting in rectal and vaginal swabs per animal were collected and analyzed using standardized microbiological protocols. The DNA was extracted from suspected isolates of Salmonella sp and then these samples were analyzed by multiplex PCR to detect the presence of invA, prot6E and fliC genes which are specific for Salmonella spp, Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium respectively. Eight animals (12 swabs) were positive to Salmonella spp. All 12 isolates amplified invA (Salmonella spp), 10 of them amplified the fliC gene (Salmonella Typhimurium) and none the prot6E gene (Salmonella Enteritidis). The results confirmed Salmonella Typhimurium as the predominant pathogen in breeding guinea pigs at first parturition in the commercial farm.


Data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (n = 1,307) were used to estimate the additive and multiplicative benefits of high quality child care between birth to 54 months of age and high quality elementary school education between first and fifth grade. Results indicated that the math and language and literacy benefits of high quality child care accrued from the end of preschool through age 15 only when coupled with higher quality classroom environments during the elementary school years. In contrast, the benefits of high quality child care were no longer present when children later attended lower quality classrooms in elementary school. Taken together, these results point to the importance of continued investments in children's education throughout the first decade of life.