Advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART) have proven successful for controlling HIV-1 in chronically infected individuals. Despite these advancements, curing HIV-1 infection poses a major public health challenge due to the establishment and maintenance of HIV-1 latency in long lasting memory CD4+ T cells during ART. Moreover, the cytotoxic T cells (CTL) needed to effectively target and kill infected cells often become exhausted because of chronic activation. Interestingly, CTL from HIV elite controllers show less evidence exhaustion, which is also associated with higher levels of expression of the Th1-associated transcription factor T-bet. In this study, we hypothesize that type-1 polarized human dendritic cells (DC1) are superior in their capacity to induce and enhance cellular immune responses against virally infected cells partially due to their capacity to express and transfer DC-derived T-bet to effector T cells. Moreover, we propose that overexpression of T-bet in therapeutic DC, through genetic modification, offers another approach to improve DC-induced cellular immunity. Here we show that DC1 indeed uniquely express T bet as a general trait while conventional DC generated in the presence of PGE2 (DC2) are T-bet deficient as determined by western blot and intracellular flow cytometry analysis. We also report that overexpression of T-bet in DC1 (DC1Tbet) through use of an adenoviral vector delivery system enhances their CTL inducing activity. However, DC1Tbet display a reduction in their capacity to produce IL-12p70 upon activation with CD40L. Moreover, using a GFP-based tracking method, we demonstrate that DC1 have the capacity to directly transfer cytoplasmic content to activated CD8+ T cells in a CD40L dependent manner. These data suggest, both a novel helper function of CD40L expressing CD4+ Th cells, and a mechanism for potential DC to T cell transfer of T-bet. We propose that this immune mechanism of DC1 to CTL intercellular transfer can be exploited to enhance anti-HIV T cell response, or to correct their dysfunction of T cell exhaustion as supported by evidence in DC1-based cancer immunotherapy studies and help develop a better understanding of intercellular communication routes in both health and disease demonstrating the significance of this research in public health.


In the cerebral cortex, the activity levels of neuronal populations are continuously fluctuating. When neuronal activity, as measured using functional MRI (fMRI), is temporally coherent across 2 populations, those populations are said to be functionally connected. Functional connectivity has previously been shown to correlate with structural (anatomical) connectivity patterns at an aggregate level. In the present study we investigate, with the aid of computational modeling, whether systems-level properties of functional networks—including their spatial statistics and their persistence across time—can be accounted for by properties of the underlying anatomical network. We measured resting state functional connectivity (using fMRI) and structural connectivity (using diffusion spectrum imaging tractography) in the same individuals at high resolution. Structural connectivity then provided the couplings for a model of macroscopic cortical dynamics. In both model and data, we observed (i) that strong functional connections commonly exist between regions with no direct structural connection, rendering the inference of structural connectivity from functional connectivity impractical; (ii) that indirect connections and interregional distance accounted for some of the variance in functional connectivity that was unexplained by direct structural connectivity; and (iii) that resting-state functional connectivity exhibits variability within and across both scanning sessions and model runs. These empirical and modeling results demonstrate that although resting state functional connectivity is variable and is frequently present between regions without direct structural linkage, its strength, persistence, and spatial statistics are nevertheless constrained by the large-scale anatomical structure of the human cerebral cortex.


Despite an appreciable rise in sleep wellness and sleep medicine A.I. research publications, public data corpuses, institutional support, and health A.I. research funding opportunities, the availability of controlled-retrospective, hybrid-retrospective-prospective, and prospective-RCT quality clinical validation study evidence is limited with respect to their potential clinical impact. Furthermore, only a few practical examples of A.I. technologies are validated, in use today clinically, and widely adopted, to assist in sleep diagnoses and treatment. In this study, we contribute to this growing body of clinical A.I. validation evidence and experimental design methodologies with an interoperable A.I. scoring engine in Adult and Pediatric populations.

 Stratified random sampling with proportionate allocation was applied to a database of N>10,000 retrospective diagnostic clinical polysomnography (PSG), selected by evidence grading standards, with controls applied for OSA severity, diagnoses; sleep, psychiatric, neurologic, neurodevelopmental, cardiac, pulmonary, metabolic disorders, medications; benzodiazepines, antidepressants, stimulants, opiates, sleep aids, demographic groups of interest; sex, adult age, pediatric age, BMI, weight, height, and patient-reported sleepiness, to establish representative N=100 Adult and N=100 Pediatric samples. Double Blinded scoring was prospectively collected for each sample by 3 experienced RPSGT certified sleep technologists randomized from a pool of 9 scorers. Sensitivity (PA), Specificity (NA), Accuracy (OA), Kappa (K), and 95% Bootstrap CI's are presented for sleep stages, OSA/CSA, hypopnea 3%/4%, arousals, limb movements, Cheyenne-Stokes respiration, periodic breathing, atrial fibrillation, and other events, and normative, mild, moderate, and severe OSA categories for global-AHI and REM-AHI. Results for Sleep Staging and OSA Severity Diagnostic Accuracy are summarized.

 A.I. scoring performance meet but in most cases exceeded initial clinical validation study (N=72 Adults, 2017) PA, NA, OA, K point-estimates and confidence-interval results for the 26 event types and 8 AHI-categories evaluated. The Adult sample showed 87%/94% Sensitivity/Specificity across all stages (Wake/N1/N2/N3/REM) and 94%/96% Sensitivity/Specificity for AHI>=15. The Pediatric sample showed 87%/93% Sensitivity/Specificity staging, 89%/98% Sensitivity/Specificity AHI>=15. Observed Accuracy was >90% for Adults and Pediatrics all 26 events and 7 AHI-categories analyzed, except REM-AHI>=5 (85%/82% Adults/Pediatrics).

 We provide clinical validation evidence that demonstrates interoperable A.I. scoring performance in representative Adult and Pediatric patient clinical PSG samples when compared to prospective, double-blind scoring panel.
 Support (if any):


The responses of early life stages of Cobitis taenia to various temperatures and oxygen levels revealed the species to be warm-mesothermic and comparatively resistant against low oxygen concentrations. Lower and upper lethal temperatures were 12.1 and 30.8°C, respectively. As estimated from the combined final size (CFS, the number of healthy survivors multiplied by their mean length), temperatures of 14.0, 15.8, 28.4 and 30.3 °C were suboptimal, while temperatures of 17.8-26.1 °C represented the optimum range. At 21.9 ± 1.0 °C, oxygen concentrations of 0.9 to 1.8 my l -1 were lethal; those of 2.1 and 2.2 mg l -1 suboptimal and those of 3.2 to 7.8 mg l -1 optimal. Regarding body size, the optimum range for both, temperature and oxygen concentration, was narrower than for CFS, while it was broader if reflected by the survival rate. The most critical period concerning temperature was prior to hatching. Under low oxygen concentration, the main mortality occurred until the middle of the free embryonic phase. The early life stages of spined loach express early hatching as well as morphological (external gills, rich skin vascularisation in the dorsal fin) rind behavioural (ventilation by movements of body and pectoral fins) adaptations to low oxygen supply. These adaptations are related to an evolutionary binding of spined loach to a microhabitat with frequent oxygen depletions, as it was former postulated on the base of behavioural studies. The necessity of high temperature for development binds the spined loach to warm microhabitats for reproduction. Therefore, the availability of a suited microhabitat for the early life stages with warm water becomes a key requirement for the successful maintenance of populations of C. taenia. This specialisation has to be considered in conservation measures for the Europe-wide endangered species.


This rash, which covered a 68-year-old woman's body, was noted to have worsened during the past 2 months. A cephalosporin antibiotic had failed to clear the condition. The patient, a nursing home resident, suffered from emphysema, asthma, and heart disease. She had been receiving oxygen therapy and prednisone for 1 year.


A three-dimensional measuring system was developed to analyze changes in palatal forms of UCLP infants. This system quantified the change of the curved surface on a palate by automatically superimposing two wireframe models obtained from casts at different stages of growth. It also analyzed the curvature of the palatal surface. This system was used to study the palates of 20 infants with unilateral cleft tip and palate (UCLP), from the first to fourth months after birth (12 with Hotz's plate and 8 without, selected at random). Both major and lesser maxillary segments without Hotz's plate remained anterior and lateral although those with Hotz's plate moved mesially during the fourth month after birth. In addition, the degrees of curvature on the palatal surfaces with Hotz's plate were less than those without Hotz's plate.


&NA; Free‐tissue transfers have become the preferred surgical technique to treat complex reconstructive defects. Because these procedures typically require longer operative times and recovery periods, the applicability of free‐flap reconstruction in the elderly continues to require ongoing review. The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 100 patients aged 65 years and older who underwent free‐tissue transfers to determine preoperative and intraoperative predictors of surgical complications, medical complications, and reconstructive failures. The parameters studied included patient demographics, past medical history, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) status, site and cause of the defect, the free tissue transferred, operative time, and postoperative complications, including free‐flap success or failure. The mean age of the patients was 72 years. A total of 46 patients underwent free‐tissue transfer after head and neck ablation, 27 underwent lower extremity reconstruction in the setting of peripheral vascular disease, 10 had lower extremity traumatic wounds, nine had breast reconstructions, four had infected wounds, two had chronic wounds, and two underwent transfer for lower extremity tumor ablation. Two patients had an ASA status of 1, 49 patients had a status of 2, 45 patients had a status of 3, and four had a status of 4. A total of 104 flaps were transferred in these 100 patients. There were 49 radial forearm flaps, 34 rectus abdominis flaps, seven latissimus dorsi flaps, seven fibular osteocutaneous flaps, three omental flaps, three jejunal flaps, and one lateral arm flap. Four patients had planned double free flaps for their reconstruction. Mean operative time was 7.8 hours (range, 3.5 to 16.5 hours). The overall flap success rate was 97 percent, and the overall reconstructive success rate was 92 percent. There were six additional reconstructive failures related to flap loss, all of which occurred more than 1 month after surgery. Patients with a higher ASA designation experienced more medical complications (p = 0.03) but not surgical complications. Increased operative time resulted in more surgical complications (p = 0.019). All eight cases of reconstructive failure occurred in patients undergoing limb salvage surgery in the setting of peripheral vascular disease. Free‐tissue transfer in the elderly population demonstrates similar success rates to those of the general population. Age alone should not be considered a contraindication or an independent risk factor for free‐tissue transfer. ASA status and length of operative time are significant predictors of postoperative medical and surgical morbidity. The higher rate of reconstructive failure in the elderly peripheral vascular disease population compares favorably with other treatment modalities for this disease process. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 106: 66, 2000.)


Plasmodium sporozoites, the highly motile forms of the malaria parasite, are transmitted naturally by mosquitoes and traverse the skin to find, associate with, and enter blood capillaries. Research aimed at understanding how sporozoites select blood vessels is hampered by the lack of a suitable experimental system. Arrays of uniform cylindrical pillars can be used to study small cells moving in controlled environments. Here, an array system displaying a variety of pillars with different diameters and shapes is developed in order to investigate how Plasmodium sporozoites associate to the pillars as blood vessel surrogates. Investigating the association of sporozoites to pillars in arrays displaying pillars of different diameters reveals that the crescent‐shaped parasites prefer to associate with and migrate around pillars with a similar curvature. This suggests that after transmission by a mosquito, malaria parasites may use a structural tropism to recognize blood capillaries in the dermis in order to gain access to the blood stream.


One of the ways criminals steal identity in the cyberspace is using phishing. Attackers host phishing websites that resemble a legitimate website and entice users to click on hyperlinks which directs them to these fake websites. Attackers use these fake sites to capture personal information such as login, passwords and social security numbers from innocent victims, which they later use to commit crimes. We propose here a robust methodology to detect phishing websites that employs for semantic analysis a topic modeling technique, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, and for classification, AdaBoost. The methodology developed is a content driven approach that is device independent and language neutral. The website content of mobile and desktop clients are collected by employing an intelligent web crawler. The website contents that are not in English are translated to English using Google's language translator. Topic model is built using the translated contents of desktop and mobile clients. The phishing website classifier is built using (i) distribution probabilities for the topics found as features using Latent Dirichlet Allocation and (ii) AdaBoost voting technique. Experiments were conducted using one of the large public corpus of website data containing 47500 phishing websites and 52500 good websites. Results show that our method achieves a F-measure of 99%.


In his work State of Exception, the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben has recently studied the consequences of the exception becoming the rule. He explains a situation where the law requires the partial exclusion of the legal order so as to preserve its legitimate character. It forms the basis of the so-called "spaces in suspension", where the rule is the exception in the form of the suspension of the legal order, the anomie. In those spaces the act of government is located in a threshold area of ambiguity between general and particular spheres. The transference of Agamben's concept into architecture is possible. There are physical scenarios where the norm is not a security shield since it is accomplished and questioned at the same time. What type of architecture is responding to those spaces in suspension? Is there a critical attitude boosted by those kinds of architectural practices? The paper approaches the topic through a theoretical contextualization of the idea of the state of exception in architecture. This approach is based on the analysis of some case studies, which are considered as disruptive practices since they are proposing new ways of practising architecture. They utilize strategies such as new interpretations of the law (urban prosthesis, occupation of public spaces), the replacement of the authorities' duties (occupation of public buildings and empty plots) or the proposal of new teaching practices. Their analysis let the authors define a specific context in architectural practice, which reflects a new paradigm called "architecture in suspension".


This presentation considers what Indigenous students need in order to achieve their full potential within Australia's education system. The presentation draws on the success of programs for young Indigenous people and school leavers that enable them to complete university, including elite professional degrees, despite limited success or even failure in secondary schooling. If it can be turned around at this level, why can't it be done earlier? Equity in educational achievement, after all, is not just about reaching the same end point, but about whether the journey there is also equitable and not unfairly prolonged. If we all agree western education is necessary, and if we could achieve this, the next question is, will western educational success be enough for Indigenous students? Is this Indigenous students' full potential and if so, will these 'successful' Indigenous students be enough to sustain whole communities? This of course is the ultimate aim of education systems. This presentation therefore considers how Indigenous people might define 'full potential' differently for Indigenous students and this includes not just education, but also future employment. From an Indigenous point of view Australia has two competing knowledge systems, only one of which is officially acknowledged, valued and resourced to succeed within Australia's education sector. Indigenous ways of knowing are integral to Indigenous student success and to cultural continuity for Indigenous communities, yet scant resources are allocated to sustain them. Without a sectoral and conceptual shift in relation to Indigenous knowledge systems, we are unlikely to achieve sufficient change in Indigenous students' schooling outcomes for a large enough cohort of Indigenous students over a long enough period of time to tip the balance for Indigenous communities as a whole.


Wound healing has been the burning problem in a surgical practice because of a remarkable increase in the number of traumatic cases. A wound causes a number of changes in the body that can affect the healing process, including changes in energy, protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamin and mineral metabolism.Various ayurvedic literatures, particularly, Sushrut samhita, which is said to be a ancient textbook of surgery in Ayurveda, has mentioned about the diet for the person suffering from the wound, and the author said that diet plays a very important role in the wound healing process. Sushruta–The father of surgery has scientifically classified it in a systemic manner, whose wealth of clinical material and the principles of management are valid even today. Shalya Tantra (surgical branch in ayurvedic science) is one of the important branch of ayurveda, in which surgical and para-surgical techniques has described for management of various diseases. Vrana is the most important and widely described chapter of Shalya Tantra. Vrana (wound) is one of them, which have been managed by human being from starting of civilization. Under the circumstances, the first thing which the men came across was the injury from different sources which caused him the vrana. Vrana is seen as debilitating and scaring disorder, usually seen affecting the human being at any age. Well balanced nutrition plays an essential role in the wound healing.


Pt-based drugs are important cytotoxic agents that are used in the chemotherapeutic regimes of ~50% of all cancer patients. However, the efficacy of these drugs is often limited by drug toxicity and tumour resistance. Determination of the cellular pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of Pt-drugs is important for understanding their molecular mechanisms of action and toxicity, and may be used, therefore, to predict the outcome of the treatment. ICP-MS is the most sensitive technique for the determination of Pt in biological samples and can offer robust, fast and accurate quantitations for studying pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of Pt-drugs in patients. This thesis describes the development of a set of ICP-MS based assays for the determination of Pt-DNA adducts and Pt sub-cellular distribution in leukocytes of cancer patients and human cancer cell lines following treatment with Pt-based chemotherapy. It is ultimately aimed to use these assays in the clinic to predict the effectiveness and toxicity of Pt-based chemotherapy in individual patients, and offer those who would respond to the treatment personalised drug doses. Alternatively, patients who would not benefit from these drugs would be offered other forms of treatment.
Pt DNA adduct formation was determined in leukocytes from patients undergoing Pt-based chemotherapy demonstrating significant inter-patient variability and excellent reproducibility of the assay. The sensitivity of the technique enabled quantitation of as little as 0.2 Pt adducts per 106 nucleotides using 10 µg of patient DNA. It was shown that Pt/P ratio was robust against DNA matrix effects, and was considered more reliable approach, with Eu as internal standard, for estimating Pt adducts per nucleotide compared to using Pt data in combination with DNA concentration measured by UV. Comparison of in vivo Pt-DNA adduct formation with the patients clinical notes suggested possible correlation between the adduct formation in leukocytes and toxicity.
Speciation methods employing HPLC with complementary ICP-MS and ESI-Ion Trap-MS detection were developed and used for characterisation of oxaliplatin bi-functional adducts with mono-nucleotides and di-nucleotides. Further, a fast and sensitive LC-ICP-MS assay was developed and used for the quantification of oxaliplatin GG intra-strand adducts in human cancer cell lines. The assay, which has a detection limit of 0.22 Pt adduct per 106 nucleotides based on a 10 μg DNA sample, is suitable for in vivo assessment of the adducts in patients undergoing oxaliplatin chemotherapy.
Combining the ICP-MS quantitation with a cell fractionation procedure allowed, for the first time, the detailed quantitation of entire sub-cellular Pt-drug partitioning in patient leukocytes in vivo, and in human cancer cell lines in vitro, following exposure to variety of Pt-drugs. The studies showed that Pt broadly follows the total protein content of the individual sub-cellular compartments with the majority being scavenged in the cytosol compartment.


Photoreceptor degeneration differentially impacts glutamatergic signaling in downstream On and Off bipolar cells. In rodent models, photoreceptor degeneration leads to loss of glutamatergic signaling in On bipolar cells, whereas Off bipolar cells appear to retain glutamate sensitivity, even after extensive photoreceptor loss. The localization and identity of the receptors that mediate these residual glutamate responses in Off bipolar cells have not been determined. Recent studies show that macaque and mouse Off bipolar cells receive glutamatergic input primarily through kainate-type glutamate receptors. Here, we studied the impact of photoreceptor degeneration on glutamate receptor and their associated proteins in Off and On bipolar cells. We show that the kainate receptor subunit, GluK1, persists in remodeled Off bipolar cell dendrites of the rd10 mouse retina. However, the pattern of expression is altered and the intensity of staining is reduced compared to wild-type retina. The kainate receptor auxiliary subunit, Neto1, also remains in Off bipolar cell dendrites after extensive photoreceptor degeneration. Similar preservation of kainate receptor subunits was evident in human retina in which photoreceptors had degenerated due to serous retinal detachment. In contrast, photoreceptor degeneration leads to loss of synaptic expression of TRPM1 in mouse and human On bipolar cells, but strong somatic expression remains. These findings demonstrate that Off bipolar cells retain dendritic glutamate receptors during retinal degeneration and could thus serve as a conduit for signal transmission from transplanted or optogenetically restored photoreceptors.


In the Old English poem Genesis B, the tempter, having failed against Adam, turns to Eve, persuades her to eat of the fruit, and exhorts her to approach Adam. At the beginning and at the end of this temptation are two passages each of which makes some reference to eafor(-) "posterity" 550 and 623. In his recent edition of the poem, A. N. Doane in my view misconstrues the syntax of the first passage and confuses tempter and narrator as the voice in the second. The consequence is that the bearing of the two passages on one another and of both on the temptation as a whole is obscured and that the deeper perception which one might have had of the tempter's cunning and rhetorical skill and therefore of the poet's inventiveness and daring is precluded. The first passage, immediately preceding the tempter's first speech to Eve, is lines 549b-51a: ...cwaed paet sceadena maest eallum heora eaforum aefter siddan wurde on worulde.(1) Whereas it might have seemed, for reasons which will become apparent, that the subject of cwaed 549 should be inferred from wradmod ... he 547 and that sceadena maest 549 should be the subject of wurde,(2) i.e., the subject of a clause of indirect discourse, Doane takes sceadena maest as the subject of cwaed: Editors gloss sceadena as "injury, harm," though such a meaning is barely attested for OE and OS (cf. OFris, skatha, OHG scado, ON skadi, "injury"; Go skapis, "wrong"); in OE and OS the usual meaning is "enemy," "devil" (cf. [Genesis] 606 sceada of the tempter, [Heliand] 5427b-28a (C) uuamscathono mest, Satanas selbo). Nevertheless, it is held that some general expression of the ill to befall Eve is needed, thus: "(he) said that the greatest of evils to all their sons would be forever in the world." Vickrey ingeniously tries to avoid sceada in this pale and questionable sense by taking sceadena maest as a reference by the devil to God: "he said that the greatest of enemies to all her sons would be ever after"; this stretches the semantic field of the word (perhaps we might expect such if these words were actually in the devil's mouth) and seems unidiomatic. J. R. Hall (personal communication) probably solves the crux by explaining paet as either modifying maest: "Spoke that greatest of enemies to all their sons ever after to be in the world ..."; or as an appositional: "Spoke that one, the greatest of enemies .... "Another possibility, if the neuter is a problem, is to take paet (written) as a miswriting of pa, adv.: "Then the greatest of enemies to all their sons (that) would ever after be in the world spoke."(3) Doane does not explain adequately why sceadena maest as "greatest of enemies" and "as a reference by the devil to God" might be admissible, if only barely, in direct speech but not in indirect. Considerable evidence supports the inference that sceadena maest is the subject of wurde, hence of a clause of indirect discourse. That God would come as sceadena maest to posterity must then be taken either as the narrator's extrapolation from the lies put forward in the speeches which follow or as his summary of other words not reported as direct speech.(4) Doane's argument might have more weight if sceadena maest 549 means "(of) devils." Certainly "enemy," "devil" or equivalent terms are included in the principal dictionaries s.v. sceada.(5) In my dissertation I gave "fiend," "enemy" for sceada though I gave "greatest of enemies" for sceadena maest 549. But the basic meaning of sceada is "one who injures." Julius Pokorny, although he defines OE sceada and OS scatho as not only "Schadiger" but also, respectively, as "Teufel" and "Feind," indicates that the IE root means "beschadigen." The obvious relation between injury and enmity explains why "injurer" and "enemy" are often given. For Old Saxon skado Edward Sehrt gives "Schadiger, Uebeltater, Feind" and Peter Ilkow "Schadiger, Verderber, Verbrecher, Feind." Arthur Brodeur notes "the somewhat abstract sense of the simplex ([sceada] "harmer," hence "foe"). …


In Brief PowerUp is a community-wide initiative to make better eating and physical activity easy and fun for youths and the entire community as part of an effort to prevent childhood obesity. PowerUp works in partnership and on multiple levels to change the food and activity environment, engage the community, deliver programs, and support clinical interventions throughout the health care system and the community. Early results show promise that the initiative is inspiring community-level change.


Slavery's Ghost The Problem of Freedom in the Age of Emancipation Richard Follett, Eric Foner, and Walter Johnson The Marcus Cunliffe Lecture Series Jarod Roll, Series Editor President Abraham Lincoln freed millions of slaves in the South in 1863, rescuing them, as history tells us, from a brutal and inhuman existence and making the promise of freedom and equal rights. This is a moment to celebrate and honor, to be sure, but what of the darker, more troubling side of this story? Slavery's Ghost explores the dire, debilitating, sometimes crushing effects of slavery on race relations in American history. In three conceptually wide-ranging and provocative essays, the authors assess the meaning of freedom for enslaved and free Americans in the decades before and after the Civil War. They ask important and challenging questions: How did slaves and freedpeople respond to the promise and reality of emancipation? How committed were white southerners to the principle of racial subjugation? And in what ways can we best interpret the actions of enslaved and free Americans during slavery and Reconstruction? Collectively, these essays offer fresh approaches to questions of local political power, the determinants of individual choices, and the discourse that shaped and defined the history of black freedom. Written by three prominent historians of the period, Slavery's Ghost forces readers to think critically about the way we study the past, the depth of racial prejudice, and how African Americans won and lost their freedom in nineteenth-century America. Richard Follett is Reader in American history at the University of Sussex, England, and author of The Sugar Masters: Planters and Slaves in Louisiana's Cane World, 18201860. Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and author of many books, including 2011 Pulitzer-Prize winner The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Walter Johnson is the Winthrop Professor of History and professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University and author of Soul by Soul: Life Inside the Antebellum Slave Market.


Hospitals are currently under pressure to control the cost of medical care, while at the same time improving patient health outcomes. These twin concerns are at play in an important and contentious decision facing hospitals--choosing appropriate nurse staffing levels. Intuitively, one would expect nurse staffing ratios to be positively associated with patient outcomes. If so, this should be a key consideration in determining nurse staffing levels. A number of recent studies have examined this issue, however, there is concern about whether a causal relationship has been established. In this paper we exploit an arguably exogenous shock to nurse staffing levels. We look at the impact of California Assembly Bill 394, which mandated minimum levels of patients per nurse in the hospital setting. When the law was passed, some hospitals already had acceptable staffing levels, while others had nurse staffing ratios that did not meet mandated standards. Thus changes in hospital-level staffing ratios from the pre- to post-mandate periods are driven in part by the legislation. We find persuasive evidence that AB394 did have the intended effect of decreasing patient/nurse ratios in hospitals that previously did not meet mandated standards. However, our analysis suggests that patient outcomes did not disproportionately improve in these same hospitals. That is, we find no evidence of a causal impact of the law on patient safety.


This paper covers important trends toward good environmental governance in the South Asia region comprising India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. The region is home to over 1.6 billion people constituting about a quarter of the total global population. Much of the region is bound by a common history of British colonialism and generally inherited its legacy of the rule of law. Following the example of India, many countries in the region adopted written Constitutions after their independence. A common feature of some of these Constitutions is the elaborate formulation of fundamental rights including the rights to life, liberty, religion, association and speech that are 'justiciable'; that is, enforceable through the judiciary. This combination of constitutional provisions and judiciary-enforced actions has provided the basic structure for good environmental governance in the region. It is a unique story where the region's judiciaries have played a pioneering role to promote and protect environmental rights.


ABSTRACT Criminological research has largely ignored the effect of police investigation time on white-collar case dispositions in the criminal justice system. White-collar cases typically involve a large investment of investigation time with negligible sentencing outcomes. The current study analyzes a multi-dimensional quantitative and qualitative measure of time. Controlling for factors that are commonly believed to influence sentence dispositions in white-collar cases, the findings suggest a relationship between an inclusive measure of police investigation time and court disposition. By employing regression analysis it was discovered that this relationship is an outcome of the measurement of the multi-dimensional nature of police investigation time, and may be specifically related to: the investigative effort of an officer, the amount of evidence gathered, and the number of hours spent working on a case. The analysis supports the contention that the greater the amount of investigation time spent on a case the harsher the sentence disposition. Specifically, the results identify a relationship between the initial police and concluding sentencing stage of the criminal justice process for white-collar criminal theft and fraud cases. The notion of time regulates everyday functioning in industrial society and human relations. Within the criminal justice process, however, the function of time has been largely neglected (Jacobs, 1983; Zata & Lizotte, 1985), especially in terms of the relationship between time spent on police investigations and court dispositions. Police studies have, instead, commonly focused on community policing (Bittner, 1990; Forcese, 1992; Leighton, 1995; Ontario Ministry of Solicitor General, 2000), officer use and misuse of force (Brodeur, 1994; Fyfe, 1986; Skolnick & Fyfe, 1993), officer discretion (de Lint, 1998; Robinson & Chandek, 2000; Stalans & Finn, 2000) and recruitment, training and visible minority representation (Coutts, 1990; Jain, 1995; Mastrofski & Ritti, 1996). The sentencing disparity literature similarly neglects the influence of police investigation time and commonly concentrates its efforts on the effects of gender (Daly & Bordt, 1995; Dell, 1996; Mohr, 1995), race and ethnicity (Blumstein, 1982; LaPrairie, 1995; Pfeifer & Ogloff, 2003; Zatz, 1987), and judicial characteristics (Bodapati et al., 1995; Daly, 1996; Worden, 1995) upon court dispositions. The limited police research that does address the concept of time typically approaches it from the standpoint of individual officer decision making. Kirkham and Wollan (1980, p.90) explain such an analysis of time as "an occupational time frame, where decisions, some of them very grave, must be made within a matter of seconds or very few minutes: how best to approach a silent-alarm call or suspicious individual, what first-aid measures to use on a critically injured person until an ambulance arrives, whether to resort to the use of chemical mace, the nightstick, or even the service revolver during an attack." Although it may be argued that research on white-collar crime has addressed the concept of police investigation time, it is has been mainly limited to the finding that white-collar cases typically entail a large amount of investigation time with minor sentencing outcomes (Benson et al., 1993; Cullen et al., 1987; Hagan & Nagel, 1982). As Friedrichs (1996:272) suggests, "[w]hite collar crime cases are especially likely to require a greater investment of time than typical conventional crime cases, with a lower probability of a successful resolution." The importance of the police role in white-collar cases is thus evident (Swanson et al., 2000), yet there is a lack of research on the relationship between police investigation time and white-collar sentence dispositions. Some suggest research in the area remains limited because uncertainty continues to surround the definition of white-collar crime (Friedrichs, 1992; Hagan et al. …


Background: Mediastinal lymph node involvement is the most important factor determining the treatment and the prognosis with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In our study, the role of PET-CT was assessed in the evaluation of intrathoracic lymph node involvement in patients with preoperative NSCLC. Materials and Methods: The study included 510 cases selected according to the criteria identified between January 2009 and July 2011. PET-CT staging and thorax-CT, size of lymph nodes, histological type of tumor, mediastinal lymph nodes taken and the pathological results were assessed. Results: SUVmax cut-off value was taken as 2.5 for the metastatic analysis of lymph nodes in PETCT and N1 and N2 lymph node stations were evaluated. Sensitivity for the N2 lymph node stations, was 74.7%, specificity 49.4%, Positive Predictive Value 25.4%, Negative Predictive Value 89,.5% and accuracy 54.1% (p < 0.001). Following the statistical analysis, the new SUVmax cut-off value for the N1 lymph node groups was calculated as 3.34, and for N2 lymph node groups 5.6. Based on the new SUVmax cut-off value for N2 lymph node groups, the sensitivity of PET-CT was calculated as 43.2%, specificity 94.4%, PPV 64.1%, NPV 87.8% and accuracy 84.9% (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Calculating a new cut off value of SUVmax all around the world would increase the NPV of PET-CT and so it would reduce to use of invasive methods. PPV of PET-CT is still not at an acceptable level, so positive results of PET-CT for mediastinal lymph node staging should be confirmed with invasive diagnostic techniques.


Modernization processes within different fields of political communication rise new challenges. Public affairs consultants are said to meet these challenges in both an effective and efficient way. Nevertheless, the rise of public affairs consultants also poses the question of their accordance with basic principles of modern democracy. Do public affairs consultants foster or impede the democratic process with respect to participation and representation? This question is answered on the basis of empirical data on public affairs consultants in Switzerland. The analysis points out three distinguishable fields of service: lobbying, political public relations and campaigning. Whereas campaigning has the strongest public-orientation and emphasizes direct democratic institutions, the other two fields tend to be more in the backstage of the public. Results regarding public affairs services suggest a structural discrepancy between public and non-public forms of communication, which according to normative democracy theory has to be judged critically. With view to clients, policy fields and party affiliations, the results show strong imbalances in interest representation, which seem to have mainly structural and economic reasons. In the conclusion, these results are discussed with view to the necessity of more transparency and a further professionalization.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A new Pliocene Konservat-Lagerstatte in north-eastern Spain is described here for the first time. It is referred to as Camp dels Ninots. The particular geological conditions of the site, which correspond to lacustrine sedimentation in a maar, made it ideal for the preservation of fossils. At present, five large mammal skeletons in anatomical connection have been recovered: three individuals of Alephis tigneresi, one of Stephanorhinus jeanvireti and one of Tapirus arvernenis, as well as isolated remains. A minimum of five individuals of the chelonian Mauremys leprosa have been recovered, some of them in anatomical connection. The rodent Apodemus atavus, the amphibians cf. Pleurodeles sp., Lissotriton aff. helveticus and Pelophylax cf. perezi and freshwater fishes (Leuciscus ?) complete the vertebrate assemblage uncovered up to the present time. The coexistence of Stephanorhinus jeanvireti and Alephis tigneresi suggests an age of about 3.2Ma for the Camp dels Ninots, near the MN15-MN16 transition. The Camp del Ninots fossil record enables one to extend the biogeographic range of some vertebrate taxa, such as Stephanorhinus jeanvireti, Tapirus arvernensis or Mauremys leprosa to the Iberian Peninsula. Taphonomic evidences of the skeletal remains indicates minimal (if any) weathering. Deposition at the lake bottom seems to have taken place in oxygen depleted layers. In this way, Camp dels Ninots is comparable to other remarkable maar sites such as Messel, the Eocene site situated in Germany.


A new taxon of diplodocid sauropod, Kaatedocus siberi gen. et sp. nov., is recognized based on well-preserved cervical vertebrae and skull from the Morrison Formation (Kimmeridgian, Late Jurassic) of northern Wyoming, USA. A phylogenetic analysis places it inside Diplodocinae (Sauropoda: Flagellicaudata: Diplodocidae), as a sister taxon to a clade uniting Tornieria africana and the classical diplodocines Barosaurus lentus and Diplodocus. The taxon is diagnosed by a unique combination of plesiomorphic and derived traits, as well as the following unambiguous autapomorphies within Diplodocidae: frontals separated anteriorly by a U-shaped notch; squamosals restricted to the post-orbital region; presence of a postparietal foramen; a narrow, sharp and distinct sagittal nuchal crest; the paired basal tuber with a straight anterior edge in ventral view; anterior end of the prezygapophyses of mid- and posterior cervical vertebrae is often an anterior extension of the pre-epipophysis, which projects considerably anterior to the articular facet; anterodorsal corner of the lateral side of the posterior cervical vertebrae marked by a rugose tuberosity; posterior margin of the prezygapophyseal articular facet of posterior cervical vertebrae bordered posteriorly by conspicuous transverse sulcus; posterior cervical neural spines parallel to converging. The inclusion of K. siberi and several newly described characters into a previously published phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon as basal diplodocine, which concurs well with the low stratigraphical position of the holotype specimen. Dinheirosaurus and Supersaurus now represent the sister clade to Apatosaurus and Diplodocinae and therefore the most basal diplodocid genera. The geographical location in the less known northern parts of the Morrison Fm., where K. siberi was found, corroborates previous hypotheses on faunal provinces within the formation. The probable subadult ontogenetic stage of the holotype specimen allows analysis of ontogenetic changes and their influence on diplodocid phylogeny.


BiFeO3 attracts considerable attention for its rich functional properties, including room temperature coexistence of magnetic order and ferroelectricity and more recently, the discovery of conduction pathways along ferroelectric domain walls. Here, insights into the defect chemistry and electrical properties of BiFeO3 are obtained by in situ measurements of electrical conductivity, σ, and Seebeck coefficient, α, of undoped, cation-stoichiometric BiFeO3 and acceptor-doped Bi1−xCaxFeO3−δ ceramics as a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure pO2. Bi1−xCaxFeO3−δ exhibits p-type conduction; the dependencies of σ and α on pO2 show that Ca dopants are compensated mainly by oxygen vacancies. By contrast, undoped BiFeO3 shows a simultaneous increase of σ and α with increasing pO2, indicating intrinsic behavior with electrons and holes as the main defect species in almost equal concentrations. The pO2-dependency of σ and α cannot be described by a single point defect model but instead, is quantitatively described by a combination of intrinsic and acceptor-doped characteristics attributable to parallel conduction pathways through undoped grains and defect-containing domain walls; both contribute to the total charge transport in BiFeO3. Based on this model, we discuss the charge transport mechanism and carrier mobilities of BiFeO3 and show that several previous experimental findings can readily be explained within the proposed model.


Background The jumper's knee (JK) is a difficult-to-treat overuse injury of the patellar and quadriceps tendon with a very negative impact on the careers of many athletes. The prevalence of JK among non-elite athletes from different sports and its aetiology are unknown. Objective To determine the prevalence of JK in non-elite athletes from different sports and to determine potential risk factors for JK. Design Cross-sectional survey. Setting Male and female non-elite athletes. Participants We interviewed 891 male and female non-elite athletes from seven popular sports in the Netherlands: basketball, volleyball, handball, korfball, soccer, field hockey and athletics. Assessment Using a specially developed questionnaire, information was obtained about individual characteristics (age, height and weight), training background, previous and actual knee problems and the VISA-P score. Results The overall prevalence of current JK was 8.5% (78 out of 891 athletes), showing a significant difference between sports with different loading characteristics and playing surfaces. Prevalence was highest among volleyball players (14.4%) and lowest among soccer players (2.5%); it was significantly higher among male athletes (51 out of 502, 10.2%) than female athletes (25 out of 389, 6.4%) (÷2=3.91, p=0.048). Mean duration of symptoms was 18.9 months (SD 21.6; range 2.0–59.8). The mean VISA-P score of the athletes with JK was 71.4 (SD 13.8). Age, height and weight were significantly different between athletes with JK and those without. Conclusion Prevalence of JK is high among non-elite athletes and varies between 14.4% and 2.5% for different sports. JK is almost twice as common among male non-elite athletes compared to female athletes. Different sport-specific loading characteristics of the knee extensor apparatus, playing surface, age, height and weight seem to be risk factors associated with patellar tendinopathy.


BACKGROUND
In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, fluconazole prophylaxis is associated with reductions in the rate of fungal infection. However, concerns exist with regard to the use of fluconazole prophylaxis and the risk of development of fluconazole treatment-refractory infections.

METHODS
We performed a randomized, open-label trial that compared oral fluconazole given continuously (200 mg 3 times weekly; the "continuous fluconazole arm") with fluconazole that was provided only for episodes of orophayngeal candidiasis (OPC) or esophageal candidiasis (EC) (the "episodic fluconazole arm") in HIV-infected persons with CD4+ T cell counts of <150 cells/mm3 and a history of OPC. The primary study end point was the time to development of fluconazole-refractory OPC or EC, which was defined as lack of response to 200 mg fluconazole given daily for 14 or 21 days, respectively.

RESULTS
A total of 413 subjects were randomized to receive continuous fluconazole, and 416 were randomized to receive episodic fluconazole. After 42 months, 17 subjects (4.1%) in the continuous fluconazole arm developed fluconazole-refractory OPC or EC infections, compared with 18 subjects (4.3%) in the episodic fluconazole arm, with no difference between treatment arms with regard to the time to development of a fluconazole-refractory infection within 24 months (P=.88, by log-rank test) or before the end of the study (P=.97, by the log-rank test). Continuous fluconazole therapy was associated with fewer cases of OPC or EC (0.29 vs. 1.08 episodes per patient-year; P<.0001) and fewer invasive fungal infections (15 vs. 28 episodes; P=.04, by chi2 test), but not with improved survival, compared with episodic fluconazole therapy.

CONCLUSION
Continuous fluconazole therapy is not associated with significant risk of fluconazole-refractory OPC or EC, compared with episodic fluconazole therapy, in HIV-infected patients with access to active antiretroviral therapy.


Any analysis of inclusive and special education in Asia, past and present, must account for the immense variation in what constitutes Asia and recognize that finding patterns in the development of inclusive and special education across this vast continent is difficult. The variations relate to geographic topography, historical experiences, and cultural values, as well as to contemporary socio-economic and political conditions. For example, although both Oman and Timor Leste struggle with issues of accessibility and providing services in remote areas, Timor Leste's mountainous terrain presents very different challenges from Oman's desert conditions. Similarly, the different cultural influences of, say, Hinduism in Nepal, Islam in Jordan, and Buddhism in Cambodia have significant implications for attitudes towards disability, while differences in economic development between Japan and Bangladesh, for instance, have rendered the former a donor of international aid that sets the inclusive education agenda and the latter a recipient of both aid and agenda. While efforts to identify patterns in inclusive education globally have also attempted to define the nature of development in Asia, these analyses do not always account for the unique intra-continental variations.
 Overlooking these variations in socio-political and economic contexts becomes problematic when attempting to find solutions towards providing culturally responsive and culturally specific services appropriate to these unique circumstances. Additionally troubling is the more recent development of a geopolitical climate which assumes that inclusive and special education could and should, in fact, be the same, whether in Bangladesh or in Japan. Embodied by international aid agencies, such as the World Bank, the United Nations International Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), these expectations have been captured within global policies, such as the 1994 Salamanca Statement on Inclusive Education, the 2008 UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and more recently, the 2015 Millennium Sustainable Goals, and furthered through UNICEF's and UNESCO's curriculum packages and professional development training on inclusive education. There is a nascent body of scholars in some Asian countries that is beginning to identify indigenous alternatives, which, if allowed to thrive, could contribute to the development of an amalgamated structure of services that would be more appropriate to the individual contexts.


This work was performed to better understand the factors that impact trace organic compound (TOrC) biodegradation kinetics in mixed microbial cultures. To accomplish this goal, optimized short-term batch tests using TOrC and identified TOrC surrogates were conducted using lab-scale activated sludge cultures. In these optimization experiments, the initial TOrC/surrogate concentration, readily biodegradable carbon concentration (rbCOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations were varied. Once developed, these batch tests were deployed at three full-scale wastewater treatment facilities to estimate in-situ biotransformation kinetics.

This work confirms that TOrC biotransformation is best described using pseudo-first order kinetics. In contrast, results from surrogate experiments indicate that the current approach to aerobic respirometry is not sufficiently sensitive for resolving TOrC biotransformation versus endogenous respiration. Results from short-term batch test optimization also indicate that parameters estimated from depletion tests performed at artificially high TOrC concentrations are statistically similar to parameters estimated at low TOrC concentrations. This suggests that interrogation of the biomass can be performed at high TOrC concentrations, which would reduce the cost of sample processes associated with working at lower concentrations. It was also found that the presence of excess readily biodegradable substrates suppress biotransformation rates for specific TOrC under aerobic and anoxic conditions. These results indicate that accurate estimation of biotransformation parameters requires careful design of the batch test to match the in-situ carbon conditions.

An initial attempt to incorporate existing biotransformation and sorption parameters into current activated sludge process models was also performed. Results from this simulation indicate that modeling results are highly sensitive to the processes of sorption and desorption.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

ISBN: 9781780405162 (eBook)


This thesis documents the results of a study conducted to evaluate the long term effects of groin placement on beach re-nourishment and beach restoration in the Yucatan peninsula. The study includes the evaluation of six control points located on Chelem beach in Yucatan, Mexico, very close to the Progreso pier. The control points were set up in an active groin field to record data on the re-nourishment project covering the Chelem beach area. These erosion control groins were constructed as part of an experimental project to see how the adopted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers guidelines, for installing groins, affected the re-nourishment of the beach. The scope of this study is to document how placing groins using the USACE guidelines (transversally spacing them by a distance of three times their longitudinal length) affects the shoreline erosion patterns. The profile of the beach was generated by GPS technology and by utilizing the Emery-Method (Krause, 2004). The beach profiles were checked on a weekly basis to ensure the effects of the groins were being adequately monitored. A Beach Morphology Analysis Package (BMAP) model for shoreline evaluation was run to accurately display the displacement of sediment along the coast. Based on this modeling, conclusions are presented regarding groin placement to ensure optimal re-nourishment results. The results presented herein validate that proper groin placement and engineering can greatly increase the successful re-nourishment of a beach. This study documents the importance of engineering the groins properly and placing them at correct distances and depths in order to achieve the greatest re-nourishment results. Using groins for beach re-nourishment has been a skeptical subject for many engineers because if they are not properly engineered, they can severely damage the beach. The results of this study show that after monitoring the controls points for a 6 month period, the profiles gained an average of 10 meters. This makes a case as to why beach re-nourishment projects using groins should be considered by engineers tasked with restoring a beach or a coastal area when it is deemed necessary. INDEX WORDS: Chelem beach, Yucatan, Mexico, Progreso, groin, beach re-nourishment, USACE, erosion, GPS, Emery-Method, BMAP model, sediment. EVALUATION OF LONG TERM EFFECTS OF EROSION DUE TO GROIN PLACEMENT IN THE NORTHERN YUCATAN PENINSULA by


Ocean acidification (OA) is rapidly emerging as a significant problem for organisms, ecosystems, and human societies. Globally, addressing OA and its impacts requires international agreements to reduce rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. However, the complex suite of drivers of changing carbonate chemistry in coastal environments also requires regional policy analysis, mitigation, and adaptation responses. In order to fundamentally address the threat of OA, environmental managers need to know where, when, and by how much changes in coastal ocean carbonate chemistry will influence human livelihoods and what they can reasonably do about these effects. Here, we synthesize available biogeochemical and ecological information on the problem of coastal acidification and review actions managers have undertaken thus far. We then describe nine opportunities ripe for decisionmakers to mitigate - and, where necessary, to adapt to - ocean acidification at the spatial scales relevant to their authority. © 2014 The Author(s) 2014.


We study the UV properties of a volume-limited sample of early-type galaxies in the Virgo Cluster combining new GALEX far-ultraviolet (1530 Å) and near-ultraviolet (2310 Å) data with spectrophotometric data available at other wavelengths. The sample includes 264 elliptical, lenticular, and dwarf galaxies spanning a large range in luminosity (MB ≤ -15). While the NUV to optical or near-IR color-magnitude relations (CMRs) are similar to those observed at optical wavelengths, with a monotonic reddening of the color index with increasing luminosity, the (FUV - V) and (FUV - H) CMRs show a discontinuity between massive and dwarf objects. An even more pronounced dichotomy is observed in the (FUV - NUV) CMR. For elliptical galaxies, the (FUV - NUV) color becomes bluer with increasing luminosity and with increasing reddening of the optical or near-IR color indices. For the dwarfs, the opposite trend is observed. These observational evidences are consistent with the idea that the UV emission is dominated by hot, evolved stars in giant systems, while in dwarf ellipticals residual star formation activity is more common.


Mobile health technologies have become more and more important in psychotherapy research and practice. The market is being flooded by several psychotherapeutic online services for different purposes. However, mobile health technologies are particularly suitable for data collection and monitoring, as data can be recorded economically in real time. Currently, there is no appropriate method to assess intersession experiences systematically in psychotherapeutic practice. The aim of our project was the development of a smartphone application framework for systematic recording and controlling of intersession experiences. Intersession-Online, an iOS- and Android-App, offers the possibility to collect data on intersession experiences easily, to provide the results to therapists in an evaluated form and, if necessary, to induce or interrupt intersession experiences with the primary aim to improve outcome of psychotherapy. In general, the smartphone application could be a helpful, evidence-based tool for research and practice. Overall speaking, further research to investigate the efficacy of Intersession-Online is necessary.


More often than not, welded joints experience failure such as fracture which jeopardize their reliability and ergonomics when put in perspective. Attempting a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of welded joint through heat treatment could ensure joints stability and reduce the costs associated with constant repairs and replacements. In this study, the effects of heat treatments (austempering and normalization) on the mechanical properties of weldments were examined. The locally recycled steel sample was sourced from the Delta Steel Company Aladja, Delta State and the spectro-analysis was carried out on it. The test samples were machined as per properties for tests, fractured locally and were welded using shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) with stainless steel electrode. They were then heat treated in electric furnaces. The mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength, hardness and impact toughness) were determined and the microstructure examined using scanning electron microscope. They were also examined physically using hand lens. The result indicated that the austempered samples improved significantly in terms of its tensile strength, yield strength, hardness and ductility. It was also found that the untreated sample produced the greatest impact toughness. The result of the physical examination also suggested that heat treatment using oil based quenchant have the potential to inhibit rust at weld joints.


In this article, I offer both a critique of and alternatives to a recent proposal by Brazil to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) concerning sexual orientation persecution and discrimination.I begin my argument by demonstrating, as in the case of Egypt, how state persecution of gays, lesbians, and homosexuals around the globe is often steeped in claims of religiosity. I then go on to demonstrate, as well, that while it is certainly true that some homosexuals want to identify as gay, some do not wish to so identify. Moreover, some who do so identify don't necessarily understand gay as first and foremost a sexual identity at every point in time (if ever at all). For this latter set of persons, their gayness or homosexuality is deeply interwoven with personal experiences and understandings of religion. Accordingly, when such homo-sectuals - to use a neologism - are persecuted, they understand this persecution as religious persecution. Thus, as formulated and understood by many governments and persons - but not, as I argue, by enough international human rights activists - persecution of the sexual can often actually be persecution of the religious.Given this reality, and using a subsequent discussion of a related set of religious and sexual politics in India, I demonstrate how international human rights norms and practices can and should do a better job of respecting persons' diverse self-identifications and self-understandings. These international norms and practices can demonstrate such respect, I argue, by more seriously deploying existing human rights protections concerning religious persecution and discrimination, instead of insisting that the forms of persecution and discrimination discussed in this article must now be understood as sexual for all people, no matter where located. The particular international human rights norms and practices whose reform I discuss in this respect are those which deal with states' persecutory anti-sodomy laws, as well as those which concern international law's treatment of the gay refugee.


In present world, inequality and uncertainty is high in section of agriculture production and food security of a great amount of people in developing countries is not supplied. Based on studies of international organizations, about a third of produced food for human consumption in worldwide is lost or wasted. While in developing countries, there is price enhancement, decrease in access to healthy food and unhealthy nutrition of a great number of people due to weak infrastructure such as weak in food storage process and package method. Therefore, investment in agriculture sector is too important. We can help to food security by investment in agriculture sector and support and development of education and health in community so all the world can be beneficial. In this research, at the first, ecologic data (temperature and rainfall, sunshine hours, wind speed, relative humidity) are used using a 54 years long term average from 1951-2005 to estimating amount of evaporation and transpiration and water requirement of Brassica napus L for Ahwaz town. Then dry and wet durations were determined for the station. In addition, dry duration in this area, which takes a long from early spring to mid autumn, is accommodated with time of crop growth and its sensitivity to water shortage, hence, complementary irrigation is needed in this time of the year. Then, we calculated real transpiration and evaporation of Brassica napus L crop and water requirement and irrigation of this important crop in studied area using CROPWAT model. For this purpose, ecologic data average (maximum and minimum of temperature, monthly rainfall, wind speed, relative humidity and daily sunshine), crop cultivation pattern (implant date, coefficient amount of each stage of growth days, depth of root, depth of penetration), soil type, total accessible humidity, early humidity of the soil (in percentage from total humidity) and others are inserted in the model. Its results in each stage are presented as graphs and diagrams. Finally, based on these diagrams and graphs, the amount of net irrigation is estimated 2117.4 mm and amount of gross irrigation is estimated 1482.2 mm.


Groundwater systems are increasingly used for seasonal aquifer thermal energy storage (SATES) for periodic heating and cooling of buildings. Its use is hampered in contaminated aquifers because of the potential environmental risks associated with the spreading of contaminated groundwater, but positive side effects, such as enhanced contaminant remediation, might also occur. A first reactive transport study is presented to assess the effect of SATES on the fate of chlorinated solvents by means of scenario modeling, with emphasis on the effects of transient SATES pumping and applicable kinetic degradation regime. Temperature effects on physical, chemical, and biological reactions were excluded as calculations and initial simulations showed that the small temperature range commonly involved (ΔT < 15 °C) only caused minor effects. The results show that a significant decrease of the contaminant mass and (eventually) plume volume occurs when degradation is described as sediment-limited with a constant rate in space and time, provided that dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) is absent. However, in the presence of DNAPL dissolution, particularly when the dissolved contaminant reaches SATES wells, a considerably larger contaminant plume is created, depending on the balance between DNAPL dissolution and mass removal by degradation. Under conditions where degradation is contaminant-limited and degradation rates depend on contaminant concentrations in the aquifer, a SATES system does not result in enhanced remediation of a contaminant plume. Although field data are lacking and existing regulatory constraints do not yet permit the application of SATES in contaminated aquifers, reactive transport modeling provides a means of assessing the risks of SATES application in contaminated aquifers. The results from this study are considered to be a first step in identifying the subsurface conditions under which SATES can be applied in a safe or even beneficial manner.


Varying climatic conditions with increased uncertainty mainly in rainfall and temperature are salient features in
marginal areas globally, adversely affecting farming activities particularly in Africa. Kenya experiences variations of
annual rainfall with considerable uncertainty. These variations ranging from below 500mm to above 2000mm annually,
cause droughts and floods respectively, affecting farming activities and yields. This study attempts to analyze historical
monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall variability in Machakos sub County between 1990 – 2014. Studies on analysis of
rainfall variability covered in Machakos have dwelt on broad and expansive areas of Eastern and South Eastern Kenya
including Machakos, Kitui and Makueni Counties. Broad studies give generalized information which may not give true
and adequate results for some specific areas. This has prompted the need to focus on a smaller area. This study focused
on Machakos sub County, a semi arid area, East of Central Kenya highlands. Existing studies in the mentioned areas,
mainly cover the period between 1930 - 1990. After this period, very scarce information exists. The main objective of the
study was to establish the historical monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall variability in Machakos sub county between
1990 – 2014. Publications from Meteorological Department Nairobi and sub county Agricultural offices, provided rainfall
data. Using SPSS, quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as Means, Standard deviation and
percentages. Inferential statistics using Pearson's Correlation technique was used to determine relationships between
variables. Coefficient of variability, Relative variability and Precipitation Concentration index measured Rainfall
Variability. The study established that monthly, seasonal and annual rainfall distribution in Machakos sub County was
highly variable, erratic and unpredictable over the 25 years with a CV of 24% and a PCI of 10. There is high temporal
rainfall variability (CV of 24% and PCI of 10) in the sub County. Disseminating information on rainfall forecasts,
rainwater harvesting for irrigation, proper cattle stocking, a forestation and reforestation programs were highly
recommended.


The essential oils of the five Scrophularia species; Scrophularia chrysantha Jaub. et Spach, Scrophularia kotschyana Benth., Scrophularia olympica Boiss., Scrophularia cinerascens Boiss. and Scrophularia zuvandica Grossh. were obtained by hydrodistillation (HD) with a range of 0.10% to 0.16% yield and analazsed by GC-FID/MS. In the meantime, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of S. chrysantha, S. kotschyana, S. olympica, S. cinerascens and S. zuvandica were also identified with the technique of SPME GCFID/MS and the phytochemical results were evaluated. The experimental results of this study showed that the major compounds of essential oils which were taken by the hydrodistillation were carvacrol (52.4%), 2pentadecanone (26.7%), 2-pentadecanone (12.2%), (Z)-2-nonenal (11.2%) and carvacrol (69.1%) respectively. Isovaleraldehyde (37.1%, 27.9%), eucalyptol (13.8%), 2-ethyl furan (14.8%) and 3(Z)-hexenol (91.3%) were respectively found as the main constituents of the five Scrophularia species with SPME method. Also antimicrobial activities of the essential oils of the five Scrophularia species were screened by using agar well diffusion method. It was identified that S. olympica, S.chrysantha, and S. kotschyana, have anti-tuberculosis activity, whereas, the essential oils gained from S. zuvandica and S. cinerascens have anti-fungal activity.


Farmers use forward contracts to eliminate adverse price and basis movements prior to harvest. Since late 2007, the local basis for Kansas wheat has changed dramatically relative to historic levels, causing greater risk exposure for elevators offering forward contracts. The result has been an increase in the cost of forward contracting paid by farmers from $0.086 per bushel to $0.327 per bushel. The factors driving this increase in costs are basis volatility, wheat futures harvest price, the information available in the market as harvest approaches, and realized returns to the elevator from forward contracting in previous years.


When ethnic conflict is likely people seek safety in homogenous neighborhoods, but does the resulting ethnic segregation decrease communal violence? This paper argues that local segregation causes violence by eroding interethnic trust. Although segregation reduces violent disputes between individuals, the possibility of positive interethnic contact is also lower in segregated areas. Where levels of interethnic trust are low, it is easier for political leaders and other extremists to build support for communal violence. I demonstrate that segregation increases the incidence of violence using a new data set measuring ethnic composition and violence across approximately 700 small localities in Kenya's Rift Valley Province during Kenya's 2007/2008 post-election crisis. Because segregation is likely endogenous to violence, I draw on Kenya's history of land settlement to instrument for segregation. I also demonstrate that it is unlikely local segregation increases violence by increasing groups' organizational capacity for violence.


"A blade flashed. Hardacanut pawed at it, slapped against the flat but felt the edge bite his palm. He pivoted into the wielder, drove his sword up under a shield and cast the dying man down the ladder." When Ivar the Boneless, heathen Viking king of Dublin, rampages through the petty kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, it's a chance for anybody with the courage to master their own fate. Hardacanut the Berserker must prove himself worthy of Ivar's elite warband by carving a path to victory at the head of his own unruly band of warriors and freebooters. Young Ecbehrt of Bamburgh, a young English earl, yearns to escape the schemes of his king and flee into a wider world, but the Vikings are coming and war is in his blood. Meanwhile, two ruthless women refuse to accept their place in what's supposed to be a "man's world". Princess Ymma, amateur witch, will do anything to become a queen. Lathgertha, king Ivar's axe-wielding sister, needs to take the head of a chieftain in battle in order to join the shieldmaiden Raven Sisters. In the Dark Ages, anything is possible as long as you have a sword in your hand and warriors at your back...


Title The initial phase of cancer care- an action research projectRationale for the study Anecdotal evidence suggested that patients receiving treatment within a Cancer Unit were not receiving equitable care. Some patients reported being told their diagnosis in an empathetic manner, whilstothers reported consultants being brutal and/or uninterested. In addition, it appeared that patients were given variable levels of support and information during their initial phase of cancer care. Aims of the study The purpose of the study was to explore whether the information and support offered to cancer patients in the initial phase of care was sufficient and appropriate to their needs. It was further hoped that the findings of the study could be utilised to change services in a patient centred way. Methodology A qualitative study divided into three stages. Firstly, eighteen non-participant observations of doctor/patient consultations were carried out at the time when patients were told they had a diagnosis of cancer and given information relating to their proposed treatment. The purpose of this was to ascertain what actually happened in practice. The data resulting from this stage of the study enabled an understanding of the problem in context and facilitated the development of an interview schedule, which formed the basis of the second stage of fieldwork. Stage two consisted of thirty-three semi structured, tape recorded patient interviews. These were carried out 3- 4 months following diagnosis. The third stage of the study consisted of interviews and focus groups with consultants, clinical nurse specialists and senior managers, the purpose of which was to explore their views regarding the results of the patient interviews and perceptions of theimplementation of change in clinical practice. The approach taken to structure the data collection was based on grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Findings Many of the issues raised in the patient interviews were consistentwith the literature i.e. patients experience a wide variety of emotions when told they have cancer. The vast majority of patients hear little after the word "cancer", it is therefore important to repeat information and ensure patients have access to ongoing support. Patients also value being told the truth, continuity of information and doctors showing that they care. They appear more satisfied with their care where an effective multidisciplinary team exists. However, patients inthe Cancer Unit where the study was conducted did not receive equitable care, particularly in relation to the amount and type of information and support offered to them in the initial phase of cancer care. The third stage of the study explored consultants', clinical nurse specialists' and senior managers' views relating to the findings from stages one and two of the study. The health care professionals did not exhibit surprise at any of the findings but were keen to explore them further. Views relating to the implementation of change within cancer care were also explored in this stage of the study and their comments were largely consistent with the literature on change management. Innovations in practice A number of changes have been made to clinical practice, including, improved multidisciplinary team working, developing multidisciplinary documentation and developing site specific cancer pathways which identify the patients journey from the point of referral through to follow up or palliation. These pathways help patients know what to expect at each stage of their disease journey and ensure patients receive equitable care, because the pathways act as guidelines for professionals outlining good practice at each stage of the journey. All of the developments initiated to date are aimed at improving the patient experience and staff satisfaction relating to the service they provide.


AIM: To evaluate whether there is any difference in voice quality between patients who were operated via microscopic and endoscopic approaches for pituitary adenomas. MATERIAL and METHODS: The study group consisted of 59 patients and 30 healthy volunteers. They were all males and divided into three groups as; microscopically operated (MO) (n=30), endoscopically operated (EO) (n=29) and control (n=30). Subjective and objective voice analyses were performed. RESULTS: There was no significant relationship within groups according to Voice Handicap Index-10 (p=0.053). Fundamental frequency, jitter %, jitter PQQ5 parameters revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between EO and MO groups. No statistically significant difference was observed within EO, MO and control groups with respect to harmonics-to-noise ratio median scores. CONCLUSION: The present study assessed the effects of endoscopic and microscopic techniques for removal of pituitary adenomas on quality of voice. As it keeps the anatomically realistic model of sinuses and nasal cavity which provides resonance for the voice, endoscopic intervention found out to be superior by means of vocal quality.


Projection bias is the tendency to overpredict the degree to which one's future tastes will resemble one's current tastes. We test for evidence of projection bias in two of the largest and most important consumer markets - the car and housing markets. Using data for more than forty million vehicle transactions and four million housing purchases, we explore the impact of the weather on purchasing decisions. We find that the choice to purchase a convertible, a 4-wheel drive, or a vehicle that is black in color is highly dependent on the weather at the time of purchase in a way that is inconsistent with classical utility theory. Similarly, we find that the hedonic value that a swimming pool and that central air add to a house is higher when the house goes under contract in the summertime compared to the wintertime.


Abstract The study of the action of the Steenrod algebra on the mod p cohomology of spaces has many applications to the topological structure of those spaces. In this paper we present combinatorial formulas for the action of Steenrod operations on the cohomology of Grassmannians, both in the Borel and the Schubert picture. We consider integral lifts of Steenrod operations, which lie in a certain Hopf algebra of differential operators. The latter has been considered recently as a realization of the Landweber–Novikov algebra in complex cobordism theory; it also has connections with the action of the Virasoro algebra on the boson Fock space. Our formulas for Steenrod operations are based on methods which have not been used before in this area, namely Hammond operators and the combinatorics of Schur functions. We also discuss applications of our formulas to the geometry of Grassmannians.


This paper considers the construction of a static model for the power generation of an ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plant using Uehara cycle. The model is constructed based on experimental data obtained from an actual experimental OTEC plant. In this paper, two kinds of static models are proposed. In both models, the relations among significant quantities are represented by polynomials. The polynomials are determined via least squares for experimental data, and the orders of polynomial which minimize the integral of absolute error between experimental data and simulation results of power generation are adopted. The usefulness and limitations of the proposed models are evaluated by simulation results.


Abstract Objective: Non-prescription, weight-loss products are advertised as quick-solution alternatives to long-term lifestyle changes. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive. Setting: Free State province. Subjects: Fifty-six dietitians registered to the Free State branch of the Association of Dietetics in South Africa, excluding lecturers and students, and 88 pharmacists working in the Bloemfontein area. Outcome measures: Structured telephonic interviews were conducted with 25 dietitians and 46 pharmacists to ascertain whether or not they had heard of the individual ingredients listed in non-prescription, weight-loss products and if they knew if each of these ingredients were scientifically proven to induce weight loss. Results: Most dietitians and pharmacists reported that they had heard of green tea extract (92% and 89%), chromium picolinate (76% and 59%), apple cider vinegar (100% and 96%), lemon juice (100% and 87%) and alcohol (100% and 91%), respectively, being ingredients in weight-loss products. More dietitians and pharmacists reported that, to their knowledge, green tea extract (52% vs. 26%), chromium picolinate (52% vs. 15%), apple cider vinegar (64% vs. 33%), lemon juice (80% vs. 64%) and alcohol (76% vs. 61%), were not scientifically proven to be effective in attaining weight loss. Both groups included a percentage who were not familiar with the ingredients, or who thought that these ingredients had been demonstrated to be effective, despite no conclusive evidence existing in the literature. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals need to actively educate themselves about non-prescription weight-loss products in order to guide the public and reduce consumer confusion.


The turbulent combustion in gasoline engines is highly dependent on laminar flame speed SL. A major issue of the quasi-dimensional (QD) combustion model is an accurate prediction of the SL, which is unstable under low engine speeds and ultra-lean mixture. This work investigates the applicability of the combustion model with a refined SL correlation for evaluating the combustion characteristics of a high-tumble port gasoline engine operated under ultra-lean mixtures. The SL correlation is modified and validated for a five-component gasoline surrogate. Predicted SL values from the conventional and refined functions are compared with measurements taken from a constant-volume chamber under micro-gravity conditions. The SL data are measured at reference and elevated conditions. The results show that the conventional SL overpredicts the flame speeds under all conditions. Moreover, the conventional model predicts negative SL at equivalence ratio ϕ ≤ 0.3 and ϕ ≥ 1.9, while the revised SL is well validated against the measurements. The improved SL correlation is incorporated into the QD combustion model by a user-defined function. The engine data are measured at 1000–2000 rpm under engine load net indicated mean effective pressure (IMEPn) = 0.4–0.8 MPa and ϕ = 0.5. The predicted engine performances and combustions are well validated with the measured data, and the model sensitivity analysis also shows a good agreement with the engine experiments under cycle-by-cycle variations.


There has been a significant increase of interactive technologies to support sports activities. Examples are heart rate monitors for cyclists, jogging apps on mobile phones and GPS sports watches for extreme sports. Despite consumer popularity, there is little knowledge about how they should be designed in order to support the exertion activity. Based on CHI'13's success of conducting a special interest group outdoors, we propose jogging with technology to discuss sports-support interactive systems and investigate what future opportunities and challenges exist.


Featuring content from National Geographic and TED, the new edition of the four-level, integrated skills World English series brings amazing stories about our planet and compelling ideas from around the world to the classroom. Riveting images, fascinating topics, and inspiring video will motivate learners to engage with ideas and each other. The second edition of World English introduces students to some of the world's most fascinating people and places and builds upon an effective competency-based approach to provide 21st century learners with the English skills needed for success.


A service check for a farm is an interesting new way of advising farmers, which has proven very successful. The objective of a service check is to recognise potential improvements in the production using a holistic approach. Often a service check will try to establish the overall goals for the farmer's family, the farmer and the farm. In order to do so, the farm is systematically analysed in order to establish strengths, weaknesses and possible paths of development. These issues are normally neglected in the day-today contact between the farmer and the usual adviser, and even far-reaching decisions are often taken without a decent analysis of the strategic goals. A service check involves a joint visit, where two experienced advisors visit the farm together. The advisors are normally an economic advisor and either a pig or cattle advisor, depending on the farm analysed. Usually, the farm's normal advisors are not participating in the service check. The advisors bring an analysis of the economic and productivity data, and are presented to the farm. A normal service check will produce a report stating the current status, plans for the future and appointments for more specific advisory work that have been agreed upon. Despite the price of a service check, the product has been successful. Farmers achieve a better perspective of the strategic possibilities and limitations of their farm, and it becomes possible to establish realistic long-term goals for the farm development. The clarity improves the farmer's self-confidence and the pleasure of work. Advisors are also satisfied, since the farmer will often initiate new projects after the service check, which in turn increases the demand for advisory services.


A physically oriented inversion algorithm to retrieve precipitation from satellite-based passive microwave measurements named the Bayesian algorithm for microwave-based precipitation retrieval (BAMPR) is proposed. First, we illustrate the procedure that BAMPR follows to produce precipitation estimates from observed multichannel brightness temperatures. Retrieval products are the surface rain rates, columnar equivalent water contents, and hydrometeor content profiles, together with the associated estimation uncertainties. Numerical tests performed on simulated measurements show that retrieval errors are reduced when a rain type and pattern classification procedure is employed, and that estimates are quite sensitive to the adopted error model. Finally, for different tropical storms that were observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), we compare the rain retrieved from BAMPR relative to those retrieved from the Goddard Profiling (Gprof) algorithm and the Precipitation Radar-adjusted TMI estimation of rainfall (PATER) algorithm. Despite a similar inversion approach, the algorithms exhibit different performances that can be mainly related to different training databases and retrieval constraints such as cloud classification.


Biological characteristics such as sex, age and length compositions, growth, condition factor, reproduction, mortality and exploitation rates of the silver crucian carp, Carassius gibelio (Bloch 1782), population in Lake Egirdir were investigated between March 2001 and February 2002. According to the 616 specimens ranged in age groups from I to VI, the percentages of male and female individuals in the population were 53.4% and 46.6%, respectively. The fork lengths of the samples ranged from 9 to 33 cm. Allometric growth was also determined among the lengths and weights of both sexes. Incremental growth rates in length and weight for both males and females showed a significant decrease after the age of 2. It was estimated that females had higher L{\infinity}o (L{\infinity}o = 34.2 cm) and lower K (K = 0.316) values than males (L{\infinity}o = 29.5 cm and K = 0.470). Mean condition factors of males, females and the combined sexes were calculated as 2.401, 2.594 and 2.498, respectively. It was determined that the condition factor of both males and females increased with fish size. First maturity length (Lm) was estimated at 9.7 cm for males and 10.3 cm for females. The most intensive period for reproduction was from April to July, although reproduction lasted until August. Total (Z), natural (M) and fishing mortality (F) and exploitation (E) rates were estimated at Z = 1.01 year-1, M = 0.63 year-1, F = 0.38 year-1 and E = 0.38, respectively.


This article provides a new method for computing the probability of collision between two spherical space objects involved in a short-term encounter under Gaussian-distributed uncertainty. In this model of conjunction, classical assumptions reduce the probability of collision to the integral of a two-dimensional Gaussian probability density function over a disk. The computational method presented here is based on an analytic expression for the integral, derived by use of Laplace transform and D-finite functions properties. The formula has the form of a product between an exponential term and a convergent power series with positive coefficients. Analytic bounds on the truncation error are also derived and are used to obtain a very accurate algorithm. Another contribution is the derivation of analytic bounds on the probability of collision itself, allowing for a very fast and - in most cases - very precise evaluation of the risk. The only other analytical method of the literature - based on an approximation - is shown to be a special case of the new formula. A numerical study illustrates the efficiency of the proposed algorithms on a broad variety of examples and favorably compares the approach to the other methods of the literature.


Hume notoriously maintains that contiguity, succession, and constant conjunction are individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions of causation. While his arguments for the necessity of constant conjunction have been thoroughly dissected, his arguments for contiguity and succession have generally been either ignored or misstated. I hope both to correct this unfortunate state of affairs and to show some fatal defects in Hume's account. The pertinent passages in Hume's writings acknowledge three conceivable ways in which the temporal relation between causes and effects might be construed: (i) as separated by some interval; (ii) as perfectly contiguous, so that the effect succeeds the cause in the very next moment; (iii) as perfectly contemporaneous, existing at the same moment. Hume defends the correctness of (ii) and denies the tenability of both (i) and (iii).


In any consideration of theatre in the French Caribbean, the name Césaire is bound to be mentioned. Aimé Césaire's La Tragédie du roi Christophe (1963) is the most widely- known play in French by a black dramatist, and is now even in the repertoire of the Comédie-Française, and his plays figure widely in checklists of 'African' theatre. A revealing contrast can be made between the epic dramas of Aimé Césaire, written for an international audience, especially the newly independent black nations of the 1960s, and the work of his daughter, Ina. He tackles from the standpoint of Négritude major themes of historical drama: the nature of sovereignty, the forging of nationhood; he storms the heights of tragic poetry in French. She is attentive, not to the lonely hero constructing his Haitian Citadel of rock, but to the Creole voices of the grassroots. She brings to the stage the lives of ordinary women, the lore and legends that sustained the slaves and their descendants. Her achievement should of course be assessed away from her father's shadow, but the 'divergent orientation of the two generations' also suggests the greater confidence today in the role of Creole language and oral literature, and in a serious theatre within Martinique.


Lignin is unique among renewable biopolymers in having significant aromatic character, making it potentially attractive for a wide range of uses from coatings to carbon fibers. Recent research has shown that hot acetic acid (AcOH)–water mixtures can be used to recover "ultraclean" lignins of controlled molecular weight from Kraft lignins. A key feature of this discovery is the existence of a region of liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE), with one phase being rich in the purified lignin and the other rich in solvent. Although visual methods can be used to determine the temperature at which solid lignin melts in the presence of AcOH–water mixtures to form LLE, the phase transition can be seen only at lower AcOH concentrations due to solvent opacity. Thus, an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique was developed for measuring the phase-transition temperature of a softwood Kraft lignin in AcOH–water mixtures. In electrochemical cells, the resistance to double-layer charging (i.e., polarization resistance Rp) is related to the concentration and mobility of free ions in the electrolyte, both of which are affected by the phases present. When the lignin–AcOH–water mixture was heated through the phase transition, RP was found to be a strong function of temperature, with the maximum in RP corresponding to the transition temperature obtained from visual observation. As the system is heated, acetate ions associate with the solid lignin, forming a liquefied, lignin-rich phase. This association increases the overall impedance of the system, as mobile acetate ions are stripped from the solvent phase and thus are no longer available to adsorb on the polarizing electrode surfaces. The maximum in RP occurs once the new lignin-rich phase has completely formed, and no further association of the lignin polymer with AcOH is possible. Except at sub-ambient temperatures, the phase-transition temperature was a strong function of solvent composition, increasing linearly from 18 °C at 70/30 AcOH/water to 97 °C at 10/90 wt% AcOH/water.


'Mapping Feminists Coding Practices', a one-day symposium at the Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex, is the first event of our 'Feminist Approaches to Computational Technology: Read, Write, Code' programme that explores feminist coding practices and the historic context of feminism and technology. It also seeks to investigate some of the affordances and resistances of computational technology. Its aim is to develop a wider understanding of current practices and research which make positive interventions into and within computation, in its widest possible interpretation, from a feminist perspective. The event is supported by the CHASE Doctoral Training Partnership and the Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex.


UrusSisa is an expert system for selecting and designing solid waste technology. It can improve the process of selecting the best solid waste technology, and to make the knowledge of preliminary design of solid waste technology available. Knowledge based of UrusSisa consists of priority ranking using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and preliminary design of recommendation technology. AHP involves structuring multiple choice criteria into a hierarchy, assessing the relative importance of these criteria, and determining an overall ranking of the alternatives. Preliminary design of solid waste technology includes recycling, composting, incineration, and sanitary landfill. The performance of prototype has been tested by using case study.


In this paper, we address the problem of computing the egomotion of a vehicle in an urban environment using dynamic vision. We assume a planar piecewise world where the planes are mainly distributed along three principal directions corresponding to the axes of a reference frame linked to the ground plane with a vertical z-axis. We aim to estimate both the motion of the car and the principal planes in the scene corresponding to the road and the frontages of the building from a sequence of images provided by an on-board uncalibrated camera. In this paper, we present preliminary results concerning the robust segmentation of the road using projective properties of the scene. We develop a two-stage algorithm in order to increase robustness. The first stage detects the borders of the road using a contour-based approach and primarily allows us to estimate the dominant vanishing point (DVP). The DVP and the borders of the road are then used to constrain the region where the points of interest, corresponding to the road lane markers, can be extracted. The second stage uses a robust technique based on projective invariant to match the lines and points between two consecutive images in the sequence. Finally, we compute the homography relating the points and lines lying on the road into the two images.