Objective. —To assess racial differences in the accuracy of standard electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria in the diagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Design. —The sensitivity and specificity of standard ECG criteria were compared in blacks and whites using echocardiographic LVH as the reference standard. Setting. —Eight worksite-based hypertension clinics in New York, NY. Patients. —A sample of 122 black and 148 white hypertensive patients. Results. —The prevalence of ECG-LVH was two to six times higher in blacks than in whites, depending on the criteria used (range, 6% to 24% in blacks vs 1% to 7% in whites; P =.0005 to .19 for black-white comparisons). The difference in prevalence of ECG-LVH, however, was less striking and did not attain statistical significance (26% in blacks and 20% in whites; P >.2). The sensitivity of the ECG was low (range, 3% to 17%) and did not differ significantly between the two races for any of the conventional criteria; specificity, however, was lower in blacks for all criteria (range, 73% to 94% vs 95% to 100% for whites; P =.0001 to .09). The predictive value of a positive ECG was consistently, although not significantly, lower in the black subjects. Black race was the strongest independent predictor of decreased ECG specificity in multiple logistic regression analysis that also considered age, gender, body mass index, left ventricular mass index, and smoking. Conclusions. —Commonly used ECG criteria for the detection of LVH have a poor sensitivity in both black and white hypertensives and a lower specificity in blacks than in whites; this may lead to a greater number of false-positive diagnoses in black patients, as well as to an overestimation of black-white difference in LVH prevalence. ( JAMA . 1992;267:3294-3299)


Over the past two decades, nineteen states have established specialized trial courts that hear business disputes primarily or exclusively. To explain the recent surge of interest in these courts, policy-makers and scholars alike have cited the process of inter-jurisdictional competition. Specifically, these commentators have argued that business courts serve, among other purposes, to attract out-of-state companies to expand their business, re-incorporate, or litigate their disputes in the jurisdiction that created the business court. This Article critically evaluates each of these theories. It argues, first, that business courts do not serve to attract companies from other states because business expansion decisions in the United States are rarely driven by the high quality of the courts in a particular jurisdiction. It next argues that business courts are unlikely to attract incorporation business because their core attributes are such that they are unlikely to compete successfully with the Delaware Court of Chancery. The Article goes on to argue that while the creation of a business court may in some cases serve to divert litigation business to local lawyers, the opportunities for diversion are relatively limited. The Article then draws upon these insights to offer a number of suggestions as to how future business courts should be designed. It suggests that states should think twice before creating business and technology courts. It notes that major institutional reforms will be required if states wish to use business courts to attract incorporation business away from Delaware. It also identifies additional steps that states might take to more effectively attract litigation business. The Article concludes by briefly evaluating the viability of several non-competition-based rationales for establishing business courts.


This collection examines key aesthetic avant-garde art movements of the twentieth century and their relationships with revolutionary politics. The contributors distinguish aesthetic avant-gardes —whose artists aim to transform society and the ways of sensing the world through political means—from the artistic avant-gardes, which focus on transforming representation. Following the work of philosophers such as Friedrich Schiller and Jacques Ranciere, the contributors argue that the aesthetic is inherently political and that aesthetic avant-garde art is essential for political revolution. In addition to analyzing Russian constructivsm, surrealism, and Situationist International, the contributors examine Italian futurism's model of integrating art with politics and life, the murals of revolutionary Mexico and Nicaragua, 1960s American art, and the Slovenian art collective NSK's construction of a fictional political state in the 1990s. Aesthetic Revolutions and Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Movements traces the common foundations and goals shared by these disparate arts communities and shows how their art worked towards effecting political and social change.

Contributors. John E. Bowlt, Sascha Bru, David Craven, Ales Erjavec, Tyrus Miller, Raymond Spiteri, Misko Suvakovic


Background Tinnitus (ie, ear or head noises not caused by external sounds) is common among the general population and is the most prevalent service-connected disability in the United States' Department of Veterans Affairs system. While numerous clinical interventions have been created to systematically address the range of issues caused by tinnitus, only a few tinnitus interventions have focused on both teaching and assessing coping strategies. The present pilot study involved a randomized clinical trial comparing 3 brief group interventions to a usual-care (UC) group (ie, a wait-list control group): the first intervention based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), a second based on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and a third based on coping effectiveness training (CET). Each intervention group also received tinnitus-related audiological education. Participants Forty individuals met the eligibility requirements and were randomized into 1 of the 4 groups (ACT, CBT, CET, or UC). An intent-to-treat analysis was used in this study. Measures The Brief COPE scale was used to assess coping. Coping was assessed at 3 time points (pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at 4-week follow-up). The outcomes were 3 coping factors (engagement coping, disengagement coping, and social support coping). Results When examining differences among the groups on mean coping scores over time, significant group differences were found on social support coping, with the CET group scores significantly higher than the UC group. Discussion While all 3 brief interventions teach stress-reduction techniques, ACT and CBT focus primarily on managing one's unwanted thoughts and emotions. CET teaches participants both a range of coping strategies (eg, stress-management approaches) to more effectively manage stressors that cannot be changed, as well as coping strategies (eg, such as problem-solving) that can be used to eliminate stressors that can be changed. CET also teaches communication skills for telling others about one's tinnitus-related issues. CET instructs individuals on how to select coping strategies that are appropriate for different kinds of stressors and how to seek social support, which is a skill not explicitly taught by ACT or CBT. Results of this study were derived from a small sample size, and thus, future research should focus on replicating the results among a larger sample. In addition, future research could focus on adapting the CET intervention to a different delivery format.


Ethical trade is an increasingly popular approach that allows companies to manage the social and environmental dimensions of their supply chains. Yet is it able to benefit poor producers and workers in developing economies, particularly those who outside of industrial production systems? This paper examines how ethical trade is being applied to smallholder tea, coffee and cocoa growers in Asia, Africa and South America. It shows that many of the primary concerns among growers are not included in ethical trade standards. It argues that, although civil-society organisations have influenced the direction and scope of such standards (e.g. through partnerships with companies), the cultural and ideational dimensions to ethical trade impose limits on what can be modified and improved. Furthermore, the standards overlook critical aspects of business practice and their consequences for growers. The consequences of this are not only potentially detrimental for ethical trade's intended beneficiaries but also for this system's corporate supporters. No matter what the business case may be for ethical trade, ultimately its success depends on accurately identifying and addressing the well-being of those in developing countries. This paper shows not only how far we are from achieving that goal but also some of the hitherto unrecognised reasons.


"Lovely Rita, Meter Maid" and "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" are as much part of popular mythology as "Little Dorrit" or "Macbeth". Strawberry fields, fool-topped hills and long and winding roads are all part of a collective subconscious stretching from New York to New Delhi. This book tells the story behind every one of The Beatles' songs. Who was Eleanor Rigby, and was Polythene Pam a figment of John Lennon's imagination or a real flesh-and-blood person? What stories and emotions influenced them and how do they reflect the development of The Beatles' distinctive musical style?


Objective. The importance of user involvement in design, development and diffusion of all devices is widely accepted; however, the methods of achieving true user contribution to a design or development process are challenging. The challenges are increased when the target consumers for the device have disabilities that can make traditional methods of gaining user involvement at best difficult, and at worst impossible. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a number of user involvement techniques employed on projects carried out by the authors.

Main Content. Devices for Dignity (D4D), is one of two pilot Healthcare Technology Cooperatives (HTCs) set up in January 2008. The principle for HTCs is to bring together health professionals, industry, academia and end users to create 'technology pull' and technology transfer into the National Health Service and as such, user involvement is a core element of D4D's approach [1]. When embarking on a new project, D4D considers the most effective user involvement method and tailors the information gathering to the user population. Four delivery methods that have been used are discussed in this paper: Focus Groups; Online Surveys; Qualitative Interviews [2]; and Design Workshops [3, 4]. The approach taken to differentiate these common delivery methods to the needs of the HTC and to ensure that the methods used were appropriate for the intended participants will be discussed. The effectiveness of the methods in extracting appropriate data will also be evaluated.

Results. The authors have successfully used the four delivery methodologies highlighted to: provide evidence for unmet needs; develop specifications for new devices; progress from specification to early design ideas; and evaluate early designs.

Conclusion. User involvement in device design, development and diffusion is important; however, it requires careful consideration and differentiation of the appropriate methodology when working with potential consumers who have disabilities. The authors are formulating a strategy to ensure effective and timely user involvement in projects as this is key to 'technology pull' and technology transfer within a healthcare technology co-operative.


Objective To develop a resource of systematically collected, longitudinal clinical data and biospecimens for assisting in the investigation into neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment. Methods To illustrate its research-enabling purpose, epidemiologic patterns and disease phenotypes were assessed among enrolled subjects, including age at disease onset, annualized relapse rate (ARR), and time between the first and second attacks. Results As of December 2017, the Collaborative International Research in Clinical and Longitudinal Experience Study (CIRCLES) had enrolled more than 1,000 participants, of whom 77.5% of the NMOSD cases and 71.7% of the controls continue in active follow-up. Consanguineous relatives of patients with NMOSD represented 43.6% of the control cohort. Of the 599 active cases with complete data, 84% were female, and 76% were anti-AQP4 seropositive. The majority were white/Caucasian (52.6%), whereas blacks/African Americans accounted for 23.5%, Hispanics/Latinos 12.4%, and Asians accounted for 9.0%. The median age at disease onset was 38.4 years, with a median ARR of 0.5. Seropositive cases were older at disease onset, more likely to be black/African American or Hispanic/Latino, and more likely to be female. Conclusions Collectively, the CIRCLES experience to date demonstrates this study to be a useful and readily accessible resource to facilitate accelerating solutions for patients with NMOSD.


The tomato plant has a specific relationship with native pollinators because the form of its flowers is adapted to buzz pollination carried out by some pollen-gatherer bees that vibrate their indirect flight muscles to obtain that floral resource. The absence and the low density of these bees in tomato fields can lead to pollination deficits for crop. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that open tomato flowers, probably visited by native pollinator, have greater pollen load on their stigma than unvisited flowers. Another objective is to show that this great pollen load increases fruit production. We selected crops of the Italian tomato cultivar in areas of the State of Goias, Brazil. Thirty seven plants of three crops each had one inflorescence bagged in the field. Bagged and non-bagged flowers had their stigmas collected and the amount of pollen on their surfaces was quantified. For the comparison of fruit production, we monitored bagged and not-bagged inflorescences and after 40 days, their fruits were counted, weighed, measured and had their seeds counted. The amount of pollen grains on the stigma of flowers available to pollinators was higher than that on the stigma of bagged flowers. On average, fruit production was larger in not-bagged inflorescences than in bagged inflorescences. In addition, not-bagged flowers produced heavier fruits than did bagged flowers. There was a significant difference in the number of seeds between treatments, with significantly more seeds in the non-bagged fruit. Our results show that native bees buzz-pollinate tomato flowers, increasing the pollen load on their stigma and consequently fruit production and quality.


Abstract Capitalism has proved to be a dynamic, growth-orientated and enormously productive system which has utterly transformed the material standards of life in most regions of Europe over two centuries. It is a mode of production that is not only inherently expansive but also constantly evolving, prompting and demanding incessant changes in technological, organisational and institutional forms, where the only constant is change as "all that is solid melts into air." One consequence is that capitalism is also prone to various forms and types of periodic crisis. Indeed, quite unlike most prior modes of production, economic crises in capitalism arise not from sun-spots or other forces in (first) nature but from multiple tensions or contradictions intrinsic to the system. In this paper, we will be especially attentive to the evolving role of both financialisation and mediatisation (in particular) with respect to the evolving forms of economic crises and attendant processes of creative destruction, including "austerity" in contemporary capitalism. We examine such issues by taking the Ireland as our case study, a relatively small country on the western periphery which featured in a central, if not leading role in the wider crisis of Eurozone area. We address how a crisis originating in excessive exuberance in the private banking and property sectors, very soon morphed into a crisis of the wider economy and especially one of state funding. This paper also examines how the key moments and features of these recent crises were constructed and reported in major news media.


Addressing fairness concerns about machine learning models is a crucial step towards their long-term adoption in real-world automated systems. While many approaches have been developed for training fair models from data, little is known about the robustness of these methods to data corruption. In this work we consider fairness-aware learning under worst-case data manipulations. We show that an adversary can in some situations force any learner to return an overly biased classifier, regardless of the sample size and with or without degrading accuracy, and that the strength of the excess bias increases for learning problems with underrepresented protected groups in the data. We also prove that our hardness results are tight up to constant factors. To this end, we study two natural learning algorithms that optimize for both accuracy and fairness and show that these algorithms enjoy guarantees that are order-optimal in terms of the corruption ratio and the protected groups frequencies in the large data limit.


BACKGROUND
The associations of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with metabolic syndrome have been poorly explored. We investigated the associations of the serum n-6 PUFA and the activities of enzymes involved in the PUFA metabolism, delta-5-desaturase (D5D) and delta-6-desaturase (D6D) with risk of incident metabolic syndrome. We also investigated whether zinc, a cofactor for these enzymes, modifies these associations.

METHODS
A prospective follow-up study was conducted on 661 men who were aged 42-60 years old at baseline in 1984-1989 and who were re-examined in 1998-2001.

RESULTS
Men in the highest versus the lowest serum total omega-6 PUFA tertile had a 70% lower multivariate-adjusted risk of incident metabolic syndrome [odds ratio (OR) = 0.30; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.18-0.51, Ptrend < 0.001]. Inverse associations were also observed for linoleic acid, arachidonic acid and D5D activity. By contrast, men in the highest tertile of D6D activity had an 84% higher risk (OR = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.15-2.94, Ptrend = 0.008). Similar associations were observed with many of the metabolic syndrome components at the re-examinations. Most associations were attenuated after adjustment for body mass index. Finally, the associations of D6D and LA were stronger among those with a higher serum zinc concentration.

CONCLUSIONS
Higher serum total n-6 PUFA, linoleic acid and arachidonic acid concentrations and D5D activity were associated with a lower risk of developing metabolic syndrome and higher D6D activity was associated with a higher risk. The role of zinc also needs to be investigated in other populations.


Bell, Ian Hadley Ph.D, Purdue University, May 2011. Theoretical and Experimental Analysis of Liquid Flooded Compression in Scroll Compressors. Major Professors: Eckhard A. Groll, School of Mechanical Engineering and James E. Braun, School of Mechanical Engineering. Adding liquid to the working fluid in scroll compressors can allow for a working process that approaches isothermal compression. When liquid flooding and regeneration is applied to refrigeration and heat pump systems, simple cycle modeling predicts that for systems that operate at very large temperature lifts, the increase in system coefficient of performance can be greater than 50%. In order to better understand the liquid-flooded working process, a detailed scroll compressor model has been developed which comprises a geometric model and an overall compressor model. The geometric model includes numerically validated analytic solutions for all geometric parameters, including force terms, for constant wall thickness scroll wraps that can have multiple pairs of compression chambers. The overall model includes a frictionally-corrected isentropic nozzle leakage model, adaptive Runge-Kutta solver for the system of differential equations, and numerically efficient thermodynamic and transport property routines. The compressor model has been validated against testing conducted on the Liquid-Flooded Ericsson Cycle for oil mass fractions as high as 92% oil by mass with error in predictions of shaft power and mass flow less than 3%. Optimization of the compressor performance with flooding for several applications is carried out, and with optimization, overall isentropic efficiencies over 75% are predicted for configurations with large amounts of oil flooding. Further testing on a refrigerant R410A vapor injected compressor with oil injection has shown that the performance with oil injection improves monotonically with the oil injection rate as long as the oil is cooled prior to injection.


In this paper improved evolutionary algorithm (IEA) and enriched firefly algorithm (EFA) has been used to solve optimal reactive power problem. In the improved evolutionary algorithm by using the set of route vectors the search has been enhanced and in the enriched firefly algorithm differential evolution algorithm has been mingled to improve the solution. Both the proposed IEA&EFA has been tested in practical 191 (Indian) utility system and simulation results show clearly about the better performance of the proposed algorithm in reducing the real power loss with control variables within the limits.


Borges saw narrative as the bearer of universally re-combinable elements. Although these elements seem sequential, their essential formal integrity guarantees their rearrangement to generate new narratives. The ficcion lives beyond its author. However, Borges' ontological anxieties also have a life of their own that undermines the ficcion's assimilative potential.

By developing poetic and linguistic insights Borges creates immortal text through the construction of a symbolic repertoire. Each element of the repertoire has its genesis in the author's personal development. This history is archaeologised in the early poetry and mediated through a theory of metaphor and the reader's interaction with the text. Borges sees no need for a Freudian reading theory. Instead he develops an antipsychological poetics. He enlists the reader as a willing participant in the text by a dual strategy of symbolic incorporation. Firstly, readers identify with characters through vicarious emotional prediction. Secondly, he refreshes the reader's participation by presenting emblematic devices serving as sub-text to enhance symbolic participation. Together these strategies constitute a 'magic causality' of negotiated textual interpretation continually operating in his narratives. But the discipline of magic causality also conceals a rhetoric of presence establishing counter-motivational effects to disturb symbolic incorporation at the level of genre.

The dissertation extracts key features for scrutiny from Borges' early literary theory and criticism, elaborating them into a general aesthetic programme. It examines biographical influences in shaping his critical and creative work. It problematises his texts from the point of view of his ideas about linguistics, their identity as contributions to the genre of the ficcion, and the centrality of metaphor and analogy as interpretative strategies. I use a number of approaches for this enterprise, including biographical criticism (ontological preoccupations), substitutional analysis (temporal subjectivity), linguistic interpretation (theory of metaphor), literary criticism (readerly reception), structuralism (readerly incorporation), and deconstruction (rhetoric of suppression). The dissertation pragmatically investigates, and contests, Borges' assimilative poetics of textual presence.


The aim for the research presented in this thesis is to develop theories, methods and technology which can detect, represent and evaluate purposeful human activity based on information, which is inconsistent, incomplete and which includes information about an individual's needs, goals and motives. The purpose is to provide instruments to the fields of assistive technology and ambient assisted living, which have the potentials to advance the treatment of semantic information for the purpose of making decisions and reasoning about complex human activity in daily life. Furthermore, based on sound interpretations of activity and evaluation of activity performance, tailored recommendations can be provided to the individual. This is achieved by integrating theoretical models of human activity with formal argumentation theory, and in this way create a model for representing the knowledge. Also based on the activity-theoretical models of human activity and argumentation, a computational model for common-sense reasoning was built based on the notion of fragments of activity. Moreover, a calculus model for evaluating activity performance considering the so called activity fragments was developed. These theoretical models were forming a base for implementing an argument-based reasoner engine, which manages incomplete and inconsistent information. These results were implemented in a prototype system designed for aiding an individual in improving health in daily life, for the purpose of testing the theories and methodologies with potential users. Information obtained by the sensors of a mobile phone and by assessments done by the individual regarding priorities, goals and motives were used in the analysis. Preliminary results are fed into further development, and future work includes user studies over a longer period of time. Furthermore, assistive technology for monitoring human activities in different contexts such as mining and construction industries are also being developed and tested. Future work includes also the development of methods for reasoning about activities based on data-stream sources, and taking into account that human needs, goals and motives vary over time. Moreover, methods for automatic configuration of intelligent collaborative agents and for fusing of heterogeneous data sources for providing tailored services will also be developed and evaluated in the ambient assisted living context.


The purpose of this paper is to inform practitioners about leading research in the field of internal audit and corporate governance. There has been considerable progress in academic research towards the development of a decision aid for External Audit evaluation of the Internal Audit Function. Desai et al. (2009) developed a theoretical model of the decision process used by external auditors to determine the strength of their client's internal audit function. They further tested this model using computer simulations. The model is based on three factors identified by auditing standards and prior academic research: Competence, Work Performance, and Objectivity. The results of the analysis revealed that modelling the "And" relationship is essential for assessing the strength of the IA function. As far as interrelationships are concerned, the analysis revealed that when the three factors have a strong or a perfect relationship, the strength of the IA function remains high even if we have positive or negative evidence about one of the factors. The model developed by Desai et al. (2009) is an important step towards developing a decision aid for external auditors for evaluating the internal audit function. To advance the development of this model the next step will be to test the assumptions of the model empirically in the real audit world among real external auditors.


This paper argues that the overall impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the least developed and developing countries is massive, with a potentially very high number of casualties: we float an entirely arbitrary figure of 100 million. To arrive at this number, we collect and collate the different ways in which COVID-19 may hit developing countries from a public health perspective as well as economically, and show that the crisis may not only threaten many people's lives but may even reverse the positive development trend of the last 20 years, putting the realization of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals in some doubt. Furthermore, we propose five policy measures to mitigate the most severe impacts of the crisis on low- and middle-income countries.

The paper is structured as follows: Part I provides the context. Part II argues that the number of Corona cases and casualties in the least developed and developing countries is almost certainly underestimated and understated; Part III lays out the indirect severe impacts of the crisis, namely the inevitable return of hunger and famine to many parts of the world; Part IV suggests that the abandonment of the UN's SDGs is one likely effect of the crisis in the absence of coordinated efforts; and Part V presents five policy principles designed to repel the looming human tragedy. Part VI concludes.


The room temperature Na-ion secondary battery has been under focus lately due to its feasibility to compete against the already well-established Li-ion secondary battery. Although there are many obstacles to overcome before the Na-ion battery becomes commercially available, recent research discoveries corroborate that some of the cathode materials for the Na-ion battery have indeed indisputable advantages over its Li-ion counterparts. In this publication, a comprehensive review of layered oxides (NaTMO2, TM = Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and a mixture of 2 or 3 elements) as a viable Na-ion battery cathode is presented. Single TM systems are well characterized not only for their electrochemical performance but also for their structural transitions during the cycle. Binary TM systems are investigated in order to address issues regarding low reversible capacity, capacity retention, operating voltage, and structural stability. As a consequence, some materials already have reached an energy density of 520 mW h g−1, which is comparable to that of LiFePO4. Furthermore, some ternary TM systems retained more than 72% of their capacity along with over 99.7% Coulombic efficiency for 275 cycles. The goal of this review is to present the development of Na layered oxide materials in the past as well as the state of the art today in order to emphasize the compatibility and durability of layered oxides as powerful candidates for Na-ion battery cathode materials.


The adenovirus (Ad) family consists of 52 different human types, which are divided into seven species (A-G). Human Ads cause disease in the respiratory tract, lymphoid tissue, intestine, urinary tract, and/or in the eye. Most, but not all Ads have been demonstrated to use the coxsackie-adenovirus receptor (CAR) as an efficient receptor in vitro, but CAR has been questioned as an in vivo-receptor for various reasons. Thus, there are reasons to believe that Ads use other mechanisms for binding to target cells. In an attempt to investigate the impact of tear fluid during in vitro infection of ocular Ads (i.e. Ad37), using corneal cells, we found that human tear fluid promoted infection of an Ad with pronounced respiratory tropism (i.e. Ad5) used here as a control, but surprisingly not of Ad37. Furthermore using a virus overlay protein blotting assay we found that Ad5 bound to several tear fluid proteins. One of these, human lactoferrin (hLf) which is a component that belongs to the innate immune system in various body fluids, was alone able to promote both binding and infection of all species C Ads (Ad1, Ad2, Ad5, Ad6) in epithelial cells. hLf was also found to promote gene delivery (GFP) from an Ad5-based vector. Further we have identified lactoferricin (Lfcin), the N-terminal part of hLf, as to be responsible for this effect. We also show that plasma, saliva, and tear fluid promote infection of Ad5 in respiratory and ocular epithelial cells, and that plasma promotes infection of Ad31. The component in plasma that is responsible for this effect is likely to be coagulation factor IX (FIX) and X (FX), since both these factors were able to promote binding and infection of Ad5 and/or Ad31 in epithelial cells. Finally, we show that the excess of fiber production from initial Ad infection and the release of fibers before the particle itself is released caused masking of the tropism-specific receptors in both infected and non-infected surrounding cells. This means that the overproduction of fibers affects the ability of Ad to spread within tissues. We conclude that soluble components in body fluids, such as hLf, FIX, and FX have the ability to mediate binding and infection of selected human Ads (species C and Ad31) in epithelial cells that represent the tropism of these Ads. We suggest that these components may serve as bridges between the virion and the cell surface. This is contributes to the knowledge about Ad lifecycle, and might help to improve the de-/retargeting of gene therapy based on Ad vectors.


The relationship between dietary habits and diabetes has not been studied efficiently in Saudi Arabia and the available diabetes risk models does not focus much on diet, nor do they capture the overall dietary behaviors. The purpose of this research was to test empirically the hypothesised dietary consultation model that has been proposed for more effective diabetes care. This exploratory study was conducted on type 2 diabetic Saudi patients visiting the Primary Health Care Centres in Almajmaah city. The data comprising 350 patients were collected from 5 th February – 24 th April, 2017 through systematic sampling technique using direct investigation method. Data was collected through four questionnaires. Composite scores were extracted for all variables under study and analysed by Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling approach using SmartPLS 3.2.6 software. Evaluation of formative outer and inner model relationships validated the hypothesised dietary consultation model. Power of study, coefficient of determination, effect size, total effects, and model fit index further validated the findings. The validated dietary consultation model facilitates a new healthcare paradigm which can give a better understanding of diabetes management at stakeholder and individual level. Healthcare givers should pay special emphasis on diabetics' diabetes mellitus knowledge, dietary knowledge, and dietary attitude, as these factors influence each other, dietary practices and HbA1c. Healthcare givers can use this model alone or by integrating it with available diabetes risk models to carry out the dietary assessment of type 2 diabetics.


Objective of this study is to support the development of a Thematic Strategy for Sustainable Use and Management of Resources through the provision of background information, in particular an estimate of materials and waste streams in the Community, including imports and exports (Article 8 a 6th EAP) using the method of material flow accounting. It further presents first ideas on how the resource use pattern of the EU can be assessed with regards to priority setting for possible policy measures. By referring to the concept of Industrial Metabolism, resources are defined in a broad sense, embracing the source and sink function of the natural environment, i.e. the provision of raw materials and land, and the absorption of residual materials (waste and emissions). Environmental impacts are associated not only with the extraction, harvesting and catching of raw materials but also with the subsequent production, use and disposal of products and goods. It is the total of environmental impacts associated with the entire life cycle of raw materials which has to be considered. Three generic management rules for the sustainable use and management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources are presented and discussed which have been formulated by several political institutions based on scientific literature: 1. The use of renewable resources should not exceed their renewal and/or regeneration rates. 2. The use of non-renewable resources should not exceed the rate at which substitutes are developed (should be limited to levels at which they can either be replaced by physically or functionally equivalent renewable resources or at which consumption can be offset by increasing the productivity of renewable or non-renewable resources). 3. Outputs of substances to the environment (pollution) should not exceed the assimilative capacity of environmental media (absorption capacities).


We present a theory of compositionality in stochastic optimal control, showing how task-optimal controllers can be constructed from certain primitives. The primitives are themselves feedback controllers pursuing their own agendas. They are mixed in proportion to how much progress they are making towards their agendas and how compatible their agendas are with the present task. The resulting composite control law is provably optimal when the problem belongs to a certain class. This class is rather general and yet has a number of unique properties - one of which is that the Bellman equation can be made linear even for non-linear or discrete dynamics. This gives rise to the compositionality developed here. In the special case of linear dynamics and Gaussian noise our framework yields analytical solutions (i.e. non-linear mixtures of LQG controllers) without requiring the final cost to be quadratic. More generally, a natural set of control primitives can be constructed by applying SVD to Green's function of the Bellman equation. We illustrate the theory in the context of human arm movements. The ideas of optimality and compositionality are both very prominent in the field of motor control, yet they have been difficult to reconcile. Our work makes this possible.


Question: Are long working hours associated with incident symptoms of depression and anxiety?

People: 2960 full-time British office staff aged 35–55 years taking part in the Whitehall II study who were free from depressive symptoms (n=2549) and anxiety symptoms (n=2618) at baseline. Baseline measurements for the current analyses were taken between 1997 and 1999, and follow-up was in 2001 and between 2002 and 2004.

Setting: Twenty civil service departments, London, England; from 1997 to 2004.

Risk factors: Hours worked per week (35–40 h, 41–55 h, or >55 h). Covariates were assessed at baseline and included sex, age, marital status, occupational grade, alcohol consumption, smoking and presence of chronic disease. Employment status at follow-up was also adjusted for in the analysis.

Outcomes: Depressive symptoms (30-item General Health Questionnaire, GHQ), and anxiety symptoms (28-item GHQ).

Design: Cohort study.

Follow-up period: Up to 7 years (mean 5.3 years for depression symptoms, 5.2 years for anxiety symptoms).

At baseline, those working for more than 55 h per week tended to be men, married or cohabiting, in higher occupational grades, and were …


Laminated, organic‐rich silts and clays with high dissolved gas content characterize sediments at IODP Site M0063 in the Landsort Deep, which at 459 m is the deepest basin in the Baltic Sea. Cores recovered from Hole M0063A experienced significant expansion as gas was released during the recovery process, resulting in high sediment loss. Therefore, during operations at subsequent holes, penetration was reduced to 2 m per 3.3 m core, permitting expansion into 1.3 m of initially empty liner. Fully filled liners were recovered from Holes B through E, indicating that the length of recovered intervals exceeded the penetrated distance by a factor of >1.5. A typical down‐core logarithmic trend in gamma density profiles, with anomalously low‐density values within the upper ∼1 m of each core, suggests that expansion primarily occurred in this upper interval. Thus, we suggest that a simple linear correction is inappropriate. This interpretation is supported by anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility data that indicate vertical stretching in the upper ∼1.5 m of expanded cores. Based on the mean gamma density profiles of cores from Holes M0063C and D, we obtain an expansion function that is used to adjust the depth of each core to conform to its known penetration. The variance in these profiles allows for quantification of uncertainty in the adjusted depth scale. Using a number of bulk 14C dates, we explore how the presence of multiple carbon source pathways leads to poorly constrained radiocarbon reservoir age variability that significantly affects age and sedimentation rate calculations.


OBJECTIVE
Given the strong association of the apolipoprotein E (apoE) allele epsilon 4 with late-onset Alzheimer dementia or multi-infarct dementia, we tested whether normal older adult men with at least one epsilon 4 allele demonstrate subclinical changes in cognition and perform more poorly on tests of cognitive function compared with subjects without the epsilon 4 allele.

DESIGN
Matched-pair design of normal adult male (average age, 63 years) fraternal twins.

SETTING
Subjects voluntarily participated on an outpatient basis at a research or medical center facility.

PARTICIPANTS
Members of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute twin panel third examination previously genotyped for apoE.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Education-adjusted scores on several neuropsychological tests were compared in twins discordant for the apoE epsilon 4 allele. Subjects with documented cerebrovascular disease were excluded.

RESULTS
Among 20 fraternal twin pairs discordant for the presence of epsilon 4, twins with the epsilon 4 allele demonstrated poorer mean performance than their co-twins without the epsilon 4 allele. This relationship was also noted cross-sectionally where age- and education-adjusted scores of 50 individual twin subjects with at least one epsilon 4 allele demonstrated poorer performance compared with 138 individual twins without an epsilon 4 allele.

CONCLUSIONS
The apoE epsilon 4 allele may be associated with decreased cognitive function in discordant twin pairs. Our results suggest that epsilon 4 may represent a potential marker for accelerated cognitive aging and such individuals may be at greater risk for development of late-onset Alzheimer dementia or multi-infarct dementia.


For decades, it has been shown that alpha frequency is related to temporal binding window, and currently, such is the mainstream viewpoint [Noguchi, Y. Individual differences in beta frequency correlate with the audio-visual fusion illusion. Psychophysiology, 59, e14041, 2022; Gray, M. J., & Emmanouil, T. A. Individual alpha frequency increases during a task but is unchanged by alpha-band flicker. Psychophysiology, 57, e13480, 2020; Hirst, R. J., McGovern, D. P., Setti, A., Shams, L., & Newell, F. N. What you see is what you hear: Twenty years of research using the sound-induced flash illusion. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 118, 759-774, 2020; Keil, J. Double flash illusions: Current findings and future directions. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 14, 298, 2020; Migliorati, D., Zappasodi, F., Perrucci, M. G., Donno, B., Northoff, G., Romei, V., & Costantini, M. Individual alpha frequency predicts perceived visuotactile simultaneity. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32, 1-11, 2020; Keil, J., & Senkowski, D. Individual alpha frequency relates to the sound-induced flash illusion. Multisensory Research, 30, 565-578, 2017; Minami, S., & Amano, K. Illusory jitter perceived at the frequency of alpha oscillations. Current Biology, 27, 2344-2351, 2017; Cecere, R., Rees, G., & Romei, V. Individual differences in alpha frequency drive crossmodal illusory perception. Current Biology, 25, 231-235, 2015]. However, recently, this stance has been challenged [Buergers, S., & Noppeney, U. The role of alpha oscillations in temporal binding within and across the senses. Nature Human Behaviour, 6, 732-742, 2022]. Moreover, both stances appear to have their limitations regarding the reliability of results. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to develop new methodology to gain more reliable results. Perceptual training seems to be such a method that also offers significant practical implications.


The first fricatives In 1985, the linguist Charles Hockett proposed that the use of teeth and jaws as tools in hunter-gatherer populations makes consonants produced with lower lip and upper teeth ("f" and "v" sounds) hard to produce. He thus conjectured that these sounds were a recent innovation in human language. Blasi et al. combined paleoanthropology, speech sciences, historical linguistics, and methods from evolutionary biology to provide evidence for a Neolithic global change in the sound systems of the world's languages. Spoken languages have thus been shaped by changes in the human bite configuration owing to changes in dietary and behavioral practices since the Neolithic. Science, this issue p. eaav3218 Diet-induced changes in the human bite over recent millennia led to the spread of new speech sounds, including "f" and "v." INTRODUCTION Human speech manifests itself in spectacular diversity, ranging from ubiquitous sounds such as "m" and "a" to the rare click consonants in some languages of southern Africa. This range is generally thought to have been fixed by biological constraints since at least the emergence of Homo sapiens. At the same time, the abundance of each sound in the languages of the world is commonly taken to depend on how easy the sound is to produce, perceive, and learn. This dependency is also regarded as fixed at the species level. RATIONALE Given this dependency, we expect that any change in the human apparatus for production, perception, or learning affects the probability—or even the range—of the sounds that languages have. Paleoanthropological evidence suggests that the production apparatus has undergone a fundamental change of just this kind since the Neolithic. Although humans generally start out with vertical and horizontal overlap in their bite configuration (overbite and overjet, respectively), masticatory exertion in the Paleolithic gave rise to an edge-to-edge bite after adolescence. Preservation of overbite and overjet began to persist long into adulthood only with the softer diets that started to become prevalent in the wake of agriculture and intensified food processing. We hypothesize that this post-Neolithic decline of edge-to-edge bite enabled the innovation and spread of a new class of speech sounds that is now present in nearly half of the world's languages: labiodentals, produced by positioning the lower lip against the upper teeth, such as in "f" or "v." RESULTS Biomechanical models of the speech apparatus show that labiodentals incur about 30% less muscular effort in the overbite and overjet configuration than in the edge-to-edge bite configuration. This difference is not present in similar articulations that place the upper lip, instead of the teeth, against the lower lip (as in bilabial "m," "w," or "p"). Our models also show that the overbite and overjet configuration reduces the incidental tooth/lip distance in bilabial articulations to 24 to 70% of their original values, inviting accidental production of labiodentals. The joint effect of a decrease in muscular effort and an increase in accidental production predicts a higher probability of labiodentals in the language of populations where overbite and overjet persist into adulthood. When the persistence of overbite and overjet in a population is approximated by the prevalence of agriculturally produced food, we find that societies described as hunter-gatherers indeed have, on average, only about one-fourth the number of labiodentals exhibited by food-producing societies, after controlling for spatial and phylogenetic correlation. When the persistence is approximated by the increase in food-processing technology over the history of one well-researched language family, Indo-European, we likewise observe a steady increase of the reconstructed probability of labiodental sounds, from a median estimate of about 3% in the proto-language (6000 to 8000 years ago) to a presence of 76% in extant languages. CONCLUSION Our findings reveal that the transition from prehistoric foragers to contemporary societies has had an impact on the human speech apparatus, and therefore on our species' main mode of communication and social differentiation: spoken language. Labiodentals depend on bite configuration. Biomechanical modeling shows that labiodental sounds like "f" are easier to produce (and to accidentally arise) under overbite and overjet (A) than under the edge-to-edge bite (B) that prevailed before the Neolithic (C). Overbite and overjet persisted only when exposed to the softer diets that became characteristic with food production (D versus E) and more recently with intensified food processing (F). Both developments led to a spread of labiodental sounds. Linguistic diversity, now and in the past, is widely regarded to be independent of biological changes that took place after the emergence of Homo sapiens. We show converging evidence from paleoanthropology, speech biomechanics, ethnography, and historical linguistics that labiodental sounds (such as "f" and "v") were innovated after the Neolithic. Changes in diet attributable to food-processing technologies modified the human bite from an edge-to-edge configuration to one that preserves adolescent overbite and overjet into adulthood. This change favored the emergence and maintenance of labiodentals. Our findings suggest that language is shaped not only by the contingencies of its history, but also by culturally induced changes in human biology.


Males may experience several barriers to seeking health care, including unfamiliarity with procedures (e.g. colonoscopy), stigma and fear of a given health issue, perceived breach of masculinity (machismo), and fear of feeling vulnerable. Evidence suggests church-based interventions are an effective way to strengthen the connection between promotional message content and participant conceptualization of the risks and benefits of health screenings. However, there is a lack of evidence demonstrating such effectiveness in men's health, and there is even more of a dearth of research focusing on Latinos. This discussion presents trends from a series of 4 community-based seminars during the 2010-2011 academic year conducted with Latino faith-based groups on men's health issues. Approximately 70 Latino men attended a series of seminars on health and wellness as it pertains to cancer screening procedures offered after church services. A particular emphasis was placed on perceived masculinity (machismo) and gender roles within the social environment, and how they influence health screenings among men, particularly for colorectal, prostate, and testicular cancer. The seminar series were a first step in laying the foundations for future formal effectiveness testing of faith-based facilities serving as a conduit for health promotion efforts among Latinos. This paper presents lessons learned from this new approach in community health outreach efforts. We advocate that faith-based groups can be an efficient and effective way to raise awareness and promote wellness among Latino men.


The spray formation and breakup of fossil diesel, biodiesel (RME) and kerosene was investigated experimentally on a common rail diesel injector using a long working distance microscope. The objectives were to further the fundamental understanding of the processes involved in the initial stage of diesel spray formation, and the influence of viscosity, lubricity and surface tension. Tests were conducted at atmospheric conditions and on a rapid compression machine.
Analysis of the fuel sprays at the start of injection revealed jets for each fuel whose morphology was governed by their Reynolds and Weber numbers. As the fuel viscosity was one of the most varying properties this pro-duced jets that were dynamically different. The differences were also reflected in the injection timing of the fuel sprays where the friction between the fluid and the nozzle wall controlled the start of injection (SOI). Kerosene was found to advance the SOI when compared to the diesel and as such suspected to have an impact on the combustion phasing. The RME results fully corroborated with the conclusions drawn based on kerosene.
Downstream from the nozzle the stabilising effect of viscosity can be seen to reduce the formation of surface waves, ligaments and droplets prior to the reaching the breakup length. It is speculated that the liquid core of the RME jet does not generally breakup directly into ligaments and droplets, but transitions into liquid sheets which then breakup or recombine into ligaments through surface tension.


Between the Roman annexation of Egypt and the Arab period, the Nile Delta went from consisting of seven branches to two, namely the current Rosetta and Damietta branches. For historians, this may look like a slow process, but on a geomorphological scale, it is a rather fast one. How did it happen? How did human action contribute to the phenomenon? Why did it start around the Roman period? And how did it impact on ancient Deltaic communities? This volume reflects on these questions by focusing on a district of the north-eastern Delta called the Mendesian Nome. The Mendesian Nome is one of the very few Deltaic zones documented by a significant number of papyri. To date, this documentation has never been subject to a comprehensive study. Yet it provides us with a wealth of information on the region's landscape, administrative geography, and agrarian economy. Starting from these papyri and from all available evidence, this volume investigates the complex networks of relationships between Mendesian environments, socio-economic dynamics, and agro-fiscal policies. Ultimately, it poses the question of the 'otherness' of the Nile Delta, within Egypt and, more broadly, the Roman Empire. Section I sets the broader hydrological, documentary, and historical contexts from which the Roman-period Mendesian evidence stem. Section II is dedicated to the reconstruction of the Mendesian landscape, while section III examines the strategies of diversification and the modes of valorization of marginal land attested in the nome. Finally, section IV analyses the socio-environmental crisis that affected the nome in the second half of the second century AD.


BACKGROUND
Over $6 billion per year is spent on prescription medication for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This study is an economic analysis of patients' willingness to pay for a prescription medication that offers complete relief of GERD symptoms.

METHODS
The study was a cross-sectional, nonrandomized design recruiting patients from 5 clinical sites. A computer-administered discrete-choice questionnaire was used to explore patients' willingness to pay for various attributes (time to relief, amount of relief, side effects, and out-of-pocket cost) associated with GERD treatment. Patients chose between 2 different combinations of attributes by indicating which scenario they preferred. Data were gathered on health status, health-related quality of life, and sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS
Two hundred five patients completed the discrete-choice questionnaire with a consistency rate of 99.5%. All attributes were relevant to patient decision making. Respondents were willing to pay up to $182 to obtain complete relief in a short period of time without side effects. Patients with less severe GERD symptoms were willing to pay more to avoid side effects ($58.25 vs $38.43). Older patients were less willing to pay for better relief than younger patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Results demonstrate that patients are willing to pay more per month for a medication that provides more complete and faster relief from GERD symptoms. This information can guide clinicians and formulary committees in evaluating optimal treatment for GERD.


Widespread increases in corporate leverage occurred over the 1980s in Australia. There was also considerable variation in leverage across firms. This paper uses a sample of 209 firms, observed annually between 1973 and 1991, to explore both cross-sectional and time variation in financial structure. The paper begins with a survey of the literature on corporate financial structure. This leads to a model that incorporates the major determinants of leverage. The empirical model takes into account the influence of both firm-specific and time-specific effects. The dynamics of leverage are also tentatively explored. The results suggest that a number of firm-related factors influence the relative costs of debt, the level of demand for and the availability of funds. Most important among these are firm size, growth, collateral and cash flow. A number of macro-economic variables are also found to influence leverage. Most important among these are real asset prices which play a significant role in the post-financial deregulation period.


Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths. Several studies have shown that nicotine and its metabolite, the tobacco-specific carcinogen 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), activate the Akt/mTOR pathway, which maintains lung tumor cell proliferation and survival. Targeting this pathway might be one of the options for lung cancer chemoprevention. We studied chemopreventive effects of Rapamycin by intervening at two different stages of NNK-induced lung adenoma and adenocarcinoma formation in female A/J mice. At 6 weeks of age, groups of mice were randomized and fed control AIN-76A modified diet. At 7 weeks of age, 40 mice from each group intended for carcinogen treatment received one dose of 10 μmol NNK /mouse by i.p. injection. Three weeks after the NNK treatment, groups of mice (25/group) were fed either control or experimental diets containing 8 or 16 ppm Rapamycin as an early stage intervention. Mice were continued on the respective diets and killed at 20 weeks (10 mice/group) after NNK-treatment and tumors were evaluated by histopathological methods. At 20 weeks - after tumors were allowed to form, another two groups (15 mice/group) were administered experimental diets containing 8 or 16 ppm Rapamycin as a late stage intervention and continued on the respective diets. Mice were killed at 36 weeks (15 mice/group) after both early stage and late stage interventions. Administration of 8 or 16 ppm Rapamycin as an early or a late stage intervention significantly suppressed lung adenoma and adenocarcinoma formation (p<0.01-0.0001) at 20 weeks and at 36 weeks. Rapamycin caused suppression of NNK-induced lung adenocarcinoma at both stages, but the effect was more pronounced at the early stage intervention >50-60% (P< 0.0001). Rapamycin treatment decreased the size of NNK-induced tumors from >2.10 to <∼0.75 mm3 (p=0.0056). Lung tumors harvested from mice exposed to Rapamycin showed a significant decrease in phosphorylation of S6 kinase (p-S6K) and phospho-Akt (p-Akt) when compared to control in both the early and the late stage intervention studies. Immunohistochmical analysis revealed that lung tumors from Rapamycin-treated mice had significantly reduced proliferating cell nuclear antigen (P<0.05) and p-S6 (P<0.005)-positive cells. These observations support the benefit of targeting the Akt/mTOR pathways in development of early interventions for lung cancer chemoprevention. {Supported by NIH, NCI grants NO1-CN-53300} Citation Format: Jagan Mohan Reddy Patlolla, Levy Kopelovich, Li Qian, Laura Biddick, Yuting Zhang, Dhimant Desai, Shantu Amin, Stan Lightfoot, Chinthalapally V. Rao. Early and delayed rapamycin prevents NNK-induced lung adenocarcinoma in A/J mice. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B111.


Abstract Globally, one of the largest intraplate earthquakes of M w  7.7 occurred on 26 January 2001 in the Kachchh rift basin (KRB), western India. The continuing long aftershock sequence over decades has generated much debate on the seismogenic fault(s). We have analyzed more than 10,000 aftershocks ( M w >1.0) recorded by a 50‐station broadband network in the region during 2006–2014. A total of 834 aftershocks ( M w >2.4), each recorded by at least eight broadband seismic stations with a minimum of eight P and six S phases, are relocated in this study by double‐difference tomography (tomoDD) method. The relocated aftershocks and velocity images reveal a near‐vertical or steeply south‐dipping deeper structure as the source zone of the mainshock and aftershocks; the structure correlates well with the geologically mapped South Wagad fault (SWF). Among the other geologically known faults, the Kachchh Mainland fault (KMF) and the Gedi fault (GF) are also well identified in the seismic sections. Further, fault‐plane solutions of 109 aftershocks having M w ≥3.5 corroborate well with the known faults. The geological model and seismological observations suggest that the SWF overstepped the KMF and intersects it at depth. The intersecting fault zone is the source area for the deeper (10–35 km) reverse faulting earthquakes in the KRB. At the fault end of the SWF, a heterogeneous velocity structure is imaged, which is attributed to a fluid‐filled rock matrix that triggered the mainshock. On the other hand, the GF is reported to be a later‐activated fault to the north of SWF; it generated some shallower aftershocks (0–20 km) mostly by strike‐slip mechanisms.


Recent surveys conducted from orbiting radiometers have shown that corruption of radiometric data due to Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) may significantly impact the accuracy of the retrieved environmental data. These findings have sparked an interest in RFI detection and mitigation methods; several future microwave remote sensing satellites, like the SMAP (Soil Moisture Active and Passive) mission of NASA, plan to incorporate RFI mitigation strategies in their design. A digital radiometer with very high temporal and spectral resolution developed at OSU/ESL may be used to address this issue; versions of this radiometer working at L-band and C-band are called L-band/C-band Interference Suppressing Radiometer (LISR/CISR), respectively. Although the high resolution obtained with this radiometer makes its use in a space based system unlikely due to the stringent datarate requirements required in such systems (unless data is further integrated after mitigating RFI onboard or flagging the data), LISR/CISR sensors are very beneficial for learning about time and frequency domain characteristics of the existing RFI environment, for serving as "ground-truthing" devices for other radiometers, and for analyzing the effectiveness of pulse and cross-frequency detection methods against observed RFI sources.
In this thesis, results from several groundborne and airborne radiometric campaigns performed using LISR/CISR systems are given. RFI sources observed in these experiments and RFI mitigation methods that use the high resolution obtained via LISR/CISR to remove such sources are described. Effectiveness of RFI mitigation methods against the diverse RFI sources encountered in campaigns is analyzed. The ability of LISR/CISR in eliminating very weak RFI sources even on the order of natural geophysical variations is demonstrated. Comparisons with other radiometers that participated in these campaigns are given when possible.
A novel method for RFI detection that uses the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality is also elucidated. Comparisons are made with another method based on the normality of thermal noise, the kurtosis detection technique, for the pulsed sinusoidal RFI case. Results prove that the Shapiro-Wilk technique is a viable alternative for RFI mitigation in actual systems. The thesis is concluded with a theoretical performance comparison against pulsed sinusoidal RFI using the three most commonly used RFI detection methods: Pulse detection, cross-frequency detection, and kurtosis detection. Particular emphasis is given to the cross-frequency detection method. It is shown that cross-frequency detection method provides good detection performance regardless of duty cycle for this important type of RFI.


We study random surfaces which arise as height functions of random perfect matchings (a.k.a. dimer configurations) on a weighted, bipartite, doubly periodic graph G embedded in the plane. We derive explicit formulas for the surface tension and local Gibbs measure probabilities of these models. The answers involve a certain plane algebraic curve, which is the spectral curve of the Kasteleyn operator of the graph. For example, the surface tension is the Legendre dual of the Ronkin function of the spectral curve. The amoeba of the spectral curve represents the phase diagram of the dimer model. Further, we prove that the spectral curve of a dimer model is always a real curve of special type, namely it is a Harnack curve. This implies many qualitative and quantitative statement about the behavior of the dimer model, such as existence of smooth phases, decay rate of correlations, growth rate of height function fluctuations, etc.


We present new methods for segmentation of large datasets with graph based structure. The method combines ideas from classical nonlinear PDE-based image segmentation with fast and accessible linear algebra methods for computing information about the spectrum of the graph Laplacian. The goal of the algorithms is to solve semi-supervised and unsupervised graph cut optimization problems. I will present results for image processing applications such as image labeling and hyperspectral video segmentation, and results from machine learning and community detection in social networks, including modularity optimization posed as a graph total variation minimization problem.


This study uses the Agent-Based Identity Repertoire model to investigate the ability of populations to adapt and learn in an unpredictable environment. The authors' findings highlight the trade-off between adaptation and diversity in the pursuit of performance but also show that this trade-off is far from straightforward. Increasing sophistication improves the ability to adapt but reduces diversity, imposing high costs down the line. However, high levels of sophistication also produce small, stable homogeneous clusters of agents, which slow down declines in diversity. Innovative or entrepreneurial agents reacting more rapidly to environmental signals increase the prevalence of such clusters, helping diversity but hampering adaptability. The authors also show that more predictable environments facilitate successful adaptation, especially for populations of intermediate sophistication. Finally, the authors conclude that the trade-off between adaptation and diversity is such that in the present model, long-term learning is difficult to achieve.


Good writing comes from hard, diligent work. Engineers understand what that means in their profession. In writing, that effort means giving our writing a close read, and testing it in every way. As in our engineering efforts, these tests are conducted to identify problems. And when problems are found, we must then develop effective solutions. With writing, these tests involve using our critical eye to detect any aspects of our writing that are unclear, wordy, vague, inaccurate, missing, or unneeded. We understand the purpose of our writing and read it, edit, rewrite and reread it, until we are sure it accomplishes that purpose as directly and effectively as possible.


A 4-H Member's Horse Camp allows horse project members to enjoy their equine partner in a non-competitive, outdoor setting. Campers learn about leave-no-trace outdoor ethics, trail riding, maneuvering trail obstacles, equine emergency first aid, and low impact camping. 4?H has long understood that providing opportunities for youth to learn about things that interest them is just one aspect of the program. Project specific content, in this case horses, helps youth in 4?H programs to develop important life skills. In the positive atmosphere at 4?H horse camp, youth may feel a sense of belonging, and are provided opportunities to develop mastery, independence, and a spirit of generosity? which are all essential elements in high quality youth development programs. Horse camps are a natural extension of opportunities for horse project members, and they can be added to existing camps, or create new camping lessons.


The pun is as old as Babel, and inveterate punsters like Shakespeare clearly never lacked translators. This book critically examines the evergreen cliche that wordplay defies translation, replacing it by a theory and a case study that aim to come to grips with the reality of wordplay and its translation. What are the possible modes of wordplay translation? What are the various, sometimes conflicting constraints prompting translators in certain situations to go for one strategy rather than another? Ample illustration is provided from Hamlet and other Shakespearean texts and several Dutch, French, and German renderings. The study exemplifies how theory can usefully be integrated into a description-oriented approach to translation. Much of the argument also rests on the definition of wordplay as an open-ended and historically variable category. The book's concerns range from the linguistic and textual properties of Shakespeare's punning and its translation to matters of historical poetics and ideology. Its straightforward approach shows that discourse about wordplay doesn't need to rely on stylistic bravura or abstract speculation. The book is concluded by an anthology of the puns in Hamlet, including a brief semantic analysis of each and a generous selection of diverse translations.


In September, 1963, a Disaster Research Center was established to study organizational behavior under stress. Two different settings for such a study were selected which resulted in two sponsorships: a. The field phase, where emphasis is on sending a team into communities immediately after they have experienced a major disaster (sponsored by the Office of Civil Defense), and b. The laboratory phase, were units of organizations are studied in a laboratory setting under more controlled conditions where stress situations can be manipulated. It was originally felt that work in both of these settings simultaneously would serve to strengthen each approach.


U-Pb geochronology on metamorphic minerals from a 35-km-long belt of eclogite-facies rocks in central Tanzania yields a Paleoproterozoic age of 2 Ga for the time of metamorphism. Peak metamorphic conditions found in eclogites (± kyanite) and metapelites reached about 750 °C and 18 kbar. A clockwise pressure-temperature path is deduced from mineral zonations, inclusion relations, and retrograde reaction textures. Near-isothermal decompression can be explained by erosion or tectonically controlled exhumation that followed tectonic thickening of the crust during subduction. Trace and rare earth element geochemistry indicates a mid-ocean ridge basaltlike mantle source for the precursors of the mafic members of the eclogite-facies rock suite. All the observations combined indicate that these high-pressure rocks are the oldest-known large-scale outcrops of eclogites formed during subduction of oceanic lithosphere. Linking eclogite formation to a Paleoproterozoic subduction event adds credibility to models of crust dynamics that advocate the operation of plate-tectonic processes early in Earth9s history. The paucity of Precambrian eclogites may then be addressed as a problem of preservation rather than lack of formation.


How do young children learn language? When does this process start? What does language acquisition involve? Children are exposed to language from birth, surrounded by knowledgeable speakers who offer feedback and provide extensive practice every day. Through conversation and joint activities, children master the language being used around them. This fully revised third edition of Eve V. Clark's bestselling textbook offers comprehensive coverage of language acquisition, from a baby's first sounds to a child's increasing skill in negotiating, explaining and entertaining with language. This book, drawing together the most recent findings in the field, and illustrated with examples from a wide range of experimental and observational studies, including the author's own diary observations, presents an essential and comprehensive guide to first language acquisition. It will be fascinating reading for students of linguistics, developmental psychology and cognitive science.


Aim To estimate the population attributable risk (PAR) for Chlamydia trachomatis infection in young men and women in Sydney, Australia. Method Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between demographic, sexual behaviour and other potential risk factors on chlamydia positivity in young (≤30 years) heterosexual international travellers (backpackers) and Australian residents attending a sexual health clinic. Point and interval estimates of PAR were calculated to quantify the proportion of chlamydia infections that can theoretically be prevented if a combination of risk factors is eliminated from a target population. Results In males, the PAR associated with inconsistent condom use in the past 3 months was 65% (95% CI 56 to 71%) in backpackers compared to 50% (95% CI 41 to 56%) in non-backpackers and the PAR associated with reporting three or more female sexual partners in the past 3 months was similar between male backpackers and non-backpackers; 33% (95% CI 28 to 40%) and 36% (95% CI 32 to 41%), respectively. In females, the PAR associated with inconsistent condom use in the past 3 months was 51% (95% CI 42 to 59%) in backpackers compared to 41% (95% CI 31 to 51%) in non-backpackers, and the PAR associated with reporting three or more male sexual partners in the past 3 months was 14% (95% CI 11 to 18%) in backpackers compared to 30% (95% CI 25 to 37%) in non-backpackers. Conclusion These findings suggest that the largest number of chlamydia infections could be avoided by increasing condom use, particularly in backpackers. Reporting multiple partners was also associated with a large proportion of infections and the risk associated with this behaviour should be included in health promotion strategies.


Abstract. On 12 May 2008 at 14:28 LT great earthquake (M=8.0) occurred at Wenchuan (31.00° N, 103.40° E), China. The hourly values of foF2 are analyzed over ten ionospheric observatories: Haikou (20.00° N, 110.33° E), Kunming (25.00° N, 102.70° E), Guangzhou (20.00° N, 113.70° E), Chongqing (29.50° N, 106.40° E), Lhasa (29.63° N, 91.17° E), Lanzhou (36.07° N, 103.87° E), Beijing (40.00° N, 116.30° E), Urumqi (43.75° N, 87.63° E), Chuangchun (43.83° N, 125.30° E) and Manzhouli (49.60° N, 117.45° E). With a new factor, effective sunspot number Reff, the results show that there were giant positive disturbances of foF2 around the epicentral zone on 9 May, 3 days prior to the earthquake. Our results indicate that the observed positive ionospheric disturbances were most possibly associated with the imminent earthquake and the new analytic method has good prospects in practice.


The Institute of Manuscripts of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences has a collection of 390 early medical documents, which include 363 manuscripts dating from the 9th century. Most are written in Arabic - the literary script of the day. Of these, 70 are in the Arabic language, 71 in Turkic languages (Turkish, Tatar, Kumyk, Uzbek), and the remainder in Persian.  In 29 July 2005, UNESCO officially included three medieval medical manuscripts from the Institute of Manuscripts of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences in the register of the Memory of the World Program, which comprises unique and irreplaceable written monuments of humankind. The Certificate confirming this decision was presented to the Institute of Manuscripts by Dr. K. Matsuura, the head of UNESCO. These manuscripts are described in the present paper.


INTRODUCTION: Many patients requiring radiotherapy for malignancies have an already implanted cardiac rhythm device. Previous studies reported a variety of device dysfunctions related to high dose radiation. Aim of this study was to assess the impact of current optimal radiotherapy treatment guided by computed tomography on current generation implantable devices.
METHODS: Consecutive patients with implanted pacemakers (PMK) and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) referred for radiotherapy treatment in any district were enrolled at our Centre and followed prospectively with device interrogation before and just after each radiotherapy cycle. A magnet was positioned on the device in patients with implanted defibrillators or pacemaker-dependency.
RESULTS: Overall, 48 patients (74.8 years (9.3), 39 males (81.3)) with implantable devices underwent radiotherapy (29 pacemakers and 19 ICDs). Interval between device implant and start of radiation therapy was 2.9 (1.6) years. Radiotherapy was performed under computed tomography guidance, and a mean of 73.5 (45.0) Gy were administered with a mean of 24.8 (14.6) fractionated doses. About half of the patients underwent thoracic radiotherapy, and 9 were treated for a left thoracic malignancy ipsilateral to the implanted device. No device failures were observed at post-treatment device interrogation, nor changes in electrical parameters, inappropriate shocks, device reprogramming or memory reset. None of the patients experienced premature battery failure or other unexpected anomalous findings at the end of the radiation therapy cycle.
CONCLUSION: Radiation therapy for malignancies is safe among patients with implanted current generation cardiac rhythm devices.


In recent years, both states and nonstate entities, the number of which has increased, have found ways to stimulate debate about how to interpret, apply, and clarify international humanitarian law (IHL). The development, interpretation, and clarification of IHL have largely occurred not so much through treaty making, but through other, non-legally binding avenues. There is a spectrum of such activity, ranging from state-driven processes aimed at producing non-legally binding outcomes, to hybrid processes involving states, independent experts, and various bodies. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) serves as a prominent actor in this regard, initiating ICRC-specific initiatives, expert processes, and academic writing.


In Measuring Sequence of Returns Risk from the Summer 2020 issue of The Journal of Retirement, authors Andrew Clare (of Cass Business School), Simon Glover (of ITI Group), James Seaton (of Solent Systematic Investment Strategies), Peter Smith (of the University of York), and Stephen Thomas(of Cass Business School) demonstrate that the timing–not just the amount–of investment returns can be vitally important to investors' retirement income prospects. Major losses right around one's retirement date are much more damaging than those that happen long before or after retirement. Popular investment vehicles like target-date funds (TDFs) have not protected against sequence risk, so investors need a different strategy. The authors find that a simple stock/bond asset allocation combined with a trend-following strategy for the stock portion (switching assets between stocks and government bonds, based on current market trends) greatly reduces sequence risk and minimizes the chances that retirees will run out of money or need to withdraw less from savings each year. The authors also offer ways to measure how well different investment strategies protect against sequence risk. TOPICS: Volatility measures, downside-only measures, performance measurement


This paper addresses the question of intergenerational schooling mobility in Senegal. We use an original survey conducted in 2003 that provides instruments to deal with the endogeneity of parent's education. In Senegal, school supply has been increasing a lot over the last decades, individuals who are now adults had different exposure to the schooling system, depending on where they lived when they were young and on their birth cohort. Hence, a first set of instruments describes the infrastructures available in the environment in which parents lived when they were 10 years old. Moreover, variation in education demand for a child is also driven by his/her position among his/her siblings, since older children tend to be less educated in West Africa. Being the first born is random but implies different educational outcomes than other birth ranks. Hence, the second set of instruments describes whether the parents were the first born among their same sex siblings. The estimated effect of father's education is more than double when its endogeneity is accounted for. Unexpectedly, mother's education comes out as a lesser determinant. We then focus on the understanding of the channels through which parental education affects children's schooling. We present the results pointing at the importance of the direct impact of parental education relative to the effect passing through wealth or household activity choices.


This project theorizes the Black God trope as a rhetorical strategy used by many African-American rhetors across the history of African-American letters. The Black God trope is a linguistic, imagistic, and embodied rendering of religious concepts, such as God is Black, to create associations of meaning that foreground racial uplift. The Black God trope is a rhetorically constituted phenomenon created through resistance strategies that target African-American audience members, but are also accessed by anyone culturally rooted in the terms of the conversation. First, I demonstrate how Black rhetors writing about a Black God creates a language system that reflects African-Americans' shifting subjectivity within the American experience. Offering examples from Ethiopianism to rap music, I focus on the Black God trope from the 1950s to the 1990s. Across these examples, I provide evidence of linguistic, imagistic, and embodied rhetorical resistance to white western patriarchy. Finally, I examine the Black God trope as a gendered critique of white and Black western patriarchy to demonstrate how an ideology like womanism is voiced by authors using the Black God trope as a means of public address. This work is the beginning of a rhetorical history that understands a Black God and Black Nationalist religious rhetoric as central to conducting scholarship on the African-American experience. The project offers a pathway to new and creative teaching and research methods that engage diversity and multivocality.


This article compares recent political developments in two seemingly different countries: Turkey and Thailand. The similarities between the trajectories of Turkey and Thailand date back to their similar manner of incorporation into the modern international system in the late nineteenth century. In recent years, the rise of new societal groups based upon urbanized villagers has produced charismatic populist leaders who preach democracy, but practise electoralism. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Thaksin Shinawatra are locked in parallel confrontations with traditionally interventionist military/bureaucratic elites. A comparison between Thailand and Turkey provides insights that are generally applicable to our understanding of democratization outside the West.


Abstract. This research purpose aims to explore the spatiotemporal aspects of social media data with Twitter data by using topic modelling techniques. The spatiotemporal limits are restricted in two areas of the Republic of Korea: Seoul and Jeju Island. This paper searches the semantics and geographical place characteristics of the Twitter data, and the semantics and place characteristics are regarded as topics in the topic modelling. This paper also discusses the temporal intensity over different spatial areas and visualizes the spatiotemporal patterns with GIS techniques.As Twitter mobility message contains a user's interests and behavioural patterns in the geo-tagged data corresponding to its location, it is possible to explore geographical locality and the user's mobility over space by using textual ontological techniques such as topic modelling. Therefore, this paper attempts keywords searching and textural classification to classify the shared spatial activity patterns of the Twitter users. Consequently, two main analysis themes are explored: the tourist activity patterns attracting the visitors in Jeju over time and temporal periodicity for shopping and meal preference in Seoul, respectively.In conclusion, this research represents a potential of the social network data that enables to fill the gap of spatiotemporal patterns of human beings over the online and mobile environment. Furthermore, our study confirms social data analysis techniques as an alternative geographical data source that can complement and replace the roles of spatial data, which could not be analysed in the conventional offline data.


Since 2006, Design Thinking education programs for master-level students have been developed at Ponts ParisTech, a leading French engineering school. This paper presents a longitudinal study of the creation and dissemination of Design Thinking (DT) as a discipline to educate top-level French students for innovation. From 2006 to 2012, 53 projects were carried out by a total of 224 students. A review is made of the instructional design of those DT projects, from local experiments through the creation of a d.school supported by the French Ministry of Education and Research to the dissemination of DT nationally. From this, key lessons are drawn for faculty members wanting to set up and disseminate DT in their own university. The paper advocates that a DT professor becomes a staging director who should consider three elements - people, place, and process - in order to create "the right conditions for students to innovate" (Leifer, Stanford). A faculty member's task thus defines itself as the art of creating the best conditions for driving students' journeys of exploration within a specific context, and represents a transformative and learning adventure.


This article explores the role of weakness of will (akrasia) in the Indian Buddhist tradition, and in particular within Śāntideva's Introduction to the Practice of Awakening (Bodhicaryāvatāra). In agreement with Jay Garfield, I argue that there are important differences between Aristotle's account of akrasia and Buddhist moral psychology. Nevertheless, taking a more expanded conception of weakness of will, as is frequently done in contemporary work, allows us to draw significant connections with the pluralistic account of psychological conflict found in Buddhist texts. I demonstrate this by showing how Amélie Rorty's expanded treatment of akrasia as including emotional response and perceptual classification allows us to recognize that one of the purposes of many of Śāntideva's meditations is to treat various forms of akratic response.


Our oceans are amazing! They are filled with wonderful sea creatures and are essential for a healthy planet. But it's now estimated that there are more pieces of plastic in the ocean than visible stars in the Milky Way. So how can we stop plastic from our homes and cities from ending up floating in oceans far away? By becoming ocean change-makers!

Oceans of Plastic explores how ocean systems and swirling currents bring plastics together into massive ocean garbage patches. It also uncovers the floating world of the 'plastisphere' – a mini community of microbes living on ocean plastics – and explains how plastic breaks up, not down, and can even end up on your dinner plate!

Oceans of Plastic is packed with great ideas and simple changes that you can make to help our oceans. Become an ocean change-maker in your home, school or community, and inspire others to join you in protecting the future of our oceans.

Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 9 to 12.


The challenges faced by people who are severely physically impaired and nonspeaking are demonstrated by the fact that, even with current technology, the word rates that they can achieve using current communication systems tend to range from two to ten words per min. We have been investigating ways in which prestored reusable texts might assist in improving the performance of such systems. Beginning with a study of the acceptability and effects of including prestored texts in a conversation, this investigation examined a series of methods of increasing complexity that had the system itself perform some of the cognitive and manipulative tasks required to locate suitable texts for a user to include in conversation. These methods have included logging conversational paths for potential reuse in future interactions, using a hypertext structure for storing and navigating through conversational texts, employing fuzzy information retrieval, and building a system based on scripts, plans, and goals. Seeing the possible conversation modes as occurring at varying levels of novelty, from predictable routines through reusable texts to uniquely created utterances, the most likely area for significant improvement then is in the storage and retrieval of large amounts of reusable text. Research needs to discover ways of making the retrieval process as effortless and efficient as possible to free the user to concentrate on the interaction itself.


Background: Chronic Anterior Knee pain is the most common post-operative complication following Intramedullary interlocking nailing of Tibial shaft fractures. Its incidence has been reported to range between 10 % to 86% but no definite cause can be attributed. This study was conducted to analyse the prevalence & severity of anterior knee pain in post tibial nailing patients with relation to nail protrusion, approach and proximal screw size. Methods and Material: 92 consecutive patients with an isolated tibia shaft fracture; treated with reamed IMIL nailing from 2014 to 2016 were included in the study. Chronic Anterior knee pain was assessed as per VAS. Besides X-ray, Ultrasound evaluation of patellar tendon morphology and nail protrusion was done. Statistical analysis used: student t test. Chi square test. Results: In the symptomatic group (28), 25patients (89%) had nail protrusion and only 3 patients (11%) did not have nail protrusion beyond proximal tibia cortical bone. In asymptomatic group, 20(33%) patients had nail protrusion and 40(67%) patients did not have nail protrusion. This difference was statistically significant with P value 0.00. In symptomatic group, 11(39%) patients had larger screws and 17(61%) patients had normal length screws. In asymptomatic group, 41(68%) patients had normal length and 19(32%) had large screw. P value came out to be 0.48. Conclusions: Anterior knee pain may be related to protrusion of nail beyond proximal tibial cortical bone [p value 0.01], and larger proximal screw length [p value 0.08].


This paper first utilizes annual surveys between the 1981 and 2000 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to estimate the effect of being overweight on hourly wages. Previous studies have shown that white women are the only race-gender group for which weight has a statistically significant effect on wages. This paper finds a statistically significant continual increase in the wage penalty for overweight and obese white women followed throughout two decades. A supporting analysis from a cross-sectional dataset, comprised of the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey and the 2000 and 2004 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, also shows an increasing wage penalty. The bias against weight has increased, despite drastic increases in the rate of obesity in the United States. Alternatively, the increasing rarity of thinness has led to its rising premium.


We estimate a neighborhood choice model using 2014 American Community Survey data to investigate the degree to which new housing supply can improve housing affordability. In the model, equilibrium rental rates are determined so that the number of households choosing each neighborhood is equal to the number of housing units in each neighborhood. We use the estimated model to simulate how rental rates would respond to an exogenous increase in the number of housing units in a neighborhood. We find that the rent elasticity is low, and thus marginal reductions in supply constraints alone are unlikely to meaningfully reduce rent burdens. The reason for this result appears to be that rental rates are more closely determined by the level of amenities in a neighborhood?as in a Rosen-Roback spatial equilibrium framework?than by the supply of housing.


The potential association between microbial infection and reactivation of a multiple sclerosis (MS) lesion is an important issue that remains unresolved, primarily because of the absence of suitable animal models and imaging techniques. Here, we have evaluated this question in an empirical manner using immunohistochemistry and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), before and after the induction of a systemic inflammatory response in two distinct models of MS. In a pattern-II-type focal myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model, systemic endotoxin injection caused an increase in regional cerebral blood volume (rCBV) around the lesion site after 6 h, together with a reduction in the magnetization transfer ratio of the lesioned corpus callosum. These changes were followed by an increase in the diffusion of tissue water within the lesion 24 h after endotoxin challenge and new leukocyte recruitment as revealed both immunohistochemically and by MRI tracking of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide-labeled macrophages. Importantly, we detected in vivo expression of E- and P-selectin in quiescent lesions by MRI-detectable glyconanoparticles conjugated to sialyl LewisX. This finding may explain, at least in part, the ability of quiescent MS lesions to rapidly reinitiate the cell recruitment processes. In a pattern-I-type delayed-type hypersensitivity response model, a similar effect of endotoxin challenge on rCBV was observed, together with delayed breakdown of the blood–brain barrier, showing that systemic infection can alter the pathogenesis of MS-like lesions regardless of lesion etiology. These findings will have important implications for the management and monitoring of individuals with MS.


The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has taken data at a centre-of-mass energy between 900 GeV and 8 TeV during Run I (2009-2013). The LHC delivered an integrated luminosity of about 20 fb-1 in 2012, which required dedicated strategies to ensure the highest possible physics output while effectively reducing the event rate. The Muon High Level Trigger has successfully adapted to the changing environment from low instantaneous luminosity (1032 cm-2 s-1) in 2010 to the peak high instantaneous luminosity (1034 cm-2 s-1). The selection strategy has been optimized for the various physics analyses involving muons in the final state. We will present the excellent performance achieved during Run I. In preparation for the next data taking period (Run II) several hardware and software upgrades to the ATLAS Muon Trigger have been performed to deal with the increased trigger rate expected at higher centre-of-mass energy and increased instantaneous luminosity. We will highlight the development of novel algorithms that have been developed to maintain a highly efficient event selection while reducing the processing time by a factor of three. In addition, the two stages of the high level trigger that was deployed in Run I will be merged for Run II. We will discuss novel approaches that are being developed to further improve the trigger algorithms for Run II and beyond.


The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of crude oil price on global fertilizer prices in both the mean and volatility. The endogenous structural breakpoint unit root test, ARDL model, and alternative volatility models, including GARCH, EGARCH, and GJR models, are used to investigate the relationship between crude oil price and six global fertilizer prices. The empirical results from ARDL show that most fertilizer prices are significantly affected by the crude oil price while the volatility of global fertilizer prices and crude oil price from March to December 2008 are higher than in other periods.


Nordic National Cinemas explores the film histories and cultures of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The authors examine each country's domestic film production, social and political context and domestic audiences from the beginning of this century to the twentieth century. The authors not only explore the work of internationally renowned figures such as Mauritz Stiller, Victor Sjostrom, Carl Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman, directors of such classics as Vampyr, Ordet, Wild Strawberries and Cries and Whispers, but also nationally important film makers such as August Blom, Bodil Ipsen, Lau Lauritzen and Nils Malmros, they also discuss contemporary film makers including Gabriel Axel, director of Babette's Feast, the Kaurismaki brothers, directors of The Match Factory Girl and The Leningrad Cowboys and the recently acclaimed Lars von Trier, director of Breaking the Waves.