Abstract: Environmental factors influencing grass establishment and performance in tropical savannas are poorly understood, particularly in relation to disturbance. We describe a seed sowing experiment that examined the effects of fire regime, canopy cover and litter cover on the emergence, establishment, height and fecundity (seed production) of the regionally dominant annual grass Sorghum intrans in northern Australia. Establishment was significantly lower under the woody canopy compared with canopy gaps, and where seeds were sown on a layer of litter compared with bare soil. However, variation in fire regime had no significant effect on establishment or seed production. Additionally, a shade-house experiment was conducted to test the effects of litter on seedling emergence of S. intrans and six other grass species representative of the local flora (Pseudopogonatherum contortum, Sorghum plumosum, Chrysopogon latifolius, Eriachne triseta, Heteropogon triticeus and Alloteropsis semialata). All species showed reduced emergence when sown either above or below litter, compared with bare soil. Our results demonstrate the importance of the overstorey as a determinant of S. intrans abundance and savanna grass composition more generally, through its effect on establishment. The aversion of savanna grasses to litter (and S. intrans to canopy shading) supports the notion of savanna species being highly adapted to disturbance.


Objective: We aimed to discuss the molecular mechanism of miR-378 in enhancing the invasion and migration of hepatoma carcinoma cells through targeted PTEN-based EMT regulation.
Method: The human hepatoma cell line HepG2 was cultured. Cells in the logarithmic phase were collected and transfected using miR-378 mimics through liposome-mediated transfection method. Successfully transfected cells and the primary cancer cells were denoted as groups A and B. Each group had eight repeated holes. The invasion and migration abilities of both groups were tested by Transwell and wound-healing experiments at 24 and 48 h. The relative miR-378 mRNA expression levels of both groups were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. PTEN and EMT related proteins were tested by Western blot at 48 h. Differences between two groups were analysed by SPSS20.0.
Results: The cell-leaching and wound-healing rates of group A at 24 and 48 h were lower than those of group B. Cell-leaching and wound-healing rates at 48 h were higher than those at 24 h. Differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). The relative expression levels of miR-378 mRNA and PTEN protein content of group A were significantly higher than those of group B, whereas relative expression levels of Protein Kinase B (PKB), Ki67 and Phosphatidylinositol 3 (PI3K) were significantly lower (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Low expression of miR-378 was observed in hepatoma carcinoma cells, which can downregulates the expression of PTEN protein and upregulates the expression of EMT-related proteins, thereby enhancing their invasion and migration abilities.


In his accounts of plant and animal generation Pierre Gassendi offers a mechanist story of how organisms create offspring to whom they pass on their traits. Development of the new organism is directed by a material soul or animula bearing ontogenetic information. Where reproduction is sexual, two sets of material semina and corresponding animulae meet and jointly determine the division, differentiation, and development of matter in the new organism. The determination of inherited traits requires a means of combining or choosing among each parent's contributions, and towards this end, Gassendi outlines the nature of competition and dominance among animulae. Unlike his fellow mechanists, Gassendi can extend his mechanism to his heredity account, because his proposed vehicle for ontogenetic transmission is material. That proposal in turn relies on his atomist hypothesis. The relative uniformity of atoms allows animulae to operate equivalently across different modes of generation, spontaneous or otherwise. Further, his molecular model of atomic structures allows a material means of storing ontogenetic information received from the souls of parent organisms. These accountsflawed and sketchyunsurprisingly fail to specify how hereditary information might be borne physically, and in any case do not meet Gassendi's own empiricist standards. Yet this generation theory with pretensions to a materialist mechanism establishes Gassendi's firm commitment to a unity of the sciences through an atomist ontology that underlies all physical phenomena, including the organic.


Sea ice is an integral part of the marine ecosystem in the Arctic and important habitat for ringed seals and polar bears. To study changes in sea ice characteristics indicative of ringed seal habitat (and linked, through predator/prey relationships, to polar bear habitat), we examined historical changes in sea ice concentration and type within M'Clintock Channel and the Gulf of Boothia, two regions of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, during 1980-2000. Results suggest large interannual variability in winter ice conditions over the 21-year study period. In M'Clintock Channel, first-year ice types dominated consistently, while in the Gulf of Boothia, thick ice types dominated in some years. For breakup and consolidation, the regional spatial patterns differed significantly, occurring in opposite directions (N-S vs. S-N) in the two regions. The dates showed considerable interannual variability in both regions, suggesting no clear pattern of either earlier breakup or later consolidation. Analysis of satellite data confirmed the results obtained from digital ice charts. Ringed seal habitat suitability indices (HSI) indicate that both regions contained primary, secondary, and tertiary HSI classes. No trends were evident in the secondary or tertiary classes, but changes in the primary class were evident in M'Clintock Channel over the five-year period 1997-2001. Dynamic and thermodynamic sea ice processes are important to ringed seal habitat (and ultimately, polar bear habitat) at regional and hemispheric scales in the current context of climate variability and change.


This book presents findings from project R7786 Partnerships to improve access and quality of urban public transport for the urban poor carried out by the authors as part of the Knowledge and Research (KaR) programme of the Infrastructure and Urban Development Department, Department for International Development (DFID) of the British Government. The purpose of the project was to identify, explore, and document critical issues in the provision of transport services for and in low-income settlements in developing countries. The identified issues can be used at policy and operational levels to provide better transport services to low-income communities in urban areas. In the research methodology, a sustainable livelihoods framework was used to set the research framework. The city of Dar es Salaam has grown rapidly since the late 1940s. In the 1948 census the population was 69,227; by the census in 1957 it had grown to 128,742. During this period the city remained highly concentrated, with its boundaries on average less than five kilometres from the sea front or the then town centre. The growth has continued and the estimated population in 2000 was 2,286,730, with a continuing annual growth rate of about 4.5 per cent against the national average of 2.8 per cent.


The objective of this paper is to present and illustrate from a game-theory perspective, the main concepts and challenges behind macroeconomic policy cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Examples are taken from fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies in a regional framework. Translating these concepts and examples into the economics of sub-regional integration, when countries have increasing commercial and financial relations, interact frequently and cannot escape from the consequences their decisions have on their partners, the paper contend that entering into a cooperative dynamic will be beneficial for all cooperative participants. Moreover, it is shown that because the welfare gains from regional cooperation are endogenous, cooperation will eventually become stable, even in the presence of a Prisoner's Dilemma. The concepts of static games are initially introduced to identify some of the costs and benefits of regional macroeconomic coordination. The arguments are developed using the example of tax and subsidy policies and the competition to attract foreign investment. Then, the document incorporates the dynamic aspects of cooperation, in particular the notion of time consistency. A review of the costs and benefits of regional coordination of macroeconomic policies is presented, from a dynamic point of view. The notion of endogenously determined criteria to form an optimal currency area is then introduced. We demonstrate that even when initial conditions are less than optimal, macroeconomic policy coordination within sub-regional integration schemes can lead to a stable cooperative situation. Nevertheless, at the initial stage of coordination, the benefits are uncertain and cooperation is unstable; consequently a formal institutional setting is necessary to start and coordinate the cooperative process, at least in its earlier stage.


The creep of materials is a research topic of major significance in the life assessment and design of many modern engineering components of advance technology such as: power generation plant, chemical plant, gas turbines, jet engines, spacecrafts, components made of plastics and polymers, etc. To predict the creep life of such components, one necessary ingredient is a creep damage model. The current creep damage models are either too cumbersome to be readily employed and/or not sufficiently accurate for practical applications. This paper describes a new multiaxial creep damage model that alleviates the major shortcomings of the existing models yet it is simple and accurate enough to be readily applicable to industrial cases.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


In complex indoor environments, due to the attenuation of the signal and the changing surrounding environment, the censoring and multi-component problems may be present in the observed data. Censoring refers to the fact that sensors on portable devices cannot measure Received Signal Strength Index (RSSI) values below a specific threshold, such as -100 dBm. The multi-component problem occurs when the measured data varies due to obstacles and user directions, whether the door is closed or open, etc. By accounting for these problems, this paper proposes to model the RSSI probability density distributions using the Censoring Gaussian Mixture Model (C-GMM) and develop the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm to estimate the parameters of this model in the offline phase of the Wi-Fi fingerprinting based Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS). The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Twenty-two patients with the combined lesions of ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, proved at cardiac catheterization, are reviewed in detail in regard to their clinical profile, hemodynamic data, and indications for, and results of, surgical repair. The incidence of this combination of lesions is not so uncommon as would be anticipated by the paucity of the reports in the medical literature. The diagnosis of both lesions is important for management and surgical technic. The striking findings by physical examination are the gross undernourishment and the wide pulse pressure in the great majority. Almost all have harsh systolic murmurs along the mid left sternal border and only 2 had continuous Gibson murmurs. Consequently, auscultation is of little help in delineating the presence of an associated patent ductus arteriosus. The electrocardiogram is of minor importance in the diagnosis of this combination of lesions. Roentgenograms in the majority show features common to either lesion alone although the frequency with which left atrial enlargement is found appears to be greater in this combination of lesions. Careful hemodynamic studies are crucial in the diagnosis of these 2 lesions. At the ductal level passage of the catheter establishes the diagnosis, or an increase in oxygen saturation greater than 5 per cent in comparison to the right ventricular blood strongly suggests the presence of a patent ductus arteriosus. The great majority of the ventricular septal defects were diagnosed by an increase in the oxygen saturation of 10 per cent or greater at the ventricular level. Almost all had pulmonary artery hypertension. Thirteen patients had surgical intervention; 9 had only closure of the patent ductus arteriosus alone and 4 had complete repair of the lesions. In the former group there were 2 deaths and 2 improved significantly. In the latter group there were 2 surgical deaths and 2 were markedly improved. The 2 surgical deaths appear to be directly related to the massive hemorrhage through the unsuspected patent ductus arteriosus while on cardiac bypass and the subsequent technical difficulty of closing both defects from an anterior thoracotomy. The relationship of calculated pulmonary vascular resistance to surgical closure of the defects is discussed. It is suggested that if the patent ductus arteriosus is diagnosed on the basis of a typical machinery murmur, correction of this lesion is indicated, irrespective of the associated ventricular defect. If, on the other hand, the clinical picture is suggestive of a ventricular defect alone and the presence of the combination of lesions is discovered only at catheterization, then simultaneous correction of the 2 lesions is recommended. In small infants in whom the combined operation is particularly difficult at the present time, a preliminary trial of medical management is recommended; only if this fails to accomplish the expected result should division of the ductus be undertaken.


Understanding the character of natural organic matter (NOM) and assessing its impact on water quality is paramount for managers of catchments and water utilities. For drinking-water producers, NOM affects disinfectant demand and the formation of by-products which can have adverse health effects. NOM content in raw waters also has an impact on water treatment processes by increasing required coagulant dosages, reducing the effectiveness of adsorption processes and fouling membrane systems. This study investigated the effects of calcium chloride (CaCl2) as a co-coagulant in Al3+ and Fe3+ assisted coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation processes for NOM-removal from raw water collected from Lake Bolmen, in southern Sweden. Jar tests were conducted at Ringsjö Water Works (WW), a surface water treatment plant (WTP), to investigate the potential reduction in primary coagulants aluminum sulphate (Al2(SO4)3) and ferric chloride (FeCl3). This work shows that CaCl2 can, in certain situations, reduce the need for primary coagulants, which would reduce the environmental impact and costs associated with primary coagulant consumption.


At the centre of ocean governance are the undefined concepts of 'Blue Economy' and 'maritime security'. The AU has undertaken significant work in developing policies and strategies that address both these concepts, which deal with human interaction and its impact on the ocean. A thriving and secure African maritime domain depends on the ratification of these international developments by all African member states and the incorporation thereof into national strategies. As African countries move towards developing national maritime strategies it is important that the two dimensions – the provision of goods and services, and the protection and security of marine resources, property and life – are governed in an integrated manner that embodies the nexus between a thriving Blue Economy and an African maritime domain free from insecurity. RECOMMENDATIONS


This study investigates the relationship between extraversion/introversion personality dimension and the use of strategic competence (SC) in oral referential communication by Iranian EFL learners. Referential communication refers to a kind of guided communication in which the referents (or topics) are given to the speakers to convey their meanings to the listeners. 50 sophomore English students of Arak University (in Iran) were selected from among 70 ones to participate in this study. Using the Persian restandardized version of the adult EPQ (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, 1975) the subjects were divided into two groups of extravert and introvert. The homogeneity of the participants was determined by the Michigan test (1982) at the upper-intermediate level of proficiency. Each individual in the groups was given communicativetasks to communicateorally with a partner while his/her performance was tape-recorded and transcribed for later analyses. Then, the oral performance of the extravert group was compared with that of the introvert group in using compensatory strategies (CSs) in terms of type and frequency as identified by a taxonomy. The results revealed that, as far as total performance is concerned, extravert participants used interactional strategies and a sub-type of linguistic strategies i.e. transliteration significantly more than introvert ones whereas introvert participants used conceptual strategies significantly more than extravert ones. Thus, it can be concluded that the personality trait of extraversion/introversion is associated with L2 learners' preference in using, at least, some types of CSs in oral referential communication. The findings can have some pedagogical significance.


The boundary effect model (BEM) for concrete fracture and the effects of specimens size and crack length has previously been criticized on theoretical grounds, but the experimental evidence found in the literature, when taken alone, has been too limited to judge the validity of BEM conclusively. New, separately published, comprehensive fracture experiments, which were made on specimens cast from one and the same batch concrete and featured a broad ranges of both the size and the crack length (including a zero crack length), change the situation. The optimum fit of the data by Hu and Duan's model shows major deviations from these new test results. On the other hand, the Type 1 and 2 size effect laws (SELs) and their amalgamation in the universal size effect law are found to give a far better fit of the test results. Thus, regardless of the previously expounded theoretical objections, the comparison with experimental evidence alone suffices to conclude that Hu and Duan's model is not realistic.


Simple, economic and sensitive mathematical spectrophotometric methods were developed for the estimation 4-aminoantipyrine in presence of its acidic product. The estimation of binary mixture 4-aminoantipyrine and its acidic product was achieved by first derivative and second derivative spectrophotometric methods by applying zero-crossing at (valley 255.9nm and 234.5nm) for 4-aminoantipyrine and (peak 243.3 nm and 227.3nm) for acidic product. The value of coefficient of determination for the liner graphs were not less than 0.996 and the recovery percentage were found to be in the range from 96.555 to 102.160. Normal ratio spectrophotometric method 0DD was used 50 mg/l acidic product as a divisor and then measured at 299.9 nm with correlation coefficient 0.998 and limit of detection 0.04098. ratio derivative methods 1DD and 2DD; are based on measuring the first derivative and second derivative for normal ratio spectrum at (peak 290.7 nm and valley 310 nm) for 1DD and (peak 286, valley 301 and peak 316nm) for 2DD the correlation coefficient for linearity graph not less than 0.997 and the recovery percentage were found to be in the range from 99.64 to 100.11.


In this paper we present an arbitrage pricing framework for valuing and hedging contingent equity index claims in the presence of a stochastic term and strike structure of volatility. Our approach to stochastic volatility is similar to the Heath-Jarrow-Morton (HJM) approach to stochastic interest rates. Starting from an initial set of index options prices and their associated local volatility surface, we show how to construct a family of continuous time stochastic processes which define thearbitrage-freeevolution of this local volatility surface through time. The no-arbitrage conditions are similar to, but more involved than, the HJM conditions for arbitrage-free stochastic movements of the interest rate curve. They guarantee that even under a general stochastic volatility evolution the initial options prices, or their equivalent Black–Scholes implied volatilities, remain fair.We introduce stochastic implied trees as discrete implementations of our family of continuous time models. The nodes of a stochastic implied tree remain fixed as time passes. During each discrete time step the index moves randomly from its initial node to some node at the next time level, while the local transition probabilities between the nodes also vary. The change in transition probabilities corresponds to a general (multifactor) stochastic variation of the local volatility surface. Starting from any node, the future movements of the index and the local volatilities must be restricted so that the transition probabilities to all future nodes are simultaneously martingales. This guarantees that initial options prices remain fair. On the tree, these martingale conditions are effected through appropriate choices of the drift parameters for the transition probabilities at every future node, in such a way that the subsequent evolution of the index and of the local volatility surface do not lead to riskless arbitrage opportunities among different option and forward contracts or their underlying index.You can use stochastic implied trees to value complex index options, or other derivative securities with payoffs that depend on index volatility, even when the volatility surface is both skewed and stochastic. The resulting security prices are consistent with the current market prices of all standard index options and forwards, and with the absence of future arbitrage opportunities in the framework. The calculated options values are independent of investor preferences and the market price of index or volatility risk. Stochastic implied trees can also be used to calculate hedge ratios for any contingent index security in terms of its underlying index and all standard options defined on that index.


The signaling pathway of protein kinase C (PKC) is known to play a role in mediating the action of various cytokines. Here we examined the signal transduction pathway of PKC activation and the role of PKC isoforms in interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-mediated cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in human pulmonary epithelial cell line (A549). The tyrosine kinase inhibitors (genistein and tyrphostin AG126) and phosphatidylcholine-phospholipase C inhibitor (D-609) prevented IL-1β-induced prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release and COX-2 expression, whereas U-73122 (a phosphatidylinositol-phospholipase C inhibitor) and propranolol (a phosphatidate phosphohydrolase inhibitor) had no effect. The PKC inhibitors (Go 6976 and Ro 31–8220) and NF-κB inhibitor, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, also attenuated IL-1β-induced PGE2release and COX-2 expression. Western blot analysis using PKC isoenzyme-specific antibodies indicated that A549 cells expressed PKC-α, -γ, -ι, -λ, -ζ, and -μ. IL-1β caused the translocation of PKC-γ but not other isoforms from cytosol to the membrane fraction. Moreover, the translocation of PKC-γ was inhibited by genistein or D-609, but not by U-73122. IL-1β caused the translocation of p65 NF-κB from cytosol to the nucleus as well as the degradation of IκB-α in cytosol. Furthermore, the translocation of p65 NF-κB was inhibited by genistein, Go 6976, Ro 31–8220, or pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate. These results indicate that in human pulmonary epithelial cells, IL-1β might activate phosphatidylcholine-phospholipase C through an upstream tyrosine phosphorylation to elicit PKC activation, which in turn initiates NF-κB activation, and finally induces COX-2 expression and PGE2 release. Of the PKC isoforms present in A549 cells, only activation of PKC-γ is involved in regulating IL-1β-induced responses.


UK labour productivity is significantly lower than that of many other similarly advanced economies and has been so for decades, with negative implications for UK living standards. To make matters worse, during the last ten years labour productivity growth has stalled in most industrialised countries, and particularly in the UK. This has led to a renewed policy focus on productivity growth, as evidenced by successive government productivity plans and efforts to re-invigorate industrial strategy. This paper reviews the evidence on UK productivity performance, identifying what we know about the causes of its weakness, what we do not know and what this means for policy. We review the evidence through the lens of developments in economic measurement, drawing in particular on the work of National Institute colleagues past and present, and with a view to the key measurement challenges ahead that, unlocked, will help us understand better what is holding back UK productivity.


We show that Arabic uses some regular suffixes to build hypocoristics, i.e., nicknames derived from proper names, after emptying these suffixes of (most of) their semantic and morphological content. This gives rise to overlapping morphologies in which a suffix has one function in the usual paradigms of the language and, in a semantically and morphologically degenerate form, another function in hypocoristics. We discuss six such suffixal clones in Kuwaiti, Levantine, and Moroccan Arabic. These suffixation rules decompose Arabic proper names morphologically (i.e., they strip away affixal material). We also document idiosyncratic hypocoristics which, instead of using suffixes polysemically, make pun-like use of similar-sounding words of the language.


The Wairau Fault, the northern extension of the Alpine Fault, has not ruptured historically. Bounding the Marlborough Fault System to the north the Wairau Fault is over 100 km long and capable of generating a large earthquake rupture. From Cloudy Bay SW to Lake Rotoiti the fault is defined by a linear valley-bound trace and narrow zone of deformation. The main objective of this paleoseismic investigation of a section of this fault was to establish the pre-historic rupture history. Trenching excavations, geomorphic mapping, differential GPS surveying and weathering rind dating techniques were used to investigate the rupture history of the Wairau Fault. From trenching data at Tophouse, one earthquake rupture on the Wairau Fault is recorded since AD 200. No upper limit bounds this rupture date. Integration with a similar paleoseismological study of Zachariasen et aI, (2001) refines the last rupture event on the Wairau Fault to between AD 200 1000. A branch caught in the shear zones indicates a dated event approximately 12 500 years ago but other events intervene on stratigraphic evidence. Liquefaction deposits are recognised in the trenches, in conjunction with small thrust flaps on the footwall side, suggesting seismic rupture as the dominant translation mechanism, with no significant aseismic creep based on offset linear terraces. Dextral slip rates on the fault of 4.2 ± 1.4 mm/yr compares well with pre-existing data. A single event offset of 4.4 ± 0.5 m is consistent with others further along the Wairau Valley. A temporal disparity exists between the last rupture brackets at the Tophouse and Matakitaki River trenches (Yetton, 2002), indicating that, at least for the last rupture event an earthquake segment boundary was operational between the two trench sites. Defining an earthquake rupture segment boundary by a specific structure or location is difficult as any number of faults could dissipate radiated seismic energy and several possibilities are reviewed. If a rupture segment does exist between Matakitaki River and Tophouse, it is most likely about Lake Rotoiti. An estimated earthquake m~gnitude for the onland section of the Wairau Fault for this rupture segment is M == 7.4 ± 0.25. In addition to aspects of seismicity of the fault strike, both the large scale topographic setting and detailed morphology of the fault zone are discussed. In particular the complexity of interaction between fluvial processes and secondary deformation associated with the fault zone has lead to some insights into both the evolution of secondary structures and to the response of rivers behaviour to seismic cycles. On the basis of elapsed time since the last fault rupture, and slip rates on the fault, an earthquake rupture on the Wairau Fault in the near future is a distinct possibility.


An investigation has been conducted to determine the influence of aspect ratio, boundary-layer control by means of slots and porous surfaces, Reynolds number, and tunnel end-wall condition upon the performance of airfoils in cascades. A representative compressor-blade section (the NACA 65-(12)(10) of aspect ratios of 1, 2, and 4 has been tested at low speeds in cascades with solid and with porous side walls. Two-dimensional flow was established in porous-wall cascades of each of the three aspect ratios tested; the flow was not two-dimensional in any of the solid-wall cascades. Turbine-blade sections of aspect ratio 0.83 were tested in cascades with solid and porous side walls and blade sections of aspect ratio 3.33 were tested in cascades with solid wall. No particular advantage was observed in the use of porous walls for the turbine cascades tested.


Pervasive digitalization reshapes identities and processes of public sector providers, ranging from healthcare to education and justice. Recently, significant research attention has been given to such transformations, but still, there is more to learn about the mechanisms that may lead to the establishment of "digital institutions." My dissertation seeks to provide empirical and theoretical insights into the dialectic between stability and change that many contemporary institutions encounter. Empirically, the research builds on a nine-year longitudinal interpretative case study of the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) and its efforts to grapple with emerging digital technology. Theoretically, I draw on Zietsma and Lawrence's (2010) model of institutional work to investigate the purposeful actions of actors to deploy such technology for creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutional boundaries and practices. As such, my research is guided by the following research question: how do digital institutions emerge and come into being through the interplay of boundary work and practice work? Based on the theoretical model and the empirical analysis, I engage in theorizing that contributes to the current understanding of ways to organize digitally induced transformation of institutions and with what effects. First, it identifies and demonstrates exogenous and endogenous digital innovation as a key trigger of transitions between cycles of institutional stability and change. Second, it conceptualizes and illustrates a transformative trajectory in which organizational responses first revolved


In this paper, I argue that a nasal agreement phenomenon in Mbe (BenueCongo, Nigeria; Bamgbose 1971) is a case of reduplication in which material is copied as a nasal coda to a CV prefix with place features linked to the following onset; if place-linking fails, no copy occurs. I demonstrate that this account has important analytical implications for Mbe and more generally, for the theory of reduplication in Optimality Theory (Prince & Smolensky 1993). First, the place-linked nasal status of the copied segment is independently-motivated by conditions on Mbe syllable structure. Second, the size restriction on the reduplicant can be obtained through an atemplatic alignment constraint, AllSyllableLeft, utilized in a ranking producing The Emergence of the Unmarked (acronymically TETU; McCarthy & Prince 1994b; size-restrictor ranking after Spaelti 1997 building on McCarthy & Prince 1994a; Prince 1996). Further, I show that alternative templatic approaches to the size restriction are insufficient. Also addressed is the issue of prespecification in reduplication. Analyzing prefixes exhibiting nasal agreement in Mbe as reduplicative would seem to require admitting prespecified segments in reduplication; however, evidence from Mbe morphology is adduced to show that what appears to be prespecified material in fact belongs to a separate prefix. The analysis thus supports the claim that fixed segmentism in reduplication is not prespecified but is either phonologically-determined (i.e. default) or morphologically-determined (termed Ômelodic overwritingÕ by McCarthy & Prince 1986) (McCarthy & Prince 1986, 1990; Urbanczyk 1996a, b; Alderete et al. 1996; Spaelti 1997). A proposal is introduced to eliminate the emergence of prespecified material in reduplicative affixes from an extension of the Root-Affix Faith metaconstraint (McCarthy & Prince 1994a, 1995).


Ten years ago, the SARS outbreak spurred efforts by the World Health Organization to improve global responses to health threats and crises. In February 2003, a 64-year-old doctor was treating patients with atypical pneumonia in his home town of Guangzhou, in Guangdong Province, China (1). He himself had developed a respiratory complaint but felt well enough to travel to Hong Kong and go sightseeing with his brother-in-law. Unknown to him or anyone else, his symptoms were the early stages of "severe acute respiratory syndrome" caused by a previously unknown coronavirus (SARS-CoV) (2). The doctor, who had been staying in a hotel during his visit, checked into a Hong Kong hospital, warning staff that he had contracted a virulent disease. He succumbed 10 days later. During his short illness he had infected his brother-in-law (who died shortly after), at least two hospital nurses, and seven hotel guests including three from Canada, Singapore, and Vietnam. One hotel guest admitted to a hospital infected at least 88 health workers and 18 medical students. Another patient discharged from the same hospital started an outbreak affecting more than 200 residents of a housing estate. Infection continued to spread rapidly and widely. Within 5 months, 8096 people had been affected in 30 countries and 774 died, a fatality rate of about 1 in 10. As the emergency unfolded over the following 134 days, it stimulated renewed debate about how countries should work together to combat public health crises that run across national boundaries.


Objective: The objective of this project was to test the short term (90 days) efficacy of an automated behavioural intervention for smoking cessation, the "1-2-3 Smokefree" programme, delivered via an internet website. Design: Randomised control trial. Subjects surveyed at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 90 days later. Settings: The study and the intervention occurred entirely via the internet site. Subjects were recruited primarily via worksites, which referred potential subjects to the website. Subjects: The 351 qualifying subjects were notified of the study via their worksite and required to have internet access. Additionally, subjects were required to be over 18 years of age, smoke cigarettes, and be interested in quitting smoking in the next 30 days. Eligible subjects were randomly assigned individually to treatment or control condition by computer algorithm. Intervention: The intervention consisted of a video based internet site that presented current strategies for smoking cessation and motivational materials tailored to the user's race/ethnicity, sex, and age. Control subjects received nothing for 90 days and were then allowed access to the programme. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measure was abstinence from smoking at 90 day follow up. Results: At follow up, the cessation rate at 90 days was 24.1% (n  =  21) for the treatment group and 8.2% (n  =  9) for the control group (p  =  0.002). Using an intent-to-treat model, 12.3% (n  =  21) of the treatment group were abstinent, compared to 5.0% (n  =  9) in the control group (p  =  0.015). Conclusions: These evaluation results suggest that a smoking cessation programme, with at least short term efficacy, can be successfully delivered via the internet.


Salmon populations are highly variable in both space and time. Accurate forecasting of the productivity of salmon stocks makes effective management and conservation of the resource extremely challenging. Furthermore, widespread and consistent data on the productivity of species‐specific and total salmon stocks in a river are almost nonexistent. Ranking rivers based on physical complexity derived from remote sensing allows rivers to be objectively compared. Our approach considered rivers with great geomorphic complexity (e.g. having expansive, multichanneled floodplains and/or on‐channel lakes) as likely to have greater productivity of salmon than rivers flowing in constrained or canyon‐bound channels. Our objective was to develop a database of landscape metrics that could be used to rank the rivers in relation to potential salmon productivity. We then examined the rankings in relation to existing empirical (monitoring) data describing productivity of salmon stocks. To extract the metrics for each river basin we used a digital elevation model and multispectral satellite imagery. We developed procedures to extract channel networks, floodplains, on‐channel lakes and other catchment features; variables such as catchment area, channel elevation, main channel length, floodplain area, and density of hydrojunctions (nodes) were measured. We processed 1509 catchments in the North Pacific Rim including the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia and western North America. Overall, catchments were most physically complex in western Kamchatka and western Alaska, and particularly on the Arctic North Slope of Alaska. We could not directly examine coherence between potential and measured productivity except for a few rivers, but the expected relationship generally held. The resulting database and systematic ranking are objective tools that can be used to address questions about landscape structure and biological productivity at regional to continental extents, and provide a way to begin to efficiently prioritize the allocation of funding and resources towards salmon management and conservation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Jessica Straley, "Love and Vivisection: Wilkie Collins9s Experiment in Heart and Science "(pp. 348––373) This essay examines the paradox of Wilkie Collins9s antivivisection sensation novel, Heart and Science (1883). in the plot of the cruel vivisector Dr. Benjulia and the helpless young woman who almost becomes his latest experiment, the novel draws from a familiar bounty of antivivisectionist propaganda, but, this essay argues, the novel also reveals Collins9s thinking about his own literary genre and the unfavorable comparison many critics were making between vivisection and sensation fiction: medical experiments on live animals often electrified their subjects, and sensation novels likewise shocked their readers. More than simply a metaphor, this connection between scientific and literary practices pointed to a late-Victorian anxiety about physiological sensation and moral reasoning. The focus on the body, critics of both practices maintained, bypassed the authority of the soul and turned human agents into passive receptors incapable of the higher functions of rationality and ethics. In its preface, Heart and Science disavows any relation between its narration and the medical dissection it deplores, and much of the novel progresses without the sensation genre9s characteristic shocks. But Collins9s text also seeks to recover and to redeem physiology as the basis for human emotion and ethics and, in so doing, to redefine sensation fiction as an aid, rather than an inhibitor, to moral agency.


This report places the Regular Commissions Board in its historical context, considers the previous validation research into the Regular Commissions Board and the War office Selection Boards,, outlines the current officer selection and training procedures, and then describes the research methodology. The research analyzes the validity,, utility and fairness of the Regular Commissions Board as a method for the selection of army officers. The research suggests that the Regular Commissions Board is moderately predictive of training and regimental
performance, although little direct evidence is found that the Board is able to validly identify those who will be able to lead a platoon after training. It is estimated that the Regular Commissions Board is cost-effective though perhaps not necessarily cost-efficient. It is concluded that whilst there is some evidence of adverse impact against State educated schoolboys the Regular Commissions Board appears to be an acceptably fair selection mechanism. After a discussion of the findings, the conclusions and recommendations made to the Secretary of State for Defence are reported. These include the consideration of a mechanism which will provide the various parts of the army involved in the assessment and training of young officers with objective information on the qualities required and knowledge of success in identifying and developing such qualities; the introduction of a system of routinised validation; an investigation into the nature of the evidence available to Board members; and the need to assess the validity and fairness of the Board against more objective and independent criteria. Finally, some reflections and wider implications of the research for selection theory and practice are discussed. These include the value of assessment centres, the limitations of traditional validation as a catalyst for change and of validity and dollar utility as indicators of satisfactoriness and benefit, and the frequent insensitivity of social science conclusions and recommendations to alternative statistical assumptions.


Urban historian Jon C. Teaford explores the development of state government in the United States from the end of the 19th century to the so-called renaissance of states at the end of the 20th. Arguing that state governments were not lethargic backwaters that suddenly stirred to life in the 1980s, Teaford shows instead how state governments were continually adapting and expanding throughout the past century. While previous historical scholarship focused on the states, if at all, as retrograde relics of simpler times, Teaford describes how states actively assumed new responsibilities, developed new sources of revenue, and created new institutions. Teaford examines the evolution of the structure, function, and finances of state government during the Progressive Era, the 1920s, the Great Depression, the post-World War II years, and the post-reapportionment era beginning in the late 1960s. State governments, he explains, played an active role not only in the creation, governance, and management of the political units that made up the state but also in dealing with the growth of business, industries, and education. Not all states chose the same solutions to common problems. For Teaford, the diversity of responses points to the growing vitality and maturity of state governments as the 20th century unfolded.


Design activity is pervasive as it is increasingly expanding into all sectors and every day it is increasingly difficult to anticipate the often unpredictable changes resulting from new inventions and changes in technology, tools, methods and social customs using current design systems, and at the same time we need to preserve and store knowledge and experiences that can help facing aforementioned problems. The present paper illustrates an innovative Rule Layer overlying existing commercial software in order to model Reasoning and Performance verification Rules to be applied to design instances. The authors developed two different prototypes, one on BIM and one on CAD commercial software in order to validate the proposed approach. Results demonstrate the general system potentials opened up to further research development and deepening.


Bryan approaches St. Paul's letter to the Romans with a number of aims in view. First, he wants to show which literary type or genre would have been seen by Paul's contemporaries as being exemplified in the letter. He also determines what we can surmise of Paul's attitude and approach to the Jewish bible. The study involves discussion of and comparison with other literature from Paul's time, place and milieu - including other writings attributed to Paul.


The research set off with the rationale of understanding the cause of the unusually high cost overruns experienced in highway projects, executed in the tropical wetland setting of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. An expansive range of research from academe, revealed a strong dialectical debate between the theoretical and technical schools of thought, as to what propagates relatively higher cost overruns in public infrastructure projects. The theorists posit that optimism bias and deliberate misrepresentation by project planners, largely accounts for cost overruns in transportation infrastructure projects, and not geology/geotechnical risk as tendered by the technical school. Yet the literature continues to report inadequate geotechnical risk containment resulting in considerable post-contract cost overruns in highway projects. As a result of this contradiction, and the lack of a robust empirical analysis to this effect, this research was carried out to explore the statistical validity of geotechnical risk factors in explaining cost overruns recorded in highway projects executed in the Niger Delta region. Using the case study research strategy, 16 interviews were conducted within the 3 highway agencies in the region, longitudinal cost data was also gathered from 61 completed highway projects, along with geotechnical index data on the engineering properties of sub-grade soils at project locations. These were comprehensively analysed using an innovative multi-method approach: Thematic analysis; Documentary/archival analysis; Spatial analysis of geotechnical data sets, designed to quantitatively converge in a triangulatory log-regression model. The results of regression analysis identified that latent pathogens such as heterogeneous ground conditions and non-adherence to geotechnical best practices, amidst a wide array of unanticipated social constructs, account for the majority of the recorded variance between the initial estimates and the project's final account. The interplay of the emergent social constructs with the latent pathogens was further cognitively mapped out, using content analysis, to visually conceptualise the relative weightiness of the intricate complexity of the contextual dynamics, driving the unusually high level of cost overruns experienced in highway project delivery in the Niger Delta. The study concluded that the phenomenon of cost overruns in highway projects is multi-hydra headed, driven by a complexity of technical and contextual social variables, and not the simplistic explanations implied by the dichotomous arguments in the literature. It was thus recommended that tackling cost overruns in highway projects require far more than the scientific application of technical risk management tools, and should therefore, further incorporate concerted and specifically targeted efforts at curbing the intrinsic contextual triggers within, and external to highway organisations.


Most studies of cetacean habitat use do not consider the influence of anthropogenic activities. We investigated the influence of environmental and anthropogenic variables on habitat use by humpback Megaptera novaeangliae and Bryde's whales Balaenoptera brydei off the coast of the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Although there are 2 marine protected areas (MPAs) in this area, few data are available on cetacean habitat use or on the overlap of different cetacean species within these MPAs. Our aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of the MPAs and propose a buffer zone to better protect the biodiversity of the study area. We conducted systematic surveys and developed spatial eigenvector generalized linear models to characterize habitat use by the species in the study area. Habitat use by humpback whales was influenced only by depth, whereas for Bryde's whales there was the additional influence of anthropogenic variables. For Bryde's whales, which use the area for feeding, sea surface temperature and the distance to anchorages had a major influence on habitat use. We also showed that neither of the MPAs in the study area adequately protects the hotspots of either whale species. Most of the humpback whale grid cells with high sighting predictions were located within 2 km of the MPAs, while areas of high sighting prediction of Bryde's whales were located up to 5 km from the MPAs, closer to beaches. Our findings provide important insights for the delimitation of protected areas and zoning of the MPAs.


This study focuses on judicial practice in the Andalusian metropolis of Cordoba during the years 456/1064 to 464/1072. The author analyses the writings of councils of the judiciary, who commented, often controversially, on cases heard by courts pertaining to different judiciary systems. These texts offer new insights into the organization of the city's judiciary and its social and economic life. They allow for a precise definition of the relation between the qadi and governmental jurisdiction. By examining both realms, the author demonstrates -for the first time in a pre-Ottoman context- that fiqh, the Islamic system of ethical and juridical norms, was held, by all forms of the judiciary of this Muslim capital, to constitute a fundamental component of the legal system. The author develops a new interpretation of the reciprocity between society and law.


[1] A corrupt Australian Law Enforcement Agency (LEA) wishes to track the communications of a journalist who has published leaked whistleblowing documents from a confidential source, revealing the Australian LEA's complicity in illegal narcotics activity. The target journalist lives in New York and is a U.S. citizen. She opens her laptop, goes online and fires up Tor Browser. She is communicating with her whistleblowing source in Australia, who faces death if his identity is uncovered. Her communication and network traffic passes through Tor relays in Canada, Finland, and Malaysia before arriving at her source in Australia.


BACKGROUND
Ethanol is a frequently abused, addictive drug that impairs cognitive function. Ethanol may disrupt cognitive processes by altering attention, short-term memory, and/or long-term memory. Interestingly, some research suggests that ethanol may enhance cognitive processes at lower doses. The current research examined the dose-dependent effects of ethanol on contextual and cued fear conditioning. In addition, the present studies assessed the importance of stimulus salience in the effects of ethanol and directly compared the effects of ethanol on short-term and long-term memory.

METHODS
This study employed both foreground and background fear conditioning, which differ in the salience of contextual stimuli, and tested conditioning at 4 hours, 24 hours, and 1 week in order to assess the effects of ethanol on short-term and long-term memory. Foreground conditioning consisted of 2 presentations of a foot shock unconditioned stimulus (US) (2 seconds, 0.57 mA). Background conditioning consisted of 2 auditory conditioned stimulus (30 seconds, 85 dB white noise)-foot shock (US; 2 seconds, 0.57 mA) pairings.

RESULTS
For both foreground and background conditioning, ethanol enhanced short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning at a low dose (0.25 g/kg) and impaired short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning at a high dose (1.0 g/kg).

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that ethanol has long-lasting, biphasic effects on short-term and long-term memory for contextual and cued conditioning. Furthermore, the effects of ethanol on contextual fear conditioning are independent of the salience of the context.


ABSTRACT This contribution analyses the political impact of Brexit on the EU27. The main argument is that Brexit is not just about disintegration. The UK policy proposals on Brexit have reinforced among the governments, public opinions and even Eurosceptic parties of the EU27 the cohesiveness in favour of the preservation of European integration. The article is divided into four parts. First, it presents a critical review of the theoretical literature on EU disintegration and defines the concept of cohesiveness. In the second section, it analyses why the EU27 member states remained cohesive during the Brexit negotiation talks on major policy issues such as the Single Market, free movement of persons and budgetary contribution. In the third section, the article explains why Brexit did not succeed to convince the public opinions of the EU27 that leaving the EU was a relevant issue. In the fourth section, it analyses the reasons why Eurosceptic parties (especially right wing ones) within the EU27 started using Brexit as a strategic argument against EU integration but quickly abandoned it in favour of the request that EU must be changed from inside.


MicroRNA are believed to be generally involved in more quantitative regulation of
mammalian trait: therefore, mammalian conditions that have a strong genetic
component and involve quantitative differences between the physiological and
pathological conditions are strong candidates to be influenced by miRNA
disregulations. The pool of this study is thus to investigate the possible role for miRNA
imbalance in adipose tissue in the development of obesity.
To date, microRNAs have been identified and evaluated in human preadipocytes (miR-
143) and mouse hepatocytes (miR-122). There is no study dealing with microRNA in
subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of obese patients.
For this reason, we have performed an high-throughput screening by microarray
analysis on 1,458 microRNAs in SAT from 20 morbidly obese patients (10 men and 10
female) versus pools of RNA from non obese subjects (3 men and 5 female).
We were able to identify miRNAs differentially expressed comparing SAT from obese
patients with respect to SAT from non-obese patients.
The miR-519d was significantly higher in obese subjects than in the non obese pools.
Using bioinformatic and functional analyses, we have demonstrated that the peroxisome
proliferator activated receptor A (PPARA) gene resulted be a target of miR-519d.
PPARA regulates the genes involved in fatty acid, glucose metabolism and
inflammation (Cho et al., 2008). Therefore, it is conceivable that loss of PPARA could
cause metabolic imbalance, thereby resulting in adipocyte hypertrophy in SAT from
morbidly obese subjects.
This project set the goal to be a part of the effort in understanding the biology and the
role of this miR-519d during biogenesis of obesity.


Technological and economic development have long since been associated. From the archaeological discoveries of urban living to the cities of the future; from Babylon to places such as Singapore, technology and life are entwined. Much preoccupation today is with information and communications technologies (ICTs) and misguided notions of 'cyberspace' and 'information superhighways' and of course, life in the informational age. The hype that goes with this often conjures up images of endless potential for marginalised groups, or in turn, reinforces the powers of dominant groups during a most challenging period for capitalism. Yet there is a need for research into the way technology, and in particular ICTs, interacts with the social, political, cultural and economic complexity that forms the basis of place. This thesis attempts to address that need by focusing on the role of ICTs in local economies. Based on an extensive overview of the North East, and followed by an intensive approach of investigation into a small number of case studies, this work looks at the political processes that go hand-in-hand with technology and place. Specifically, the thesis pays attention to locally based partnerships that have taken form to build up the ICTs potential of local economies, and it seeks to understand the reasons why these have occurred at this particular moment in time. The research has identified a number of points in the local economy that appear to be emerging as areas for ICTs application. In effect, these are the key points from which the local economy is connected to the global economy. It is argued that local economies are falling in line behind a more global shift towards what Manuel Castells refers to as the informational mode of development. The role of local ICTs partnerships is crucial in enabling such development and the mechanics behind this are investigated. Again, by drawing on the work of Castells, it is contended that these groups are trying to condition the dynamics of the informational age and the logics of that age. That is, local ICTs partnerships, at the level of place, are attempting to shape the space of flows. Four cases are considered in detail. There is the work of the Sunderland Telematics Working Group who have developed a strategic path for the application of ICTs in the city. There is the work of the Wansbeck Initiative, focused on an emerging set of methods to deal with local economic decline and peripheralisation. There is the work of the County Durham Informatics Partnership, led by the county-wide Training and Enterprise Council and supported by the local University, the County Council and a number of local district authorities. And then there is Teesside, a place that has had a number of false starts in commencing on the road to informationalism, due in part to a lack of cohesion in the partnership building process. There is also the work of Northern Informatics who act as part of the bigger regional picture, perhaps suggesting that as these groups take form there may be an ICTs 'turf-war' to consider. This work shows that there is indeed some level of contestation as local ICTs partnerships are formed. Fundamentally, we are at the beginning of something new here, and there can be no predetermined outcome of how local groups attempt to shape the space of flows.


Title of Dissertation: ELECTROSTATIC MEMS ACTUATORS USING GRAY-SCALE TECHNOLOGY Brian Carl Morgan, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006 Dissertation directed by: Professor Reza Ghodssi Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Institute for Systems Research The majority of fabrication techniques used in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) are planar technologies, which severely limits the structures available during device design. In contrast, the emerging gray-scale technology is an attractive option for batch fabricating 3-D structures in silicon using a single lithography and etching step. While gray-scale technology is extremely versatile, limited research has been done regarding the integration of this technology with other MEMS processes and devices. This work begins with the development of a fundamental empirical model for predicting and designing complex 3-D photoresist structures using a pixilated gray-scale technique. A characterization of the subsequent transfer of such 3-D structures into silicon using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) is also provided. Two advanced grayscale techniques are then introduced: First, a double exposure technique was developed to exponentially increase the number of available gray-levels; improving the vertical resolution in photoresist. Second, a design method dubbed compensated aspect ratio dependent etching (CARDE) was created to anticipate feature dependent etch rates observed during gray-scale pattern transfer using deep reactive ion etching (DRIE). The developed gray-scale techniques were used to integrate variable-height components into the actuation mechanism of electrostatic MEMS devices for the first time. In static comb-drives, devices with 3-D comb-fingers were able to demonstrate >34% improvement in displacement resolution by tailoring their force-engagement characteristics. Lower driving voltages were achieved by reducing suspension heights to decrease spring constants (from 7.7N/m to 2.3N/m) without effecting comb-drive force. Variable-height comb-fingers also enabled the development of compact, voltagecontrolled electrostatic springs for tuning MEMS resonators. Devices in the low-kHz range demonstrated resonant frequency tuning >17.1% and electrostatic spring constants up to 1.19 N/m (@70V). This experience of integrating 3-D structures within electrostatic actuators culminated in the development of a novel 2-axis optical fiber alignment system using 3-D actuators. Coupled in-plane motion of electrostatic actuators with integrated 3-D wedges was used to deflect an optical fiber both horizontally and vertically. Devices demonstrated switching speeds <1ms, actuation ranges >35μm (in both directions), and alignment resolution <1.25μm. Auto-alignment to fixed indium-phosphide waveguides with <1.6μm resolution in <10 seconds was achieved by optimizing search algorithms. ELECTROSTATIC MEMS ACTUATORS USING GRAY-SCALE TECHNOLOGY


We report on the generation and confinement of short-wavelength spin waves in a continuous film with periodically modulated magnetic anisotropy. The concept, which is demonstrated for strain-coupled Co40Fe40B20/BaTiO3 heterostructures, relies on abrupt rotation of magnetic anisotropy at the boundaries of magnetic stripe domains. In combination with an external bias field, this modulation of magnetic anisotropy produces a lateral variation of the effective magnetic field, leading to local spin-wave excitation when irradiated by a microwave magnetic field. In domains with small effective field, spin waves are perfectly confined by the spin gap in neighboring domains. In contrast, standing spin waves in domains with large effective field radiate into neighboring domains. Using micromagnetic simulation, we show that the wavelength of emitted spin waves is tunable from a few micrometers down to about 100 nm by rotation of the bias field. Importantly, the orientation of the wave front remains fixed. We also demonstrate that dynamic fluctuations of the effective magnetic field produce exchange-dominated spin waves at single anisotropy boundaries. The multiferroic heterostructures presented here enable the use of global excitation fields from a microwave antenna to emit tunable spin waves.


The Boards of Directors of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) have recommended a gradual shift from honorific eponyms to disease-descriptive or aetiology-based nomenclature.

The leadership of these three organizations tasked an international group of senior academicians expert in the care of patients with vasculitis and engaged in research in the field to provide the medical community with proper descriptive terms instead of the names for Wegener's granulomatosis, Churg–Strauss syndrome, and Behcet's syndrome. The move towards a vasculitis terminology based on pathology, rather than historical reference, was triggered by evidence that Dr Friedrich Wegener was a member of the Nazi party before and …


Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Enhance Tolerance to Bicarbonate in Rosa multiflora cv. Burr. (August 2004) Andrew David Cartmill, BTEC HND, University of Central Lancashire, UK; BSc. (Hons.), University of Central Lancashire, UK Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Frederick T. Davies, Jr. High bicarbonate (HCO3) content and associated high pH of irrigation water is detrimental to plant growth. Sustainable agricultural/horticultural production will increasingly have to rely on economically feasible and environmentally sound solutions to the problems associated with high levels of HCO3 in irrigation water. The ability of a mixed Glomus Tulasne & Tulasne species inoculum of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), Glomus ZAC-19 (containing Glomus albidum Walker & Rhodes, Glomus claroideum Schenck & Smith, and Glomus diaphanum Morton & Walker), to enhance plant tolerance to HCO3 was tested on the growth and nutrient uptake of Rosa multiflora Thunb. ex J. Murr. cv. Burr (rose). Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonized and noninoculated (non-AMF) R. multiflora cv. Burr were treated with 0, 2.5, 5, and 10 mM HCO3. Increasing HCO3 concentration and associated high pH reduced R. multiflora cv. Burr growth, nutrient uptake, and acid phosphatase activity (ACP), while increasing alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP). Inoculation with AMF enhanced plant tolerance to HCO3 as indicated by greater growth, nutrient uptake, leaf chlorophyll content, higher mycorrhizal inoculation effect (MIE), lower root iron reductase activity, and generally lower soluble and wall-bound ALP activity. While AMF colonization (arbuscules, vesicles, and hyphae formation) was reduced by increasing HCO3 concentration, colonization still occurred at high HCO3 concentration. At 2.5 mM HCO3, AMF plant growth was comparable to plants at 0 mM HCO3, further indicating the beneficial effect of AMF for alleviation of HCO3 plant stress.


Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is well known to be associated with various types of B cell, T cell, and NK cell lymphomas. The roles of EBV in lymphomagenesis are now better elucidated through decades of research. Marginal zone lymphomas (MZL) are a heterogeneous group of small B-cell lymphomas and traditionally EBV negative. However, recent studies have identified EBVpositive extranodal MZLs particularly in transplant recipients and at least partially responsive to reduced immunosuppression, suggesting that these should be regarded as a form of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD). We expanded the spectrum of EBV+ MZLs by identifying the first case of nodal MZL, and more cases of extranodal MZL but in non-transplant settings that included iatrogenic immunosuppression, congenital immune deficiency, and increased age as the only potential cause of immune dysfunction. These cases were either EBV latency I or II, with a typical plasmacytoid and/or monocytoid B cells positive for EBV in all cases. Unlike published series that were predominantly IgA-positive, our cases were either positive for IgG or IgM. Cases arising from cutaneous sites and salivary glands demonstrated differing characteristic features in morphology. Our data show that EBV+ MZLs can arise in a variety of clinical settings and are most often extranodal. Most patients had a clinically indolent disease with response to reduction of immune suppression, or immunochemotherapy. As these lymphomas warrant different management strategies compared to EBVnegative cases, a high suspicion must be kept, and relevant workup should be performed for nodal and extranodal MZLs in post-transplant and nontransplant but immunocompromised patients.


Recent decades have witnessed the emergence of artificial intelligence as a serious science and engineering discipline. Artificial Intelligence: Foundations of Computational Agents is a textbook aimed at junior to senior undergraduate students and first-year graduate students. It presents artificial intelligence (AI) using a coherent framework to study the design of intelligent computational agents. By showing how basic approaches fit into a multidimensional design space, readers can learn the fundamentals without losing sight of the bigger picture. The book balances theory and experiment, showing how to link them intimately together, and develops the science of AI together with its engineering applications. Although structured as a textbook, the book's straightforward, self-contained style will also appeal to a wide audience of professionals, researchers, and independent learners. AI is a rapidly developing field: this book encapsulates the latest results without being exhaustive and encyclopedic. It teaches the main principles and tools that will allow readers to explore and learn on their own. The text is supported by an online learning environment, AIspace, http://aispace.org, so that students can experiment with the main AI algorithms plus problems, animations, lecture slides, and a knowledge representation system, AIlog, for experimentation and problem solving.


Each day's work, whether a clinician, researcher or homemaker, focuses on investigative strategies and problem solving. Investigative methods and problem solving are rarely addressed formally in a medical school curriculum. Our goal with Investigative Methods and Tools was to convey to future clinician-scientists the skills to be able to confidently deal with information whether acquired from a patient, medical literature or in the laboratory. Our strategy is to convey to students major components of the investigative process including chasing curiosity, visualisation, modelling, experimental design and analysis. In addition, we depart from the traditional "jargon compliant" statistical vocabulary and focused on a more intuitive vocabulary. In this paper, we describe the rationale behind the development and implementation of a new course titled Investigative Methods and Tools. This new initiative is available for our students at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore. We outline the objectives and course contents for Investigative Methods and Tools, and highlight some of the unique approaches undertaken to bring forth a new, relevant and useful approach in conveying the central concepts underlying intuitive biostatistics and evidence-based medicine.


The effects of heat treatment on membrane fouling resistance and the rejection of small and neutral solutes by reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were elucidated. RO membrane modification by heat treatment reduced fouling and improved boron rejection. However, heat treatment also caused a decrease in the water permeability of RO membranes. Significant improvement on fouling resistance by heat treatment was observed when RO concentrate was used to simulate a feed solution with high fouling propensity. The improved fouling resistance is likely to be due to changes in the hydrophobic interaction between the membrane surface and foulants. Boron rejection by the ESPA2 membrane was enhanced by heat treatment from 26 to 68% (when evaluated at the permeate flux of 20 L/m2 h). Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy revealed that heat treatment did not significantly influence the free-volume hole-radius of the membrane active skin layer. The results reported in this study suggested that changes in the other membrane properties such as free-volume fraction and thickness may be the main cause improving boron rejection.


We establish the existence of Walrasian equilibrium for economies with many discrete goods and possibly one divisible good. Our goal is not only to study Walrasian equilibria in new settings but also to facilitate the use of market mechanisms in resource allocation problems such as school choice or course selection. We consider all economies with quasilinear gross substitutes preferences but allow agents to have limited quantities of the divisible good (limited transfers economies). We also consider economies without a divisible good (nontransferable utility economies). We show the existence and efficiency of Walrasian equilibrium in limited transfers economies and the existence and efficiency of strong (Walrasian) equilibrium in nontransferable utility economies. Finally, we show that various constraints on minimum and maximum levels of consumption and aggregate constraints of the kind that are relevant for school choice/course selection problems can be accommodated by either incorporating these constraints into individual preferences or by incorporating a suitable production technology into nontransferable utility economies. † This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation.


Neodontobutis ngheanensis X. K. Nguyen et D. H. Nguyen sp. nov . (fig. 1,2) Holotype: 60176, SL: 63.8 mm; sampled in Khe Khang stream, Pumat national park, Nghe An province. Paratype : PM060177, SL: 61.8 mm; PM060178, SL: 53.4 mm; PM060179, SL: 60.6 mm vµ PM060180 SL: 49.7 mm. Same data as holotype. Diagnosis: N. ngheanensis is distinguished from other species in genus Neodontobutis by the unique combination of following characters: Lateralline scales 26 -29; branch rays in first dorsal fin: 8. Description: Body cylindrical. Head moderately large. Eyes moderately large. Snout pointed. Mouth oblique, posterior end of maxillary slightly extending beyond vertical of anterior margin of orbit. Gill- opening wide. Both jaws with conical teeth. Tongue margin rounded. Fin: D1 VI; D2 I.9; A 7; P 13 - 14; V I.5. First dorsal fin without filamentous extension and all rays about equal. Second dorsal fin higher than first and rear tips of both second dorsal and anal fins not reaching procurrent rays of caudal fin. Pectoral fin long, longer than pelvic fin. Pelvic fin well separated. Caudal fin short, elliptical. Scales: Lateral line: 26 - 29 (table 1). Body with moderately large ctenoid scale. Predorsal region fully scaled except interorbital region and snout. Opercle with many small and median scales, larger near gill opening. Prepectoral area naked. Head line system: No sensory canals on head. Infraorbital papillae generally as simple longitudinal pattern. Row a longitudinal with a small row. Coloration: Head and body blackish and marmorated. Fin with many black spot rows. Upper corner of gill -opening with a black blotch. Remarks: Neodontobutis ngheanensis nov.sp is more similar to Neodontobutis tonkinensis Mai, 1978 (a species from Vietnam and Laos) than to any species of genus Neodotobutis in China and Vietnam. However, the two species can be distinguished by the following mentioned of features: 1. Lateral line scales; 2. Anal fin ray; 3. Caudal fin ray. Distribution: Neodontobutis ngheanensis X. K. Nguyen et D. H. Nguyen is found in Khe Khang stream in Pu Mat national park. Khe Khang stream belonging to Lam river basin. Etymology: Named for Nghe An province. Habitat: Found in slow flowing streams and swamp.


An end-point optical fiber interferometer using thin-film retroreflectors is introduced, which is very simple to construct and align. The use of single-mode and multimode fibers for illumination and signal reception, respectively, greatly increases optical efficiency and phase stability. In particular, measurements of essentially static phenomena are made possible. Limitations remaining on the use of thin-film retroreflectors as a coupling mechanism for interferometric fiber sensors are investigated. Error sources include finite numerical aperture effects, multiple beam interferences, and thermally pumped mechanical motions.


When used in conjunction with corporations, the term "public" is misleading. Anyone can purchase shares of stock, but public corporations themselves are uninhibited by a sense of societal obligation or strict public oversight. In fact, managers of most large firms are prohibited by law from taking into account the interests of the public in decision making, if doing so hurts shareholders. But this has not always been the case, as until the beginning of the twentieth century, public corporations were deemed to have important civic responsibilities. With The Failure of Corporate Law, Kent Greenfield hopes to return corporate law to a system in which the public has a greater say in how firms are governed. Greenfield maintains that the laws controlling firms should be much more protective of the public interest and of the corporation's various stakeholders, such as employees. Only when the law of corporations is evaluated as a branch of public law—as with constitutional law or environmental law—will it be clear what types of changes can be made in corporate governance to improve the common good. Greenfield proposes changes in corporate governance that would enable corporations to meet the progressive goal of creating wealth for society as a whole rather than merely for shareholders and executives.


Introductions: Gestational age is estimated on the basis of last normal menstrual period and the measurement of foetal growth parameters by ultrasonography. The lack of accurate recollection of the last menstrual period and dependence of growth parameters on intra-uterine environment, physical and mental well-being of the mother, maternal nutrition and genetic factors leads to the over or under estimation of gestational age. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between placental thicknesses (PT) in normal singleton Nepalese foetuses. Methods: This was a cross sectional study of ultrasound measurement of placental thickness during 2 nd and 3 rd trimester pregnancy from April 2015 to October 2015 at Department of Radiology, Suraksha Hospital, Biratnagar, Nepal. All viable singleton uncomplicated pregnancies, history of regular menstruation with known LNMP were included. Microsoft Excel and SPSS 17 were used for data analysis. Pearson's correlation analysis was used for correlation between placental thickness and gestational age. Statistical tests were two-tailed with p<0.01 as statistical significance. Results: There were 592 pregnant women who met the criteria. Placental thickness increased by 0.86 mm in every week of increase in gestational age. The maximum mean PT of 40.42±1.05 mm was observed at 39 th week. There was a significant positive correlation between placental thickness and gestational age, correlation coefficient r=0.986 (P<0.001). Conclusions: PT was found to be a reliable alternative predictor in calculating gestational age. Measurement of PT should be done routinely during obstetrics ultrasonography. Keywords: antenatal ultrasound,gestational age, placental thickness, singleton pregnancy,


Cell wall transferases utilizing β-(1, 2, 3)-glucan chains as substrates may play important roles in cell wall assembly and rearrangement, as β-(1, 2, 3)-glucan is a major structural component of the cell wall of many fungi. A novel β-(1, 2, 3)-glucanosyltransferase was purified to apparent homogeneity from an autolysate of the cell wall of Aspergillus fumigatus. The enzyme had a molecular mass of 49 kDa and contained approximately 5 kDa of N-linked carbohydrate. The enzyme catalyzed an initial endo-type splitting of a β-(1, 2, 3)-glucan molecule, followed by linkage of the newly generated reducing end to the nonreducing end of another β-(1, 2, 3)-glucan molecule. Laminarioligosaccharides of size G10 and greater were donor substrates for the transferase. Laminarioligosaccharides of size G5 and greater formed acceptors. The enzyme was able to reuse initial transferase products as donors and acceptors in extended incubations, resulting in the formation of increasingly larger transferase products until they became insoluble. The major initial products from an incubation of the transferase with borohydride-reduced G11 (rG11) were rG6 and rG16. 1H NMR analysis of the rG16 transferase product showed it was a laminarioligosaccharide, indicating that the enzyme forms a β-(1, 2, 3)-linkage during transfer. The enzyme may have a key function in vivo by allowing the integration of newly synthesized glucan into the wall and promoting cell wall expansion during cell growth.


This document defines a mapping of the Policy Core Information Model to a form that can be implemented in a directory that uses Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) as its access protocol. This model defines two hierarchies of object classes: structural classes representing information for representing and controlling policy data as specified in RFC 3060, and relationship classes that indicate how instances of the structural classes are related to each other. Classes are also added to the LDAP schema to improve the performance of a client's interactions with an LDAP server when the client is retrieving large amounts of policy-related information. These classes exist only to optimize LDAP retrievals: there are no classes in the information model that correspond to them.


The β1 and β2 subtypes of the β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) both couple to the heterotrimeric protein Gs to activate adenyl cyclase, and like other G protein-coupled receptors, are then internalized from the cell surface into endosomes. It has been thought that the presence of a proline-rich region in the cytoplasmic tail of the β1-AR could account for differences that the receptor subtypes exhibit in signaling and function. For example, β1-AR couples less efficiently to the Gs protein. Tang et al. find further support of this idea by demonstrating that the proline region in β1-AR binds to the SH3-domain of endophilin. The endopohilin family of proteins is known to regulate the formation and transport of synaptic vesicles in neurons. When β1-AR and endophilin are overexpressed, the proteins interact in vivo, even in the absence of agonist stimulation. Overexpression of endophilin also increased agonist-induced internalization of ?1-AR, and decreased the receptor's Gs-coupling efficiency. The authors propose that interaction with the SH3 domain may alter β1-AR's ability to stimulate Gs and may also direct the receptor to the cell's endocytic machinery. Tang, Y., Hu, L.A., Miller, W.E., Ringstand, N., Hall, R.A., Pitcher, J.A., DeCamilli, P., and Lefkowitz, R.J. (1999) Identification of the endophilins (SH3p4/p8/p13) as novel binding partners for the β1-adrenergic receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 96:12559-12564. [Abstract] [Full Text]


The initialization of filter coefficients in discrete-coefficient finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter design (with coefficient scaling) using coefficient-value-assignment-based optimization techniques is considered. A common weakness of existing initialization measures, a total-square-error (TSE) measure and a maximum-error (ME) measure, is described. New TSE and ME measures that overcome the weakness are introduced. As opposed to the current knowledge, it is revealed that TSE and ME measures do not necessarily provide different initial coefficient set information and that the initial coefficient set information by the ME measure is not unique in general. On a parallel track, the treatment of coefficient scaling in the optimization process is considered. The closed-form expression of the objective function normalized peak ripple magnitude (NPRM), which was defined implicitly in the literature, is given. In contrast to existing methods, the computation of NPRM accordingly does not require a scale-factor parameter independent of filter coefficients although coefficient scaling persists. Then, TSE and ME measures become practically equivalent (although, in general, they indicate different initial scale factors) since an explicit scale factor parameter is no longer needed.


Starting from a critical discussion of current arguments and concepts in research on the environment–migration nexus, the article analyses how environmental migration is discussed in the Pacific region. In the first section we provide a short overview of the academic debates on environmental migration and describe their limitations. We suggest that a legal stalemate has arisen at global level regarding environmental migrants. The second section examines the evolving negotiations to address environmental migrants in the Pacific region that are, in contrast to the global North, based on climate science and on calls for climate justice and solidarity. We conclude that the inclusion of post-colonial perspectives in the debates on environmental migration can render visible the political nature of climate adaptation choices and reconnect global negotiations to questions of fair burden sharing in adaptation. The article brings a legal anthropological lens to bear on empirical material from the Pacific region, to show the new rights, resources and policies that may emerge from climate change and migration debates. The article offers insights into the increasingly complex decision-making processes and development of policies and laws in the context of global climate change.


Data centers containing hundreds of thousands of servers have become the foundation of modern computing infrastructures. Enterprises are increasingly deploying new applications and moving existing applications to these large-scale data centers. These networked applications communicate via a set of conventional network protocols, which were originally designed for wide area networks. In this dissertation, we study the impact of different networking layer protocols on the performance of data center applications. At the transport layer, we observe that bandwidth sharing via TCP in commodity data center networks, which are organized in multi-rooted tree topologies, can lead to severe unfairness under many common traffic patterns. We term this phenomenon as the TCP Outcast problem. When a set of a large number of flows and another set of a small number of flows arrive at two input ports of a network switch and are destined to one common output port, the smaller set of flows loses out on its throughput share significantly. The Outcast problem occurs mainly in the taildrop queues that commodity switches use. Using careful analysis, we show that the taildrop queues exhibit a phenomenon known as port blackout, where a series of packets from one port are dropped. Port blackout affects the set of smaller number of flows more significantly, as these flows lose more consecutive packets leading to TCP timeouts. We show the existence of this TCP Outcast problem and its impact on MapReduce and file transfer applications. At the data link layer, we focus on a simple question: Should data center network operators turn on Ethernet jumbo frames? While prior work supports using jumbo frames for their throughput and CPU benefits, it is not clear whether these results are directly applica ble to modern data center networks. Most of the prior experiments were performed on older hardware, focusing mostly on TCP performance and not necessarily on the applicationlevel performance. In this dissertation, we evaluate the advantages of jumbo frames using modern hardware with features such as large send/receive offload, and with canonical data center applications such as MapReduce and tiered Web services. We find that the throughput and CPU utilization benefits still exist generally, although compared to prior studies, are significantly reduced. Based on these results, we conclude that data center network operators can safely turn jumbo frames on, despite a small side effect which we discovered.


Abstract Transient MHD activity in the multiple-mirror trap GOL-3 at the stage of plasma cooling after decay of the net current was studied. Such events are diagnosed as short bursts (generally shorter than 5 cycles) of oscillations of azimuthal magnetic field with the frequency within 0.1 ÷ 1 MHz. Earlier transient events at the plasma decay stage were also observed. At that time an existence of long-lived internal current structures in the GOL-3 plasma was supposed. The paper presents new results from the magnetic diagnostics. Azimuthal and longitudinal mode localization agrees with the assumption that the magnetic field is generated by filaments with the current in the range of 1 ÷ 50 A in nearly uniform azimuthal distribution. Statistical analysis shows that the main oscillation frequencies are grouped near the inversed time of the Alfven wave propagation along the trap. Power dependence of the pulse probability on its amplitude with the index α = -1.87 was found. Relationships of MHD activity on the regime of plasma heating and on a degree of the beam stabilization at the exit receiver are discussed.


Neonatal intensive care has been one of the most morally controversial areas of medicine during the past thirty years. This study examines the interconnected development of four key aspects of neonatal intensive care: medical advances, ethical analysis, legal scrutiny, and econometric evaluation. The authors assert that a dramatic shift in societal attitudes toward newborns and their medical care was a stimulus for and then a result of developments in the medical care of newborns. They divide their analysis into three eras of neonatal intensive care. The first, characterized by the rapid advance of medical technology from the late 1960s to the Baby Doe case of 1982, established neonatal care as a legitimate specialty of medical care, separate from the rest of pediatrics and medicine. During this era, legal scholars and moral philosophers debated the relative importance of parental autonomy, clinical prognosis, and children's rights. The second era, beginning with the Baby Doe case (a legal battle that spurred legislation mandating that infants with debilitating birth defects be treated unless the attending physician deems efforts to prolong life "futile"), stimulated efforts to establish a consistent federal standard on neonatal care decisions and raised important moral questions concerning the meaning of "futility" and of "inhumane" treatment. In the third era, a consistent set of decision-making criteria and policies was established. These policies were the result of the synergy and harmonization of newly agreed upon ethical principles and newly discovered epidemiological characteristics of neonatal care. Tracing the field's recent history, notable advances, and considerable challenges yet to be faced, the authors present neonatal bioethics as a paradigm of complex conversation among physicians, philosophers, policy makers, judges, and legislators which has led to responsible societal oversight of a controversial medical innovation.


ABSTRACT The author introduces an outstanding master of graphic design and photography, Anton Stankowski, as a fractal artist. Stankowski saw his challenge as inventing a visual graphic language capable of depicting natural and technological processes and abstract notions in an aesthetic and comprehensible way. Many of Stankowski's works demonstrate fractal-like characteristics. Analysis of his theory of design provides convincing evidence that this is not accidental. Stankowski used these features consciously. He devised and applied a principle of organizing forms in pictures by means of two components, branching and regeneration, both of which are properties of self-similarity and the underlying bases of fractals.


A 60-year-old woman with a long psychiatric history presented with delirium and mutism. She was febrile, with marked limb rigidity and elevated creatinine kinase (CK) level. Current medications included pericyazine. Current or recent use of dopamine-blocking agents, such as pericyazine, together with a disturbance in conscious state, autonomic dysfunction, and an elevated CK level may be suggestive of neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). The diagnosis was confirmed as NMS, and she was successfully treated with bromocriptine. Eight years later, she represents with symptoms suggesting recurrence of NMS including elevated CK level and myalgia, however, without limb rigidity. Current medications include quetiapine, lithium, simvastatin, and a recent course of clarithromycin. Macrolide antibiotics such as clarithromycin inhibit the metabolic pathway of statins via the cytochrome CYP450 3A4 hepatic enzyme system and may result in elevated CK level, myopathy, or rhabdomyolysis producing symptoms that may be confused with NMS. Simvastatin was ceased with rapid decrease in CK level and resolution of symptoms. This case highlights the importance of considering other diagnoses in any patient presenting with a disturbance in conscious state, autonomic dysfunction, and an elevated CK level. Particularly in a patient with a history of NMS, a thorough medication history is essential to aid diagnosis and avoid confusion with presenting symptoms and medical history.


The western Idaho shear zone is one of several Cretaceous high-strain zones in the Cordillera that are thought to have been associated with the northward translation and/or docking of terranes presently in British Columbia. Located in west-central Idaho, this zone of intense deformation consists of a mid-crustal exposure of a lithospheric-scale, intra-arc dextral shear zone that overprints the Salmon River suture zone along the western edge of the Idaho batholith. U/Pb zircon geochronology constrains the main phase of deformation to between ca. 105 and 90 Ma. Cessation of movement on the shear zone occurred by 90 Ma, as determined by dating of the syntectonic Payette River tonalite and a crosscutting pegmatite dike in the Little Goose Creek complex. The 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology indicates that the shear zone passed through both the hornblende (~550 °C) and biotite (~325 °C) closure temperatures between 85 and 70 Ma. The 40Ar/39Ar biotite dates from an outcrop-scale, crosscutting shear zone are indistinguishable from that of the host rock, indicating that deformation occurred above the closure temperature of biotite. Apatite fission-track analysis suggests that exhumation to shallow crustal levels occurred ca. 40 Ma during mid-Tertiary regional exhumation or renewed tectonic activity along the Salmon River suture zone. Taken together, the 40Ar/39Ar results and apatite fission-track analyses indicate a two-stage uplift history for the western Idaho shear zone. Overall, the geochronology indicates that dextral transpressional movement on the western Idaho shear zone was temporally distinct from the Early Cretaceous suturing event. Additionally, the first stage of exhumation recorded by the western Idaho shear zone immediately followed transpressional deformation. Cessation of displacement on the western Idaho shear zone by ca. 90 Ma indicates that the exhumation did not solely occur as a result of ductile deformation on the shear zone itself. Moreover, dextral strike-slip movement on the western Idaho shear zone had also ceased by 90 Ma, indicating that terrane translation models for the Cordillera can only use the western Idaho shear zone to accommodate northward translation up to ca. 90 Ma. Lastly, the timing of movement on the western Idaho shear zone and contractional deformation recorded in the Insular terrane suggests a correlation between these events. This hypothesis implies that the deformation recorded in the western Idaho shear zone may have been linked to the oblique collision of the Insular superterrane with North America.


Wolves are some of the world's most charismatic and controversial animals, capturing the imaginations of their friends and foes alike. Highly intelligent and adaptable, they hunt and play together in close-knit packs, sometimes roaming over hundreds of square miles in search of food. Once teetering on the brink of extinction across much of the United States and Europe, wolves have made a tremendous comeback in recent years, thanks to legal protection, changing human attitudes, and efforts to reintroduce them to suitable habitats in North America. As wolf populations have rebounded, scientific studies of them have also flourished. But there hasn't been a systematic, comprehensive overview of wolf biology since 1970. In "Wolves," many of the world's leading wolf experts provide state-of-the-art coverage of just about everything you could want to know about these fascinating creatures. Individual chapters cover wolf social ecology, behavior, communication, feeding habits and hunting techniques, population dynamics, physiology and pathology, molecular genetics, evolution and taxonomy, interactions with nonhuman animals such as bears and coyotes, reintroduction, interactions with humans, and conservation and recovery efforts. The book discusses both gray and red wolves in detail and includes information about wolves around the world, from the United States and Canada to Italy, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Israel, India, and Mongolia. "Wolves" is also extensively illustrated with black and white photos, line drawings, maps, and fifty color plates. Unrivalled in scope and comprehensiveness, "Wolves" will become the definitive resource on these extraordinary animals for scientists and amateurs alike. An excellent compilation of current knowledge, with contributions from all the main players in wolf research. . . . It is designed for a wide readership, and certainly the language and style will appeal to both scientists and lucophiles alike. . . . This is an excellent summary of current knowledge and will remain the standard reference work for a long time to come. Stephen Harris, "New Scientist" This is the place to find almost any fact you want about wolves. Stephen Mills, "BBC Wildlife Magazine" "