Invited Presentations.- The Grand Challenge in Information Technology and the Illusion of Validity.- Metadata and Cooperative Knowledge Management.- Ontology-Driven Conceptual Modeling.- Metadata and Cooperative Knowledge Management.- Web Component: A Substrate for Web Service Reuse and Composition.- Developing Web Applications.- Designing Web-Based Systems in Social Context: A Goal and Scenario Based Approach.- A State Machine Based Approach for a Process Driven Development of Web-Applications.- Knowledge Management.- Supporting Dimension Updates in an OLAP Server.- The COMET Metamodel for Temporal Data Warehouses.- Exploring RDF for Expertise Matching within an Organizational Memory.- Deployment Issues.- Describing and Communicating Software Architecture in Practice: Observations on Stakeholders and Rationale.- The Individual Deployment of Systems Development Methodologies.- Supporting the Deployment of Object-Oriented Frameworks.- Semantics of Information.- A Conceptual Modeling Approach to Semantic Document Retrieval.- Multidimensional Semistructured Data: Representing Context-Dependent Information on the Web.- The Role of Semantic Relevance in Dynamic User Community Management and the Formulation of Recommendations.- System Qualities.- Can We Ever Build Survivable Systems from COTS Components?.- Towards a Data Model for Quality Management Web Services: An Ontology of Measurement for Enterprise Modeling.- A Modelling Approach to the Realisation of Modular Information Spaces.- Integration Issues.- Data Integration under Integrity Constraints.- Babel: An XML-Based Application Integration Framework.- Integrating and Rapid-Prototyping UML Structural and Behavioural Diagrams Using Rewriting Logic.- Analysis and Adaptation.- Verification of Payment Protocols via MultiAgent Model Checking.- SNet: A Modeling and Simulation Environment for Agent Networks Based on i* and ConGolog.- Usage-Centric Adaptation of Dynamic E-Catalogs.- Retrieval and Performance.- Reengineering of Database Applications to EJB Based Architecture.- Efficient Similarity Search for Time Series Data Based on the Minimum Distance.- A High-Performance Data Structure for Mobile Information Systems.- Requirements Issues.- External Requirements Validation for Component-Based Systems.- Using Business Rules in Extreme Requirements.- Evaluating CM3: Problem Management.- Schema Matching and Evolution.- Database Schema Matching Using Machine Learning with Feature Selection.- Evolving Partitions in Conceptual Schemas in the UML.- Schema Evolution in Heterogeneous Database Architectures, A Schema Transformation Approach.- Workflows.- Serviceflow Beyond Workflow? Concepts and Architectures for Supporting Inter-Organizational Service Processes.- Design for Change: Evolving Workflow Specifications in ULTRAflow.- An Alternative Way to Analyze Workflow Graphs.- Semantics and Logical Representations.- Auditing Interval-Based Inference.- A Logical Foundation for XML.- Providing the Semantic Layer for WIS Design.- Understanding and Using Methods.- Towards a Framework for Comparing Process Modelling Languages.- Generic Models for Engineering Methods of Diverse Domains.- Role of Model Transformation in Method Engineering.- Modeling Objects and Relationships.- A Generic Role Model for Dynamic Objects.- Understanding Redundancy in UML Models for Object-Oriented Analysis.- Representation of Generic Relationship Types in Conceptual Modeling.- Short Papers.- Building Spatio-Temporal Presentations Warehouses from Heterogeneous Multimedia Web Servers.- A Practical Agent-Based Method to Extract Semantic Information from the Web.- Process Inheritance.- Addressing Performance Requirements Using a Goal and Scenario-Oriented Approach.- Querying Data with Multiple Temporal Dimensions.- Query Explorativeness for Integrated Search in Heterogeneous Data Sources.- Using Nested Tables for Representing and Querying Semistructured Web Data.- Defining and Validating Measures for Conceptual Data Model Quality.- An Architecture for Building Multi-device Thin-Client Web User Interfaces.- A Framework for Tool-Independent Modeling of Data Acquisition Processes for Data Warehousing.- Managing Complexity of Designing Routing Protocols Using a Middleware Approach.- Deferred Incremental Refresh of XML Materialized Views.- Requirements for Hypermedia Development Methods: A Survey of Outstanding Methods.- An Approach for Synergically Carrying out Intensional and Extensional Integration of Data Sources Having Different Formats.- DSQL - An SQL for Structured Documents Extended Abstract.- A Comparative Study of Ontology Languages and Tools.- Life Cycle Based Approach for Knowledge Management: A Knowledge Organization Case Study.- Parallel Query Processing Algorithms for Semi-structured Data.- Domain-Specific Instance Models in UML.- Extended Faceted Ontologies.- On the Logical Modeling of ETL Processes.- Intelligent Agent Supported Flexible Workflow Monitoring System.- A Meeting Scheduling System Based on Open Constraint Programming.


A year and a half ago, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory fired up the world9s first hard x-ray laser. Shining 10 billion times as bright as any previous x-ray source, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) would probe matter in new ways: simulating conditions within a planet9s core, resolving the ultrafast changes in a material9s atomic-scale architecture, and determining the structure of a protein from individual molecules. Or so claimed the machine9s designers. Some potential users questioned whether the $420 million LCLS would live up to its billing. Now scientists have results from the first experiments with the machine, which they discussed at a recent meeting here. Although it9s too soon to say that the LCLS will succeed at every task—three of six experimental "end stations" are not yet finished—the x-ray laser has already produced novel conditions of matter and demonstrated unprecedented capabilities. If anything, it appears to be more reliable, versatile, and fruitful than expected.


In ninth century Francia, a rebellious monk named Gottschalk of Orbais (808-868) ardently defended his theory of divine predestination, much to the vexation of the Frankish Church, whose leaders eventually denounced him as heretical and imprisoned him for the remainder of his life. In an effort to disprove Gottschalk, his perhaps most prominent opponent, Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims (806-882), frequently cited elements of ecclesiastical tradition in an attempt to show that western Catholic orthodoxy opposed the theory of predestination that Gottschalk espoused. While most scholars have analyzed Hincmar's writings by focusing on his citation of the patristic church father Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430), such an approach ignores the problematic nature of Augustine's stance on predestination, which was largely ambiguous, hence the ability of both Gottschalk and Hincmar to reference his writings as proof of their argument. While Augustine at times limited his stance to merely suggesting that God had bestowed eternal life on some individuals, at other times he was more explicit, defining predestination in terms of a twofold decree of salvation for some and damnation for others. Such ambiguity created a nebulous definition of predestination by the time of the ninth century controversy and allowed Gottschalk to weaken Hincmar's arguments by likewise citing Augustine to support his own assertions. This in turn forced Hincmar to extend his arsenal of ecclesiastical tradition beyond citation of Augustine in order to refute Gottschalk. This paper reevaluates a sample of Hincmar's writings in the 840s and 850s to argue that he sought to make explicit what Augustine had left unclear regarding predestination by appealing to common standards of orthodoxy in the forms of additional patristic authors, conciliar judgments, and
liturgical practices. This analysis reveals both the prominence of ambiguity in ninth-century predestination thought as well as the role of ecclesiastical tradition in forming medieval views on orthodoxy, however fluid such a label remained.


Is cosmopolitanism compatible with religion? This essay explores what it might mean to cultivate a sensibility of religious cosmopolitanism through the study of narrative literature. I begin by analyzing the intersection of these terms — the religious and the cosmopolitan — across their longue durée. The resulting history helps to clarify how and why cosmopolitanism, conceived and theorized in opposition to political boundaries, has come to conceive religion — religious practices, convictions, and communities — as its theopolitical limit while becoming increasingly compatible with nationalism. To travel smoothly among the flows of global culture and public reason, one need not abandon the nation, but one must, in the dominant account, be willing to shed the parochial trappings of religion — or at least relegate such attachments to one's private life. In a time of Twitter revolutions and constant connectivity, celebrants of globalization and its critics alike are prone to thin accounts that fall back on metaphors of a flat world and the short text. Against the perils of the short and the flat, this essay celebrates the long formats and sustained acts of imaginative investment fostered by narrative literature. Focusing on Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow, I analyze the ways in which worldly faith and parochial secularity unravel the religious/cosmopolitan agon. As Pamuk's novel underscores, because the most prominent boundaries of the modern world system are not territorial or political but religious, any cosmopolitanism worthy of the name must offer a model of inclusivity and universalism that both recognizes and reckons with the substantive differences that separate varieties of religious and secular experience.


The European Union's mission to contribute to the training of the Somali Security Forces is the first military training mission launched by the EU. Deployed in April 2010, EUTM is nearing the end of its mandate: the training of the recruits will be completed by mid-July 2011. The mission was carried out in close coordination with the US, the African Union and the Ugandan army, and contributed to the EU's visibility in East Africa. However, given the overall feebleness of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its inability to implement reform, the political effectiveness of the mission is doubtful. In the current context, EUTM should not be extended beyond its original mandate. The EU and other donors should instead support more functional local administrations and make future assistance to the TFG contingent upon tangible progress towards completing transitional tasks, a normalization of political life, and restoring the provision of public services.


Wildfires are a phenomenon of great importance because of their environmental and economic consequences, as well as the human losses they cause. The rate of resolution of arson-caused wildfires is extremely low when compared to other criminal activities. This fact highlights the importance of developing methodologies to assist investigators in the criminal profiling. For that we propose the use of Bayesian networks (BNs), which are a methodology belonging to the field of machine learning. BNs are probabilistic models that have only recently been applied to criminal profiling.We learn a BN model from real data of solved arson-caused wildfires in Spain, and after validation we use it to construct archetypes of the forest fires/arsonists with the aim of better understanding of this phenomenon and help in the task of identification of the culprits. We characterize five different archetypes around author motivation from a quantitative and objective point of view, which are in correspondence with the modes of operation in criminal activities of Shye.


BACKGROUND
Constipation within childhood is an extremely common problem. Despite the widespread use of osmotic and stimulant laxatives by health professionals to manage constipation in children, there has been a long standing paucity of high quality evidence to support this practice.

OBJECTIVES
We set out to evaluate the efficacy and safety of osmotic and stimulant laxatives used to treat functional childhood constipation.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and the Cochrane IBD Group Specialized Trials Register from inception to 10 March 2016. There were no language restrictions. We also searched the references of all included studies, personal contacts and drug companies to identify studies.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) which compared osmotic or stimulant laxatives to placebo or another intervention, with participants aged 0 to 18 years old were considered for inclusion. The primary outcome was frequency of defecation. Secondary endpoints included faecal incontinence, disimpaction, need for additional therapies and adverse events.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Relevant papers were identified and two authors independently assessed the eligibility of trials, extracted data and assessed methodological quality using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. The primary outcome was frequency of defecation. Secondary endpoints included faecal incontinence, disimpaction, need for additional therapies and adverse events. For continuous outcomes we calculated the mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using a fixed-effect model. For dichotomous outcomes we calculated the risk ratio (RR) and 95% CI using a fixed-effect model. The Chi(2) and I(2) statistics were used to assess statistical heterogeneity. A random-effects model was used in situations of unexplained heterogeneity. We assessed the overall quality of the evidence supporting the primary and secondary outcomes using the GRADE criteria.

MAIN RESULTS
Twenty-five RCTs (2310 participants) were included in the review. Fourteen studies were judged to be at high risk of bias due to lack of blinding, incomplete outcome data and selective reporting. Meta-analysis of two studies (101 patients) comparing polyethylene glycol (PEG) with placebo showed a significantly increased number of stools per week with PEG (MD 2.61 stools per week, 95% CI 1.15 to 4.08). Common adverse events in the placebo-controlled studies included flatulence, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea and headache. Participants receiving high dose PEG (0.7 g/kg) had significantly more stools per week than low dose PEG (0.3 g/kg) participants (1 study, 90 participants, MD 1.30, 95% 0.76 to 1.84). Meta-analysis of 6 studies with 465 participants comparing PEG with lactulose showed a significantly greater number of stools per week with PEG (MD 0.70 , 95% CI 0.10 to 1.31), although follow-up was short. Patients who received PEG were significantly less likely to require additional laxative therapies. Eighteen per cent (27/154) of PEG patients required additional therapies compared to 31% (47/150) of lactulose patients (RR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.83). No serious adverse events were reported with either agent. Common adverse events in these studies included diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and pruritis ani. Meta-analysis of 3 studies with 211 participants comparing PEG with milk of magnesia showed that the stools per week were significantly greater with PEG (MD 0.69, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89). However, the magnitude of this difference was quite small and may not be clinically significant. One child was noted to be allergic to PEG, but there were no other serious adverse events reported. One study found a significant difference in stools per week favouring milk of magnesia over lactulose (MD -1.51, 95% CI -2.63 to -0.39, 50 patients), Meta-analysis of 2 studies with 287 patients comparing liquid paraffin (mineral oil) with lactulose revealed a relatively large statistically significant difference in the number of stools per week favouring liquid paraffin (MD 4.94 , 95% CI 4.28 to 5.61). No serious adverse events were reported. Adverse events included abdominal pain, distention and watery stools. No statistically significant differences in the number of stools per week were found between PEG and enemas (1 study, 90 patients, MD 1.00, 95% CI -1.58 to 3.58), dietary fibre mix and lactulose (1 study, 125 patients, P = 0.481), senna and lactulose (1 study, 21 patients, P > 0.05), lactitol and lactulose (1 study, 51 patients, MD -0.80, 95% CI -2.63 to 1.03), hydrolyzed guar gum and lactulose (1 study, 61 patients, MD 1.00, 95% CI -1.80 to 3.80), PEG and flixweed (1 study, 109 patients, MD 0.00, 95% CI -0.33 to 0.33), PEG and dietary fibre (1 study, 83 patients, MD 0.20, 95% CI -0.64 to 1.04), and PEG and liquid paraffin (2 studies, 261 patients, MD 0.35, 95% CI -0.24 to 0.95).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The pooled analyses suggest that PEG preparations may be superior to placebo, lactulose and milk of magnesia for childhood constipation. GRADE analyses indicated that the overall quality of the evidence for the primary outcome (number of stools per week) was low or very low due to sparse data, inconsistency (heterogeneity), and high risk of bias in the studies in the pooled analyses. Thus, the results of the pooled analyses should be interpreted with caution because of quality and methodological concerns, as well as clinical heterogeneity, and short follow-up. There is also evidence suggesting the efficacy of liquid paraffin (mineral oil). There is no evidence to demonstrate the superiority of lactulose when compared to the other agents studied, although there is a lack of placebo controlled studies. Further research is needed to investigate the long term use of PEG for childhood constipation, as well as the role of liquid paraffin. The optimal dose of PEG also warrants further investigation.


In this dissertation, simulation techniques are used to understand the role of surfaces and grain boundaries in the deformation response of metallic materials. This research utilizes atomistic scale modeling to study nanoscale deformation phenomena with time and spatial resolution not available in experimental testing. Molecular dynamics techniques are used to understand plastic deformation of grain boundaries and surfaces in metals under different configurations and loading procedures. Stress and strain localization phenomena are investigated at plastically deformed boundaries in axially strain thin film samples. Joint experimental and modelling work showed increased stress states at the intersections of slip planes and grain boundaries. This effect, as well as several other differences related to stress and strain localization are thoroughly examined in digital samples with two different grain boundary relaxation states. It is found that localized stress and strain is exacerbated by initial boundary disorder. Dislocation content in the randomly generated boundaries of these samples was quantified via the dislocation extraction algorithm. Significant numbers of lattice dislocations were present in both deformed and undeformed samples. Trends in dislocation content during straining were identified for individual samples and boundaries but were not consistent across all examples. The various contributions to dislocation content and the implications on material behavior are discussed. The effects of grain boundary hydrogen on the deformation response of a digital Ni polycrystalline thin film sample is reported. H content is found to change the structure of the boundaries and effect dislocation emission. The presence of dispersed hydrogen caused a slight increase in yield strength, followed by an increase in grain boundary dislocation emission and an increase in grain boundary crack formation and growth. An atomistic nano indenter is employed to study the nanoscale contact behavior of the indenter-surface interface during nano-indentation. Several indentation simulations are executed with different interatomic potentials and different indenter orientations. A surface structure is identified that forms consistently regardless of these variables. This structure is found to affect several atomic layers of the sample. The implications of this effect on the onset of plasticity are discussed. Finally, the implementation of an elastic/plastic continuum contact solution for use in mesoscale molecular dynamics simulations of solid spheres is discussed. The contact model improves on previous models for the forces response of colliding spheres by accounting for a plastic regime after the point of yield. The specifics of the model and its implementation are given in detail. Overall, the dissertation presents insights into basic plastic deformation phenomena using a combination of experiment and theory. Despite the limitations of atomistic techniques, current computational power allows meaningful comparison with experiments. Modeling the Role of Surfaces and Grain Boundaries in Plastic Deformation


The inspiration for the new Amazon Original Pilot It was the 1960s----a time of economic boom and social strife. Young women poured into the workplace, but the "Help Wanted" ads were segregated by gender and the "Mad Men" office culture was rife with sexual stereotyping and discrimination. Lynn Povich was one of the lucky ones, landing a job at Newsweek, renowned for its cutting-edge coverage of civil rights and the "Swinging Sixties." Nora Ephron, Jane Bryant Quinn, Ellen Goodman, and Susan Brownmiller all started there as well. It was a top-notch job----for a girl----at an exciting place. But it was a dead end. Women researchers sometimes became reporters, rarely writers, and never editors. Any aspiring female journalist was told, "If you want to be a writer, go somewhere else." On March 16, 1970, the day Newsweek published a cover story on the fledgling feminist movement entitled "Women in Revolt," forty-six Newsweek women charged the magazine with discrimination in hiring and promotion. It was the first female class action lawsuit----the first by women journalists----and it inspired other women in the media to quickly follow suit. Lynn Povich was one of the ringleaders. In The Good Girls Revolt, she evocatively tells the story of this dramatic turning point through the lives of several participants. With warmth, humor, and perspective, she shows how personal experiences and cultural shifts led a group of well-mannered, largely apolitical women, raised in the 1940s and 1950s, to challenge their bosses----and what happened after they did. For many, filing the suit was a radicalizing act that empowered them to "find themselves" and fight back. Others lost their way amid opportunities, pressures, discouragements, and hostilities they weren't prepared to navigate. The Good Girls Revolt also explores why changes in the law didn't solve everything. Through the lives of young female journalists at Newsweek today, Lynn Povich shows what has----and hasn't----changed in the workplace.


A Global Solar Ultraviolet Index (UVI) value of 2 is generally linked to the health message 'You can safely stay outside!' To examine whether this is sound advice for all skin types and even for prolonged periods spent outside we used erythemal irradiance data of all 136 days during the study period from 2014 till 2016 with such a UVI measured by the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) in Munich, Germany. A comparison between the ambient erythemal doses calculated for various time intervals and minimal erythemal doses (MEDs) of the Caucasian skin types I-IV led us to a critical reappraisal of the above health message. Specifically, the message might be misleading if people with a fair complexion want to spend several hours outside, because without any protective measures the doses received can be sufficient to induce erythema. We thus recommend an amendment of the health message related to a safe level of the UVI and, moreover, generally tailoring UVI-related health messages to different skin types. Currently, these messages do not seem to be strictly evidence based, which might be one reason for the unexpected result of our analysis.


Different plant species were investigated from two Aeolian Islands located in close vicinity, one with fumarolic activity (Vulcano) and one without (Lipari). On Vulcano, elevated concentrations of SO2/H2S determined in ambient air indicated the need of plants to adapt to harmful sulphur concentrations by detoxification strategies. The current study was focused on evaluating the element composition of plant leaves in relation to soil mineral contents. The soil of Volcano was characterised by a significantly lower pH on all three sampling sites as well as very high amounts of sulphur and plant available sulphate due to volcanic activities, compared to Lipari. By contrast, a general difference in the composition of trace elements in the soil was not observed between the islands, apart from arsenic, which was increased at all three sampling sites on Vulcano. Element accumulation in the leaves differed between the two islands. The tested species showed a significant higher accumulation of numerous elements (Al, B, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, and Zn) on Vulcano compared to Lipari, while excluding Ca and Mo. These differences in element accumulation in the leaves between the islands may be caused by the lower soil pH on Vulcano. Extreme sulphur accumulation was found for all tested species on Vulcano, but was lower in woody species with higher dry matter content compared to herbaceous species with lower dry matter content. This caused a significantly negative correlation between plant sulphur and dry matter content. From these results, it is concluded that species with higher dry matter contents possess a more effective protection against extreme sulphur accumulation. Strategies to cope with other potentially toxic elements in the soil ranged from exclusion to hyper-accumulation. Hierarchical cluster analyses of the leaf element content revealed a clear separation between two groups: First, herbaceous perennial plants as strong accumulators; and second, woody perennial plants such as shrubs or trees as less strong accumulators, with the primordial species Fumaria capreolata representing an outside group.


OBJECTIVE
To compare 1-year outcomes after lateral fabellar suture stabilization (LFS) and tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO) for the treatment of dogs with cranial cruciate ligament disease.

DESIGN
Randomized blinded controlled clinical trial.

ANIMALS
80 dogs with naturally occurring unilateral cranial cruciate ligament disease.

PROCEDURES
All dogs were randomly assigned to undergo LFS (n = 40) or TPLO (40). Clinical data collected included age, weight, body condition score, history information, stifle joint instability, radiographic findings, surgical findings, and complications. Outcome measures were determined prior to surgery and at 6 and 12 weeks and 6 and 12 months after surgery, including values of pressure platform gait analysis variables, Canine Brief Pain Inventory scores, owner satisfaction ratings, thigh circumference, and stifle joint goniometry values.

RESULTS
Signalment and data for possible confounding variables were similar between groups. Peak vertical force of affected hind limbs at a walk and trot was 5% to 11% higher for dogs in the TPLO group versus those in the LFS group during the 12 months after surgery. Canine Brief Pain Inventory, goniometry, and thigh circumference results indicated dogs in both groups improved after surgery, but significant differences between groups were not detected. Owner satisfaction ratings at 12 months after surgery were significantly different between groups; 93% and 75% of owners of dogs in the TPLO and LFS groups indicated a satisfaction score ≥ 9 (scale, 1 to 10), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Kinematic and owner satisfaction results indicated dogs that underwent TPLO had better outcomes than those that underwent LFS.


ATM and ATR signaling pathways are well conserved throughout evolution and are central to the maintenance of genome integrity. Although the role of both ATM and ATR in DNA repair, cell cycle regulation and apoptosis have been well studied, both still remain in the focus of current research activities owing to their role in cancer. Recent advances in the field suggest that these proteins have an additional function in maintaining cellular homeostasis under both stressed and non-stressed conditions. In this Cell Science at a Glance article and the accompanying poster, we present an overview of recent advances in ATR and ATM research with emphasis on that into the modes of ATM and ATR activation, the different signaling pathways they participate in – including those that do not involve DNA damage – and highlight their relevance in cancer.


Although considerable research has examined attitude toward advertising in general (AG), little is known about AG's determinants. This study investigates gender stereotype-related constructs whose relationship with AG is understudied and unclear. Structural equation modeling demonstrates that attitude toward sex/nudity in advertising predicts AG indirectly through the perceived offensiveness of advertising. Also, the more consumers believe that advertising portrays gender stereotypes, the less favorable their AG. Multi-group analyses, however, demonstrate that offensiveness harms AG for men, but not women. Also, gender-stereotype attitudes harm AG for female and younger consumers, but do not harm AG for male or older consumers. These results have important implications for advertisers in message targeting and advertisement execution strategies. Also, because unfavorable AG increases demands for governmental oversight and interference, the advertising industry should strengthen self-regulation. This self-regulation should proscribe traditional gender stereotypes and excessively erotic ads that may offend consumers, even if those consumers are outside an advertiser's target market.


Emergence of arboviruses could result from their ability to exploit new environments, for example a new host. This ability is facilitated by the high mutation rate occurring during viral genome replication. The last emergence of chikungunya in the Indian Ocean region corroborates this statement since a single viral mutation at the position 226 on the E1 glycoprotein (E1-A226V) was associated with enhanced transmission by the mosquito Aedes albopictus in regions where the major mosquito vector, Aedes aegypti, is absent. We used direct competition assays in vivo to dissect out the mechanisms underlying the selection of E1-226V by Ae. albopictus. When the original variant E1-226A and the newly emerged E1-226V were provided in the same blood-meal at equal titers to both species of mosquitoes, we found that the proportion of both variants was drastically different in the two mosquito species. Following ingestion of the infectious blood-meal, the E1-226V variant was preferentially selected in Ae. albopictus, whereas the E1-226A variant was sometimes favored in Ae. aegypti. Interestingly, when the two variants were introduced into the mosquitoes by intrathoracic inoculations, E1-226V was no longer favored for dissemination and transmission in Ae. albopictus, showing that the midgut barrier plays a key role in E1-226V selection. This study sheds light on the role of the midgut barrier in the selection of novel arbovirus emerging variants. We also bring new insight into how the pre-existing variant E1-226V was selected among other viral variants including E1-226A. Indeed the E1-226V variant present at low levels in natural viral populations could rapidly emerge after being selected in Ae. albopictus at the midgut barrier level.


Mixed-integer Gomory cuts have become an integral part of state-of-the-art software for solving mixed-integer linear programming problems. Therefore, improvements in the performance of these cutting planes can be of great practical value. In this paper, we present a simple and fast heuristic for improving the coefficients on the continuous variables in the mixed-integer Gomory cuts. This is motivated by the fact that in a mixed-integer Gomory cut, the coefficient of an integer variable lies between 0 and 1, whereas for a continuous variable, there is no upper bound. The heuristic tries to reduce the coefficients of the continuous variables. We call the resulting cuts reduce-and-split cuts. We found that on several test problems, reduce-and-split cuts can substantially enhance the performance of a branch-and-bound algorithm.


Abstract This paper presents a model of the Atucha Unit II pressurized heavy water reactor nuclear power plant (currently in the final construction stage) developed in RELAP5/MOD3.3. The nodalization was implemented in order to comply with the probabilistic safety analysis required in the licensing, commissioning, and operating process. The reactor is cooled and moderated by heavy water. Though the primary circuit is equivalent to a two-loop pressurized water reactor, the reactor core consists of vertical channels surrounded by a relatively large volume of heavy water acting as a moderator. This moderator is cooled by an independent system and kept at the same pressure but lower temperature than the primary circuit. The relevant components and systems of the plant are presented and nodalized. The main characteristics of the plant are discussed to achieve a correct representation of the expected physical behavior. Additionally, an integral platform of data management is implemented that processes the geometric and physical data for nodalization and finally generates the code input. Then, a complete tracking of data is possible from the corresponding referenced report to the input deck. This tool facilitates the quality assurance process by independent reviewers. Moreover, the verification of sources and documentation employed can be easily implemented. Initially, the steady state is analyzed by comparing variables obtained with the model with their respective design values and previous calculations performed with other models. Finally, a case of loss of heat sink caused by an electrical supply failure is analyzed. Relevant aspects of the plant dynamic are analyzed and presented for this case. The standard procedure established in the plant to tackle this initiating event is also discussed considering the triggered signals and the configurations of the main systems.


Background: Two forms of institutionalized pressure to treatment can be distinguished in Switzerland: civil commitment and court referral. In court referral, the referred patient has the right to refuse treatment. Objectives: To compare court referrals for inpatient treatment to voluntary therapy. Methods: Comparison of interviews at treatment entry and discharge records. Results: There were few systematic differences at entry except for voluntary subjects having had less contact with the legal system before treatment, independently of the specific court referral. At discharge, voluntary patients had a better social integration and fewer legal problems. Discussion: Legal problems waiting for court referrals at discharge may be a significant handicap for reintegration. Otherwise, voluntary patients and court referrals showed few systematic differences in inpatient treatment.


Culture is an all-pervading sense of ideals and values in society. In the modern world various taste cultures are present, with the majority of people preferring popular culture, instead of high culture with its stringent artistic and aesthetic standards and qualities. The appearance of popular culture derives from the great technological, socio-economic and political changes which commenced in the eighteenth century and culminated in modern mass society, which was fully formed by the middle of the nineteenth century. Popular culture has been bitterly assailed during the last two centuries as a debasing influence which pitted the protagonists of high culture against the majority of society in what has been the longest and possibly most significant cultural struggle in the Western world.
Research by serious scholars has convincingly refuted the argument that popular culture exercises a pernicious influence on its user. There is good reason to believe that the boundaries between popular culture and high or elite culture are increasingly fading away, as illustrated by science fiction, which was viewed as pure fiction in the 1920s and 1930s. Today, science fiction is viewed by critics as a major genre and a significant body of work in contemporary literature.
The advent of modern industrial society heralds far-reaching scientific and technological changes which help determine the character of contemporary popular culture, culminating in mass consumption by means of the printed page, radio, cinema and television. During the 1980s the era of advanced technology and electronics produced the revolutionary Internet, which is, inter alia, also a global mass dissemination network for popular culture.


Abstract In the southwestern United States, the nonnative athel pine (Tamarix aphylla) was presumed to be sterile and therefore not as likely to spread as its widely distributed, nonnative congener, T. ramosissima. However, at Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LMNRA) in southern Nevada, populations of T. aphylla have recently spread beyond their limited pre-1990 distribution and now form extensive monospecific stands. Over a 3-year period, we quantified seed production and germination from 60 T. aphylla trees at LMNRA. The annual mean seed production period was 50.6 days, and the mean potential germination (under laboratory conditions) was 22%, indicating that T. aphylla trees at LMNRA are capable of sexual reproduction in southern Nevada. No seeds germinated in field experiments, apparently because of high soil salt levels. However, seedling regeneration is becoming increasingly common at LMNRA. Tamarix aphylla trees occupied a distinct zone along the shoreline of Lake Mead, above T. ramosissima in elevation and below native Larrea tridentata communities, suggesting either competitive exclusion or differential resource utilization. The T. aphylla zone tended to have the highest mean values for total vegetation cover, leaf litter depth, soil salinity, soil moisture, pH, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, and soil organic matter. The capacity for sexual reproduction of this alien plant, combined with a suite of characteristics shared with the invasive T. ramosissima (e.g., drought tolerance and copious saline leaf litter), makes T. aphylla a potentially invasive species along the shores of LMNRA and other mesic areas in the desert Southwest.


Almost a decade since the establishment of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), this study investigates the extent to which REDD+ projects are delivering on the promise of co-benefits and the elusive 'triple-win' for climate, biodiversity, and local communities. The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCB) is among several leading REDD+ certification standards that are designed to support the delivery of social and environmental co-benefits, and 'socially-just' carbon. This study uses an in-depth content analysis of 25 subnational REDD+ project documents to assess the extent to which REDD+ project objectives align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets, and evaluates the reporting of progress towards meeting these objectives. Currently the CCB standards address a relatively small subset of SDG targets. Despite this, we find that REDD+ projects aspire to work on a much broader set of SDG target objectives, thus going beyond what the CCB Standards require for REDD+ validation. However, although reviewed REDD+ projects have these aspirations, very few are actively monitoring impact against the goals. There is a gap between aspiration and reported progress at the goal level, and for each project: on average, only a third of SDGs that are being targeted by REDD+ projects are showing 'improvement'. The analysis shows which global goals are most frequently targeted, and which are the least. It also allows an analysis of which projects are following through most effectively in terms of monitoring progress towards the SDGs. This assessment provides insights into the priorities of REDD+ project proponents, suggesting that REDD+ has unfulfilled potential to elicit positive change in relation to the SDGs. Our analysis also shows that there is considerable potential for the safeguarding bodies to do more to ensure that real improvements are made, and reported against, aligning REDD+ projects more strongly with global development agendas.


The literature on regulation has typically emphasized the ability of concentrated interest groups to secure the rules they prefer. One view argues that concentrated interests are consistently able to impose diffuse costs across large and unorganized interests. A second, largely compatible, view emphasizes the ability of powerful interest groups to mobilize expertise and to provide informational goods to politicians who adjust their legislative proposals accordingly. This paper shows that the Dodd‐ Frank legislation for financial reregulation in 2010 departs from both versions of this now conventional wisdom. Instead, this paper shows that both political parties adopted what we call a two‐tier political strategy of (1) maintaining good relations with the established financial elite and (2) simultaneously responding to the demands of grass‐roots advocacy groups for more stringent regulation. As a result, Dodd‐Frank Act falls far short of a thorough‐going redesign of the regulatory landscape, but also amounted to considerably more than business as usual. While the Dodd‐Frank Act creates new regulatory instruments and powers that hold the potential for far‐reaching changes, most of the existing agencies and market participants remain intact. This pattern of two‐tier politics is evident through the four primary policy domains treated in the legislation: macroprudential regulation, consumer protection, reestablishment of the partition between deposit banking versus proprietary trading (the Volcker Rule), and the regulation of derivatives trading.


In this thesis we present research on the stellar halo of our Galaxy. In particular we focus on measuring the shape and profile of the stellar halo through photometric techniques and main sequence turnoff point star counts. We also present a cross-correlation algorithm that can detect stellar overdensities in the halo (streams or satellites) in Colour Magnitude Diagrams with only two photometric filters and no control field. We use this algorithm to characterize different streams and the vicinity of Globular clusters in search for associated stellar populations. Finally we also search for new substructure in the Kilo Degree Survey fields of Data Releases 1 and 2 and find signatures of the major substructures known in the halo.


This report describes the construction and development of a control box, which is a tool for testing and verifying a certain model of Rapid's built in staplers (model A6102). Basically the function of the control box is to interpret any errors that may occur in the stapler and to make it possible to test fire the stapler.The control box should be able to communicate with the stapler using a specialized communication protocol. The different data such as errors, firmware etc. from the stapler is presented in plain language on a display. Additional functions worth mentioning is the possibility to choose between several different firing modes and strengths of the stapler using two multiswitches.Our ambition with the control box was to create a construction that was suitable to build in small series, provide a good documentation and to write a program that would be easy to modify in case someone would like to add new functions in the future. Since we focused on making the box as easy as possible to assemble we have not prioritised to find the cheapest possible solution using cheap components. Instead we have chosen multifunctional components that individually can do as much of the work as possible such as the display and the microprocessor.


The aviation industry has grown rapidly over the past 50 years. One of the downsides of this growth has been a substantial increase in aviation greenhouse gas emissions. Concerns about the growth trajectory of the industry and emissions have led to calls for measures to be introduced to restrict demand and prompt innovation. In response, the European Union has announced that both domestic and international flights will be included in its Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012. At the time of writing, no similar measures had been proposed in Australia. This article considers whether the unconstrained growth of the aviation industry in Australia is compatible with reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to levels that are required to minimise the risk of dangerous climate change. To do this, the article projects Australia's aviation emissions (international and domestic) over the period 2005 to 2050 and compares the projections to likely national emission reduction targets in 2050. The results suggest that total aviation emissions could rise by more than 250 per cent over this period. With such rapid growth, aviation could account for over 30 per cent of Australia's entire emissions space by 2050 if there is a desire to reduce emissions by 60 per cent by the middle of this century.


Usability evaluation is a core component of user-centred design (UCD) approach and aims primarily to evaluate effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction when users interacting with a product/service to achieve their goals and needs, influencing their decision to its future adoption (i.e., user acceptance). The focus of this research work was to assess the usability of videoconferencing system with traditional usability method (usability testing) in order to get good assessment of its learnability and applicability. Based on the five tasks performed by 29 participants from five countries, the overall evaluation of the Virtual Conference Centre (VCC) was satisfactory and implicit a high level of reliability.


The nasopharynx (NP) is a reservoir for microbes associated with acute respiratory illnesses (ARI). The development of asthma is initiated during infancy, driven by airway inflammation associated with infections. Here, we report viral and bacterial community profiling of NP aspirates across a birth cohort, capturing all lower respiratory illnesses during their first year. Most infants were initially colonized with Staphylococcus or Corynebacterium before stable colonization with Alloiococcus or Moraxella, with transient incursions of Streptococcus, Moraxella or Haemophilus marking virus-associated ARIs. Our data identify the NP microbiome as a determinant for infection spread to the lower airways, severity of accompanying inflammatory symptoms, and risk for future asthma development. Early asymptomatic colonization with Streptococcus was a strong asthma predictor, and antibiotic usage disrupted asymptomatic colonization patterns.


The Koshi river basin is a sub‐basin of the Ganges shared among China, Nepal, and India. The river system has a high potential for investment in hydropower development and for irrigation in downstream areas. The upper part of the basin contains a substantial reserve of freshwater in the form of snow and glaciers. Climate variability, climate change, and climate extremes might impact on these reserves, and in turn impact on systems that support livelihoods, such as agriculture, biodiversity and related ecosystem services. Climatological variability and trends over the Koshi river basin were studied using RClimDex. Daily temperature data (20 stations) and precipitation data (50 stations) from 1975 to 2010 were used in the analysis. The results show that the frequency and intensity of weather extremes are increasing. The daily maximum temperature (TXx) increased by 0.1 °C decade−1 on average between 1975 and 2010 and the minimum (TNn) by 0.3 °C decade−1. The number of warm nights increased at all stations. Most of the extreme temperature indices showed a consistently different pattern in the mountains than in the Indo‐Gangetic plains, although not all results were statistically significant. The warm days (TX90p), warm nights (TN90p), warm spell duration (WSDI), and diurnal temperature range (DTR) increased at most of the mountain stations; whereas monthly maximum and minimum values of daily maximum temperature, TX90p, cool nights (TN10p), WSDI, cold spell duration indicator (CSDI), DTR decreased at the stations in the Indo‐Gangetic plains, while the number of cold days increased. There was an increase in total annual rainfall and rainfall intensity, although no clear long‐term linear trend, whereas the number of consecutive dry days increased at almost all stations. The results indicate that the risk of extreme climate events over the basin is increasing, which will increase people's vulnerability and has strong policy implications.


Calophyllolide, a 4-phenyl pyranocoumarin is the major component in the seed of Calophyllum inophyllum. As the seed oil was reported to be showing anti HIV activity, isolation of calophyllolide was attempted using a simple and efficient soxhlet extractionmethod.Anewreverse phase HPLC method was developed to check the extraction efficiency and purity of the isolated compound. Themethodwas validated as per ICHguidelines. Forced degradation studieswere performed to ensure the specificity of themethod. The LOD and LOQ of calophyllolide was found to be 0.011% (w/w) and 0.034%(w/w) respectively in thismethod.


The article consists of four parts. The first one in a short way presents the notion of biomedical law. In the second part the author points out the main ways of harmonisation of the internal law of the Member States of EU by directives. The next part is dedicated to the polish laws connected with the biomedical law. The author analyses two EU directives: the first one about the principles of Good Clinical Practice – the document which is a set of internationally recognised ethical and scientific quality requirements which must be observed for designing, conducting, recording and reporting clinical trials that involve the participation of human subjects and the second one about patenting biomedical inventions, comparing them to Polish legal solutions in this field. The last part – conclusions – presents the opinion of the author about the concordance of polish and EU law in the field of biomedicine.


The ecological effectiveness and the social costs and benefits of international conservation strategies are coming under increasing scrutiny. This is especially true in restricted-use nature reserves, also called protected areas,(1) which traditionally have been modeled on the U.S. National Park System (Allin 1990) or derived from European colonial systems of game and forest reserves (Grove 1995). Natural-reserve establishment has long represented the leading strategy for maintaining biotic diversity, preserving scenic landscapes, perpetuating natural ecological services, and containing humanity's drive to blanket the globe with its handiwork. Of late this natural-reserve strategy has been criticized for a variety of reasons, with consideration of social justice a prominent concern.(2) In many documented cases the establishment of a restricted-use reserve has had serious negative social consequences, including the forced dislocation of residents and severe - even lethal - sanctions against those who persist in attempting to extract resources (Anderson and Grove 1987; West and Brechin 1991b; Bonner 1993). Critics have demonstrated that the imposition of U.S. and European conservation models represents a form of environmental intervention in local affairs that is designed to serve the interests of foreigners and local elites while overlooking the basic human rights and needs of many local peoples (Schroeder and Neumann 1995). Although promoted under the banner of common global interests, international preservation strategies, in this accounting, actually amount to "imperialist interventions" (Cosgrove 1995, 38). Even those who would defend conventional protected areas acknowledge a need for increased local involvement in nature-reserve management (McNeely 1994). Consensus exists on this point for the very pragmatic reason that effective enforcement of a reserve's use restrictions requires that local opposition be reduced by shifting the balance of the social costs and benefits of nature reserves more in favor of local people (Hobbs 1996). Still, questions of power sharing, such as who should establish conservation priorities and strategies and who should be involved in natural-resource policymaking and implementation, are highly contentious. TO BE LOCAL OR NONLOCAL - IS THIS THE QUESTION? Such debates over conservation strategies, particularly those that deal with the establishment of nature reserves, have commonly been framed in terms of the spatial location and cultural attributes of different groups of people who have interests in a given territory. Consideration of location and culture is, undoubtedly, essential for conservation policy. But there has also been an unfortunate tendency in much of the literature to reduce spatial and cultural categories to a misleading dichotomy between two poorly differentiated social groups: so-called local people and outsiders.(3) This has led to arguments over the relative merits of local resource management versus outside intervention. It would seem, in this formulation, that everyone must choose sides, either supporting the devolution of power over nature reserves to local people or adhering to the customary approach, with power to set agendas for international nature preservation relatively centralized among a nonlocal political and scientific elite. The word local is almost never precisely defined in this literature. A general, if unwritten, assumption seems to be that local people can be empirically identified in purely spatial terms, by measuring the proximity of their residence and/or work to any given nature reserve or potential reserve. Another characteristic of this debate, though, is that it quite often intertwines spatial and cultural descriptors, so that local may imply indigenous or traditional. In the debate over conservation politics, a potentially confusing and inaccurate conflation of the spatial and the cultural is understandable, because many people who reside in or close to the remaining large, undeveloped spaces could be described as indigenous peoples or, at least, as culturally traditional with respect to majority populations in their respective regions. …


This article applies a model of workplace advancement where big employment decisions — like promotions and pay raises — are influenced in part by the disparate distribution of smaller opportunities over time. These smaller opportunities generally do not qualify as "adverse employment actions" for the purpose of a discrimination claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. However, their legal significance has been underestimated. The disparate denial of smaller opportunities has been successfully used as evidence of disparate treatment when plaintiffs are later denied a big opportunity.

In addition, recent legislation passed in Washington state, the Equal Pay Opportunity Act, expanded gender discrimination law to more broadly protect women's access to opportunities for advancement. The statute will likely encourage employers to scrutinize their distribution of smaller opportunities. In the MeToo era, other states may follow suit.

This article argues that employers should identify and address disparities at the opportunity level to advance workplace equality. Drawing from social science research on discrimination in school discipline, employers could identify the particular decision points and contextual factors that drive disparities and use that information to address the problem. Such undertakings would also be compatible with existing internal employment structures.


We fabricate silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) on the rear surface of thin film hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) solar cells to enhance the light absorption using spin-coating Ag ink, which can produce Ag NPs by a simple, fast, and inexpensive method. Ink concentration and sintering temperature of the spin-coating Ag ink are optimized to maximize the light absorption in the solar cell by tuning the size and distribution as well as the surface coverage of the Ag NPs. The thickness of a SiNx spacer layer, which was embedded between the solar cell and the Ag NPs for electrical isolation, dependent optical properties of the solar cell is also systematically investigated. The thin film a-Si:H solar cell with a thin SiNx spacer layer and the Ag NPs showed great potential for realizing cost-effective high-efficiency solar cells.


Migration flows between urban and rural areas in developed countries show a strong difference in migration destinations with regard to age. Our paper analyses, in the French case, who rural areas attract or repel and what their so-called "pull-factors" are. Our goal is to explain the propensity to migrate and the destination choice among four categories of area (urban centres, suburbs, rural areas under urban influence, rural LMAs), for three age groups. Mixed logit models, that do not rely on the IIA assumption and allow for heterogeneity in individual behaviours are estimated on a large French sample. The results show that the educational level of young people and the labour market characteristics of their initial residential area particularly influence their destination choices. The labour market variables have little influence on the migration decisions of the middle-aged, for whom residential motivations appear to be predominant. The migration decisions of 45-64 years old are clearly residentially motivated changes.


Summary 1. Arctic tundra ecosystems contain 14% of the global soil carbon (C) store which is becoming vulnerable to decomposition. Arctic soil organic matter (SOM) contains large amounts of old, recalcitrant, high molecular weight (MW) C compounds which are protected from decomposition whilst soils remain frozen. Climatic change alters soil temperature and water regimes in the Arctic, however, the impact of these changes on C decomposition and storage is poorly understood. 2. We investigated vegetation emergence, microbial dynamics and nutrient fluxes in response to snow melt on the high Arctic Svalbard archipelago using field and laboratory studies. Using bacterial and archaeal genetic material (16S rRNA) and ammonia-oxidising genes, microbial communities were quantified in transects across the active snow melt front. The effects of soil temperature and water content on SOM decomposition rates were measured using 14 C-labelled low and high MW compounds. 3. Vegetation and below-ground microbial communities, in the field, responded rapidly with peaks in nutrient availability and soil respiration observed within 72 h of snowmelt. Temperature strongly drives early growing season C dynamics in the Arctic. We suggest the nutrient peaks following snowmelt, coupled with higher levels of DNA in the subniveal zone are due to the decomposition of bacteria and archaea from previous years. 4. We show, in the laboratory, when soils thaw, mineralisation of recalcitrant C (high MW) compounds was sensitive to soil water but not to increasing temperatures. In contrast, low MW compounds exhibited sensitivity to both temperature and soil water. We suggest that if future soil water content increases under climate change, high MW compounds could become more susceptible to decomposition, releasing more C to the atmosphere.


Peptidoglycan is an essential and specific component of the bacterial cell wall and therefore is an ideal recognition signature for the immune system. Peptidoglycan recognition proteins (PGRPs) are conserved from insects to mammals and able to bind PGN (non-catalytic PGRPs) and, in some cases, to efficiently degrade it (catalytic PGRPs). In Drosophila, several non-catalytic PGRPs function as selective peptidoglycan receptors upstream of the Toll and Imd pathways, the two major signalling cascades regulating the systemic production of antimicrobial peptides. Recognition PGRPs specifically activate the Toll pathway in response to Lys-type peptidoglycan found in most Gram-positive bacteria and the Imd pathway in response to DAP-type peptidoglycan encountered in Gram-positive bacilli-type bacteria and in Gram-negative bacteria. Catalytic PGRPs on the other hand can potentially reduce the level of immune activation by scavenging peptidoglycan. In accordance with this, PGRP-LB and PGRP-SC1A/B/2 have been shown to act as negative regulators of the Imd pathway. In this study, we report a biochemical and genetic analysis of PGRP-SB1, a catalytic PGRP. Our data show that PGRP-SB1 is abundantly secreted into the hemolymph following Imd pathway activation in the fat body, and exhibits an enzymatic activity towards DAP-type polymeric peptidoglycan. We have generated a PGRP-SB1/2 null mutant by homologous recombination, but its thorough phenotypic analysis did not reveal any immune function, suggesting a subtle role or redundancy of PGRP-SB1/2 with other molecules. Possible immune functions of PGRP-SB1 are discussed.


For centuries, our systems of banking, money, and payments have been legally and institutionally intertwined. The fact that these three—theoretically distinct—systems have been bundled together so tightly and for so long reflects a combination of historical accident, powerful economic and political forces, path dependence, and technological capacity. Importantly, it also reflects the unique and often under-appreciated privileges and protections that the law bestows on conventional deposit-taking banks. These privileges and protections have served to entrench banks as the dominant suppliers of both money and payments: erecting significant barriers to entry, undermining financial innovation and inclusion, spurring destabilizing regulatory arbitrage, and exacerbating the "too-big-to-fail" problem. Against this backdrop, the recent emergence of a variety of new financial technologies, platforms, and policy tools hold out the tantalizing prospect of breaking this centuries-old stranglehold over our basic financial infrastructure. The essential policy problem, at least as conventionally understood, is that creating a level legal playing field would pose a serious threat to both monetary and financial stability. This Article demonstrates that this need not be the case and advances a blueprint for how we can safely unbundle banking, money, and payments, thereby enhancing competition, promoting greater financial innovation and inclusion, and ameliorating the too-big-to-fail problem.


In this study, the spatial character of benthic communities is investigated in an Arabian Gulf shallow subtidal carbonate ramp setting, using IKONOS satellite imagery. The patchy distribution of three assemblages of live and dead corals on extensive (but also fragmented) hardground pavements was investigated using a variety of spatial statistics. It was found that the spatial expression of the benthic groups display characteristics that approximate to power-law distributions over several orders of magnitude to an extent that suggests fractal behaviour. Pronounced anisotropy was observed between the spatial patterns in the near-shore and off-shore region which is attributed to different mechanisms of patch formation controlled by the local hydrodynamic regime. The study area is know to be subjected to recurrent and cyclic thermal induced mass mortality events on a decadal time scale, inhibiting reef framework development and likely to be a controlling mechanism in the patchiness of the benthic communities.


The feeding habits of sand smelt, Atherina boyeri Risso, 1810 in the mouth of the Mala Neretva River were studied by examining the stomach contents of 1236 fishes collected from March 2001 to February 2002. Thirteen different food categories were identified. The greatest diversity was recorded in winter, especially in January, when 11 categories were present. The minimum (4) was in September, and was associated with the highest number of empty stomachs. Marine and estuarine species represented the bulk of the prey, while typically fresh-water species ( Daphnia spp. and Cyclops spp.) were found only sporadically. Crustaceans were the most common prey and, of these, the most common were copepods (45%), followed by gammarid amphipods (34%), cladocerans (13%), decapod larvae (12%) and mysids (8%). Insects represented 7%. The percentage number of prey showed high seasonal variations. Copepods dominated in autumn and winter, cyclopoids in April, poecilostomatoids and harpacticoids in December, and calanoids in January and February. Decapod larvae dominated in March-May, and mysids in July-August. PCA and clustering analysis was performed on the prey data in order to reveal associations between prey items or seasonal similarities. The opportunistic mode of feeding of the species Atherina boyeri is also discussed.


OBJECTIVE An asymmetry of the A1 segments (A1SA) of the anterior cerebral arteries (ACAs) is an assumed risk factor for the development of anterior communicating artery aneurysms (ACoAAs). It is unknown whether A1SA is also clinically relevant after aneurysm rupture. The authors of this study investigated the impact of A1SA on the clinical course and outcome of patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). METHODS The authors retrospectively analyzed data on consecutive SAH patients treated at their institution between January 2005 and December 2012. The occurrence and severity of cerebral infarctions in the ACA territories were evaluated on follow-up CT scans up to 6 weeks after SAH. Moreover, the risk for an unfavorable outcome (defined as > 3 points on the modified Rankin Scale) at 6 months after SAH was assessed. RESULTS A total of 594 patients were included in the final analysis. An A1SA was identified on digital subtraction angiography studies from 127 patients (21.4%) and was strongly associated with ACoAA (p < 0.0001, OR 13.7). An A1SA independently correlated with the occurrence of ACA infarction in patients with ACoAA (p = 0.047) and in those without an ACoAA (p = 0.015). Among patients undergoing ACoAA coiling, A1SA was independently associated with the severity of ACA infarction (p = 0.023) and unfavorable functional outcome (p = 0.045, OR = 2.4). CONCLUSIONS An A1SA is a common anatomical variation in SAH patients and is strongly associated with ACoAA. Moreover, the presence of A1SA independently increases the likelihood of ACA infarction. In SAH patients undergoing ACoAA coiling, A1SA carries the risk for severe ACA infarction and thus an unfavorable outcome. Clinical trial registration no.: DRKS00005486 ( http://www.drks.de/ ).


Traditional law and economic analysis views postemployment restrictions, ranging from noncompete agreements to intellectual property controls over an ex-employee's knowledge and skill, as necessary for economic investment and market growth. The orthodox economic analysis theorizes that without such contractual and regulatory protections, businesses would underinvest in research, development, and human capital. This Article challenges the orthodox analysis by introducing both behavioral dimensions and endogenous growth effects of job mobility over time. The article empirically tests the behavioral dimension with original experimental research demonstrating that contractual backgrounds in market relations impact motivation and performance. The behavioral study, simulating a job market, finds that participants constrained by postemployment restrictions significantly under-performed in the assigned experimental tasks. The Article integrates these experimental findings with new empirical evidence about positive spillovers, network effects, and economic growth in jurisdictions with lesser legal constraints on job mobility and information flows. The behavioral and dynamic growth effects elaborated in the article help explain regional advantage in patenting rates, entrepreneurship, and market growth of jurisdictions that employ weaker human capital controls. Combining the behavioral and network perspectives, the article develops a new lens through which to analyze the costs and benefits of human capital restrictions.


Abstract. This paper presents the results of modeling the interaction between internal waves (IWs) and turbulence using direct numerical simulation (DNS). Turbulence is excited and supported by a random forcing localized in a vertical layer separated from the pycnocline. The main attention is paid to the internal wave damping due to turbulence and comparison of the results with those obtained theoretically by using the semi-empirical approach. It is shown that the IW damping rate predicted by the theory agrees well with the DNS results when turbulence is sufficiently strong to be only weakly perturbed by the internal wave; however, the theory overestimates the damping rate of IWs for a weaker turbulence. The DNS parameters are matched to the parameters of the laboratory experiment, and an extrapolation to the oceanic scales is also provided.


A collection of group II Fusarium graminearum isolates obtained from maize, wheat and rice from different locations in Nepal were identified using a combination of morphological and molecular criteria. The variation within this collection was analysed using RAPD markers, intergenic spacer (IGS) RFLP and PCR polymorphisms. The isolates were divided into two groups, A and B, by RAPD analysis. Isolates in group A yielded four different PCR polymorphic markers, but all the isolates in group B yielded a single polymorphic marker. The IGS RFLP analysis was consistent with division of the isolates into two groups. Isolates from wheat and rice were more frequently placed in group A, with isolates from maize more evenly distributed between the groups. Results indicate that host preference might be a factor in the division of isolates, although the year of isolation may also have had an influence. No geographical factors or agricultural practices could be identified to account for the observed variation.


In the AIV's view it is both possible and necessary for states and other actors to take action to keep climate change within the limits set by the Paris Agreement. In this advisory letter the AIV argues that fast, forceful intervention is therefore desirable. It also believes that financing measures and the development of standards could make a key difference. Above all, the AIV believes that the Netherlands should actively seek cooperation and show leadership both via the EU and within the EU framework.


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has a long history of working with IBM on Blue Gene® supercomputers. Beginning in November 2001 with the joint announcement of a partnership to expand the Blue Gene research project (including Blue Gene®/L and Blue Gene®/P), the collaboration extends to this day with LLNL planning for the installation of a 96-rack Blue Gene®/Q (called Sequoia) supercomputer. As with previous machines, we envision Blue Gene/Q will be used for a wide array of applications at LLNL, ranging from meeting programmatic requirements for certification to increasing our understanding of basic physical processes. We briefly describe a representative sample of mature codes that span this application space and scale well on Blue Gene hardware. Finally, we describe advances in multi-scale whole-organ modeling of the human heart as an example of breakthrough science that will be enabled with the Blue Gene/Q architecture.


ABSTRACT Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJNT is able to efficiently colonize the rhizosphere, root, and above-ground plant tissues of a wide variety of genetically unrelated plants, such as potatoes, canola, maize, and grapevines. Strain PsJN shows strong plant growth-promoting effects and was reported to enhance plant vigor and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, we report the genome sequence of this strain, which indicates the presence of multiple traits relevant for endophytic colonization and plant growth promotion.


Some of the roots of the characteristic negative attitude to homosexuality can be found in Peter Damian's appeal to Pope Leo IX. Though written 900 years ago by an Italian monk in a remote corner of Italy, The Book of Gomorrah is relevant to contemporary discussion of homosexuality. The Book of Gomorrah asks the Pope to take steps to halt the spread of homosexual practices among the clergy. The first part outlines the various forms of homosexual practice, the specific abuses, and the inadequacy of traditional penitential penances, and demands that offenders be removed form their ecclesiastical positions. The second part is an impassioned plea to the offenders to repent of their ways, accept due penance, and cease from homosexual activity. Payer's is the first translation of the full tract into any language from the original Latin. In his introduction to the tract Payer places The Book of Gomorrah in its context as the first major systematic treatise in the medieval West against various homosexual acts, provides a critique of Peter Damian's arguments, and outlines his life. The annotated translation is followed by a translation of the letter of Pope Leo IX in reply to Damian's Treatise, an extensive bibliography, and indexes. The book will be of interest to students of medieval history and religion, to ethicists and students of social mores, and to persons generally concerned with the historical roots of present-day attitudes to homosexuality.


Although the 2003 Supreme Court decisions in Grutter v. Bollinger and Gratz v. Bollinger addressed the use of race in the admissions policies of colleges and universities, the Court failed to address the use of race in any higher education context outside of admissions, creating uncertainty as to how broadly the Court's pronouncements could be applied, and encouraging legal challenges to policies outside of admissions that consider race. This article seeks to resolve some of the uncertainty by exploring the constitutionality of "minority-targeted aid" policies - financial aid policies that direct institutions to consider race when making award determinations, or limit aid eligibility to students from a particular race or ethnicity. This article argues that both race-conscious and race-exclusive aid programs are constitutional when properly conceptualized as enrollment management tools used to give effect to admissions decisions. Like the admissions process sanctioned in Grutter, race-conscious aid is viable because it provides each potential aid recipient with an individualized review process in which race is only one factor to consider. Race-exclusive aid is also viable because although race or ethnicity limits eligibility, the aid is motivated by the legitimate pursuit of a critical mass of minority students. Moreover, individualized review is still required, and there is no undue burden on non-minority candidates as long as the amount of aid does not exceed what is necessary for enrollment management aimed at a critical mass.


Atlantic salmon fry (4 g) were fed for 4 months on semi-synthetic diets containing fatty acid methyl esters of either 18:2 n-6, 18:3 n-3 or a mixture of equal amounts of 20:5 n-3 and 22:6 n-3. The different amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids added were 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 and 2% (by dry weight). Increasing levels of dietary n-3 fatty acids up to 1% gave faster growth rates in salmon fry, and fish fed the mixture of 20:5 n-3 and 22:6 n-3 seemed to grow faster than fish fed only 18:3 n-3. No significant effect on growth rate was seen when the dietary level of 18:2 n-6 was increased. Dietary inclusions of n-3 fatty acids reduced the mortality of salmon, while dietary 18:2 n-6 had no such beneficial effects.

The dietary treatments caused substantial changes in the fatty acid composition of blood and liver phospholipids (PL), whereas the total lipid fraction of the carcass was less affected. Increasing doses of 18:2 n-6 in the diet resulted in an increased percentage of 20:4 n-6 in liver and blood PLs, while the percentage of 20:3 n-9 decreased. The percentage of 18:2 n-6 also increased in liver, blood and carcass. Dietary 18:3 n-3 resulted in increased percentages of 18:3 n-3 and 20:5 n-3 in liver PLs, while the percentage of 20:3 n-9 decreased. There was, however, no significant increase in the percentage of 22:6 n-3. Dietary 18:3 n-3 produced no significant changes in the composition of blood fatty acids, but increased the percentage of 18:3 n-3 in the carcass. The dietary combination of the n-3 fatty acids 20:5 and 22:6 resulted in an increased percentage of 22:6 n-3 in blood and liver lipids and a decreased percentage of 20:3 n-9, but there were no changes in the percentage of 20:5 n-3.


The number of published findings in biomedicine increases continually. At the same time, specifics of the domain's terminology complicates the task of relevant publications retrieval. In the current research, we investigate influence of terms' variability and ambiguity on a paper's likelihood of being retrieved. We obtained statistics that demonstrate significance of the issue and its challenges, followed by presenting the this http URL platform, which allows precise terms labeling as a resolution.


This paper examines the possible relationship between proposed social determinants of morphological 'complexity' and how this contributes to linguistic diversity, specifically via the typological nature of the sign languages of deaf communities. We sketch how the notion of morphological complexity, as defined by Trudgill (2011), applies to sign languages. Using these criteria, sign languages appear to be languages with low to moderate levels of morphological complexity. This may partly reflect the influence of key social characteristics of communities on the typological nature of languages. Although many deaf communities are relatively small and may involve dense social networks (both social characteristics that Trudgill claimed may lend themselves to morphological 'complexification'), the picture is complicated by the highly variable nature of the sign language acquisition for most deaf people, and the ongoing contact between native signers, hearing non-native signers, and those deaf individuals who only acquire sign languages in later childhood and early adulthood. These are all factors that may work against the emergence of morphological complexification. The relationship between linguistic typology and these key social factors may lead to a better understanding of the nature of sign language grammar. This perspective stands in contrast to other work where sign languages are sometimes presented as having complex morphology despite being young languages (e.g., Aronoff et al., 2005); in some descriptions, the social determinants of morphological complexity have not received much attention, nor has the notion of complexity itself been specifically explored.


While random-assignment experiments have considerable conceptual appeal, the validity and reliability of results depends crucially on a number of design and implementation issues. This paper reviews the major experiment in class size reduction-Tennessee's Project STAR-and puts the results in the context of existing nonexperimental evidence about class size. The nonexperimental evidence uniformly indicates no consistent improvement in achievement with class size reductions. This evidence comes from very different sources and methodologies, making the consistency of results quite striking. The experimental evidence from the STAR experiment is typically cited as providing strong support of current policy proposals to reduce class size. Detailed review of the evidence, however uncovers a number of important design and implementation issues that suggest considerable uncertainty about the magnitude of any treatment effects. Moreover there is reason to believe that the commonly cited results are biased upwards. Ignoring consideration of the uncertainties and possible biases in the experiment, the results show effects that are limited to very large (and expensive) reductions in kindergarten or possibly first grade class sizes. No support for smaller reductions in class size (i.e., reductions resulting in class sizes greater than 13–17 students) or for reductions in later grades is found in the STAR results.


This essay seeks to introduce more substantive attention to religion into the field of media studies. It argues that religion persists in culture and politics, as demonstrated by political upheavals in the North Atlantic West, and that media scholarship lacks critical theoretical and conceptual resources to address that fact. The essay calls for careful historicism and, as a heuristic, interrogates American Protestantism as a cultural, political, and media project. It references emerging scholarships to suggest ways that Protestantism is expressed as a politics in relation to the public and domestic spheres.


The Obama administration has made a great effort to increase the role of advanced conventional weaponry in US national security thinking and practice, in part to help reinvigorate the global nuclear disarmament agenda by reducing the role played by nuclear weapons in the US defense posture. However, such a strategy is fundamentally flawed because increases in US conventional superiority will exacerbate US relative strength vis-à-vis other powers, and therefore make the prospect of a nuclear weapon-free world seem less attractive to Washington's current and potential nuclear rivals. Consequently, it is highly likely that the impact of efforts to increase US advanced conventional superiority through ballistic missile defense and a conventional "prompt global strike" program will ensure that the Obama administration is adopting a pathway to nuclear abolition on which it is the sole traveler for the foreseeable future.


The U.S. corporate tax system is failing to keep pace with the evolving global economic landscape. The overwhelmingly complex regime rewards aggressive tax planning and creates incentives for corporations to move their capital and tax homes offshore. Calls for fundamental reform are escalating as the current system succumbs to the pressures of declining revenues, ever-emerging loopholes, and the perpetuation of one of the highest national statutory rates in the world. Indeed, President Obama and members Congress have acknowledged these shortcomings and affirmed their commitment to significantly overhaul the corporate tax system. Academics, practitioners, and the White House have proposed any number of reform measures to deal with the problems plaguing the U.S. corporate tax regime, including moving from a worldwide to a territorial-based regime, eliminating deferral, and lowering the statutory rate. However, these solutions involve varying structural and statutory changes, which are in fact extrinsic to the form of the underlying rules themselves. In contrast, this Article argues for an innate form of change to the U.S. corporate tax rules, which would fundamentally affect the way in which tax lawmakers actually draft tax rules and regulations. In particular, it argues that a systemic focus and commitment by lawmakers to a more principles-based approach to regulation would significantly mitigate many of the challenges currently encumbering the U.S. tax regime. Generally speaking, as used herein, principles-based rules are rules in which the principle underlying the rule is actually stated on the face of the rule. In contrast, prescriptive rules are rules for which the lawmaker ex ante prescribes an outcome for a set of anticipated factual situations by applying, but not stating directly, the underlying principle. Unlike the present system, which relies almost exclusively on a complex entanglement of bright-line prescriptive rules, a principles-focused corporate tax regime would help significantly simplify tax provisions, close loopholes, make the system more responsive to a dynamic marketplace, and serve as a gateway to lowering the U.S. corporate tax rate. Thus, the implementation of more principles-based rules should be given consideration in any contemplated tax reform proposals.


The most common forms of government-mandated job displacement insurance are Severance Pay (SP; lump-sum payments at layoff) and Unemployment Insurance (UI; periodic payments contingent on non-employment). While there is a vast literature on UI, SP programs have received much less attention, even though they are prevalent across countries and predominant in developing countries. In particular, little is known about their insurance value, which critically relies on workers' ability to dissave the lump-sum progressively to smooth consumption after layoff. Using de-identified high-frequency expenditure data and matched employee-employer data from Brazil, we find that displaced workers eligible for both UI and SP increase consumption at layoff by 35% despite experiencing a 17% consumption loss after they stop receiving any benefits. Moreover, this sensitivity of consumer spending to cash-on-hand is present across spending categories and sources of variation in UI benefits and SP amounts. We show that a simple structural model with present-biased workers can rationalize our findings, and we use it to illustrate their implications for the incentive-insurance trade-off between SP and UI. Specifically, the insurance value of SP programs – or of other policies that provide liquidity to workers at layoff – can be severely reduced when consumption is over-sensitive to the timing of benefit disbursement, undermining their advantage in terms of job-search incentives. Our findings highlight the importance of the difference between SP and UI in their disbursement policy, and shed new light on the need for job displacement insurance in a developing country context.


We report a statistical analysis of more than eight thousand songs. Specifically, we investigated the probability distribution of the normalized sound amplitudes. Our findings suggest a universal form of distribution that agrees well with a one-parameter stretched Gaussian. We also argue that this parameter can give information on music complexity, and consequently it helps classify songs as well as music genres. Additionally, we present statistical evidence that correlation aspects of the songs are directly related to the non-Gaussian nature of their sound amplitude distributions.


The standard design for a rubble-mound breakwater as reported in recent text books and manuals has consisted of a core of rubble quarry-run that is protected from wave action by two layers of relatively large quarried stone or concrete units. Filter layers of intermediate size stone are recommended beneath the armour layer to prevent loss of the core material through the armour. The pioneering work of Hudson provides coefficients for a formula that allowed widespread use of this design concept throughout the world. A breakwater of this form tends to require the smallest volume of stone; however, it may not represent the least cost structure for a specific location because of the cost and availability of local materials. Recently, design engineers and hydraulic laboratories have given considerable attention to alternative forms of rubble mound structures. The objective of this work has been to minimize cost while maintaining the same or improved level of stability when the breakwater is subjected to extreme wave conditions. Principally, emphasis has been given to the utilization of locally available quarried stone and to maximizing the use of the full yield of a local quarry. This has required the design of breakwaters using smaller armour stone and a wider range of sizes than was used in the more conventional breakwater. These designs have also given consideration to the realities of construction and the limitation of construction equipment on the assumption that cost savings will be achieved with relatively simple construction methods. Clearly the use of smaller armour stones requires a change in other properties or characteristics of the armour layer, compared to a conventional design, in order to achieve the same stability. The principal characteristics of a berm breakwater are the high permeability of the armour-layer and the significantly larger volume of armour. Berm breakwaters generally consist of a relatively large and permeable mass of armour stone (of smaller size than required for a conventional design).


Through their products and behaviours, corporations greatly influence the health of populations.1 2 Some corporations, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers, develop vaccines and life-saving medications, which are essential for protecting the public's health. Other corporations manufacture products that confer benefits to society but are also associated with hundreds of thousands of injuries and deaths each year. For example, despite certain required safety features, motor vehicles are associated with approximately 34 000 US deaths each year and over 1.2 million deaths globally.3 4 Firearms are associated with approximately 30 000 US deaths annually and over 200 000 deaths worldwide.5 6 Participation by injury prevention professionals in the policy-making process is an important strategy to reduce injuries associated with some corporate behaviours.

Too often, corporations pursue increased profits even though this might elevate the injury risks their products pose. This was highlighted last year during a congressional hearing about Toyota Motor Corporation's response to concerns about uncontrolled sudden acceleration.7 During its investigation, a US House of Representative's committee received over 70 000 pages of Toyota documents.8 One document, a now publicly available July 2009 presentation, given by Toyota's president and CEO of North American operations, noted a 'win' because Toyota saved over US$100 million by negotiating with federal regulators for an 'equipment', or limited, recall of certain Camry and Lexus ES models due to uncontrolled sudden acceleration.9 This 2007 'equipment' recall meant that Toyota saved millions of dollars because it was not required to repair the affected cars. Instead, Toyota recalled 55 000 floor mats that could 'potentially [get] stuck under the accelerator pedal …


Alcuronium allosterically increases the affinity of cardiac muscarinic receptors for methyl-N-scopolamine (NMS), whereas gallamine has the opposite effect. We discovered that strychnine also increases the affinity of muscarinic receptors in rat heart atria for NMS. It is not known whether the positive and the negative allosteric effectors bind to the same binding site. To investigate this question, we elaborated on a theoretical model predicting changes in the binding of a classic radiolabeled ligand occurring in the presence of a positive and a negative allosteric effector that compete for the allosteric binding site. The model is based on data obtained at equilibrium and avoids uncertainties associated with the use of nonequilibrium methods for the evaluation of interactions between allosteric ligands. We examined changes in the binding of [3H]NMS to membranes of rat heart atria exposed to various concentrations of a positive allosteric effector (alcuronium or strychnine) and of a negative allosteric effector (gallamine) simultaneously. The binding data obtained were in perfect agreement with the model assuming competition between gallamine and alcuronium and gallamine and strychnine, strongly suggesting that these positive and negative allosteric effectors bind to identical or overlapping sites.


Complex, real-world domains require rethinking traditional approaches to AI planning. Planning and executing the resulting plans in a dynamic environment implies a continual approach in which planning and execution are interleaved, uncertainty in the current and projected world state is recognized and handled appropriately, and replanning can be performed when the situation changes or planned actions fail. Furthermore, complex planning and execution problems may require multiple computational agents and human planners to collaborate on a solution. In this article, we describe a new paradigm for planning in complex, dynamic environments, which we term distributed, continual planning (DCP). We argue that developing DCP systems will be necessary for planning applications to be successful in these environments. We give a historical overview of research leading to the current state of the art in DCP and describe research in distributed and continual planning.


Background: Community–based Participatory Research (CBPR) can be challenging when community leaders and academic researchers have not previously co-led research or worked together with established rules guiding their relationships, roles, and respective functions. The objective of this investigation was to assess the processes and outcomes of the Building Collaborative Research Capacity Grant Program, sponsored by the Community Engagement Research Program of The Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute and designed to foster CBPR. Methods: Four competitively selected community-based organizations (CBOs) participated in capacity-building workshops designed to build research skills and receive technical assistance to plan a pilot study with academic researchers. Preand postsurveys were used to assess the impact of the training and technical assistance on the CBOs' knowledge and skills and abilities to plan, implement, and evaluate research. Key informant interviews were conducted with academic researchers and CBO dyads to identify experiences, perceptions, and recommendations related to the program model, and seven identified domains of collaborative research including research skills, attitudes toward collaboration, shared goals, institutional factors, mutual respect, human and fiscal resources, and partnering skills. Results: Areas of research competency increased from preto post-survey, with statistically significant increases in Community Assessment (p= 0.046) and Program Planning (p= 0.046). Each partnership had inherent characteristics related to strengths and barriers affecting the research outcomes. Conclusions: The present results contribute to the literature through assessment of processes, outcomes, and partner insights of a model designed to facilitate collaborative community-engaged research partnerships. Future research should examine the model to expand understanding of the dimensions of effective community and academic research collaboration.


For the last 25 years, human development has become part of official development discourses. It takes the normative position that the success of policies depends on whether they have expanded human flourishing, or expanded the 'freedoms' or 'capabilities' people have 'reason to value', as Amartya Sen would put it. It emphasises the importance of institutions to facilitate such expansion, and the agency of people to create such institutions. The ability of institutions to be conducive to human flourishing depends on the nature of human interaction. When human interaction no longer has the flourishing of other persons as its aim, it can create structures which then constrain human agency. The article argues that the human development perspective could be enriched by theological insights such as structural sin and the contribution of religious narratives to public reasoning. It concentrates on the idea of justice of one biblical parable, and illustrates its argument with examples from the Argentine labour context.


Medical imaging produces many images every day in clinical routine. Keeping up with the daily image analysis task and this vast amount of data is quite a challenge for radiologists. However, these analysis tasks can be automated with well-proven automatic segmentation methods. Segmentation reviewing of an expert is necessary because learningbased automatic segmentation methods may not perform well on exceptional image data. Creating valid segmentations by reviewing them also improve the learning-based methods. Combining established standards with modern technologies creates a flexible environment to efficiently evaluate multiple segmentation algorithm outputs based on different metrics and visualizations and report these analysis results back to a clinical system environment. The presented software system can inspect such quantitative results in a fast and intuitive way, potentially improving the daily repetitive segmentation review and rework of a research radiologist. The presented system is designed to be integrated into a virtual distributed computing environment with other systems and analysis methods. Critical factors for this particular environment are the handling of many patient data and routine automated analysis with state of the art technology. First experiments show that the time to review automatic segmentation results can be roughly divided in half while the confidence of the radiologist is enhanced. The system is also able to highlight individual slices which are essential for the expert's review decision. For this highlighting, different metric scores are compared and evaluated.


Since R was first launched, it has managed to gain the support of an ever-increasing percentage of academic and professional statisticians. However, the spread of its use among novice and occasional users of statistics have not progressed at the same pace, which can be attributed partially to the lack of a graphical user interface (GUI). Nevertheless, this situation has changed in the last years and there is currently several projects that have added GUIs to R. This article discusses briefly the history of GUIs for data analysis and then introduces the papers submitted to an special issue of the Journal of Statistical Software on GUIs for R.


The inverse magnetoelectric MEE-effect in the SmFe3(BO3)4 single-crystal sample in an applied electric field has been studied. The electric field E consists of two components: a constant one, e0, and a variable one, e × cos(ωt). The investigated compound evokes great interest due to the existence of both linear and quadratic contributions to the magnetoelectric effect. According to theoretical analysis, the effective susceptibility of the first harmonic of magnetic moment oscillations depends on the dc electric field component e0. Indeed, according to the measurement data, the dc field e0 significantly affects the MEE-effect first-harmonic amplitude: depending on the e0 sign, these oscillations can be either amplified or suppressed. This offers an opportunity for controlling the magnetic moment oscillation amplitude at the applied electric field frequency, including the signal modulation, which is promising for application. In the applied dc field e0, a slight change in the susceptibility of the MEE-effec...