Secondary
 metabolites
 are
 organic
 compounds
 that
 are
 not
 directly
 involved in
 the
 key
 processes
 (growth,
 reproduction
 and
 development)
 of
 an
 organism.
 They are
 commonly
 targeted
 in
 pharmaceutical
 science
 for
 drug
 discovery.
 Secondary metabolites
 that
 have
 been
 used
 in
 drug
 discovery
 have
 been
 derived
 from
 plants, invertebrates
 and
 microbes.
 Microbes,
 bacteria
 in
 particular,
 have
 contributed greatly
 and
 will
 continue
 to
 play
 an
 important
 role
 in
 new
 drug
 discovery.
 Among the
 bacteria
 from
 all
 environments,
 marine
 bacteria
 are
 a
 vast
 reservoir
 for
 many potential
 useful
 bioactive
 compounds.
 Recent
 studies
 using
 marine
 bacteria
 for pharmaceutical
 use
 mainly
 focused
 on
 the
 bacteria
 collected
 from
 near-‐shore sediments.
 However,
 bacteria
 from
 deep-‐sea
 sediments
 remain
 unexplored. The
 South
 Pacific
 Gyre
 (SPG)
 is
 the
 most
 oligotrophic
 region
 of
 the
 world ocean.
 Due
 to
 the
 low
 surface
 productivity
 and
 distance
 from
 land,
 sediments
 below the
 gyre
 accumulate
 very
 slowly
 and
 are
 characterized
 by
 very
 low
 organic
 carbon content
 and
 relatively
 high
 dissolved
 oxygen
 concentrations.
 Sediments
 from
 South Pacific
 Gyre
 were
 found
 to
 host
 a
 living
 microbial
 community
 that,
 compared
 to other
 marine
 sediments,
 contains
 very
 low
 microbial
 biomass
 and
 very
 low metabolic
 activity. Thus,
 the
 goal
 of
 this
 study
 is
 to:
 (1)
 document
 the
 diversity
 of
 bacteria isolated
 in
 pure
 culture;
 and
 (2)
 explore
 the
 pharmaceutical
 potential
 of
 deep-‐sea bacteria
 from
 South
 Pacific
 Gyre
 sediment.
 To
 address
 this,
 bacteria
 were
 isolated in
 pure
 culture
 from
 sediments
 from
 seven
 sites
 of
 the
 Integrated
 Ocean
 Drilling Program
 (IODP)
 Expedition
 329
 in
 the
 South
 Pacific
 Gyre.
 16S
 rRNA
 genes
 from
 81 bacterial
 isolates
 throughout
 six
 SPG
 sites
 (U1366,
 U1367,
 U1368,
 U1369,
 U1370 and
 U1371)
 were
 sequenced
 for
 phylogenetic
 analysis
 using
 the
 RDP
 (Ribosomal Database
 Project).
 16S
 rRNA
 genes
 were
 amplified
 with
 bacterial
 primers
 that
 have been
 proven
 to
 amplify
 bacterial
 sequences
 well
 (27F,
 1392R).
 Whole
 genomes
 from nine
 Rhodococcus
 isolates
 (with
 two
 isolates
 sequenced
 in
 duplicate)
 from
 four
 SPG sites
 (U1366,
 U1367,
 U1370
 and
 U1371)
 were
 sequenced
 for
 secondary
 metabolites gene
 clusters
 discovery.
 By
 using
 antiSMASH
 (antibiotics
 &
 Secondary
 Metabolite Analysis
 SHell),
 secondary
 metabolite
 biosynthesis
 gene
 clusters
 in
 the
 bacterial genome
 were
 identified,
 annotated
 and
 analyzed. Of
 the
 81
 16S
 rRNA
 gene
 clone
 libraries
 constructed,
 most
 of
 the
 clones
 (63%) affiliated
 with
 the
 genus
 Bacillus,
 35.8%
 were
 affiliated
 with
 the
 genus
 Rhodococcus and
 one
 clone
 was
 identified
 as
 a
 Corynebacterium.
 The
 phylogenetic
 tree
 indicated that
 all
 the
 Rhodococci
 were
 identified
 as
 Rhodococcus
 erythropolis.
 By
 using antiSMASH
 to
 look
 for
 the
 secondary
 metabolites
 gene
 clusters
 from
 the Rhodococcus
 genomes,
 many
 gene
 clusters,
 most
 of
 which
 were
 non
 ribosomal peptides
 (NPRS)
 and
 polyketide
 synthases
 (PKS),
 were
 found
 in
 the
 genomes.
 This study
 suggests
 that
 deep-‐sea
 sediments
 harbor
 bacteria
 with
 the
 potential
 to produce
 pharmaceutically
 important
 secondary
 metabolites.


V&V constitutes a powerful framework to demonstrate the capability of computational tools in several technological areas. Passing V&V requirements is a needed step before applications. Let's focus hereafter to the area of (transient) Nuclear Thermal-hydraulic (NTH) and let's identify V1 and V2 as acronyms for Verification and Validation, respectively.
 Now, V1 is performed within NTH according to the best available techniques and may not suffer of important deficiencies if compared with other technological areas. This is not the case of V2. Three inherent limitations shall be mentioned in the case of Validation in NTH:
 1. Validation implies comparison with experimental data: available experimental data cover a (very) small fraction of the parameter range space expected in applications of the codes; this can be easily seen if one considers data in large diameter pipe, high velocity and high pressure or high power and power density. Noticeably, the scaling issue must be addressed in the framework of V2 which may result in controversial findings.
 2. Water is at the center of the attention: the physical properties of water are known to a reasonable extent as well as large variations in values of quantities like density or various derivatives are expected within the range of variation of pressure inside application fields. Although not needed for current validation purposes (e.g. validation ranges may not include a situation of critical pressure and large heat flux) physically inconsistent values predicted by empirical correlations outside validation ranges, shall not be tolerated.
 3. Occurrence of complex situations like transition from two-phase critical flow to 'Bernoulli-flow' (e.g. towards the end of blow-down) and from film boiling to nucleate boiling, possibly crossing the minimum film boiling temperature (e.g. during reflood).
 Therefore, whatever can be mentioned as classical V2 is not or cannot be performed in NTH. So, the idea of the present paper is to add a component to the V&V. This component, or step in the process, is called 'Consistency with Reality', or with the expected phenomenological evidence. The new component may need to be characterized in some cases and is indicated by the letter 'C'. Then, the V&V becomes V&V&C.
 The purpose of the paper is to clarify the motivations at the bases of the V&V&C.


This study examines whether differences in public sector efficiency are associated with diverging effects of public investment on growth. At first stage, we estimate public investment multipliers for each country of the European Union (EU). Their size varies considerably across countries. Then we construct measures of public sector efficiency which are used in the econometric analysis to study the relationship between public investment and growth. The main result of the econometric analysis is that the efficiency of public sector indeed matters in raising the influence of public investment on growth. This result remains robust to several changes in the econometric specification and to various measures of government efficiency which used as explanatory variables in the econometric estimations.


Adipokines such as leptin, resistin, and fasting-induced adipose factor (FIAF) are secreted by adipocytes, but their expression is also detectable in the brain and pituitary. The role of central adipokines remains elusive, but we speculate that they may modulate those hypothalamic signaling pathways that control energy homeostasis. Here we describe experiments to test this in which we exploited a novel hypothalamic neuronal cell line (N-1) that expresses a variety of neuropeptides and receptors that are known to be implicated in appetite regulation. Using real-time RT-PCR, we confirmed that N-1 neurons express resistin (rstn) and fiaf, as well as suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (socs-3), a feedback inhibitor of leptin signaling. Treating N-1 cells with recombinant resistin (200 ng/ml, 30 min) reduced both fiaf (25%, p < 0.005) and socs-3 (29%, p < 0.005) mRNA levels, and similar reductions in fiaf (40%, p < 0.001) and socs-3 (25%, p < 0.001) resulted following the overexpression of resistin. Conversely, when RNA interference (RNAi) was used to reduce endogenous rstn levels (–60%, p < 0.005), fiaf and socs-3 expression was increased (46 and 65% respectively, p < 0.005). A similar reduction in rstn mRNA was achieved using RNAi in differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, and this manipulation also reduced fiaf and socs-3 expression (–53, –21 and –20% respectively, p < 0.005). In contrast, although RNAi successfully reduced fiaf mRNA by 50% (p < 0.001) in N-1 cells and 40% (p < 0.001) in 3T3-L1 cells, there was no effect on rstn or socs-3 mRNA. These data suggest that resistin exerts a novel autocrine/paracrine control over fiaf and socs-3 expression in both 3T3-L1 adipocytes and N-1 neurons. Such a mechanism could be part of the central feedback system that modulates the effects of adipokines, and other adiposity signals, implicated in hypothalamic energy homeostasis. However, it remains to be determined whether these in vitro results can be translated to the control of adipokine expression in brain and adipose tissue.


Maintaining mental sharpness and clarity is important to most everyone, and doing so is valuable for maintaining our professional edge. But we are under assault from many directions with challenges that can interfere with mental sharpness. Some of the challenges are familiar; others hide in the background. What are these challenges and what can we do about them? Goutam Saha has a very concise summary of everything contributing to mental hygiene, including the challenges and actions to meet them. He expresses this with mind maps, which themselves contribute to mental clarity.


V.H. Moreira, J.L. Troncoso, and B.E. Bravo-Ureta. 2011. Technical efficiency for a sample of Chilean wine grape producers: A stochastic production frontier analysis. Cien. Inv. Agr. 38(3):321-329. Chile has become an increasingly important player in international wine markets. Concurrent with the expansion of Chilean wine output and exports, there has been an increase in production in several other "New World" countries including Argentina, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The overall growth in wine supplies has increased competition to capture market share, which highlights the importance of productivity gains among wine and grape producers. The purpose of this paper is to estimate and analyze the technical efficiency (TE) component of productivity for a sample of wine grape producers in Chile. The data includes 38 farms with specific input-output information for individual blocks yielding a total of 263 observations. We use a Cobb-Douglas model to estimate a stochastic production frontier (SPF) and to obtain TE scores both at the individual block and at the farm level. The results suggest that the average farm level TE is 77.2%, while the block level TE ranges from 23.4 to 95.0%. The value of the function coefficient is 1.021, which suggests nearly constant returns to size.


The Dinaledi Chamber of the Rising Star Cave has yielded 1550 identifiable fossil elements – representing the largest single collection of fossil hominin material found on the African continent to date. The fossil chamber in which Homo naledi was found was accessible only through a near-vertical chute that presented immense practical and methodological limitations on the excavation and recording methods that could be used within the Cave. In response to practical challenges, a multimodal set of recording and survey methods was thus developed and employed: (1) recording of fossils and the excavation process was achieved through the use of white-light photogrammetry and laser scanning; (2) mapping of the Dinaledi Chamber was accomplished by means of high-resolution laser scanning, with scans running from the excavation site to the ground surface and the cave entrance; (3) at ground surface, the integration of conventional surveying techniques as well as photogrammetry with the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle was applied. Point cloud data were used to provide a centralised and common data structure for conversion and to corroborate the influx of different data collection methods and input formats. Data collected with these methods were applied to the excavations, mapping and surveying of the Dinaledi Chamber and the Rising Star Cave. This multimodal approach provides a comprehensive spatial framework from individual bones to landscape level.


As physics teachers we faced the challenge to introduce our freshmen engineering students not only into the world of Physics but also into the skills and abilities necessary to learn, analyze and criticize different situations. Besides, to fulfill present professional requirements they need to learn to work within a team and report that work results. In this paper we show one of the instructional strategies we have developed to help freshmen university students to get those capacities and methods, which are basic for their future qualification. The didactic approach, which is also aimed to promote in the students commitment to topics not addressed in depth in the classroom, uses the tools provided by the new technologies and the findings of modern research on students learning. The multimedia guides produced are based in predictions and observation of real time and taped experiments. These are employed to introduce and lead groups of four students to learn (or to go deeper into), within the Newtonian frame, special topics like precession motion and real fluids static. As outcome of the proposed activities, the group should produce a written report and find practical application of the physical concepts addressed.


Web image search using text queries has received considerable attention. However, current state-of-the-art approaches require training models for every new query, and are therefore unsuitable for real-world web search applications. The key contribution of this paper is to introduce generic classifiers that are based on query-relative features which can be used for new queries without additional training. They combine textual features, based on the occurence of query terms in web pages and image meta-data, and visual histogram representations of images. The second contribution of the paper is a new database for the evaluation of web image search algorithms. It includes 71478 images returned by a web search engine for 353 different search queries, along with their meta-data and ground-truth annotations. Using this data set, we compared the image ranking performance of our model with that of the search engine, and with an approach that learns a separate classifier for each query. Our generic models that use query-relative features improve significantly over the raw search engine ranking, and also outperform the query-specific models.


The self-organization of cells into complex tissues during growth and regeneration is a combination of physical–mechanical events and biochemical signal processing. Cells actively generate forces at all stages in this process, and according to the laws of mechanics, these forces result in stress fields defined by the geometric boundary conditions of the cell and tissue. The unique ability of cells to translate such force patterns into biochemical information and vice versa sets biological tissues apart from any other material. In this topical review, we summarize the current knowledge and open questions of how forces and geometry act together on scales from the single cell to tissues and organisms, and how their interaction determines biological shape and structure. Starting with a planar surface as the simplest type of geometric constraint, we review literature on how forces during cell spreading and adhesion together with geometric constraints impact cell shape, stress patterns, and the resulting biological response. We then move on to include cell–cell interactions and the role of forces in monolayers and in collective cell migration, and introduce curvature at the transition from flat cell sheets to three-dimensional (3D) tissues. Fibrous 3D environments, as cells experience them in the body, introduce new mechanical boundary conditions and change cell behaviour compared to flat surfaces. Starting from early work on force transmission and collagen remodelling, we discuss recent discoveries on the interaction with geometric constraints and the resulting structure formation and network organization in 3D. Recent literature on two physiological scenarios—embryonic development and bone—is reviewed to demonstrate the role of the force-geometry balance in living organisms. Furthermore, the role of mechanics in pathological scenarios such as cancer is discussed. We conclude by highlighting common physical principles guiding cell mechanics, tissue patterning and matrix organization under geometric constraints across multiple length and time scales.


The list of immunodeficiency diseases grows each year as novel disorders are discovered, classified, and sometimes reclassified due to our ever-increasing knowledge of immune system function. Although the number of patients with secondary immunodeficiencies (SIDs) greatly exceeds those with primary immunodeficiencies (PIDs), the prevalence of both appears to be on the rise probably because of scientific breakthroughs that facilitate earlier and more accurate diagnosis. Primary immunodeficiencies in adults are not as rare as once thought. Globally, the main causes of secondary immunodeficiency are HIV infection and nutritional insufficiencies. Persons with acquired immune disorders such as AIDS caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are now living long and fulfilling lives as a result of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Irrespective of whether the patient's immune-deficient state is a consequence of a genetic defect or is secondary in nature, dental and medical practitioners must be aware of the constant potential for infections and/or expressions of autoimmunity in these individuals. The purpose of this review was to study the most common conditions resulting from primary and secondary immunodeficiency states, how they are classified, and the detrimental manifestations of these disorders on the periodontal and oral tissues.


Pre-trained models for programming language have achieved dramatic empirical improvements on a variety of code-related tasks such as code search, code completion, code summarization, etc. However, existing pre-trained models regard a code snippet as a sequence of tokens, while ignoring the inherent structure of code, which provides crucial code semantics and would enhance the code understanding process. We present GraphCodeBERT, a pre-trained model for programming language that considers the inherent structure of code. Instead of taking syntactic-level structure of code like abstract syntax tree (AST), we use data flow in the pre-training stage, which is a semantic-level structure of code that encodes the relation of "where-the-value-comes-from" between variables. Such a semantic-level structure is neat and does not bring an unnecessarily deep hierarchy of AST, the property of which makes the model more efficient. We develop GraphCodeBERT based on Transformer. In addition to using the task of masked language modeling, we introduce two structure-aware pre-training tasks. One is to predict code structure edges, and the other is to align representations between source code and code structure. We implement the model in an efficient way with a graph-guided masked attention function to incorporate the code structure. We evaluate our model on four tasks, including code search, clone detection, code translation, and code refinement. Results show that code structure and newly introduced pre-training tasks can improve GraphCodeBERT and achieves state-of-the-art performance on the four downstream tasks. We further show that the model prefers structure-level attentions over token-level attentions in the task of code search.


There is a growing cost-benefit conversation about the best policy strategies to prevent crime (e.g. Donohue and Siegelman, 1998; Durlauf and Nagin, 2011; Cook, Ludwig, and McCrary in press). Part of this conversation focuses on identifying the best strategies for preventing crime by particular population sub-groups. This conversation mirrors developments in criminology, where the discussion has changed from a "what works" mentality to a "what works for whom" mentality. One of the most meaningful subgroups for this discussion is adolescents and young adults, who are responsible for a large percentage of overall crime. For example, people in the 15 to 24 age group account for 14% of the population but 40% of all arrests reported to the Uniform Crime Reporting system in 2009 (Crime in the United States, 2009, Table 38). The aim of the current research is to examine the role that age plays, if any, when changes in the legal environment are not age specific. In short, we find that an exogenous reduction in the likelihood of being apprehended results in a uniform augmentation in the egregiousness of the criminal activity (regardless of age). However, we do not find evidence to support a hypothesis of age-driven egregiousness of criminal activity. Instead, we find that all age groups respond quasi-uniformly to reductions in their likelihood of being apprehended.


The shortage of human blood and organs has led to increased interest in animal substitutes. In both transplantation and transfusion, the greatest roadblock to the use of animal tissues is the expression of xenoantigens. A major xenoantigen in pigs is linear B (Gal α 1-3Gal β 14GlcNAc-R), a cross-reactive, B-like antigen expressed on red blood cells (RBCs) and other tissues that is recognized by naturally occurring antibodies present in human serum. 1,2


Active data warehouses have emerged as a new business intelligence paradigm where data in the integrated repository is refreshed in near real-time. This shift of practices achieves higher consistency between the stored information and the latest updates, which in turn influences crucially the output of decision making processes. In this paper we focus on the changes required in the implementation of Extract Transform Load (ETL) operations which now need to be executed in an online fashion. In particular, the ETL transformations frequently include the join between an incoming stream of updates and a disk-resident table of historical data or metadata. In this context we propose a novel Semi-Streaming Index Join (SSIJ) algorithm that maximizes the throughput of the join by buffering stream tuples and then judiciously selecting how to best amortize expensive disk seeks for blocks of the stored relation among a large number of stream tuples. The relation blocks required for joining with the stream are loaded from disk based on an optimal plan. In order to maximize the utilization of the available memory space for performing the join, our technique incorporates a simple but effective cache replacement policy for managing the retrieved blocks of the relation. Moreover, SSIJ is able to adapt to changing characteristics of the stream (i.e. arrival rate, data distribution) by dynamically adjusting the allocated memory between the cached relation blocks and the stream. Our experiments with a variety of synthetic and real data sets demonstrate that SSIJ consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithm in terms of the maximum sustainable throughput of the join while being also able to accommodate deadlines on stream tuple processing.


Objectives: Polyamines are of great importance in biologic processes such as cell proliferation and differentiation. The ingestion of spermidine or spermine by suckling rats induces the precocious maturation of the small intestine. In a previous article, the authors hypothesized that this phenomenon could be mediated by interleukins. This work was performed to examine the role of IL-1, IL-2, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)- &agr; in the spermine-induced maturation of the small intestine. Methods: Wistar suckling rats were treated with spermine, FR167653 (inhibitor of IL-1β/TNF-&agr; production), IL-1β/TNF-&agr; neutralizing antibodies, lipopolysaccharide, or IL-2. Intestinal disaccharidase-specific activities, polyamine content, and IL-2 plasma concentration were analyzed. Comparisons were made with untreated control animals. Results: Spermine-induced maturation of the small intestine was decreased by FR167653 but not by the neutralizing antibodies. Lipopolysaccharide injection induced an increase in disaccharidase-specific activity. IL-2 induced a decrease of the intestinal lactase-specific activity. Spermine administration led to a similar decrease of lactase activity and to an increase of IL-2 plasma concentration. Conclusions: The authors conclude that IL-1β and TNF-&agr; are involved in the spermine effects on maltase- and sucrase-specific activities and suggest that IL-2 is involved in the spermine-induced decrease of lactase activity.


Here is a major new work on human infancy written by one of the country's leading developmental psychologists and two distinguished colleagues. At its core is the long-awaited report of the authors' six-year study of infant daycare. Important in its own right, this experiment becomes the occasion for a wide-ranging discussion of cognitive and emotional processes in infancy, of the effects of early experience on later growth, and of the deep-seated cultural and historical assumptions that underlie our views of human development.For those concerned with social policy, the book provides the best empirical assessment now available of the effects of group care on the psychological well-being of infants. It also supplies a blueprint for quality daycare that may well stand as a model for future nurseries.For those interested in the course of cognitive and emotional development, the book provides rich information about the major growth functions that characterize human infancy. It also outlines an explanation of these growth functions that links changes in emotional behavior to the maturation of underlying cognitive processes in a new and provocative way.And for everyone interested in human nature, the book of offers a controversial thesis about the discontinuity of psychological growth that challenges some of our most fundamental assumptions about the nature of individual development.


Institutionalisation of Women's Studies (WS) in India although started in the 1970s, it took a decade further to cross the threshold of Northeastern States. The  isolation  which the Northeast of India has always faced in the social, economic and political spheres was also reflected  in the case of establishment of the Women's Studies Centres as the then Vice Chancellor Dr. Deba Prasad Barooah had to struggle against the University Grants Commission for establishing it in Gauhati University. Again, the narrative of WSRC, GU do not find mention in the book Narratives from Women's Studies Family: Recreating Knowledge where experiences of 17 centres from across the country are illustrated. This paper investigates all such structural difficulties, negligence and struggle faced by one of the first Women's Studies Centre of Northeast India, established in Gauhati University (GU), since its conceptualisation to inception in 1989 till the present. It attempts in revealing the experiences of the Directors, yielding the efforts behind the setting up of the centre, the role played by different individuals both internal and external of the University towards the establishment of the Centre, the catalysts that prevented the premature decay of the Centre and most importantly the struggle for space, identity and recognition the constraints faced to obtain them. To achieve these goals oral history method was applied to explore the experiences of the previous directors and the author (2nd author) herself. The narratives illustrate the history of struggles, challenges and the subsequent development over a span of more than twenty five years. The paper documents the support the University provided despite being a patriarchal institution for fostering of the WSRC, which in gradual years took steps to produce the Department of Women's Studies. It will also look into the progressive role Women's Studies played not only in the varsity internally but also at the external front through research and advocacy by inducing new panoramic view towards and discussion of women's issues in a multidimensional framework.


Attempts to introduce molecular water into dry, natural quartz crystals by diffusive transport and thus weaken them hydrolytically at T = 700°–900°C and PH_2O = 400–1550 MPa have failed. Infrared spectroscopy of hydrothermally annealed single crystals of natural quartz reveals the diffusive uptake of interstitial hydrogen (resulting in hydroxyl groups) at rates similar to those previously proposed for intracrystalline water at high water pressures. The solubility of interstitial hydrogen at these conditions is independent of temperature and pressure; instead, it depends upon the initial aluminum concentration by the local charge neutrality condition [H_i·] = [Al_(Si)′]. The rate of interstitial hydrogen diffusion parallel to c is given by an Arrhenius relation with D_0 = 1.4 × 10^(−1) m^2/s and Q = 200 ± 20 kJ/mol, in close agreement with H diffusivities reported for much lower pressures (PH_2O = 2.5 MPa). Deformation experiments following hydrothermal annealing show no mechanical weakening, and the lack of any detectable broadband absorption associated with molecular water shows that the diffusion rates of structural water are much lower than those of hydrogen. These results are consistent with the available oxygen diffusion data for quartz and with the failure to observe weakening in previous studies of quartz deformation at pressures of 300–500 MPa; they call into question the rapid rates of diffusion originally suggested for the hydrolytic weakening defect. It is suggested that the observed weakening in many previous experiments was complicated by microcracking processes in response to nonhydrostatic stresses and low effective confining pressures. Extensive microcracking may provide a mechanism for molecular water to enter quartz and allow local plastic deformation to occur. It does not appear that molecular water can diffuse far enough into uncracked quartz to allow hydrolytic weakening over annealing times that are feasible in the laboratory.


Author: Brianna Guidorzi Title: When Expectation Does Not Meet Reality: Discordant Childbirth Narratives among Austin-Area Women Supervising Professor: Kristine Hopkins, Ph.D Women's experiences of childbirth are easily accessible: they are found aplenty in commercial bookstores, the pages of scholarly articles in nearly every academic discipline, and, perhaps most interestingly, at the dinner table. This abundance of stories does not, however, indicate a wide variance of narratives. Since the natural childbirth movement of the 1960s, popular narratives have presented childbirth predominantly as a positive or empowering event, while academic literature has employed childbirth narratives primarily to juxtapose delivery types. Missing from these romanticized and polarized representations of childbirth are the experiences of women whose plans, expectations, or desires for childbirth were not met in the event that actually transpired. My research focuses specifically on these narratives and explores the following questions: how do these women talk about and frame their childbirth narratives? There is little academic or nonacademic literature discussing discordant experiences that contrast dominant childbirth narratives or that do not fit into specific categories of delivery type. Using data collected from interviews with twelve Austin-area women, my thesis analyzes the social and economic factors that influence childbirth plans and expectations, as well as actual outcomes. This work also examines how a woman's body becomes the object upon which successes and failures of childbirth are placed and how the body is conflated with success or failure in motherhood. Finally, this thesis illustrates the specific ways in which my participants' childbirth narratives are recorded and how those narratives evolve gradually over time. Broadly speaking, this feminist research calls for the diversification of representations of childbirth narratives in order to dismantle historical and contemporary preference for certain childbirth narratives over others.


The Fraunhofer EMI shock-tube facility "Blast-STAR" is used to simulate blast loadings from high explosive detonations similar to realistic conditions. Mainly tests on explosion-resistant safety glazing and facades are carried out. Due to the extreme conditions during the test, it is not trivial to accurately analyze the specimen reaction and in particular to determine the start of breakage of the glass pane. Usually high-speed footage is used for this purpose. Since the size of tested elements is increasing, the determination of place and time of breakage becomes more challenging. Monk and Clubley successfully used piezo transducers in an alternative approach to measure the shock wave originating from glass breakage for detecting the point of initial cracking. They used long-duration blasts, characterized by small peak pressures and a long positive phase duration. In contrast, the blast waves generated with the "Blast-STAR" are characterized by higher peak pressures and a considerable shorter positive phase. The presented work examines the applicability of the approach for the "Blast-STAR" experiments and the accuracy compared to video recordings. Within the paper five shock tube tests are described and evaluated. The results and the experimental set-up are discussed and an outlook for further research is given.


Even if the name futures indicates a simple instrument, bond futures are complex. Several special features are embedded in the instrument. In particular the future is not written on one specific bond but on a basket of bonds, from which the short side can deliver the cheapest. This article focuses on that feature, present in the main futures market, and its impact on the futures risk. A formula for the delivery option and the convexity adjustment due to the daily margining is proposed in the Gaussian HJM model. The approach is numerically very efficient and easy to implement. Based on this result a futures option formula is derived. The approach is similar to the one used for Canary swaptions.


Conclusions Transforming Defense: National Security in the 21st Century, the December 1997 final report of the National Defense Panel, discusses a "strategy of transformation" and emphasizes systemic change in procurement plans. It refers to "lock-ins" for equipment purchases, "short technological life cycles," and "changing the defense structure." Several conclusions may be drawn from the report. * The Information Age changes the dynamics of systems. Networks, flexible manufacturing, just-in-time inventories, and "increasing returns" all influence the way systems will respond. * Systems concepts that are relevant to defense policy and planning include: accelerators, lagged feedback, transient states, stocks and flows, and discontinuous change. * The dynamics between reducing inventories and the resulting effects on production are not proportional--reductions are more severe in the production sector than in inventory. * Education in the dynamics of systems is needed within the Department of Defense to accommodate strategic planning for procurement. Information Age Aspects Rapid communications and networking characterize the Information Age. Combined, they allow flexibility--in manufacturing, logistics, and information processing itself. Resources are diverted to computers and car phones and video systems. Consumption interests have shifted somewhat, from travel and movies to computer games and net surfing. National security leans less on material and manpower delivery and more on information control and precision targeting. Flexibility in logistics and production affects the dynamics of defense systems. To understand how, we need to explore the dynamics of systems in change. Production Swings More than Force Levels Consider the dynamics that occur when a defense system changes--when it is in a transient state. If each aircraft in a fleet of 100 has an average life expectancy of 10 years, then 10 aircraft--one tenth of the fleet--must be replaced each year to maintain a steady state fleet of 100 aircraft. To reduce the fleet by 20 percent in 5 years means buying 20 fewer aircraft during that time, or 4 fewer each year. Instead of buying 10 per year, we buy 6 during the transition period. When the fleet reaches 80 aircraft after 5 years, we increase the annual buy to 8 to remain at the new steady state of 80. Aircraft stock assets dropped by 4 percent per year for 5 years, leading to a 20 percent reduction over the 5-year transition period, while the procurement of new aircraft abruptly fell 40 percent, from 10 to 6. Then, 5 years later, procurement suddenly increased by 33 percent, from 6 to 8. Although this captures the primary "first order" effects, the actual dynamics will not be quite so crisp because attrition, delivery adjustments, and renovations will smooth the transition somewhat. The flow of procurement--which essentially means production jobs--experiences severe dynamics compared to changes in the stock of assets. A "systems" distinction between stocks and flows emerges. Stocks are accumulations. Flows change the stocks. To alter a stock, the flow must change rather dramatically. Stocks and flows are essential to understanding the dynamics of system change. As a real world example, while military aircraft stock levels fell by 26 percent from 1991 to 1995, orders for aircraft engines fell by 48 percent--almost twice as much. This demonstrates the accelerator, a crucial system principle. Changes to stocks lead to accelerated changes in flows. Assets change gradually while production swings widely. When force levels are reduced, production jobs fall severely, and then rebound somewhat once a new steady state is reached. Executives testifying to Congress will want to communicate that job sensitivity when discussing defense changes. The Longer the Asset Life, the More Severe the Dynamics Suppose the 100-aircraft fleet had been made up of units lasting 20 years each instead of 10. …


This paper examines whether the concept of Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) can be realised within the framework of capitalism. After describing the essence of UBI, I present its historical antecedents, rival concepts and the pros and cons. The paper then contrasts the effect of UBI on wage labour with aspects of capital accumulation and makes an assessment of the obstacles to the introduction of UBI. It deduces why and how UBI might become unsustainable in cases where it is implemented within the framework of a profit-oriented and property-based society and concludes that as UBI would put a floor under the working-class income, restrict the possibilities of suppressing the wage share and increase the rate of exploitation, it is unlikely to be introduced and certainly cannot be maintained as long as the socio-economic system is based on the profit motive.


Over the last two decades, Jordan has suffered a chronic water crisis, and is the tenth most water-scarce nation on Earth. Such water stress has been well illustrated in the case of Greater Amman, the capital, which has grown dramatically from a population of around 2000 in the 1920s, to 2.17 million today. One of the distinctive characteristics of the water supply regime of Greater Amman is that since 1987 it has been based on a system of rationing, with households receiving water once a week for various durations. Amman is highly polarized socio-economically, and by means of household surveys, both quantitative and qualitative, conducted in high- and low-income divisions of the city, a detailed empirical evaluation of the storage and use of water, the strategies used by households to manage water and overall satisfaction with water supply issues is provided in this paper, looking specifically at issues of social equity. The analysis demonstrates the social and economic costs of water rationing and consequent management to be high, as well as emphasizing that issues of water quality are of central importance to all consumers regardless of their socio-economic status within the city.


Many belief networks have been proposed that are composed of binary units. However, for tasks such as object and speech recognition which produce real-valued data, binary network models are usually inadequate. Independent component analysis (ICA) learns a model from real data, but the descriptive power of this model is severly limited. We begin by describing the independent factor analysis (IFA) technique, which overcomes some of the limitations of ICA. We then create a multilayer network by cascading singlelayer IFA models. At each level, the IFA network extracts realvalued latent variables that are non-linear functions of the input data with a highly adaptive functional form, resulting in a hierarchical distributed representation of these data. Whereas exact maximum-likelihood learning of the network is intractable, we derive an algorithm that maximizes a lower bound on the likelihood, based on a variational approach.


This paper describes the development of single-domain recombinant antibodies against human telomerase core protein. A His-tagged hTERT spanning main reverse-transcriptase domain of hTERT was purified from host E. coli and used to immunize BALB/c mice. The VHs (heavy chain variable region genes) were amplified by PCR from total RNA of splenocytes and further induced random mutagenesis by DNA shuffling to enrich the repertoire of VH library. All VHs were cloned into phagemid vectors and displayed to generate 4 x 10(10) phage libraries. The candidates carrying VH domains against hTERT were primarily screened through three times of panning procedure on His-tagged hTERT coated microplates, and specific antibodies were further selected by West-Western blot. Two clones, designated as a3 and b8, were confirmed to interact with the target in the solid-phase assay. DNA sequencing proved their mouse VH origin. The purified single-domain antibody of b8 could not only recognize native hTERT, but also neutralize human telomerase activity on inhibitory assay and b8 showed the stronger suppressive efficacy compared with a3. The data demonstrated that the developed single-domain recombinant antibodies were hTERT-specific with high potential of binding and activity inhibition.


We develop a forward model of the generation of faulted seafloor topography (visualization) to estimate the relative roles of tectonic and magmatic extension in the presence of core complexes at slow-spreading ridges. The visualization assumes flexural rotation of 60° normal faults, a constant effective elastic thickness, Te , of young lithosphere, and a continuous infill of the depressed hanging wall by lava flowing from the spreading axis. We obtain a new estimate of Te = 0.5–1 km from the shapes of the toes of 6 well-documented oceanic core complexes. We model an 80-km-long bathymetric profile in the equatorial Atlantic across a core complex and the ridge axis at 13°20′N and estimate the variation in tectonic extension, which yields the variation in the fraction of upper crust extension, M , by magmatic diking at the ridge axis. Core complex formation appears to be stable for all values of M < 0.5. The visualization shows how gabbro emplaced at the base of the lithosphere during extension by magmatic diking is partitioned to each side of the spreading axis, and predicts a high probability of finding gabbros in the domes of core complexes.


Solar radiation screens play a key role in automatic weather stations (AWS) performances. In this work, screen ageing effects on temperature measurements are examined. Paired temperature observations, traceable to national standards and with a well‐defined uncertainty budget, were performed employing two naturally ventilated weather stations equipped with identical sensors and different only for their working time. Three different tests were carried out employing different aged AWSs: a 5‐year‐old AWS (AWS5) was compared with a new device (AWS0), a 1 year old (AWS1) was compared with both a 3 years old (AWS3) and a new one devices (AWS00). Due to solar and weather conditions exposure a degradation of the screen reflective coating is evident for the older AWSs (5 and 3 years old) and so a qualitative estimation of how different conditions of ageing affect the temperature drift was done. During the comparison 0 to 5 and 1 to 3‐year‐old screens, significant temperature differences were recorded at different times of the day. The differences, wider than the uncertainty amplitude, demonstrate a systematic effect. The temperature measured with the older screen is larger, and the maximum instantaneous difference was 1.63 °C (for 0–5 years comparison) in daytime hours. During night‐time the two AWS's measure the same temperature (within the uncertainty amplitude). This behaviour, increasing with increasing solar radiation intensity and decreasing with increasing wind speed, is attributed to a radiative heating effect. The screen ageing has compromised the shield effectiveness introducing a significant change in the temperature evaluation. The experimental results of a further comparison, between 0‐ and 1‐year‐old screens, confirm the same conclusion showing a negligible ageing effect, within the uncertainty amplitude.


The main purpose of this study is to examine undergraduate students' motivation to participate in Basketball in universities in Kurdistan, Iraq. The participants are first year undergraduate students who study physical education course in universities in Kurdistan. In this study, survey study is used and Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) is used as research instrument to collect data from all the participants motivated by intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and autonomous motivation to participate in Basketball based on gender difference and frequency of participation. There are 608 participants (441 male students and 167 female students) in this study. Mann-Whitney U test(M-W) shows significant difference in motivation to participate in Basketball among undergraduate students in Iran based on gender and frequency of participation. Intrinsic motivation toward accomplishment and extrinsic motivation such as Identified Regulation, Introjected Regulation and External Regulation strongly motivates the female students to involve in learning and improving Basketball skills and also experiencing pleasure as well as being part of exciting experiences. This study also shows that the frequency of participation among undergraduate students in Basketball is increased by extrinsic motivation (Identified Regulation, Introjected Regulation and External Regulation). Therefore, these results also clarify that motivation to participate in Basketball based on frequency of participation and gender is closely related in extrinsic motivation


John Archibald Wheeler was a theoretical physicist who worked on both down-to-earth projects and highly speculative ideas, and always emphasized the importance of experiment and observation, even when speculating wildly. His research and insights had large impacts on nuclear and particle physics, the design of nuclear weapons, general relativity and relativistic astrophysics, and quantum gravity and quantum information. But his greatest impacts were through the students, postdocs, and mature physicists whom he educated and inspired.
He was guided by what he called the principle of radical conservatism, inspired by Niels Bohr: base your research on well established physical laws (be conservative), but push them into the most extreme conceivable domains (be radical). He often pushed far beyond the boundaries of well understood physics, speculating in prescient ways that inspired future generations of physicists.
After completing his PhD with Karl Herzfeld at Johns Hopkins University (1933), Wheeler embarked on a postdoctoral year with Gregory Breit at NYU and another with Niels Bohr in Copenhagen. He then moved to a three-year assistant professorship at the University of North Carolina (1935-37), followed by a 40 year professorial career at Princeton University (1937-1976) and then ten years as a professor at the University of Texas, Austin (1976-1987). He returned to Princeton in retirement but remained actively and intensely engaged with physics right up to his death at age 96.


This paper reconsiders evidence from experimental common pool resource games from the perspective of a dynamic model of sampling. Despite being parameter-free, the model is able to replicate some striking features of the data: monotonic frequency distributions, the persistent use of strictly dominated actions, and stable heterogeneity in choices. We argue that these patterns cannot be fully accounted for by existing theories based on other-regarding preferences and norms, and that the dynamics of sampling provide a useful complementary explanation for behavior in social dilemmas.


LQR is an optimal controller. Optimal in that it is defined so as to provide the smallest possible error to its input. Q and R matrix of LQR usually selected by trial and error. In two wheeled inverted pendulum robot, the most important variable to control is tilt angle. Therefore in this thesis, the value of Q is firstly set and then R the identity matrix is set. For small rising time and low overshoot for the overall control. After getting good value of Q, the feedback gain K is obtained. By using MATLAB simulink, we simulated new PSO algorithm for the LQR control to select the best Q control matrix. The selection is based on the smallest integral of absolute error of the random Q. From the simulation results, the very challenging controller design for the TWIP control system has been realized by the PSO-based LQ regulator. It is our firm belief that the proposed method is use useful not only for the control of TWIP robot problem but also for other difficult problems.


The connection provisioning problem attempts to achieve its objective of guaranteeing the maximum throughput and minimal blocking probability. In optical networks, this problem is mainly the classical routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem, which includes many constraints. In this study, we investigate the RWA problem for connection provisioning under multicast traffic while considering the optical power constraints. The problem is first formulated as a mixed-integer linear program (MILP) with the objective of minimizing the session blocking rate. In order to provide fast and efficient solutions, the paper introduces a novel heuristic solution that divides the problem into subproblems and solves them separately, while still taking the interdependency between them into account. The results obtained from both solutions are found to be closely comparable. The results obtained from the heuristic also provide insight for the network operators about the maximum performance enhancement that can be achieved by upgrading the network capacity.


Efficient intersection control represents a major challenge in traffic management, as it can contribute to reducing traffic congestion and travel times. Communicating vehicles, for instance using VANETs, open up new opportunities for intersection control, providing fairness and throughput to transportation networks. In this paper, we are interested in the tradeoffs between fairness and throughput in intersection control. Our key contributions are (i) novel intersection control algorithms which consider both fairness and throughput, and (ii) a simulative evaluation which compares these algorithms with other solutions. We evaluate the algorithms in a comparative simulation study, using microscopic traffic simulation and considering different traffic demands.


Master the Elements of the Writing Workshop The great paradox of the writing life is that to be a good writer, you must be both interested in the world around you and comfortable working in solitude for hours on end. Fiction Writer's Workshop, Second Edition, is designed to help you foster a strong sense of independence-of being and thinking on your own, of becoming self-evaluative without being self-critical-in order to accomplish what others seek in classroom groups. In this comprehensive guide, award-winning writer and teacher Josip Novakovich explores every aspect of the art of fiction and provides all the tools and techniques you'll need to develop day-to-day discipline as well as a personal writing style, such as:* More than 100 writing exercises, including dozens that are new to this edition, that challenge you to experiment with diverse writing styles * Specific statements of purpose for each exercise, to help guide you and instruct you at every step of the creative process * Self-critique questions to help you assess your work and identify strengths and weaknesses before moving on to the next lesson * The full text of eight acclaimed short stories, with analysis and exercises, to provide models for your own writing and help reinforce the lessons you've learned The practical, insightful methods offered in this workshop will clarify your voice, broaden your perspective, and strengthen your fiction.


The work in this article presents findings from a text mining exercise of over a decade of research into electronic publication. We give readers insights into the past, present and possible future directions in a structured way, and further allowing them access to the extracted data in order to produce their own analysis and conclusion. We also produce our working methodology which can be replicated to produce systematic similar findings over the years as well as comparisons to other data souces.


This paper examines, through the application of available data, the poverty, inequality and labour market challenges facing Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The paper illustrates that apart from levels of poverty and inequality that are inordinately high in SSA, the region is also beset with perhaps the more worrying problem of accounting for almost all of the world's ultra-poor: namely those individuals living on less than half of the standard $1 a day poverty line. In addition we show that the both the level and nature of economic growth in SSA are not conducive to poverty reduction. In addition, the diluting effect of income redistribution through growth, suggests that much higher levels of income growth are required to maximise the impact on absolute and relative poverty levels in the region. The labour market analysis alludes to the rapid projected growth of the labour force in the region, hence further raising the importance of improving the character and level of growth rates on the continent. A caricature of the region where the dominant form of employment remains rural-based and at low skill levels, combined with burgeoning, but haphazard urban informal employment – is the underlying labour market descriptor of the welfare challenges faced by the continent.


The merger of two white dwarfs (WDs) creates a differentially rotating remnant which is unstable to magnetohydrodynamic instabilities. These instabilities can lead to viscous evolution on a time-scale short compared to the thermal evolution of the remnant. We present multidimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the evolution of WD merger remnants under the action of an alpha-viscosity. We initialize our calculations using the output of eight WD merger simulations from Dan et al., which span a range of mass ratios and total masses. We generically find that the merger remnants evolve towards spherical states on time-scales of hours, even though a significant fraction of the mass is initially rotationally supported. The viscous evolution unbinds only a very small amount of mass (less than or similar to 10(-5)M(circle dot)). Viscous heating causes some of the systems we study with He WD secondaries to reach conditions of nearly-dynamical burning. It is thus possible that the post-merger viscous phase triggers detonation of the He envelope in some WD mergers, potentially producing a Type Ia supernova via a double-detonation scenario. Our calculations provide the proper initial conditions for studying the long-term thermal evolution of WD merger remnants. This is important for understanding WD mergers as progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, neutron stars, R Coronae Borealis stars and other phenomena.


A new visual threshold lying between the colors that appear to contain gray and those that appear fluorescent has been determined as a function of dominant wavelength at high purity on a white (7000 K) background. The function is found to be an approximately constant multiple of the previously known purity threshold; it is independent of purity and hence is named chromatic threshold. The value of the function for any given chromaticity is shown to be a measure of its chromatic strength in (a) neutralizing its complementary color, (b) producing Munsell Chroma. It is considered also in terms of the Hering–Johansson "Natural Color System," where it appears to specify the "clear" series, and in terms of the Ostwald System.


Accidents involving falls from portable ladders occur at a rate of forty per week in the construction industry. Ladders are so common that they are taken for granted and the perceived risks are often under-estimated. The purpose of this study was to analyse the risk perception of operatives using portable ladders, and to develop and test a ladder-use training aid. The research used a quantitative, within-subjects survey, consisting of three structured questionnaires administered to four hundred respondents attending construction related training programmes. The surveys used images of actual ladder-use situations, and were carried out in two stages; the first stage measured the level of risk perception and sensation seeking before any training had taken place, and the second measured any change in the level of risk perception following the use of the ladder training-aid. Initial pre-training results revealed that operatives over-estimated the risks from high-level ladder use situations, and underestimated the risks from low-level ladder use situations. Post-training results showed an improvement in risk perception, especially for low-level situations. It was concluded that risk perception varies both with the individual and their level of experience, and that the training-aid had a positive impact on the improvement of ladder-use risk perception.


Multi-hop transmission is considered for large coverage areas in bandwidth-limited underwater acoustic networks. In this paper, we present a scalable routing technique based on location information, and optimized for minimum energy per bit consumption. The proposed Focused Beam Routing (FBR) protocol is suitable for networks containing both static and mobile nodes, which are not necessarily synchronized to a global clock. A source node must be aware of its own location and the location of its final destination, but not those of other nodes. The FBR protocol can be defined as a cross-layer approach, in which the routing protocol, the medium access control and the physical layer functionalities are tightly coupled by power control. It can be described as a distributed algorithm, in which a route is dynamically established as the data packet traverses the network towards its final destination. The selection of the next relay is made at each step of the path after suitable candidates have proposed themselves. The system performance is measured in terms of energy per bit consumption and average packet end-to-end delay. The results are compared to those obtained using pre-established routes, defined via Dijkstra's algorithm for minimal power consumption. It is shown that the protocol's performance is close to the ideal case, as the additional burden of dynamic route discovery is minimal.


This essay questions the geographical categories used to underpin current theoretical and methodological approaches to "world literature," which end up making nine-tenths of the world, and of literature produced in the world, drop off the world map or appear "peripheral." Focusing on the multilingual north Indian region of Awadh in the early modern period, it argues that an approach to literature and space that takes multilingualism within society and literary culture as a structuring and generative principle and holds both local and cosmopolitan perspectives in view is more productive for world literature than approaches based only on cosmopolitan perspectives of circulation and recognition.


Archaeology has been long characterized by the interdisciplinarity and the transversality of their approaches and methodologies. In this context, we strongly believe that a proposal of a session that considers the use of the New Technologies (NNTT) on the fields that deal with computer tools for depict shape and detail in 3D archaeological models, and their application in archaeology is necessary. At the same time, we might see the impact that other sciences could have into Archaeology and how it is seen through them.
In the field of archaeological research, the use of the NNTT are widely spread due to their technical profits, as quicker methodologies to obtain archaeological data or carrying out some analysis that will be impossible to conduct manually. We should not forget that the use of these techniques allow us to get greater objectification of the archaeological record.
From this perspective, the possibilities of the application of the NNTT to Archaeology are almost unlimited. In this sense, since its beginning, Processual and Post-processual Archaeology has been joining the benefits of the computer science advancements. Therefore, we are able to consider a strong consolidated research field.
Since the beginning of Informatics' Era, different branches of archaeological research have been arisen. One of them has been the representation and study of archaeological elements by their virtual reconstruction (3D). From this view, different approaches have appeared, especially since the turn of the century, which put the attention on the development of visual techniques to implement archaeological 3D models.
That is particularly the case regarding the Polynomial Texture Mapping technique, from RTI methodology -Reflection Transformation Imaging- (Malzbender, et al., 2001). Or its counterpart, the virtual RTI, which combines reflection transformation techniques with photogrammetry and no intrusive digitalization, in order to create an advanced level of interaction with the 3D model, and to enhance the topographic surface (Earl, Beale, Martinez, Pagi, 2010). Moreover, the Morphological Residual Model (MRM), a recent technique (currently inaccessible) which also enables a better visualization of 3D model details has to be denoted (Pires, et al., 2014; Correia Santos, et al., 2014; Correia Santos, et al., 2015; Pires, et al., 2015).
On the other hand, with the development of free and open access software like Meshlab, it has been multiplied the contributions to the creation of rendering plugins (or shaders), which analyse some characteristics of the 3D model to enhance them. Perhaps one of the most relevant is the Radiance Scaling (Vergne, et al., 2010), an expressive rendering which enhance the 3D model concavities and convexities.
The application of these techniques to the study of archaeological objects and structures is not new, but it has been steadily increasing since the last decade.
Everything that has been said before show us the framework or context in which our session will take place. Our aim is to show different examples of 3D visual techniques, which have been planned or developed to use with computer tools. In this sense, we will be able to reflect about the advantages and the challenges of the interdisciplinarity and the transversality of our discipline and the use of NNTT in Archaeology.
Nowadays the NNTT are a fundamental part of the development of the archaeological research. In many cases, the future of our discipline is to adapt and absorb new methods and models developed in other scientific fields. The purpose of our meeting will be to learn from those so heterogeneous experiences, and show how the use of other techniques can help Archaeology to plan and resolve different archaeological problems.
Communications, posters and audio-visual material will be accepted, especially those that deal with new computer techniques, to depict shape and detail in 3D archaeological models.
REFERENCES CITED
CORREIA SANTOS, M. J., PIRES, H., SOUSA, O., 2014, "Nuevas lecturas de las inscripciones del santuario de Panoias (Vila Real, Portugal)", Sylloge Epigraphica Barcinonensis (SEBarc) XII, Barcelona, pp. 197-224.
CORREIA SANTOS, M. J., SOUSA, O., PIRES, H., FONTE, J., GONCALVES-SECO, L., 2015, "Travelling back in Time to Recapture Old Texts. The use of Morphological Residual Model (M.R.M.) for epigraphic reading: four case studies (CIL 02, 02395a, CIL 02, 02395c, CIL 02, 02476, CIL 02, 05607)", In Acts of Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage. Proceedings of the first EAGLE International Conference, Europeana Eagle project. Studi umanistici- Antichistica, Sapienza Universita Editrice, pp. 437-450.
EARL, G., BEALE, G., MARTINEZ, K., PAGI, H., 2010, "Polynomial Texture Mapping and Related Imaging Technologies for the Recording, Analysis and Presentation of Archaeological Materials". In International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, vol. XXXVIII, Part 5, pp. 218-223.
MALZBENDER, T., WILBURN, B., GELB, D., AMBRISCO, B., 2006, "Surface enhancement using real-time photogrammetric stereo and reflectance transformation". In Eurographics Symposium on Rendering, pp. 245-250.
PIRES, H., FONTE, J., GONCALVES-SECO, L., CORREIA SANTOS, M. J., SOUSA, O., 2014, Morphological Residual Model. A Tool for Enhancing Epigraphic Readings of Highly Erosioned Surfaces, EAGLE- Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage in the Ancient World. Paris, pp. 133-144.
PIRES, H., MARTINEZ RUBIO, J., ELORZA ARANA, A., 2015, "Techniques for revealing 3D hidden archaeological features: morphological residual models as a virtual-polynomial texture maps", The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, volumen XL-5/W4, 2015 3D Virtual Reconstruction and Visualization of Complex Arquitectures, 25-27 February 2015, Avila, Spain, pp. 415-421.
VERGNE, R., VANDERHAEGUE, D., CHEN, J., BARLA, P., GRANIER, X., SCHILICK, C., 2011, "Implicit brushes for stylized line-based rendering", Computer Graphics Forum, 30 (2), pp. 513-522.


Quantification of dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) and dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) levels, and the relative importance of the organic fraction at various habitats (river, seagrass bed, mangrove area, coral reef, fishpen, and ocean) were the focus of this study. DON concentrations ranged from 9.5 to 44.3 µM during the dry season and from 10.9 to 23.7 µM during the wet season. DOP values ranged from 0.3 to 0.4 µM during the dry season and from 1.0 to 1.6 µM during the wet season. DON was 70-90% of the dissolved fraction in the first five habitats for both dry and wet seasons. DOP was approximately 15-35% during the dry season and 50-60% during the wet season. DON was highest in the river and lowest in the coral reef area for both seasons. High DOP concentrations were determined in the river and mangrove area in the dry season while lowest values were seen in the coral reef area. During the wet season, DOP was highest in the coral reef area and lowest in the mangrove area. When compared with oceanic systems, dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) have higher percentages (25-58% for DIN and 71-83% for DIP) in the open ocean than in coastal areas (10-32% for DIN and 62-67% for DIP). However, DON and DOP were the dominant forms in the coastal sites (42-75% DON vs 7-32% DIN and 17-30% DOP vs 35-67% DIP). The smaller fraction of the organic forms of N and P in the open ocean may be indicative of the greater efficiency in nutrient recycling/regeneration in the open ocean than in the coastal area. N:P ratios in the five habitats ranged from 2 to14 with the highest ratio in the coral reef area.


Historically, the hedge fund industry is one of the fastest growing investment classes in the last decade. This study looks to analyze the hedge fund industry structural changes from 1994 to 2010. A premise for this study is previous research which shows small funds tend to outperform large funds. Parameters are set to determine the classification of a fund being small, medium, or large. The asset flows to each category are tracked overtime in order to show structural changes. For each category the number of small, medium, and large hedge funds in tracked over time. The results are inconclusive in analyzing the change of small and large funds of the industry over time. However, each category does show some consistent evidence of changes over time. This study ran into difficulty absolutely defining small and large funds. The methodology used divides the hedge fund universe into equal thirds. The results show over time asset flows are largest to the top third of the universe. This is contrary to the initial hypothesis that small .


Abstract Recently available well data from the northern part of the Danish Central Graben have been analysed to further understand the basin development, biostratigraphy, depositional models and palaeogeography of Upper Jurassic reservoir sandstones, which are the primary exploration targets in this basin. Notably, the discovery of the Hejre accumulation in 2001, where oil has been encountered in Upper Jurassic good reservoir quality sandstones at a depth of more than 5000 m, triggered renewed interest in the Upper Jurassic High Temperature–High Pressure sandstone play in the area. Overall the Danish Central Graben was transgressed from east to west during the Late Jurassic. During the Late Kimmeridgian, marginal and shallow marine sandstones assigned to the Heno Formation were deposited at the margin of the Feda Graben, and on the Gertrud and Heno Plateaus and constitute the reservoirs in the Freja and Hejre discoveries. The sandstones are analogues to the UK Fulmar and Norwegian Ula Formations encountered in several hydrocarbon fields. During the Early Volgian, the transgression continued westwards across the Outer Rough Basin along the margin of the Mid North Sea High, where shoreface sandstones with excellent porosities and permeabilities were deposited close to similar sandstones of the Fulmar Formation in the British Fergus, Fife and Angus fields. During this overall westward transgression, the eastern and central parts of the Danish Central Graben continued to subside and offshore mudstones accumulated, locally intercalated with gravity-flow sandstones. In the easternmost Danish Central Graben, in the Tail End Graben, Upper Kimmeridgian gravity-flow sandstones of the Svane-1 well have proved the presence of gas at c . 6 km depth. Hydrocarbon-bearing Upper Jurassic sandstone reservoirs at significant depths (deeper than 5 km) may form the future exploration targets in the northern part of the Danish Central Graben.


The pecuniary effects of cash and in-kind programs differ. A program that builds housing for the poor, for example, is likely to result in a lower price of existing low-income housing than would an equally costly cash transfer program. Low-income renters in general would benefit; landlords would lose. The process we label Robin-Hooding rents employs in-kind programs to transfer rents from one group in society to another, Direct taxation of "donor" groups may be infeasible because their incomes can't be monitored, they are engaged in illegal activities, they are foreign, or the government's administrative apparatus is ineffective. A general equilibrium analysis reveals that absent the ability to target taxation, Robin-Hooding may be a valuable second-best transfer instrument. Robin-Hooding also has drawbacks, Its incentive effects are significant, for today's rents flow from yesterday's investment activities. Moreover, even when Robin-Hooding is undesirable, parochial government agencies may be tempted to employ it as a means to escape the scrutiny of the budget process. The real world use of Robin-Hooding in both developed and developing nations is discussed.


The fabrication and characterization of an optically addressable deformable mirror for a spatial light modulator are described. Device operation utilizes an electrostatically driven pixelated aluminized polymeric membrane mirror supported above an optically controlled photoconductive GaAs substrate. A 5 mum thick grid of patterned photoresist supports the 2 mum thick aluminized Mylar membrane. A conductive ZnO layer is placed on the backside of the GaAs wafer. Similar devices were also fabricated with InP. A standard Michelson interferometer is used to measure mirror deformation data as a function of illumination, applied voltage, and frequency. The device operates as an impedance distribution between two cascaded impedances of deformable membrane substrate, substrate, and electrode. An analysis of device's operation under several bias conditions, which relates membrane deformation to operating parameters, is presented.


Respite Care and Marital Quality in Parents of Children with Down Syndrome Michelle Norton Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, BYU Educational Specialist Parents of a child with a disability are at greater risk than other couples for having higher stress, adjustment difficulties, and lower marital quality. Respite care has been shown to reduce stress in parents of children with disabilities. This study focused on parents who have a child with Down syndrome and their reported marital quality and respite care received. One hundred and twelve couples, each consisting of a mother and a father who lived with their child with Down syndrome, completed questionnaires including the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Experience in Close Relationships Questionnaire, Daily Hassles and Uplifts Scale, and a respite questionnaire. Results were mixed. Respite care did not predict marital quality for either wives or husbands. However, respite hours was related to wife stress, which was in turn related to wife marital quality. Respite hours was also related to husband stress, which was related to husband marital quality. In addition, wife uplifts was directly related to wife marital quality and to husband marital quality. Husband uplifts was related to husband marital quality. While not directly predicting marital quality, respite care was indirectly related to increases in marital quality through stress. Therefore, it is important that respite care be accessible and provided to parents who have a child with Down syndrome. Recommendations for policy makers and researchers are offered.


Building fires fortunately rarely occur however they may cause the tragic loss of properties and lives. While we all watch the news and see the damage caused by fire on buildings and on rural vegetation, very little research has been undertaken on the rate a fire consumes a building's structure. This research began when the question was asked "If a building is ablaze, how long does it take before the structure is severely damaged". This project is an implementation of Big Data Analysis for Emergency Management through the use of statistical computing tool R and its data visualisation features to analyse historical data set provided by a NSW Government Public Safety Agency that responds to structural fire incidents. The main goal of this project is to determine the optimum fire services' response time on property losses due to urban fires in Australia. More precisely, the results of this study will aid the decision making of Fire Service Agencies by determining the correlation between the damage level and the Emergency services response time. This project has implications for Fire Services not only in NSW but nationally and internationally as there is a research gap in the analysis of (Australian) fire data.


The desirability of management development outdoor programmes leaves many client organizations in the dark about the roles of work environment and participant characteristics mediating between training design and implementation with on-the-job behaviour. The main purpose of the study is to determine mediating effect(s) of work environment and/or participant characteristics between training design and implementation with on-the-job behaviour after attending the management development outdoor programme between 2005 and 2006.
The study was a correlational ex post facto design. The study involved 150 participants, drawing randomly from five industries consisting of 191 in population between 2005 and 2006. The response rate was 98.6 percent. The instrument was adopted and adapted from the published research that were the Learning Transfer System Inventory (Holton, Bates and Ruona, 2000), Tracey, Tannenbaum and Kavanagh (1995), Noe and Wilk (1993), McSherry and Taylor (1994), Kontoghiorghes et al (2005), Noe (2002) and Rothwell and Kazanas (1989), Ford (1993), Lewis et al 2004, Lau (2001) and Tai (2006). The instrument used a five points Likert Scale with 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. The reliabilities of all the scales were more than 0.70, which was above the acceptable level (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, Tatham, 2006). The content validity of the instrument was reviewed by a panel of judges. The overall measurement model yielded chi-square = 62.69, degree of freedom = 49, non-significance p-value (p > 0.05), ratio = 1.279 (ratio between 1 and 2), CFI = 0.988 (>0.95) and RMSEA = 0.044 (<0.08). It has fulfilled the goodness-of-fit. Data were analyzed using AMOS and SPSS programme.
After considering three competing models, the nested model B was the best model based on AIC closer to zero. The results of revised structural model were CMIN/df (ratio) = 1.260 (which is between 1 and 2), RMSEA 0.042 (less than 0.05 indicates good fit), GFI 0.930 (more than 0.90), CFI 0.988 (more than 0.95) and PGFI 0.610. It was found that the relationships between training design and implementation with work environment characteristics, training design and implementation with participant characteristics, and participant characteristics with on-the-job behaviour were positively related to each other. It was not the case for the work environment characteristics that was not significantly related to on-the-job behaviour. The path between work environment characteristics with participant characteristics was omitted due to the best-fit indexes.
As such, it is concluded that participant characteristics played as a full mediator between training design and implementation with on-the-job behaviour. Training design and implementation was merely a predictor of the work environment characteristics. The recommendations for the practice are to use the model as a diagnostic tool, for the accountability of the top management, upholding the significance of the human resource department and sustainability of the employability in the market. The recommendations for the future research are such as to look into longitudinal research, quasi experimental design, include baseline measurement data, use multisource feedback and add in qualitative research into the design.


China's rapid economic development and the emergence of its large firms have had much attention and commentary, but the important role of small businesses has received less focus. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to explore small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in China, with specific attention to people management. It examines the nature of people management in SMEs in China by assessing the extent to which human resource management (HRM) practices are appIfed in the organisations, and by evaluating the cultural and institutional impacts on human resource '{HR) practices adopted in these firms. Using a survey questionnaire and an in-depth semi-structured interview, an investigation of people management in SMEs was carried out centred on three main research questions: what is the role of the HR/personnel function in SMEs?; to what extent are HRM practices applied to SMEs?; and what are institutional and cultural factors that affect HRM take-up in SMEs? Several key findings are derived from this study. First, people management in SMEs is different from the traditional Chinese personnel administration system in the following ways: the terminology; the role of HR manager; the importance of the personnel function in the . ~-, organisation; the range of powers of the HR department; and the position of the personnel department in the company. Second, the extent of current HRfpractices in SMEs in China shows a slow convergence to Western HRM practices while the transferability is affected by cultural and institutional factors. Third, there are some similarities between people management in SMEs in China and management practices in SMEs in the West. These resemblances include the vulnerability ofSMEs in a changing environment; the difficulties in finding and retaining highly qualified employees; and an informal approach to key HR practices, namely, employee resourcing, training, and relations. Overall, the nature of people management in SMEs in China displays transitional features. In addition, this thesis suggests that current HR practices in SMEs could be improved and/or adjusted so as to support SMEs' future development in China.


Abstract Recruitment is one of the Swedish Armed Forces' (SAF) main challenges today. Recruiting more women into the organization is one of the organization's aims, as well as providing them with more opportunities for career development. The purpose of this article is to gain a deeper understanding of how female military officers perceive barriers and advantages on their way to higher leadership positions. A total of 10 women from a variety of backgrounds and positions in the armed forces were interviewed. Their ranks ranged from Captain to Colonel and they represented army, naval units and air force. The interviews were analysed using a Grounded Theory approach. The qualitative analysis resulted in two main themes: Supporting visibility of women as leaders and differentiation of women as leaders. The former concerns positive strategies on an individual and organizational level that support an increase in the number of female leaders in the SAF, and is a way of responding to political incitements and the SAF's fundamental values. The second concerns ways how women are portrayed as different and divergent from the male standard. The suggested model may be valuable in recruitment, educational settings and leader development of high-level military officers from a gender perspective.


The contribution of different components of the plankton (autotrophs and heterotrophic bacteria, heterotrophic flagellates, and mixo‐ and heterotrophic ciliates) and suspended inorganic particles to light absorbed by particles in a Mediterranean bay was examined based on a 2‐year time series of particulate light absorption (400–700, 400, and 675 nm), the biomass of planktonic microorganisms, and the mass of suspended inorganic particles. The average (±SE) particulate light absorption coefficient for the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) range (0.035 ± 0.002 m−1) was characteristic of relatively clear coastal waters but showed great variability on occasions. A substantial fraction (53–73%, depending on the wavelength examined) of this variability could be accounted for by changes in the abundance of inorganic suspended matter, as well as planktonic organisms. The specific light absorption by autotrophs was less variable over the three spectral bands considered than those of microheterotrophs and inorganic particles, which dropped sharply with increasing wavelength. Inorganic particles contributed, on the average, 48 and 74% of the total particulate absorption for the PAR waveband and at 400 nm, respectively, with their contribution to light absorption at 675 nm being negligible. Autotrophs dominated light absorption at 675 nm (on average 45.8% of total particulate absorption), whereas mixo‐ and heterotrophic ciliates and bacteria together contributed, on average, 22.5% of the total light absorption at this wavelength. The combined light absorption coefficient of microheterotrophs at 400 nm (0.0126 m−1) was similar to that of autotrophs (0.013 m−1). These results documented the dominant role that inorganic particles play in the absorption of blue light in the Bay of Blanes and showed that the particulate light absorption by autotrophs was often comparable to that of heterotrophs.


Hydrotropic pretreatment using sodium xylene sulfonate (SXS) could remove lignin and xylan from corn stover to enhance enzymatic saccharification. Peracetic acid (PAA) treatment prior to the hydrotropic process [so-called modified hydrotropic pretreatment (MHP)] could double the delignification efficiency and remarkably increase glucan conversion. After pretreatment, samples were treated by PFI refining for comparison. With the supplement of PFI refining before enzymatic hydrolysis of the MHP-treated corn stover, 87.6% of the glucan yield could be achieved and the corresponding xylan yield was 43.7%. In addition, the pretreated corn stover was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The lignin precipitate from the spend liquor was also investigated by FTIR. The cleavage of the lignin structure could be observed from FTIR results. The crystallinity index (CrI) of corn stover after MHP was increased according to XRD analysis, while the reduction of total CrI of cellulose between pretreatment samples was analyzed by FTIR. SEM analysis demonstrated that PAA treatment affected the morphology of corn stover fiber by generating pores and allowing for better contact of the enzyme to polysaccharides.


The performance expectations in fifth grade help students formulate answers to questions such as: " When matter changes, does its weight change? How much water can be found in different places on Earth? Can new substances be created by combining other substances? How does matter cycle through ecosystems? Where does the energy in food come from and what is it used for? How do lengths and directions of shadows or relative lengths of day and night change from day to day, and how does the appearance of some stars change in different seasons? " Fifth grade performance expectations include PS1 Disciplinary Core Ideas from the NRC Framework. Students are able to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen through the development of a model. Students develop an understanding of the idea that regardless of the type of change that matter undergoes, the total weight of matter is conserved. Students determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. Through the development of a model using an example, students are able to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. They describe and graph data to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. Students develop an understanding of the idea that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. Using models, students can describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment and that energy in animals' food was once energy from the sun. Students are expected to develop an understanding of patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some stars in the night sky. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; energy and matter; and systems and systems models are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the fifth grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematics and computational thinking, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information; and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.


In this paper we explore the effects of query and database size on news story classification performance. Memory Based Reasoning (MBR) (a k-nearest neighbor method) used as the classification method. There are 360 different possible codes. Close matches to a new story are found using an already coded training database of about 87,000 stories from the Dow Jones Press Release News Wire, and a Connection-Machine Document Retrieval system (CMDRS, [Stanfill]) that supports full text queries, as the underlying match engine. By combining the codes from the near matches, new stories are coded with a recall of about 80% and precision of about 70%, as reported in [Masand]. When the query size is varied from 10 terms to more than 200 terms (matched against he full-text of documents) therecallprecision product changes from 0.53 to 0.6. While this is a significant change, we find that moderate sized queries of 40-80 terms can suffice for finding relevant matches for classification. By changing the size of database from 10,000 stories to 80,000 we found that the recall-precision product changed from 0.22 to 0.57. This shows that with our current MBR approach the database size can't be reduced significantly without compromising performance. We also find that fewer number of retrieved matches are needed with larger query and database sizes.


Background Podoconiosis is one of the few diseases that could potentially be eliminated within one generation. Nonetheless, the global distribution of the disease remains largely unknown. The global atlas of podoconiosis was conceived to define the epidemiology and distribution of podoconiosis through dedicated surveys and assembling the available epidemiological data. Methods We have synthesized the published literature on the epidemiology of podoconiosis. Through systematic searches in SCOPUS and MEDLINE from inception to February 14, 2018, we identified observational and population-based studies reporting podoconiosis. To establish existence of podoconiosis, we used case reports and presence data. For a study to be included in the prevalence synthesis, it needed to be a population-based survey that involved all residents within a specific area. Studies that did not report original data were excluded. We undertook descriptive analyses of the extracted data. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42018084959. Results We identified 3,260 records, of which 27 studies met the inclusion criteria. Podoconiosis was described to exist or be endemic in 32 countries, 18 from the African Region, 3 from Asia and 11 from Latin America. Overall, podoconiosis prevalence ranged from 0·10% to 8.08%, was highest in the African region, and was substantially higher in adults than in children and adolescents. The highest reported prevalence values were in Africa (8.08% in Cameroon, 7.45% in Ethiopia, 4.52% in Uganda, 3.87% in Kenya and 2.51% in Tanzania). In India, a single prevalence of 0.21% was recorded from Manipur, Mizoram and Rajasthan states. None of the Latin American countries reported prevalence data. Conclusion Our data suggest that podoconiosis is more widespread in the African Region than in the rest of the regions, although this could be related to the fact that most podoconiosis epidemiological research has been focused in the African continent. The assembled dataset confirms that comprehensive podoconiosis control strategies such as promotion of footwear and personal hygiene are urgently needed in endemic parts of Africa. Mapping, active surveillance and a systematic approach to the monitoring of disease burden must accompany the implementation of podoconiosis control activities.


As the supreme leader of the Indian national movement for freedom, the success of which in 1947 set off a whole wave of decolonization in the rest of the British Empire, M. K. Gandhi may be thought to have a claim to be regarded as the Father of the Postcolonial. However, the founding figures of postcolonial discourse have hardly taken any note of him, and there is a deafening silence on Gandhi in the various readers, encyclopedias and companions on the subject. My argument is that this is so mainly because Gandhi, as an unwavering believer in non-violence or ahimsa, succeeded in liberating India without at all adhering to the Marxist model of a violent and bloody revolution such as championed notably by Frantz Fanon and uniformly valorized in the postcolonial and subaltern studies discourses. The views taken of Gandhi's precept and practice of ahimsa by Leela Gandhi, Robert Young and Shahid Amin are examined in particular, as well as the attempt to characterize Gandhi as practising discursive violence himself. In conclusion, the difficulty of practising non-violence is underlined, as is also Gandhi's affirmation of ahimsa and truth as the supreme human values.


This paper seeks to bridge the gap between theory and practice in delivering quality places through urban design. It complements the behavioural-based theoretical concepts of neoclassical economics with the institutional analysis in property development from the perspective of adding value through quality design. This approach focuses on the drivers and the relationship between actors in the planning, design and development process. The paper follows a sequential path of incrementally building a framework of institutional analysis to eventually present a model for delivering quality in the built environment. The final product presents a 'meso-range' theoretical framework that links concepts of neoclassical economics to institutional analysis and follows two principles. First, mainstream economics and institutionalism in property development should be complementary rather than exclusive of each other. This is based on the concept that institutional analysis and behavioural theories can be used complementarily to understand and describe the delivery of a value added product through the property development process. Second, since very little of the broad economic perspectives have been applied to the property discipline, there should be a theory with an economic focus that serves to support and link institutional models.


We used 125I-galanin (porcine) as ligand to study the galanin receptors in circular muscle and deep muscular plexus from canine small intestine. Specific binding sites were found in both nerve and muscle membranes. On synaptosomal membranes, the equilibrium binding study showed a high-affinity (dissociation constant, Kd = 1.1 +/- 0.13 nM; maximum binding capacity, Bmax = 244 +/- 2.1 fmol/mg) binding site. The specific binding of 125I-galanin to nerve membrane was inhibited by galanin or NH2-terminal galanin fragments but not by the COOH-terminal fragment. Computer analysis suggested a two-site model (inhibitor constants, Ki1 = 0.02 +/- 0.005 nM and Ki2 = 1.05 +/- 0.3 nM) for competition by galanin-(1-29). Kinetic and competition studies using guanosine 5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) or pertussis toxin (PTX) suggested that the high-affinity binding site involved a PTX-sensitive G protein which acted to slow dissociation of bound galanin from the receptor. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the galanin receptor complex revealed a radioactive band at 50 kDa. We conclude that, in canine small intestine, galanin may act as an inhibitory neuromodulator by a PTX-sensitive G protein-coupled interaction of galanin and its specific receptor on enteric nerve synaptosomes.