Objective: Culture is the way of life of a people; and is an integral component of their day-to-day existence. It influences the daily routine of a people, including their diet, dressing, religious disposition, and surprisingly, the degree to which orthodox medical practices impact their daily lives. Appreciating underlying cultural context will help health care workers influence patient's perceptions, especially where cultural practices are not in tandem with medical best practices. This is important, for example, in administration of informed consent for surgery. This study explored cultural beliefs of patients in relation to some common maxillofacial practices in Kano, Nigeria.Methods: Patient's perceptions on oral cancers, use of nasogastric tubes, and tooth extraction was conducted amongst patients attending maxillofacial outpatient clinic of a tertiary Nigerian hospital from January to December 2015 using a non-structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire.Results: Seventy-seven (77) patients were surveyed (52 males and 25 females), with ages ranging from 16 to 75 years. Most were aged 51-60 years (44.2%). Only 6.5% of respondents had higher than secondary education. Responses to the aetiology and treatment of oral cancers, use of nasogastric tubes for maxillofacial surgery patients and extraction of teeth showed cultural perceptions usually at variance with medical best practices.Conclusion: Patients' expectations and fears of maxillofacial surgery procedures are affected by their cultural beliefs. Proper acceptance of this, combined with targeted education and counselling may enhance patient's co-operation and acceptance of necessary surgical procedures when orthodox medical care is sought.


The anterior segment of the mammalian eye is concerned with the function and maintenance of its optical components, the most important of these being the maintenance of transparency and stable intraocular pressure. The structures of the eye change throughout life . Continuous growth occurs m the lens , and a number of other changes associated with aging also occur, many of which reduce visual capacity. Many of these manifest in humans because of their long life span but have ve ry little relevance in terms of survival. Howe ver, other long li ved animals such as so me birds, reptiles and whales, could be severely compromised by complete or partial blindness associated with aging. The aims of thi s study were to evaluate the importance of vis ion as a sense in whales by observation of the structure and optics of the anterior segment, and compare the findings with other species whose visual functions are well known. Pathological changes were recorded where appropriate. The findings in this thesis are based on a three year survey of eyes from 45 whales m which i) differences between species m the size of the globe, lens , and cornea are described ii ) the unique histological structure of the uveal tract is demonstrated and defined iii ) evidence of emmetropia m both air and water from NMR images of two eyes is given iv) lens shape and capsular features which indicate that there could be a capacity for accommodation, are described, and v) lens pathology (four cataracts and one case of phacolysis ) is described in five animals . The largest whales (baleen and sperm) had the largest eyes, but this was mainly due to the thickness of sclera. Internal dimensions showed little variation with respect to body size, suggesting that there is an upper limit on internal size which is dependant on the focal length of the lens , a structure which enlarges only slightly with age . Corneal and lens sizes were especially large in the baleen whales , and particularly small in the sperm whale. The uveal tract was found to be very vascular when compared to other species, and particularly well innervated with specialised nerve endings which are thought to be unique to cetaceans. Although the findings are not conclusive, evidence from this study suggests that the whales' unique uveal vasculature and aqueous drainage methods may be instrumental in modifying the dioptric strength of the eye . The abundance of specialised pressure-receptors m the ciliary body indirectly supports a proposed mechanism for this, whereby the engorged ciliary body raises intraocular pressure causing increased corneal curvature , and releases tension on the zonule to allow 'rounding up' of the lens . Optically, the study showed that eyes from two long-finned pilot whales were iii emmetropic by virtue of a cornea with only a very small amount of optical power in both air and water, and a very powerful lens (about 72D in water). Emmetropia was thus not affected unduly by transition from air to water as it is 10 most mammals, where the cornea is optically very significant in air but neutral in water. Lenses m both animals showed an unusual ' bump' on the central posterior surface, and the increased radius of curvature m this area was responsible for the very high dioptric strength of the lenses . The prevalence of lens pathology , particularly cataracts in young animals , was high , but in all cases the cause was unknown.


We have studied the electronic structure as well as magnetic, electronic transport and thermodynamic properties of the intermetallic compound Ce5CuBi3. It was found that Ce5CuBi3 undergoes three successive phase transitions at 25 K, 13.7 K and 3.5 K. We attribute the multiple magnetic phase transition to be associated with the two non-equivalent magnetic sublattices of the magnetic Ce ions. The investigated compound is characterized by an enhanced ratio Cp /T at 2 K, which may be interpreted as being due to the nearness of the 4f-level to the Fermi level and some contribution of magnon excitation. The core-level photoemission spectra indicate that Ce ions in Ce5CuBi3 are very close to trivalent which is consistent with the magnetic susceptibility data. The calculated band structures using the scalar-relativistic linear muffin-tin orbital method in the atomic sphere approximation and the all-electron full potential linear augmented plane wave plus local orbitals method have been performed for the non-magnetic ground state and as well as for collinear ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic spin alignments. The largest stabilization energy is found in the case of a ferromagnetic structure. The calculated moments on the two sites of the Ce atoms are in agreement with the experimental value (0.93 μ B /Ce). The calculations predict that the studied compound has a pseudogap in the DOS curve. Analysis of the partial DOS suggests some differences in hybridization strengths between the Ce-Bi and Ce-Cu orbitals.


A fall is one of the main causes of injury-related hospitalisation and injury-related deaths. Besides physical degeneration, fear of falling and attentional focus strategies are related to fall risk and decline of balance performance. The aim of this research was to expose the mechanisms by which fear of falling and attentional focus affect human balance control. We used galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) to induce vestibular balance reflexes while participants stood at ground level and on a narrow walkway at 3.85 m height to induce fear of falling. Using questionnaires and skin conductance measurements, a fear of falling at height was confirmed. Full-body kinematics was collected to measure the vestibular balance response. We concluded that fear modifies vestibular balance control and proposed a mechanism in which both the short- and medium-latency reflexes functionally contribute to whole body balance. Furthermore, the literature suggests that fear of falling could impair balance mechanisms in elderly through changes in attentional focus. Therefore, we also investigated the effect of attentional focus (internal vs. external focus and reinvestment) and fall history on walking stability in healthy older adults. Participants' gait was perturbed through randomly occurring unilateral treadmill decelerations to evoke balance recovery movements. Using full body kinematics, coefficients of variation of spatiotemporal gait parameters and local divergence exponents were calculated to assess gait performance of balance recovery responses and unperturbed gait. Fallers showed increased gait variability and decreased gait stability, however no effects of attentional focus were found. The benefits of an external focus of attention on motor performance do not seem to apply to gait in elderly. Continued investigation into attentional focus effects and fear of falling on gait including holistic and partial internal focus and continuous gait perturbations, might further clarify the relations between fear of falling and attentional focus and how they could affect fall risk. Follow-up studies with clinical subgroups could further clarify the relation between fear of falling, attentional focus and balance performance.


Mobile robots provide automated solutions for a range of tasks in industrial settings including but not limited to inspection. Our interest is automated inspection tasks including gas leakage detection in natural gas processing facilities such as those in Qatar. Using autonomous mobile robot solutions remove humans from potentially hazardous environments, eliminate potential human errors from fatigue, and provide data logging solutions for visualization and off-line post-processing. A core requirement for a mobile robot to perform any meaningful inspection task is to localize itself within the operating environment. We are developing a visual Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) system for this purpose. Visual SLAM systems enable a robot to localize within an environment while simultaneously building a metric 3D map using only imagery from an on-board camera head. Vision has many advantages over alternate sensors used for localization and mapping. It requires minimal power compared to Lidar sensors, is relatively inexpensive compared to Inertial Navigation Systems (INS), and can operate in GPS denied environments. There is extensive work related to visual SLAM with most systems using either a perspective stereo camera head or a wide-angle of view monocular camera. Stereo cameras enable Euclidean 3D reconstruction from a single stereo pair and provide metric pose estimates. However, the narrow angle of view can limit pose estimation accuracy as visual features can typically be 'tracked' only across a small number of frames. Moreover, the limited angle of view presents challenges for place recognition whereby previously visited locations can be detected and loop closure performed to correct for long-range integrated position estimate inaccuracies. In contrast, wide-angle of view monocular cameras (e.g. fisheye and catadioptric) trade spatial resolution for an increased angle of view. This increased angle can enables visual scene points to be tracked over many frames and can improve rotational pose estimates. The increased angle of view can also improve visual place recognition performance as the same areas of a scene can be imaged under much larger changes in position and orientation. The primary disadvantage of a monocular wide-angle visual SLAM system is a scale ambiguity in the translational component of pose/position estimates. The visual SLAM system being developed in this work uses a combined stereo and wide-angle fisheye camera system with the aim of exploiting the advantages of each. For this we have combined visual feature tracks from both the stereo and fisheye camera within a single non-linear least-squares Sparse Bundle Adjustment (SBA) framework for localization. Initial experiments using large scale image datasets (approximately 10 kilometers in length) collected within Education City have been used to evaluate improvements in localization accuracy using the combined system. Additionally, we have demonstrated performance improvements in visual place recognition using our existing Hidden Markov Model (HMM) based place recognition algorithm.


A three-dimensional (3-D) primitive equation model, developed to simulate the circulation features (filaments) observed in the California coastal transition zone (CTZ), was coupled to a nine-component food web model and a bio-optical model. The simulated flow fields from a 3-D primitive equation model are used to advect the constituents of the food web model, which include silicate, nitrate, ammonium, two phytoplankton size fractions, copepods, doliolids, euphausiids, and a detritus pool. The bio-optical model simulates the wavelength-dependent attenuation of the subsurface irradiance field. The overall objective of this modeling study was to understand and quantify the processes that contribute to the spatial and temporal development of nutrient and plankton distributions in the CTZ. The resulting simulated 3-D nutrient, plankton and submarine light fields agree well with those observed within the CTZ. Specifically, high nutrient and plankton biomass occur onshore and within the core of the simulated filament. Variations in the depth of the 1% light level, which result from the simulated plankton distributions, shallows to less than 30 m in regions of high phytoplankton biomass, and deepens to greater than 75 m in regions of low phytoplankton biomass. The onshore and offshore surface carbon flux patterns are similar in shape due to the meander-like flow patterns of the filament; however, the net across-shore area-integrated carbon flux is predominantly offshore. The total 20-day integrated carbon transport for the model domain varies with distance from shore and is highest (35 × 109 g C) in the region where the filament circulation pattern develops into an anticyclonic and cyclonic pair of eddies. The annual integrated carbon transport by filaments along the California coast is estimated to be 1.89 × 1012 g C.


Propositional Typicality Logic (PTL) is a recently proposed logic, obtained by enriching classical propositional logic with a typicality operator. In spite of the non-monotonic features introduced by the semantics adopted for the typicality operator, the obvious Tarskian definition of entailment for PTL remains monotonic and is therefore not appropriate. We investigate different (semantic) versions of entailment for PTL, based on the notion of Rational Closure as defined by Lehmann and Magidor for KLM-style conditionals, and constructed using minimality. Our first important result is an impossibility theorem showing that a set of proposed postulates that at first all seem appropriate for a notion of entailment with regard to typicality cannot be satisfied simultaneously. Closer inspection reveals that this result is best interpreted as an argument for advocating the development of more than one type of PTL entailment. In the spirit of this interpretation, we define two primary forms of entailment for PTL and discuss their advantages and disadvantages.


A rare but often lethal cocktail that can complicate flu

P anton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) is one of many toxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus. Structurally similar to γ haemolysin, this leukocidin comprises two subunits (F and S) that together are leukocidal and dermonecrotic.1 Intermixing of γ haemolysin and the subunits of PVL produces toxin molecules with varying cellular affinities and destructive capability, even when the staphylococci may be otherwise sensitive to antibiotics such as methicillin. The death of a fit young soldier in the United Kingdom earlier this year from toxicity to PVL illustrated the extent of that capability.2

Infection with PVL producing staphylococci is rare. Fewer than 2% of clinical isolates of S aureus examined in the United Kingdom in 2002-3 had the genes to produce the leukocidin, although it was found in 4.6% of samples from infections of skin and soft tissue.3 Furthermore, "pure" disease caused by those S aureus bacteria that produce PVL is rarely life threatening. It presents as recurrent furunculosis or abscesses, it may be either sensitive or resistant to methicillin, and it can be difficult to eradicate among carriers. Three new and more virulent staphylococcal syndromes associated with the leukocidin—purpura fulminans, skin sepsis, and necrotising pneumonia—have been recognised recently, …


This report examines the changing definition of the phrase, "waters of the United States." The scope of waters that are properly the subject of federal water pollution legislation has been the subject of long-standing consideration by all three branches of the federal government, particularly in the aftermath of the 1972 amendments to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act.


As the transition to renewable energy sources progresses, their inte- gration makes electricity production increasingly fluctuating, also causing ampli- fied volatility in electricity prices on energy markets. To contribute to power grid stability, utilities need to balance volatile supply through shifting demand. This measure of demand side management creates flexibility, being enabled as the in- tegration of IS in the power grid grows. The flexibility of deferring consumption to times of lower demand or higher supply bears an economic value. We show how to quantify this value in order to support decisions on short-term consumer compensation. We adapt real options theory, which has been widely used in IS research for valuation under uncertainty. Addressing a prerequisite, we develop a stochastic process, which realistically replicates intraday electricity spot price development. We employ it in a binomial tree model to assess the value of IS- enabled flexibility in electricity demand.


We studied the effect of repeated treatment with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) on the sensitivity of brain 5-HT2C receptors, by measuring the decrease in slow wave sleep (SWS) that follows administration of meta-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) (7.5 mg orally). mCPP significantly lowered SWS both in patients taking SSRIs and in a group of healthy controls. There was, however, no difference in the response between the two groups. The results do not support the suggestion that repeated SSRI treatment alters the sensitivity of 5-HT2C receptors in the human brain. The present study, however, cannot exclude the possibility that a decrease in 5-HT2C receptor sensitivity was offset by higher plasma levels of mCPP in the SSRI-treated group.


In recent times, there has been a proliferation of laws enacted by individual states and townships which restrict the ability of mariners to anchor within navigable waters of the united states. These laws have been enacted in many of the coastal states, but are most prevalent in California, Florida and Hawaii. Uncertainty as to whether anchoring is an act of navigation, thereby being a constitutional right, has resulted in confusion among boaters, legal authorities and policy makers. In an attempt to clarify the uncertainty surrounding this issue, a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of anchoring laws within the state of Hawaii has come before the public eye. Although the Hawaiian lawsuit is focused solely upon anchoring laws which affect that state, the ultimate outcome of the case could set precedent for this issue on a national basis. As case history has been unhelpfully silent in the resolution of the anchoring issue, primary legal doctrines, such as the united states Constitution, the pubI ic trust doctrine and legal traditions practiced since the Institutes of Justinian law must provide some of the essential guidelines. Also of importance are the opinions of federal agencies, such as the Coast Guard, and Army Corps of engineers. The following study addresses the current state of the ii anchoring conflict, explains the importance of a solution, examines the documents which affect the issue, and proposes conclusions based on logic, history, and the guidelines set forth in the surveyed primary data. The conclusions support the proposals that anchoring can be proven to be an act of navigation, laws which restrict anchoring likewise restrict constitutional rights, and that anchoring laws may be deemed to be unconstitutional.


Dynamic hand gestures have become increasingly popular as an input modality for interactive systems. There exists a variety of arm-worn devices for the recognition of hand gestures, which differ not only in their capabilities, but also in the arm positions where they are worn. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of placement of such devices on the accuracy for recognizing dynamic hand gestures (e.g. waving the hand). This is relevant as different devices require different positions and thus differ in the achievable recognition accuracy. We have chosen two positions on the forearm: on the wrist and right below the elbow. These positions are interesing as smartwatches are usually worn on the wrist and devices using EMG sensors for the detection of static hand gestures (e.g. spreading the fingers) have to be worn right below the elbow. We used an LG G Watch worn on the wrist and a Myo armband from Thalmic Labs worn below the elbow. Both are equipped with three-axis accelerometers, which we used for gesture recognition. Our hypothesis was that the wrist-worn device would have a better recognition accuracy, as dynamic hand gestures have a bigger action radius on the wrist and therefore lead to bigger acceleration values. We conducted a comparative study with nine participants that performed eight simple, dynamic gestures on both devices. We tested the 4320 gesture samples with different classifiers and feature sets. Although the recognition results for the wrist-worn device were higher, the difference was not significant due to the substantial variation across participants.


This article explores how hybrid organizations, which incorporate competing institutional logics, internally manage the logics that they embody. Relying on an inductive comparative case study of four work integration social enterprises embedded in competing social welfare and commercial logics, we show that, instead of adopting strategies of decoupling or compromising, as the literature typically suggests, these organizations selectively coupled intact elements prescribed by each logic. This strategy allowed them to project legitimacy to external stakeholders without having to engage in costly deceptions or negotiations. We further identify a specific hybridization pattern that we refer to as "Trojan horse," whereby organizations that entered the work integration field with low legitimacy because of their embeddedness in the commercial logic strategically incorporated elements from the social welfare logic in an attempt to gain legitimacy and acceptance. Surprisingly, they did so more than comparable organizations originating from the social welfare logic. These findings suggest that, when lacking legitimacy in a given field, hybrids may manipulate the templates provided by the multiple logics in which they are embedded in an attempt to gain acceptance. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of how organizations can survive and thrive when embedded in pluralistic institutional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The Asia-Pacific region with its rapid urbanization has generated an immediate need for both land use control and compulsory purchase by national and local governments. This book takes a comparative look at land use laws in ten Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand) as well as in the United States. A land use scholar from each country describes and analyzes compulsory land acquisition and the means through which property owners can seek compensation when government regulations or policies become so burdensome that they approach the effect of compulsory purchase. The book's major themes are land use control and eminent domain (compulsory purchase). Contributors examine land use control by focusing on land ownership, statutory framework, land use plans and planning, zoning, building regulations, courts and common law, and regulatory taking among the eleven countries. Sections on eminent domain cover the right of government to take or reclaim private property.


This Article offers in-depth analysis of the opinions in Pleasant Grove v. Summum. Summum is a significant case because it expands "government speech" to cover broad, thematic government identity messages in the form of donated monuments, including the much-litigated Eagles-donated Ten Commandments. This Article explores the fine distinctions between the new "government speech doctrine" – a defense in Free Speech Clause cases which allows government to express its own viewpoint and to reject alternative views – and the Establishment Clause – which prohibits government from expressing a viewpoint on religion, and from favoring some religions over others. I argue that the Court's decision, to characterize all public monuments as expressing "government-controlled" messages that reflect municipal identity, alters the Establishment Clause calculus. Using social meaning theory, I show how the Culture Wars have transformed the message of governmental religious displays, and how Summum has eliminated the donor's ambiguating role, which played a part in Justice Breyer's Van Orden concurrence. The Article also serves a valuable function by contesting claims that Summum has eliminated the Establishment Clause endorsement test, or that it dangerously allows government to convert any and all private speech to its own, thus deflecting Free Speech claims. My interpretation shows that the decision is multi-faceted and contextual; it relies on government's expressive intent, an inherently communicative medium, and viewers' reasonable attributions regarding monument speech. As shown below, the Court's exposition on the unfettered indeterminacy of monuments' content either has been misconstrued, or renders the opinion internally inconsistent. I conclude by proposing a compromise solution: a new level of transparency for the history-based rationales used to explain existing public religious displays, and closer scrutiny of any new government religious displays initiated in this religiously-divisive time. Finally, my proposal is illustrated by application to Ten Commandments monuments and the Salazar v. Buono narrative.


Prompted by the Meads of Asphodel album Sonderkommando (2013), this article considers ways in which the Auschwitz Sonderkommando (SK) figure in extreme metal. While there are not many metal songs about the SK, they feature far more in metal lyrics than in almost all other
 music genres. Attracted by obscure and difficult parts of history, metal bands draw on their practices to 'embody' the SK: not simply representing them, but feeling and acting out their plight to excess. The article examines a number of these practices: difficult to decipher vocals,
 the use of global Englishes and a bookish attraction to the arcane and the bizarre. It argues that metal's embrace of intense feeling in the lyrics and vocal and musical styles can be interpreted as an exploration of embodiment and materiality, allowing a consideration of mediation,
 the matter through which the SK might be felt and understood. Embodying the SK in metal, then, does not merely comprise an eccentric example of Holocaust memory at work, but takes on central issues of Holocaust representation.


Huge scale machine learning problems are nowadays tackled by distributed optimization algorithms, i.e. algorithms that leverage the compute power of many devices for training. The communication overhead is a key bottleneck that hinders perfect scalability. Various recent works proposed to use quantization or sparsification techniques to reduce the amount of data that needs to be communicated, for instance by only sending the most significant entries of the stochastic gradient (top-k sparsification). Whilst such schemes showed very promising performance in practice, they have eluded theoretical analysis so far. In this work we analyze Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) with k-sparsification or compression (for instance top-k or random-k) and show that this scheme converges at the same rate as vanilla SGD when equipped with error compensation (keeping track of accumulated errors in memory). That is, communication can be reduced by a factor of the dimension of the problem (sometimes even more) whilst still converging at the same rate. We present numerical experiments to illustrate the theoretical findings and the good scalability for distributed applications.


Urea granulation is favored over prilling due to the problems associated with prilling. Tumbling agglomeration technique is employed in pan granulator. Product with wide size range can be produced by playing with only few parameters like binders (water and urea solution), ratio of binders, rpm of pan, granulation time and angle of inclination. Urea granulation is studied at laboratory scale using pan granulator. Water and urea solutions of different concentrations are employed as binder. Results reveal that concentration of urea solution is proportional to rate of granulation. A threshold quantity of binder is required for optimum granulation yield. Speed of the pan is inversely proportional to the rate of granulation. Granulation yield is also proportional to time of granulation however it becomes critical at a certain point. Angle of inclination of the pan has no significant effect on the granulation yield


Abstract : Biometrics have the potential to solidify person authentication by examining "unforgeable" features of individuals. This paper explores issues involved with effective integration of biometric-enhanced authentication into computer systems and design options for addressing them. Because biometrics are not secrets, systems must not use them like passwords; otherwise, biometric-based authentication will reduce security rather than increase it. A novel biometric-enhanced authentication system, based on a trusted camera that continuously uses face recognition to verify identity, is described and evaluated in the context of Linux. With cryptographically-signed messages and continuous authentication, the difficulty of bypassing desktop authentication can be significantly increased.


This report explores the US electric power industry's options for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions over the next half century. Those options include new technologies that are still being developed - such as coal gasification with carbon capture and sequestration - as well as strategies that rely on existing technologies at different stages of commercial and technical readiness (such as nuclear and renewable generation), lower-carbon fuels (like natural gas), and efficiency improvements (both at the point of electricity production and end use). Many of these options, in addition to reducing CO{sub 2} emissions, also reduce conventional air pollutants.


Articulated buses are being operated more frequently on popular bus routes, as they can handle higher passenger loads and increase rider comfort. Dwell and running times associated with articulated buses are expected to be different from regular low-floor buses. We use archived bus operation and passenger information from three heavily-used bus routes operated by the Societe de Transport de Montreal, Canada, to measure these differences. Operation of articulated buses yielded to savings in dwell time, especially with high levels of passenger activity and the use of the third door in alighting. These savings were not reflected in running time, due to increases in the time associated with acceleration, deceleration, and merging with traffic. This study gives transit planners and operators important information on the differences in operating environments between regular and articulated buses.


Four methods of estimating daily light interception (fisheye photography with image analysis, multiple-light sensors, ceptometer, and point grid) were compared using various apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) free forms: slender spindle, Y- and T-trellises, and vertical palmette. Interactions of tree form, time of day, and atmospheric conditions with light interception estimates were examined. All methods were highly correlated to each other (r 2 >0.92) for estimated daily mean percent total light interception by the various tree forms, except that the point grid method values were slightly lower. Interactions were found among tree form, time of day, and diffuse/direct radiation balance on estimated light interception, suggesting that several readings over the day are needed under clear skies, especially in upright canopies. The similar results obtained by using the point grid method (counting shaded/exposed points on a grid under the canopy) on clear days may allow rapid, simple, and inexpensive estimates of orchard light interception


ABSTRACT In this 'Thinking Space' essay we revisit Maurie Daly's 1982 book Sydney Boom, Sydney Bust, fuelled by concern for how Australian cities are being transformed by financialised real estate. Daly's insights remain highly relevant to Sydney and other cities around Australia and the world today. Poorly planned densification, inflated property markets, land speculation, and housing poverty are all outcomes of the (global) capitalist intersection of finance and land in Australia. The overwriting of Aboriginal country with colonial-capitalist systems of land ownership set in train a process of land and housing booms, bubbles and busts that are better understood by their circular continuity rather than as a set of ephemeral ruptures. It is the property and finance system itself, rather than any ruptures to it, that reproduces unequal and alienating social relations. Researchers investigating property speculation, global capital, urban planning and financialisation, we argue, ought to revisit this key text to inform their contemporary analyses. Moreover, those wielding power over Australian urban affairs would do well to read it too, lest its lessons be ignored for another generation.


agement with combined use of McGrath MAC video laryngoscope and fiberoptic bronchoscope in a severe obese patient with huge goiter" by Chung et al. [1], published in the June 2018 issue of the Korean Journal of Anesthesiology. It is commendable that the authors were able to proceed with such a difficult intubation in an innovative way. The combined use of the fiber-optic bronchoscope and MacGrath MAC video laryngoscope probably enabled better visualization of the airway and better control over the airway than either of the techniques individually. The authors had their airway plans and safety back-ups in place. They methodically proceeded to move to the next plan each time one failed, including abandoning the procedure, rather than losing the airway and the patient, giving the impression of a therapeutic misadventure rather than a poorly planned case. I do, however, have a few reservations regarding the procedure. Oxygen reserves and the time taken for desaturation during apnea are significantly shorter in morbidly obese patients than in non-obese patients. Since its description by Holmdahl in 1956, "apneic diffusion oxygenation" has been used as a technique to permit longer periods of apnea without concomitant desaturation. Various techniques have been described to draw ambient oxygen "en masse" into the lungs and maintain oxygenation, including the use of inexpensive, easily available facemasks, nasal cannulae, and suction catheters. Baraka et al. [2] demonstrated that the use of apneic oxygenation enabled morbidly obese patients to maintain a saturation of 100% even at 240 s after apnea was initiated, while desaturation was achieved in the control group in 153 s. The Transnasal Humidified Rapid-Insufflation Ventilatory Exchange (THRIVE) study demonstrated the ability to extend this period to over 30 min in patients with the use of high-flow humidified transnasal oxygenation [3]. This technique has been adopted for adult patients across many clinical areas. Obesity is also a known risk factor for difficult intubation, as reported by the authors themselves [1]. This makes it more important to increase the available apnea time. Had apneic oxygenation been provided, it is possible that the authors would have been able to proceed with intubation at the first attempt or would have had a longer period of time in hand before the patient desaturated. It was verified that the patient in question had obstructive sleep apnea. The use of highflow humidified transnasal oxygenation would successfully create a splint and decrease respiratory obstruction in a sedated patient. The authors used a MacGrath MAC video laryngoscope to intubate the patient. One of the problems associated with its use is fogging of the lens during expiration [4]. The use of continuous oxygen insufflation during apneic oxygenation can potentially help prevent fogging, thus solving this problem and providing better visibility. Finally, the patient in question was morbidly obese with a large goiter (right: 7.5 cm × 4.0 cm; left: 7.3 cm × 6.0 cm), which caused compression and deviation of the trachea. A soft tissue thickness of 51 mm anterior to the thyroid cartilage—revealed on computed tomography—would have made it difficult to achieve emergency front-of-neck access. Taking the same distorted anatomy into account, rigid bronchoscopy could have been planned as a rescue measure because the patient had a large, long-standing thyroid mass. Cook et al. [5] reported that while there is no consensus regarding the initial plan to approach a large thyroid mass, rigid bronchoscopy remained an important part of airway planning for experts. To conclude, although the authors approach, when faced with a difficult airway situation, was indeed admirable, it is worth pondering whether the use of apneic oxygenation could have prevented the necessity of the second procedure altogether. Letter to the Editor


For multi parameter optimization of Raman Fiber Amplifier (RFA), a simple genetic algorithm is presented in the scenario of a 320 channel Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexed (DWDM) system at channel spacing of 25 GHz. The large average gain (> 22 dB) is observed from optimized RFA with the optimized parameters, such as 39.6 km of Raman length with counter-propagating pumps tuned to 205.5 THz and 211.9 THz at pump powers of 234.3 mW, 677.1 mW respectively. The gain flattening filter (GFF) has also been optimized to further reduce the gain ripple across the frequency range from 190 to 197.975 THz for broadband amplification.


The unconventional ferromagnetism of Ag as been studied in highly pure nanomaterials. Gas-phase synthesis of nanoparticles and thin films allow for the independent study of size and ligand-free surface effects. No size correlation to magnetism in Ag nanoparticles ranging from 3.3 ± 0.9 to 7.8 ± 1.3 nm was determined by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry. Additionally, magnetic quartz crystal microbalance (MQCM) under vacuum conditions of 3.3 ± 0.9 nm Ag NPs shows magnetic behaviour only after the onset of oxidation. SQUID magnetometry shows a higher magnetization for samples exposed to O2 compared to inert atmospheres. This indicates non-stoichiometric oxidation at the surface as the reason for the observed magnetism as supported by an ∼8 : 1 Ag : O ratio from MQCM measurements. Additionally, heat-treated Ag thin films present a lower saturation magnetization compared to those kept in O2 without heating. This latter observation could be the result of driving the oxidation to stoichiometric surface oxides AgO and Ag2O which are known to be diamagnetic.


At the turn of the twentieth century, good highways eluded most Americans and nearly all southerners. In their place, a jumble of dirt roads covered the region like a bed of briars. Introduced in 1915, the Dixie Highway changed all that by merging hundreds of short roads into dual interstate routes that looped from Michigan to Miami and back. In connecting the North and the South, the Dixie Highway helped end regional isolation and served as a model for future interstates. In this book, Tammy Ingram offers the first comprehensive study of the nation's earliest attempt to build a highway network, revealing how the modern U.S. transportation system evolved out of the hard-fought political, economic, and cultural contests that surrounded the Dixie's creation.The most visible success of the Progressive Era Good Roads Movement, the Dixie Highway also became its biggest casualty. It sparked a national dialogue about the power of federal and state agencies, the role of local government, and the influence of ordinary citizens. In the South, it caused a backlash against highway bureaucracy that stymied road building for decades. Yet Ingram shows that after the Dixie Highway, the region was never the same.


With a variety of technology-enabled tools and environments to choose from, it is increasingly difficult for educators to ascertain the factors that influence the quality of the students' learning experience and hence make appropriate choices for the use of technology. In this paper, we discuss the role of two technologies — wikis and blogs — in teaching and learning. We provide case studies of two courses at the Open Umiversity, UK and empirical evidence of students' experiences, perceptions, and expectations on these courses. We discuss the context of these courses and the usage of these technologies: The pedagogical underpinnings and the rationale for introducing these technologies; the intended learning outcomes from the usage of these tools; and the extent to which the activities based around these tools have enabled the intended learning and facilitated the learning process. We report on the social, usability, and pedagogical factors that have influenced the quality of students' learning experience. The research reported in this paper aims to provide guidance to course designers and educators for choosing tools, particularly wikis and blogs, for their contexts and for creating value and generating a positive student experience to engender student satisfaction and retention.


Fostering peace and stability has been a key aim of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), but its effective impact on conflicts has been marginal. This article analyses the ENP's security dimension through the conceptual prism of coherence. As a policy cutting across functional domains and governance levels the ENP faces horizontal and vertical coherence challenges. The empirical analysis focuses on two cases lying at the intersection of the ENP and comprehensive European Union (EU) crisis management: the EU's responses to the Syrian and Libyan conflicts between 2011 and 2016. The analysis shows that the EU has gradually redirected ENP funds to short-term security- and migration-related goals. However, the EU has failed to ensure vertical coherence in the field of high politics. The externalities of the Libyan and Syrian conflicts might foster national preference convergence and thereby increase vertical coherence. While this should strengthen the ENP's security dimension, the risk is that the policy's distinct character as a tool for structural conflict prevention is diluted within an ever broadening comprehensive approach that focuses on conflict symptoms rather than root causes.


The migration of electronic excitation energy between individual particles is a well-studied phenomenon. The ability to exert optical control over this transfer of energy is the subject of much recent research, and it forms the basis for a potential all-optical switching device. In detail, near-field energy transfer from an excited donor nanoparticle (following previous light absorption) to an acceptor particle can, under suitable conditions, be activated or deactivated by the input of a non-resonant laser beam, i.e. optical switching action occurs. It is envisaged that an all-optical device utilizing the described mechanism will involve nanoparticles contained within thin-film deposits on a pair of parallel substrates. Nanolithography is the technique offering the best prospects for the deposition and tailoring of nanoparticles within each optically active layer. This paper gives a theoretical analysis of the non-linear response mechanism, termed optically controlled resonance energy transfer (OCRET). The concept of transfer fidelity, signifying the accuracy of mapping input to designated output, is introduced and its key determinants are identified. Analysis shows that, at reasonable levels of laser intensity, cross-talk to unsought destinations can be effectively extinguished. The advantage of constructing these donor and acceptor thin-film layers around an ultra-thin spacer material (which is suitably transparent) is discussed, and potential applications beyond simple switching are outlined, including logic gates and optical buffers.


The verification of real-life C/C++ code is inherently hard. Not only are there numerous challenging language constructs, but the precise semantics is often elusive or at best vague. This is even more true for systems software where non-ANSI compliant constructs are used, hardware is addressed directly and assembly code is embedded. In this work we present a lightweight solution to detect software bugs in C/C++ code. Our approach performs static checking on C/C++ code by means of model checking. While it cannot guarantee full functional correctness, it can be a valuable tool to increase the reliability and trustworthiness of real-life system code. This paper explains the general concepts of our approach, discusses its implementation in our C/C++ checking tool Goanna, and presents some performance results on large software packages.


Link error and malicious packet dropping are two sources for packet losses in multi-hop wireless ad hoc network. In this paper, while observing a sequence of packet losses in the network, we are interested in determining whether the losses are caused by link errors only, or by the combined effect of link errors and malicious drop. We are especially interested in the insider-attack case, whereby malicious nodes that are part of the route exploit their knowledge of the communication context to selectively drop a small amount of packets critical to the network performance. Because the packet dropping rate in this case is comparable to the channel error rate, conventional algorithms that are based on detecting the packet loss rate cannot achieve satisfactory detection accuracy. To improve the detection accuracy, we propose to exploit the correlations between lost packets. Furthermore, to ensure truthful calculation of these correlations, we develop a homomorphic linear authenticator (HLA) based public auditing architecture that allows the detector to verify the truthfulness of the packet loss information reported by nodes. This construction is privacy preserving, collusion proof, and incurs low communication and storage overheads. To reduce the computation overhead of the baseline scheme, a packet-block based mechanism is also proposed, which allows one to trade detection accuracy for lower computation complexity. Through extensive simulations, we verify that the proposed mechanisms achieve significantly better detection accuracy than conventional methods such as a maximum-likelihood based detection.


We propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based model "RotationNet," which takes multi-view images of an object as input and jointly estimates its pose and object category. Unlike previous approaches that use known viewpoint labels for training, our method treats the viewpoint labels as latent variables, which are learned in an unsupervised manner during the training using an unaligned object dataset. RotationNet is designed to use only a partial set of multi-view images for inference, and this property makes it useful in practical scenarios where only partial views are available. Moreover, our pose alignment strategy enables one to obtain view-specific feature representations shared across classes, which is important to maintain high accuracy in both object categorization and pose estimation. Effectiveness of RotationNet is demonstrated by its superior performance to the state-of-the-art methods of 3D object classification on 10- and 40-class ModelNet datasets. We also show that RotationNet, even trained without known poses, achieves the state-of-the-art performance on an object pose estimation dataset.


This study explores the implications for the international non-fuel mineral markets of the rapid growth of state enterprise in the mining and processing of minerals in the less developed countries (LDC).

The first part defines state enterprise, and quantifies its prevalence and growth in LDC mineral industries. The particular characteristics of state enterprises are identified, and the implications of their behavior for international mineral markets are analyzed. In this regard, three hypotheses are formulated and assessed.

1) State enterprises are less flexible than private multinationals in adjusting capacity through the different phases of the business cycle. The increasing importance of state enterprises therefore results in greater price instability in international mineral markets.

2) State enterprises can disregard the political risk of explicit or covert nationalization. Ceteris paribus, the proliferation of state enterprise therefore results in more investment and capacity expansion in mineral rich LDCs that are considered especially "political risky" by the mining multinationals. Over time, this will lead to a closer geographical fit between geological potential and mineral extraction.

3) Takeovers by state enterprises of mineral activities in LDCs entails a substantial setting-up and learning cost. The widespread nationalizations of the 1960s and 1970s have typically been followed by extended periods of lesser efficiency, characterized by higher cost levels, and inability to operate the installations at full capacity or to establish new capacity. Output has been lower and prices higher during this learning period than they would have been under an uninterrupted private multinational regime.

The second part of the study considers the support for the above hypotheses provided by three detailed case studies of nationalized mineral industries -- Indonesian tin, Venezuelan iron ore, and Zambian copper. These cases cover a range of experience in terms of minerals, continents, and levels of economic development in host countries.

The third and final part of the study reviews the hypotheses in the light of the empirical work presented. Conclusions are formulated and generalizations derived from other countries and minerals.


Abstract The paper discusses the complex, agent-oriented hierarchic memetic strategy (HMS) dedicated to solving inverse parametric problems. The strategy goes beyond the idea of two-phase global optimization algorithms. The global search performed by a tree of dependent demes is dynamically alternated with local, steepest descent searches. The strategy offers exceptionally low computational costs, mainly because the direct solver accuracy (performed by the hp-adaptive finite element method) is dynamically adjusted for each inverse search step. The computational cost is further decreased by the strategy employed for solution inter-processing and fitness deterioration. The HMS efficiency is compared with the results of a standard evolutionary technique, as well as with the multi-start strategy on benchmarks that exhibit typical inverse problems' difficulties. Finally, an HMS application to a real-life engineering problem leading to the identification of oil deposits by inverting magnetotelluric measurements is presented. The HMS applicability to the inversion of magnetotelluric data is also mathematically verified.


Using a mix of shared and language-specific (LS) parameters has shown promise in multilingual neural machine translation (MNMT), but the question of when and where LS capacity matters most is still under-studied. We offer such a study by proposing conditional language-specific routing (CLSR). CLSR employs hard binary gates conditioned on token representations to dynamically select LS or shared paths. By manipulating these gates, it can schedule LS capacity across sub-layers in MNMT subject to the guidance of translation signals and budget constraints. Moreover, CLSR can easily scale up to massively multilingual settings. Experiments with Transformer on OPUS-100 and WMT datasets show that: 1) MNMT is sensitive to both the amount and the position of LS modeling: distributing 10%-30% LS computation to the top and/or bottom encoder/decoder layers delivers the best performance; and 2) one-to-many translation benefits more from CLSR compared to many-to-one translation, particularly with unbalanced training data. Our study further verifies the trade-off between the shared capacity and LS capacity for multilingual translation. We corroborate our analysis by confirming the soundness of our findings as foundation of our improved multilingual Transformers. Source code and models will be released.


Wildlife ecology and management studies have been widely criticized for deficiencies in design or analysis. Manipulative experiments-with controls, randomization, and replication in space and time-provide powerful ways of learning about natural systems and establishing causal relationships, but such studies are rare in our field. Observational studies and sample surveys are more common; they also require appropriate design and analysis. More important than the design and analysis of individual studies is metareplication: replication of entire studies. Similar conclusions obtained from studies of the same phenomenon conducted under widely differing conditions will give us greater confidence in the generality of those findings than would any single study, however well designed and executed.


Plant genetic resource (PGR) scientists now recognize the
importance of shifting from a singular focus on conservation to a focus on
both conservation and utilization of germplasm in order to meet future
challenges. This paper analyzes the patterns of distribution of pearl millet,
six small millets, chickpea and pigeonpea germplasm over the last 10 years
at the two major genebanks functioning in India: the National Genebank at
the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and a Consultative
Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Genebank at the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), as
well as the patterns of use of germplasm by millet breeders in India. Between
the years of 1999-2009, ICRISAT distributed approximately 48 per cent of all
its collections to breeders in India whereas NBPGR distributed 36 per cent
of their collection. A total of 20 responses (30 per cent of surveys sent) were
collected through this study. Sixty-five percent of respondents said that they
rarely (<50 per cent of the time) use germplasm from genebanks in their
breeding programs. It is important that both genebanks look into several
issues in order to improve levels of distribution and utilization, collection,
duplication, engagement of the private sector, access to information, and
pre-breeding.


We study the problem of meta-learning through the lens of online convex optimization, developing a meta-algorithm bridging the gap between popular gradient-based meta-learning and classical regularization-based multi-task transfer methods. Our method is the first to simultaneously satisfy good sample efficiency guarantees in the convex setting, with generalization bounds that improve with task-similarity, while also being computationally scalable to modern deep learning architectures and the many-task setting. Despite its simplicity, the algorithm matches, up to a constant factor, a lower bound on the performance of any such parameter-transfer method under natural task similarity assumptions. We use experiments in both convex and deep learning settings to verify and demonstrate the applicability of our theory.


Objective. Many pediatricians and parents are beginning to integrate use of complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies with conventional care. This article addresses ethical and policy issues involving parental choices of CAM therapies for their children. Methods. We conducted a literature search to assess existing law involving parental choice of CAM therapies for their children. We also selected a convenience sample of 18 states of varying sizes and geographic locations. In each state, we inquired within the Department of Health and Human Services whether staff were aware of (1) any internal policies concerning these issues or (2) any cases in the previous 5 years in which either (a) the state initiated proceedings against parents for using CAM therapies for their children or (b) the department received telephone calls or other information reporting abuse and neglect in this domain. We asked the American Academy of Pediatrics and the leading CAM professional organizations concerning any relevant, reported cases. Results. Of the 18 state Departments of Health and Human Services departments surveyed, 6 reported being aware of cases in the previous 5 years. Of 9 reported cases in these 6 states, 3 involved restrictive dietary practices (eg, limiting children variously to a watermelon or raw foods diet), 1 involved dietary supplements, 3 involved children with terminal cancer, and 2 involved religious practices rather than CAM per se. None of the professional organizations surveyed had initiated proceedings or received telephone calls regarding abuse or neglect concerning parental use of CAM therapies. Conclusions. Pediatric use of CAM therapies raises complex issues. Clinicians, hospitals, state agencies, courts, and professional organizations may benefit from a policy framework to help guide decision making.


Fault rocks from the classic Rocky Mountain foreland fold-and-thrust belt in southwestern Canada were dated by Ar analysis of clay grain-size fractions. Using X-ray diffraction quantification of the detrital and authigenic component of each fraction, these determinations give ages for individual faults in the area (illite age analysis). The resulting ages cluster around 72 and 52 Ma (here called the Rundle and McConnell pulses, respectively), challenging the traditional view of gradual forward progression of faulting and thrust-belt history of the area. The recognition of spatially and temporally restricted deformation episodes offers field support for theoretical models of critically stressed wedges, which result in geologically reasonable strain rates for the area. In addition to regional considerations, this study highlights the potential of direct dating of shallow fault rocks for our understanding of upper-crustal kinematics and regional tectonic analysis of ancient orogens.


The hematopoietic growth factors interleukin-3 (IL-3), IL-5, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) regulate the survival, maturation, and activation of eosinophils. Corticosteroids in contrast have a negative effect both on the hematopoietic process and the function of eosinophils. We have unexpectedly observed synergy between IL-5 and glucocorticoids such as dexamethasone and hydrocortisone for induction of the MHC class II antigens HLA-DR and HLA-DP on eosinophils isolated from human blood. Similarly glucocorticoids enhanced GM-CSF and IL-3, but not interferon gamma (IFN gamma), induced expression of these antigens. Expression of a third MHC class II molecule, HLA-DQ, was not induced on eosinophils by any of the cytokines alone, but in one of three donors tested, IL-3 plus dexamethasone induced high levels of expression. Although cytokine-induced expression of the accessory molecule intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) was partially inhibited by glucocorticoids, cytokine- and dexamethasone-treated eosinophils presented antigen more efficiently to a hemagglutinin peptide-specific T-cell clone than eosinophils treated with cytokine alone. These results highlight a potential new role for endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoid hormones in enhancing MHC class II expression by eosinophils.


Ultrasonic scaler is one of dental equipments that is used to treat periodontal disease. Ultrasonic vibration from scaler tips can remove some deposits or plaque on the tooth surface, especially the space between the teeth and gingival. Patients will suffer pain when the regulator setting in an ultrasonic scaler is not suitable. This paper explores how is to build additional equipment in an ultrasonic scaler to adjust scaler tips vibration based on patient endurance. The design and the implementation of this equipment which is based on ANFIS technology can control the ultrasonic generator more precise and sophisticated. As a result, the equipment will increase the quality of periodontal treatment as well as to develop dental equipment technology.


The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a common target of functional stereotactic surgeries. High-field magnetic resonance imaging and sophisticated computer systems provide precise identification of the nucleus location in stereotactic space. However, it is unclear what additional benefit these techniques provide over traditional anterior commissure-posterior commissure (AC-PC)-based standard atlas coordinate calculation methods based on the AC-PC plane. The accuracy of AC-PC-based standard atlas coordinate targeting of the STN using 1.5-tesla images compared with direct visualization of the nucleus on fused 3-tesla images was examined. A retrospective examination of stereotactic images from 20 patients (40 STN targets) who underwent deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease was undertaken at our institution. Two methods were used to identify the STN stereotactic coordinates: (1) an AC-PC-based standard atlas coordinate calculation obtained by a series of measurements using 1.5-tesla images, and (2) a computer workstation calculation using fused 3-tesla and 1.5-tesla images. Euclidean distances between two sets of coordinates of the same target were calculated in three dimensions. Differences along individual X, Y, and Z axes were analyzed to determine whether there was a greater difference in one direction than in another. Data from the right and left sides were pooled to increase the sample power. The anterior-posterior and lateral frame tilts were compared to X, Y, and Z differences to find a correlation using linear regression. Statistical analyses were performed. The accuracy of the position of the STN calculated with state-of-the-art imaging systems was not significantly better than that obtained using traditional AC-PC-based standard atlas coordinate calculation if the frame was aligned with the AC-PC plane. The mean difference was 0.45 mm, 0.72 mm, and 0.98 mm in the X, Y, and Z axes, respectively. Therefore, it is possible to effectively target the STN for stereotactic treatment of Parkinson's disease, for instance in a situation where expensive advanced technology is unavailable.


The purpose of this study was to construct a demographic and time allocation profile of the typical music education faculty member in the United States. Participant institutions (n = 220) were selected from a random sample of National Association of Schools of Music–accredited institutions offering music education degrees (N = 517). The authors sent invitations to complete the online survey to 665 music education professors at the institutions in the sample. The completed response rate for the survey was 35% (n = 236). Findings aided in the construction of a profile of the typical music education faculty member in the United States. The data demonstrate that the typical respondent has a doctorate, 9 to 12 years of K–12 teaching experience, and is 51.5 years old, but entered the professoriate around age 36. The typical respondent spends approximately 11 hours per week teaching undergraduate students and has only 10% of his or her workload devoted to research. The report explores numerous other variables as well. Certain characteristics of the profile varied according to the type of institution at which the respondent worked. For example, the data demonstrate a significant difference in mean percentage of workload devoted to teaching and research between various institution types but not in time devoted to service. The exploration of demographic and time allocation norms in the music education professoriate may be of interest to those who prepare music teacher education faculty. Such information may also be of value to current and future graduate students preparing for careers in the music education professoriate.


This paper presents techniques to render acoustic representations for EEG data. In our case, data are obtained from psycholinguistic experiments where subjects are exposed to three different conditions based on different auditory stimuli. The goal of this research is to uncover elements of neural processing correlated with high-level cognitive activity. Three sonifications are presented within this paper: spectral mapping sonification which offers a quite direct inspection of the recorded data, distance matrix sonification which allows to detect nonlinear long range correlations at high time resolution, and differential sonification which summarizes the comparison of EEG measurements under different conditions for each subject. This paper describes the techniques and presents sonification examples for experimental data.


A changing climate and fire regime shifts in the western United States have led to an increase in revegetation activities, in particular post-wildfire rehabilitation and the need for locally-adapted plant materials. Broadcast seeding is one of the most widely used post-wildfire emergency response treatments to minimize soil erosion, promote plant community recovery, and reduce non-native species invasions. However, these treatments can have negative ecological effects, due in part to the continued use of non-native species, although the use of native species has increased. We undertook an evidence-based systematic review to examine post-fire seeding treatments� effectiveness and effects on soils and plant communities in forests of the western U.S. Out of the 27 studies providing evidence regarding post-fire seeding effects on soil erosion, 33% of the studies showed seeding to be effective, an equal percentage of studies (26% each) showed minimal effectiveness or ineffectiveness, and 15% showed no difference in effectiveness of seeding in minimizing soil erosion. However, based on quality of evidence criteria, only one of 12 studies reported in the two highest quality categories qualified seeding effectiveness for soil erosion. Seventy-eight percent of study sites in publications evaluating soil erosion showed that seeding provides no additional benefit in reducing erosion relative to unseeded controls. Studies consistently showed that seeding reduced native species cover (62%) and/or suppressed recovery of native plants (60%), although long-term data on these effects are limited. Seeding was effective 3 in reducing non-native species invasions 54% of the time; however, of those treatments, 83% introduced additional negative impacts on native communities by seeding with non-native species. Post-fire seeding is costly and the scientific literature and management documentation show that it does little to protect soil and promote plant recovery in the short-term and may introduce potentially negative effects with long-term ecological consequences. Through a literature search, interviews and site visits, we identified existing native plant markets to use as models to assess the feasibility of a native plant market in the southern Colorado Plateau. We used web-based surveys to identify critical native plant material needs and concerns. Survey results indicate that management policy strongly drives decisions regarding the use and purchase of native plant materials. From a demand perspective, lack of availability and high cost of native plant materials has kept purchasing minimal, despite policy changes favoring the use of natives. For suppliers, further development of native plant materials is limited by inconsistent and unreliable demand and lack of production knowledge. The knowledge and tools necessary to initiate a native plant materials market are available. However, communication among producers, land managers, buyers, and researchers, as well as partnerships with local growers, appear to be vital to initiating a functional market.


This paper describes a case of non-lexical borrowing in the Northwest Amazonian language Resigaro (Arawakan), which has borrowed from the unrelated Bora language entire paradigms of noun class, gender, and number markers, as well as associated bound grammatical roots, while all other morphosyntactic subsystems of Resigaro are virtually unaffected. To account for this case of massive morphological borrowing (and others that have previously been described), this paper proposes the Principle of Morphosyntactic Subsystem Integrity (PMSI), which predicts that in situations where various grammatical morphemes are borrowed, these tend to be morphosyntactically interrelated, rather than being random collections of forms or sets of forms that are best described by well-known borrowability hierarchies, e.g. lexical before grammatical morphemes or derivational before inflectional markers.


The immune system is a complex network of interacting cells and proteins that are constantly protecting the host from pathogens. Lymphoid and myeloid cells are the cellular mediators of the immune system, and the functions of these cells are partly controlled by the nervous system, however the mechanisms are not understood. The sympathetic nervous system may play a role through a family of receptors called adrenergic receptors (AR). Adrenergic receptors are G-protein coupled receptors that mediate the actions of adrenaline and noradrenaline. These receptors are spilt into the a- and b- subtypes, which can be further divided into subtypes. While b-ARs have been well-studied, less is known about a-ARs and their roles in immune regulation. The a-ARs can be divided into the a1- and a2 - subtypes: this project focussed on the a1-ARs as there is evidence to suggest that they play a role in inflammatory diseases. However, relatively little is known about which immune cell types express a1-ARs, and how they vary during inflammation.

The major Aim of this project was to examine the expression of a1-ARs on lymphoid and myeloid cells in mouse spleen and establish whether simulating an acute inflammatory response (bacterial lipopolysaccharide: LPS) in splenocytes would alter the protein expression of a1-ARs. Protocols were optimised for the multi-parameter labelling and analysis of mouse spleen lymphoid and myeloid cells by flow cytometry, and the optimisation of specific a1-AR surface protein staining using BODIPY-prazosin. Normal mouse lymphoid and myeloid populations were found to express varying levels of -ARs, and that all except plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) showed an unexpected reduction in a1-AR protein expression after exposure to LPS in vitro. The results of this project provide preliminary evidence that except for pDC, lymphoid and myeloid cell populations within the spleen undergo downregulation of a1 -ARs during an acute inflammatory response.


Background: Scrub typhus emerged in northern China in 1986. Our objective was to document epidemiologic, clinical and laboratory features of pediatric scrub typhus in this new endemic area. Methods: The pediatric patients diagnosed with scrub typhus during the 12-year period from1995 through 2006 in Feixian County, Shandong province were enrolled in the study. The cases were diagnosed based on either specific antibody detection using the indirect immunofluorescent assay or detection of partial Orientia tsutsugamushi gene by polymerase chain reaction. Results: Seventy pediatric scrub typhus cases were included in the study. The cases occurred from September through November. The common clinical manifestations included headache (100%), skin rash (91%), eschar (84%), lymphadenopathy (61%), and gastrointestinal signs (56%). None of the patients had neurologic involvement or thrombocytopenia. All children responded well to treatment with chloramphenicol. The patients who presented with abnormal chest radiography took significantly longer time to defervescence (Z[r] = 2.528, P = 0.011). Three strains of O. tsutsugamushi were isolated and all were identified as Kawasaki type. Conclusions: The manifestations of pediatric scrub typhus cases in the novel endemic region of northern China may be less severe than in other regions. Careful examination of skin eschars is helpful for the clinical diagnosis.


In this paper, we study the availability of TV white spaces in Europe. Specifically, we focus on the 470-790 MHz UHF band, which will predominantly remain in use for TV broadcasting after the analog-to-digital switch-over and the assignment of the 800 MHz band to licensed services have been completed. The expected number of unused, available TV channels in any location of the 11 countries we studied is 56 percent when we adopt the statistical channel model of the ITU-R. Similarly, a person residing in these countries can expect to enjoy 49 percent unused TV channels. If, in addition, restrictions apply to the use of adjacent TV channels, these numbers reduce to 25 and 18 percent, respectively. These figures are significantly smaller than those recently reported for the United States. We also study how these results change when we use the Longley-Rice irregular terrain model instead. We show that while the overall expected availability of white spaces is essentially the same, the local variability of the available spectrum shows significant changes. This underlines the importance of using appropriate system models before making far-reaching conclusions.


From the Book:
PREFACE: Preface
Two potential book titles came to me while I was writing this book. One was Internet Services for Real People and the other was The Internet Service Revolution. Neither title was quite right, as pointed out by my editor, but each encapsulates my underlying motivation for writing this book.

In a nutshell, I want to see "real people" better served on the Internet. Real people need to do everyday things to run their hectic lives, and the Web can help them do that. I want to see the Internet come of age as a service medium because it has the potential, if harnessed correctly, to emancipate customers rather than frustrate and restrain them.

Over a period of two years I was actively involved in many forms of customer and internal testing of e-service concepts and Web sites, across a number of industries and in relation to many different e-service offerings and e-customers (for a comprehensive description of testing techniques see Chapter 3).

In doing this testing, a theme kept recurring: Give customers something useful because if you ignore what they're trying to do by visiting your Web site, your Web site will only be irrelevant to them and frustrate them. It was customers' frustration that first made me think about writing this book.

I feel that, if I encourage all parties involved in Internet development to ask their customers and themselves the right questions, for the right reasons, we will all be a lot better off. And this needs to be an integrated effort, within and between businesses and their development partners. I feel frustrated, however, because I observe many people with motivations fueled bythesearch for the "quick buck," rather than the search for lasting customer value.

For years, marketers have talked about the market-of-one phenomenon as the linchpin for creating lasting customer value. We now have a medium that allows us to market to individuals more effectively than we ever have before. And yet, people carry over their old, constrained, and ineffectual, so-called customer-relationship strategies to the Web.

Despite this, I feel encouraged because things are starting to change. I salute those people who realize that the Web needs to be a part of peoples' everyday lives, and are creating useful Web sites that address real customer needs.

That's important because we're on the verge of what I call the "e-service revolution"—a revolution than can be created equally by service providers and their customers. E-service providers need to take the initiative to talk to customers and do things differently as a result. There's nothing new in talking to customers; we just have a better chance of getting results with the Web in the mix, and we have a lot more to lose, a lot more quickly, if we don't find out what we need to know and change the way we do things.

And so, in the interests of helping e-service providers, and their development partners, harness the opportunity to do right by their e-customers, and create lasting value, I have made the effort to describe the necessary Web site development process from beginning to end. In doing so, I have addressed what it takes to create not just "Web sites," but Web-based e-service systems or applications that are integrated with an e-service provider's business.

It takes discipline to create a good Web site. Part of that discipline is talking to customers and effectively translating their needs, attitudes, and behaviors into the requisite Web site experience. And I hope what I have written helps you translate customer needs into strategies and practices at every step in your development process.

That doesn't mean that this book will give you a list of shrink-wrapped instructions you can tick off as you go. If that's what you're expecting, you're reading the wrong book. However, if you're prepared to be challenged to think about things differently, and to take concepts and ideas and develop them further in the context of your own e-customers and what they're trying to do, this book is perfect for you. And I hope you'll get a lot out of reading it.

To get the most out of this book, bear in mind that the pictures are an integral part of the story. If you skip the pictures, you'll miss a lot of the new ideas and concepts that make this story different. If you take the time to inspect and understand the pictures, you'll be rewarded with new ideas and insights, because I've put some things together in new ways.

In fact, exploration is a key tenet of this book. I see us exploring, together, how the e-service revolution can be brought about. And I'm thankful to those who have come before, because I've borrowed from their ideas to explore how they can be aggregated and applied to the Web.

I wish you well in your endeavors to provide lasting value to real people and in creating the e-service revolution. And I believe that you are an important part of our collective learning process, and would like to hear from you as you have insights and create new ideas.

Jodie Dalgleish


This paper presents an alternative view of shared governance within higher education institutions, examining the major problems encountered by institutions as they implement a shared governance model. Based on a review of the literature, it argues that shared governance, though increasingly popular in recent years, is an issue that should be carefully explored before it is implemented. The paper notes that shared governance is an elusive concept, and that participants often over-anticipate the benefit, while at the same time, under-commit their own involvement in understanding what shared governance is. Critics have noted that shared governance involves a large commitment of time and effort and requires that senior-level administrators commit real support to the process. It argues that shared governance has a limited ability to extricate the governing effort from the mire of self-interest, unreal expectation, and role confusion. The paper concludes that shared governance is not a panacea, and that successfully governed institutions have an established history and culture of administration-faculty collaboration. (Contains 17 references.) (MDM) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************


Introduction Fetal cells persist in mothers for decades after delivery; in a phenomenon called fetal microchimerism. The aim of this study was to determine whether microchimeric fetal cells improve wound healing after pregnancy. Methods Skin biopsies were taken from caesarean sections scars and compared with laparotomy wounds in nulliparous women. Blinded histological analysis of scar tissue by a consultant Histopathologist, in H&E stained sections, measured differences in wound healing between the groups. Elastin staining quantified the amount of elastic tissue in the scars. XY-FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation) was used, in multiple tissue sections from 65 patients, to locate and quantitate microchimeric male presumed-fetal cells. Results H&E comparisons suggested that wound healing improves after pregnancy. There were few differences between healed scars and uninjured skin, with only increased vascularity and increased number of fibroblasts in the scarred tissue. Elastin stained up to 50% positive in the scar tissue, confirming that the scar not only restores normal structure but almost normal function after pregnancy. XY-FISH confirmed the presence of isolated 0–9 male fetal cells per section in the epidermis of the healed CS scars from only those women who had their first male child by CS. To investigate the fetal cell type responsible, combined FISH and immunostaining experiments are still in progress. Conclusion This study may demonstrate that wound healing is more fetal-like (scarless) after pregnancy and provide information on the long-term benefits of pregnancy.


We present a combination of topography measurements based on digital fringe projection and blood flow imaging based on Laser Doppler Imaging (LDI). Both techniques are optical, non-contact and high-speed whole-field methods well suited for in-vivo measurements on the skin. Laser Doppler perfusion imaging is an interferometric technique used for visualization of two-dimensional (2D) maps of blood flow. Typically the measured sample has a surface with a specific 3D relief. In many cases the sample relief can be of importance for correct interpretation of the obtained perfusion data. We combined the topography and the blood flow data obtained from the same object. The structural information provided by the topography is completed by the functional images provided by LDI.


Arts Therapies and Progressive Illness is a guide to the use of arts therapies in the treatment of patients with diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. In the last few years arts therapies have been used in an increasingly wide range of applications with new groups of patients, such as patients in palliative care, or with learning disabilities - Diane Waller has been a driving force behind this expansion.
This book covers treatment such as art therapy, dance movement therapy and music therapy. In addition to dealing with a wide range of debilitating diseases, it focuses on the issue of the care and treatment of dementia and the effects on patients, carers and staff and the role of the arts therapies in improving the quality of life for the increasing number of patients who will sadly develop this distressing illness.
This broadly focused, multi-disciplinary book will be of great interest to arts therapists, arts therapy educators, medical, social work and other staff who are concerned to devise care plans for these patients and their relatives.


Abstract. Fractures in rocks deformed under dominant ductile conditions typically form simultaneously with viscous flow. Material strength plays a fundamental role during fracture development in such systems, since fracture propagation can be strongly reduced if the material accommodates most of the deformation by viscous flow. Additionally, the degree and nature of anisotropy can influence the orientation and type of resulting fractures. In this study, four plasticine multilayer models have been deformed under coaxial boundary conditions to investigate the influence of strength and anisotropy on the formation of fracture networks. The experiments were made of different mixtures and had two types of anisotropy: composite and composite-intrinsic. The transition from non-localised deformation to systems where fracture networks control deformation accommodation is determined by the ability of the material to dissipate the external work and relax the elastic strain during loading either by viscous flow or by coeval flow and failure. Tension cracks grow in experiments with composite anisotropy, giving rise to a network of shear fractures when they collapse and coalesce with progressive deformation. The presence of an additional intrinsic anisotropy enhances the direct nucleation of shear fractures, the propagation and final length of which depend on the rigidity of the medium. Material strength increases the fracture maximum displacement (dmax) to fracture length (L) ratio, and the resulting values are significantly higher than those from fractures in elastic–brittle rocks. This can be related to the low propagation rates of fractures in rocks undergoing ductile deformation.


In recent years, the presence of crusts within near surface sediments found in deep water locations off the west coast of Angola has been of interest to hot-oil pipeline designers. The origin for these crusts is considered to be of biological origin, based on the observation of thousands of faecal pellets in natural crust core samples. This paper presents the results of laboratory tests undertaken on natural and faecal pellet-only samples. These tests investigate the role faecal pellets play in modifying the gemechanical behaviour of clayey sediments. It is found that faecal pellets are able to significantly alter both the strength and the average grain-size of natural sediments, and therefore, influence the permeability and stiffness. Hot-oil pipelines self-embed into and subsequent shear on crusts containing faecal pellets. Being able to predict the time required for installed pipelines to consolidate the underlying sediment and thus, how soon after pipe-laying, the interface strength will develop is of great interest to pipeline designers. It is concluded from wet-sieving samples before and after oedometer tests, that the process of pipe laying is unlikely to destroy pellets. They will therefore, be a major constituent of the sediment subject to soil-pipeline shearing behaviour during axial pipe-walking and lateral buckling. Based on the presented results, a discussion highlighting the key implications for pipeline design is therefore provided.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Abstract A major concern over the use of transgenic trees is the potential for transgene dispersal through pollen and seeds. The incorporation of sterility inducing genes into transgenic lines of trees has been proposed to reduce or even avoid gene flow of transgenes into non-transgenic interbreeding species. The evaluation of strategies for the induction of sterility in transgenic forest tree species has been hindered by their long vegetative phases. In this study an early flowering 35S::Leafy poplar line was used for the faster evaluation of the sterility construct C-GPDHC::Vst1. The combination of two transgenic approaches, one to induce early flowering and a second for the induction of sterility, allowed evaluation of this sterility strategy two years after transformation. This is a very short period of time considering the long vegetative period of seven to twenty years common in forest tree species. This approach opens opportunities for the assessment of sterility mechanisms for this plant group.


Identifying health impairment related to ethanol consumption is one of the major objectives of public health research. The most frequently used method for assessing drinking behavior in public health surveys and related research has been estimation formulae, like the Quantity-Frequency (QF) method which derives an estimate of typical/average levels of daily consumption. In recent years, questions have arisen as to whether the QF method can accurately reflect actual drinking patterns. This study compares a QF method of assessing daily drinking behavior with a newer, more quantitative method (Time-Line, TL) of assessing daily drinking. The QF and TL methods yielded similar mean daily ethanol consumption levels; however, in contrast to the TL method, the QF method seriously masked subjects' actual drinking patterns by failing to identify certain types of ethanol consumption days, especially those thought to be associated with health risks. These findings, while provocative, were obtained with a small number of subjects (N = 40). Extrapolation to populations other than problem drinkers, while likely, awaits further empirical validation.


CASE DESCRIPTION The primary subject matter of this case concerns strategic management of community hospitals in the United States. This case has a difficulty level of five; appropriate for first year graduate level students. This case is designed to be taught in four class hours and is expected to require twenty-four hours of outside preparation for students. For the graduate student, it should be a half semester long group project with a presentation and report at the end of the semester. CASE SYNOPSIS This case study analyzes the turbulent social, legal and technological issues that are affecting today's suburban community hospitals in United States. The soaring health care costs, increasing number of uninsured or underinsured patients, reduced payments by government agencies, and increasing number of physician owned ambulatory care centers are squeezing the lifeline of community hospitals whose traditional mission has been primary care. Furthermore, with the enactment of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010, community hospitals are facing new challenges whose full impact is unknown. This case study would help students learn about Strategy Formulation including Vision and Mission Statements, internal and external analysis, and generating, evaluating & selecting appropriate strategies for a healthcare organization. COMMUNITY HOSPITAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM With the enactment of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010 (Health Act), and President Obama's professed goal of making heath care in the United States more accessible and affordable, the next few years are sure to be very turbulent in the healthcare industry. The Health Act is expected to provide healthcare coverage to 95% of Americans, which will include an additional 32 million persons nationally (New Jersey Hospital Association, 2010). The Health Act goes into effect in 2010 with many of its requirements not becoming effective until 2019. Directly because of the enactment of the Health Act, insurance premiums are expected to increase anywhere from 2% to 9% depending on who is quoting them (Wall Street Journal, 2010). The Health Act requires children to remain on their parents' health plans until age 26, eliminates copayment for preventive care, bars insurers from denying coverage to children and adults (in 2014) with pre-existing conditions, eliminates lifetime caps on insurance coverage, and requires setting up of insurance exchanges in all states (by 2014) through which individuals, families and small business can buy coverage (Adamy, 2010; Pear, 2010). United States spends approximately $2 trillion annually on healthcare expenses (Underinsured Americans: Cost to you, 2009). This amount is more than any other industrialized country in the world and counts for 16% of the U.S. GDP. This percentage is higher than any developed country in the world (Johnson, 2010). Despite the substantial healthcare spending, access to employer-sponsored insurance has been on the decline among low-income workers, and health premiums for workers have risen 114% in the last decade (Johnson, 2010). Furthermore, healthcare is the most expensive benefit paid by U.S. employers (Johnson, 2010). Despite this outlay, approximately 49 million Americans are uninsured and about 25 million underinsured--those who incur high out-of-pocket costs, excluding premiums, relative to their income, despite having coverage all year (Abelson, 2010; Kavilanz, 2009). Overall, the healthcare industry in America is besieged with high cost, uneven access and quality (Flier, 2009). The intractable issues of high cost, uneven access and quality have made everyone unhappy from patients, hospitals, doctors to employers. The American healthcare industry is composed of approximately six major interest groups: hospitals, insurance companies, professional groups, pharmaceuticals, device makers, and advocates for poor (Goldhill, 2010) with the Physicians--part of the professional groups-having the biggest influence on the industry. …


This paper examines forms of iconization in the case of individual letters of the alphabet that use innovative techniques which depart from earlier methods of generating shaped poetry. The iconized letter is shown to function as a sui generis device deployed in individual poems and as the signature of entire literary movements. Contrasts are explored between the Cubo-Futurists' experiments with the Russian alphabet involving the iconic features of individual Cyrillic letters and French Lettrisme's construction of shaped images based on multiple repetitions of single letters of the French alphabet in order to create multi-dimensional visual effects. The conclusion sets out a series of observations concerning the significance of the iconized letter for future semiotic approaches to shaped poetry in general.


The paper reviews the recent conduct of monetary policy and the central bank's rule-based behavior in Russia. Using different policy rules, we test whether the central bank in Russia reacts to changes in inflation, output gap and the exchange rate in a consistent and predictable manner. Our results indicate that during the period of 1993-2002 the Bank of Russia has used monetary aggregates as a main policy instrument in conducting monetary policy.


Through sharenting, or online sharing about parenting, parents now shape their children's digital identity long before these young people open their first email. The disclosures parents make online are sure to follow their children into adulthood. Indeed, social media and blogging have dramatically changed the landscape facing today's children as they come of age. Children have an interest in privacy. Yet a parent's right to control the upbringing of his or her children and a parent's right to free speech may trump this interest. When parents share information about their children online, they do so without their children's consent. These parents act as both gatekeepers of their children's personal information and as narrators of their children's personal stories. This dual role of parents in their children's online identity gives children little protection as their online identity evolves. A conflict of interest exists as children might one day resent the disclosures made years earlier by their parents.This Article is the first to offer an in-depth legal analysis of the conflict inherent between a parent's right to share online and a child's interest in privacy. It considers whether children have a legal or moral right to control their own digital footprint and discusses the unique and novel conflict at the heart of parental sharing in the digital age. The Article explores potential legal solutions to this issue and offers a set of best practices for parents to consider when sharing about children online. It concludes by providing a child-centered, public-health-based model of reform that protects a child's interest in privacy while also recognizing a parent's right to share online.


Nanoecotoxicology strives to understand the processes and mechanisms by which engineered nanoparticles (ENP) may exert toxic effects on aquatic organisms. Detailed knowledge of the chemical reactions of nanoparticles in the media and of their interactions with organisms is required to understand these effects. The processes of agglomeration of nanoparticles, of dissolution and release of toxic metal ions, and of production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered in this article. Important questions concern the role of uptake of nanoparticles in various organisms, in contrast to uptake of ions released from nanoparticles and to nanoparticle attachment to organism surfaces. These interactions are illustrated for effects of silver nanoparticles (AgNP), cerium oxide (CeO2 NP) and titanium dioxide (TiO2 NP), on aquatic organisms, including algae, biofilms, fish cells and fish embryos.


This essay uses Garland's framework from The Culture of Control to suggest an agenda for critical penology. This includes, as well as the analysis of choices actually made and the cultural repertoire actually available, describing and advocating other possible choices, and analysing the conditions of possibility for the adoption of other (better) policies and practices; and examining the implications for the future of choices which are currently being made. Carlen's Women and Punishment: The Struggle for Justice and Garland's edited collection Mass Imprisonment in the USA are examples of these penologies. Another way in which penologists, social theorists and philosophers can attempt to influence policy choices is to contribute to enlargement of the available cultural repertoire. The development and promotion of restorative justice is given as one example of this; another is work by philosophers such as Duff, Matravers and Norrie which addresses questions such as the source, nature and limits of penal communities; the basis of political obligation, and the relational nature of responsibility for crime.