3D optical security features manufactured by multistep 3D optical laser lithography are presented. These microstructures are composed of a nonfluorescent 3D cross‐grid scaffold and fluorescent markers, realized by an acrylate‐based resist containing CdSSe‐based core–shell semiconductor quantum dots, arranged onto this scaffold at will. The readout of these 3D microstructures can be (exclusively) achieved by optical sectioning methods, for example, 3D confocal fluorescence laser scanning microscopy. As examples, structures with five different layers of markers and one emission color and two different colors, respectively, are shown. This class of deterministic 3D microstructures can be embedded into thin polymer films, can be individualized, and allows for plenty of future variations and extensions. It therefore represents an interesting avenue beyond established 2D holographic or 2D fluorescent optical security features.


Long-term operation of wastewater-fed, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with cathodes made of activated carbon and stainless steel (SS) current collectors can result in decreased performance due to cathode fouling. Copper has good antimicrobial properties, and it is more electrically conductive than SS. To demonstrate that a copper current collector could produce a more fouling resistant cathode, MFCs with air cathodes using either SS or copper current collectors were operated using domestic wastewater for 27 weeks. The reduction in biofouling over time was shown by less biofilm formation on the copper cathode surface compared to SS cathodes, due to the antimicrobial properties of copper. Maximum power densities from 17–27 weeks were 440 ± 38 mW m−2 using copper and 370 ± 21 mW m−2 using SS cathodes. The main difference in the microbial community was a nitrifying community on the SS cathodes, which was not present on the copper cathodes.


......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ..........................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................xii CHAPTER


Nanostructured inorganic materials are potential building blocks for advanced materials and devices with desired functions. Latent fingerprint technology requires cost-effective and high-quality luminescent nanomaterials to identify an individual with sufficient information. We report the synthesis and growth mechanism of novel nanostructured CaGd2ZnO3(CO3)2·H2O and CaGd2ZnO5 materials through a urea- and EDTA-mediated hydrothermal process. The conversion from the carbonate to the oxide form is explained using physicochemical measurements. Furthermore, when doped with Eu3+ ions, CaGd2ZnO5 nanostructures exhibit superior luminescent properties to replace conventional red phosphors for latent fingerprint technology. In contrast to previously reported individual fluorescent nanoparticles, CaGd2ZnO5:5Eu3+ nanostructures provide three levels of identification with high-quality imaging on various hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates. These properties demonstrate that CaGd2ZnO5:Eu3+ nanorod bundles are a promising luminescent material for solid-state lighting and latent fingerprint technologies.


ABET criteria require that engineering graduates have the ability to "function on multidisciplinary teams" and "communicate effectively". An important component of these skills is the ability to reflect on one's personal actions and the dynamics occurring within the group. This workshop is intended to provide participants with a practical exercise that can help students become more self-reflective and aware of group dynamics, while demonstrating the use of the "virtual facilitator" system to improve group dialogue. The workshop will engage the participants in a self- directed learning exercise modeled after T-Groups. This exercise will help participants: 1) Become aware of their own patterns of behavior 2) Learn about the impact of their behavior on others 3) Evaluate the impact of others' behavior on one's self 4) Become more effective in interpersonal interactions During the exercise participants may use a computationally intelligent "virtual facilitator". It can be used in student exercises or project teams to help students learn communication skills. This workshop will be of interest to engineering educators who desire to incorporate learner-centered approaches to learning but have found that their students need to gain awareness of team dynamics. It will be of particular interest to those open to non-traditional methods.


A compact tooth-shaped grating-assisted structure has been proposed for a multimode interference (MMI) coupler and studied theoretically with silica waveguides with silicon oxynitride cores by using a mathematical model based on the sinusoidal mode simple effective index method. The dependence of the access waveguide length and beat length of the grating-assisted MMI (GA-MMI) structure on access waveguide separation (h) is shown. The total length of the GA-MMI coupler is less than that of a grating-assisted two-mode interference (GA-TMI) coupler (h=0) for an access waveguide S bending loss of 0.2 dB. It is also seen that the effect of fabrication tolerance on power imbalance of a GA-MMI coupler is almost close to that of a GA-TMI coupler.


This article analyses the concept of advertising and the theoretical aspect of advertising strategy. Advertising can be defined as various means of dissemination of information on goods and services, promoting their use to potential users impersonally. Advertising strategies for selecting the location of a typical advertising plan diagram can be defined as decisions related to the target audience coverage, creative advertising message strategy selection and dissemination of the advertising strategy selection tools. A promotional campaign makes use of advertising funds that concentrate more skilled professionals to produce and implement advertising. An advertising campaign has flexibility. Also, due to the high level of ambition advertising reaches a wider consumer and user layers. Advertising is also an integral part of the market, it creates new jobs, increases income and reveals the positive characteristics of the products. The research survey in Vilnius College and V.A. Graiciūnas School of Management showed that a banner does not create a significant impact on students' decision to study. College advertising caused interest and indifference at most. Advertising on television and in the press must be improved. Most college websites need to be improved in areas such as the amount of information, web usability, and range of services. In order to evaluate the advertising such criteria was established as advertising frequency, advertising originality, the attractiveness of study programs, the information in advertising, promotional text expressiveness, degree programs in advertising images, advertising degree programs highlighting the novelty and discounts. Advertising is most attractive in the social science college. The study showed that college marketing professionals need to work on improving their marketing plan, promotional messages, and college websites.


Donatella Versace and Jean-Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci: fashion is at once a familiar yet mysteriously elite world that we all experience, whether we're buying a new pair of jeans, reading Vogue, or watching the latest episode of America's Next Top Model. Lars Svendsen dives into this world in "Fashion: A Philosophy", exploring the myths, ideas, and history that makes up haute couture, the must-have trends over the centuries, and the very concept of fashion itself. "Fashion" opens with an exploration of all the possible meanings encompassed by the word fashion', as Svendsen probes its elusive place in art, politics, and history. Ultimately, however, he focuses on the most notable type of fashion: clothing. With his trademark dry wit, he deftly dismantles many of the axioms of the industry and its supporters. For example, he points out that some of the latest fashions shown on catwalks aren't actually fashionable' in any sense of the word, arguing that they're more akin to modern art works, and he argues against the increasingly popular idea that plastic surgery and body modification are part of a new wave of consumerism. Svendsen draws upon the writings of thinkers from Adam Smith to Roland Barthes to analyse fashion as both a historical phenomenon and a philosophy of aesthetics. Whether critiquing a relentless media culture that promotes perfect bodies or parsing the never-ending debate over the merits of conformity versus individual style, Lars Svendsen offers an engaging and intriguing analysis of fashion and the motivations behind its constant pursuit for the new.


The U.S. crops model is one component of the integrated modeling system developed and maintained by the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI), which operates as a joint program at Iowa State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia. The FAPRI system is used to generate medium-term projections of the agricultural economy and to conduct policy analysis. The U.S. crops model determines domestic supply, utilization, and prices for wheat, corn, sorghum, oats, barley, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, rice, and cotton, Other components of the FAPRI system include world trade models for grains and oilseeds, domestic livestock models, and satellite models that determine U.S. net farm income and the government cost of agricultural programs.


Europe is changing its regulation on the noise emitted by vehicles because the European community realized that noise levels on streets and in buildings are higher than expected. There are many possible reasons for this public health problem, among others: the growth of the vehicle fleet and the inefficiency of the type of approval method. In response to this problem, the ISO 362-1 has been revised, and now vehicles are tested under less severe conditions but, in the light of the driving habits in the urban centres, experts say this new procedure is more realistic than the previous one. However, on critical analysis, one can find some points, such as the lack of importance given to the engine cooling system and the way in which urban buses are assessed in the same way as delivery trucks, among other points that may annul the effect of this new European proposal. Vehicle manufacturers hope that ISO 362-1 will be adopted by as many countries as possible around the world, in order to reduce development costs, but some weak points may make its acceptance by other countries' governments difficult. Many countries around the world are facing the same environmental problem faced by Europe, and they need to improve their legislation on vehicle noise control, but some experts are not fully convinced as to the environmental benefits of this new method and tend to adopt other methods, considered more effective, which can be a problem for vehicle manufacturers, due to the final costs of vehicles. This study seeks to discuss some of these points of possible improvement and show what it is possible to do to arrive at an effective global method to produce good results which will, probably, be of easier acceptance on the part of other countries not belonging to the European Union.


Adsorption of human serum albumin (HSA) on mica from 0.15 M NaCl solutions and various pH values was studied using in situ streaming potential measurements, AFM imaging, and XPS. The results obtained by the streaming potential were consistent with AFM measurements and theoretical predictions based on the random sequential adsorption model. This allowed one to determine both the kinetics of adsorption and the maximum coverage of HSA as a function of pH. At pH 3.5, the maximum coverage of HSA was 0.45 (which corresponds to 1.4 mg m(-2) neglecting hydration). This decreased monotonically with the increase in pH, attaining 0.30 (pH 5.1) and 0.25 (pH 7.4). At pH >10.5, the adsorption of HSA on mica was negligible. Further experimental studies performed for HSA monolayers of well-controlled coverage revealed their stability against pH cycling. It was found in these experiments that at pH <4 and >8 the electrokinetic properties of HSA monolayers approached the reference data pertinent to the bulk. However, for an intermediate pH range, deviations from the bulk reference data were observed, suggesting a dipolar (heterogeneous) charge distribution over adsorbed HSA molecules. This caused a slight shift in the isoelectric point of the monolayer determined to be 4.7 compared to the bulk value of 5.1. However, for the HSA coverage below 0.2, the effect of the substrate was significant, making the zeta potential more negative and shifting the apparent isoelectric point to more acidic values. It was suggested that these results obtained for planar and smooth interfaces could be used as reference data for interpreting albumin adsorption on colloid carrier particles.


For prolonged ages, attention to the sky and celestial phenomena has amazed mankind and encouraged him to discover the secrets and mysteries of the unknown as inquisitively as possible. The infinite vastness of the sky and galaxies, the indescribable beauty of the stars, the brightness of the moon, the rising and setting of the sun, etc., little by little has enhanced this sense of interest and curiosity in the human conscience to the extent that its manifestation is seen in many works of art and literature worldwide. Among the many astronomical elements, the sun is one of the stars that has a beautiful effect in poetry. The question that can be asked here is that according to the artistic and aesthetic aspects of the sun, what place did this element have in the poems of the three great Persian poets Naser Khosrow Ghobadiani, Anwari and Nezami? The fifth and sixth centuries Hegira are one of the most fruitful periods in the history of Persian literature and the provinces of Khorasan, Isfahan, Iran and Azerbaijan are the main centers of poetry and literature of this era; hence, the present article studies the effect of the sun based on astronomical features in the ancient poems of the mentioned poets of the who the fifth and sixth centuries Hegira. The findings of the research indicate that the sun is visible in different forms in mentioned poetry including: the twelve towers of Aries, Gemini, Cancer, etc., Shafagh and Falaq, the true and false morning and eclipse. Research aims: 1. The expression of various manifestations of ancient astronomy in Persian poetry 2. The study of various effects of the sun based on ancient astronomy in the poems of Nasser Khosrow, Anwari and Nezami Research questions: 1. What is the place of ancient astronomy in Persian poetry? 2. What is the reflection of the sun and its astronomical effects in the Persian poems of poets such as Naser Khosrow, Anwari and Nezami?


PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES
To explore the association between quality of life (QOL) and type D personality, which is characterized by the traits of negative affectivity and social inhibition, and to further identify impacts of these traits after controlling for biophysical and psychological factors in colorectal cancer survivors.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional and correlational.

SETTING
Oncology and surgical outpatient clinics of a medical center in Taiwan.

SAMPLE
124 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer who had completed active treatment.

METHODS
Data were collected using a set of structured questionnaires to explore type D personality, biophysical and psychological factors, and QOL. Their associations were verified with Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman's rho correlation. Significant factors associated with QOL were identified with generalized estimating equations.

MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES
Type D personality and QOL.

FINDINGS
Patients with type D personality experienced higher physical and psychological distress than those with non-type D personality. Social inhibition remained an important factor leading to impairment in the mental component of QOL after controlling for other associated factors. Negative affectivity was associated with fatigue intensity and interference of fatigue with life activities.

CONCLUSIONS
Personality trait was found to be an important factor associated with QOL. The trait of social inhibition was a significant factor influencing mental aspects of QOL, whereas negative affectivity was associated with fatigue.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Assessing patients' personality, including negative affectivity and social inhibition, could help nurses to develop supportive groups or social networks for these patients and thereby improve QOL for cancer survivors.


The paper examines climate mitigation strategies to reach net-zero emissions by mid-century, focusing on smoothing macroeconomic costs in the shortto medium-term the horizon relevant for policymakers. It explores a comprehensive policy package, which complements carbon pricing with an initial green fiscal stimulus, consisting of green public investment and subsidies to renewables production. Model simulations show that thanks to the green public spending, the policy package boosts global output relative to the baseline for the first 15 years of the low-carbon transition. Subsequent transitional output costs resulting from further increases in carbon prices are moderate of the order of 1 percent of baseline global GDP by 2050. The findings suggest that upfront green fiscal packages could help smooth the transition to a low-carbon economy. In the current context of the Covid-19 economic crisis, they would help support the recovery from the crisis and put the global economy on a greener, more sustainable path.


Abstract To restore walking after transfemoral amputation, various actuated exoprostheses have been developed, which control the knee torque actively or via variable damping. In both cases, an important issue is to find the appropriate control that enables user-dominated gait. Recently, we suggested a generic method to deduce intended motion of impaired or amputated limbs from residual human body motion. Based on interjoint coordination in physiological gait, statistical regression is used to estimate missing motion. In a pilot study, this complementary limb motion estimation (CLME) strategy is applied to control an active knee exoprosthesis. A motor-driven prosthetic knee with one degree of freedom has been realized, and one above-knee amputee has used it with CLME. Performed tasks are walking on a treadmill and alternating stair ascent and descent. The subject was able to walk on the treadmill at varying speeds, but needed assistance with the stairs, especially to descend. The promising results with CLME are compared with the subject's performance with her own prosthesis, the C-Leg from Otto Bock.


Geochemical and mineralogical data have been obtained from black carbonaceous shales interbedded with dolomite in the Chuniespoort Group of the Late Archean-Early Proterozoic Transvaal Sequence. The black shales are fine grained and generally argillaceous and contain on average 1.2 percent total C organic , 0.7 percent S, 7.5 ppb Au, 60 ppm Cu, 330 ppm Cr, and 125 ppm Ni. These metal concentrations are similar to, or slightly higher than, the values given for the U.S. Geological Survey black shale standard SDO-1. All other heavy and transition metals, however, are depleted in the Chuniespoort shales relative to SDO-1. It is well known that high concentrations of Cr and Ni occur in Archcan shales. The enhanced Cr and Ni values found in the Chuniespoort shales are a reflection of their antiquity and provenance and are not linked to preferential uptake of these metals during sedimentation and/or diagenesis. The Chuniespoort shales are characterized by excess Fe with respect to that required to form pyrite and have extremely variable C/S ratios as well. This, together with the wide-ranging S isotope ratios, is taken as an indication that biogenically produced sulfide was augmented by sulfide introduced from an extraneous source. Whole-rock S isotopes further indicate that S could have been derived from biogenic and inorganic reduction of sulfate as well as from hydrothermal fluids. Interelement correlations suggest that organic carbon does not play a role in hosting significant concentrations of base and transition metals. Rather, element associations indicate that V and Cr are preferentially contained in illite-hydromuscovite and that Ni, Co, Zn, Cu, Fe, Pb, and Mo probably reside in pyrite and/or chalcopyrite. Gold is only weakly correlated with other elements, which may indicate that its distribution is not solely determined by the presence of sulfide minerals. The fact that Au, Cu, and S/C ratios show an increase in samples with delta 34 S values around 0 per mil suggests that these elements are likely to have an epigenetic hydrothermal origin. The limited syngenetic metal accumulation can be explained by the stable cratonic environment in which the sediments were deposited and the absence of submarine hydrothermal springs venting metalliferous fluids into the basin. Other factors, such as the low metal potential of the provenance, the rate of sedimentation, and the degree of oxygenation of the bottom waters of the basin, may have been additional factors limiting the concentration in, and extraction of, metals from seawater. The fact that the Chuniespoort shales host significant epigenetic gold occurrences, particularly in the Sabie-Pilgrim9s Rest gold field, is largely related to their chemical characteristics, which promoted permeability and high absorption capacities for metals in hydrothermal fluids. Because of their low metal concentrations elsewhere in the basin, the shales cannot, however, be considered the source rocks for gold mineralization.


To the Editor: Multidrug-resistant Shigella dysenteriae type 1 caused an extensive epidemic of shigellosis in eastern India in 1984 (1). These strains were, however, sensitive to nalidixic acid, and clinicians found excellent results by using it to treat bacillary dysentery cases. Subsequently, in 1988 in Tripura, an eastern Indian state, a similar outbreak of shigellosis occurred in which the isolated strains of S. dysenteriae type 1 were even resistant to nalidixic acid (2). Since then, few cases of shigellosis have occurred in this region, and S. dysenteriae type 1 strains are scarcely encountered (3). In other regions of the world, especially in Southeast Asia, low-level resistance to fluoroquinolones in Shigella spp. has been observed for some time (4,5).

After a lapse of almost 14 years, clusters of patients with acute bacillary dysentery were seen at the subdivisional hospital, Diamond Harbour, in eastern India. No cases of dysentery had been reported during the comparable period in previous years. A total of 1,124 case-patients were admitted from March through June 2002. The startling feature of these infections was their unresponsiveness to even the newer fluoroquinolones such as norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, the drugs often used to treat shigellosis. Clinicians tried various antibiotics, mostly in combinations, without benefit. Clinicians also randomly used anti-amoebic drugs without success.

An investigating team collected nine fresh fecal samples from dysentery patients admitted to this hospital; 4 (44%) yielded S. dysenteriae type 1 on culture. For isolation of Shigella spp., stool samples were inoculated into MacConkey agar and Hektoen Enteric agar (Difco, Detroit, MI), and the characteristic colonies were identified by standard biochemical methods (6). Subsequently, serogroups and serotypes were determined by visual inspection of slide agglutination tests with commercial antisera (Denka Seiken, Tokyo). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed by an agar diffusion disk method, as recommended by the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (7). Results showed that the organisms were resistant to all commonly used antibiotics, including the fluoroquinolones (norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin) but were sensitive to ofloxacin. On our advice, the clinicians used ofloxacin with good results.

A similar outbreak of S. dysenteriae type 1 occurred in the northern part of West Bengal in eastern India among tea garden laborers from April 2002 to May 2002; 1,728 persons were affected (attack rate of 25.6%). Sixteen persons died. The isolated S. dysenteriae type 1 strains were found intermediately sensitive to fluroquinolones with an MIC of 2 μg/mL (K. Sarkar, S. Ghosh, S.K. Niyogi, S.K. Bhattacharya, pers. commun.).

This drug-resistant Shiga bacillus is highly likely to spread further and will certainly pose a major therapeutic challenge unless adequate preventive measures are immediately instituted to contain its spread. Appropriate awareness programs for the community and reorientation training for physicians and other health personnel would be helpful to prevent further transmission of these resistant organisms. Alternative drugs to treat drug-resistant cases and an effective vaccine are also needed.


The Lady Nelson arrrived at Port Phillip on the 21st
January, 1804. The encounters with the natives described
by Brown in his rough field-notes were in all probability the
first in which whites and blacks were brought into intimate
contact at Port Dalrymple.
Robert Brown was a passenger on board the Lady Nelson
when that vessel was sent by Governor King in December,
1803, to assist Lieut.-Governor Collins transport his
party either to Port Dalrymmle or the Derwent River, as he
might select.
Brown when on the Lady Nelson was a passenger
with a mission-botanical research work-and his
voyage in the colonial brig enabled him to engage in field
Work at the Kent's Group, at Port Dalrymple, and at Port
Phillip, before he passed on, still in the Lady Nelson, to the
Derwent River, where he devoted himself to his Scientific
studies for nearly six months.
Includes extracts from his field notes.


We compared the analgesic profile between patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) using oxycodone and morphine in post total abdominal hysterectomy patients. Eighty-four ASA I or II patients, aged 18 to 65 years who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy were recruited into this prospective, double blind, randomised controlled study. They were randomised to receive either PCA oxycodone 0.7 mg per bolus or PCA morphine 1 mg per bolus for postoperative pain relief. At the end of surgery, all patients received IV morphine 0.1 mg/kg and skin incision was infiltrated with 20 mls of bupivacaine 0.25%. Post-operative pain scores, opioids consumptions, sedation scores and side effects were assessed upon arrival and at 30 minutes after arrival to recovery area, as well as at 6 hours and 24 hours after the operation in the ward. Patients' overall satisfaction was also assessed 24 hours postoperatively.No significant differences were observed in terms of postoperative pain scores, opioids consumption, sedation scores, side effects as well as patient's overall satisfaction between the PCA oxycodone and PCA morphine group. Oxycodone was comparable to morphine as PCA in terms of total opioid consumption, pain scores and satisfaction level for patients undergoing total abdominal hysterectomy and therefore may be an alternative to morphine in postoperative pain management as PCA.


A prior epidemiological study identified a reduction in opioid overdose deaths in US states that legalized medical cannabis (MC). One theory to explain this phenomenon is a potential substitution effect of MC for opioids. This study evaluated whether this substitution effect of MC for opioids also applies to other psychoactive medications. New England dispensary members (n = 1,513) completed an online survey about their medical history and MC experiences. Among respondents that regularly used opioids, over three-quarters (76.7%) indicated that they reduced their use since they started MC. This was significantly (p < 0.0001) greater than the patients that reduced their use of antidepressants (37.6%) or alcohol (42.0%). Approximately two-thirds of patients decreased their use of anti-anxiety (71.8%), migraine (66.7%), and sleep (65.2%) medications following MC which significantly (p < 0.0001) exceeded the reduction in antidepressants or alcohol use. The patient's spouse, family, and other friends were more likely to know about their MC use than was their primary care provider. In conclusion, a majority of patients reported using less opioids as well as fewer medications to treat anxiety, migraines, and sleep after initiating MC. A smaller portion used less antidepressants or alcohol. Additional research is needed to corroborate these self-reported, retrospective, cross-sectional findings using other data sources.


[1] Feminist fiction emerged in both the United States and Great Britain during the height of the second wave feminist movement, marking its entrance with demands for female autonomy, sexual and reproductive freedom, and a cautionary perspective on institutionalized heterosexuality. While feminist activists were at the same time encouraging a radical overhaul of the sex/gender system, feminist fiction often made similar arguments in a more subdued fashion, focusing on larger systemic issues through personal or confessional narratives that depicted the material circumstances of individual women's lives. Perhaps best exemplified by novels such as Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook (1962), Alix Kates Shulman's Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen (1969), Marge Piercy's Small Changes (1972), Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973), Erica Jong's Fear of Flying (1973), and Marilyn French's The Woman's Room (1977) feminist fiction chronicled the psychological and sometimes literal journeys taken by women who come to a gradual understanding of the ways that gender prescribes their lives. Such realizations are frequently accompanied by a variety of plot devices that pertain to the female protagonist, including: her first sexual experience, struggles with men and marriage, forays into higher education, extramarital dalliances, visits to a psychotherapist, difficult reproductive decisions, and parenting challenges. [2] Despite its tendency to dialogue with a number of real world issues facing its almost exclusively female readership in the 1960s and 1970s, feminist fiction nevertheless held a contested position within the paradigm of feminist literary criticism. Those skeptical of feminist fiction point to its apparently naive belief in the transparency of experience, its unwillingness to move characters from personal understandings to social or political activism, and its authors sometimes public refusals to consider themselves or their fictions as part of a larger feminist movement. While these sometimes highly charged debates began in the late 1970s and continued well into the 1980s, they have received renewed attention of late in critical volumes such as Lisa Maria Hogeland's Feminism and Its Fictions (1998) and Jane Gerhard's Desiring Revolution: Second-Wave Feminism and the Rewriting of American Sexual Thought 1920-1982 (2001). Feminist fiction's political potential and especially its role in paving the way for future feminist thought has also been recently reaffirmed by Imelda Whelehan, whose The Feminist Bestseller (2005) traces a genealogy from feminist fiction to chick lit, the latter having heralded, since around the year 2000, a concomitantly enthusiastic base of female readers. Whelehan argues that the mainstreaming of feminist ideas in chick lit can be tied back to feminist fiction, and celebrates the populist appeal of both genres as indicated by their impressive commercial successes. The importance of female reading practices to the feminist project also informs this article's foray into the genre of feminist fiction. Yet, while Whelehan is forward looking in her examination of how feminist fiction of the 1960s and 1970s paved way for similarly popularized confessionals in the late twentieth century, my project looks back in order to think about how the feminist fiction model derives from, dialogues with, and deliberately revises older models of literary history. In particular, it focuses on how feminist fiction interrogates heterosexual marriage through the plotline of female adultery, arguing that it forges space for a representation of marriage unleashed from the burden of its historical precedents, and from the dramatic (and often tragic) narrative predicaments visited upon adulterous women in earlier literature. This revision has implications for the project of feminist historiography in that feminist fiction is very much cognizant of the literary models it is revising and rewriting, as well as the future of feminist thought as it pertains to heterosexual institutions and especially marriage. …


Despite the many initiatives in recent years aimed at creating Language Engineering standards, it is often the case that different projects use different approaches and often define their own standards. Even within the same project it often happens that different tools will require different ways to represent their linguistic data.In a recently started EU project focusing on the integration of Information Extraction and Data Mining techniques, we aim at avoiding the problem of incompatibility among different tools by defining a Common Annotation Scheme internal to the project. However, when the project was started (Sep 2002) we were unaware of the standardization effort of ISO TC37/SC4, and so we commenced once again trying to define our own schema. Fortunately, as this work is still at an early stage (the project will last till 2005) it is still possible to redirect it in a way that it will be compatible with the standardization work of ISO. In this paper we describe the status of the work in the project and explore possible synergies with the work in ISO TC37 SC4.


This paper estimates a multinomial logit model of the location decisions of new immigrants to the United States. Data from the 5- percent Public Use Samples of the 1970 and 1980 Censuses of Population are used to study the geographic distribution of immigrants who arrived after 1965. The major findings are as follows: (1) In choosing both initial and subsequent locations, immigrants are considerably more geographically concentrated than native Americans who move to a new city. (2) All of the immigrant groups prefer to live in cities where their countrymen are already located, but this relationship is much weaker for the more educated immigrants. (3) There is ambiguous evidence on the question of whether immigrants learn about economic opportunities as they spend time in this country. On the one hand, with the exception of the Mexicans, distance from the home country has a much weaker negative impact on location choice as time in the U.S. elapses. On the other hand, the expected wage variable, which should have a larger positive effect over time, only did so for the Asians, and to some extent, the Central and South Americans (excluding Mexicans and Cubans). (4) Within each ethnic group, there are significant differences in the location choice behavior of the 1965-69 and 1975-79 immigrant cohorts. The results are consistent with an increase over time in the quality of Asian immigrants, and a decrease in the quality of Mexican, Cuban and European immigrants.


A series of halogenated Semicarbazones (SCs) and Thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) (11-30) were synthesized from mono fluorinated-, bromine- and chlorinated acetophenones (1-10). Structures were confirmed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectral data. Both effects, the halogenated substituent and the position of the substitution on the antiproliferative activity, were systematically investigated for the first time. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated, using tetrazolium salt method (MTT), in two murine cell lines: CT26 (colon cancer) and B16 (melanoma). Only, o-, m- and p-fluorinated SCs and TSCs showed significant cytotoxic activity. Among them, compounds with fluorine at m-position in the phenyl ring showed the superior antiproliferative activity. The most actives derivatives were: m-Fluoroacetophenone semicarbazone (13) (μM; IC50 =7.2 ± 0.5, IC50=8.1 ± 0.2) and m-Fluoroacetophenone Thiosemicarbazone (23) (μM; IC50 = 3.1 ± 0.4, IC50=4.9 ± 0.5) in CT26 and B16, respectively. In addition, studying the genes Bcl-2 and Bax, compound 23 showed apoptosis induction and non-genotoxic properties.


Recent advances in wireless networking technologies and the growing success of mobile computing devices, such as laptop computers, third generation mobile phones, personal digital assistants, watches and the like, are enabling new classes of applications that present challenging problems to designers. Mobile devices face temporary loss of network connectivity when they move; they are likely to have scarce resources, such as low battery power, slow CPU speed and little memory; they are required to react to frequent and unannounced changes in the environment, such as high variability of network bandwidth, and in the remote resources availability, and so on. To support designers building mobile applications, research in the field of middleware systems has proliferated. Middleware aims at facilitating communication and coordination of distributed components, concealing difficulties raised by mobility from application engineers as much as possible. In this survey, we examine characteristics of mobile distributed systems and distinguish them from their fixed counterpart. We introduce a framework and a categorization of the various middleware systems designed to support mobility, and we present a detailed and comparative review of the major results reached in this field. An analysis of current trends inside the mobile middleware community and a discussion of further directions of research conclude the survey.


Vapor condensation is a crucial part of a broad range of industrial applications including power generation, water harvesting, and air conditioning. Hydrophobic and superhydrophobic surfaces promote dropwise condensation in vapor-filled environments and increase their heat transfer coefficients more than filmwise condensation on hydrophilic surfaces. Although dropwise condensation can lead to energy-efficient transfer, it is hard to achieve stable dropwise condensation in high-temperature environments. To decide the best conditions for achieving higher heat transfer is also difficult because the heat transfer coefficient is influenced by not only surface wettability but also surface structures of thin films and substrates. Herein, we fabricated thin films with different wettabilities and surface structures using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) which show high heat resistance to determine the best conditions for heat transfer. Several different films were prepared by electrospinning a mixed solution of PTFE and polyvinyl alcohol on aluminum (Al) and copper (Cu) tubes. After annealing them, the PTFE thin films enhanced heat transfer performance and showed stable dropwise condensation in high-temperature environments. The films fabricated by electrospinning a solution containing 66 wt% PTFE displayed the highest heat transfer coefficients, with heat transfer coefficients 64% and 61% greater than those of uncoated Al and Cu tubes, respectively. That is because homogeneous superhydrophobic surfaces that showed the highest departure frequency of condensed water droplets were fabricated using 66 wt% PTFE. The results suggest that these electrospun PTFE thin films would demonstrate excellent potential for use on the surface of heat exchangers in various industries.


Purpose: To evaluate the outcome of primary adult optical penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) at a public health service hospital of a developing country. Patients and Methods: A retrospective review was performed of the medical records of every patient 12 years of age or older who underwent PKP for keratoconus, corneal edema, stromal scarring, or stromal dystrophy at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2001, and for whom a minimum of 3 months' follow-up was available. Results: Of 910 eyes that met the inclusion criteria, there were 464 eyes with keratoconus, 188 eyes with corneal edema, 175 eyes with stromal scarring, and 83 eyes with stromal dystrophy. For the entire group, the probability of graft survival was 96.7% at 1 year, 86.2% at 3 years, and 80.9% at 5 years. Five-year survival probability was best with keratoconus (96.1%), followed by stromal dystrophy (85.9%), stromal scarring (71.1%), and corneal edema (40.3%). The probability of graft survival differed significantly among the surgical indications at all postoperative intervals (P<0.001). Factors associated with a significantly increased risk of graft failure on multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis included increasing donor tissue age (P = 0.005) and decreasing recipient graft size (P = 0.02). Final visual acuity of 20/40 or better was obtained in 409 (44.9%) eyes. Visual acuity of 20/40 or better was obtained in 336 (72.4%) eyes with keratoconus and in 53 (63.9%) eyes with stromal dystrophy but in only 11 (6.3%) eyes with stromal scarring and 9 (4.8%) eyes with corneal edema (P<0.001). Overall, improvement in vision occurred in 750 (82.4%) eyes, remained the same in 97 (10.7%) eyes, and worsened in 63 (6.9%) eyes. Conclusions: The present study has conclusively demonstrated that primary adult optical PKP can be performed at a public health facility in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with graft survival and visual results that are comparable to those obtained in welldeveloped Western facilities. This success is attributed to the presence of a suitable infrastructure that provides modern eye care facilities, donor tissue, and pharmaceuticals to patients who have access to preoperative screening and evaluation, surgical intervention, and postoperative care by well-trained ophthalmologists and ancillary support personnel.


The classical results in unconditional multi-party computation among a set of n players state that less than n/2 passive or less than n/3 active adversaries can be tolerated; assuming a broadcast channel the threshold for active adversaries is n/2. Strictly generalizing these results we specify the set of potentially misbehaving players as an arbitrary set of subsets of the player set. We prove the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of secure multi-party protocols in terms of the potentially misbehaving player sets. For every function there exists a protocol secure against a set of potential passive collusions if and only if no two of these collusions add up to the full player set. The same condition applies for active adversaries when assuming a broadcast channel. Without broadcast channels, for every function there exists a protocol secure against a set of potential active adverse player sets if and only if no three of these sets add up to the full player set. The complexities of the protocols not using a broadcast channel are polynomial, that of the protocol with broadcast is only slightly higher.


Effect of nonlinear thermal radiation on the unsteady magnetohydrodynamic slip flow of Casson fluid between parallel disks in the presence of thermophoresis and Brownian motion effects are investigated numerically. A similarity transformation is employed to reduce the governing partial differential equations into ordinary differential equations. Further, Runge-Kutta and Newton's methods are adopted to solve the reduced ordinary differential equations. The effect of non-dimensional governing parameters, namely magnetic field parameter, Casson parameter, thermophoresis parameter, Brownian motion parameter, thermal radiation parameter, unsteadiness parameter, velocity slip parameter and temperature slip parameter on velocity, temperature and concentration fields are discussed and presented through graphs. Reduced Nusselt and Sherwood numbers are computed and presented through a table. It is found that rising values of nonlinear thermal radiation parameter depreciate the reduced Nusselt and Sherwood numbers. Thermophoresis and Brownian motion parameters have tendency to regulate the thermal and concentration boundary layers. Rising values of Casson parameter enhances the heat and mass transfer rate.


The effects of niobium doping on the hysteresis parameters of sol-gel Pb-1.1-x/2(Zr0.53Ti0.47)(1-x)NbxO3 (0 < x < 0.05) have been reported fbr two sets of films with analogous grain size and degree of (111) texture but with different surface microstructures. For both sets, a strong continuous decay of the remnant and maximum polarizations and slope of the hysteresis loop at the coercive field was observed with increasing niobium concentration. The held dependence of the remnant polarization for any given niobium-doped him was identical to the functional field dependence of the undoped reference him, if multiplied by a niobium-concentration-dependent constant. Although the maximum and remnant polarizations decayed as the dopant level increased, their difference remained the same value as that of the undoped him at any given field. The width of the loop (at zero polarization) was insensitive to the niobium concentration at any given held, A linear increase in coercive held asymmetry (up to 40 kV/cm) was observed with niobium addition, yet was field independent and, thus, electrostatic in origin. Niobium governed switching through a reduction of the number of switching domains, without changing the total lattice polarization response. Microstructure-related effects on switching, such as decreased volume fraction of ferroelectric material or field-screening effects due to the presence of a pyrochlore second phase, were eliminated as the origin of the hysteresis changes. This paper has demonstrated how hysteresis features and their field dependencies can be used to separate the effects of niobium-induced microstructural changes from niobium lattice doping influences on the hysteresis loops.


For a long time, social scientists have worried about possible racial discrimination in sentencing in the United States. With a prison population that exceeds two million inmates of whom approximately 48% are African American, the worry over the fairness of the sentencing process is understandable. This article is not about discrimination between racial categories as such, but about a related form of discrimination, namely, discrimination on the basis of a person's Afro-centric features. Section I of the article describes a line of social science research that shows that a person's Afro-centric features have a strong biasing effect on judgment such that subjects are more willing to attach racial stereotypes, both positive and negative, to persons whom they perceive as having stronger Afro-centric features. The authors theorize that what is happening is that Afro-centric features have come to have potency to influence judgment on their own, irrespective of race. Section II describes what happened when the authors took their research out of the laboratory and examined the sentencing of inmates in the Florida prison system. The same results were found: when inmates who had committed similar crimes and who had similar criminal histories were compared, inmates who had stronger Afro-centric features received longer sentences within their racial category than inmates with less pronounced Afro-centric features. This result is disturbing because it suggests sentences that are unfair, irrational, and unjust.


Richard Hellie. The Economy and Material Culture of Russia, 1600-1725. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999. xi, 671 pp. Tables. Figures. Bibliography. Index. $42.00, cloth. In earlier works, such as Enserfment and Military Change in Muscovy (1971), Slavery in Russia, 1450-1725 (1982), and The Muscovite Law Code (Ulozhenie) of 1649 (1987), Richard Hellie revealed his research interest in the economic, social and legal history of early modern Russia. His latest book is a fascinating study devoted to the economy and material culture of Russia during a very significant epoch. By 1600 Russia began to experience a period of disorder and strife (i.e., the Time of Troubles) which threatened it with dissolution and foreign rule; whereas by 1725 Russia became a great European power. Hellie seeks to reveal to both specialists and those generally interested in the history of economy and material culture, the type of goods available in Russia and their cost. From these two issues, relating to commodities and prices, Hellie develops his topic in numerous directions, using thousands of examples drawn from a base of 107,000 records found chiefly in printed Russian primary and secondary sources. Hellie assembles this vast corpus of information into a single book. His is a very unique endeavour, for there are no comparable one-volume sources on any other country and covering a century and a quarter. Hellie's book is organized in a logical manner. The preface communicates his goals and offers explanations, such as, for example, why a broader comparative perspective has not been utilized. Chapter 1, primarily intended for the benefit of the non-specialist, is extremely well done. Especially interesting is the summary of conclusions reached by David Hackett Fischer, in his The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythms of History (1996). Hellie's commentary on them from the Russian historical perspective is very valuable. Chapters 2 (on agricultural products) to 23 (on taxes) comprise the core of Hellie's study. Chapter 24 is a special addition devoted to the analysis of the great wealth of Mikhail Ignat'evich Tatishchev and Vasilii Vasil]evich Golitsyn. Chapter 25 comprises a solid conclusion. Two appendices follow. The first relates to the various units used in the monograph, which are essential for a proper understanding of the economy and material culture of early modern Russia. The second, forms a detailed and extremely valuable analysis of the sources and data used in the monograph. Finally a bibliography and a much-needed topical index close the book. Each chapter represents a meticulous analysis of a certain category of consumer goods and a summary of transactions involving them, as well as a needed presentation of definitions relating to significant names or terms. …


This new seventh edition of the book offers extensive discussion of information, uncertainty, and game theory. It contains over a hundred examples illustrating the applicability of economic analysis not only to mainline economic topics but also issues in politics, history, biology, the family, and many other areas. These discussions generally describe recent research published in scholarly books and articles, giving students a good idea of the scientific work done by professional economists. In addition, at appropriate places the text provides 'applications' representing more extended discussions of selected topics including rationing in wartime (Chapter 5), import quotas (Chapter 7), alleged monopolistic suppression of inventions (Chapter 9), minimum wage laws (Chapter 11), the effects of Social Security upon saving (Chapter 15), fair division of disrupted property (Chapter 16) and whether individuals should pay ransom to a kidnapper (Chapter 17).


Tissue engineering holds great potential in the production of functional substitutes to restore, maintain or improve the functionality in defective or lost tissues. So far, a great variety of techniques and approaches for fabrication of scaffolds have been developed and evaluated, allowing researchers to tailor precisely the morphological, chemical and mechanical features of the final constructs. Electrospinning of biocompatible and biodegradable polymers is a popular method for producing homogeneous nanofibrous structures, which might reproduce the nanosized organization of the tendons. Moreover, composite scaffolds obtained by incorporating nanoparticles within electrospun fibers have been lately explored in order to enhance the properties and the functionalities of the pristine polymeric constructs. The present study is focused on the design and fabrication of biocompatible electrospun nanocomposite fibrous scaffolds for tendon regeneration. A mixture of poly(amide 6) and poly(caprolactone) is electrospun to generate constructs with mechanical properties comparable to that of native tendons. To improve the biological activity of the constructs and modify their topography, wettability, stiffness and degradation rate, we incorporated silica particles into the electrospun substrates. The use of nanosize silica particles enables us to form bead-on-fiber topography, allowing the better exposure of ceramic particles to better profit their beneficial characteristics. In vitro biocompatibility studies using L929 fibroblasts demonstrated that the presence of 20 wt% of silica nanoparticles in the engineered scaffolds enhanced cell spreading and proliferation as well as extracellular matrix deposition. The results reveal that the electrospun nanocomposite scaffold represents an interesting candidate for tendon tissue engineering.


The use of prefabrication in design exemplar houses has escalated in Australia in the past decade. The same level of design quality has not been applied to the design of prefabricated school buildings. As CADCAM technology becomes more prevalent within the construction industry and greener, smarter materials are developed, new opportunities arise in the design of learning spaces. What can be learnt from bespoke prefabrication techniques being developed in other industries and overseas in order to advance the design and delivery of learning spaces within Australia?
This research investigates whether industrial design methodologies might be strategically adopted into architectural design in order to incorporate mass production techniques. Learning environments need to be designed to be environmentally efficient, place specific and better suited to user needs. By including both macro and micro oriented scenarios, the research aims to clarify the challenges for using prefabrication in the design of learning environments.
While this ambitious research is in its infancy, the complex framework and support from industry is relevant for other researchers who are seeking to have an impact on design practice using an action research methodology. The research is timely. Following in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, Australian state and federal governments have committed to reinvigorate our aging school stock. This research led by an interdisciplinary team is being developed in partnership with Departments of Education in three Australian states. The aim is to align designers with experts in prefabricated construction and delivery.
The research proposal is positioned within current knowledge as demonstrated through a literature review. Its focus is in response to needs expressed by providers of school buildings in three Australian states. The key innovation is to undertake research concurrently as micro and macro scale in order to capture the potential for industry wide change.
 Keywords:
Learning spaces, school design, bespoke prefabrication, prefabrication in architecture, design research, CADCAM.


While 15N‐labeled nitrogen (N) compounds have been used to quantify N uptake rates by plankton communities for decades, accurately ascribing those rates to individual populations or species has been a challenge. Here, we apply sorting flow cytometry combined with species‐specific immuno‐detection of a harmful alga, Aureococcus anophagefferens, to contrast the nutritional ecology of this alga with co‐occurring picoplankton (picoeukaryotes, cyanobacteria, heterotrophic bacteria) during brown tides. The method was iteratively refined to yield close agreement (85–101%) between plankton community 15N uptake quantified via traditional filtration and this novel sorting method. Sorting of plankton revealed that the δ15N values of A. anophagefferens and phycocyanin‐containing cyanobacteria were more enriched (∼ 10‰) than the values of other picoeukaryotes and heterotrophic bacteria that decreased to < 0‰ after A. anophagefferens abundance declined, suggesting that these plankton utilized isotopically lighter nitrogen sources (e.g., recycled nutrients or fertilizer). A. anophagefferens utilized multiple forms of nitrogen (e.g., nitrate, ammonium, urea) during blooms and their uptake rates of ammonium and urea were highest during blooms. However, A. anophagefferens urea uptake rates on a per cell basis were fivefold faster than all other groups, affirming the nutritionally strategic uptake of urea to fuel brown tides. This study presents a novel approach to successfully sort a single algal species from a plankton community for the purpose of assessing nitrogen uptake and highlights a promising and powerful approach for investigating and contrasting the nutritional ecology of bloom‐causing species and co‐occurring plankton populations during harmful algal blooms.


In recent years, the importance of functional RNAs in biological processes has been repeatedly demonstrated. Furthermore, a number of studies have indicated that the number and biological significance of functional RNAs has been underestimated. Here we focus on the impact of functional RNAs on the evolutionary rate of protein-coding genes. We used computational methods to predict a set of novel functional RNA secondary structures in the yeast genome. We found that the presence of predicted functional RNAs within coding regions causes a decrease in both synonymous and nonsynonymous evolutionary rates of the corresponding protein. We studied yeast genomes because abundant functional data is available for Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a common model genetic organism. Furthermore, the set of yeast duplicate genes produced by an ancient whole genome duplication provides a useful model for studying the evolution of gene function in yeast, and results from duplicate gene analysis also demonstrate that the duplicate gene with a greater number of coding functional RNAs also tends to have a relatively slower rate of protein evolution. Moreover, we discovered that genes with a significant portion of functional RNAs within their coding regions tend to be associated with either protein biosynthesis or transport.


We show that the general bias reducing technique of jackknifing can be successfully applied to stock return predictability regressions. Compared to standard OLS estimation, the jackknifing procedure delivers virtually unbiased estimates with mean squared errors that generally dominate those of the OLS estimates. The jackknifing method is very general, as well as simple to implement, and can be applied to models with multiple predictors and overlapping observations. Unlike most previous work on inference in predictive regressions, no specific assumptions regarding the data generating process for the predictors are required. A set of Monte Carlo experiments show that the method works well in finite samples and the empirical section finds that out-of-sample forecasts based on the jackknifed estimates tend to outperform those based on the plain OLS estimates. The improved forecast ability also translates into economically relevant welfare gains for an investor who uses the predictive regression, with jackknifed estimates, to time the market.


This longitudinal study investigated teachers' use of the first language (L1) in two French foreign language (FL) intermediate level classes at two Australian universities. A native French-speaking teacher (NS) and a non-native French-speaking teacher (NNS) were observed and audio-recorded approximately every two weeks over a 12- week semester. The study investigated the quantity of L1 used, the purposes it served, and whether these changed over time. It also investigated possible factors that explain teachers' L1 use, including teachers' attitudes towards the L1 use. The study found consistently more L1 use by the NNS than the NS, but that over time the use of L1 by the NS teacher increased. The L1 served a variety of purposes, most notably explanations of vocabulary and of tasks. However, towards the end of the semester, there was a marked increase in the use of L1 by both teachers for the purpose of general administration. The interview data show that use of L1 was related to the teachers' pedagogical beliefs and goals and these together with context-specific factors determined L1 use. The findings are discussed in terms of how to establish guidelines concerning appropriate levels of L1 use in FL classes.


Our earlier study [Am. J. Physiol. 256 (Gastrointest. Liver Physiol. 19): G673-G679, 1989] showed that the isomers prostaglandin E2 and D2 (PGE2 and PGD2) had contrasting effects on the canine proximal colonic epithelium in vitro. Whereas PGE2 produced sharp increases in short-circuit current (Isc), PGD2 rapidly reversed these changes. We report here that PGD2 reversed increases in Isc produced by other agonists (forskolin, carbachol) and was thus not a specific antagonist to PGE2. The transient increase in Isc and conductance produced by PGE2 were accompanied by alterations in Cl- but not Na+ fluxes. These were partitioned into early and late phases. In the early phase, net Cl- flux (JCl-net) decreased due to a reduction in Cl- mucosal to serosal flux (JCl-m----s) and increases in JCl-s----m. In the later phase, these changes appeared to revert to prestimulation values. Because forskolin produced more sustained increases in Isc, we used it as an agonist to define the effects of PGD2 on ion fluxes. Forskolin produced a marked reduction in JCl-net due to a decrease in JCl-m----s and an increase in JCl-s----m. PGD2 not only reversed the increases in Isc and conductance produced but also reversed the changes in Cl- flux.


In the first year and a half of the pandemic, the excess mortality in Hungary was 28,400, which was 1,700 lower than the official statistics on COVID-19 deaths. This discrepancy can be partly explained by the protective measures instated during the COVID-19 pandemic which decreased the intensity of the seasonal flu outbreak, which caused on average 3,000 deaths per year. Compared to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the third wave showed a reduction in the differences in excess mortality between age groups and regions. The excess mortality rate for people aged 75+ fell significantly in the third wave, presumably partly due to the vaccination schedule and the absence of a normal flu season. For people aged 40-74, the excess mortality rate rose slightly in the third wave. Between regions, excess mortality was highest in Northern Hungary and Western Transdanubia, and much lower in Central Hungary, where the capital is located. The excess mortality rate for men was almost twice as high as that for women in almost all age groups.


We consider a generalization of the classical planar maximum coverage location problem (PMCLP) in which partial coverage is allowed, facilities have adjustable quality of service (QoS) or service range, and demand zones and service zone of each facility are represented by two-dimensional spatial objects such as rectangles, circles, polygons, etc. We denote this generalization by PMCLP-PC-QoS. A key challenge in this problem is to simultaneously decide position of the facilities on a continuous two-dimensional plane and their QoS. We present a greedy algorithm and a pseudo-greedy algorithm for it, and provide their approximation ratios. We also investigate theoretical properties and propose exact algorithms for solving: (1) PMCLP-PC-QoS where demand and service zones are represented by axis-parallel rectangles (denoted by PMCLP-PCR-QoS), which also has applications in camera surveillance and satellite imaging; and (2) one dimensional PMCLP-PC-QoS which has applications in river cleanups. These results extend and strengthen the only known exact algorithm for PMCLP-PCR-QoS with fixed and same QoS by Bansal and Kianfar [INFORMS Journal on Computing 29(1), 152-169, 2017]. We present results of our computational experiments conducted to evaluate the performance of our proposed exact and approximation algorithms.


This chapter analyzes the specific features of the clinical development of anti-infective agents (AIA) (antibacterials, antivirals, and antifungals) and identifies the general or specific rules for obtaining optimal quality. It discusses quality assurance (QA) of clinical trials on medical products, and problems posed by clinical evaluation of AIA. The only means of evaluating and improving the quality of French clinical trials will be (i) the official institution of inspections (medical and pharmaceutical inspectors) by the French authorities and (ii) the possible inspection by the FDA, the ideal in the future being the mutual recognition by the United States, Europe, and Japan of clinical trials after inspection by local authorities; this would require the prior institution of a system of inspection within the framework of the European Union. Total quality is an aim to be achieved in clinical research for any pharmaceutical company. The absence of standards in clinical bacteriology makes the systematic introduction of good laboratory practice (GLP) and clinical QAS within a short period a matter of necessity. Only a stricter methodological approach will allow the efficacy of AIA to be correctly evaluated but will also allow an intercenter comparison in the main countries of the world.


In this comprehensive introduction to animal ethics, Lori Gruen weaves together poignant and provocative case studies with discussions of ethical theory, urging readers to engage critically and empathetically reflect on our treatment of other animals. In clear and accessible language, Gruen provides a survey of the issues central to human-animal relations and a reasoned new perspective on current key debates in the field. She analyses and explains a range of theoretical positions and poses challenging questions that directly encourage readers to hone their ethical reasoning skills and to develop a defensible position about their own practices. Her book will be an invaluable resource for students in a wide range of disciplines including ethics, environmental studies, veterinary science, women's studies, and the emerging field of animal studies and is an engaging account of the subject for general readers with no prior background in philosophy.


In real-world adaptive personalized decision making, due to physical and/or resource constraints, a decision maker often does not have the luxury of immediately incorporating the feedback from the previous individual into forming new policies for future individuals. This is an important aspect that has largely been abstracted away from the traditional online learning/decision making literature. In this paper, we study the problem of batched learning in generalized linear contextual bandits where the decision maker, unlike in traditional online learning, can only access feedback at the end of a limited number of batches, and when selecting actions within a batch, can only use information from prior batches. We provide a lower bound that characterizes the fundamental limit of performance in this setting and then give a DCB-based batched learning algorithm whose regret bound, obtained using a self-normalized martingale style analysis, nearly matches this lower bound. Our results provide a novel inquiry into generalized linear contextual bandits with arbitrary action sets, which include several bandits setting as special cases and thus shed light on batch-constrained decision making in general.


Women in Waiting in the Westward Movement: Life on the Home Frontier. Linda Peavy and Ursula Smith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. People interested in published pioneer women's journals and diaries have many to choose from: Mollie: The Journal of Mollie Dorsey Sanford in Nebraska and Colorado Territories, with introduction and notes by Donald F. Danker (1976); Lillian Schlissel's Women's Diaries of the Westward Journey (1992); and Kenneth Holmes' Covered Wagon Women (1995), to name a few. These journals and diaries detail, for the most part, the women's journeys westward in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in the company of family and friends, and tell a side of the story we hadn't heard until fairly recently. Now, with Peavy and Smith's Women in Waiting in the Westward Movement, we are aware of another factor in this exciting and tumultuous time in our country's history for this book recounts the viewpoints of women who remained at the original homestead for years at a time while their husbands forged new lives on the frontier. Peavy and Smith's book helps us understand the complexities of such separations. Building on their 1990 book, The Gold Rush Widows of Little Falls (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press), Peavy and Smith give a comprehensive look at six women and their husbands, from Maine to Minnesota, who decided, for one reason or sometimes for several reasons, that they must live apart for a time in the hopes of a happy (and prosperous) reunion eventually. After locating materials relating to fifty-three couples separated during the westward movement, some of which they describe in the introduction, the authors used "double sets of letters that described in varying detail the day-to-day activities and experiences of wives on the home front and husbands on the far frontier." These letters, plus family papers, business records, genealogies, and interviews and correspondence with descendants are the basis of this book. Each of the six chapters (after the introductory chapter) details a couple's early life, marriage, and family. Then the chapter explores concerns for the future; journeys westward by the husband; responsibilities and anxieties of the wife in in her husband's absence; the relationship of the husband and wife while they are apart; and the possibilities for reunion-or the actual reunion itself-of the couple. A few photographs and extensive endnotes assist the reader in understanding "the dynamics of separation" for the six couples. The first chapter of the book, "Families in Flux: The Dynamics of Separation in the Westward Movement," is essential for a novice to understand the complexities of the westward movement and the people who decided to live separately for a while. In this chapter, Peavy and Smith use many of the other forty-seven families they researched as examples to explain how "far more common [a] phenomenon" separated families were than we realize. They also use them as examples to explain some of the reasons men chose to go west alone and women chose to stay "home"; how "the ideology of separate spheres proved inoperable"; and how women often had to participate in the business world besides caring for children and running a household; how most women had to earn money in some way since their absent husbands usually did not send them the support they had promised; how a woman's ingenuity and frugality often made the difference in her and her family's survival; how economics often meant a woman had to move in with relatives; how mothers tried to keep the memory of a long-absent father vivid in the minds of their children; how the thought of infidelity of a spouse and concern for his safety played havoc with a woman's mind; how some men sent for their wives and family to join them in the west; and, most importantly, how diverse the situations were from family to family. As educational as the first chapter is, Chapters 2 through 7 are specific and important. …


What Alvin Toffler's Future Shock was to the 20th century, Our Molecular Future will be to the 21st century. What will happen to our jobs, health care, and investments when the molecular revolution hits? How might artificial intelligence transform our lives? How can molecular technologies help us cope with climate changes, earthquakes, and other extreme natural threats? Our Molecular Future explores some intriguing possibilities that answer these questions and many others. Douglas Mulhall describes the exponential changes that are about to be wrought by the nanotechnology and robotic revolutions, which promise to reduce the scale of computing to the nanometer - a billionth of a meter - while increasing computing power to almost unimaginable levels. The resulting convergence of genetics, robotics, and artificial intelligence may give us hitherto undreamed-of capacities to transform our environment and ourselves. In the not-so-distant future, our world may include machines that scour our arteries to prevent heart disease, cars and clothes that change color at our whim, exotic products built in our own desktop factories, and enhancements to our personal financial security despite greatly accelerated obsolescence. But while technology is making these fantastic leaps, we may also encounter surprises that throw us into disarray: climate changes, earthquakes, or even a seemingly improbable asteroid collision. These extremes are not the nightmare scenarios of sensationalists, Mulhall stresses, nor are many of them human induced. Instead, they may be part of nature's cycle - recurring more often than we've thought possible. The good news is that this convergence of catastrophe and technological transformation may work to our advantage. If we're smart, according to Mulhall, we can use molecular machines to protect ourselves from nature's worst extremes, and harness their potential benefits to usher in an economic renaissance. This visionary link between future technology and past disasters is a valuable guide for every one of us who wants to be prepared for the twenty-first century.


Preface. Acknowledgments. Contributors. 1. Gene Discovery: From Positional Cloning to Genomic Cloning (Weikuan Gu and Daniel Goldowitz). 2. High-Throughput Gene Expression Analysis and the Identification of Expression QTLs (Rudi Alberts and Klaus Schughart). 3. DNA Methylation in the Pathogenesis of Autoimmunity (Xueqing Xu, Ping Yang, Zhang Shu, Yun Bai, and Cong-Yi Wang). 4. Cell-Based Analysis with Microfl uidic Chip (Wang Qi and Zhao Long). 5. Missing Dimension: Protein Turnover Rate Measurement in Gene Discovery (Gary Guishan Xiao). 6. Bioinformatics Tools for Gene Function Prediction (Yan Cui). 7. Determination of Genomic Locations of Target Genetic Loci (Bo Chang). 8. Mutation Discovery Using High-Throughput Mutation Screening Technology (Kai Li, Hanlin Gao, Hong-Guang Xie, Wanping Sun, and Jia Zhang). 9. Candidate Screening through Gene Expression Profile (Michal Korostynski). 10. Candidate Screening through High-Density SNP Array (Ching-Wan Lam and Kin-Chong Lau). 11. Gene Discovery by Direct Genome Sequencing (Kunal Ray, Arijit Mukhopadhyay, and Mainak Sengupta). 12. Candidate Screening through Bioinformatics Tools (Song Wu and Wei Zhao). 13. Using an Integrative Strategy to Identify Mutations (Yan Jiao and Weikuan Gu). 14. Determination of the Function of a Mutation (Bouchra Edderkaoui). 15. Confi rmation of a Mutation by Multiple Molecular Approaches (Hector Martinez-Valdez and Blanca Ortiz-Quintero). 16. Confi rmation of a Mutation by MicroRNA (Hongwei Zheng and Yongjun Wang). 17. Confi rmation of Gene Function Using Translational Approaches (Caroline J. Zeiss). 18. Confi rmation of Single Nucleotide Mutations (Jochen Graw). 19. Initial Identifi cation and Confi rmation of a QTL Gene (David C. Airey and Chun Li). 20. Gene Discovery of Crop Disease in the Postgenome Era (Yulin Jia). 21. Impact of Genomewide Structural Variation on Gene Discovery (Lisenka E.L.M. Vissers and Joris A. Veltman). 22. Impact of Whole Genome Protein Analysis on Gene Discovery of Disease Models (Sheng Zhang, Yong Yang, and Theodore W. Thannhauser). Index.


Here we present a study of the abundance and orientation of planar deformation features (PDFs) in the Vakkejokk Breccia, a proposed lower Cambrian impact ejecta layer in the North‐Swedish Caledonides. The presence of PDFs is widely accepted as evidence for shock metamorphism associated with cosmic impact events and their presence confirms that the Vakkejokk Breccia is indeed the result of an impact. The breccia has previously been divided into four lithological subunits (from bottom to top), viz. lower polymict breccia (LPB), graded polymict breccia (GPB), top sandstone (TS), and top conglomerate (TC). Here we show that the LPB contains no shock metamorphic features, indicating that the material derives from just outside of the crater and represents low‐shock semi‐autochthonous bombarded strata. In the overlying, more fine‐grained GPB and TS, quartz grains with PDFs are relatively abundant (2–5% of the grain population), and with higher shock levels in the upper parts, suggesting that they have formed by reworking of more distal ejecta by resurge of water toward the crater in a marine setting. The absence of shocked quartz grains in the TC indicates that this unit represents later slumps associated with weathering and erosion of the protruding crater rim. Sparse shocked quartz grains (<0.2%) were also found in sandstone beds occurring at the same stratigraphic level as the Vakkejokk Breccia 15–20 km from the inferred crater site. It is currently unresolved whether the sandstone at these distal sites is related to the impact or just contains rare reworked quartz grains with PDFs.


Zimbabwe is endowed with a wide range of soils. The soils vary considerably in their age and degree of development, physical, chemical and mineralogical composition and, therefore, also in their land use potential. To a very large extent, their distribution is closely related to the nature and distribution of geological materials. Spatial variations that occur within a given area of parent material are then the result of the influence of the other soil-forming factors, especially climate and topography. In order to fully appreciate the variations in the distribution of soils, it is generally useful to examine the factors that have contributed to the development of the soils and then review the soil patterns in that context. In the sections that follow, such an approach will be adopted.


Measuring outcomes from clinical genetics services is difficult because the interventions offered focus on provision of information, counselling and genetic testing, and are unlikely to improve patient health status. Furthermore, patients are not always clear what to expect from a clinical genetics service. Patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) have recently gained prominence in healthcare evaluation worldwide. Although PROMs have often been used in research, the PROMs approach to service evaluation is new to clinical genetics, which have historically been evaluated using process measures, for example, number of genetic tests done, waiting times and number of patients attending. A range of PROMs is available for evaluating clinical genetics services, but few suitable PROMs have been robustly validated. Furthermore, PROMs use in this context is likely to be influenced by patients' changing expectations as they navigate their journey through clinical genetics services.

Key Concepts:

Measuring outcomes from clinical genetics services is difficult and there is no consensus about the best way to do this.

Patient expectations may influence satisfaction with healthcare in general and responses to interventions provided in clinical genetics in particular.

Health services are increasingly expected to demonstrate that they are delivering patient benefits.

To this end, patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) are of growing importance in healthcare evaluation.

Although PROMs have their limitations, they can be a useful supplement to traditional quality measures used in healthcare.

It is timely for the clinical genetics community to work together in order to develop a standardised core set of quality outcome measures to evaluate services and interventions in research and clinical practice.

Keywords:

patient reported outcome measures;
service evaluation;
clinical genetics services;
genetic counselling;
patient expectations;
response shift;
psychometrics


This case study examines caregiver language in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century letters. It addresses the general issue of how parents and other caregivers talked about and communicated with children and adolescents in their personal correspondence, and, more specifically, to what extent it is possible to reconstruct patterns of child-directed language using personal letters as data. The study analyses the patterns of discourse and linguistic models that Lady Katherine Paston transmitted in her letters to her teenage son. Her usage is also compared with interadult communication. The results obtained indicate that the caregiver language of the past can be characterized at various levels: speech activity and politeness phenomena, lexical content, and even ongoing processes of language change.


Newly licensed graduate nurses are transitioning to practice with low self-efficacy and competency gaps leading to poor patient outcomes and low retention rates within this population of nurses. These low rates of retention create an environment in which newly licensed graduate nurses have failed or are delayed in their transition from novice to expert. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the implementation of the Vizient/AACN nurse residency program on the first-year retention rate of newly licensed graduate nurses within an organization in central Texas. The program was evaluated utilizing newly licensed graduate nurse preand postimplementation data related to retention rates of the organization and the Casey Fink Graduate Nurse Experience Survey. The study design was a quantitative approach utilizing a cross-sectional survey. A convenience sample of newly licensed graduate nurses hired from November 2017 to September 2018 was used. All 48 residents enrolled in the nurse residency program were included in the study. Data were analyzed utilizing a power analysis and a pairedsamples t test. The sample size was lower than 43, indicating a low confidence level. A strong correlation was noted for a standardized NRP and self-efficacy (r = .822), but there was no significant difference identified between pretest and posttest means (p > .05). Retention rates improved by 11.65% following implementation of the NRP. Findings of this study can influence the development of standardized NRPs which could increase self-efficacy and reduce turnover rates among newly licensed graduate nurses.


Social welfare, increasingly extensive during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was by the first third of the nineteenth under considerable, and growing, pressure, during a "crisis" period when levels of poverty soared. This book examines the poor and their families during these final decades of the old Poor Law. It takes as a case study the lived experience of poor families in two Bedfordshire communities, Campton and Shefford, and contrasts it with the perspectives of other participants in parish politics, from the magistracy to the vestry, and from overseers to village ratepayers. It explores the problem of rising unemployment, the provision of parish make-work schemes, charitable provision and the wider makeshift economy, together with the attitudes of the ratepayers. That gender and life-cycle were crucial features of poverty is demonstrated: the lone mother and her dependent children and the elderly dominated the relief rolls. Poor relief might have been relatively generous but it was not pervasive - child allowances, in particular, were restricted in duration and value - and it by no means approximated to the income of other labouring families. Poor families must either have had access to additional resources, or led meagre lives. Samantha Williams is a university lecturer in local and regional history at the Institute of Continuing Education, Cambridge, and a Bye-Fellow in History, Girton College, Cambridge.


Imb (Philodendron bipinnatifidum), has a large distribution in Brazil. It produces aerial and subterranean roots. This study presents the anatomical description of the mature prop roots and analyzes the apical root meristem region (1.0-3.0mm). The roots were brown except for the apical portion, which was white. Root segments measuring 0.3cm in length were excised from aerial roots for a length of 1.2cm starting from the root tip. Another 0.5cm segment from the suberized region of the root, was also excised. The segments were fixed in Karnovsky solution, dehydrated in a graded ethanol series (10 to 100%), and then embedded in glycol methacrylate resin. The apical root meristem region (1.0-3.0mm), presented a many-layered root cap that consisted of sinuous anticlinal cell walls, compactly arranged. The protodermis was uniseriated. The resin ducts arose schizogenous among the fundamental meristem cells. The central cylinder exhibited conspicuous lobes. In suberized region, the epidermis was substituted by a stratified cork. The outer part of the cortex was arranged in relatively bigger intercellular spaces while the inner cortex presents 4 and 5 layers of cells arranged in radial files. The resin ducts and the secretory idioblasts occurred among cells of the cortical parenchyma. The central cylinder exhibited anomalous organization of vascular tissues with conspicuous lobes and a pith region was absent.


Historical papers relating to water often focus on a physical structure or archaeological artefact that is being investigated in order to achieve insight into the life, times or understanding of a historical culture or people. In this sense, the current paper is an anomaly in that the "artefact" motivating this historical review of the hydrological cycle was observed first in the classroom. More specifically, many years of teaching hydrology has highlighted the difficulty students often have in achieving a broad and deep understanding of hydrological processes. Several reasons could be proposed for the observed pedagogical difficulties, but what is of interest here is that a student's struggles are reminiscent of the historical ones relating to first deducing the hydrological cycle. Thus, a novel hypothesis is tentatively advanced: concepts that were tortuous or taxing to deduce historically often, and for quite similar reasons, are challenging to teach, and vice versa. While a comprehensive psychological exploration of this observation is beyond the scope of this article, a few broader connections are briefly explored.


In order to obtain the correct height reconstruction of a measured object, a projection lens and a camera lens must be placed at equal heights above the reference plane in the traditional Fourier transform profilometry (FTP) method. We propose an improved phase-height mapping formula based on an improved description of the reference fringe and the deformed fringe in FTP when the projection lens and the camera lens are not placed at equal height. With our method, it is easier to obtain the full-field fringe by moving either the projector or the imaging device. In some cases, where the required parallel condition cannot be met, the proposed method offers a flexible way to calculate the height distribution.


This paper re-examines the relationship between financial variables and real activity in a unified statistical framework. Using the methods of cointegration and separation. we characterize the long-run and short-run relationships between three sets of variables and then use the framework to assess the predictive power of alternative financial variables for real activity. Three main results emerge from the analysis. First, we show that although two sets of variables may not share the long-run trend. the error correction terms from one set of variables may have important explanatory power for the variables in another set. Second, we show that some of the key variables discussed in the literature can be interpreted as error correction terms from another system. Third, comparing two key error correction terms, M2 velocity and the interest rate spread between commercial paper and Treasury bills, we find that M2 velocity appears to be a more consistent predictor of output than is the interest rate spread.


Objective: To verify the frequency of Gardnerella vaginalis, Candida sp. Trichomonas vaginalis in pap smears  and the presence of these when using the copper intrauterine device or  the oral contraceptive.
Method: The analysis of 119 312 examinations of women seen by the public health system in the Northeast region of Brazil from the period from January 2006 to December 2010. The variables analyzed were age, frequency of microorganisms, contraceptive use, type of contraception adopted correlated with the presence of microorganisms.
Results: The average age among the women was 33.4 ± 11.15 years. The most frequent microorganism, Gardnerella vaginalis, was found in 16,137 examinations, followed by Candida spp. in Trichomonas vaginalis and the 12,661 in 2023. The use of oral contraceptives was found in 21,792 women, and these, showed the presence of Gardnerella vaginalis in 1054, Candida spp. and Trichomonas vaginalis in 687 in 133 tests. Regarding the use of use of copper intrauterine device, used by 18,894 women, the presence of Gardnerella vaginalis  was detected in 964, Candida spp. and Trichomonas vaginalis in 595 in 122 of the cases.
Conclusion: The presence of microorganisms associated with contraceptive use is evident, in particular, Garnerella vaginalis which is more common in both kinds of contraception methods adopted by women.


This paper, as if written in the year 2025, reviews the influences and resulting changes in the marine capture fisheries of the world and in their management during the last quarter of the 20th Century and the first quarter of the 21st. Influences range from Treaties (such as the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and the Convention on Biological Diversity), Agreements (such as the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development, and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries) and public awareness, through environmental and biological events, and the growth of knowledge and the understanding of ecosystems, to factors likely to influence the mix of coastal and distant-water vessels.


Allopurinol, commonly used to treat patients with gout, has been known to cause hypersensitivity reactions. We report a case of drug-induced delayed multiorgan hypersensitivity syndrome secondary to allopurinol use. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in a patient presenting with allopurinol-induced rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms.


We have coupled the FAMOUS global AOGCM (atmosphere-ocean general circulation model) to the Glimmer thermomechanical ice-sheet model in order to study the development of ice-sheets in north-east America (Laurentia) and north-west Europe (Fennoscandia) following glacial inception. This first use of a coupled AOGCM–ice-sheet model for a study of change on long palaeoclimate timescales is made possible by the low computational cost of FAMOUS, despite its inclusion of physical parameterisations similar in complexity to higher-resolution AOGCMs. With the orbital forcing of 115 ka BP, FAMOUS–Glimmer produces ice caps on the Canadian Arctic islands, on the north-west coast of Hudson Bay and in southern Scandinavia, which grow to occupy the Keewatin region of the Canadian mainland and all of Fennoscandia over 50 ka. Their growth is eventually halted by increasing coastal ice discharge. The expansion of the ice-sheets influences the regional climate, which becomes cooler, reducing the ablation, and ice accumulates in places that initially do not have positive surface mass balance. The results suggest the possibility that the glaciation of north-east America could have begun on the Canadian Arctic islands, producing a regional climate change that caused or enhanced the growth of ice on the mainland. The increase in albedo (due to snow and ice cover) is the dominant feedback on the area of the ice-sheets and acts rapidly, whereas the feedback of topography on SMB does not become significant for several centuries, but eventually has a large effect on the thickening of the ice-sheets. These two positive feedbacks are mutually reinforcing. In addition, the change in topography perturbs the tropospheric circulation, producing some reduction of cloud, and mitigating the local cooling along the margin of the Laurentide ice-sheet. Our experiments demonstrate the importance and complexity of the interactions between ice-sheets and local climate.


Effects of smoke-drying temperatures and duration of drying on the quality of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) samples were investigated by smoke–drying Tilapia fish under three different temperatures (50, 60 and 70°C) and three drying times (5, 10 and 15 h) using modified drum kiln dryer. The proximate compositions of the fresh and dried fish were evaluated and the sensory evaluation of the organoleptic parameters was assessed. The drying temperatures and duration of drying have different effects on the quality of the smoke-dried fish. The moisture contents of the samples were reduced from the initial value of 75.11% to average safe storage values of 15.30 and 17.95% after smoke-drying at 60°C for 15 h and at 70°C for 10 h, respectively. The results showed that the crude protein, crude fibre, crude lipid and ash contents of the dried fish generally increased from the initial values as the moisture content decreased. It can be concluded from the results of this study that the best smoked fish with good quality parameters in terms of nutrient and organoleptic parameters were the products dried at 60°C for 15 h and 70°C for 10 h.


Sandra Bundy may have guessed that her new job with the District of Columbia Department of Corrections would be a challenge. What she may not have expected was that she would have to meet the challenge under very different conditions than those faced by her male coworkers. Ms. Bundy's work was continually interrupted by one of her supervisors, who kept calling her into his office and forcing her to listen to his theories about how women ride horses to obtain sexual gratification. He repeatedly asked Ms. Bundy to come home with him in order to view his collection of pictures and books on this topic. Another supervisor repeatedly propositioned her, asking her to come with him to a motel or on a trip to the Bahamas.None of Ms. Bundy's male counterparts, in contrast, had to listen to their boss's sexual fantasies and proposals. When Ms. Bundy tried to remove this gender-based obstacle to her job performance by reporting it to a third supervisor and pleading for help, he only exacerbated the problem, telling her that "any man in his right mind would want to rape you," and asking her to have sex with him.Ms. Bundy successfully sued the Department of Corrections for sexual harassment in violation of Title VII, the federal statute outlawing workplace discrimination.The implicit holding of the Bundy case ― that speech alone can create a discriminatory hostile work environment ― went unquestioned for many years. Recently, however, defense attorneys have challenged the constitutionality of this principle, arguing that a prohibition on discriminatory workplace expression violates harassers' First Amendment rights.


PURPOSE
Dense congenital unilateral cataracts may compromise visual development through visual deprivation and biased interocular competition, whereas dense congenital bilateral cataracts compromise visual development primarily through visual deprivation alone. Differences in sensory deficits between the two patient groups with these disorders may reflect the specific effects of unequal competition. To determine whether early treatment (at <8 weeks of age) minimizes the adverse effects of unequal competition, grating acuity deficits during the immediate posttreatment period and contrast sensitivity deficits at 6 to 8 years of age were assessed in 29 children with histories of dense congenital unilateral or bilateral cataracts who had had treatment between 1 and 8 weeks or 12 and 30 weeks. All children maintained good to excellent compliance with optical correction and occlusion therapy.

METHODS
Grating acuity was measured using a two-alternative forced-choice preferential-looking staircase protocol. Contrast thresholds at three spatial frequencies (0.38, 1.5, and 6 cyc/deg) were measured at each of two temporal frequencies (2- and 8-Hz sinusoidal counterphase modulation) using D6 grating patches.

RESULTS
Grating acuity deficits in the immediate posttreatment period were similar in patients with a history of unilateral cataract (n=10) and those with a history of bilateral cataracts (n=6) when treatment was provided during the first 8 weeks of life. With later treatment, patients with a history of unilateral cataract (n=7) had significantly larger grating acuity deficits than patients with a history of bilateral cataracts (n=6). Children with a history of dense congenital unilateral cataract had similar deficits in contrast sensitivity to children with a history of bilateral cataracts when treatment was initiated during the first 8 weeks of life. When treatment was initiated later (i.e., at 12-30 weeks), patients with a history of unilateral cataract showed greater deficits in contrast sensitivity and a dependence of the amount of spatial contrast sensitivity deficit on temporal frequency than did patients with a history of bilateral cataracts.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings support the hypothesis that only visual deprivation is active as an amblyogenic factor during the first weeks of life, but when unilateral deprivation is prolonged to 12 to 30 weeks, unequal competition also plays a role in amblyogenesis.