Introduction Childhood obesity is now a global epidemic and the incidence continues to increase. Dietary interventions and nutritional education are possible options to manage childhood obesity. However, restrictive diets can result in negative outcomes, and therefore it may be more apt to encourage children to consume more fruit and vegetables and thereby develop a healthier positive attitude towards food. Method A systematic review of literature of interventions to increase fruit and/or vegetable consumption in overweight or obese children and adolescents was conducted, applying a free-text strategy with a set of search terms. Results A total of five studies describing seven interventions published in international peer-reviewed journals and meeting the review's eligibility criteria were identified. All five studies examined family-focused interventions to increase daily fruit and vegetable consumption measured either by child self-report or parent report. Only one intervention reported a lasting statistically significant increased consumption of fruit and vegetables. Conclusions This review highlights that in order to tackle obesity narrow interventions focusing on single aspects of behaviour are unlikely to achieve long-term change. Successful public health interventions tackling childhood obesity will need to take a holistic approach and target behaviour change in multiple aspects of children's lifestyles and their surroundings, including nutritional education, parental support and physical activity.


Joints are extremely important parts of any structure. Bolted joint joints also make disassembly and reassembly possible. The information on tightening bolted joints is important to the design engineer, in order to ensure the reliability of the joint and a minimum clamp load which is necessary to provide adequate in-srevice durability. Therefore designer are drawn more and more towards tightening processes which minimise clamp load variation in order to obtained the benefits of more predictable service. The design of bolted joints and techniques used to tighten them has received increased attention by the Automotive, Aerospace and Petro-Cheroical industries.

In this research theoretical and experimental investigations have been undertaken to determine the response of fasteners to combined torque and axial load. The principal aims of these experimental investigations are to establish the following: (i) The mode in which the initially applied torque in the bolt is reduced due to subsequent application of axial stress. (ii) The mode of reduction in initially applied axial load due to the subsequent application of torque, (iii) The mechanism in which the torsional and tensile strain energy is dissipated in a bolt. (iv) Any variation in the yield stress of the bolt as the axial load is applied after initial tightening torque.

The present work has been carried out by using bolts having thread rolled after heat treatment. The fasteners selected for testing were M12X1.75 MM I.S.O., Grade 10.9. An electronic hand torque wrench was used to tighten the fasteners. No lubrication was required during these tests. The effects of axial load on the tightened fastener were examined by static concentric loading. The uniaxial tensile load was applied by a hydraulic cylinder.

The results obtained in the experimental evaluations show that the the material of the bolt is elastic-work hardening. It also shows that the reduction of the initial torque due to the application of axial load and the reduction of the initial axial load due to the application of torque possibly follow the von Mises yield criteria. This will dictate that the material is yielding only at the outside diameter during combined loading. The experimental results also show that no significant reduction in the axial tensile load takes place for all magnitudes of the applied torque upto the yield torque.

The reduction in the initially applied torque or axial load due to subsequently applied axial load or torque respectively may also take place in such a manner so that the plastic zone at the outer surface progresses towards the inner core. It is most likely that such off loading takes place in mixed modes. Experimental tests and analysis confirm that the yield load of a bolt in tension is not affected appreciably when the bolt is subjected to any torque.

It is recommended that in a bolted joint the bolt should be
subjected to as low a clamp load as possible with relatively high level of initial torque. This would allow higher external load to be applied to a joint with less chance of reducing the tightening torque substantially.


This article presents methodology for identifying product categories that, if they were made the subjects of a specified state's export promotions, would hold promise for satisfying relevant needs of members of three key "stakeholder" groups regarding the outcomes of the governmentally sponsored export promotions: the World Trade Organization (WTO), managements of non-exporting, small- and- medium-sized (SME) manufacturing concerns, and governmental entities who are responsible for raising funds to support such promotions. Methodology is applied in the context of a state in the United States (North Carolina). The methodology is then applied in the context of a state in the United States (North Carolina). The presentations of the results of the application of the methodology at each of the 2-, 4- and 6-digit HS-coded product category levels are in each case followed by discussions of implications of the results.


To date evaluation of the benefits of policies to control emissions of air pollutants in the UK has focused on human health effects, which are quantified economically, whereas ecosystem protection has been assessed using critical levels and critical loads. This paper considers the current feasibility of using an ecosystem services approach to appraise the benefits of alternative scenarios for controlling agricultural ammonia emissions in the UK. The effect of ammonia emission reductions on ecosystem service delivery was assessed using an impact pathway approach. A 'weakest link' analysis identified that economic valuation of impacts on many key ecosystem services was constrained by inadequate dose–response relationships to predict physical changes in service flows and/or by an inability to produce economic valuations of the predicted physical changes. For effects on biodiversity, both the timescale of response and poorly defined relationships between changes in species composition and ecosystem service delivery are significant barriers. However, it was possible to produce indicative values for the marginal impact of ammonia abatement measures on climate regulation; the values obtained were comparable in magnitude to those for human health impacts. The ecosystem service approach thus offers the potential to provide a holistic appraisal of the effects of emission reductions, and could therefore make a valuable contribution to future air quality management. However, improvements in data collection and quantification methods are needed before a full ecosystem services‐based evaluation of costs and benefits becomes possible for ammonia and for other major air pollutants. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Robeson County is ranked #1 in poverty in North Carolina, with 1 in 2 children living below the poverty line (Census Bureau, 2014). Thirty-four percent of children are living in food insecure homes (Feeding America, 2014). Food insecurity presents negative consequences for children's health, behavior, and academic performance in school. Free and reduced lunch programs provide meals for low-income children during the school year, but not during summer months. Summer feeding programs aim to fill the gap, providing children with nutritious food over the summer. With such high child poverty and food insecurity rates in Robeson County, are current summer feeding programs meeting children's needs? What barriers and obstacles do current and potential feeding sites face in their efforts to effectively feed children in Robeson County? To answer these questions, I conducted 12 semi-structured interviews with the Board of Education, Public Schools of Robeson County, current feeding sites, potential feeding sites, and NC House Officials. Findings revealed there are not enough summer feeding sites in the county to meet children's needs. Barriers and challenges included food allergies, picky eaters, while some children asked for extra food to take home, parental involvement, promotion, and transportation. Possible solutions on how to resolve problems of access to summer feeding sites to help feed the children in Robeson County are addressed.


Abstract: Combined U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope analyses of zircons from 16 tonalite–trondjemite–granodiorite (TTG) gneiss and granite samples from Swaziland reveal that the oldest rocks of the Ancient Gneiss Complex in southern Africa formed by reworking of Early Archaean or perhaps Late Hadean crust at 3.66 Ga, and that new crust was extracted from a depleted mantle source during Palaeoarchaean events between 3.54 and 3.32 Ga. This interpretation is supported by εHft of −1.6 ± 2.0 obtained from 3.66 Ga TTG gneisses, corresponding to hafnium model ages between 3.77 ± 0.18 Ga, for a presumed Hadean–Early Archaean chondritic mantle, and 4.08 ± 0.18 Ga, for a presumed Hadean depleted mantle reservoir, with the first model age being the most likely in the light of recent data from worldwide sources. Furthermore, it is reflected by superchondritic εHft up to +2.2 ± 2.0 for TTGs formed at 3.54, 3.45 and 3.32 Ga. The new datasets additionally show that the Palaeoarchaean crust formed between 3.54 and 3.32 Ga was intensely reworked afterwards, without significant addition of depleted mantle derived material, during orogenic and intracratonic melting processes at 3.23, 3.1 and 2.7 Ga. This is well reflected by an array of decreasing εHft from +2.2 to −7.2 between 3.3 and 2.7 Ga, which can be forced by 176Lu/177Hf of 0.0113, which is similar to that of present-day average continental crust, and might result from lower crust zircon fractionation during Archaean crust reworking. Supplementary material: Results of in situ U–Pb and Lu–Hf isotope zircon analyses and concordia diagrams are available at www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18465.


Densities (ρ), viscosities (η), ultrasonic velocities (u) and conductivities (κ) have been measured by using specific gravity bottle, Ostwald's viscometer, single frequency ultrasonic interferometer (6 MHz frequency) and conductivity meter respectively for aqueous solutions of sodium chloride and potassium chloride at different concentrations (w/w). Various acoustical parameters viz. adiabatic compressibility (βad), intermolecular free length (Lf), acoustical impedance (Z), relaxation time (τ), rao's constant (RM), wada's constant (W), free volume (Vf), absorption coefficient (α/f 2 ), gibb's free energy (∆G), relative association (RA) and available volume (Va) were calculated from these experimental data. The results are interpreted in terms of molecular interactions between components of solutions.


In the past few years, scholars in Political Science and American Indian Studies have identified a change in the relationship between Indian nations, the United States Government and state governments across the country. This important, and expanding, relationship in public policy making focuses on the devolution of public policy decisions from the federal/tribal level to an expanded state/tribal relationship (Corntassel and Witmer 2008, Steinman 2004). This paper first touches on the transition to the Forced Federalism era, beginning with the Indian Gaming and Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA). Second, we identify the types of legislation proposed and passed in the American states during this new era. Third, we consider a number of possible explanations for legislative activity including institutional, constituent, state/tribal relations and state political measures. Our findings suggest that states with an established institutional structure in their legislative and executive branches are more likely to propose and pass American Indian related legislation. Similar findings for constituent measures were evident, namely that the size and percentage of the population that is American Indian. Other explanatory factors such as whether a gaming compact had been signed, state political ideology, initiative and unified government were less likely to increase the number of proposed and passed legislation.


Wound healing is an intricate process whereby the skin, or similar tissues, repairs itself after injury. Impaired wound healing with loss of temporospatial orchestration of processes remains challenging and can be highly debilitating to patients. Recently, the novel strategy of administering mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from bone marrow, adipose tissues and other sources, has achieved high therapeutic efficiency in healing wounds. Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) are pluripotent stem cells with the ability to differentiate into different lineages and to secrete paracrine factors to initiate tissue regeneration. However, the exact molecular mechanism by which ASCs exert their function is not well characterized. MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are important regulators of diverse cell functions and the cytokine network is necessary for endothelial cell migration, capillary formation, matrix metalloproteinase production, collagen synthesis and degradation. This review will focus on the significant role of MicroRNA within ASCs and how these are interlinked to the pathogenesis of wound healing.


Abstract Jaguars (Panthera onca) remain virtually unstudied in the desert environments at the northern extent of their range. Historic sightings from the United States indicate a declining population of resident jaguars from the late 1800s into the 1940s, after which only occasional jaguars were reported until the present. After 2 sightings of jaguars in 1996, we established a camera monitoring program in southeastern Arizona. From March 2001 to July 2007, we maintained 9–44 trail cameras and conducted opportunistic track surveys. We documented 2 adult males and a possible 3rd unidentified jaguar with 69 photographs and 28 sets of tracks. One jaguar, originally photographed in 1996, was resighted 64 times during 2004–2007. This ≥13-year-old male used habitats from the Sonoran lowland desert at 877 m above sea level to pine–oak woodlands at 1,577 m, and covered 1,359 km2 in 2 mountain complexes. Despite speculation that recent sightings of jaguars in the United States represented dispersing transients on sporadic forays from Mexico, we documented jaguars in Arizona frequently, continuously, and year-round, and videotaped several scent-marking behaviors, indicating the residency of adult jaguars within Arizona. We outline the importance of maintaining cross-border connectivity for long-term survival of the wide-ranging and thinly distributed binational population of jaguars. We recommend further research and we stress the fragmentation consequences of the proposed United States–Mexico border fence to the northernmost jaguar population, and particularly to jaguars in the United States.


Brain endothelial cells, and the tight junctions between them, comprise the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which helps isolate the brain from blood-borne molecules. Various pathological conditions involving inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) can lead to breakdown of the BBB. During CNS inflammation, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) participates in recruiting leukocytes into the CNS. Noting evidence suggesting that CCR2, a receptor for MCP-1, is present on brain endothelial cells, Stamatovic et al. investigated a possible role for MCP-1 and CCR2 in breakdown of the BBB during CNS inflammation. The authors used a combination of reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western analysis, and immunocytochemistry to show that CCR2 mRNA and protein were present in primary cultures of mouse brain microvascular endothelial cells (mBMECs); both CCR2 mRNA and surface protein were increased after exposure to the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β. MCP-1 decreased transepithelial electrical resistance and increased permeability to inulin across mBMEC monolayers from wild-type mice, but not across mBMEC monolayers from mutant mice that lacked CCR2. MCP-1 elicited rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton, visible gaps between cells, and redistribution of tight junction proteins. The authors used cDNA microarray analysis together with pharmacological analysis to implicate RhoA and Rho kinase in MCP-1's effects on the cytoskeleton and tight junction permeability, a role substantiated through transfection with a Rho dominant negative mutant, and Western analysis of affinity-precipitated activated Rho. Thus, MCP-1 appears to contribute to breakdown of the BBB during inflammation and may provide a therapeutic target to help limit injury to the CNS during inflammation. S. M. Stamatovic, R. F. Keep, S. L. Kunkel, A. V. Andjelkovic, Potential role of MCP-1 in endothelial cell tight junction 'opening': Signaling via Rho and Rho kinase. J. Cell Sci. 116, 4615-4628 (2003). [Abstract] [Full Text]


Production facilities design is one of many factors that influence company performance. This was caused by inefective facilities layout which make material flow poor, and the movement of material, product, information, equipment and labor cost is relatively high, that caused delay in finishing the product and of course adding the cost of production. Layout design in manufacturing industry is the first step in organizing production facilities layout and to have benefit of the area as much as possible. This was made to create smooth condition in materials flow, so that later can achieve material flow which is efficient and working conditions that are orderly. The layout factory problems that cannot be avoided by companies is in its operation. The distance of material movement from one department to other will create influence on increasing productivity and profitability. With high total material movement/year, it can make material handling costs will be high too. The research purpose is to know minimum material handling total, so that later on the best of final layout and can minimize cost of material handling. The Results of facilities relayout drinking water in PT Ima Montaz Sejahtera consists of some department must be added which in the beginning there are 7 (seven) department and after the design become 12 area Therefore the additional department don't need additional area. This can be done by relayout and give the region or area for the part that there was not exist before. This research use method 5S in drawing up the facilities relayout in PT Ima Montaz Sejahtera to obtain layout that is more efficient, which is The Seiri and Seiton in mechanical warehouse, Seiso in production warehouse and all department, Seiketsu and Shitsuke in all departments.


Unprecedented polyoxometalate based metal–carbene frameworks (POM-based MCFs) [Cu10(H3trz)4(Htrz)4](HPW12O40) (1) and [Cu10(H3trz)4(Htrz)4](H2SiW12O40) (2) have been fabricated via a hydrothermal reaction between 1,2,4-triazole and Cu(CH3COO)2 with the saturated Keggin polyoxoanion [PW12O40]3−/[SiW12O40]4− as a template for the first time. Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals the successful encapsulation of Keggin POMs into the three-dimensional POM-based MCFs with lvt-a topology based on their effective coordination with Cu ions. Interestingly, these novel 3D POM-based MCFs exhibit good electrochemical performance in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) as anode materials, with first discharge capacities of ca. 1620 and 1245 mA h g−1 for 1 and 2, respectively, at a current density of 100 mA g−1, and stabilized discharge capacities of ca. 570 mA h g−1 for 1 and 426 mA h g−1 for 2 after 100 cycles. This, in combination with their high thermal stability, suggests their good LIB application potential.


The role of inhalation behaviors as predictors of nicotine uptake was examined in the Pennsylvania Adult Smoking Study (2012-2014), a study of 332 adults whose cigarette smoking was measured in a naturalistic environment (e.g., at home) with portable handheld topography devices. Piecewise regression analyses showed that levels of salivary cotinine, trans-3'-hydroxycotinine, and total salivary nicotine metabolites (cotinine + trans-3'-hydroxycotinine) increased linearly up to a level of about 1 pack per day (20 cigarettes per day (CPD)) (P < 0.01). Total daily puff volume (TDPV; in mL) (P < 0.05) and total daily number of puffs (P < 0.05), but not other topographical measures, increased linearly with CPD up to a level of about 1 pack per day. The mean level of cotinine per cigarette did not change above 20 CPD and was 36% lower in heavy smokers (≥20 CPD) than in lighter smokers (<20 CPD) (15.6 ng/mL vs. 24.5 ng/mL, respectively; P < 0.01). Mediation models showed that TDPV accounted for 43%-63% of the association between CPD and nicotine metabolites for smokers of <20 CPD. TDPV was the best predictor of nicotine metabolite levels in light-to-moderate smokers (1-19 CPD). In contrast, neither CPD, total daily number of puffs, nor TDPV predicted nicotine metabolite levels above 20 CPD (up to 40 CPD). Finally, although light smokers are traditionally considered less dependent on nicotine, these findings suggest that they are exposed to more nicotine per cigarette than are heavy smokers due to more frequent, intensive puffing.


Teach the course YOU want in LESS TIME! The primary goal of the GO! Series, aside from teaching computer applications, is ease of implementation, with an approach that is based on clearly-defined projects for students and a one of a kind supplements package. **This specific ISBN is just for the Go! with Microsoft Office 2010 Volume 1 book which includes a Student Resource CD as part of the book. Other resources available include the Student Companion Website which is available to anyone who goes to www.pearsonhighered.com/go and does not require a GO! book purchase to have access to its resources. To order a myitlab student access code with this book, order value pack ISBN: 0132570335. This package includes: Go! with Microsoft Office 2010 Volume 1 w/ Student Resource CDs myitlab for Go! with Microsoft Office 2010 (Student Access Code Card)


The impact of renewable energy sources on today's energy supply substantiates the importance of hydrogen as an energy carrier. Hydrogen can be directly produced from solar energy and is considered a promising technology for temporary storage of electrical energy from wind turbines and photovoltaic systems. The generation of electrical energy from stored hydrogen requires highly efficient systems such as the so-called H2-Graz-Cycle, which is discussed in this paper. The H2-Graz-Cycle is a closed steam process based on the stoichiometric combustion of oxygen and hydrogen. It is shown that efficiencies of up to 51% can be achieved with the H2-Graz-Cycle even with small output powers in the range of 1.35 MWel. The process is thus particularly suitable for decentralised applications. It is further shown that the cycle efficiency can be significantly increased to a level of 75% by integrating a high temperature fuel cell into the cycle.


This research studied dolphin watching in Lovina, North Bali, Indonesia in the theoretical context of quadruple bottomline sustainability and the prism of sustainability to investigate the biological, social, economic and managerial elements of the sustainability of the industry.

This industry depends on predictable access to coastal dolphins, particularly dwarf spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris roseiventris). Dolphin watching tourism at Lovina began in the late 1980s when local artisanal fishers formed self-regulating cooperatives. Up to 179 dedicated traditional fishing vessels (jukungs) are available to take passengers to watch the cetaceans that are predictably found 3-4 km from the shore. An average of 34.5 tour boats from four dolphin associations operated for up to three hours each morning in Lovina during my data collection period (2007 to 2009), with up to about 100 tour boats per day searching for the animals during the high tourist visitation season. A school of dolphins could be surrounded by up to 83 boats (median 15.35). In an encounter, the number of boats generally outnumbered the number of dolphins (median spinner-to-boat ratio = 0.8:1).

The dolphins generally surfaced only briefly (<2 minutes) and were almost always travelling when first sighted in the mornings. Most dolphin schools were surrounded by boats, making the establishment of control units impossible. Many boats were driven erratically, making it very difficult to measure the impact of this industry on the local dolphin population. However, examination of the boatmen's conduct indicated that the operations at Lovina did not conform to accepted international norms. Most boatmen attempted to get as close as possible to the dolphins (generally much closer than the recommended 50m minimum approach distance stipulated in Australian and many other national-level regulations). During 175 scan sampling efforts over 36 days I identified 64 individual boats that displayed 'behaviours of concern' at least once.

The industry generally attracts tertiary-educated international visitors. In 2007-2009, two-thirds of the dolphin tourists came from Western countries; the rest were from Asia. Average tourist satisfaction was low to medium (7.1 on a scale of 1-10). While there was no significant difference between the average satisfaction of Western and Asian tourists, the associated variables differed. The satisfaction of Western tourists was associated with encounter management, their preferred number of surrounding boats and the number of dolphins seen. Encounter management was the only variable associated with the satisfaction of Asian tourists. Western respondents disliked the mismanagement of the dolphin tour; they considered that too many boats exhibited behaviours of concern and that the approach distances were too close. Satisfaction was positively associated with the willingness of tourists to recommend the tour to others. Western respondents who felt neutral to very comfortable with the way their boatmen managed the dolphin encounters were more likely to promote the tour. Thus the low to medium satisfaction levels of Western dolphin tourists threatened to bring negative publicity for Lovina dolphin tourism from word of mouth and other sources.

In 2007-2009, the industry attracted at least 37,000 overnight visitors per annum (~60% of Lovina's overnight tourists) who contributed up to USD 9.5 million p.a. in total direct expenditures (i.e., tickets, accommodation, meals, transportation, communication and souvenirs). At least 46% of the total direct expenditure was attributable to the dolphin watching tourism. The boatmen enjoyed an above average income but trip fees constituted only 3% of the total income generated by dolphin watching tourism; the remainder was spent on local businesses e.g., accommodation, restaurant and transport, which are the most substantial beneficiaries. As a consequence of the economic importance of this industry to the boatmen and the villages, it is important for the boatmen to improve their dolphin encounter management to meet the expectations of the highly educated international visitors. Because the industry also brings a significant economic contribution to other business sectors, the sustainability of the overall industry is very important to them. The hoteliers, restaurateurs and travel agents should also be included in the future management strategies in Lovina, including assisting the boatmen in improving their service.

Interviews with the boatmen confirmed that the industry was essentially unregulated. The boatmen were concerned about the industry's long-term sustainability, especially their encounter management practices and other operational issues such as garbage and safety. The boatmen agreed in-principle to improve their encounter management by: 1) turning off the engine/lifting the propeller, 2) keeping the boat's distance from the dolphins and 3) avoiding cutting across the dolphin's route. However, they were reluctant to limit the fleet size, very likely due to the economic importance of the industry to their livelihoods.

Reduction of the boat crowding in Lovina is important from the perspectives of animal welfare and tourist satisfaction. Replacing the jukungs with larger boats to reduce the number of boats is considered impractical from funding and organisational viewpoints. This idea is also undesirable from the cultural viewpoint and because it might reduce tourist experience. Establishing an agreed minimum approach distance would be an indirect approach to managing the number of boats and viewing duration. This strategy could be achieved by establishing an agreed maximum number of boats (15 is suggested) in a 50m perimeter for an agreed viewing time for safety, comfort and tourist experience.

The in-principle agreements established by the Lovina boatmen have not yet been implemented. Training programs should be offered to the boatmen, including how to estimate approach distance and speed limit and appropriate methods to approach the animals. Once training is completed, discussions should be directed to add more management aspects to the codes of practice (e.g., speed limitation, encounter fleet size and approach behaviours) and to codify the codes of practice e.g., by including the guideline in the local Balinese awig-awig (customary norms/rules). The guidelines could then be adopted at regency and national levels.

Several challenges and opportunities must be considered in managing the Lovina dolphin watching industry in a sustainable manner. Working with the local community in Bali requires an appreciation of the characteristics of the people of Bali, including its patriarchal nature, the traditional codification system or awig-awig and the local sustainability framework ('Tri Hita Karana'). Bali was usually conceived as a cultural tourism destination. The inclusion of cultural elements (e.g., the daily life of a dolphin boatman and the construction, repair and maintenance of the traditional outriggered wooden canoe or 'jukung') can enhance the tourist experience, increase the length of stay and reduce the focus on the dolphins themselves, which in turn could benefit the promotion of the dolphin tour and the local economy.

The biological sustainability of the dolphin watching industry in Lovina is questionable and most tourists are not very satisfied. However, because the industry is very valuable to the boatmen and the villages, the long term sustainability, viability and health of the dolphins are a priority to a socially and economically sustainable industry. Consequently, the industry needs to be sustainably managed with the consent and involvement of all boatmen and other supporting stakeholders. Despite the current concerns over its sustainability, the Lovina dolphin watching industry could potentially become an exemplar of community-based tourism in a developing country that is successfully co-managed from multiple perspectives. The four elements of sustainability used in this research provided valuable insights into the industry and should be applicable to other studies designed to inform sustainable marine wildlife tourism in developing countries.


A protein-DNA interface can be engineered in ways that an RNA-DNA interface cannot. Programmable TAL effector derived proteins bind DNA with a series of repeats. Each repeat binds a single DNA base. Repeats can be treated as modules, with a pair of residues in the center defining the target base. A set of 31-33 residues flanking the base specifying residues affect other DNA binding parameters. Efforts at engineering TAL effector DNA binding repeats have till now focused on the base specifying residues only. Here we show that natural repeat sequence diversity can be used to alter DNA binding strength. We generated sets of chimeric repeat arrays through a random assembly approach. These sequence diverse repeat proteins activate or repress promoters with a range of activities. Our design leaves the choice of base binding residues for each repeat open. This allows users to tune binding strength without altering sequence preference.


ABSTRACT This article examines the temporal and spatial variations in the dynamics of China's new housing investment and how they were shaped by the development of private markets and persistent state interventions. Using panel data collected for 35 cities from 1999 to 2013, it measures the price elasticity of housing investment to see how housing production responded to housing price changes. It finds that the price elasticity was about 5 from 1999 to 2008, in the range of what studies of market economies have reported. This shows that China succeeded in establishing a market-driven housing supply system. Price elasticity turned negative from 2009 to 2011, indicating a state-driven housing supply system as the Chinese state took unprecedented actions to stimulate the economy in response to the global financial crisis. Elasticity remained negative in 2012 and 2013 but at a reduced scale. Meanwhile, housing investment became much larger after 2008 than before. These changes show that China's stimulus measures had lasting impacts on the housing industry. Price elasticity is also found to be lower in the eastern region than in the other regions, indicating constraints in the region's housing production. These findings have important implications in our understanding of Chinese housing markets and housing policies.


Accurate representation of cloud microphysical processes in numerical weather and climate models has proven challenging, in part because of the highly specialized instrumentation required for diagnosing errors in simulated distributions of hydrometeors. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric radio occultation (PRO) is a promising new technique that is sensitive to hydrometeors and has the potential to help address these challenges by providing microphysical observations that are relevant to larger spatial scales, especially if this type of observing system can be implemented on aircraft that can target heavy precipitation events. Two numerical experiments were run using a mesoscale model configured with two different microphysical parameterization schemes for a very intense atmospheric river (AR) event that was sampled by aircraft deploying dropsondes just before it made landfall in California, during the CalWater 2015 field campaign. The numerical experiments were used to simulate profiles of airborne polarimetric differential phase delay observations. The differential phase delay due to liquid water hydrometeors below the freezing level differed significantly in the two experiments, as well as the height of the maximum differential phase delay due to all hydrometeors combined. These results suggest that PRO observations from aircraft have the potential to contribute to validating and improving the representation of microphysical processes in numerical weather forecasts once these observations become available.


Background The relation between serum total cholesterol (TC) and cardiovascular disease in women and in the elderly is unclear, especially in Asian populations. Methods and Results We examined this relation in the largest-scale pooled analysis of the Japanese population, the Evidence for Cardiovascular Prevention from Observational Cohorts in Japan (EPOCH-JAPAN) study. A total of 65 594 participants who were 40 to 89 years of age and did not have a past history of cardiovascular disease were examined. Cox proportional-hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios for death from total stroke, cerebral infarction, intracranial cerebral hemorrhage, or coronary heart disease. The mean follow-up period was 10.1 years, with the number of deaths from total stroke, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, and coronary heart disease being 875, 457, 212, and 374, respectively. The participants were divided into 2 age groups: middle-aged (40 to 69 years; mean age 55 years) and elderly (70 to 89 years; mean age 75 years). In men, the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios for coronary heart disease in the highest TC category (≥6.21 mmol/L) compared with the lowest category (<4.14 mmol/L) were 2.52 (95% confidence interval: 1.15–5.07) in middle-aged participants and 2.77 (1.09–7.03) in elderly participants. In women, the hazard ratios of the highest TC category (≥6.72 mmol/L) compared with the lowest category (<4.66 mmol/L) were 3.20 (1.44–7.09) in middle-aged participants and 1.02 (0.42–2.49) in elderly participants. TC levels were not associated with cerebral infarction in any age or sex group and were associated negatively with total stroke and cerebral hemorrhage. Conclusion High serum TC levels are associated with coronary heart disease in middle-aged Japanese men and women, but evidence in elderly Japanese individuals is still limited.


The subject of this thesis is a group of emergent leading firms in developing countries
pursuing a 'dual frontier', achieving technology supremacy and establishing market
autonomy, and entering a newly emerging market in the context of the latter half of the
20th century. Whilst the previous literature on catching-up and transition generally
centres on the area of technological development of latecomer firms, this thesis extends
the scope of analysis to a broader issue of technological development and marketing
strategies of latecomer firms in transition. The thesis builds upon two different streams
of literature: first the catching-up process in latecomer firms for the theoretical and
empirical rationales, and second the boundaries of a firm and inter-firm coordination in
technological frontier firms for the theoretical guidance to a systematic analysis.

Using industry case studies of the Korean mobile handset manufacturers Samsung and
LG Electronics, the thesis first shows that there could be windows of opportunity
available for international technology transfer to emergent leading firms in the emerging
stage of a new industry from competition to achieve a dominant compatibility standard
among technology leaders. However, the research stresses that the characteristic of these
technologies is cutting-edge but technologically incomplete and commercially unproven,
which highlights the importance of previous experience and capacity for successful
commercialisation.

Moreover, the thesis shows that Korean firms pursuing a dual frontier overcame their
uneven development between technological and marketing capabilities through
intensive inter-firm collaborations with intermediary users, that is Mobile Network
Operators (MNOs). In the thesis, it is stressed that Korean firms competed against
technology leaders like Nokia in export markets by complementing weak marketing
capabilities based on continuous collaborations with MNOs, evolving from von
Hippelian to Teecean inter-firm relationships.

Lastly, the thesis introduces to the literature on industry organisation a new form of an
outsourcing organisation, termed a 'contract developer' (CD), which has been identified
as a group of firms that is unilaterally specialised in, and that carries out development
outsourcing projects for, mobile handset Own Brand Manufacturers (OBMs). The thesis
reveals that CDs emerged from the industry shake-out and the co-specialised structure
between mobile handset OBMs and MNOs in the industry and served as one of main
mechanisms that supported the successful globalisation of the Korean firms.

Therefore, the thesis argues that the key strategy that Korean emergent leading firms
adopted to compete at the world frontier can be described as a 'quasi' extension of firm
boundaries in terms of development resources (the CDs) and in terms of downstream
capabilities (the MNOs).


Over the last few years, third-party ownership of soccer players ("TPO") has become controversial. TPO is a mechanism through which a soccer club assigns a player's economic rights, including the right to benefit from transfer fees every time the player is transferred to another club, to third-party investors in return for a financial counterpart. Considering that TPO threatens the integrity of sporting competitions, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association ("FIFA") eventually banned TPO in 2015. On 20 February 2018, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court rendered decision 4A_260/2017 addressing two important legal issues in this context: (i) the legality of the prohibition of TPO and (ii) the independence of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (the "CAS") towards FIFA. In this decision, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal from the Belgian club RFC Seraing against a CAS award confirming the validity under European and Swiss law of Articles 18bis and 18ter of the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players ("RSTP"), which prohibit TPO agreements.


No industry save financial services has been harder hit by the current recession than the automobile industry. Employment in the US auto industry dropped 9 percent between 2007 and 2008, while auto sales fell 18 percent over the same period. The credit freeze has only added to the distress, since financing is required for most vehicle purchases. These have rippled throughout the economy, jeopardizing jobs at the automakers themselves and in numerous dependent firms, such as parts manufacturers. Similar downturns have hit automakers and their supporting industries around the globe. In response to these troubles, the major US automakers--General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler--have appealed to the government for financial aid, and they are now seeking an additional $20 billion. A variety of measures to support the auto industry have been debated, including using funds from the Trouble Assets Relief Program to assist the financing arms of the automakers, tax credits for new vehicle purchases, and bailouts of auto-parts firms. Countries in North America, Europe, and Asia with large auto industries have considered similar proposals. Concerns have been raised regarding whether these plans violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and what effects they may have on world trade. Claire Brunel and Gary Clyde Hufbauer consider auto-bailout proposals in the United States and abroad and examine whether these plans are WTO compliant. While a WTO case could be brought under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures, this is unlikely both because of the environmental requirements of the bailouts and because most countries that could potentially bring a case against the United States subsidize their own auto industries. Another possibility is that a US firm could bring a case against a foreign automaker under US countervailing duty laws. A successful case, however, is unlikely to lead to the elimination of the contested subsidy, but would instead establish a duty on exports from the country in question, further fragmenting world trade. This highlights the ultimate danger of auto bailouts and aid: The auto industry, much like shipbuilding and steel, may gradually leave the realm of WTO disciplines, with large-scale subsidies becoming the norm. If an important industry like autos can remove itself from WTO disciplines, a dangerous precedent would be set and the world trading system seriously weakened.


Negotiation scenarios involving nonlinear utility functions are specially challenging, because traditional negotiation mechanisms cannot be applied. Even mechanisms designed and proven useful for nonlinear utility spaces may fail if the utility space is highly nonlinear. For example, although both contract sampling and constraint sampling have been successfully used in auction based negotiations with constraint-based utility spaces, they tend to fail in highly nonlinear utility scenarios. In this paper, we will show that the performance of these approaches decrease drastically in highly nonlinear utility scenarios, and propose a mechanism which balances utility and deal probability for the bidding and deal identification processes. The experiments show that the proposed mechanisms yield better results than the previous approaches in highly nonlinear negotiation scenarios.


Containment has been salient in intellectual and policy debates for 60 years. It informed US foreign policy towards the USSR and, later, the so-called rogue states. The endurance of containment beyond the Cold War suggests that it possesses the quality of transferability: the capacity of a grand strategy from the past to transcend the circumstances that gave rise to it, to suggest what should be emulated and what avoided in future policies. Drawing on the notion of transferability and on the method of structured, focused comparison, this article uses Israel's foreign policy towards Hezbollah and Hamas to argue that containment is transferable from the state level to a state/territorial transnational actor (TNA) relationship, albeit with permutations. This argument is examined in relation to four issues: the circumstances under which containment arises; its applicability to territorial TNA; the objectives sought by implementing containment; and the role of legitimacy as a component of containment. In so doing the article seeks to make a contribution to the debate on containment. While there is a rich literature on state containment, research on containing territorial TNA is extremely limited.


The author believes that average performance calculations do not provide an adequate method for evaluating bus performance and making engineering design decisions in the presence of bursty traffic, because bursty traffic significantly changes those factors that most impact on bus performance. It has been found that very subtle changes may have significant impact on bus performance in unexpected ways. An example is the choice of when to reset the token rotation timers to achieve optimum priority performance. During the PAVE PILLAR program, the Collins Government Avionics Division of Rockwell International recommended that the timers be reset when the token arrives. Others recommended that the timers be reset when the token is sent. The author discusses the reasons for the original recommendation, how a simulation failed to confirm those original conclusions, and how a few simple equations have since been derived which have led to a new set of conclusions. Subtle points pertaining to high-speed data bus characteristics that affect bus performance are discussed.<<ETX>>


In our everyday lives we regularly engage in complex, personalized, and adaptive interactions with our peers. To recreate the same kind of rich, human-like interactions, a social robot should be aware of our needs and affective states and continuously adapt its behavior to them. Our proposed solution is to have the robot learn how to select the behaviors that would maximize the pleasantness of the interaction for its peers. To make the robot autonomous in its decision making, this process could be guided by an internal motivation system. We wish to investigate how an adaptive robotic framework of this kind would function and personalize to different users. We also wish to explore whether the adaptability and personalization would bring any additional richness to the human-robot interaction (HRI), or whether it would instead bring uncertainty and unpredictability that would not be accepted by the robot's human peers. To this end, we designed a socially adaptive framework for the humanoid robot iCub. As a result, the robot perceives and reuses the affective and interactive signals from the person as input for the adaptation based on internal social motivation. We strive to investigate the value of the generated adaptation in our framework in the context of HRI. In particular, we compare how users will experience interaction with an adaptive versus a non-adaptive social robot. To address these questions, we propose a comparative interaction study with iCub whereby users act as the robot's caretaker, and iCub's social adaptation is guided by an internal comfort level that varies with the stimuli that iCub receives from its caretaker. We investigate and compare how iCub's internal dynamics would be perceived by people, both in a condition when iCub does not personalize its behavior to the person, and in a condition where it is instead adaptive. Finally, we establish the potential benefits that an adaptive framework could bring to the context of repeated interactions with a humanoid robot.


In recent years, "data privacy" has vaulted to the forefront of public attention. Scholars, policymakers and the media have, nearly in unison, decried the lack of data privacy in the modern world. In response, they have put forth various proposals to remedy the situation, from the imposition of fiduciary obligations on technology platforms to the creation of rights to be forgotten for individuals. All of these proposals, however, share one essential assumption: we must raise greater protective barriers around data. As a scholar of corporate finance and a scholar of corporate law, respectively, we find this assumption problematic. Data, after all, is simply information, and information can be used for beneficial purposes as well as harmful ones. Just as it can be used to discriminate and to embarrass, information can be used to empower and to improve. And while data privacy is often pitched at ending unauthorized data sharing, it all too often leads simply to the end of data sharing, period. This comes at a cost. Data silos can inhibit consumer choice, protect the positions of powerful incumbents, and reduce the efficiency of markets. The best example of these costs comes from the financial industry. For more than a century, banks and other financial institutions have built their information technology systems to keep financial records as private and non-shareable as possible. While security concerns can be a primary reason for such closed systems, banks also understand that financial data is an advantage that can protect them from market entry and competition. Banks can hold up consumers with unfavorable rates and inferior products as a result, and a set of market failures make it difficult for consumers to opt out. First, information asymmetries between consumers and financial institutions are large and difficult to resolve. Second, search and switch costs — the difficulty of finding out more information about the risks and benefits of financial products and of switching to a better financial service — are high in the financial industry. Finally, individuals struggle to take advantage of even simple financial strategies as they struggle to save, borrow, and invest. Data sharing can help resolve these problems. The emergence of a new regulatory and technological framework called "open banking" raises the possibility of consumers being able to task trusted intermediaries with automatically analyzing their financial data, nudging them to achieve their goals, and switching them to better products, all in order to reduce the substantial inefficiencies in their financial lives. There is one problem, however. A combination of market failure and regulatory ambiguity has led to a situation in which data is limited, siloed, and inaccessible, thereby preventing individuals from using their data in efficient ways. Ultimately, this Article contends, resolving these problems will require us to replace the clarion call of "data privacy" with a new, more comprehensive concept, that of "data autonomy," the ability of individuals to have control over their data. Data autonomy would balance the need for data to be protected and secure with the need for it to be accessible and shareable. In this Article, we lay out a set of key principles that would grant individuals a legal right to data autonomy, including a right of ownership over data as well as obligations on institutions to safely share standardized and inter-operable data with third parties that consumers so choose. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the only way of expanding consumer welfare and protection today is by breaking down the barriers of data privacy.


Quality Diversity (QD) has emerged as a powerful alternative optimization paradigm that aims at generating large and diverse collections of solutions, notably with its flagship algorithm MAP-ELITES (ME) which evolves solutions through mutations and crossovers. While very effective for some unstructured problems, early ME implementations relied exclusively on random search to evolve the population of solutions, rendering them notoriously sample-inefficient for high-dimensional problems, such as when evolving neural networks. Follow-up works considered exploiting gradient information to guide the search in order to address these shortcomings through techniques borrowed from either Black-Box Optimization (BBO) or Reinforcement Learning (RL). While mixing RL techniques with ME unlocked state-of-the-art performance for robotics control problems that require a good amount of exploration, it also plagued these ME variants with limitations common among RL algorithms that ME was free of, such as hyperparameter sensitivity, high stochasticity as well as training instability, including when the population size increases as some components are shared across the population in recent approaches. Furthermore, existing approaches mixing ME with RL tend to be tied to a specific RL algorithm, which effectively prevents their use on problems where the corresponding RL algorithm fails. To address these shortcomings, we introduce a flexible framework that allows the use of any RL algorithm and alleviates the aforementioned limitations by evolving populations of agents (whose definition include hyperparameters and all learnable parameters) instead of just policies. We demonstrate the benefits brought about by our framework through extensive numerical experiments on a number of robotics control problems, some of which with deceptive rewards, taken from the QD-RL literature.


We present an experimental and theoretical study of GaInAs(Sb)N layers with thickness around 2 μm, grown by liquid-phase epitaxy (LPE) on n-type GaAs substrates. The samples are studied by surface photovoltage (SPV) spectroscopy and by photoluminescence spectroscopy. A theoretical model for the band structure of Sb-containing dilute nitrides is developed within the semi-empirical tight-binding approach in the sp3d5s*sN parameterisation and is used to calculate the electronic structure for different alloy compositions. The SPV spectra measured at room temperature clearly show a red shift of the absorption edge with respect to the absorption of the GaAs substrate. The shifts are in agreement with theoretical calculations results obtained for In, Sb and N concentrations corresponding to the experimentally determined ones. Photoluminescence measurements performed at 300K and 2 K show a smaller red shift of the emission energy with respect to GaAs as compared to the SPV results. The differences are explained by a tail of slow defect states below the conduction band edge, which are probed by SPV, but are less active in the PL experiment.


An iron-regulated ubiquitin ligase targets exogenous α-synuclein for degradation and counteracts Lewy body–like pathology in preclinical models. Promoting αSyn elimination Lewy bodies (LBs) are protein aggregates found in the brain of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) that contribute to disease progression. α-Synuclein (αSyn) aggregates accumulate into LBs; however, the mechanisms mediating αSyn internalization and intracellular accumulation are not completely elucidated. Here, Gerez et al. showed that insoluble αSyn fibrils, but not monomers or small oligomers, were internalized and accumulated in neuronal cells. Upon internalization, a specific iron-regulated ubiquitin ligase mediated αSyn fibril degradation. Promoting this ubiquitinization counteracted LB formation and spreading in mouse models of αSyn accumulation. The results suggest that the ubiquitin complex described here might be a potential target for treating disorders associated with LB formation. Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurological disorder characterized by the progressive accumulation of neuronal α-synuclein (αSyn) inclusions called Lewy bodies. It is believed that Lewy bodies spread throughout the nervous system due to the cell-to-cell propagation of αSyn via cycles of secretion and uptake. Here, we investigated the internalization and intracellular accumulation of exogenous αSyn, two key steps of Lewy body pathogenesis, amplification and spreading. We found that stable αSyn fibrils substantially accumulate in different cell lines upon internalization, whereas αSyn monomers, oligomers, and dissociable fibrils do not. Our data indicate that the uptake-mediated accumulation of αSyn in a human-derived neuroblastoma cell line triggered an adaptive response that involved proteins linked to ubiquitin ligases of the S-phase kinase-associated protein 1 (SKP1), cullin-1 (Cul1), and F-box domain–containing protein (SCF) family. We found that SKP1, Cul1, and the F-box/LRR repeat protein 5 (FBXL5) colocalized and physically interacted with internalized αSyn in cultured cells. Moreover, the SCF containing the F-box protein FBXL5 (SCFFBXL5) catalyzed αSyn ubiquitination in reconstitution experiments in vitro using recombinant proteins and in cultured cells. In the human brain, SKP1 and Cul1 were recruited into Lewy bodies from brainstem and neocortex of patients with PD and related neurological disorders. In both transgenic and nontransgenic mice, intracerebral administration of exogenous αSyn fibrils triggered a Lewy body–like pathology, which was amplified by SKP1 or FBXL5 loss of function. Our data thus indicate that SCFFXBL5 regulates αSyn in vivo and that SCF ligases may constitute targets for the treatment of PD and other α-synucleinopathies.


Purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was to examine single-gender groupings for sixth grade mathematics classes as a strategy to improve student achievement. The method of research was quantitative, with MAP mathematics test data being used to determine if any relationship exists between the strategy and student achievement. Findings. From this study a firm conclusion about the value of single-gender classes is problematic. While the experimental group appeared to make a difference in the basic statistical analyses, the fact that the findings were not significant when a proxy measure for poverty (free and reduced lunch) and gender are both added to the statistical formulae raise substantial concerns about the value of single-gender classes. Further research is needed to better clarify the true value of single-gender classes compared to mixed-gender issues.


A simple method for reconstructing a two-dimensional image from power spectral data is proposed. By locating the points at which the Fourier intensity data are zero, we use a product of point-zero factors to approximate the complex spectrum. A simple iterative method then successfully refines this phase estimate.


We present a method to systematically study multi-photon transmission in one dimensional systems comprised of correlated quantum emitters coupled to input and output waveguides. Within the Green's function approach of the scattering matrix (S-matrix), we develop a diagrammatic technique to analytically obtain the system's scattering amplitudes while at the same time visualise all the possible absorption and emission processes. Our method helps to reduce the significant effort in finding the general response of a many-body bosonic system, particularly the nonlinear response embedded in the Green's functions. We demonstrate our proposal through physically relevant examples involving scattering of multi-photon states from two-level emitters as well as from arrays of correlated Kerr nonlinear resonators in the Bose-Hubbard model.


Traditionally many systems subjected public employees to a separate and more restrictive labour law regime than their private sector counterparts. However, these status-based restrictions were generally modified or abandoned during the 1960s and 1970s. Greater homogeneity of treatment of public and private sector workers was also subsequently reflected in employment practices in Britain and elsewhere as a product of the 'marketization' of public services, a strategy which involved replacing centralized regulation by greater local determination in accordance with 'business' needs. More radically, the provision of some public services was removed from the public sector altogether, either by contracting out particular elements of the service or by wholesale privatization, subject to some form of regulatory regime. These changes may appear to render otiose discussion of the case for special treatment of the employment relation in public services. This article expounds the proposition that, on the contrary, public services possess distinctive qualities which necessitate regulation of the employment relationship within those services in areas beyond those covered by the general law, and aims to provide a framework within which the justification for specific additional measures can be assessed. The article also considers the further questions which need to be addressed if the framework it proposes is accepted, including, in particular, the appropriate mechanisms for imposing and enforcing regulation.


This thesis studies two different approaches to extracting information from collections of phylogenetic trees: supertrees and reduced consensus. Supertree methods combine the phylogenetic information from multiple partially-overlapping trees into a larger phylogenetic tree called a supertree. Several supertree construction methods have been proposed to date, but most of these are not designed with any specific properties in mind. Recently, Cotton and Wilkinson proposed extensions of the majority-rule consensus tree method to the supertree setting that inherit many of the appealing properties of the former.
We study a variant of one of Cotton and Wilkinson's methods, called majority-rule (+) supertrees. After proving that a key underlying problem for constructing majority-rule (+) supertrees is NP-hard, we develop a polynomial-size exact integer linear programming formulation of the problem. We then present a data reduction heuristic that identifies smaller subproblems that can be solved independently. While this technique is not guaranteed to produce optimal solutions, it can achieve substantial problem-size reduction. Finally, we report on a computational study of our approach on various real data sets, including the 121-taxon, 7-tree Seabirds data set of Kennedy and Page. The results indicate that our exact method is computationally feasible for moderately large inputs. For larger inputs, our data reduction heuristic makes it feasible to tackle problems that are well beyond the range of the basic integer programming approach. Comparisons between the results obtained by our heuristic and exact solutions indicate that the heuristic produces good answers. Our results also suggest that the majority-rule (+) approach, in both its basic form and with data reduction, yields biologically meaningful phylogenies.
Generalizations of the strict and loose consensus methods to the supertree setting, recently introduced by McMorris and Wilkinson, are studied. The supertrees these methods produce are conservative in the sense that they only preserve information (in the form of splits) that is supported by at least one the input trees and that is not contradicted by any of the input trees. Alternative, equivalent, formulations of these supertrees are developed. These are used to prove the NP-completeness of the underlying optimization problems and to give exact integer linear programming solutions. For larger data sets, a divide and conquer approach is adopted, based on the structural properties of these supertrees. Experiments show that it is feasible to solve problems with several hundred taxa and several hundred trees in a reasonable amount of time.
A rogue taxon in a collection of phylogenetic trees is one whose position varies drastically from tree to tree. The presence of such taxa can greatly reduce the resolution of the consensus tree (e.g., the majority-rule or strict consensus) for a collection. The reduced consensus approach aims to identify rogue taxa and to produce more informative consensus trees. Given a collection of phylogenetic trees over the same leaf set, the goal is to find a set of taxa whose removal maximizes the number of internal edges in the consensus tree of the collection. This problem is proven to be NP-hard for strict and majority-rule consensus. We describe exact integer linear programming formulations for computing reduced strict, majority and loose consensus trees. In experimental tests, our exact solutions show significant improvement over heuristic methods on several problem instances.


The article describes the experience of the Brazilian government in the organization of food and nutrition actions in primary healthcare. The actions are developed by food and nutrition surveillance personnel having the Food and Nutrition Surveillance System as its main tool; Actions of Health and Healthy Food Habits Promotion, with the implementation of the Brazilian Food Guide; National Strategy for Healthy Complementary Feeding; Health at School Program; and actions for the prevention and control of obesity, non-communicable chronic diseases and micronutrient deficiencies, with special focus on iron-deficiency anemia and vitamin A deficiency. The actions related to food and nutrition in primary healthcare were strengthened by the inclusion of a dietician in the Family Health Support Teams - multidisciplinary teams that guarantee that primary healthcare teams have access to primary, secondary and tertiary food and nutrition actions. Intersectoral cooperation is one of the components of food and nutrition actions in primary healthcare, providing care to the families that receive financial aid (Bolsa Familia) and combining the actions of the different sectors (health, education, social assistance and labor) in the territory. The challenge is the consolidation, expansion and universalization of the actions proposed for primary care in Brazil.


Raman spectroscopy is valuable characterization technique for the chemical analysis of heterogeneous catalysts, both under ex-situ and in-situ conditions. The potential for Raman to shine light on the chemical bonds present in a sample makes the method highly desirable for detailed catalyst characterization, however the weak nature of Raman scattering inhibits its wider use in catalysis. The use of Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) to overcome the inherently low signal intensity found with traditional Raman spectroscopy allows signal enhancements of up to 108 times. The large signal enhancement allows the detection of very low concentrations of reactant and/or product. Alternatively, the spatial resolution of activity studies can be increased dramatically on the basis of the same effect. Three distinct scientific approaches were taken to improve the applicability of SERS even further. Time-Resolved Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TR-SERS) was used to measure the chemical composition of a sample at different depths underneath the surface. An integrated Atomic Force Microscope and Raman Spectrometer (AFM-Raman) was developed to enable the simultaneous measurement of chemical information and nanoscale morphology of a sample. The AFM-Raman system has temperature and gas-atmosphere control, allowing surface studies under in-situ conditions. Shell Isolated Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SHINERS), a new form of silica-coated, SERS-enhancing nanoparticles, were examined with the eventual aim of extracting more chemical information from catalytic systems through the use of either gold or silver nanoparticles as SERS substrates. The trio of characterization methodologies all work towards one common goal: extending the applicability of SERS for heterogeneous catalysis research. The TRRS/TR-SERS and AFM-Raman techniques are both aimed at improving the spatial resolution of the chemical information, though on different scales. AFM-Raman is suited to the study of nanoscale heterogeneities in model catalyst samples, whilst TRRS/TR-SERS is applicable to depth-dependent heterogeneity in the larger catalyst bodies that are practically used in chemical reactors. The use of SHINERS with either of the spatial Raman techniques adds an extra dimension, allowing the comparison of the effect of exposed and unexposed noble metal nanoparticles on a reaction. The main advantage of SHINERS in in-situ analysis will be their increased thermal stability and inert surface, which should make it possible to apply SERS in a wide variety of catalytic studies without interfering with the chemistry. Raman spectroscopy is already known as a powerful tool for heterogeneous catalysis research, and SERS will surely join that list in its own right very shortly. The speed at which scientific and technological advances are being made both with varied forms of SERS substrates and the combination technique possibilities such as AFM-Raman, makes this an exciting time to be part of this field of research. It is surely only a matter of time before true surface generality and spectral reproducibility are achieved for SERS, leading to the ultimate goal of following the reaction of a single molecule over an industrially relevant catalyst surface under realistic reaction conditions


The goal of this study is to further corroborate a hypothesized  population parameter for the frequencies of social presence versus the sum of teaching presence and cognitive presence as defined by the community of inquiry model in higher education asynchronous course forums. This parameter has been found across five variables: academic institution (distance university vs. campus-based college), academic discipline (exact sciences vs. humanities), academic level (graduate vs. undergraduate), course level (introduction vs. regular vs. advanced), and course size (small vs. medium vs. large), that is, the number of students enrolled. To date, the quantitative content analyses have been carried out using the syntactic unit of message. In an attempt to further establish the parameter's goodness-of-fit, it is now tested across two different syntactic units, message versus sentence. To do so, the same three-week segments from 15 Open University undergraduate course forums (10 from humanities and five from exact sciences) were analyzed twice—once by the unit message and once by the unit sentence. We found that the hypothesized parameter remained viable when the unit of analysis is the sentence. We also found that the choice of syntactic unit is indeed a critical factor that determines the "content" of the transcript and its inferred meaning.


This thesis is about the discretionary role of the line manager in inspiring the work engagement of staff and their resulting innovative behaviour examined through the lens of Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) and the Job Demands-Resources theory (Bakker, Demerouti, Nachreiner & Schaufeli, 2001). The study is focused on a large British Public Sector organisation undergoing a major organisational shift in the way in which they operate as part of the public sector. It is often claimed that people do not leave organisations; they leave line managers (Kozlowski & Doherty, 1989). Regardless of the knowledge in the literature concerning the importance of the line manager in organisations (Purcell, 2003), the engagement literature in particular is lacking in the consideration of such a fundamental figure in organisational life. Further, the understanding of the black box of managerial discretion and its relationship to employee and organisation related outcomes would benefit from greater exploration (Purcell, 2003; Gerhart, 2005; Scott, et al, 2009). The purpose of this research is to address these gaps with relation to the innovative behaviour of employees in the public sector – an area that is not typically associated with the public sector (Bhatta, 2003; McGuire, Stoner & Mylona, 2008; Hughes, Moore & Kataria, 2011). The study is a CASE Award PhD thesis, requiring academic and practical elements to the research. The study is of one case organisation, focusing on one service characterised by a high level of adoption of Strategic Human Resource Management activities and operating in a rather unique manner for the public sector, having private sector competition for work. The study involved a mixed methods approach to data collection. Preliminary focus groups with 45 participants were conducted, followed by an ethnographic period of five months embedded into the service conducting interviews and observations. This culminated in a quantitative survey delivered within the wider directorate to approximately 500 staff members. The study used aspects of the Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) approach to analyse the data and developed results that highlight the importance of the line manager in an area characterised by SHRM and organisational change for engaging employees and encouraging innovative behaviour. This survey was completed on behalf of the organisation and the findings of this are presented in appendix 1, in order to keep the focus of the PhD on theory development. Implications for theory and practice are discussed alongside the core finding. Line managers' discretion surrounding the provision of job resources (in particular trust, autonomy and implementation and interpretation of combined bundles of SHRM policies and procedures) influenced the exchange process by which employees responded with work engagement and innovative behaviour. Limitations to the research are the limitations commonly attributed to cross-sectional data collection methods and those surrounding generalisability of the qualitative findings outside of the contextual factors characterising the service area. Suggestions for future research involve addressing these limitations and further exploration of the discretionary role with regards to extending our understanding of line manager discretion.


Traumatic life experiences in childhood, particularly sexual and physical assault and abuse, have been consistently related to poor physical and mental health outcomes later in life. There is some evidence linking such childhood trauma to subsequent medically unexplained, or "functional," abdominal pain (FAP). However, the clinical significance and course of the symptomology within this relationship have yet to be fully understood. To examine this, the current study followed a cohort of pediatric FAP patients from childhood into adolescence and young adulthood. We hypothesized that, at the time of the long-term follow-up, adolescents and young adults who reported a history of trauma would be more likely than those without a history of trauma to report clinically significant abdominal pain as defined by the Rome III diagnostic criteria for an abdominal pain-related functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID). We also hypothesized that, among individuals who met criteria for an FGID at follow-up, those who reported a history of trauma would be at increased risk for developing psychiatric comorbidities and additional sites of chronic pain beyond the gastrointestinal system. Results supported both hypotheses, suggesting that trauma may contribute to the persistence of clinically significant FAP over time. Implications of these findings and directions for future research will be discussed.


Optical frequency shift keying (FSK) homodyne detection utilizing image rejection in FSK/amplitude shift keying (ASK) re-modulation wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network (WDM-PON) is proposed and demonstrated. Image rejection is adopted to achieve better performance. We show the result in back-to-back and 40-km distance respectively and apparent improvement is obtained in the latter situation by using image rejection. Several factors which affect the image rejection receiver are analyzed in order to find out the optimum parameters. Result shows that the presented scheme is suitable for super long reach access network, especially for future metro access network.


Product derivation from a product line model is a central activity in product line requirements engineering. A product line framework and/or approach should provide sophisticated visualization and product derivation support, otherwise large product lines become very hard to handle. In this paper we first present how we can benefit from existing single-system visualization techniques in product lines. Then we introduce new visualization aids and concepts that support the analysis of variability and the derivation of products in software product line engineering. We expect that these new visual support mechanisms will significantly ease the work of stakeholders and requirements engineers when negotiating a new product based on a software product line.


The growing integration and participation of the Jewish population in politics, society, culture arts and religion shaped these spheres in Vienna during the time of the First Republic. Social dynamics of the young democracy, interplay of the different Jewish milieus, immigration from Eastern and Southeastern Europe as well as the growing cultural links with Berlin, Budapest, Paris and Prague made Austrian-Jewish culture in all areas of the development of the city of Vienna highly influential. Antidemocratic tendencies, especially antisemitism, influenced both the discourses on current events and inner-Jewish debates such as the role of Jewish religion, acculturation and Zionism. The publication "Wien und die judische Erfahrung 1900 - 1938. Akkulturation - Antisemitismus, Zionismus" initiated by Univ.-Prof. Frank Stern and Mag. Barbara Eichinger from the Institute for Contemporary History, University of Vienna, shows the state of the art of research on this subject. The publications focus placed on the current interdisciplinary inclusion of Austrian-Jewish cultural history. The volume of approx. 400 pages presents up-to-date research papers by the contributors as well as an academic discourse among the authors. In order to make this discourse possible, the editors organised a four day international conference in March 2007, where academics presented their research in themed panels and discussed them in an interdisciplinary framework with other experts. The contributions to this volume present this research takting into consideration the discussions among the colleagues at the conference. Those authors who did not participate in the conference and are partly working at American universities (a.o. Harriet Pass Freidenreich, Sander Gilman) provide an insight into current US American research on the subject. The contributions in German and English by 29 authors are organized into the following subject areas: "Society and politics between acculturation and tradition" (Steven Beller, Eleonore Lappin, Klaus Hodl, Albert Lichtblau), "Music between concert hall and film: Viennese composers of Jewish descent" (Peter Dusek, Karin Wagner), "Zionism in Vienna: between coffee house, cultural and political movement" (Dieter Hecht, Armin Eidherr, Hanno Loewy), "Cultural transfer between Vienna and Palestine/Israel" (Klaus Davidowicz, Sandra Goldstein), "Viennese Jewish milieus 1900 - 1938" (Evelyn Adunka, Peter Landesmann, Marcus G. Patka, Karin Stogner), "Women´s movements in Vienna"(Harriet Pass Freidenreich, Elisabeth Malleier, Michaela Raggam-Blesch), "Identity crises and antisemitism" (Gabriele Anderl, Elisabeth Brainin and Samy Teicher, Sander Gilman, Siegfried Mattl, Michael Laurence Miller), "Literature and theater in interwar Vienna" (Brigitte Dallinger, Werner Hanak, Birgit Peter), "The Road into the open on stage and screen (Wolfgang Muller-Funk, Murray G. Hall, Bettina Riedmann). The authors come from research centres in Belgium, Germany, Israel, the USA and Hungary as well as all current research centres on Jewish history in Austria (a.o. Institute for Jewish Studies, Vienna; Institute for History, Salzburg; Center for Jewish Cultural History, Salzburg; Institutte for the History of the Jews in Austria, St. Polten; Center for Jewish Studies, Graz; Institute of Contemporary History, Vienna; University of Performing Arts, Vienna; Institut for German Studies, Vienna; Institut for Theater, Film and Media Studies, Vienna; Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna). The volume will be published in the anniversary year 2008 with a preface by the rector of the University of Vienna, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Georg Winckler.


Groundwater is a vital water resource in many areas in the world, particularly in the Middle-East region where the water resources become scarce and depleting. Sustainable management and planning of the groundwater resources become essential and urgent given the impact of the global climate change. This research will use a new hydraulic conductivity estimation "Distributed Value Property Zones" approach, which is integrated into a state-of-the-art computer model—the Visual MODFLOW (version 4.6)—to assess the current state of groundwater resources and the risk of future water resource security in the region centred at Al-Najaf province, which is located in the mid-west of Iraq and adjacent to the Euphrates River. It will also explore and assess the groundwater aquifer-Euphrates River interaction. The impact of the interface soil layer located between the two soils of Al-Najaf region aquifer is studied, which is considered to be the second novelty in this research.

The model is calibrated both statically and dynamically. The new hydraulic conductivity approach is highly improved the calibration process, particularly the dynamic process. Where, the application of the dynamic calibration with a 16.5 mm/year recharge rate shows the best correspondence with the field observations. After considering the new approach, sensitivity analysis and validation process are also carried out to evaluate the behaviour of the model, which reveals acceptable convergence. Ignoring the interface soil layer from the conceptualisation process and considering the aquifer as one layer only has affected the model's results. Specifically, only 0.24 km2 dry area appears in the aquifer as compared with the current state's results of the groundwater aquifer when the interface soil layer is modelled. In addition, the Euphrates River leakage results are different due to the impact of the interface soil layer when compared with those results when ignoring it from the modelling process. Calibration is also affected. The calculated heads were high and dispersed when compared with those heads when the interface soil layer is modelled. This affects the accuracy and acceptability of the model's calibration results.

The results of the current state of Al-Najaf region show a general flow pattern from the west to east of the study area, which agrees well with the observations and the gradient of the ground surface. With the current discharges taken from 69 wells in the study area, a dry area is found in the top and bottom layers, which equals 39 km2 and 1.32 km2, respectively. This indicated a degree of insufficiency of water resources in the study area because the groundwater aquifer supplies only 84% of the current water demand from the pumping schedules. The computed groundwater balance shows that the Euphrates River supplies water of 5354 m3/day into the groundwater aquifer, instead of gaining water from the recharge of 23527 m3/day if no water is pumped from the wells. The predicted impact of climate change cases concludes that the largest effect on the groundwater-Euphrates River connection is when reducing the recharge rate and the western constant head. In particular, the groundwater aquifer's dry area will increase dramatically and will reach 150 km2 and 120 km2 in the top and bottom layers, respectively. The Euphrates River will also suffer hugely through the loss of 14100 m3/day due to the reduction of either the recharge rate or the western constant head. Increasing the pumping schedule for future use will also impact on both the groundwater aquifer and the Euphrates River. Reducing the Euphrates River level by 0.5m or 1m will slightly affect the leakage from the river and the study area's dryness. To control the impact on the groundwater aquifer and its connection with the Euphrates River, it is highly recommended to remove some wells from the pumping schedule and reduce the pumping rate of the other wells, and constantly monitoring the behaviour of both over time. It is expected that the results obtained from the study can provide important information for the sustainable and effective planning and management of the groundwater resources for Al-Najaf City and the surroundin


We revisit, from a statistical learning perspective, the classical decision-theoretic problem of weighted expert voting. In particular, we examine the consistency (both asymptotic and finitary) of the optimal Naive Bayes weighted majority and related rules. In the case of known expert competence levels, we give sharp error estimates for the optimal rule. We derive optimality results for our estimates and also establish some structural characterizations. When the competence levels are unknown, they must be empirically estimated. We provide frequentist and Bayesian analyses for this situation. Some of our proof techniques are non-standard and may be of independent interest. Several challenging open problems are posed, and experimental results are provided to illustrate the theory.


The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of Meta models in supporting research opportunities in information systems and conceptual modelling that are influenced by ontologies. In particular, our aim is to show the importance of Meta models for comparing and evaluating ontologies. We propose a mechanism for analysing and evaluating the Meta models of two well-known ontologies that had been used previously in information systems grammar research – the BWW representation model and Chisholm's ontology. The mechanism provides guidance for evaluating the Meta models of the two ontologies according to ontological equivalence, depth of structure, and comprehensiveness of scope of the models. In the portions of the models analysed, we found that the two models were not completely ontologically equivalent; that Chisholm's model may have a deeper structure than the BWW model; and, that the BWW model is more comprehensive in scope. These findings must be viewed mindful of the limitation that only portions of the Meta model of the full BWW representation model and Chisholm's ontology were used in this analysis.


The need for diversification manifests in various recommendation use cases. In this work, we propose a novel approach to diversifying a list of recommended items, which maximizes the utility of the items subject to the increase in their diversity. From a technical perspective, the problem can be viewed as maximization of a modular function on the polytope of a submodular function, which can be solved optimally by a greedy method. We evaluate our approach in an offline analysis, which incorporates a number of baselines and metrics, and in two online user studies. In all the experiments, our method outperforms the baseline methods.


We obtained electroretinograms (ERGs) from normal subjects and from patients with sickle cell disease. The ERG components (a-wave, b-wave, and oscillatory potentials) obtained from normal subjects and patients without peripheral retinal neovascularization did not differ in either amplitude or implicit time. However, ERG components obtained from patients with peripheral retinal neovascularization were reduced in amplitude compared with those obtained from normal subjects or patients without neovascularization. The reduced a-wave, b-wave, and oscillatory potential amplitudes may have been due to photoreceptor dysfunction secondary to choroidal ischemia or possibly increased oxygen demands by the inner retina. Ischemia of the inner retina may also have contributed to the altered b-wave and oscillatory potentials. These results suggest that ERG provides a means of assessing the consequence of peripheral retinal ischemia to retinal cell function and could be of value in monitoring patients with sickle cell disease for the development of clinically significant peripheral retinal neovascularization.


Sovereigns have a long history of defaulting on their debts. Despite the bitter lessons learned through this history, the international community has not yet developed an effective method for dealing with these events. As a result, each sovereign's debt restructuring process is likely to be conflict ridden, inefficient and to have a high probability of resulting in a sub-optimal outcome. In fact, the risk of sub-optimal outcomes has increased as financial markets have become larger and more globalized so that sovereign debtors - at least those with access to financial markets - are able to borrow from a broader range of creditors. One consequence is that sovereign debt restructurings (SODRs), are difficult, often traumatic, experiences for the sovereign debtors and their populations, and frustrating and potentially costly for their creditors. Given these high stakes, it is not surprising that efforts have been made over the past seventy years to improve the process. One recent manifestation of this effort has been the promulgation of a number of international norms and standards that either explicitly or implicitly are applicable to SODRs. Interestingly, the documents dealing with the SODR process all recognize that SODRs have substantial social and political effects in addition to their financial and economic consequences. In fact, they all appear to accept that the parties to the SODR will need to take these impacts into account in arranging a sustainable SODR. However, they do not provide detailed guidance to the parties on how they should deal with these social and political impacts in negotiating and agreeing on a sustainable SODR. This is surprising given the norms and standards that companies and states have developed for dealing with the social responsibilities of businesses, including in regard to human rights.The seeming disconnect between the developments in regard to the SODR process and to business and human rights is intriguing, particularly because many of the world's most significant financial institutions have publicly available human rights policies that, at least prima facie, are applicable to all their business operations and relations. The disconnect between these two developments raises at least two questions. First, should the human rights and business standards be applied to the SODR process. Second, if they should be applied to the SODR process, how should they be applied? The primary purpose of this article is to answer these two questions. This exercise serves three purposes. First, it will enable us to see if these human rights and business standards can add value to SODRs in the sense of reducing their human rights costs without unduly increasing their financial costs. Second, it will provide some additional insight into how easily human rights law can be adapted to financial transactions specifically and to business more generally. Third, this exercise might help us better understand how to plug the gap in global economic governance that allows different actors in global governance to develop international standards on SODR and on business and human rights on parallel tracks that do not seem to communicate with each other.


Agriculture—especially grain cultivation—informed the primary environmental ground of imperial China (221 to 1912 ce) and was ideally intended to produce human habitat from state-supervised environmental change. The consequent political and socioeconomic development of the empire and its constituent dynasties was conditioned within larger global ecological contexts that can be abbreviated as two major climate shifts, the Medieval Warm Period (MWP, c. 1000–1300 ce) and the Little Ice Age (LIA, c. 1400–1900 ce). Before 1000 ce, China likely experienced a number of less prolonged alternations of cold and warm climate, such as the Sui-Tang Warm Period (650–700 ce).
 Chinese empire's adaptations in response were rooted in agriculture, augmented by agro-pastoral and pastoral measures mainly concentrated along and above north China's steppe ecotone. Critical inputs for the sustainability of environmental relations were maintained throughout the imperial period and came from domestic and foreign sources—most critically including the fertile eroded silt of the north China Loess Plateau, the water resources of the Yellow and Yangzi river basins, a high-yield crop suite of both dryland and wet rice varieties, south China fast-growth tree species, and New World silver and highland crops. Ongoing development and exploitation of these resources across the succession of seven major—and over a dozen more localized—dynasties over two millennia allowed China's population to expand at globally unprecedented rates, numbering from tens of millions around the year 0 ce to hundreds of millions during the 18th century. In the process, biodiversity—especially that of wild growth forest habitats—was steadily reduced from north to south, successively. The empire's main resource base and population centers correspondingly relocated south of the Yangzi around the watershed Song (960–1279 ce) period, with the Grand Canal tapping both of China's major rivers to deliver southern abundance as far north as Beijing by the Yuan (1279–1368 ce). Inner and Southeast Asian peripheries came under comparable agro-commercial developmental pressure only during the Ming–Qing period (1368–1912 ce). With the onset of the 19th century, however, destabilizing environmental pressures emerged across the empire, many of them paradoxically driven by once-effective adaptations.


Wind shear induced by the velocity difference has an important effect on the stably stratified turbulent flow in the atmospheric convective boundary layer (CBL). Cases with different velocity difference are conducted by Large-eddy simulation (LES) to reveal the contribution of shear effect to entrainment. The result shows that the shear-generated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) in the entrainment layer is partially consumed by the negative buoyancy, which increases the entrainment flux minimum and enhances the entrainment flux ratio in the range of 0.188 0.352. Based on the hypothesis of the independence of the shear-generated TKE and buoyancygenerated TKE, an approach for the fraction of the shear-generated TKE available for entrainment is proposed, and the averaged fraction reaches 38.5%, but the evolution tends to increase with the enlargement of velocity difference. Article history: Received 24 September 2019 Revised 10 December 2019 Accepted 11 February 2020


Ever since the advent of industrial revolution back in the 1700s, a new plague took birth in the form of environmental degradation which was a byproduct of the industrial revolution. Over the last few centuries environmental degradation has multiplied at an alarming rate and humans are almost at the point of no return. Humanity is at a pivotal point as the issue of environmental degradation affects every living being on this planet equally. There are four primary impact points when it comes to industrialisation — air, water, soil and habitat. Human activity is the root cause of environmental degradation. Every country is working towards achieving a solution which would facilitate environment protection. Sustainable development is said to be the guiding principle of countries to prevent further environmental degradation. The subject of environmental degradation is at the forefront of global debate. Various institutions across the globe have either been tasked or taken it upon themselves to tackle this ever-growing complication. With the advancement in modern technology and understanding of the environment, efforts in various spheres are being made globally to curb this vital issue. It has been noticeable in the past few decades, governments across the globe are placing more significance on uncompromising environmental laws and its stringent enforcement to ensure preservation of the environment and its sustainable development. This research paper aimed to apply Doctrinal legal research method and focus of this research paper is to delve into such measures and laws primarily dealing with environmental degradation- I.e., environmental laws across the globe and to determine whether the existing environmental laws are adequate to combat environmental degradation; and if not, what can be done to further strengthen such laws.


The success of etoposide for the treatment of testicular cancer is limited by its undesirable side effects on reproductive system, which is generally ascribed to inflammation and oxidative stress. In the current study, the protective effects of montelukast and curcumin on etoposide-induced reproductive toxicity were investigated. Rats were divided into four groups; group 1 was kept as control. In group 2, etoposide was administered at a dose of (20 mg/kg/day, i.p) for 5 days, while in groups 3; montelukast was given at a dose of (10mg/kg/day, p.o) and in group 4; curcumin was given at a dose of (20mg/kg/day, p.o) respectively for 21 days in both groups, during that i.p. injection of etoposide (20 mg/kg/day, i.p) was injected from day 8 through day 12 in both groups. Etoposide induced oxidative stress via significant increase in MDA level and significant decrease in GSH level as well as SOD and CAT activities. Montelukast and curcumin prevented these effects through antioxidant properties. In addition, the deleterious effects of etoposide on spermatogenesis, serum testosterone level, oxidative stress, ATP, mtDNA and nDNA damage as well as histopathological changes were eliminated by montelukast or curcumin treatment, notably curcumin could normalized some of these parameters. The present study showed that montelukast and curcumin can reverse toxic effects of etoposide on the reproductive system that can be contributed due to anti-oxidant, antiinflammatory and antiapoptotic potential.