The study of how voters respond to ethnic heuristics is complicated by the possibility that candidates differ along other dimensions that affect voter choice. This paper focuses on down-ballot statewide elections in which voters are plausibly ill-informed about candidates but can still infer race and ethnicity via the informational content in their names. Using nearly two decades of election results from the state of Texas, we find evidence of voters switching party support when their party's candidate has a distinctively Hispanic name. This result is more pronounced in counties that are expected to have higher levels of racial animosity. These findings are important since holding lower statewide office is a valuable stepping stone for minority politicians who aspire to higher office.


Using NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis for aerosol optical depth (AOD) and satellite-observed carbon monoxide (CO) data, we examined the basic pattern of AOD variations over the three polar stations of Korea: the Jangbogo and King Sejong stations in Antarctica and the Dasan station in the Arctic. AOD values at the King Sejong and Dasan stations show maximum peaks in spring and appear to be associated with large amounts of atmospheric CO emitted from natural burning and biomass burning. The Jangbogo station shows a much lower AOD than the other two stations and does not appear to be strongly affected by the transport of airborne particles generated from mid-latitude regions. All three polar stations show an increasing trend in AOD in general, indicating that the polar background air quality is becoming polluted.


As part of the Thai Government's programme of rural electrification, Balfour Beatty Engineering (BBE) has been assisting the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in the development of small hydroelectric stations in the north of Thailand. The brief was interesting in that the Client allocated a study region of some 10,000 square kilometres in which several pilot projects of 1 to 3MW were to be developed. Services are being provided to assist the Client in all aspects of small-hydro development, from site identification to commissioning and operation. This paper describes the steps in the reconnaissance and feasibility studies, in 1984 and 1985, from the initial studies of 45 potential sites in the study region, leading to three projects, two of 2MW and one of 1MW, being selected for implementation as pilot projects. One of the projects is outlined as an example. Particular features in the approach by BBE and PEA to these studies are also discussed.


Using a set of $\pppm$ simulation which accurately treats the density evolution of two components of dark matter, we study the evolution of clusters in the Cold + Hot dark matter (CHDM) model. The mass function, the velocity dispersion function and the temperature function of clusters are calculated for four different epochs of $z\le 0.5$. We also use the simulation data to test the Press-Schechter expression of the halo abundance as a function of the velocity dispersion $\sigma_v$. The model predictions are in good agreement with the observational data of local cluster abundances ($z=0$). We also tentatively compare the model with the Gunn and his collaborators' observation of rich clusters at $z\approx 0.8$ and with the x-ray luminous clusters at $z\approx 0.5$ of the {\it Einstein} Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey. The important feature of the model is the rapid formation of clusters in the near past: the abundances of clusters of $\sigma_v\ge 700\kms$ and of $\sigma_v\ge 1200 \kms$ at $z=0.5$ are only 1/4 and 1/10 respectively of the present values ($z=0$). Ongoing ROSAT and AXAF surveys of distant clusters will provide sensitive tests to the model. The abundance of clusters at $z\approx 0.5$ would also be a good discriminator between the CHDM model and a low-density flat CDM model both of which show very similar clustering properties at $z=0$.


Before Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), federal law banned "political speech" that aired too close to the election. The Court invalidated that stature in Citizens United, holding that the Federal Election Commission cannot constitutionally ban political speech just because it is close to an election and the speaker is incorporated. In the first oral argument before the Court, the Deputy Solicitor General argued that the statute authorized the government to ban corporations from publishing books that supported the election or rejection of a political candidate. In the second oral argument, Solicitor General Kagan argued that it was not constitutional for the government to ban books but it could ban pamphlets! The Court disagreed and, in so doing, followed in the footsteps of a long line of commentators. President Truman, in vetoing the Labor Management Act of 1947, said it was unconstitutional to prohibit corporations and labor unions from engaging in independent expenditures in political campaigns. He warned, this ban was a "dangerous intrusion on free speech." Later, in United States v. CIO (1948), Justices Black, Douglas, and Murphy joined Justice Rutledge, concurring in the result, argued that a ban on independent expenditures by individuals or groups violated free speech. And, in United States v. Automobile Workers (1957), Justice Douglas, joined by Chief Justice Warren and Justice Black, specifically objected to the argument that the Government can restrict the independent expenditures or speech of any group, "labor or corporate," because the group is too powerful.It in inevitable that money will flow into political campaigns: indeed, economic studies wonder why the major players do not invest more in campaigns, given that so much money rides on the outcome. Politicians routinely enact laws that take money from the pocket of Peter and put it into the pocket of Paul. As long as Government has such sway over our pocketbooks, unions, business, tort lawyers, and other interest groups will spend money to get their friends elected. Political campaigns engage in rent-seeking in spades. Citizens United will not change that.


An urgently needed examination of the current cyber revolution that draws on case studies to develop conceptual frameworks for understanding its effects on international order The cyber revolution is the revolution of our time. The rapid expansion of cyberspace in society brings both promise and peril. It promotes new modes of political cooperation, but it also disrupts interstate dealings and empowers subversive actors who may instigate diplomatic and military crises. Despite significant experience with cyber incidents, the conceptual apparatus to analyze, understand, and address their effects on international order remains primitive. Here, Lucas Kello adapts and applies international relations theory to create new ways of thinking about cyber strategy. Kello draws on a broad range of case studies - including the Stuxnet operation against Iran, the cyberattacks against Sony Pictures, and the disruption of the 2016 U.S. presidential election - to make sense of the contemporary technological revolution. Synthesizing data from government documents, forensic reports of major events, and interviews with senior decision-makers, this important work establishes new theoretical benchmarks to help security experts revise strategy and policy for the unprecedented challenges of our era.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of insulin-glucose infusion on metabolic control and hypoglycemie episodes and its feasibility and safety in patients with diabetes and myocardial infarction (MI) compared with conventional treatment. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Of 327 patients with suspected acute MI, 158 were randomized to insulin-glucose infusion for at least 24 h and 169 received conventional therapy. We determined the 24-h blood glucose profile in the infusion group, the degree of metabolic control, hypoglycemie events, and in-hospital complications within the two study groups. RESULTS Blood glucose fell from 14.6 ± 2.9 to 9.2 ± 2.9 mM during the first 24 h in patients receiving insulin-glucose and from 15.8 ± 4.3 to 12.0 ± 4.4 mM in control patients (P < 0.01). Serum potassium decreased 0.21 ± 0.56 mM in the infusion group (P < 0.001) and 0.11 ± 0.59 mM in the control group (P < 0.05). The difference between the groups was not significant. Twenty-eight of the 158 patients developed an episode of hypoglycemia (blood glucose < 3.0 mM) during the insulin-glucose infusion. There were no significant differences in the number of episodes of ventricular tachyarrhythmias or in ischemie events between patients with and without hypoglycemia. CONCLUSIONS The protocol outlined in this study gives more rapid and better metabolic control than does conventional treatment. This treatment seems to be a feasible alternative for clinical attempts. Before it can be recommended for general use, the impact on mortality needs to be evaluated.


Microsystems are usually affected by multiple failure sources. A faulty behavior caused by different types of defects and failure sources can exhibit small functional errors that are difficult to detect using structural testing. From here stems the necessity to apply specification-based functional testing on the basis of a method that carries enough information about the physical behavior of the Device Under Test (DUT). Such a method can be attained by the Impulse Response (IR) measurement of the DUT. In this paper we explain three existing techniques to measure the IR of Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) devices. Only simple techniques that do not require the presence of a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) on-chip are considered. A detailed comparison according to noise and distortion immunity is carried out to demonstrate our choice for a BIST (Built-In Self-Test) approach. Then we discuss the validity of the pseudorandom technique if used to test purely nonlinear and other nonlinear systems. Results are compared on the basis of the Volterra modeling method used to identify nonlinear systems.


Abstract Civilization is a state of human society during a particular period of time, conditioned with the degree to which the humans are able to control the nature; the total of already collected material goods, means of production and exploitation, suitable skills (know-how), and social institutions. It is processes of exploitation of engineered objects and natural resources of the Earth that closely and directly relate the economy, safety (widely understood) and environmental protection. Nowadays, as the development of technology has become a hectic process, too little attention is paid to safety. People die. The above outlined considerations can be summarized in the form of the following conclusion: Exploitation is an area that covers the art of many and various activities. It is a philosophy that puts all the fields of knowledge together. Therefore, it should be considered a separate line of science.


Because uncontrolled accumulation of collagen fibrils has been implicated in a series of pathologies, inhibition of collagen fibril formation has become one of the necessary strategies to target such collagen-linked complications. The presence of hydroxyproline (Hyp) at the Y position in (Gly-X-Y)n sequence pattern of collagen is known to facilitate crucial hydrophobic and hydration-linked interactions that promote collagen fibril formation. Here, to target such Hyp-mediated interactions, we have synthesized uniform, thermostable, and hemocompatible Hyp coated gold nanoparticles (AuNPsHYP) and have examined their inhibition effect on the fibril formation of type I collagen. We found that collagen fibril formation is strongly suppressed in the presence of AuNPsHYP and no such suppression effect was observed in the presence of free Hyp and control Gly-coated nanoparticles at similar concentrations. Both isothermal titration calorimetric studies and bioinformatics analysis reveal possible interaction between Hyp and (Gly-Pro-Hyp) stretches of collagen triple-helical model peptides. Further, gold nanoparticles coated with proline (AuNPsPRO) and tryptophan (AuNPsTRP) also suppressed collagen fibril formation, suggesting their ability to interfere with aromatic-proline as well as hydrophobic interactions between collagen molecules. The Hyp molecules, when surface functionalized, are predicted to interfere with the Hyp-mediated forces that drive collagen self-assembly, and such inhibition effect may help in targeting collagen linked pathologies.


We propose an optical coupling scheme that uses a fiber-end lens to achieve efficient coupling of the plastic optical fiber with a light source and with a detector. Transparent resin filled in the concave end of the fiber is fixed by surface tension to form a biconvex lens that is automatically positioned relative to the fiber core. A simple ray-matrix analysis shows that the lensed end yields a large coupling angle with a long working distance range compared to a flat-end fiber. The proposed lensed-end fibers are demonstrated in both input and output proofs of the experiment.


Society increasingly depends on large distributed systems, such as the Internet and Web-based service-oriented architectures deployed over the Internet. Such systems constantly evolve as new software components are injected to provide increased functionality, better performance and enhanced security. Unfortunately, designers lack effective methods to predict how new components might influence macroscopic behavior. Lacking effective methods, designers rely on engineering techniques, such as: analysis of critical algorithms at small scale and under limiting assumptions; factor-at-a-time simulations conducted at modest scale; and empirical measurements in small test beds. Such engineering techniques enable designers to characterize selected properties of new components but reveal little about likely dynamics at global scale. In this paper, we outline an approach that can be used to predict macroscopic dynamics when new components are deployed in a large distributed system. Our approach combines two main methods: scale reduction and multidimensional data analysis techniques. Combining these methods, we can search a wide parameter space to identify factors likely to drive global system response and we can predict the resulting macroscopic dynamics of key system behaviors. We demonstrate our approach in the context of the Internet, where researchers, motivated by a desire to increase user performance, have proposed new algorithms to replace the standard congestion control mechanism. Previously, the proposed algorithms were studied in three ways: using analytical models of single data flows, using empirical measurements in test beds where a few data flows compete for bandwidth, and using simulations at modest scale with a few sequentially varied parameters. In contrast, by applying our approach, we simulated configurations covering four-tier network topologies, spanning continental and global distances, comprising routers operating at state-of-the-art speeds and transporting more than 10 5 simultaneous data flows with varying traffic patterns and temporary spatiotemporal congestion. Our findings identify the main factors influencing macroscopic dynamics of Internet congestion control, and define the specific combination of factors that must hold for users to realize improved performance. We also uncover potential for one proposed algorithm to cause widespread performance degradation. Previous engineering studies of the proposed congestion control algorithms were unable to reveal such essential information.


Methane hydrates, ice-like compounds that consist of water and methane, represent a potentially enormous unconventional methane resource that may play a critical role in climate change and ocean acidification; however, it remains unclear how much hydrate exists. Here, using a newly developed three-dimensional (3-D) thermal technique, we reveal a novel method for detecting and quantifying methane hydrate. The analysis reveals where fluids migrate in three dimensions across a continental margin and is used to quantify hydrate with meter-scale horizontal resolution. Our study, located at Hydrate Ridge, offshore Oregon (United States), suggests that heat flow and hydrate concentrations are coupled and that 3-D thermal analysis can be used to constrain hydrate and fluid flow in 3-D seismic data. Hydrate estimates using this technique are consistent with 1-D drilling results, but reveal large, previously unrecognized swaths of hydrate-rich sediments that have gone undetected due to spatially limited drilling and sampling techniques used in past studies. The 3-D analysis suggests that previous hydrate estimates based on drilling at this site are low by a factor of approximately three.


Accurate crop development models are important tools in evaluating the effects of water deficits on crop yield or productivity. The FAO AquaCrop model predicts crop productivity, water requirement, and water use efficiency (WUE) under water-limiting conditions. A set of conservative parameters [calibrated and validated for maize (Zea mays L.) in a prior study and considered applicable to a wide range of conditions and not specific to a given maize cultivar] were used to further evaluate the performance of AquaCrop model for maize using data from three studies performed under diverse environmental conditions: Bushland, TX; Gainesville, FL; and Zaragoza, Spain. The three locations were characterized by the extraordinarily high evapotranspiration (ET) and wind speed in the Bushland study; rainy weather and sandy soil in the Gainesville study; and the semiarid conditions in the Zaragoza study. The model was able to simulate the crop water use (ET) under very high ET and wind conditions. Furthermore, the model performed satisfactorily for the growth of aboveground biomass, grain yield, and canopy cover (CC) in the non-water-stress treatments and mild stress conditions, but it was less satisfactory in simulating severe water-stress treatments, especially when stress occurred during senescence. The ease of use of the AquaCrop model, the low requirement of input parameters, and its sufficient degree of simulation accuracy make it a valuable tool for estimating crop productivity under rainfed conditions, supplementary and deficit irrigation, and on-farm water management strategies for improving the efficiency of water use in agriculture.


This paper addresses the use of social behavior models for the prediction of a pedestrian's future motion. Recently, such models have been shown to outperform simple constant velocity models in cases where data association becomes ambiguous, e.g. in case of occlusion, bad image quality, or low frame rates. However, to account for the multiple alternatives a pedestrian can choose from, one has to go beyond the currently available deterministic models. To this end, we propose a stochastic extension of a recently proposed simulation-based motion model. This new instantiation can cater for the possible behaviors in an entire scene in a multi-hypothesis approach, using a principled modeling of uncertainties. In a set of experiments for prediction and template-based tracking, we compare it to a deterministic instantiation and investigate the general value of using an advanced motion prior in tracking.


Abstract. In this study, the synergistic effects of natural pozzolan (NP) and limestone powder waste (LSPW) alkaline activated mortar has been investigated using compressive strength and microstructure analysis. LSPW was added in varying percentages to alkaline activated NP such that the combined ratio (LSPW/(LSPW + NP)) varied from (0 to 1) at the interval of 0.2. The activators used were sodium silicate (Na2SiO3(aq)) and sodium hydroxide (10M NaOH(aq)) combined as 1:1. The findings revealed that the synergistic effect of NP with LSPW emanated from silica and alumina required for the formation of aluminosilicate framework which required cation sourced from LSPW (Ca2+) for charge balancing in the formed skeletal framework. The products formed were mainly anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8) and gehlenite (CaO.Al2O3.SiO2). Besides, about 77 % of 28-days compressive strength (27 MPa) could be achieved in 24 h using heat curing. Microstructural analysis revealed that the rough texture of activated NP characterized with high porosity turned to be filled up by the presence of LSPW thereby improving the microstructural density.


High blood pressure (BP) is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Both genetic and environmental factors are implicated in BP homeostatsis and hypertension development. The aims of the present theisis were: (a) to test if ambulatory BP (ABP) is better than office BP (OBP) to capture the heritable part of BP and if BP variability (BPV) measured by ABP monitoring is a heritable trait (studies 1 and 2). (b) To investigate if two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), T481S of the CLC-Kb gene and G460W of the adducin-1 (ADD-1) gene, are associated with cross sectional BP and BP changes over time and if these SNPs interact with anthropometric/demographic factors to influence BP level (studies 3 and 4). (c) To identify causative Na-Cl cotransporter (NCCT) mutations in a collection of 30 patients affected by Gitelman syndrome (GS; study 5). (d) To investigate whether subjects carrying one mutated NCCT allele have a phenotype resembling that of patients treated with low-dose thiazide diuretics (study 6). We found significant heritability for most of the BP phenotypes obtained by ABP monitoring ranging from 19% to 63%. None of the OBP phenotypes had a significant heritability. After adjustment for significant covariates the Nocturnal BP dipping (NBPD) of systolic BP was significantly heritable as well as night-time BPV of diastolic and mean BP and nigh-time HRV (studies 1 and 2). BP and BP change over time were similar in all genotype groups for the T481S of the CLC-Kb and for the G460W of the ADD-1 genes (studies 3-4). There was no difference in the prevalence of hypertension between carriers of the different genotypes. No significant interaction between the CLC-Kb T481S polymorphism and sex, age or Body Mass Index (BMI) on BP was found. BP was influenced by significant interaction between the G460W and BMI as well as by interaction between G460W and sex, indicating that the 460W variant together with female sex and 460W variant together with increasing BMI is associated with higher systolic and diastolic BP and higher prevalence of hypertension, a result further confirmed by stratified analysis (study 4). In 30 patients with GS we found 22 different mutations in the NCCT gene including 11 previously reported variants and 11 new variants consisting in 8 missense mutations (Glu68Lys, His69Asn, Arg145His, Val153Met, Gly230Asp, Gly342Ala, Val677Leu, Gly867Ser), 1 insertion (c.834_835insG on exon 6) and 2 splice-site mutations (c.2667+1T>G substitution in splicing donor site after exon 22, c.1569-1G>A substitution in the splicing acceptor site before exon 13) (study 5). GS heterozygotes had highly significantly lower BP compared to controls. There was no significant difference in plasma level of aldosterone and renin as well as in plasma concentration and urinary excretion of electrolytes. GS heterozygotes had higher glomerular filtration rate and higher fasting plasma glucose concentration when compared to matched controls. (study 6). These results suggest that: (1) ABP monitoring may be a more exact estimate of an individual's true BP, and genetic studies using ABP are more powerful than those using OBP; (2) genetic factors controlling BPV and HRV may be mapped by linkage analyses; (3) the CLC-Kb T481S polymorphism is not associated with BP or hypertension; (4) the G460W polymorphism of the ADD-1 could be of importance for BP homeostasis and hypertension prevalence in obese females probably joined by a salt-sensitive background (5) mutations in genes responsible for monogenic autosomic recessive pro-hypotensive or pro-hypertensive disorders may confer decreased or increased risk of hypertension and other metabolic disturbances. Even if such mutations are relatively rare, they may be of great clinical importance as their effects on BP are substantially greater than that of common polygenes. (Less)


The problem of ethnic identification is an important but neglected theme in Southeast Asian history. Historians of the region are indebted to Leach, Lehman, and Moerman for their pioneering work on the nature and history of upland societies in Southeast Asia. In Political Systems of Highland Burma, Leach demonstrates that culture and ethnic identity are not necessarily synonymous. He points out that the process of identification among tribal people like the Kachin is never simple; it entails migration, intermarriage, barter trade relations, warfare, interpenetrating political systems, and values and beliefs shared with non-Kachin. Manifest in the work of all these anthropologists is a conscious effort to define the nature of social categories applied to ethnic groups in Southeast Asia across time. Their work has led to a more complete understanding of the nature of ethnic groups and the processes responsible for "accomplishing ethnicity" among upland peoples in Southeast Asia.


We present a novel class of dynamic neural networks that is capable of learning, in an unsupervised manner, attractors that correspond to generalities in a data set. Upon presentation of a test stimulus, the networks follow a sequence of attractors that correspond to subsets of increasing size or generality in the original data set. The networks, inspired by those of the insect antennal lobe, build upon a modified Hopfield network in which nodes are periodically suppressed, global inhibition is gradually strengthened, and the weight of input neurons is gradually decreased relative to recurrent connections. This allows the networks to converge on a Hopfield network's equilibrium within each suppression cycle, and to switch between attractors in between cycles. The fast mutually reinforcing excitatory connections that dominate dynamics within cycles ensures the robust error-tolerant behavior that characterizes Hopfield networks. The cyclic inhibition releases the network from what would otherwise be stable equilibriums or attractors. Increasing global inhibition and decreasing dependence on the input leads successive attractors to differ, and to display increasing generality. As the network is faced with stronger inhibition, only neurons connected with stronger mutually excitatory connections will remain on; successive attractors will consist of sets of neurons that aremore » more strongly correlated, and will tend to select increasingly generic characteristics of the data. Using artificial data, we were able to identify configurations of the network that appeared to produce a sequence of increasingly general results. The next logical steps are to apply these networks to suitable real-world data that can be characterized by a hierarchy of increasing generality and observe the network's performance. This report describes the work, data, and results, the current understanding of the results, and how the work could be continued. The code, data, and preliminary results are included and are available as an archive.« less


Darwin considered an understanding of the evolution of the human mind and brain to be of major importance to the evolutionary sciences. This groundbreaking book sets out a comprehensive, integrated theory of why and how the human mind has developed to function as it does. Geary proposes that human motivational, affective, behavioral, and cognitive systems have evolved to process social and ecological information (e.g., facial expressions) that covaried with survival or reproductive options during human evolution. Further, he argues that the ultimate focus of all of these systems is to support our attempts to gain access to and control of resources - more specifically, the social (e.g., mates), biological (e.g., food), and physical (e.g., territory) resources that supported successful survival and reproduction over time. In this view, Darwin's conceptualization of natural selection as a "struggle for existence" becomes, for us, a struggle with other human beings for control of the available resources. This struggle provides a means of integrating modular brain and cognitive systems such as language with those brain and cognitive systems that support general intelligence. To support his arguments, Geary draws on an impressive array of recent findings in cognitive science and neuroscience as well as primatology, anthropology, and sociology. The book also explores a number of issues that are of interest in modern society, including how general intelligence relates to academic achievement, occupational status, and income. Readers will find this book a thought-provoking read and an impetus for new theories of mind.


The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) process aimed to be more inclusive, transparent, and participatory than prior United Nations processes. This article traces the practices of representation that were performed by civil society actors during the SDG process. In doing so, we advance a performative approach in which the very process of making representation is examined. Its aim is to conceptualize and study representation as an aesthetic and political practice. This leads to the two central research questions of this article: How do civil society organizations in global environmental politics make representative claims by picturing their envisioned future? How are future representations (that is, the representation of futures or future beings) related to actor positions during the SDG process? Special emphasis is given to representations of "the future" as an ever-present frame of reference in environmental politics. Based on a systematic content analysis of the statements of two Major Groups—Children, and Youth and Farmers—we discuss the variety of future representations between the Major Groups and how especially more radical future representations are connected to rather precarious actor positions in representative claims.


Scholars and students working on the early courtly and chivalric literature of medieval Europe will have often felt the need for contemporary theoretical material with which to illustrate their arguments about courtesy and chivalry in romances, etc. The present volume, which presents critical editions of the two earliest didactic poems of this kind in the vernacular (both date from the first quarter of the thirteenth century), was conceived partly to fill this need. This book will be of interest not only to specialists in Old French literature, but also to those studying other literatures; both texts are known to have circulated in England in the fourteenth century and are therefore of importance for anglicists; L'Ordene de Chevalerie was adapted into Middle Dutch and Italian several times and provides excellent material for comparatists, netherlandists and italianists; moreover, given the germinal place of Old French literature in the culture of the Middle Ages, both poems are worthy of study in the context of the evolution of the ideals of courtesy and chivalry as European literary phenomenon. Each critical text is accompanied by an extensive literary introduction and philological apparatus, and translations into modern English prose have been appended to render the poems more accessible to non-romanists.


Introduction: Acute appendicitis (AA) may interfere many diseases and appendectomy is the most performed intra-abdominal operation in the world. Despite of the use of advanced technology diagnostic methods, it is not shown a decrease in perforation and negative appendectomy (NA) rates. The aim of this study is to identify the effect of neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in reducing the NA.
Methods: 341 patients who have operated with initial diagnosis of AA in a tertiary care hospital between 01.01-31.12.2014 were included in this study. The patients who had taking antibiotics before admission, trauma or cancer history, pregnancy and under age of 17 were excluded. Histopathologic reports of 318 patients who met criteria's were evaluated and the patients divided into 3 groups in terms of histopathologic reports as non-AA (group 1), AA (group 2) and complicated appendicitis (group3). NLR values were compared between groups.
Results: 318 patients included in this study; 196 of these were male and 122 of these were female. The mean age of males were 33.29 ± 13 and of females 32.8 ± 13.25. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in terms of age. 15.7% (n=50) of the patients were in non-AA group however 79.2% (n=252) of the patients had the diagnosis of AA and 5% (n=16) of the patients had the diagnosis of complicated appendicitis. Cut-off value of NLR determined 4.659; sensitivity of 69% and specificity of 70% in predicting AA and NLR was statistically significant to differentiate non-AA from AA but there was no statistically significance to differentiate AA from complicated appendicitis.
Conclusion: AA is one of the most frequent emergency surgical problems of the patients with abdominal pain. Timely and accurate diagnosis is essential, on the other hand high NA rates are continuing an important problem so simple, fast and reliable tests are necessary to definitive diagnosis. As a result of our study, we found out that preoperative NLR is a valuable data for this purpose. We hope that our study may contribute to developing new protocols for definitive diagnosis in emergency department.


Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has been approved in the United States for intermediate and high-risk patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. More than 80 000 TAVR procedures have been performed in the United States and the number is growing every year. Two valve designs are approved in the United States including the balloon expandable Edwards Sapien prosthesis and self-expanding CoreValve prosthesis. The PARTNER trial of the Sapien valve, involving patients who were considered inoperable, reported a 19% absolute risk reduction in mortality compared with medical therapy, with a number needed to treat of 5. Randomized controlled trials in patients with high and intermediate risk of inhospital mortality based on the Society of Thoracic Surgeons score showed noninferiority of TAVR compared with surgical aortic valve replacement. Major complications associated with TAVR include a 2% to 3% risk of stroke at 30 d, 8% to 25% risk of permanent pacemaker implantation depending on valve design, and 6% risk of major vascular complications. There are some concerns regarding valve durability as this technology is extended to younger patients with lower risk. Five-year follow-up data from the initial PARTNER trials noted appropriate valve performance and hemodynamics in survivors; however, longer follow-up is required to assess the true incidence of structural deterioration. Approximately one-third of TAVR patients are transferred to a transitional care facility after TAVR, and more than 50% of the patients are frail. Cardiac rehabilitation has been reported to be safe in post-TAVR patients and was associated with significant improvements in exercise capacity, functional independence, and frailty.


Annual screenings of preschool children at kindergarten registration identified 158 children having high levels of aggressive, hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive behavior. These "disruptive" children were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions lasting the kindergarten school year: no treatment, parent training only, full-day treatment classroom only, and the combination of parent training with the classroom treatment. Results showed that parent training produced no significant treatment effects, probably owing largely to poor attendance. The classroom treatment produced improvement in multiple domains: parent ratings of adaptive behavior, teacher ratings of attention, aggression, self-control, and social skills, as well as direct observations of externalizing behavior in the classroom. Neither treatment improved academic achievement skills or parent ratings of home behavior problems, nor were effects evident on any lab measures of attention, impulse control, or mother-child interactions. It is concluded that when parent training is offered at school registration to parents of disruptive children identified through a brief school registration screening, it may not be a useful approach to treating the home and community behavioral problems of such children. The kindergarten classroom intervention was far more effective in reducing the perceived behavioral problems and impaired social skills of these children. Even so, most treatment effects were specific to the school environment and did not affect achievement skills. These findings must be viewed as tentative until follow-up evaluations can be done to determine the long-term outcomes of these interventions.


Experimental observations have shown that the roughness of fracture surfaces exhibit certain characteristic scaling properties. Here, calculations are carried out to explore the extent to which a ductile damage/fracture constitutive relation can be used to model fracture surface roughness scaling. Ductile crack growth in a thin strip under mode I, overall plane strain, small scale yielding conditions is analyzed. Although overall plane strain loading conditions are prescribed, full 3D analyses are carried out to permit modeling of the three dimensional material microstructure and of the resulting three dimensional stress and deformation states that develop in the fracture process region. An elastic-viscoplastic constitutive relation for a progressively cavitating plastic solid is used to model the material. Two populations of second phase particles are represented: large inclusions with low strength, which result in large voids near the crack tip at an early stage, and small second phase particles, which require large strains before cavities nucleate. The larger inclusions are represented discretely and various three dimensional distributions of the larger particles are considered. The scaling properties of the predicted thickness average fracture surfaces are calculated and the results are discussed in light of experimental observations. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4005959]


Conversion of clean and renewable solar energy into electricity with photovoltaic (PV) devices, based on earth-abundant silicon elements to meet increasing global energy demands and environmental sustainability, has motivated various potential industrial and domestic applications. In addition to large-scale electricity production of market-dominant crystalline silicon PVs, the unique properties of silicon-based thin-film solar-cells (TFSCs) make them very attractive as affordable clean and safe energy devices. Herein, with large-scale and mature plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process that can efficiently fabricate high-performing a-SiC:H, a-SiGe:H, a-Si:H, and μc-Si:H single- and various multi-junction TFSCs, we report a highly-efficient and flexibly tunable monolithic quadruple-junction silicon TFSC with a high photovoltage above 3.0 V and power conversion efficiency of 15.03% (NREL measured 14.58%). Our proposed high-voltage silicon TFSCs, with excellent performance, can further enrich the toolbox for functional photoelectrical devices and inspire possible future applications as highly promising power supply sources in charging electronics, splitting and disinfecting water, powering household electronic devices, solar to CO2 reduction, and other possible applications.


This paper deals with two types of morphologically conditioned noun-verb asymmetries in Kyungsang Korean. In Kyungsang Korean, before a consonant-initial suffix, opacity between post-obstruent tensing and consonant cluster simplification occurs in verbal inflection, but not in nominal inflection. Before a vowel-initial suffix, optional overapplication of consonant cluster simplification applies for nominal inflection but not for verbal inflection. This paper analyzes the morphologically conditioned phonological asymmetries in Kyungsang Korean based on Optimality Theory with Candidate Chains (McCarthy 2007), which can explain opacity as well as the different behaviors depending on the part-of-speech by regulating the order of processes in a constraint. Alternative analyses based on Stratal OT (Kiparsky 2000) and base-derivative correspondence (Benua 1997) are also discussed.


Despite some success in recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to the Australian Public Service (APS), the long-term trend is one of declining representation. A fundamental issue is that rates of separation among Indigenous public servants remain consistently greater than those of their non-Indigenous counterparts. The research presented here seeks to understand the reasons Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees opt to leave the APS. Drawing on the analysis of existing datasets, and original interviews with former and current APS employees, the findings presented here offer insights into the key factors involved in APS employment. The paper also raises important implications for strategies that aim to increase rates of Indigenous employment in the APS.


It is shown that the matrix describing a general (transparent or absorbing) multilayer is an element of the group SL(2, C), which is locally isomorphic to the (3+1)-dimensional restricted Lorentz group SO(3, 1). In consequence, a natural identification of the multilayer reflection and transmission coefficients with the parameters of a Lorentz transformation is performed. The correspondence between electric field and space–time variables is discussed as well.


My PhD thesis combines a novel, Idiopathy, and a critical essay, 'A Failed Entertainment:' The Process of Paying Attention In and To Infinite Jest.
Idiopathy examines the inner lives of three friends and their experiences of both separation and a reunion. By emphasising internality over externality it seeks to examine
the notion that how we feel about our lives may be more important, indeed, more 'real,' than what takes place around us. Idiopathy is overtly concerned with the extent to which interaction with others is problematic, and pays particular attention to the emotional complexities of friendships, relationships and family dynamics. Through these pained and frequently unsatisfactory interactions the novel seeks to satirise broader social phenomena, such as media panics, health epidemics, ideological protest movements and the rise of what might be termed a 'pathologised' culture, in which all the characters are
continually concerned that something is 'wrong' with them. Illness is a metaphor throughout, and is explored not only through the characters' sense of personal malaise,
but also through the device of a fictional cattle epidemic that forms a media backdrop to unfolding events. Throughout the novel I am particularly concerned with empathy: its limits, its problems, its importance. This manifests not only as a difficulty experienced by the characters, but also, I hope, for the reader herself, since empathy with the central characters is something I have deliberately problematized.
'A Failed Entertainment . . .' looks at the work of a writer I regard as being not only a key influence but a vital figure in the contemporary literary landscape: David Foster Wallace. Specifically, it focuses on his novel Infinite Jest and explores the way in which the novel is designed to encourage a certain kind of attention, which Wallace overtly
stated was something he felt was important in contemporary life. In my essay I examine the idea that Infinite Jest not only concerns itself with attention at a thematic level, emphasising the importance of a certain kind of active, engaged relationship with art and
entertainment through a satirical negative image: a video 'Entertainment' so successful it kills anyone who watches it, but also, through certain stylistic and structural devices, heightens and demands the self-same attention that Wallace is concerned with.
Note:
Due to word limit constraints I have included the final section of Idiopathy as an appendix. Examiners may read this section at their own discretion.
Publication History:
Idiopathy was published by Fourth Estate (London) in April 2013 and by Faber and Faber inc. (New York) in August 2013. It has been translated into nine languages.


In Los Angeles today, the Labor/Community Strategy Center is carrying out a difficult Left experiment in the age of the omnipresent Right. The center is an explicitly anti-racist, anti-corporate, and anti-imperialist think-tank focusing on 'theory-driven practice'-the generation of mass campaigns of the working class and oppressed nationalities, in particular the black and Latino workers and communities. These campaigns are historically relevant on their own terms, but also have real relevance to any transition to an uncharted socialist future. Despite Clinton/Blair-style refinements on neoliberalism, imperialism's infliction of massive human suffering and its moral and ethical deterioration has never been more apparent; there is an enormous opening for an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist Left, as there is now no viable progressive liberalism or social democracy even trying to co-opt radical Left ideology and organizing. The work of the Strategy Center is reflected in several interrelated organizational forms. At center stage is the Bus Riders Union/Sindicato de Pasejeros (BRU): a multi-racial mass organization of the transit dependent, the front-line mass campaign that extends the political influence of the center, tests its anti-imperialist theories, and generates a militant struggle to improve the public transportation system and the lives of 400,000 overwhelmingly minority, female, and low-income members of the urban working class.


Study of interaction of mannose-based ligands with receptor DC-SIGN using high resolution NMR in combination with molecular modelling showed that four α-d-mannoside ligands interact with the binding site predominantly through the mannose moiety. The other two aromatic groups that are bound to α-d-mannose through a glycerol linker demonstrate interaction that can be related to their substitution pattern. Ligand with naphthyl and meta-substituted phenyl ring exhibited the most favourable binding characteristics. In addition to the predicted hydrophobic interactions of aromatic moieties our results propose new contacts of substituted phenyl moiety in the more polar area of the flat binding site of DC-SIGN and thus offer new possibilities in further designing of novel, more potent DC-SIGN antagonists.


Background: Performance related musculoskeletal and associated health issues are prominent amongst musicians. The aim of this study was to explore self-reported musculoskeletal and related health issues in undergraduate music students. A further goal was to ascertain how these problems impact students' learning and playing their instruments. Materials and Methods: A longitudinal mixed method study was done over a period of three years with 145 undergraduate music students at the Department of Music, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa who completed a health survey, which included verbal statements to open-ended questions. The frequency and percentages of each quantitative variable were calculated using Excel software. Results: The results showed an overall 83% prevalence of musculoskeletal and related health problems among music students. The four most prominent problems cited were related to inappropriate tiredness, concentration problems, sleep disturbances and headaches. Prominent musculoskeletal problems included orofacial issues such as sinus problems, and pain experienced in the lower spine, upper spine, left and right forearm. Students were generally reticent to report problems to healthcare professionals, particularly if they were not musculoskeletal in nature. Conclusions: The current study shows that undergraduate music students at the University of Pretoria experience similar types of playing-related problems to students elsewhere in the world. However, there is a need to further probe and report playing-related musculoskeletal and its associated health problems at this institution as well as other tertiary institutions in South Africa. Furthermore, issues of diagnosis, treatment and impediments dedicated to specific instrument groups should be addressed.


For most of the twentieth century, the federal government used an indeterminate sentencing system at the front end of the correctional process and a parole system at the back end in order to determine when an offender should be released from prison. In 1984, Congress sought completely to revise the federal sentencing and correctional processes. Congress adopted a mandatory sentencing guidelines system in order to restrain the discretionary sentencing authority that federal courts traditionally had enjoyed. Congress rejected an advisory guidelines system because Congress believed that such a process would not eliminate the sentencing disparities that had plagued the federal criminal justice system for decades. Because the new mandatory guidelines would both regularize the sentencing decision and determine when a prisoner would be released, Congress repealed the federal parole laws as being unnecessary. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the new system over separation of challenges in Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989), and parole seemed to have passed into history. Sixteen years later in United States v. Booker, 543 U.S. 220 (2005), however, the Court held that the same mandatory sentencing guidelines system upheld in Mistretta violated a defendant's rights under the Sixth Amendment Jury Trial Clause. Booker and later decisions have made the federal sentencing guidelines advisory. The problem is that Congress rejected an advisory guidelines system and would not have repealed the parole laws if the federal sentencing process did not strictly constrain district courts' sentencing authority. One of the consequences of the Booker decision, accordingly, is that federal sentencing now is susceptible to the same disparities that Congress sought to remedy with mandatory determinate sentencing guidelines in 1984. The article discusses the question whether the Booker decision has breathed new life into the federal parole laws now that the condition precedent for their repeal, adoption of a mandatory sentencing guidelines system, is no longer in effect.


The action selection problem can be approached with two goals in mind: to account for why actions are selected, i.e. what factors play a role in making the decision, and how actions are selected, i.e. what mechanisms are involved in action selection. These two goals form the main focus of this dissertation and can be referred to as the efficiency problem and the architecture problem. This dissertation examines the Environmental Complexity Hypothesis as an approach to the former goal (why actions are selected). The Environmental Complexity Hypothesis adequately explains why actions are selected but lacks consideration of the architecture and mechanisms involved in complex cognitive systems. In response to this shortcoming, the predictive processing account is offered as a solution to the second problem of action selection, the architecture problem. The predictive processing account will be critically examined and one objection will be raised against its claim about the function of cognition. According to the predictive processing account, the function of cognition is to minimize free energy. One objection to this claim takes the form of a reductio ad absurdum argument and suggests that if the predictive processing account is correct about the function of cognition, then biological agents will find themselves in the state of seeking environments with no sensory stimuli. This is biologically nonsensical because environments with no sensory stimuli will result in no surprise and no prediction error which, the account claims, needs to be reduced for successful adaptation. However, reducing prediction error alone does not result in adaptive fitness and is not the sole function of the cognitive system; agents explore and participate in the environment to reproduce and to satisfy desires and preferences as well. This view is reflected in the field of neuroeconomics which provides a fairly novel solution to the problem of action selection and decision making. Neuroeconomic models of action selection can provide insight about why agents select certain actions when alternatives are available and it also gives an account of the architecture involved in action selection. It is proposed that prediction error is coded in relation to rewards. By recommending neuroeconomics as an alternative account of action selection, nothing is lost in either the Environmental Complexity Hypothesis or the predictive processing account. Instead, neuroeconomics represents the best features of the two theories in a unified account.


Abstract. Dynamic models of subduction and continental collision are used to predict dynamic topography changes on the overriding plate. The modelling results show a distinct evolution of topography on the overriding plate, during subduction, continental collision and slab break-off. A prominent topographic feature is a temporary (few Myrs) basin on the overriding plate after initial collision. This "collisional mantle dynamic basin" (CMDB) is caused by slab steepening drawing, material away from the base of the overriding plate. Also, during this initial collision phase, surface uplift is predicted on the overriding plate between the suture zone and the CMDB, due to the subduction of buoyant continental material and its isostatic compensation. After slab detachment, redistribution of stresses and underplating of the overriding plate cause the uplift to spread further into the overriding plate. This topographic evolution fits the stratigraphy found on the overriding plate of the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone in Iran and south east Turkey. The sedimentary record from the overriding plate contains Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene marine carbonates deposited between terrestrial clastic sedimentary rocks, in units such as the Qom Formation and its lateral equivalents. This stratigraphy shows that during the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene the surface of the overriding plate sank below sea level before rising back above sea level, without major compressional deformation recorded in the same area. Our modelled topography changes fit well with this observed uplift and subsidence.


After a period of research/ development, [funded by Arts Council of England - Research & Development Grant, 1999], I then received a London Arts – Combined Arts Production Award to make cleanliness….
This piece was made site-specifically in 2001 as an hour-long performance promenade in Dulwich Leisure Centre. Established to promote health amongst the working classes, Dulwich is a living monument to rituals of bathing, reflecting religious, cultural and social attitudes to hygiene. I directed/ co-devised the piece with four performers, - Nicole Robinson, Adura Onashile, Sef Townsend and Jenni Potter - all with diverse performance methodologies – with an original sound design by Joseph Hyde.
The audience were led to view diverse scenarios which revealed intimate exchanges of fluids, moments of self-pleasure/ pleasure with others in order to explore historical and contemporary societal ideas towards filth, whether literally physical dirt, or the notion of filth as 'dirty sexualities'. I had for example researched Jewish codes of practice and Califia's work on public sex and was interested in the hybridity of learned behaviour.
The schism between private and public manifestations of desire is a very real one in terms of activities and their contextual environments. I engaged with the 'performance' of these activities, as well as investigating the often overused and often misunderstood notions of 'queer' and Butler's 'performativity'. These I perceive to be everyday states and the piece explored and reconsidered ways of seeing and experiencing such normalcy. The 'queerness' of the piece was the most discussed aspect allowing me to gain an insight into the defining of performance by certain referents.
The piece also led to a greater understanding of the contextualisation of strongly visual performance for audiences who may expect entertainment. This developed my decisions regarding future practice, for example, by re-defining myself again as a performance artist.


Background: The term "hijra" is used to describe eunuchs, intersex, and gender incongruent individuals from hijra community people in the Indian subcontinent. Various adversities, violence, and discrimination experienced by many of them might have adverse consequences on their quality of life (QOL). The present study was conducted to assess the QOL among adult gender incongruent individuals from the hijra community. Methods: Data of thirty-seven hijra enrolled in the Endocrine outpatient clinic (hijra group) and thirty-seven healthy employees of the hospital (control group) were analyzed with regard to QOL. QOL was assessed by using the physical and mental health Short Form-36 (SF-36) health survey questionnaire. Results on continuous measurements were presented as mean ± SD and results on categorical measurements were presented in number and percent. Mann–Whitney U test or Student t-test was used to find the significance of study parameters between the two groups according to the data distribution. Results: In the domain namely role limitation due to emotional problem, the hijra cohort had a statistically significantly lower score (66.4 ± 20.2) versus the control cohort (83.4 ± 23.7), P = 0.002. No difference was observed between two groups with regards to other QOL domains namely general health perception, physical functioning, role limitation due to physical problem, bodily pain, general mental health, social functioning, and vitality. Conclusions: QOL of the gender incongruent individuals from the hijra community included in this study and the control group comprising of hospital employees were almost similar, though the former had reported lower levels of emotional health issues than the latter.


Introduction: Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), disease mortality has been dramatically reduced worldwide. One related side effect from the use of these drugs is gluteal lipodystrophy. The aim of this study is to assess the quality-of-life impact of correcting this deformity in HIV patients. Methods: A historical cohort study was conducted between January 2010 and December 2014 with 23 patients, assessing the quality of their lives using the Nottingham Health Profile. A statistical analysis was performed using the McNemar test for related samples. Results: There was a significant difference between preoperative and postoperative response in 19 of the 38 questions. Conclusion: We may say that gluteal reconstruction plays a role in improving quality of life for HIV patients who have been affected by antiretroviral related gluteal lipodystrophy. ■ ABSTRACT


One of the fundamental problems in operations management is to determine the optimal investment in capacity. Capacity investment consumes resources and the decision is often irreversible. Moreover, the available capacity level affects the action space for production and inventory planning decisions directly. In this paper, we address the joint capacitated lot sizing and capacity acquisition problem. The firm can produce goods in each of the finite periods into which the production season is partitioned. Fixed as well as variable production costs are incurred for each production batch, along with inventory carrying costs. The production per period limited by a capacity restriction. The underlying capacity must be purchased up front for the upcoming season and remains constant over the entire season. We assume that the capacity acquisition cost is smooth and convex. For this situation, we develop a model which combines the complexity of time-varying demand and cost functions and that of scale economies arising from dynamic lot-sizing costs with the purchase cost of capacity. We propose a heuristic algorithm that runs in polynomial time to determine a good capacity level and corresponding lot sizing plan simultaneously. Numerical experiements show that our method is a good trade-off between solution quality and running time.


According to the latest report by Ernst & Young, Islamic finance assets are expected to hit $1.1 trillion in 2012. This is equal to 33 percent growth from their 2010 levels. With the diminishing of conventional sources of finance, Islamic compliance finance and investment offer attractive potential for global real estate. This paper examines the different methods of Sharia compliant finance and explores their application to real estate finance and investment in Iran and Dubai. Utilising interviews in Iran, Dubai and Germany the paper will compare the different methods of Ijarah financing in the Middle East. This in turn is compared with conventional method of real estate financing. An important result of this study is that ijarah is, in general, not so different from conventional leasing. Although Iran is an Islamic republic operating within an Islamic law for the banking system which prohibits interest exists, interest is still to be found. This shows that changing the legal situation does not suffice to eradicate interest. Ijarah in particular offers the possibility of using an asset for a longer period of time without buying it and therefore it is an alternative to credit financing. It is a famous financing method and an alternative to murabaha, which has been used often. In addition, it is very similar to conventional leasing andfacilitates the shrinkage and closing of contracts for conventional institutes. Thus, it is preferred by conventional financial institutions which are trying to position themselves on the Islamic market.


Laws restricting eligibility for membership apply to all Australian parliaments, but their meaning and effect are often uncertain. The laws governing membership of the Parliament of Victoria are particularly archaic and confused. Successive amendments have been poorly integrated, creating awkward problems of interpretation. Most of the grounds of disqualification were originally derived from British models, but some have remained in Victorian law long after their abolition in the United Kingdom. Questions about their effect arise regularly, but few cases reach the courts, partly because of limitations on justiciability. This article explores the Victorian disqualifications, considering in particular the position of government officeholders and government contractors, and avenues for raising disqualification questions.


This paper enables connectivity on everyday objects by transforming them into FM radio stations. To do this, we show for the first time that ambient FM radio signals can be used as a signal source for backscatter communication. Our design creates backscatter transmissions that can be decoded on any FM receiver including those in cars and smartphones. This enables us to achieve a previously infeasible capability: backscattering information to cars and smartphones in outdoor environments.
Our key innovation is a modulation technique that transforms backscatter, which is a multiplication operation on RF signals, into an addition operation on the audio signals output by FM receivers. This enables us to embed both digital data as well as arbitrary audio into ambient analog FM radio signals. We build prototype hardware of our design and successfully embed audio transmissions over ambient FM signals. Further, we achieve data rates of up to 3.2 kbps and ranges of 5-60 feet, while consuming as little as 11.07{\mu}W of power. To demonstrate the potential of our design, we also fabricate our prototype on a cotton t-shirt by machine sewing patterns of a conductive thread to create a smart fabric that can transmit data to a smartphone. We also embed FM antennas into posters and billboards and show that they can communicate with FM receivers in cars and smartphones.


This book is a clarion call for an expanded vision of human possibilities. In it, many of the best thinkers of our day ask us to renew the perennial search for self-knowledge and to discover the deeper meaning of our lives. For this, they offer the transpersonal perspective -- which extends beyond consciousness in its myriad forms, including altered states, yoga, dreams, and contemplation. This marriage of psychology and science with the spiritual traditions has borne ripe fruit: the transpersonal vision, which offers a uniquely generous and encompassing view of human nature. The fifty essays that make up Paths Beyond Ego apply transpersonal thinking to individual growth, psychotherapy, meditation, dreams, psychedelics, science, ethics, philosophy, ecology, and service. The result is an integrated and comprehensive overview of the many dimensions of human experience. In clear, accessible writing, the contributors suggest that our potential for enhancing human abilities is much greater than previously suspected and that our tools for this grand undertaking are widely available today. The transpersonal vision offers great hope for the future -- and links us to the timeless wisdom of the ages.


In light of the rapid depletion of the world's oil reserves, concerns about energy security prompted the exploration of alternative sources of liquid fuels for transportation. One such alternative is the production of synthetic fuel using an indirect coal liquefaction process or coal-to-liquids (CTL) process. In this process, coal is gasified in a gasifier in the presence of steam and oxygen to produce a synthesis gas or syngas consisting mainly of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The syngas is then converted to liquid fuels and a variety of useful chemicals in a Fischer Tropsch-type synthesis reactor. However, the traditional process for syngas production also produces substantial amounts of carbon dioxide. In fact, only about one third of the carbon in the coal feedstock ends up in the liquid fuel product using traditional CTL technology. If more hydrogen was available than the hydrogen produced during the gasification step, the carbon utilisation of the process could be improved significantly. The high temperature reactor (HTR) is a gas cooled Generation IV nuclear reactor ideally suited to provide power and high temperature heat for carbon neutral production of hydrogen via high temperature electrolysis. The integration of an HTR into a CTL process therefore provides an opportunity to improve the thermal and carbon efficiency of the CTL process significantly. This paper presents a possible process flow scheme for a nuclear assisted CTL process. The system is evaluated in terms of its thermal or syngas production efficiency (defined as the ratio of the heating value of the produced syngas to the sum of the heating value of the coal plus the HTR heat input) as well as its carbon utilisation. If the hydrogen production plant is sized to produce only enough associated oxygen to supply the needs of the gasification plant, syngas is produced at about 63% thermal efficiency, while 71.5% of the carbon is utilised in this process. It was found that the optimum HTR outlet temperature to produce hydrogen with a high temperature steam electrolysis process is 850°C. If enough process heat and power are available and process equipment capacities are sufficient, the carbon utilisation of the process could be improved even further to values in excess of 90%.


The technical possibility of triple cropping in inland valleys is not in doubt but economic and agronomic performance of ratooned and upland rice (Oryza sativa L.) fitted in-between lowland rice and dry season cropping need to be ascertained. A field experiment was conducted at the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria in 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 cropping season to compare the performance of sowing methods. Dry dibble broadcast, pre-germinated broadcast, dry dibble, transplanted and pre-germinated broadcast methods of early maturing New Rice for Africa 1 (NERICA 1) upland rice were compared with ratooned crop of New Rice for Africa Lowland rice (NERICA-L) genotypes (NERICA-L 20, NERICA-L 26, NERICA-L 44, NERICA-L 41 and OFADA) in the niche between lowland rice and dry season cropping. The first crop was planted in May while the second and third were in September and December. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates. The mean plant height, grains panicle -1 , panicles m -2 , 1000-grain weight and grain yield of lowland rice varieties were 126.5 cm, 220, 173, 29.3 g, and 7.75 t ha -1 , respectively. The ratooned lowland rice flowered earlier (28-37 days) than the upland rice sowing methods (66-77 days). Ratooned crops of NERICA-L 20, NERICA-L 26 and NERICA-L 44 had highest number of panicles m -2 and grain yield while pre-germinated dibble upland rice and ratooned crop of OFADA had the least panicles m -2 and grain yield, respectively. Transplanted upland rice and pre-germinated broadcast methods had better grain yield than any of the sowing methods of upland rice. The fresh leaf weight of fluted pumpkin (Telfairia occidentalis Hook F.) ranged between 14.59 and 19.77 t ha -1 . Ratooned crops had better agronomic and economic performance than the upland rice. Hence the productivity of triple cropping in the inland valley could be efficiently utilized by adopting ratooning lowland rice.


The AK Party government's Middle Eastern approach indicated a change from those of previous governments. Whilst aiming to conduct an active and influential political role in the Middle East, they have attempted to achieve 'zero problems' in their relations with neighbors as well as closer contact. This article examines Turkey's relations with one of the states in the region – Iran. Under modified regional policy, the Turkish government aimed to maintain and expand relations with Iran. Particularly, strategic calculations on security, energy and economy are influential in transformation of the Turkish attitude towards Iran. At the same time, Iran appears willing to improve relations with Turkey for pragmatic reasons. What is evident for both countries is that though they both are tempting to improve mutual relations, they are at the same time searching ways to consolidate their regional role. In this connection, this article argues that there is a pragmatic rapprochement between the two countries. (153 words)


In the present work we examine how recent progress at our collaborating laboratories, over various solar thermochemical technologies, can be brought to bear on the advancement of renewable resource utilization in Qatar. Specific examples of such technologies include solar water splitting for H2 production, solar CO2 splitting thermochemical energy storage in reduced metal oxides, solar cracking of CH4 for production of carbon nanoparticles and hydrogen, and production of metal nanoparticles to be employed as renewable fuel. Where feasible the potential of using locally sourced materials is stressed and particular examples are given (e.g. the use of Qatar's CaCO3). Enabling technologies over all scales (from the lab to the demonstration scale) include advanced instrumentation and testing platforms (e.g, solar simulators, solar furnaces, etc). Reactor concepts and system designs are formulated and analyzed and promising designs from the user's perspective are identified for advancing to the next level. Here we describe results and future directions from three such examples. A low energy, zero-effluent system for clean water production, employing a concentrated solar thermal aquatic stream processing module is described. The projected specific electric energy consumption of the system does not exceed 1 kWh/m3, which in fact can be largely produced by the system itself. The system can exhibit an unprecedented (>99%) clean water recovery from any aquatic stream (seawater, brines, wastewater). At the same time the salt/solids content of the aquatic stream is separated in dry-form, thus being transformed from a waste-to-be-managed into a raw material ready for further commercial exploitation. The system is based on a modular design hence it is applicable over a range of scales, from standalone applications to large scale industrial water plants as well as an add-on to existing large scale producers and/or users of water, for further recovery of water and residual solids (salts, valuable metals from brine/wastewater effluents). Production of hydrogen can be achieved via photo- and electro-chemical water splitting processes. In order for such processes to be feasible, they employ sacrificial electron donors which also bind oxygen molecule. Then, they have to be regenerated, via thermochemical reactions, and also release the oxygen. So the whole process operates in a cyclic mode, thus called water-splitting cycle. The use of solar energy for the realization of the thermochemical steps increases the overall solar-to-hydrogen efficiency. The Hybrid Sulfur Ammonia cycle, described here, uses ammonium sulfate as the sacrificial donor and a mixture of alkali-metal sulfates and pyrosulfates, which help to recover oxygen at lower temperatures and higher efficiency. We present the of thermal analysis experiments conducted for the calculation of the respective thermodynamic properties (heat capacity and enthalpy). In addition, with the use of advanced thermodynamic tools (FacTSAGE etc), and experimental thermal analysis, we completed the thermodynamic analysis, and selected the reaction temperatures in a range from 350°C to 900°C. The crucial drawback of solar energy is its intermittent character. At the same time, pollution caused by the release of CO2, mainly in power plants and cement production, results in a series of problems such as global warming and poor air quality. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) can provide an escape route for both the aforementioned problems. TES can be used in order to store heat during periods of high solar irradiation and release it during the night or periods of low activity. Carbonate systems, such as calcite and dolomite, can be utilized for TES. In this study we focus on the reversible calcination/carbonation cycle of (CaMg)CO3, because it is a very strong candidate as a high efficiency thermochemical material. Its energy density is the highest among other materials. It can be found in vast quantities in Qatar, according to its geological formation, thus can be easily used as low cost/high added value material. Furthermore, it is a non-toxic and safe material with easy separation of the phases. In addition, the cycle involves CO2 capture during the discharge stage. This ends up in both energy release and greenhouse gases elimination. So far, we have characterized thermally, chemically and morphologically local raw surface carbonates. Results show that dolomitic powder, (CaMg)CO3 from Northern Qatar and subsurface rocks have an average capacity of 6 mmol CO2/g, but sintering deactivates material significantly after 20 cycles. Currently, we are designing a potential TES process coupled to cement production. In parallel, we are investigating experimentally the available methods to enhance the capacity of the raw material and improve its stability. Present research contributes towards the solution of the Global Challenges that our societies face today, and in particular it provides access to safe and clean water and energy. These can be achieved with improved performance, energy efficiency and ease of usability.


Necas A., L. Planka, R. srnec, P. Rauser, L. Urbanova, J. Lorenzova, M. crha, J. Jancař, P. Gal: Biomaterials and stem cells in the Treatment of Articular cartilage, Meniscal, Physeal, Bone, Ligamentous and Tendineous Defects. Acta Vet Brno 2008, 77: 277-284. This review briefly summarizes existing results and main trends in experimental studies dealing with the possibilities of the use of biomaterials and mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of diseases affecting tissues derived from the mesoderm, i.e. articular cartilage, meniscus, physis, bone, ligaments and tendons. The aim of these experimental studies is to find optimal forms of treatment of the diseases of individual parts of the musculoskeletal system using methods of tissue engineering with the use of stem cell transplantation. Tissue engineering, mesenchymal stem cells, cartilage, physis, joint, meniscus


Y ARGUMENT is that in the West popular justice, as it is currently understood, is impossible. To illustrate the argument I draw on the V1 experience of the Community Boards Program in San Francisco. This programme represents the most rigorous commitment to popular justice in the US and is immensely influential (Harrington and Merry, 1988: 918; Shonholtz, 1984: 17; Wahrhaftig, 1982: 88-90). As such, it provides a significant and strong claim to the possibility of popular justice, a claim against which to set my


There is broad acknowledgement that higher education should produce career-ready graduates and the role of practical experience such as part-time employment, unregulated extra-curricular internships and work-integrated learning (WIL) – in achieving this. WIL is critical for developing the non-technical skills, disciplinary expertise and career self-management competencies required to prepare graduates for the world-of-work. Although Australia appears committed to growing WIL, many employers engage in extra-curricular internships while there is a lack of industry partners available to meet student demand for WIL. Extra-curricular internships may, therefore, be considered the 'black market' to WIL and could be constraining the achievement of targeted growth in Australia's National Strategy for WIL. This paper highlights that extra-curricular internships may not be governed by the good practice principles critical to a quality work-based learning experience. It explores possible reasons for stakeholder preference for unregulated, extra-curricular internships and presents strategies to shift their engagement to WIL.


In parasitic organisms, proteins containing repeats especially leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) play an important role in invasion and immune evasion. LRR containing domains are responsible for different types of protein-protein interactions. We have taken advantage of available computational methods to structurally and functionally analyse, and to facilitate multifaceted insights into Plasmodium knowlesi leucine-rich repeats containing proteins. We have identified thirteen leucine-rich repeat (LRR) containing protein sequences in P. knowlesi. The sequential and structural similarities of these repeats containing proteins were checked against their recently emerged human host. Among the thirteen identified leucine-rich repeats containing protein sequences of P. knowlesi, only two (B3L5R8 and B3L378) were found to be unique and thus, selected for in-depth study. The pathogenic and virulence properties of B3L5R8 and B3L378 proteins were studied along with their dissimilarity with the human host proteins, suggesting their important role in disease establishment. These two proteins may be used as a novel targets for the development of drugs and vaccines against the disease.
The three dimensional structures of these proteins were modeled using threading approach. Ramachandran analysis was used to validate the modeled structures. Structurally, LRR domains of B3L5R8 and B3L378 consist of a structural motif that forms α/β horseshoe shape fold with the concave face consisting of parallel β-strands and the convex face representing helices. LRR domain in B3L5R8 and B3L378 proteins contains 12 and 17 coiled sub-structures respectively. The active site of the proteins is predicted to study their functionality. The modeled structure of B3L5R8 displays three functional sites which interact with different ligands: 2S8, peptides and nucleic acids. While the predicted structure of B3L378 interact with GAL, nucleic acid, RX8 and 2Z7XA03 at their four functional sites. The key amino acid residues involved in interaction with their respective ligand at the different active site of B3L5R8 and B3L378 proteins are responsible for stability of diverse ligands. These compounds along with the interacting amino acids may serve as a representative for designing novel inhibitors.


OBJECTIVE
The inflammatory response elicited by robotically enhanced coronary artery bypass grafting (r-CABG) has not been well described. When r-CABG is performed as part of hybrid coronary revascularization, the inflammatory milieu and the timing of percutaneous coronary intervention may affect the stent patency negatively in the short and long term. The goal of this study was to describe the extent and time course of cytokine release after r-CABG compared with conventional CABG (c-CABG) and to elucidate the optimal timing for r-CABG in the setting of hybrid coronary revascularization for a future study.

DESIGN
Prospective, observational study.

SETTING
Tertiary-care center in a university hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
The study comprised patients scheduled to undergo r-CABG or c-CABG from October 2012 to November 2014.

INTERVENTIONS
Cytokine levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10; tumor necrosis factor-α; and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured at the following time points: preprocedure; at the end of the procedure; and at 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 hours after the procedure.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS
Twenty-eight patients undergoing r-CABG and 10 patients undergoing c-CABG were enrolled. The levels of cytokines after r-CABG and c-CABG were compared using the mixed-effect linear regression model for longitudinal data. Cytokine release in the r-CABG group was comparatively less for IL-6, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor, and CRP levels. They all trended toward the baseline by the 48th hour in both groups, except CRP levels, which reached their peak at 48 hours in both groups.

CONCLUSIONS
The inflammatory response to r-CABG was blunted compared with that of c-CABG. The high CRP levels on the second postoperative day after r-CABG were a cause for concern in regard to percutaneous coronary intervention performed at that time period, but additional studies are necessary.


Background: Third-party e-commerce payment has been used by many businesses and consumers, enabling customers to easily access the payment platform during e-commerce transactions. Thus, the emergence of such new technology has become a major topic for organisations to study factors that have influenced the people's adoption and acceptance of new technology as well as mutual influence. Setting: The Technology Acceptance Model is one of the most studied models of behavioural intention to use new information technology. Aim: However, in terms of the causal relationship of variables in the model, one variable is considered independent, ignoring the possibility of mutual influence, and many samples are required for statistical empirical research. This study aims to resolve these above two deficiencies. Methods: This study adopts the Decision-Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory method, and applies the latest Technology Acceptance Model (TAM3) to examine. Results: The results found several extra causal relationships which are not present in the TAM3 model, and understood that Experience and Computer Playfulness are the driving factors of third-party e-commerce payment, and Computer Anxiety is the core factor. Conclusion: The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated through an empirical study, and these results could be used to guide management direction and marketing strategy.


This January, IIASA and a host of international partners launched the Global Energy Assessment (GEA), a major initiative seeking to redefine the global energy policy agenda. This multi-year and multi-stakeholder activity aims to identify integrated solutions for ameliorating existing and emerging threats associated with major global energy challenges, such as providing energy services for poverty alleviation and development, maintaining energy security, and mitigating local, regional and global environmental impacts.

The GEA will go beyond existing authoritative studies on energy issues, which have generally provided only limited integrated analysis of the range of potentially competing energy objectives. Moreover, the GEA will be produced by independent scientific and technical experts, subject to rigorous reviews and independent of partisan interference, allowing it to challenge conventional thinking on energy.


A Guide to Specimen Management in Clinical Microbiology is the classic reference that addresses and meets the needs of everyone in the "total testing process" circle. It provides complete, concise information on the unique needs of the microbiology laboratory regarding specimen management and is the only single source for the specimen management policies required for laboratory results that are accurate, significant, and clinically relevant.
Medical, nursing, and medical technology students, practicing physicians, private practice offices, clinical laboratories, and public health laboratories can turn to this valuable resource to answer their questions on issues such as the correct procedures of specimen selection, collection, transport, and storage in the clinical microbiology laboratory, the rationale associated with the specimen requirements, and proper communication between the lab and its clients.
Electronic only, 198 pages, illustrations, index.


Arnold Whittall. Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xi, 238 pp. ISBN 0-52181642-4 (hardcover). It was as a neophyte graduate student, fresh from the colonies, that I first encountered Arnold Whittall in the Master's program in Theory and Analysis at King's College, London. Following a brutal term of Schenkerian analysis under the cold gaze of Professor D., our class greeted the arrival of Professor Whittall in the second term with some relief. His incisive instruction in the rigours and intricacies of set theory was delivered in a disarmingly mild, faintly avuncular manner. More than his demeanour, however, what engaged us was the way in which he interspersed instruction in technical matters, such as the Z-relation and nexus sets, with conversations about the music of the century. He introduced us to the music of Michael Tippett, whose opera The Midsummer Marriage was being performed contemporaneously by the English National Opera, he provoked us to think about how the concept of modernism found form in composers such as Benjamin Britten and Elliott Carter, he discussed the ways in which aspects of musical structure may offer insights into a composer's reaction to their society and its cultural climate. For many of us, this was our first encounter with the enriched world of ideas and interpretations that constitute musicology, having previously only been exposed to the routine description of historical events, dates and documents in "music history" courses. And for all of us, it influenced the way we thought about music of the twentieth century, and laid rest to the belief that theoretical analysis could operate independently of musical context. It is Whittall' s ability to inhabit both the realm of the analytical and the musicologicai that makes Exploring Twentieth-Century Music: Tradition and Innovation such a fascinating and unique book. Musical works of this century are presented not only as "expressive structures" generated by specific compositional methods and techniques, but also as objects of interpretation and meaning. Whittall skillfully blends analytical examination of specific pieces with discussion of the larger context in which they are formed by providing critical and musicologicai commentaries on those compositions, and by examining the fundamental forces that affected composers and their works within the complex and challenging world of the twentieth century. Having been thinking and writing about music since the 1960s, when he published his first article, "Rousseau and the Scope of the Opera" Whittall' s perspective on music of the twentieth century has been gained over a period of at least four decades.1 His career, encompassing the roles of teacher, broadcaster, concert presenter, and writer on music and music theory, has involved a detailed examination of music of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and his dedication to contemporary composition has made him a formative force in the world of modern music. It would not be an overstatement to say that his work has helped to shape generations of musicians, directly influencing the academic landscape in both Europe and North America. Most books about twentieth-century music take a chronological path in their presentation of the music of this century, starting with what they identify as the tipping point between high romanticism and early atonality, and organizing the rest of the century either by consecutive compositional trends - avant-garde, nationalism, neoclassicism, serialism, and so fortli - or by focusing sequentially on prominent composers of the time. Books of a more technical nature tend to concentrate almost exclusively on aspects of pitch organization in the twentieth century, covering topics related to set theory, serialism, the use of alternative scales and modes, and occasionally paying brief attention to other parameters such as rhythm and texture. …


Objective: To assess in multiple sclerosis (MS) the effect of intense immunosuppression followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cells transplantation (AHSCT) vs mitoxantrone (MTX) on disease activity measured by MRI. Methods: We conducted a multicenter, phase II, randomized trial including patients with secondary progressive or relapsing-remitting MS, with a documented increase in the last year on the Expanded Disability Status Scale, in spite of conventional therapy, and presence of one or more gadolinium-enhancing (Gd+) areas. Patients were randomized to receive intense immunosuppression (mobilization with cyclophosphamide and filgrastim, conditioning with carmustine, cytosine-arabinoside, etoposide, melphalan, and anti-thymocyte globulin) followed by AHSCT or MTX 20 mg every month for 6 months. The primary endpoint was the cumulative number of new T2 lesions in the 4 years following randomization. Secondary endpoints were the cumulative number of Gd+ lesions, relapse rate, and disability progression. Safety and tolerability were also assessed. Twenty-one patients were randomized and 17 had postbaseline evaluable MRI scans. Results: AHSCT reduced by 79% the number of new T2 lesions as compared to MTX (rate ratio 0.21, p = 0.00016). It also reduced Gd+ lesions as well as the annualized relapse rate. No difference was found in the progression of disability. Conclusion: Intense immunosuppression followed by AHSCT is significantly superior to MTX in reducing MRI activity in severe cases of MS. These results strongly support further phase III studies with primary clinical endpoints. The study was registered as EUDRACT No. 2007-000064-24.


Introduction Aspirin has been widely prescribed for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) events for decades. In recent years, attitudes around its efficacy and safety have changed in two important areas: primary prevention of vascular events and stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). In particular, two meta-analyses and a large randomised-control trial (RCT) suggested that in primary prevention, the modest reduction in CV events afforded by aspirin was accompanied by a modest increase in the risk of serious bleeding Aim We sought to describe the trends of aspirin and other anti-platelet prescribing in England over the 18 year period, 1998–2015. Methods We conducted a comprehensive nationwide retrospective study. Data were obtained from the Prescription Cost Analysis system, which holds information on every prescription dispensed in the community in England, covering a population of more than 50 million (m) people. We obtained data for 5 anti-platelet agents from 1998–2015. Results From 1998–2008 annual aspirin prescriptions increased linearly, peaking at 33.9 million in 2009 (Figure 1). Since 2009, aspirin prescribing has fallen to 28m (2015). Over this latter period, clopidogrel use has risen to a peak of 8.2m scripts in 2015. More recently prasugrel and ticagrelor have been prescribed but comprise a small proportion of total prescriptions (Table 1). Total anti-platelet prescriptions have plateaued since 2009 (39.3m in 2009 and 37.4m in 2015). Conclusion Anti-platelet prescribing increased linearly from 1998–2009 and plateaued thereafter. The decline in aspirin prescribing coincides with the publication of two meta-analyses and a large RCT that cast doubt on its efficacy in primary prevention and raised concerns about the increased risk of bleeding in this population (Antithrombotic Trialists Collaboration 2009; de Berardis et al 2009; Fowkes et al 2010). Our data are limited given the indication for each prescription is unavailable, but we can hypothesise that the reduction in aspirin use from 2009 is due to a reduction in primary prevention prescribing. Changes in CV guidelines have had further impact on total anti-platelet prescribing. NICE guidance in AF advocates formal anticoagulation for stroke prevention, with no role for anti-platelets (NICE CG180, 2014). In the absence of AF, clopidogrel now supercedes aspirin ± dipyridamole in the prevention of occlusive events in stroke and peripheral arterial disease (NICE TA210, 2010). With rising rates of coronary intervention, these changes explain escalating clopidogrel use over this period. Whilst the new anti-platelet agents contribute relatively little to current prescribing, the landscape is likely to change as their role beyond acute myocardial infarction is investigated.Abstract 99 Table 1 Prescriptions of each anti-platelet agent as a proportion of total anti-platelets prescribedAbstract 99 Figure 1


Although South Africa is known for its extreme income inequality, the degree of wealth inequality is even greater. New tax and survey data suggest that 10% of the population own at least 90–95% of all assets, in contrast to their earning 'only' about 55–60% percent of all income. The finding supports the ongoing proposed reforms to close loopholes in estate taxation (Davis Tax Committee) and expand the coverage of pension systems (National Treasury).


Environmental awareness and ever-growing restrictive regulations over contamination have increased the need for more environmentally-friendly lubricants. Due to their superior biodegradability and lower toxicity, vegetable oils are a good alternative to replace currently-used mineral oils. However, vegetable oils show low oxidation and thermal stability and poor anti-wear properties. Most of these drawbacks can be attenuated through the use of additives. In the last decade, ionic liquids have emerged as high-performance fluids and lubricant additives due to their unique characteristics. In this study, the tribological behavior of two phosphonium-based ionic liquids is investigated as additives of coffee bean oil in steel-steel contact. Coffee bean oil-ionic liquid blends containing 1, 2.5, and 5 wt% of each ionic liquid are studied using a block-on-flat reciprocating tribometer and the test results are compared to commercially-available, fully-formulated lubricant. Results showed that the addition of the ionic liquids to the coffee bean oil reduces wear volume of the steel disks, and wear values achieved are comparable to that obtained when the commercially-available lubricant is used.


Traditional corporate governance patterns are based on the interaction among composite stakeholders and the various forms of separation between ownership and control. Stakeholders cooperate around the Coasian firm represented by a nexus of increasingly complex contracts. These well-known occurrences have been deeply investigated by growing literature and nurtured by composite empirical evidence. Apparently, unrelated network theory is concerned with the study of graphs as a representation of (a)symmetric relations between discrete objects (nodes connected by links). Network theory is highly interdisciplinary, and its versatile nature is fully consistent with the complex interactions of (networked) stakeholders, even in terms of game-theoretic patterns. The connection between traditional corporate governance issues and network theory properties is, however, still under-investigated. Hence the importance of an innovative reinterpretation that brings to "network governance". Innovation may, for instance, concern the principal-agent networked relationships and their conflicts of interest or the risk contagion and value drivers – three core governance issues. Networks and their applications (like blockchains, P2P platforms, game-theoretic interactions or digital supply chains) foster unmediated decentralization. In decentralized digital platforms stakeholders inclusively interact, promoting cooperation and sustainability. To the extent that network properties can be mathematically measured, governance issues may be quantified and traced with recursive patterns of expected occurrences.


The paper focuses on the potential of quantitative research methods for sociologists who research the gender division of unpaid domestic work. To begin, it reflects on the emergence of the sociological interest in unpaid domestic work and identifies an early core concern with making invisible work visible. It is argued that quantitative research methods provide us with the most valuable opportunities for 'recognising' unpaid domestic work since they facilitate larger scale representative projects. However the data in most of the large scale surveys are scant, and fail to reflect developments in the conceptualisation of unpaid domestic work. Four areas of concern to contemporary sociology are identified: domestic work practices, relationships, negotiations and meanings. Given the complex questions that these four sub-topics raise, the paper proposes a range of sub-areas as a focus for ongoing sociological research into unpaid domestic work. It is concluded that, despite the methodological challenges presented, detailed indicators of the multiple dimensions of unpaid domestic work need to be agreed so that valid information can be collected in large scale surveys as routinely as it is on paid work.