Cumulative risk assessment posits that multiple agents work together to induce disease and that multiple stressors therefore must be considered in order to gain a true understanding of why adverse health effects occur.1 Now a small but growing number of scientists are pushing the envelope by investigating whether chronic psychological stress might be one of those factors, enhancing a child's vulnerability to certain chemical exposures and contributing to effects that later show up as asthma, neurodevelopmental disorders, cardiovascular disease, obesity, cancer, and other problems. These researchers are also starting to identify biomarkers that may shed light on the mechanisms by which psychological stress acts on a child's developing immune system and brain to modify or enhance the response to certain pollution exposures such as
traffic-related air pollutants and lead.

"We really don't know how broadly such interactions may occur across chemicals. They are much more likely to occur when the chemical itself acts directly upon stress systems," says Deborah Cory-Slechta, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry.

"We know some chemicals that interact with stress, such as lead exposure, but we don't know which others do."

Observations of links between stress and disease date back to at least the twelfth century, when the philosopher Maimonides cited emotional upset as a factor in asthma.2 But proving such links poses a significant challenge, says Malcolm P. Cutchin, a professor at the School of Medicine of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Much has been hypothesized about the linkages, but we are just now beginning to tease out relationships and understand the processes," Cutchin says. As researchers have learned more about techniques that can identify chemical and stress exposures in the human body, they have begun to apply techniques to estimate how people respond to stress and how that response, if it goes awry, can facilitate the development of diseases.


A multidisciplinary study of drill core C45 from the Gulf of Policastro slope (Tyrrhenian Sea) was aimed at contributing to the biostratigraphy, paleoclimatology, tephrochronology, sedimentology and paleo-ecology of the region. The sedimentary sequence, Late Pleistocene-Holocene in age, was deposited during the 32-30 ka before present. Some subdivisions have been distinguished on the basis of sedimentological analyses. The succession recovered consists of silty-clay and clayey-silt with four interbedded levels rich in pyroclastic components. The sedimentation rate is variable, reaching the value of about 20 cm for 1.000 years. Turbidites have been mainly recognized in the lower part of last glacial sedimentary body (Late Pleistocene), whereas frequent pelagites have been found in the middle and upper part of the core which correspond to a deglaciation phase (Late glacial) and to the next post glacial transgression (Holocene). The pyroclastic horizons, a few centimetres in thickness, are related to the great eruptive events of the Somma Vesuvius and Phlegrean Fields except for one which belongs to the event known as Y3, widespread in the Mediterranean region, whose source area is still unknown. The present report also deals with the quantitative faunal analyses of foraminiferal and pteropod assemblages recovered from 59 samples of core, in order to reconstruct the paleoclimatic conditions of water masses at the core location. This shows that in the lower and middle part of sequence high-productivity and oligotypic assemblages of Pteropods occur, mainly containing the subartic species Limacina retroversa. Also some taxa of planktonic foraminifers typical of subpolar-transitional waters as Globorotalia scitula, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma lx, Turborotalita quinqueloba were recognized. From 180 cm toward the top, these assemblages were replaced by others with temperate and/or warm-temperate species, with higher species diversity indicative of subtropical-tropical water masses (among which mainly Limacina inflata for the Pteropods and Globigerinoides spp. for planktonic Foraminifers). Paleoclimatic curves for the planktonic Foraminifers and Pteropods were inferred based on the algebraic sum of the cumulative percentages of cold and warm water indicators. They show that the basal and middle parts of the sequence can be referred to the last glaciation (Wurm) and that the assemblages reflect a clear Atlantic influence whereas the upper part shows characteristic species of western and eastern Mediterranean typical of Late Pleistocene-Holocene Epoch. The inferred climatic curves were compared: basically they are in good agreement but the climatic pulsations are less evident in the foraminifers curve. The most significant dated events are: the Last glacial maximum (about 19-18 ka BP), the Bolling-Allerod warm event (13 -11 ka BP), the Younger Dryas cold-temperate event (about 11-10 ka BP), whose top marks the Upper Pleistocene-Holocene transition. The ages of these key events together with 1 4 C dating were used to calculate the sedimentation rates of the core. The palaeoecological results indicate that the time-evolution of the sedimentation, the productivity and the specific diversity of the assemblages (mainly of the Pteropods) were controlled by climatic and eustatic changes, and by volcanic events affecting the Tyrrhenian Sea during the time span considered.


Abstract Simulations of atmospheric carbonation of concrete intermediate-low level waste cell components were conducted to evaluate potential chemical degradations affecting these components during the operating period of a radioactive waste repository in a deep Callovo-Oxfordian clay layer. Two-phase liquid water-air flow is combined with gas components diffusion processes, leading to a progressive drying of the concrete and an array of chemical reactions affecting the cement paste. The carbonation process depends strongly on the progression of the drying front inside the concrete, which in turn is sensitive to the initial water saturation and to nonlinear effects associated with permeability and tortuosity phenomenological laws. Results obtained with a modified version of ToughReact-EOS4 to represent realistic tortuosity evolution of materials with clogging and saturation are presented and commented upon. Strong porosity clogging of the carbonated concrete is not observed in the simulations; slight porosity opening is in general predicted, except for high initial liquid saturation of the concrete, in which case a moderate porosity reduction is found. Carbonation depths on the order of 0.6 to 1.1 × 10–3 m·yr–1 are predicted for cementitious components. However, these values are probably overestimations both in depth and intensity of carbonation. The model of cement drying needs some revision to correctly weight diffusion control in the discretized representation of the cement/air boundary. Also, the kinetic model of mineral reactivity needs improvements with respect to the influence of liquid saturation on reaction rates, which are actually strongly decreased in dry materials, and with respect to the protective effect of secondary carbonates.


BACKGROUND: In preterm neonates, feeding problems are recognized as a challenging issue. Immaturity of the oromotor system, inability to generate a suck-swallow-breath pattern, and poor motor development are few factors contributing to feeding difficulties. Oromotor stimulation is one of the various techniques used to enhance breastfeeding in infants which is frequently given in hospitals. However, the effect of oromotor stimulation is given as a home-based program has not been studied. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of home-based oromotor stimulation on weight, sucking frequency, duration of transition from spoon-feeding to breastfeeding, and Latch breastfeeding assessment in preterm low-birth-weight infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A randomized control trial was done on 40 preterm low-birth-weight infants where they were divided equally into intervention and control groups. Weight, Latch scores, and sucking frequency were noted at baseline. Routine Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care was given to infants in the control group whereas oromotor stimulation was given for 21 days as a home-based program to the intervention group. The outcome measures were evaluated on the 7th and the 21st day. RESULTS: Oromotor stimulation improved the sucking frequency, Latch scores, and hastened the transition from spoon-feeding to breastfeeding as compared to the controlled group (P < 0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the weight gain in the two groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The present study concludes that home-based oromotor stimulation program is effective in improving sucking frequency, Latch scores, and duration of transition from spoon-feeding to breastfeeding in preterm low-birth-weight infants, although no significant changes were seen in the rate of weight gain between the groups. Oromotor stimulation should be added along with routine NICU care for preterm low-birth-weight infants to improve the breastfeeding performance.


The metafor package provides functions for conducting meta-analyses in R. The package includes functions for fitting the meta-analytic fixed- and random-effects models and allows for the inclusion of moderators variables (study-level covariates) in these models. Meta-regression analyses with continuous and categorical moderators can be conducted in this way. Functions for the Mantel-Haenszel and Peto's one-step method for meta-analyses of 2 x 2 table data are also available. Finally, the package provides various plot functions (for example, for forest, funnel, and radial plots) and functions for assessing the model fit, for obtaining case diagnostics, and for tests of publication bias.


Abstract. This study describes the appearance of ultrafine boundary layer aerosol
particles under classical "non-favourable" conditions at the research
site of TROPOS (Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research). Airborne
measurements of meteorological and aerosol properties of the atmospheric
boundary layer (ABL) were repeatedly performed with the unmanned aerial
system ALADINA (Application of Light-weight Aircraft for Detecting IN-situ
Aerosol) during three seasons between October 2013 and July 2015. More than
100 measurement flights were conducted on 23 different days with a total
flight duration of 53 h. In 26 % of the cases, maxima of ultrafine
particles were observed close to the inversion layer at altitudes between 400 and
600 m and the particles were rapidly mixed vertically and mainly transported
downwards during short time intervals of cloud gaps. This study focuses on
two measurement days affected by low-level stratocumulus clouds, but
different wind directions (NE, SW) and minimal concentrations
(< 4.6 µg m−3) of SO2, as a common indicator for
precursor gases at ground. Taken from vertical profiles, the onset of clouds
led to a non-linearity of humidity that resulted in an increased turbulence
at the local-scale and caused fast nucleation
(e.g. Bigg, 1997; Wehner et al., 2010), but in relation to rapid dilution of
surrounding air, seen in sporadic clusters of ground data, so that ultrafine
particles disappeared in the verticality. The typical "banana shape"
(Heintzenberg et al., 2007) of new particle formation (NPF) and growth was not
seen at ground and thus these days might not have been classified as NPF
event days by pure surface studies.


Economic transition and reforms in the Central and Eastern European nations and the Newly Independent States have been uneven and probably slower than expected by many observers, with agriculture experiencing special difficulties. Johnson says that there is a real need for practical and consistent assistance in defining strategies that will help complete the reforms while maintaining political stability and a sense of economic security.


Most sheet metal components are made by deep drawing, which requires expensive tooling. Although many new flexible forming processes have been invented, they have largely not had industrial application, so it would be valuable if intelligent means to design new processes existed. This has not previously been attempted, although there has been work to classify both products and processes and to define optimal forming processes. A body of work in garment production examines the optimal flattening of garments, starting from their final form on a human body, to deduce the best cutting pattern from flat fabric. This paper develops a related approach for the first time, "un-forming" sheet metal from its finished geometry to a flat blank without prior specification of a process. An algorithm is developed that allows specification of process constraints and great freedom in implementing un-forming strategies, leading to a prediction of the strain history of the un-forming process. Reversing the direction of this history, allows prediction of the stresses in the workpiece required to form the target part, by use of an appropriate material model. The external forces (boundary conditions) required to maintain equilibrium with this stress state can then be calculated, allowing an iterative refinement of the constraints on unforming until a physically achievable process has been designed. The approach is validated against a known process, and used to demonstrate how several previously untried forming strategies could lead to specification of new process designs. In future work, the method could be extended to allow an iterative specification of tooling to create the required boundary conditions, and hence to complete automatic process designs


Using more than five hundred historical maps from collections around the world, this stunning book is the first to tell the story of America's past from a unique geographical perspective. Covering more than half a millennium in U.S. history--from conception to colonization to Hurricane Katrina--this atlas documents the discoveries and explorations, the intrigue and negotiations, the technology and the will that led the United States to become what it is today. Richly detailed, visually breathtaking maps are accompanied by extended captions that elucidate the stories and personalities behind their creation. Coasts and mountains, rivers and lakes, and peaks and plains are described by explorers encountering them for the first time. These maps can convey explorers' ideas of what lay over the mountains ahead, their notions about what was discovered, and their explanations of the land's potential for sponsors back home. The maps can also show a promoter's attempt to sell his project to settlers or a general's assessment of a coming battle. They chart the wars that created and molded the country: the French and Indian War and the War for Independence the Mexican and Civil Wars the numerous Indian wars as well as more localized battles of conquest and survival. Readers can follow the progression of map creation and design as more knowledge was gained about the American continent. Distilling an enormous amount of information into one handsome volume, the Historical Atlas of the United States highlights the evolution of geographical knowledge at the same time that it presents a fascinating chronicle of the expansion and development of a nation. Copub: Douglas & McIntyre


Waste-derived multicomponent extracts were investigated as carbon source for biological nitrate removal. Aerobic and anaerobic sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant and leachate from an anaerobic digester treating food waste were studied. Alkaline-heat treatment was used for sludge solubilisation. More than 90% carbon was recovered at pH 10–11. The extracts contain very high volatile fatty acids (VFAs), protein and carbohydrate. The protein/carbohydrate ratio was 2/1 for both aerobic and anaerobic sludge extracts and 9/1 for leachate. Of the total chemical oxygen demand (COD), 60% was solubilised in both the aerobic and anaerobic sludge extracts, while 80% was solubilised in the leachate. The extracts were successfully tested in batch experiments for different time intervals as a sole carbon source for biological nitrate removal in synthetic wastewater. More than 95% nitrate removal was achieved in 24 h batch studies at carbon-to-nitrate (C/N) ratio of 8 and at 35oC. The nitrate removal performance was comparable to that obtained with glucose as the external carbon source. Further, the nitrate removal efficiency of all the three extracts is similar. Thus, the result of this study shows the potential of these waste derived materials for the low-cost treatment of nitrate rich wastewaters characterised by low C/N ratio that are generated from many industries.


PREMISE OF THE STUDY
Polyploidy or whole-genome duplication (WGD) pervades the evolutionary history of angiosperms. Despite extensive progress in our understanding of WGD, the role of these events in promoting diversification is still not well understood. We seek to clarify the possible association between WGD and diversification rates in flowering plants.

METHODS
Using a previously published phylogeny spanning all land plants (31,749 tips) and WGD events inferred from analyses of the 1000 Plants (1KP) transcriptome data, we analyzed the association of WGDs and diversification rates following numerous WGD events across the angiosperms. We used a stepwise AIC approach (MEDUSA), a Bayesian mixture model approach (BAMM), and state-dependent diversification analyses (MuSSE) to investigate patterns of diversification. Sister-clade comparisons were used to investigate species richness after WGDs.

KEY RESULTS
Based on the density of 1KP taxon sampling, 106 WGDs were unambiguously placed on the angiosperm phylogeny. We identified 334-530 shifts in diversification rates. We found that 61 WGD events were tightly linked to changes in diversification rates, and state-dependent diversification analyses indicated higher speciation rates for subsequent rounds of WGD. Additionally, 70 of 99 WGD events showed an increase in species richness compared to the sister clade.

CONCLUSIONS
Forty-six of the 106 WGDs analyzed appear to be closely associated with upshifts in the rate of diversification in angiosperms. Shifts in diversification do not appear more likely than random within a four-node lag phase following a WGD; however, younger WGD events are more likely to be followed by an upshift in diversification than older WGD events.


Since the end of the Cold War, a significant number of armed conflicts have taken place in Africa. Most of these conflicts have occurred within states and many African governments have faced opposition movements resorting to violence and armed struggle. However, the political claims and trajectories of armed opposition groups have differed to a large degree in relation to their distinct political contexts. While some have become considerably apolitical over time, others have sought to live up to their initially-stated ideologies and objectives. Moreover, the often complex, disputed, and fragmented nature of the leaderships of armed opposition organizations in Africa tends to mask their ultimate political objectives, which are usually difficult to pinpoint. This article presents a selection of tentative findings from a study on armed opposition groups in the greater Horn of Africa. Focusing on the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in Ethiopia, it highlights the problems associated with determining the political objectives of armed opposition organizations, as well as the difficulties associated with labeling such groups. The article argues that denominating rebel groups as "terrorist" serves to justify certain approaches towards them, while categorizing them as "secessionist" may not be analytically useful and may also indicate a possible political bias by creating a social boundary that can be used to justify particular policies towards the designated "other".


This book critically examines quality and quality assurance in the Ethiopian higher education context. More specifically, the main research problem that guided the study was: 'how and under what circumstances do the public Universities in Ethiopia assure quality of their education, and what contextual factors influence their current quality assurance practices?' Ethiopia is considered an interesting case based on the ground that it is one of the sub-Saharan African countries in which the higher education environment is characterized by rapid institutional and enrollment expansion.
The study is grounded in the argument that student learning is at the center of the education mission of universities, and a quality assurance practice becomes effective when it focuses on the core educational processes and conditions that affect quality of student learning. A conceptual framework derived from the key concepts of contingency and institutional theories together with quality assurance models guided the study. We applied a mixed methods design in this research.
This study found that quality of education is threatened by a number of problems, and many of the necessary conditions for quality assurance to function effectively are missing in Ethiopian universities. It is argued that establishing quality assurance aspirations, laws and regulatory bodies could not solve the quality problems in Ethiopia. The major challenge is not lack of laws, policies and structures, but rather the human element. The adoption and practice of quality assurance system at universities remains a slogan when the enabling conditions are not met. Implications of the study and suggestions for improved practices are also discussed.


Abstract Two deep seismic reflection profiles across the zone of convergence between Australia and the Banda arc east of Timor reveal the structures formed during lithosphere deformation in response to continental collision. Australian continental crust is bent down to the north to form the lower lithospheric plate. The immediately overlying upper plate is made up of a former outlier of the Australian continental shelf, now squeezed between the Australian continent to the south and the Banda arc to the north. The ages of metamorphism and of a regional unconformity in Timor indicate that the outlier began to accrete to the upper plate in the late Miocene. Near the Timor trough, at the junction between the two plates, seismic reflection data show the upper plate to be cut by north-dipping structures interpreted as thrusts in an accretionary prism formed since the arrival of the Australian continental shelf at the collision zone at about 2.5 Ma. The northern part of the collision zone is dominated by structures dipping southwards, antithetic to subduction, which penetrate the lithosphere to depths of at least 50 km. Earthquake data indicate that these are active thrust faults which divide the upper plate into imbricate slices. The seismic reflection sections, supported by gravity data and seismicity patterns, have been used to develop a model of plate convergence and continental collision which now consists of a 200 km wide zone in which both oceanic and continental material is being shortened, thickened and uplifted.


Homeopathy is a therapeutic method, which consists in administering to the sick man, a drug capable of causing in healthy body a morbid condition similar or identical to the symptoms of his illness. Any pharmaceutical product in the European Union, either allopathic or homeopathic, is authorized through several procedures under Community legislation in force. Only those drugs that have been granted a marketing authorization can be marketed in the European Economic Area. Homeopathy as a distinct therapeutic system is recognized by law in countries from the European Community, and in the European Union there is a legislation governing homeopathic medicine and there are efforts from those involved to find solutions for its harmonization.


Mouse phagocytic glycoprotein-1 (Pgp-1; Ly-24) is a 95-kDa glycoprotein of unknown function that has served as an important T cell/leukocyte differentiation marker. Recent work has suggested that it may be related to a human 85- to 95-kDa glycoprotein (termed variously the Hermes Ag/lymphocyte homing receptor, ECMRIII, P80, and CD44) that is involved in lymphocyte binding to high endothelial venules in the process of lymphocyte homing, and has been implicated in other cell adhesion events. The widespread expression of this molecular class in diverse organ systems suggests a broad role in cellular adhesion, and has led to the unifying designation homing-cellular adhesion molecule (H-CAM). By using human H-CAM cDNA probes, we have isolated a full-length cDNA for the mouse homolog. Comparison of the human and mouse sequences reveals that an N-terminal domain homologous to cartilage proteoglycan core and link proteins, as well as the C-terminal transmembrane and cytoplasmic sequences, are highly conserved (89% and 86% identity, respectively). In contrast, a proximal extracellular domain thought to serve as a target for O-glycosylation and chondroitin sulfate attachment has undergone substantial divergence (only 42% identity). Transient expression of the cDNA in CHO cells followed by immunologic staining confirms that this mouse H-CAM cDNA encodes Pgp-1.1, one of two known Pgp-1 alloantigens.


Although economics has increasingly become a technical subject, this accessible book aims to present important economics results and relate them explicitly to the policy debate. Using a coherent analytical framework, this unique approach offers prescriptions for moving tourism, and economic development more generally, closer to a sustainable ideal. The authors begin by studying the macroeconomic effect of tourism in terms of growth performance and sources of growth. They also examine how the tourism–growth link is affected by the role of imports in the economy, and how tourism impacts upon land use. Further chapters investigate the important issue of forecasting visitor numbers and explore the need for a comprehensive accounting framework to take account of ecologically sustainable tourism. The authors also examine the microeconomic aspects of sustainable tourism and analyse the increasing popularity of environmentally friendly holidays.


The catastrophic impact of fishing pressure on species such as cod and herring is well documented. However, the antiquity of their intensive exploitation has not been established. Systematic catch statistics are only available for ca.100 years, but large–scale fishing industries existed in medieval Europe and the expansion of cod fishing from the fourteenth century (first in Iceland, then in Newfoundland) played an important role in the European colonization of the Northwest Atlantic. History has demonstrated the scale of these late medieval and post–medieval fisheries, but only archaeology can illuminate earlier practices. Zooarchaeological evidence shows that the clearest changes in marine fishing in England between AD 600 and 1600 occurred rapidly around AD 1000 and involved large increases in catches of herring and cod. Surprisingly, this revolution predated the documented post–medieval expansion of England's sea fisheries and coincided with the Medieval Warm Period—when natural herring and cod productivity was probably low in the North Sea. This counterintuitive discovery can be explained by the concurrent rise of urbanism and human impacts on freshwater ecosystems. The search for 'pristine' baselines regarding marine ecosystems will thus need to employ medieval palaeoecological proxies in addition to recent fisheries data and early modern historical records.


We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language -- "the language faculty" -- raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars -- a computer scientist and a linguist -- addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define "language" and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.


The intense competition in e-commerce makes many smalland medium-sized retailers striving for dynamic pricing. Therefore, the core functionalities of a dynamic pricing system are investigated using single case study research method. They embrace both external and internal factors for price calculation. First, there are functions to get external information such as price information from competing retailers. They provide important information for calculation and forecasting. Second, internal oriented functions exist, which analyse personal information such as the birthday in order to influence the buyers' decisions in a positive way.


This paper aims to investigate the flexural strength and hardness of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and five different samples of copper filled in ABS parts made by injection molding process for fused deposition modeling (FDM) feedstock wire. In this study, the effect of copper powder was investigated as a filler material in polymer matrix composite (PMC) and ABS was chosen as a matrix material. The detailed formulations of compounding ratio by weight percentage with various combinations of the new PMC are investigated experimentally. Based on the result obtained, it was found that, increment of 71% to 75% copper filler affected the flexural strength, and hardness values. The highly filled copper content in ABS composites increases the mechanical properties and density of PMC material through the injection molding process. The potential of development of a new composite material with metal loading in the PMC will be explored for the FDM rapid prototyping process.


While ESG data has come a long way, investors acknowledge multiple challenges related to materiality, reliability, and comparability. This policy brief focuses on the role of credit rating agencies (CRAs) and sustainability ratings providers (SRPs) as an essential part of the financial ecosystem. They pursue different objectives, and are currently at very different stages in terms of market development and regulatory frameworks. Looking at the experience with CRAs, policymakers and stakeholders should reflect in more depth about the optimal market structure for SRPs. There is still quite a significant amount of experimentation in this space. Hence, it might be hazardous to move too quickly on the regulatory side and risk impeding the innovation that is still taking place. Proceeding with caution might be the only 'reasonable' way forward in the new legislative cycle.


Teamwork is increasingly becoming a prerequisite for many job functions in those learning organizations striving towards total quality management (TQM). However, the daunting task of creating a teamwork environment in many manufacturing companies is often left to proactive senior management, who assume the responsibility for creating a culture of interdependency, among all employees. This opportunity for maximizing employee potential through empowered teamwork represents a challenge for many managers. These "champions for success" will inevitably contribute towards improving business performance through re‐engineering the people process. Their actions will also facilitate the development of an organizational culture, which thrives on teamwork. Describes a case experience of an SME that has developed a team‐based learning organization, where all employees are empowered to challenge the status quo and make continuous improvements. Then reports on how the formation of self‐directed work teams (SDWTs) have been used as a strategy for getting a diverse group of people with different attitudes, skills and personalities, to work together towards common goals. Continues by presenting the use of a simple decision‐making framework which was developed by the case study company, and is contributing towards the empowerment of all team members. Concludes with some of the benefits experienced by the company, during their pursuit of TQM, through flexible SDWTs.


A critical shortage of hospital-based nurses in the U.S. continues. The shortage is expected to become increasingly acute as the baby boomer generation retires, grows older, and experiences age-related illnesses. The aging of the nursing workforce, and the global nature of this shortage, compound usual contributing factors. Given the far-reaching implications of the projected shortage, I explore key issues related to retiring nurses of the baby boomer cohort group. Using a descriptive study approach, I sought to analyze existing strategies for stemming the problems related to nursing shortage, to offer recommendations, viable in meeting the projected U.S. nursing shortage. I review extracted secondary data to explore the current the relationship between retiring baby boomers the problem of nursing shortage in United States.

Keywords: baby boomers, nursing, quality care, stress, shortage of workers, ratio, turnover rate


Spatial databases are growing in size and complexity, yet current visual data mining methods are challenged when it comes to multivariate spatial data. The specific research question addressed in this thesis is: how can spatial multivariate data be effectively visualized using an icon based non-fused co-visualization approach? The thesis presents a Python based design and implementation of a visualization program termed GeoIcon Viewer. The program incorporates two different visualization methods: GeoIcon Image Map and Region-of-Interest Image Layers Chart. The GeoIcon Image Map technique uses an icon to co-visualize up to nine attributes at a single location. The Region-of-Interest Image Layers Chart method uses a small multiples approach to support the GeoIcon Image Map technique for data with negligible value differences. The thesis demonstrates the successful implementation of the GeoIcon Viewer with a case study involving remote sensing digital image analysis of a copper deposit. With the two visualization methods and eight input attributes, the GeoIcon Viewer generated real time interactive visualization outputs that can aid a user in multivariate spatial data mining.


For West Papua and its people, the promise of sovereignty has never been realized, despite a long and fraught struggle for independence from Indonesia. In "Laughing at Leviathan", Danilyn Rutherford examines this struggle through a series of interlocking essays that drive at the core meaning of sovereignty itself - how it is fueled, formed, and even thwarted by pivotal but often overlooked players: those that make up an audience. Whether these players are citizens, missionaries, competing governmental powers, nongovernmental organizations, or the international community at large, Rutherford shows how a complex interplay of various observers is key to the establishment and understanding of the sovereign nation-state. Drawing on a wide array of sources, from YouTube videos to Dutch propaganda to her own fieldwork observations, Rutherford draws the history of Indonesia, empire, and postcolonial nation-building into a powerful examination of performance and power. Ultimately she revises Thomas Hobbes, painting a picture of the Leviathan not as a coherent body but a fragmented one distributed across a wide range of both real and imagined spectators. In doing so, she offers an important new approach to the understanding of political struggle.


Objective: In recent years, wide dynamic range compression (WDRC) has been used with increasing success. To optimize the fit with this type of hearing aid circuitry, subjective measures of loudness growth often are used. Unfortunately, these type of measures cannot be performed with infants, young children, and some elderly individuals. The primary purpose of this study was to compare the fitting recommendations of two recently described threshold‐based procedures for fitting nonlinear hearing aids (DSL 4.0 and FIG6) to the use gain settings of satisfied adult hearing aid users for whom the fitting was based on subjective measures of loudness growth. Because it cannot be assumed that the use settings for adults will be appropriate for young children, a secondary goal was to quantify the audibility of speech at the use settings derived from loudness growth measures. Design: Forty‐nine adult hearing aid users with mild to severe sensorineural hearing loss participated in this study. For all subjects, loudness growth measures were used to optimize the fit of a 2‐channel WDRC hearing aid. The use gain at 50 and 80 dB SPL was compared with the gain recommended by DSL, FIG6, and the manufacturer's threshold‐based fitting algorithm. Results: In general, both DSL and FIG6 prescribed more gain than actually was used by these hearing aid wearers. These discrepancies increased as a function of frequency, and differences in excess of 20 dB were observed in some cases. The manufacturer's algorithm provided a closer approximation to the use gain than either DSL or FIG6. Utilizing these use gain values, an Aided Audibility Index (AAI) was calculated for soft, average, and loud speech across four degrees of hearing loss, ranging from mild to severe (12 conditions). Transfer functions for continuous discourse and nonsense syllables were applied to yield estimated intelligibility scores. For the higher context speech materials, estimated intelligibility was ≥85% for nine of the 12 conditions. For low‐context speech materials, estimated intelligibility was≥85% for only three of the 12 conditions. Conclusions: Results suggest that the gain recommendations provided by both DSL and FIG6 exceeded the gain actually used by the adult hearing‐impaired subjects in this study. Gain recommendations from the manufacturer's algorithm provided a closer approximation to the use gain values of these subjects. These findings suggest that, for adult hearing aid users who cannot perform loudness judgments reliably, the manufacturer's algorithm would be expected to provide a closer approximation to loudness‐based use gain values than either DSL or FIG6. However, AAI calculations revealed that the gain recommendations from this algorithm produce adequate audibility of speech only if one assumes linguistic competence. When AAI values are transformed to predict the intelligibility of low‐context speech materials, it appears that the degree of audibility may not be appropriate for prelingually hearing‐impaired children with more than a moderate hearing loss.


Quantifying cumulative arm muscle fatigue is a critical factor in understanding, evaluating, and optimizing user experience during prolonged mid-air interaction. A reasonably accurate estimation of fatigue requires an estimate of an individual's strength. However, there is no easy-to-access method to measure individual strength to accommodate inter-individual differences. Furthermore, fatigue is influenced by both psychological and physiological factors, but no current HCI model provides good estimates of cumulative subjective fatigue. We present a new, simple method to estimate the maximum shoulder torque through a mid-air pointing task, which agrees with direct strength measurements. We then introduce a cumulative fatigue model informed by subjective and biomechanical measures. We evaluate the performance of the model in estimating cumulative subjective fatigue in mid-air interaction by performing multiple cross-validations and a comparison with an existing fatigue metric. Finally, we discuss the potential of our approach for real-time evaluation of subjective fatigue as well as future challenges.


Most bolides that collide with the Earth hit the sea. Limited knowledge about marine-target impacts hampers predictions about their perilousness. This study presents geological features that are particular to craters formed at sea. The features are most likely a result of the influence of the target on the cratering process. Marine-target craters form only if the target sea is shallow enough to admit sufficient kinetic energy into the sea bed. When the crater diameter is large compared to the water depth, the crater resembles its counterparts that are formed on land. Craters formed in deeper water are concentric, and often lack melt sheets and rim walls, but have deposits and radial gullies formed by the resurge of the sea. Impacts on the deep shelf are probably much more energetic than is suggested by the dimensions of the preserved crater.


A major objective of the Uruguay Round negotiation of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is to bring agricultural commodities under general GATT rules and disciplines. The United States and the Cairns Group countries (with the exception of Canada) are insisting on tariffication of all nontariff barriers (NTBs) to trade without exception. On the other hand, the European Community (EC) and Japan are reluctant to open their respective domestic markets for certain agricultural commodities. To break the negotiation deadlock, Arthur Dunkel, the Director General of the GATT, put forward a compromise proposal (the Dunkel proposal) which has become the basis for the final round of talks currently in progress. Among other things, the Dunkel proposal (1991) calls for countries to replace all existing nontariff barriers to trade by tariffs and to ensure minimum access to their domestic markets if imports have been less than 5 percent of domestic consumption. Specifically, the Dunkel proposal calls for importing countries in the 1993 starting period to provide a minimum access of 3 percent of the domestic consumption in the base period (average of 1986 through 1988 consumption). They will gradually increase the minimum access level to 5 percent of the base period domestic consumption by 1999, if base period imports are below these thresholds.


Fears of disruption in international relationships, raised by Trump's access to power, have been confirmed by his first half-year in office. Uncertainty has spread in international relationships. Surprisingly few in-depth studies in political economy have been made to define "Trumponomics" and to analyze the economic consequences of implementing his intentions for the US and the world. Since the question pertains to radical uncertainty, the usual quantitative methods and indicators go astray. Financial markets are not at ease with political uncertainty. In this environment, the financial community takes refuge in denying that business as usual might be derailed. However, it may be useful to raise a lively debate in political economy to figure out the rising forces of change that might trigger the unraveling of the financial globalization founded with Reaganomics in the 1980s that spread all over the world with the Washington Consensus. We will first question the consistency of Trump's revealed intents. Do they amount to a coherent doctrine? What might be the economic consequences? What type of dilemma will he face? To deepen the analysis, we will resort to history. Can Trumponomics be compared to Reaganomics? Both have claimed to overhaul social relationships in emphasizing supply-side economics. Revisiting the consequences of Reaganomics gives clues for assessing the pitfalls that can undermine Trumponomics, since the initial economic and financial conditions are opposite to those that prevailed when Reagan took office. Finally, the third part of the paper will try to assess the consequences for the world and for Europe if Trump's policy triggers a dual rise in US interest rates and in the dollar.


Twenty one female Illinois Wesleyan students participated in an experiment examining changes in brain activity following social ostracism in a chat-room environment. More specifically theta EEG activity was recorded from three frontal areas (the Fz, F3, and F4 sites) and theta power and frequency were compared during three phases: inclusion, exclusion, and re-inclusion. The social ostracism paradigm was successful in creating a feeling of exclusion in participants. Participants had a lower level of interest, participation, and enjoyment during the exclusion phase than the inclusion and re-inclusion phases. Participants also typed fewer lines during the exclusion phase than in the other phases. The results of this ongoing study show a trend in the EEG data collected from the three areas. An increase in theta power was seen in the right frontal (F4) area, which is opposite to decreased theta power seen in the left frontal (F3) and midline (Fz) data seen between the inclusion and exclusion phase. These changes in EEG activity suggest that social ostracism effected participants emotionally and cognitively and decreased their feeling of inclusion in the chat-room and that different brain areas play different roles in the processing of social rejection.


This paper shows how the initial linear birefringence determines the necessary spinning parameters to produce spun fiber with optimum differential group delay (DGD) and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) properties. DGD measurements are reported on two pairs of fibers, each pair having been fabricated from a particular fiber preform. The fiber pairs each consist of a sample of spun and unspun fiber. These measurements are then compared with theoretical simulations for each fiber to determine the required range of spinning parameters for a given initial linear birefringence. These results should help in optimizing the spinning parameters for producing high-performance spun fibers.


The Dutch hospital sector has recently been the subject of two divergent national policy initiatives. Following a mixed experience with regulation in the mid-1980s, the national government has now taken the first steps in a radical shift toward market-based competition. This article suggests that neither official strategy can address the fundamental structural and cultural factors that shape institutional behavior in the Dutch hospital system. Drawing upon empirical evidence from two 1987 hospital case studies, this article contends that Dutch hospital management reflects a precentralized insularity which, in turn, sharply reduces the likelihood that either publicly or privately framed decentralized strategies can be successfully implemented.


In the 1980s and 1990s, a group of historians and sociologists revolutionized the study of Israeli history. These scholars, often called collectively the Post-Zionists, sought to undermine "the founding myths of Israel". The Post-Zionist paradigm has made important and lasting contributions to the understanding of Israeli history, but no historiographical trend is permanent. In the last decade, a new generation of scholars, sometimes called "the third wave in Israeli historiography", or "the Post-Post-Zionists", has produced works that differ in many respects from those of the previous generation. This generation studies new subjects, utilizes new types of sources and new writing styles, asks new questions about Israeli society, and its attitude to Zionism is often more empathic than that of the previous generation. The article analyzes some aspects of the new paradigm, which can be seen as a local, Israeli, manifestation of a more general approach—the new cultural history—that appeared outside Israel in the 1970s.


Delay-fired mine blasts, which consist of a series of individual shots arranged in a grid pattern and detonated in sequence, can introduce spectral modu- lations into recorded seismograms. We can exploit spectral modulations to separate delay-fired mine blasts from the remaining event population, which includes single- fired mine blasts and earthquakes. Here, we enhance an existing algorithm (Hedlin, 1998) for the automatic discrimination of delay-fired mine blasts. A total of seven separate discriminants are computed, based on the spectrograms of recorded events. A feature-selection procedure is used to ensure that each discriminant is significant and contributes to the overall performance of the discrimination algorithm. The effect of input parameters on the methodology is explored. The choice of input parameters is made to maximize the mean Mahalanobis distance between the earthquake and delay-fired mine-blast populations. The technique is then applied to a dataset con- sisting of regional earthquakes and delay-fired mine blasts recorded at a station in Wyoming. The results show that the larger delay-fired mine blasts, the cast blasts, can be identified successfully by using this technique. The smaller mine blasts are not identified with this technique, although such events are of less interest in a nuclear-monitoring perspective. In a drop-one test, 89.5% of the events studied are successfully identified. Of the events that are misclassified, one is a cast blast and seven are earthquakes. The cast blast is misclassified because of noise on one com- ponent, which biased the value of a single discriminant. The earthquakes are mis- classified because of a greater variance of the seven discriminants for the mine-blast population. The results suggest that this methodology is very successful atidentifying cast blasts in Wyoming, and would be an extremely useful method to use as part of an integrated set of discriminants for the identification of small-magnitude regional events.


Awareness-raising messages feature prominently in most anticorruption strategies. Yet, there has been limited systematic research into their efficacy. There is growing concern that anticorruption awareness-raising efforts may be backfiring; instead of encouraging citizens to resist corruption, they may be nudging them to "go with the corrupt grain." This study offers a first test of the effect of anticorruption messaging on ordinary people's behavior. A household-level field experiment, conducted with a representative sample in Lagos, Nigeria, is used to test whether exposure to five different messages about (anti)corruption influence the outcome of a "bribery game." We find that exposure to anticorruption messages largely fails to discourage the decision to bribe, and in some cases it makes individuals more willing to pay a bribe. Importantly, we also find that the effect of anticorruption messaging is conditioned by an individual's preexisting perceptions regarding the prevalence of corruption.


A number of recent researches have been concerned with magnesium germanate phosphors. An improved such phosphor is reported here having over twice the brightness of the previous compositions as prepared in this laboratory, and which shows peak luminescence efficiency at temperatures near 350°C. Temperature dependence of luminescence studies on the improved composition and the others showed little difference between them in this respect though the data are in striking contrast with those reported by others. A partial explanation of the pronounced temperature effect (for temperatures <350°C) is presented and is based upon the broadening of the excitation spectrum at elevated temperatures in such a way as to increase absorption of the exciting radiation (3650A). Data are presented showing differences in the temperature dependence relation effected by wave-length of excitation and method of measurement; in addition, curves are included showing the variation of phosphorescence (t=1/120 sec.) with temperature as well as curves showing excitation and emission characteristics of the phosphor. Finally a practical application of this high temperature luminescence is demonstrated in the color corrected high pressure mercury lamps the emission characteristics of which are briefly discussed.


Little is known about physically violent behavior in female adolescents (especially in German speaking countries). Problem-centered interviews with 21 Swiss girls who regularly use(d) physical violence were conducted. The study is based on  grounded theory methodology with which the meaning of violence for the interviewed girls was reconstructed. The focus of the study was to find out how girls with a history of physical violent behavior reflect upon their use of violence against others. Results show that these meanings differ according to the relationship to the parents. The focus of this article is on girls with a close and positive relationship to their parents. Two case studies were selected for this article. Results show that these girls perceive themselves as positive, strong, and independent while using violence. Furthermore, these girls selectively perform violence only against people who are less important to them. In contrast, they comply with rules and expectations from people who are important to them. Therefore, one can conclude that their self-perception of strength and independence is situation-specific. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1301226


Through the use of large-eddy simulation, the effect of large finite-size wind farms and their wakes on conventionally-neutral atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) dynamics and power extraction is investigated. Specifi- cally, this study focuses on a wind farm that comprises 25 rows of wind turbines, spanning a distance of 10 km. It is shown that large wind farms have a significant effect on internal boundary layer growth both inside and downwind of the wind farms. If the wind farm is large enough, the internal boundary layer interacts with the thermally- stratified free atmosphere above, leading to a modification of the ABL height and power extraction. In addition, it is shown that large wind farms create extensive wakes, which could have an effect on potential downwind wind farms. Specifically, for the case considered here, a power deficit as large as 8% is found at a distance of 10 km downwind from the wind farm. Furthermore, this study compares the wind farm wake dynamics for cases in which the conventionally neutral ABLs are driven by a unidirectional pressure gradient and Coriolis forces.


Background: Dendritic cell (DC) vaccines have significant potential in cancer immunotherapy. While autologous DCs can be derived from bone marrow, umbilical cord, and peripheral blood, monocyte-derived DC vaccines are most widely tested in clinical trials. However, producing autologous DC vaccines is labor intensive, has large variations among donors, and may not be feasible for patients with impaired cell function or requiring multiple vaccinations. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have unlimited expansion potential while maintaining their pluripotency. They are being tested as a novel cell source to derive DCs for clinical application. Lung cancer is the leading cause for all cancer-related mortality. Efficient treatment of lung cancer by DC vaccines could offer great benefits in cancer immunotherapy. This review uses lung cancer as a case study to discuss the application of DC vaccines. Results: DC derivation from hPSCs has been demonstrated with high purity and comparable in vitro functions to autologous DCs derived from monocytes. The differentiation can be achieved either by co-culturing hPSCs with OP9 stromal cells or by the formation of three-dimensional embryoid bodies. As the scalable culture system is critical for hPSC-derived DC production, progress in the scalable culture systems for other hPSC-derived cells is reviewed and the use of relevant systems for hPSC-derived DCs is proposed. Conclusions: hPSCs provide a new source for DC production and have significant implication in DC-based cancer immunotherapy. Their use in clinical trials requires refinement of the culture expansion and differentiation protocols. Development of scalable culture systems is crucial in truly harnessing the potential of the hPSC-based DC immunotherapy in cancer treatment.


ABSTRACT Only larval thrips that acquire Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), or adults derived from such larvae, transmit the virus. Nonviruliferous adults can ingest virus particles while feeding on TSWV-infected plants, but such adult thrips have not been shown to transmit TSWV. Immunofluorescence microscopy was used to show that thrips 1, 5, 10, and 20 days after adult emergence (DAE) fed on TSWV-infected plants acquired TSWV with virus replication and accumulation occurring in both epithelial and muscle cells of Frankliniella fusca (tobacco thrips [TT]) and F. occidentalis (western flower thrips [WFT]), as indicated by immunodetection of the nonstructural (NSs) protein encoded by the small RNA and the nucleocapsid (N) protein, respectively. Adult WFT acquired TSWV more efficiently than TT. There was no significant effect of insect age on TSWV acquisition by TT. In contrast, acquisition by adult WFT at 1 and 5 DAE was higher than acquisition at 10 and 20 DAE. Subsequent transmission competence of adult cohorts was studied by vector transmission assays. All adult thrips tested that had an acquisition access period as an adult were unable to transmit the virus. These results indicate the susceptibility of adult TT and WFT to infection of midgut cells by TSWV and subsequent virus replication and confirm earlier studies that adult thrips that feed on virus-infected plants do not transmit the virus. The role of a tissue barrier in TSWV movement and infection from midgut muscle cells to the salivary glands is discussed.


The successful use of fly-by-wire systems in aviation along with the positive experience
of drive-by-wire systems with mechanical backup for braking and power steering have
led to the development of complete drive-by-wire systems that reduce the cost of a vehicle,
are lighter and provide better passive safety to the passenger. These systems have the form of
a distributed, real-time embedded system. Similar architectures can be found in other safetycritical
and mission-critical applications in avionics, as mentioned before, medical equipment,
and the industrial sector.
The advances in embedded system technology has enabled designers to implement low-cost and
small form factor electronics. However shrinking CMOS technologies are facing considerable
reliability problems since they become more sensitive to transient faults.
This thesis investigates the application of traditional methods for the development of safety
critical computer systems and their application on single-chip devices.
The contributions of this work are briefly summarised as follows:
• The development of a novel fault-tolerant architecture for protecting the processor core.
• Methods for performing fault-injection experiments on embedded processor architectures.
• Fault-models for multiple faults on digital systems with the use of statistical distributions.
• An extensive study of a processor's behaviour under the presence of faults within its
pipelined execution unit.


We analyse how wage setting institutions and job-security provisions interact on unemployment. The assumption that wages are renegotiated by mutual agreement only is introduced in a matching model with endogenous job destruction "a la" Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) in order to get wage profiles with proper microdoundations. Then, it is shown that job protection policies influence the wage distribution and that government mandated severance transfers from employers to workers are not any more neutral, as in the standard matching model where wages are continuously renegotiated: In our framework high redundancy transfers influence employment. Moreover, the assumption of renegotiation by mutual agreement allows us to introduce a minimum wage in a coherent way, and to study its interactions with job protection policies. Our computational exercises suggest that redundancy transfers and administrative dismissal restrictions have negligeable unemployment effects when wages are flexible or when the minimum wage is low, but a dramatic positive impact on unemployment when there is a high minimum wage.


Abstract. In situ measurements using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and
remote sensing observations can independently provide dense
vertically resolved measurements of atmospheric aerosols, information which
is strongly required in climate models. In both cases, inverting the recorded
signals to useful information requires assumptions and constraints, and this
can make the comparison of the results difficult. Here we compare, for the
first time, vertical profiles of the aerosol mass concentration derived from
light detection and ranging (lidar) observations and in situ measurements
using an optical particle counter on board a UAV during moderate and
weak Saharan dust episodes. Agreement between the two measurement methods was
within experimental uncertainty for the coarse mode (i.e. particles having
radii >0.5 µm ), where the properties of dust particles can be assumed
with good accuracy. This result proves that the two techniques can be used
interchangeably for determining the vertical profiles of aerosol
concentrations, bringing them a step closer towards their systematic
exploitation in climate models.


Malaria is a public health challenge that requires prompt treatment for those infected to make a full recovery. Treatment of malaria infection is to be started as soon as a diagnosis is confirmed. Antimalarial medications are administered to prevent and also to treat malaria. The type of medication used and the duration of therapy is dependent on the type of malaria-causing plasmodium species, the severity of the symptoms, geographical area where malaria infection occurred and the medication used to prevent malaria and whether there is pregnancy. Treatment of malaria from public health perspective is to reduce transmission of the infection to others, by reducing the infectious reservoir and to prevent the emergence and spread of resistance to antimalarial medicines. Medications used in the treatment of malaria infection come from the following five groups of chemical compounds: quinolines and aryl amino alcohols, antifolate, artemisinin derivatives, hydroxynaphthoquinones and antibacterial agents. The treatment of malaria is not initiated until the diagnosis has been established through laboratory testing. Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACTs) has been used for the treatment of uncomplicated malaria. ACTs are also to enhance treatment and protect against the development of drug resistance. IV artesunate is used in the treatment of severe malaria, regardless of infecting species.


Electronic textiles (e-textiles) are emerging as a novel method for constructing electronic systems in wearable and large area applications. This new type of processing system merges textile and electronic technologies. This paper studies the communication requirements between the computing and sensing elements of an e-textile. This communication is studied through the construction of a prototype as well as through modeling and simulation. A new algorithm based on token grid schemes is presented that takes advantage of the e-textile physical configuration.


Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy (FT-RS) were used in order to characterize the encrusted deposits formed on a metallic thermosensitive prostatic stent. A 4 mm urinary stone entrapped within the lumen was also analyzed. Six different substances, a very rare occurrence, were detected, yielding complex spectra. Struvite (STR), hydroxyapatite (HAP), calcium oxalate monohydrate (COM), potassium urate (PU), and ammonium urate (AU) were the main components of concretion formed on the metal surface. STR and PU were detected on the 0.2 mm external surface of the stone, while the 3.8 mm core was found to be uric acid (UA). The broad and overlapping FT-IR bands of STR and COM made their identification difficult, while the detection of HAP was hindered by the presence of numerous urates bands, which, on the other hand, were used for the discrimination among UA, AU, and PU. Raman spectroscopy proved to be more sensitive to urate presence than did FT-IR, while the identification of STR, COM, and HAP was easier for FT-RS but more difficult with respect to AU and UA since all their bands, but three, coincide. A combination of the two techniques was necessary for the qualitative analysis of the encrustation and the stone.


There have been moves towards greater reliance on market mechanisms for spectrum management – auctions, trading, private band management and leasing – in North America, the EU and a number of other countries. Alongside these developments, regulators have applied administratively determined spectrum prices with the aims of recovering administrative costs and promoting spectrum efficiency through prices reflecting opportunity cost and or extracting producer surplus. A critical policy question is whether such pricing is compatible with the development of spectrum markets or whether the two policies are incompatible, in the sense that spectrum pricing may harm economic efficiency when spectrum is tradable. In this paper we identify circumstances in which spectrum pricing may increase efficiency but find that spectrum pricing may reduce the efficiency of spectrum markets even where spectrum prices are set below expected opportunity cost (obligations on spectrum license holders may have a similar impact by reducing potential gains from trade). The implication is that trading should in general be applied in preference to pricing (given its dynamic advantages). Spectrum pricing may, however, have a role in relation to spectrum utilised by government agencies where prices may provide stronger incentives than the opportunity to profit from trading (depending on the overall nature of incentives relating to government agencies including the process for setting and resetting their budgets).


This thesis is focused on the innate immune defence mechanisms responsible for controlling mycobacterial growth after infection. To provide a detailed description of the host's innate immune response to M. marinum infection, zebrafish gene expression levels were analysed by RNA sequencing at various time points during infection and correlated with imaging data of the process of pathogenesis. We demonstrate that the scavenger receptor Marco (macrophage receptor with collagenous structure) is a key player in the rapid phagocytosis of M. marinum and we use gene expression analysis in combination with gene knockdown studies to show that it is also essential in the establishment of an initial transient pro-inflammatory response to M. marinum infection. Once phagocytosed, M. marinum is capable of avoiding killing mechanisms of the host cell and can continue to grow within macrophages. This is the period when Membrane Attack Complex/Perforin proteins are involved in killing intracellular bacteria by their pore-forming activities. We reveal the regulatory mechanisms and function of two macrophage specific genes, mpeg1 and mpeg1.2 (macrophage expressed gene 1.2). The results from this thesis complement knowledge obtained from other model organisms by providing new insights into both counteracting and supporting mechanisms underlying the innate immune response.


Research in political communication recognizes the role of interpersonal communication in the campaign process, with research looking at interpersonal influence, opinion leadership, and anticipated conversations with other individuals (Powell & Cowart, 2003). Voters discuss political topics with others (Huckfeldt & Sprague, 1995), using those discussions to evaluate information while forming their own opinions (Mutz, 1998). Their conversations include exchanges of information, political arguments, and issue-specific news (Wyatt, Kim & Katz, 2000). Other research has found a link between television viewing and interpersonal attraction of public figures (Antecol, 1998). Media audiences often respond to celebrities and television characters on a quasi-interpersonal level similar to that of an interpersonal friendship (Powell & Anderson, 1984). Surlin (1974), for example, argued that media audiences consider television characters to be surrogate friends. Similarly, television characters can be perceived as if they were real people under a social facilitation paradigm (Gardner & Knowles, 2008), particularly when the individual has unfulfilled social needs (Ashe & McCutcheon, 2001; Giles & Maltby, 2004; Wang, Fink, & Cai, 2008). Rubin and McHugh (1987) reported that such behavior was related to social attraction, while Turner (1993) identified homophily as a factor in the strength of para-social relationships. Homophily, is what Barker (2008) described as an affinity for "people like me" (p. 21). However, past research has focused primarily on media celebrities (Rubin, Perse, & Powell, 1985; Turner, 1993) or athletes (Brown & Basil, 1995; Brown, Basil, & Bocarnea, 2003; Brown, Duane, & Fraser, 1997). Little research has looked at the effect in terms of political candidates. This is an oversight, considering the implications of both interpersonal communication and Internet communication in political campaigns. With the Internet playing an increasingly important role in both mass and interpersonal communication, the need for research in the area has also grown (Morris & Ogan, 1996; Newhagen & Rafaeli, 1996). However, the relationship between the Internet and political communication has been limited in that many political campaigns often relied on traditional media when communicating with voters. That changed with the 2008 presidential election, which became the first presidential election in which both candidates were positioned to use social networks as a campaign tool (Hendricks & Denton, 2010). Previous research has identified four primary motivations for seeking online political information: guidance, information-seeking, entertainment, and social utility (Kaye & Johnson, 2002). Of primary interest to this study is social, or interpersonal, utility, i.e., "using the Internet to reinforce decisions and arm individuals with information to use in discussions with others" (p. 62). The concept involves the need to keep up with current political events for the purpose of discussing them with friends and co-workers (Swanson, 1976). Social utility motivations have been reported more often for individuals with a high interest in political campaigns and issues (Kaye & Johnson, 2002). One by-product of social utility is that it can increase information seeking and knowledge of political events (Kitchens, Powell, & Williams, 2003). Diddi and LaRose argue that this behavior is particularly common among college students, since college students read more news online than their non-college peers and turn to the Internet more often than any other source. Students who seek out news and political information on the Internet are more politically active than other students, more likely to be politically involved, and reported higher informational motivation--including motivation for social utility (Park, Kee, & Valenzuela, 2009). These results indicate that online social networking sites could influence interpersonal images in the political arena. …


This thesis falls into two parts. The first (chapters one to three) states the problematic of
the research, develops a critique of the dominant "social movements" literature as
unhelpful for understanding the counter culture and argues that the latter can more
effectively be theorised in terms of the implicit theory of social movement found within
agency-oriented Western Marxism and socialist feminism. This latter theory is developed as
an understanding of movement as direction, developing from the local rationalities of
everyday life through articulated but partial campaigns to a "movement project" which
attempts to deploy such local rationalities to restructure the social whole. Within these
terms, it argues for an understanding of counter culture as a movement project from below
within disorganised capitalism. This mode of analysis is seen as that of a historical
sociology geared to the production of open concepts which can be used by participants to
theorise the context of their own choices.
The second part (chapters four to eight) theorises the issues involved in researching social
movements within this perspective, entailing the need to engage with tacit knowledge, to
thematise conflicts and collusion between researcher and participants. The findings
chapters use qualitative interviews from a Dublin movement milieu to develop an analysis,
grounded in participation, of the local rationalities of the counter culture. In this section
the key findings are a rationality of autonomy as self-development, which is shown to
underlie processes of distancing and problems of commitment, and a rationality of
radicalised reflexivity, which resolves the problem of institutionalisation through the
deployment of a wide range of "techniques of the self". The analysis attempts to locate this
reading within the life-histories of participants but also within the historical development
of the counter culture, examplifying the ability of the concepts developed in this thesis to
engage with the problems facing participants.


The critically acclaimed laboratory standard for more than 40 years, Methods in Enzymology is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. Now with over 400 volumes (all of them still in print), the series contains much material still relevant today-truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences. Methods in Enzymology is now available online at ScienceDirect - full-text online of volume 1 onward. For more information about the Elsevier Book Series on ScienceDirect Program, please visit: http://www.info.sciencedirect.com/bookseries/ This volume is the second of two planned volumes on the topic of small GTPases and their role in disease.


Some French humanist poets betray a keen awareness of the intrinsic fragility that affects the cultural dynamics of the Renaissance. Marot and Du Bellay express its inchoate nature, even when addressing the King. While celebrating the times they live in, they rarely greet the renewal as an ongoing event. Qualifiers and other linguistic structures make it a virtual reality in their verse. To explain this paradox, this article will first examine the temporal and moral ambivalence affecting humanist poets' relation to Antiquity. The analysis will then turn to conditional and negative turns of phrase that can be interpreted as oblique warnings to the Prince ("If you do not… then be careful"). Despite the obvious expectation of a budding renaissance, hopes that a French Virgil will emerge are fraught with doubt and virtual wording. Finally, the reluctance toward the epic reveals issues that displace the end of the Renaissance, and perhaps pave the way, if not for a true political renaissance, for a poetics of renaissance as a process.


Abstract. Soil moisture heterogeneities influence the onset of convection and subsequent evolution of precipitating systems through the triggering of mesoscale circulations. However, local evaporation also plays a role in determining precipitation amounts. Here we aim at disentangling the effect of advection and evaporation on precipitation over the course of a diurnal cycle by formulating a simple conceptual model. The derivation of the model is inspired by the results of simulations performed with a high-resolution (250 m) large eddy simulation model over a surface with varying degrees of heterogeneity. A key element of the conceptual model is the representation of precipitation as a weighted sum of advection and evaporation, each weighed by its own efficiency. The model is then used to isolate the main parameters that control precipitation variations over a spatially drier patch. It is found that these changes surprisingly do not depend on soil moisture itself but instead purely on parameters that describe the atmospheric initial state. The likelihood for enhanced precipitation over drier soils is discussed based on these parameters. Additional experiments are used to test the validity of the model.


The need to endow marketing graduates with skills relevant to employability grows ever more important. Marketing math and elementary financial understanding are essential employability skills, particularly given the contemporary emphasis on marketing metrics, but the evidence is that marketing graduates are often relatively weak in such skills. This article suggests that one educational strategy to improve numeracy and financial skills may be through the use of a marketing simulation game. Through the simulation game, students are exposed to marketing calculations and financial data in an engaging context that simulates the real world. It is hypothesized that marketing students' numeracy and financial skills, and their self-efficacy with respect to marketing calculations, will improve following participation in a simulation game where numerical and financial analysis are necessary activities. Using a quasi-experimental research design, it is found that there are substantial and significant improvements in numerical and financial performance after participating in a simulation game, but that there is no improvement (and possibly a small decline) in self-efficacy related to these tasks. Marketing educators are advised that a marketing simulation game is a viable option to consider when seeking to improve students' numeracy and financial skills.


Published without an abstract. From the introduction: What would constitute an ethical policy towards the
recruitment of African-trained health professionals
for the NHS?
The story goes that there are more Malawian doctors in Birmingham than there are in Malawi. Gareth Thomas (international development minister) and Rosie Winterton (health minister).
They say we don't need to hire overseas any more. We have trained enough British doctors and nurses and they have to have jobs. NHS manager, in conversation, 2006
In recent years there has been increasing concern about the 'poaching' of African doctors and nurses by UK health services. The scale of emigration undermines health care in very poor countries with very severe health problems. 2 The UK government's response was to institute an 'ethical' recruitment policy that banned active recruitment by UK health service employers in staff-short African
countries. Public debate about this policy response, including commentary from politicians, journalists, trades unions and also the World Health Organisation (see
the latest World Health Report 2006: Working Together for Health WHO, Geneva), has thrown up some complicated ethical and political issues. In this extremely
unequal world, there are conflicts between the human rights of African health workers, of British health services users and the African populations who need
health services. Migration undermines health services in African countries of origin. Blocking migration by African health professionals however undermines their right to move away from their country of origin; it also plays into the prejudices of anti-immigration lobbies in Britain. Employment by the NHS of doctors and nurses trained in Africa constitutes a 'perverse subsidy' to British health service users - that is, a flow of subsidy from poor to rich. The movement from Ghana to the UK alone subsidises the UK health services to the order of £39 million per year. Yet 'ethical recruitment' policy solutions lack a sound ethical basis and are potentially discriminatory in
their effects, since they focus on restricting mobility rather than ensuring equality of health care. A recent sharp and unheralded switch in immigration policy that
phases out training opportunities for migrant overseas-educated doctors and limits entry of all but the most highly qualified doctors has been the latest (and perhaps
the most significant) change in this respect. And it has been played out in the fertile territory of debates around ethical health provision. In this article we unpack some
of the ethical, political and economic issues that surround this debate and map out some possibilities for picking our way through this troubled terrain.


Applications of both linear and nonlinear theories of piezoelectricity to transduction problems commonly ignore internal material dissipation effects. Such losses can be represented phenomenologically via the introduction of complex dielectric, elastic, and piezoelectric coefficients. However, there is some confusion in the literature with respect to the proper partitioning of electrical and mechanical attributes in the presence of piezoelectric coupling. This paper is a review of this situation wherein dissipation coefficients are motivated from more fundamental physical insights. Equivalent circuit models are useful both for developing this perspective and summarizing the results. Suggestions are also presented for generalizing the celebrated Mason model to include the coupling of orthogonal modes via Poisson dilation. This formalism is intended to provide straightforward procedures for computing piezoelectric oscillator performance characteristics using a personal computer. The approach is evaluated vi...


This thesis investigates igneous rocks from northwestern Graham Land, Antarctic Peninsula, in terms of their chemistry and timing of magmatism. In northwestern Graham Land, plutonic and hypabyssal rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula batholith and volcanic rocks of the Antarctic Peninsula Volcanic Group crop out in almost equal proportions. These igneous rocks intrude and unconformably overlie low-grade metasedimentary 'basement' of the Trinity Peninsula Group (?Carboniferous to Triassic). The Mesozoic to
Cenozoic subduction-related plutonic rocks range from gabbro to granite, with granodioritic compositions predominating. Mafic to intermediate hypabyssal intrusions cutting the plutonic, volcanic and 'basement' rocks are common. Major and trace element data, as well as petrographical data, from igneous rocks of the Danco Coast and Palmer Archipelago indicate a 'normal' calc-alkaline suite typical of active continental
margins. Fractional crystallisation of a mafic parental magma seems to be the dominant process responsible for the range of igneous lithologies observed in the study area.


The negation patterns of Gur sentences show an intriguing variety in both copula
construction and verbal sentences. However, recurrent linguistic forms arising in
different constructions let us assume common genetic as well common typological or areal
sources.Negative markers may appear in preverbal, verb final and sentence final
position. We observe double or even triple marking of negation. The obligatory sentence
final marking is scattered throughout the whole area, but concentrated in a continuum
stretching westward from Western Oti-Volta languages. The occurrence of some negative
markers crosses language group or even family boundaries. Negation influences word order
as well as the choice or avoidance of verbal forms especially of overtly marked
perfective verb stems.


Session types are a well-established approach to ensuring protocol conformance and the absence of communication errors such as deadlocks in message passing systems. Haskell introduced implicit parameters, Scala popularised this feature and recently gave implicit types first-class status, yielding an expressive tool for handling context dependencies in a type-safe yet terse way. We ask: can type-safe implicit functions be generalised from Scala's sequential setting to message passing computation? We answer this question in the affirmative by presenting the first concurrent functional language with implicit message passing. The key idea is to generalise the concept of an implicit function to an implicit message, its concurrent analogue. Our language extends Gay and Vasconcelos's calculus of linear types for asynchronous sessions (LAST) with implicit functions and messages. We prove the resulting system sound by translation into LAST.


This study examined the distribution of iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) along the grain length of seven rice varieties. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with two factors (variety and grain fraction) and three independent replications. Samples of brown and white rice of six common Thai rice varieties and a high Fe and Zn variety, IR68144, were transversely cut into three fractions per grain (basal, middle, and distal) with approximately the same length in each fraction. The concentration of Fe and Zn was determined by the dry ashing method and quantified using atomic absorption spectrometry. The middle grain fraction of brown rice was found to have the lowest Fe and Zn with greater concentration of Fe and Zn in the basal (embryo end) than the other fractions. The rice varieties differed in the amount of Fe and Zn allocated to different fractions of the endosperm (white rice). The potential for loss of Fe and Zn during milling due to their uneven distribution along the grain length will become more significant when higher nutrient concentrations are involved, such as those achieved by biofortification efforts. Micronutrient distribution needs to be taken into consideration to ensure that rice consumers benefit from Fe and Zn biofortification.


Cetacean research, in terms of the number of papers, and areas for which data are available, has expanded considerably in the southern African subregion in the past decade, especially in the South-West Indian Ocean. We review cetacean research within this subregion from the 1800s to the present to provide an overview of findings, investigate trends and identify knowledge gaps. Data are presented separately for large whales (those subject to commercial whaling) and smaller cetaceans, and are separated by era and ocean basin. Over 550 peer-reviewed papers and books were identified relating to research on cetaceans within the subregion. More than half (284) have been produced since 1990 and 193 relate specifically to South African waters. The most-studied species are those that are most accessible due to their coastal distributions (southern right whale Eubalaena australis: 45 papers, humpback whale Megaptera novaeangliae: 31 papers, killer whales Orcinus orca: 27 papers, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus: 30 papers, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin Sousa chinensis (plumbea form): 25 papers) and/or were hunted commercially (sperm whale Physeter macrocephalus: 25 papers). Identified conservation concerns vary throughout the subregion, but include bycatch and directed hunts, oil and gas development, ecotourism activities, shifts in prey resources, and noise and chemical pollution. The inshore stocks of Bryde's whales Balaenoptera edeni, the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin and the Atlantic humpback dolphin S. teuszii were identified as the populations of highest conservation concern, although there are considerable knowledge gaps relating to deep-water species and almost no data (even on species occurrence) are available for several areas and countries.


In this work we present a machine learning approach to gesture prediction using prosodic features.
We use conditional random fields to predict the presence of beat gestures using the following prosodic features: pitch, pitch-derivatives, intensity and absence or presence of syllable nuclei. These features are calculated over overlapping sliding windows big enough to average out the high frequency variations associated with pitch and intensity at the syllable level. We found that the results improve remarkably when the classification is treated as a multi-class problem as opposed to a binary problem with the two classes: presence and absence of gesture.


Benthic macroinvertebrates were sampled in the Chaguana river basin in SW Ecuador in March (wet season) and September (dry season) of 2005 and 2006. Aquatic insects dominated the macrobenthos, with Trichoptera, Diptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera and Odonata being the orders with the highest diversity and Ephemeroptera and Diptera being most abundant. No systematic differences in richness and abundance were observed between dry and wet seasons, which is in agreement with the literature. It is concluded that, in the neotropics, macroinvertebrates can probably be sampled for water quality assessments during the whole year: however, sampling soon after spates should be avoided. Using multivariate analysis, stations could be clustered into three groups based on their macroinvertebrate community composition: sites with low, intermediate and high human impact. Classification trees indicated that stations with low human impact had low conductivities, while stations with high conductivities were characterised as highly impacted if the dissolved oxygen concentration was low and intermediately impacted if the dissolved oxygen concentration was high. Classification trees also indicated that Leptophlebiidae (Ephemeroptera) were characteristic for sites with low impact; in sites with intermediate impact, this family was absent but Hydropsychidae (Trichoptera) were present; when both families were absent, impact was high.


ObjectiveNon-typhoidal salmonella (NTS) bacteraemia is a common, recurrent illness in HIV-infected African adults. We aimed to describe the presentation and outcome of NTS bacteraemia, the pattern of recurrence, and to determine whether recurrence results from re-infection or recrudescence. DesignOne hundred consecutive adult inpatients with NTS bacteraemia in Blantyre, Malawi, were treated with chloramphenicol. Survivors were prospectively followed to detect bacteraemic recurrence. MethodsIndex and recurrent isolates were typed by antibiogram, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and plasmid analysis to distinguish recrudescence from re-infection. ResultsInpatient mortality was 47%, and 1-year mortality was 77%. A total of 77 out of 78 cases were HIV positive. Anaemia was associated with inpatient death, and several features of AIDS were associated with poor outpatient survival. Among survivors, 43% (19/44) had a first recurrence of NTS bacteraemia at 23–186 days. Among these, 26% (5/19) developed multiple recurrences up to 245 days. No recurrence was seen after 245 days, despite follow-up for up to 609 days (median 214). Suppurative infections were not found at presentation, and were only seen twice at recurrence. Index and recurrent paired isolates were identical by phenotyping and genotyping, consistent with recrudescence, rather than re-infection. ConclusionNTS bacteraemia has a high mortality (47%) and recurrence (43%) rate in HIV-infected African adults. Recurrence is caused by recrudescence rather than re-infection. As focal infections were rarely found, recrudescence may often be a consequence of intracellular tissue sequestration. There is an urgent need for improved primary treatment and secondary prophylaxis in Africa.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

Blockade of the CTLA-4 immune checkpoint can enhance anti-tumor responses and prolong survival, but it can also lead to the development of severe and potentially life-threatening immune-related adverse events (IRAE). To avoid unnecessary exposure to this risk, it is essential to identify biomarkers that correlate with clinical activity and can be used to recognize and select patients that will benefit from immune checkpoint blockade. We therefore performed extensive immune monitoring in a phase I/II dose escalation/expansion trial of combined Prostate GVAX (a GM-CSF-secreting allogeneic prostate cancer vaccine) and antiCTLA-4/ipilimumab immunotherapy in patients with Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC). Here we report on the effects of the treatment on circulating myeloid cells and the identification of potential myeloid-related biomarkers. The GVAX/ipilimumab combination was clinically active with PSA declines of more than 50% in 5, and PSA stabilizations in 12 of 28 patients. Regressing bone and lymph node metastasis were observed in 2/5 PR patients. Flowcytometric monitoring of myeloid subsets in peripheral blood before and after Prostate GVAX/ipilimumab treatment revealed some striking differences between patients who benefited from therapy and patients who did not. Significant treatment-induced decreases of conventional and plasmacytoid Dendritic Cell subsets (cDC and pDC, respectively) were observed, which were paralleled by increased DC activation and recruitment to the vaccination sites. Treatment-induced activation of BDCA1/CD1c+ cDC and 6-sulfo LacNAc+ inflammatory DC was associated with significantly prolonged over-all survival (OS). In contrast, increased frequencies of CD11b+CD14−CD15+ granulocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and high pre-treatment levels of CD14+HLA-DRlo/− monocytic MDSC were associated with reduced OS. Together with similar analyses of T cell subsets, these studies have yielded an immune profile with predictive value for clinical outcome. The profile is characterized by pre- or on-treatment activation of immune effector subsets and low frequencies of regulatory/suppressive subsets. It may thus provide a potentially useful tool for patient selection and should be validated as such in other patient groups treated by antiCTLA-4 blockade.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5381. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5381


The synthesis of self-assembled metallosupramolecular architectures has been of steadily growing interest in recent years due to their diverse applications. Appending additional functionality to the ligands of these architectures has been limited as this often involves incorporation of coordinating groups that can potentially disrupt formation of the desired structure. Herein we report the use of the facile, functional group tolerant and high yielding CuAAC 'click' reaction to attach a variety of functional moieties to a tripyridyl ligand system. Despite the presence of the potentially coordinating 1,2,3-triazole rings, self-assembly of quadruply-stranded dipalladium(II) cage architectures in the presence of Pd(II) ions was almost universally observed for the functionalised "click" ligands. The only system which did not assemble into the expected cage featured a 2-(1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridine binding pocket which sequestered the Pd(II) ions. Blocking this chelating pocket with an inert [Re(CO)3Cl] moiety restored the ability of the ligand to self-assemble into the desired quadruply-stranded dipalladium(II) cage, generating a heterometallic cage architecture. All ligands and cage architectures have been characterised using 1H, 13C and DOSY NMR, IR, UV-Vis and emission spectroscopies, mass spectrometry and in some cases by X-ray crystallography. Whilst the parent cage system is devoid of useful physical properties and displays a limited range of solubility, the CuAAC methodology provides a facile method to enhance the cage's properties. A variety of fluorescent, redox active and biologically relevant species have been appended to the external surface of these cages. These groups enabled the generation of a series of aqueous soluble, fluorescent and electrochemically active Pd2L4 cages in a modular fashion.


Laboratory experiments were carried out with the aim of studying the production of dissolved and capsular exopolysaccharides in diíFerent growth ages by Staurastrum tohopekaligiensis Wolle. This microalga was isolated from a marginal lagoon of the MogiGuaçu River, SP-Brazil. The cells were grown axenically in artificial culture médium under controlled conditions of light intensity, temperature, aeration and light/dark cycle. After 25 and 48 days of growth, the cells were harvested by centrifligation, washed with distilled water by centrifiigation, resuspended in distilled water, and submitted to 40 C under mixing with a magnetic stirrer to extract the capsules. The capsular material and the dissolved one were both filtered, concentrated, dialyzed and ffeeze-dried. The production of exopolysaccharides was greater in the stationary growth phase than in the exponential one. Gel filtration chromatography analysis revealed that both the capsular and the extracellular polysaccharides obtained at different growth ages can be ífactioned in two fractions, "A" and "B". Fraction "A" presented a molecular weight close to or larger than 2 x 10 daltons, while fraction "B" of 2 x IO daltons, approximately. lon exchange chromatography data showed great similarities between capsular polysaccharide and extracellular polysaccharide, both having acid nature. When different growth ages are considered, a significant variation was observed in relation to the percentual participation of fractions "A" and "B" of the capsular polysaccharide. It was observed that fraction "B" from "old" cultures represents 92% of the total. Biochemical analysis revealed that the extracellular material does not have a sulphate group but has a proteic fraction. Gas chromatography analysis of extracellular and capsular polysaccharides revealed the presence of neutral sugars and acid sugars. The neutral sugars are; flicose, galactose, glucose, mannose, rhamnose, arabinose and 3-O-methyl galactose and the acid ones are: galacturonic acid and glycuronic acid.


In this paper, we present a low-power, two-axis fluxgate magnetometer. The planar sensor is integrated in a standard CMOS process, which provides metal layers for the coils and electronics for the signal extraction and processing. The ferromagnetic core is placed diagonally above the four excitation coils by a compatible photolithographic post process, performed on a whole wafer. The sensor works using the single-core principle, with a modulation technique to lower the noise and the offset at the output. In contrast to traditional fluxgate approaches, the sensor features a high degree of integration and minimal power consumption at 2.5 V of supply voltage that makes it suitable for portable applications. A novel digital feedback principle is integrated to linearize the sensor characteristics and to extend the linear working range.